Chapter 48 - Cradle of Sword-Craft
"Th-This is…"
"Wow…! Wow…!!"
While my face twitched from a storm of emotions, Sora's bloomed into a smile of pure, simple awe.
Observing our contrasting reactions, Halzen the Magitech Artisan, though his face remained expressionless, nodded with satisfaction at the sight of his beaming client.
"Its name is [Cradle of Sword-Craft]—it's the first time I've seen it take this form… but it's a fine piece of work."
"Cradle!"
"…Th-That's pretty cool."
Though his facial muscles didn't so much as twitch, Halzen's gaze, filled with a strange sense of pride, was fixed on Sora's right hand, where a new ring glittered on her middle finger.
The base materials were the [Iron Straight Sword] and [Ring of Novice] that Sora had been using, plus the [Teardrop of the Dust] we had won at the end of our life-or-death journey—three items in total.
In terms of shape, it wasn't drastically different from the [Ring of Novice] after the teardrop gem was embedded in it. But the dull, shabby sand-colored stone had been polished to a shine like amber, and the once-plain band was now engraved with an intricate pattern that wrapped all the way around.
It looked every bit a "magic ring"—and to put it mildly, it was a nice design that thoroughly tickled my inner chuuni.
—Now, about this Anima that Sora had so splendidly obtained… The reason for my trepidation and her elation had nothing to do with its appearance.
The problem… ah, the huge problem was that—this beautiful girl had done it again.
"Haru-san! Haru-san!"
Her eyes sparkling, Sora excitedly showed off her right hand, in which she now held a 'sword.'
It was a sword that had the shape of a sword, with no other particularly noteworthy features.
The single material that composed it, with no decorations or even seams to be seen, was—sand.
That sword, formed from countless grains of sand gathering to shape a hilt, a ridge, and a blade, was none other than the ability of the Anima Sora now held.
[Cradle of Sword-Craft]—its special property was the generation of magic swords.
"Not again… This princess of mine is really something…"
My lips could only form a wry smile.
Though I've only recently started looking up information, I’ve been diligently combing through guide sites for anything on Anima, considering some of their aspects are irreversible.
Of course, I haven't been able to grasp all the information on every single Anima that has been confirmed so far, but I have a general understanding of the different types.
And the reverse is also true—which means I also know which types of Anima don't exist.
The ability to generate magic swords.
A power that creates some kind of substance… or physical matter.
—That kind of thing, as far as I knew, shouldn't exist among the known Anima.
My knowledge is still limited. There might already be players with similar Anima out there—but at the very least, I have enough knowledge from spending half a day reading the Anima section of the biggest guide site from top to bottom.
And it was enough for me to immediately do a double take and think, What is that? It was, without a doubt, a rare item—which means my partner here likely just got her hands on another unique existence.
…Can I be honest?
I'm so damn jealous!!!
"Congratulations!!"
"Thank you!"
Sora was completely overjoyed, lost in creating and dissolving sand swords from thin air. My jealousy-filled congratulations, shouted out of pure desperation, seemed like a gentle breeze to her in her state of maximum excitement.
Even to my amateur eyes, with less than ten days in Arcadia under my belt, this power to create swords from nothing had several clearly insane aspects.
First, its cost-performance was broken.
While each sword costs a bit of MP to create, the amount is minuscule, yet the sword's performance easily surpasses the original [Iron Straight Sword].
It's not as good as my beloved [White-Flawed Straight Sword], of course—if it were, I’d be bawling my eyes out, so that's to be expected—but it means she can mass-produce high-performance, disposable weapons at a low cost.
Wait a minute. Is my throwing-based fighting style now better suited for Sora?
Second, and related to the first point, is the issue of inventory capacity.
Sora can now create swords at will, but the weight she has to bear from this effectively infinite armory is only that of a single, nearly weightless ring.
Of course, when she creates and holds a sword, that weight is added… but who cares? Sora has effectively lost the need to ever carry a weapon again. That means her entire inventory capacity for weapons is now free.
Oh? As someone who is destined to suffer from chronic inventory shortages, I am nothing but envious, you know?
Third, this sword is not called a "magic sword" for nothing—it floats. Yes, right now, about three of them are gently floating around Sora. Tee-hee.
According to her, she can move them around freely to some extent with just her thoughts.
I see? I can think of at least a dozen egregious ways to use that right off the bat, you know?
Fourth, and this one could be seen as a slight demerit depending on your perspective, the sword possesses both physical and magical attributes.
Simply put, its attack check is a mix of physical and magical damage. Against an opponent who is extremely resistant to one attribute or completely immune, the damage could be halved—but that also means it can reliably deal a certain amount of damage to any opponent.
In terms of versatility, it's outstanding. The need to carry other weapons diminishes even further.
And finally, the fifth point. This one is just completely, ridiculously insane.
This ring is an Anima, so of course it will grow and evolve… and, you know? The old man, Halzen, hinted at something. He said she'll be able to use other things too.
What, you ask? Well, right now it's sand, right? Sand attribute—let's put aside the question of what a sand attribute even is—but right now, she can only create swords of sand.
That's right, right now. Which means, eventually—
"Fire, or wind…! Oh, it would be wonderful if I could use an ice sword!"
"Ha, haha… Yeah, it would."
It seems this thing is going to become an all-powerful ring that can create magic swords of any attribute.
Um, yeah. This is really hard to say, but—isn't that basically a cheat?
And come to think of it, with that ring, couldn't her fighting style become a complete, superior version of my own?
Huh?
…………………………Huh?
"…My only advantage besides speed just went up in smoke."
I still have techniques that Sora probably can't do, like mid-air jumps and heavy impact switching… but proudly calling a bunch of borderline gray-area exploits an "advantage" is questionable in itself.
Actually, she might even be able to do mid-air jumps now—
"………………This is bad."
I can't just be acting all smug like "I'm so awesome!!" as a glass-cannon, bizarre-trickster type. I need to seriously kick it into high gear, or Sora's going to leave me in the dust…!!
There was the beautiful girl, giddy with an excitement appropriate for her age (avatar-wise), and beside her, a muscular old man showing a bizarrely satisfied yet deadpan expression.
Standing at a distance, both physically and mentally, I could only shudder alone as I foresaw my partner's incredible leap forward.
――――――――――――――――――
◇Status◇
Name: Haru | Lv: 65
STR: 50
AGI: 440(+10)
DEX: 200(+10)
VIT: 5
MID: 5
LUC: 10
◇Skills◇
・All-Weapon Aptitude
・[Quick Change]
・[Piercing Dart]
・[Quit Counter]
・[Floating Leaf]
・[Embodied Protection]
・[Heavy Attack Manipulator]
・[Accel Tempo]
・[Boar's Heart]
・[Fleetfoot]
・[Adaptive Traverse]
・[Feather Hood]
・[Escort's Strong Legs]
――――――――――――――――――
◇Status◇
Name: Sora | Lv: 42
STR: 70
AGI: 100
DEX: 100
VIT: 50
MID: 100
LUC: 50
◇Skills◇
・[Magic Sword Aptitude] New!
・[Telekinetic Magic Sword] New!
・[Light Magic Aptitude]
・[Heal Light] ⇒ [Qualia Veil] up!
・[Spectator's Cheer]
・[Observer's Eye]
・[Healer's Precept]
――――――――――――――――――
This is a memo of their current stats.
Sora's [Shortbow Aptitude] skill has been deactivated, ending its short life.