kscans

Chapter 48 - Cradle of Sword-Craft

"Th-this is..."

"Wow...! Woww...!!"

My face was twitching with a myriad of emotions, while Sora's was blooming with the simple joy of感動. Halzen, the artisan, watched the two contrasting scenes unfold and, seeing his client's beaming face, nodded in satisfaction without a change in his own expression.

"Its name is [Cradle of Sword-Craft]—it's taken a form I've never seen before... but it's a fine piece of work."

"Cradle!"

"...Th-that's pretty cool."

Though his facial muscles didn't so much as twitch, a strange sense of pride could be felt in Halzen's gaze as he looked at the new ring sparkling on the middle finger of Sora's right hand.

The materials used were the [Iron Straight Sword] and the [Ring of Novice] that Sora had been using, plus the [Teardrop of Dust] that she had won at the end of a life-or-death struggle—a total of three items.

In terms of shape, there wasn't much of a change from the [Ring of Novice] that had been embedded with the teardrop-like gemstone. But the dull, shabby-looking sandy stone had been polished to an amber-like brilliance, and the previously unadorned ring was now engraved with an intricate pattern that circled it completely.

It looked every bit the part of a "magic ring"—and to put it mildly, it was a nice design that tickled my inner chuuni.

—Now, as for Sora-san's 'Anima', which she had so spectacularly won, the reason I was trembling and she was rejoicing was not because of its appearance.

The problem... ah, the big problem was—this beautiful girl had done it again.

"Haru-san! Haru-san!"

Her eyes sparkling, Sora excitedly showed off the 'sword' gripped in her right hand.

It was a sword with no particularly noteworthy features, a sword in the shape of a sword.

It had no decorations, not even a seam. The single material that made up the sword was—sand.

Countless grains of sand had gathered to form the hilt, the ridge, the blade. And that, believe it or not, was the ability of the Anima that Sora now held.

[Cradle]—its characteristic was the generation of magic swords.

"Not again... our princess is really something else..."

A wry smile was all I could manage.

I had only recently started my information gathering, but considering the irreversible nature of Anima, I had been diligently reading up on strategy sites.

While I hadn't managed to grasp all the information on every Anima that had been confirmed so far, I had a general understanding of the major genres.

And the reverse was also true—in other words, I also knew what kind of Anima didn't exist.

The ability to generate magic swords.

The power to create some kind of substance... or physical body.

—Such a thing, as far as I knew, did not exist among the known Anima.

My knowledge was still limited. It was possible that there was already a player with a similar Anima—but I did have at least enough knowledge to have spent half a day reading the Anima section of the largest strategy site from top to bottom.

And it was rare enough to make me immediately widen my eyes and think, "What is that?"—which meant there was a high probability that my partner here had just obtained another unique existence.

...Can I be honest?

I'M SO DAMN JEALOUS!!!

"Congratulatiooooons!!"

"Thank you!"

Sora was completely engrossed in creating and dispelling sand swords from thin air, looking more pleased than I'd ever seen her. My jealousy-filled congratulations, which I had shouted out in a fit of desperation, seemed to be nothing more than a gentle breeze to her, who was at the peak of her excitement.

This power to create swords from thin air had several points that, even to a novice with less than ten days of Arcadia experience, were clearly insane.

First, the cost performance was out of this world.

Apparently, it consumed MP individually each time a sword was made, but the amount used was negligible, yet the performance of the sword created easily surpassed that of the [Iron Straight Sword] that had been used as a base.

It couldn't compare to my own beloved [White-Flawed Straight Sword], but if it could, I'd probably be bawling my eyes out, so that was to be expected... But still, she could mass-produce high-performance, disposable weapons at a low cost.

Wait a minute, is Sora-san better suited for my throwing fighting style now?

Second, and related to the first point, was the issue of maximum carry capacity.

Sora-san, who could now create swords at will, bore a weight equivalent to nothing more than a single ring for her effectively infinite armory.

Of course, while she was holding a sword, its weight would be added... but so what? In effect, Sora no longer needed to carry a weapon. That meant her entire inventory capacity for that purpose was now free.

Oh? As someone who will be perpetually plagued by inventory capacity issues, I can only say I'm incredibly envious.

Third, and this sword was not called a "magic sword" for nothing—it floats. Yes, even now, there are about three of them floating around Sora-san. Hehehe.

According to her, she can move them around freely to some extent with her thoughts.

I see? Just off the top of my head, I can think of at least a dozen nasty ways to use that.

Fourth, and depending on how you look at it, this one includes a slight demerit, this sword has both physical and magic attributes.

Simply put, its attack judgment is a mix of physical and magic damage. Against an opponent who is extremely strong against one of the attributes, or completely immune, the damage could be halved at worst—but that also means that 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 becomes even less.

And finally, fifth. This one is just completely, ridiculously insane.

This ring, being an Anima, will of course grow and evolve over time... but you know? The old man Halzen hinted at something. Apparently, she'll be able to use other things too.

What, you ask? Well, right now, it's sand, right? Sand attribute—let's leave aside the question of what a sand attribute even is—but right now, she can only create sand swords.

Yes, right now. Which means, eventually—

"Fire, or wind, or...! Oh, it would be wonderful if I could use an ice sword!" Sora exclaimed.

"Ha, haha... Yeah, it would," I managed.

It seems this thing will eventually become an all-powerful ring that can create magic swords of any attribute.

Um, yeah. This is very, um, hard to say, but—isn't that just a cheat?

And come to think of it, with that ring, couldn't she become a complete upgrade to my own fighting style?

Huh?

........................Huh?

"...And there goes any advantage I had besides speed."

I still have techniques that Sora can't do, like aerial jumping and switching to heavy attacks... but is it really something to be proud of, treating a likely gray-area exploit as an advantage?

Actually, couldn't she even manage an aerial jump...?

"............This is bad."

This is no time for a paper-armored, bizarre surprise-box of a player to be thinking "I'm so coooool!!" If I don't shift into high gear, I'm going to be left behind by Sora...!

An age-appropriate (avatar-wise) frolicking beautiful girl, and a muscle-bound old man with a stone face showing a strangely satisfied expression.

I stood at a physical and mental distance, shivering alone at the premonition of my partner's great leap forward.

---

――――――――――――――――――
◇Status◇
Name: Haru
Lv: 65
STR (Strength): 50
AGI (Agility): 440 (+10)
DEX (Dexterity): 200 (+10)
VIT (Vitality): 5
MID (Mind): 5
LUC (Luck): 10

◇Skills◇
・All Weapon Aptitude
《Quick Change》
《Piercing Dart》

・《Quit Counter》
・《Floating Leaf》

・Embodied Protection
・Heavy Attack Manipulator
・Accel Tempo
・Boar's Heart
・Idaten
・Adaptive Traverse
・Featherfoot
・Fleet-Footed Escort
――――――――――――――――――
◇Status◇
Name: Sora
Lv: 42
STR (Strength): 70
AGI (Agility): 100
DEX (Dexterity): 100
VIT (Vitality): 50
MID (Mind): 100
LUC (Luck): 50

◇Skills◇
・Magic Sword Aptitude New!
《Magic Sword Kinesis》 New!

・Light Magic Aptitude
《Heal Light》⇒《Qualia Veil》 up!

・《Spectate Ale》
・《Observer's Eye》

・Precept of Healing Hands
――――――――――――――――――

This is a current status memo.
Sora-san's 《Shortbow Aptitude》 skill has been deactivated, ending its short life.