He continued to think silently about these things. 'Should i get him to test that other inscription too? no....' His reason for this was simple. When he activated the inscription on the coin, it exploded. What would happen if it was on a sword? Who knew, maybe it would work as intended, but he didn't want to take that chance. If the sword was to explode, shooting pieces of metal in all directions, he might not get out unscathed, added to the fact that with the tattoo being damaged, healing and re-growing lost limbs was troublesome to say the least. " how strong is a foot soldier?" Levi asked the man.
" i don't know exactly, but they should be at the qi refining levels at least...huff....some of the stronger ones are even at the mind opening realm...huff...why do you ask?..." after having his qi absorbed by the blade, the man became extremely tired and devoid of energy. looking at his state, Levi believed further that foot soldiers wouldn't be able to use such inscriptions. "hmm...in that case...i will not sell the swords to foot soldiers...although i don't know if the people in higher positions would want to buy swords inscribed by a beginner..." levi mumbled to himself. " put this sword up for sale." levi told the man. " huh? why?" the man asked, confused. " i want to draw attention here." Levi said calmly. " is there anyone you want to attract specifically?" the man asked, his breath slowly returning to normal. " the army." Levi said simply, as he walked off. "..." the man's jaw droped, wide enough to fit a large chicken egg into. ' what did i get myself into?' he questioned internally.
" where are those four?" Levi suddenly stopped, before turning around and asking. " i sent them for more ore? ha haha..." the man held the back of his head awkwardly. since levi said that he could send the four for more ore, he had sent them for more. but the reason he felt awkward, was because he planned to use the ore for himself. " since you are using my things for your own benefit, when these swords are sold, you will get only 20%." levi said coldly.
he first had to get the ore himself, and understood that he still had to pay the man, but now this man was using his people for his own gain. this thoroughly pissed Levi off, but he couldn't do anything for two reasons. first, he still needed the man to make the swords. and second, currently, his strength was most likely below the man's, and even if he were stronger, if he was to kill the man in this place filled with blacksmiths it would be troublesome. he realised how arrogant and stupid he was because of the blood evolution skill, now that his core was damaged. but it was already too late for regret, he could only go forward.
...
after leaving the forge, he went back to the inn. " young master!" the old innkeeper was surprised once again. wasn't this young master missing an arm just yesterday? so why did he have two arms again today? the innkeeper's head was spinning, but decided to just mind his own business, that was probably for the best anyway. Levi simply nodded before going up to his room. before he went to sleep, he once again practiced the water commandment, yielding predictable results. suppressing his disappointment, Levi went to sleep.
...
next day, morning.
levi got up and reviewed information about two certain inscriptions. one of the inscriptions absorbed and stored qi, while the other one shaped and released qi. he wanted to use these two inscriptions on the swords, instead of using the heat inscription. although the heat inscription has incredible destructive power, one, it only heats the blade. and two, the whole blade gets heated, which meant that the hilt, as well as the sword would be destroyed after only a few uses. although he didn't care about the wellbeing of the soldiers, he believed that they would test the inscriptions before buying the swords. but he found another problem. these two inscription required 5 patterns each, but he didn't know if he had enough blood energy to make 10 patterns. plus, it would be his first time making these inscriptions, and although he didn't think it would be as hard as the first ever inscription he made, it would still be difficult.
without wasting any time, he left the inn, and headed for the market. yet again, multiple martial artists had appeared, different mutated beasts in cages large and small. walking down the street, he caught sight of one particularly large cage. walking up to it, he saw a large rhinoceros. this rhinoceros' larger horn had multiple brownish red lines, going from the tip, to the horn's base and onto it's head. " what is this?" levi looked up and asked. an old man with short gray hair and a smoking pipe in his mouth. " that is just an iron horned rhinoceros! they are as common as chickens!" a slim youth shouted. he also had a mutated beast, a small fox that released a weird white fog from it's legs. " how much." Levi directly ignored the man, before asking. he didn't care how common they were, he only wanted to absorb the blood and raise his blood energy stage. he didn't even care about the bloodline.
" 500 silvers." the old man spoke with a gruff voice. "..." levi pulled 250 gold coins from the spacial ring and threw it towards the old man, who caught every coin. he waited for the man the open the cage. after walking in, he carefully grew his fingernails out, as veins on his fingers, neck and forehead bulged. before, he could grow his fingernails to about the length of an arm, but now, he only grew them to around the length of half a finger. sensing Levi's bloodlust, the rhinoceros ran toward him. calmly dodging to the side, blood energy erupted from levi's body and was directed to his fingernails. puchi! his hand stabbed through the rhinoceros' neck without resistance, killing it instantly. since he couldn't fit it's body into the spacial ring, Levi began absorbing the blood right there. as he was almost finished absorbing the blood, he felt a high concentration of energy, which made him retract his hand immediately.
since the tattoo was damaged, he had to be cautious about a lot of things. chief among them, absorbing bloodlines. what would happen if he absorbed a bloodline that he couldn't control, and ended up looking like a monster for the rest of his life? or even worse, lose his sanity and ability to think? when he absorbed blood before, he could not sense the bloodlines since the tattoo suppressed them automatically. but now, he would have to do those things himself. " y-you! you bought it just to kill it?!" the youth shouted. he wasn't angry because levi killed the rhino, he was angry because Levi bought it in the first place. looking around, Levi's golden eyes passed over the man, before landing on the small fox in the cage.