Mina opened her eyes slowly. She was floating in the same dimensional rift she had been in before, except the mirror was gone. Before her sat a forge.
[Your evolution is in your hands.]
"Shit."
Mina grabbed the wooden Sword Body, slowly gliding towards the forge. She scanned her Sword Body, wondering how this would even work.
Beside the forge was a small bag. Over it was a small description.
[Devoured Objects.]
She sighed. She hadn't eaten anything except for monster cores. Whatever she tries to forge, well it won't be anything more then wood. Right?
She placed her Sword Body down, then grabbed the bag. Dumping it out, she could see every monster core she had already eaten.
"Should've tried to eat their weapons. Didn't my status say I could do that? Could've become metal or something."
Mina sat on her knees and crossed her arms over her Sword Body. Her head lolled about, resting on her arms.
"I don't know what to do. I'm not a blacksmith. I'm made of wood, for fucks sake. How the hell am I supposed to bear fire?"
Tempting fate, Mina nonchalantly knocked her wooden body into a heavy flame. Her regret was instant as she lunged for large tongs to rip her Sword Body from the flames. She stared in horror at the bright red, smoldering wood.
"D-damn. I can hardly move!"
She looked around, noticing a hammer nearby.
"How the hell do I..."
Suddenly in a trance, her body grabbed the hammer and knocked the monster cores into the flames. Many massive and beautiful colors erupted, making Mina dip the sword into them. She could feel the heat, as well as something else, coat and infuse within her Sword Body.
Lifting the Sword Body back out, she placed it on an anvil. The next step made no sense. She hammered the sword. Three times, back to the fire. Three times, back to the fire. She repeated her process until the flames returned to a pure crimson hue. Just before she finished, her eyes locked on a bucket of cool water, a message appeared.
[You have received a gift from the God of Forging.]
The pouch nearby seemed to fill with energy as she reached into it. She pulled out some sort of metal, something she didn't understand. She dropped it into the flames, melting it down quickly as the fire erupted with magical ferocity.
Thus, Mina repeated her process until the fires calmed. Once she had finished, she realized there was another message.
[Hidden effect of the Blessing left by the God of Forging has been in effect.]
"So he's helping me with forging myself? Numbing me to the pain and controlling me the way I need to, so I can forge myself anew."
She pulled her Sword Body from the water.
[Evolution successful. Ingredients used:
1 Lower Monster Core (Earth)
3 Middle Monster Core (Fire)
2 Lower Monster Core (Fire)
4 Lower Monster Core (Earth)
2 Lower Monster Core (Wind)
1 Upper Monster Core (Water)
3 Mutated Monster Core (Dark)
1 Ingot of Celestial Iron]
"Celestial Iron? Is that elementless? Maybe?"
She sighed, waiting for the final message to appear.
[Congratulations. Sword Body has become:
Shadow Iron Shortsword (Enhanced)]
"Eh? A shortsword? Am I being made fun of for being short right now?!"
She held her new Sword Body up, eyeing the details. She was definitely happy to no longer be wood, but she was forced into an element. Light magic, or light elemental attacks were going to pack a serious punch. Mina knew she had to make up for it with serious resistances.
"So what did that ingot do? I know I'm metal now, but was that really it?"
Feeling a familiar tug, she drifted through the strange wormhole once again. Her eyes fluttering closed as she vanished from this area.
"You really helped her here, huh?"
Dyna spoke low, her voice barely holding back her happiness.
"Of course. I could see her fear, as well as her unwillingness to touch that forge."
A deep voice responded, though it seemed to be filled with pride rather than annoyance towards Mina.
"That girl... she will go far in this world. You chose well, Dyna."
He faded as a massive screech of happiness erupted from Dyna.
"YES! Kick some ass Mina! Become amazing!"
She was so excited up until she left the strange dimension.
--
Mina opened her eyes again. She felt incredibly warm as countless tendrils of fur brushed her face.
"Ugh. No my face, that's my pommel."
She allowed her Astral Body to form, then grabbed her blade by its tip. She could feel her toes getting tickled, so she activated [Astral Senses] to nearly remove her senses from the Sword Body.
As it slid out, she could easily tell she had shrunk. She was roughly a meter long now, with a deep black iron blade. Her core had shrunk somewhat, becoming a beautiful clear gem within the pommel. Lifting it, she could feel a new heft to it that wasn't there before.
"Probably need like 7 strength to carry this thing. Glad I've levelled up. Hmm... can I see the stats just for my Sword Body? Simplified... this time?"
[Sword Body-
Name: None
Race: Shadow Iron Shortsword (Enhanced)
Level: 4/20 Exp: 350/650
Durability: 700/700
Sharpness: 260/260
Attack Power: 31
Element: Dark
-
Passive Skills:
Sword Sense
-
Active Skills:
Astral Projection, Devour, Dark Aura
-
Affinity:
Fire Blade affinity: .64%
Earth Blade affinity: .02%
Wind Blade affinity: .04%
Water Blade affinity: 2%
Dark Blade affinity: 60%]
"Oh. That iron... did it double my affinities? No wonder I'm dark, that is a heavy affinity. And what is Dark Aura?"
[Dark Aura- Once activated, an aura of darkness envelops the Sword Body. This aura enhances any dark based attack or spell.]
"Neat. I didn't get any experience from that ingot since I didn't use [Devour] on it. Eating one probably does something very different anyways."
Mina held the blade with one hand, then began practice swings. She copied the moves she had seen in her past life from various places, realizing she looked like a complete buffoon.
"I'm a shortsword. I don't have reach going for me, but I'm lighter and I can be concealed more easily. I can't just bust out a massive blast of energy! And I'm nameless! How the hell do you name a sword?!"
She puffed out her annoyances, but calmed down quickly as Inferna began to wake.
"Ah, little one. You... is that the same sword?"
Mina nodded, then held the blade out. It gleamed softly in the miniscule sunlight.
"Dark element. Must be those mutated ones. It's greater then before, however. Seems you've been treated well by the gods."
Inferna fluffed out her tail, allowing it to slowly drift across the sword.
"I'll take you to the den. You hold no problems leaving here, yes?"
Mina nodded, her eyes drifting towards the corpses and their weapons.
'No. Those weapons are stained with Hellcat blood. Let them rust.'
Her eyes held disgust as she began to follow Inferna.
"I'd offer you a ride, but umm... that may not work. Perhaps, do you trust me?"
Mina nodded without thinking.
"Would you feel safe if I held you in my teeth?"
This had Mina for a moment, but she remembered the night before. She hadn't lost any durability even after Inferna tossed her deep into the Gigas Rat. This alone let her choose to hand over the sword.
Mina faded as soon as Inferna grabbed ahold of the sword.
"Agh! Much regret! Her kitty breath feels so weird and wet when it's all over me! I can almost smell it... *gag* that's a funky smell for cat breath!"
Mina forced her sense of smell to disappear, as well as her sense of feeling. She allowed her eyes to continue to work, keeping them from wandering inside of Inferna's mouth.
"This forest, it's so vast and beautiful. We've been running for like... twenty minutes. How'd those hunters get so deep? I'll ask Inferna when she lets me out."
They continued speeding through the forest, dashing between tress and rocky outcroppings. The trees flashed by so quickly, Mina could've sworn she saw snakes covering some.
They finally slowed down as a large open area with many trees coiling around each other settled overhead. It was massive.
Seeing herself drop, Mina appeared and caught the blade. Her eyes fully taking in what she could see now.
"So this is your den?"
Inferna seemed to be smiling smugly.
"It's so beautiful. But I expected a serious den. Like underground."
Inferna sniffed.
"This may not be a regular old den, but we Hellcats are proud of our home. Now it's also your home."
Mina began to get closer, a large paw tapping her hilt.
"Don't tell the others about the monster core promise we made. It'll depress them to no end."
Mina nodded, sealing her lips. Inferna seemed relieved as she led her down towards a large rock situated in the middle of the area. Sunlight bombarded it, making it seem to be the warmest space. On top of it was a Hellcat that resembled Inferna, without the flames. It was sunbathing.
Mina looked around, noticing the angry cats drawing closer.
"Oh crap. They wanna kill me."