A couple of weeks had passed, and Evren was now sharpening the blade of Walter's new sword. He had found he enjoyed working with scarletite much more than adamantium, but it could possibly have been the new forge and tools that improved his opinion. The sword was a beautiful shade of red, inlaid with silver etchings on the blade, guard and pommel. The grip was covered in black leather with red bindings. He made the scabbard similar covered in black leather as well, with the chape and locket made from scarletite.
Evren had been honing the edge since the day before and although it was sharp now, he was further refining the edge. He had added an enchantment other than strong and sharp to the blade without telling Walter about it. Evren had graduated from the skeletons and was moving on to the ghouls next. Their sharped claws and speed would be a good test for Evren to transition to the next step.
After that, Walter was considering leading Evren to the minotaurs or the centaurs after the ghouls. The minotaurs specialized in heavy weapons while the centaurs preferred long weapons. Evren had heard from Joseph that starting with the 87th level was a half cat, half person race called lamia and that they preferred mid-sized weapons, like the sword and mace. After discussing with Walter, they had decided they would head there as a final test of training.
Walter's training had gotten more intense. They had switched to using wooden swords from the heavy metal practice swords that Evren had made to reduce the injuries they could possibly get from sparing. Evren had tried using the two-handed wooden sword, but it felt uncomfortable to him.
Walter started bringing his two guards, Fletcher and Isobel, with him to training to spar with Evren so he could stand by and give instructions. Walter would call out things such as, not blocking with the false edge instead of the true edge of the blade, keeping his stance wide, or not having his thumb in the right position. As Walter was teaching the guards as well, but they were more advanced than Evren, they would occasionally get instructions as well.
Evren moved the lantern so he could get a better look at the blade to see imperfections and stared down the edges of the blade. Even though Walter had said the false edge didn't need to be sharpened, Evren had still sharpened both edges evenly. Evren had been taught enough to know that there were attacks that used the false edge of the blade as well. Evren ran his thumb along the edge of the blade, very lightly, and looked at his thumb. He used his index finger to pull down on the skin and saw that it had sliced his finger without him feeling it. 'Heal cut' he then healed the cut and wiped down the blade.
The sword had been polished to the best of his ability. There was some polishing compound at the jeweler's shop, but he had left that to Antrias. Still, the blade gleamed in the light. After cleaning the sword, he put it into the sheath and set it on the table. He would be presenting the sword to Walter today. He had originally just wanted to hand it to him, but Joseph stepped in and said that the townsfolk should know about it as well.
Evren had dressed in his best, which meant it was clean, clothing and strapped his own sword to his waist along with the dagger. He picked up the sword and stepped outside, heading for Joseph's house. He knocked on the door and Harley opened the door.
"Hi Mr. Evren!" she said with a big smile.
"Harley, why are you always here and never with your parents?" Evren asked.
Harley tilted her head to the side and said, "I don't know. I like it here." She looked down and saw the sword in Evren's hand and said, "Oh, is it ready?"
Evren nodded and Harley turned to Joseph, "What me to go get everyone grandpa?" Joseph looked towards the door and said yes. Harley stepped past Evren and headed into town.
Evren stepped inside and handed the sword to Joseph who held out his hands to receive it. He drew the blade half out of the sheath and admired the blade, casting a light spell above his head to see it better. Joseph asked, "How sharp is it?"
Evren smiled and said, "I've though about a way to test that. Where I came from there'd be things that we could cut that would show the sharpness. I was thinking of using some fruits or melons to test it."
Joseph nodded, "I think that'd give people a good understanding of how sharp the blade is. Do you have anything yet?"
Evren shook his head, "I was thinking of picking something up on the way."
Joseph said, "You can use some of mine, I've got to feed the pig later and that'd be good for her."
Isabel had already grabbed a basket and was adding various vegetables, fruits and melons in it, "Shall we go?" She asked.
Evren took the sword back from Joseph and followed Isabel to the center of town. When they arrived, Walter was already there standing by with a big smile on his face. He was eyeing the sword greedily.
Joseph raised his hands when Harley gave the thumbs up that everyone had arrived. When he had gotten their attention, he said, "Alright everyone. Some of you may be aware of it already, but our resident adventurer has decided to craft a sword for our captain of the guard. We all are aware of how much better Levi has gotten since Evren's arrival, and it's all thanks to him that we've got such good quality knives and tools now.
"Evren was just going to hand it over to Walter as if it were a simple knife, but that doesn't sound like fun, does it?"
The crowd responded with nos and booing.
"That's what I thought. We need to see how good of a sword our captain has, now don't we?" Joseph said to everyone's cheering. He motioned to Evren and Walter to step forward.
Evren stepped forward, and while addressing Walter, he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "Walter, as thanks for teaching me how to use the sword, and to better ensure the safety of Anbuton, I have crafted this sword for you out of scarletite. As you know, scarletite is a rare metal that is stronger than steel and is good at conducting magic, and it's brilliant red color will be a symbol of strength for you and your defenders of Anbuton."
He handed the sword in the scabbard to Walter in a way that everyone in the town could see it. "Now, draw the sword and show everyone." Walter drew the sword and held it up high for everyone to see. Many people were excited and amazed to see such a beautiful sword.
"To give everyone an idea of its sharpness, we've prepared a few things as a demonstration." Evren said as he was handed the basket by Isabel. "Now, if everyone could back up so they don't get hurt accidentally, we'll begin."
Once the crowd had settled in place with everyone having a view, Evren told Walter to hold the sword out to the side so everyone could see it. Evren took out a cucumber and held it for everyone to see. He then lowered it onto the blade, letting the blade cut it as he chopped it into slices.
Evren grabbed a muskmelon and said to Walter, "I'm going to toss it in the air, cut it while its in the air." Walter nodded and got ready. Evren tossed the melon into the air in front of him and sliced down on the melon. At first it looked like he missed, but when the melon hit the ground the two halves separated.
Evren grabbed a tomato and said, "And the last one." He held the tomato out over the blade's edge, it wouldn't fall that far before hitting the blade, everyone assumed it would land on the blade and cut the tomato part way through. When Evren dropped the tomato, it sliced itself in half completely without slowing down.
Everyone cheered. Evren took out a cloth and wet it down with 'drink', cleaning the blade off, and nodding to Walter. The townsfolk came forward to look at the blade, a few not believing the sharpness needed a 'heal cut' used on them. Many people approached Evren about the blade, asking if he would make one for them as well. Evren refused with a smile saying the blades that Levi was making could get as sharp with a little bit of work.
After everyone had left, and the cut vegetables had been picked up for the pig to be fed with, Evren took Walter to the spot they normally train at. "Walter, there's one other thing that blade can do that I added to it."
He held his hand out to the sword and said, "May I?" Walter handed him the sword. Evren took the sword in his hand and unsheathed it, handing the scabbard back to Walter. Evren then poured magic into the sword, and it started glowing a light red color.
"If you put magic into the sword, you can cast a spell with it. A very special spell that depends on how much magic you put into the sword. So, you'll have to get good at magic manipulation. He pointed the sword at the grasses in the field and said, "Cut."
An invisible blade came out from the tip of the sword and sliced through the grasses for ten meters. Walter stared at the sliced grassed then turned to Evren. As they stared at each other, both began to smile fiendishly. Evren handed the blade to Walter, and he charged it with magic. Pointing it out towards the grasses and said, "Cut." Another invisible blade flew out from the tip of the sword and mowed down the grasses.
Evren said, "I believe that you can slice through something as you swing the sword as well. Just charge it, swing and say the magic word and watch it fly."
Walter said, "This is amazing, thank you Evren. But couldn't you have thought of a cooler phrase to say?"
Evren got a look of shock on his face, "Who is it that always says to not do anything fancy while fighting? 'Cut' is short and easy to say. Would you rather say that or 'Wickity boo, snippity doo, I'm gonna cut you!'"
Walter laughed and said, "No, cut is fine."