Chiron knew he was leading himself like a lamb to the slaughter. But he could not help but have an adrenaline rush at this. After all, it was going to be him versus the rest of the world. It was better he got started now.
According to the news Nora gave him, the students were required to come in with their swords before the end of the week.
Chiron knew this would mark the beginning of the tests.
Naturally, Aleen, their father was going to take Nora to get a sword. This would be an opportunity for him to get one too.
Chikitsa clan was a sword clan. A kind of people that merged Spirit energy with the way of the sword. However, the art of picking a sword was not an easy one.
The reason was simple. The sword was considered an extension of the cultivator. Finding the right sword was like finding a suitable soul mate.
This was the reason why Students were required to bring their swords themselves.
It was tradition for parents to help their children figure out the best kind of sword based on structure, flexibility, and even weight for the child. As this would forever become their life partners.
Getting a sword was the first thing. Solving the issue of coming out best amongst the other students would come later.
.....
"NO!"
This was the first and only word Aleen said to Chiron the moment Chiron asked for a sword to start attending school. And he said it without even looking at Chiron's face.
There was no reason given for this answer. None at all.
Chiron stood in front of his father and as he looked at Aleen's face, a faint realization hit him, "I have done a stupid thing."
Chiron immediately went back to his training ground. The reason was simple. He had to punish himself for the stupidity of thinking he could ask a person, even if it was his father for help.
The first thing he did was A thousand pushups with 20kilogram of weight on his back. Next, he ran a marathon of twenty kilometers and when he was done, he went on his way to the market area.
The reason for the punishment was simply for the lesson to stick.
Chiron went into the market with the aim of getting a sword for himself.
Getting a sword was not as problematic as getting the ingredients he needed earlier on.
Chikitsa was, after all, a sword clan.
The actual problem was getting a suitable sword for himself. The aim of getting a sword was not just simply to enter school, but it was also to get an instrument that could give him some form of an edge over the other students that were now cultivators.
This meant that getting just any regular sword was not going to cut it.
Of course, he had enough money to go buy an outstanding sword inlaid with incredible precious stones and even beast cores. But as the saying went, not all that glittered was gold.
Chiron had a better idea. After all, he had a bank of knowledge and wisdom from a far more modernized world. Even though this world had the mystery of supernatural energies, Chiron's former world had the gift of science.
This was energy accumulated from thousands of years of innovation, survivability, and basically the need to live an easy life.
In the former world, Chiron was a person that did all sorts of odd jobs to survive. At that time in his life, one could say he was possessed by bad luck from the depth of the abyss.
But in this world, the knowledge and experiences he acquired firsthand through suffering were the gifts that would help him conquer the shit this life threw at him.
Chiron as usual wore his full baggy coat that covered the Tamashi technique placed on his body.
He made his way into the marketplace for selling swords. According to Nora's words, he only had about a week before the deadline was up.
If he could not find what he needed in one week, he would have no choice but to buy any ordinary sword and risk it with the class.
Chiron went around the blacksmith market. Chiron himself was not sure what he was looking for. But he knew instinctively that once he saw it, he would know it.
Coincidentally, these blacksmiths were aware that the new batch of clan cultivators were in need of swords. As one would expect, they brought out the best of their stock and put them up for display.
Naturally, sword prices at this time soared through the roof.
Even as Chiron went through the Blacksmith market, he could see many children pointing to their parents the sword they wanted.
Chiron looked around the shops for a while but could not find exactly what he wanted. He decided to randomly enter any shop to see for himself.
"Dear customer," a sales boy immediately approached him, "What can I get you on this fine day? You look like you might be a new cultivator. As a professional on swords, I can help you choose..."
Chiron walked out on the enthusiastic sales boy. Cutting him off mid-speech. He went around the place observing the swords on the shelves. unlike the issue he had with picking ingredients, he had to be far more prudent in his choice of a sword.
Chiron picked a sword up from the rack. The weight of which was so heavy, it pulled him down to his knees.
The enthusiastic sales boy saw that Chiron had found interest in the sword and ran to him. "yes! that's our famous broad sword. It was forged by master Leongu. It is said that it took him ten days and nights to forge this sword. The sword was made with three hundred beast cores of which ten were green beast cores. Rumors have it that this sword can even cut through..."
Once again, Chiron walked away from the sales boy. Cutting him off mid-speech and dropping the heavy sword in his hands.
Chiron continued looking around. It was either the sword was too big, small, long, heavy, or something else. But the major problem he had with nearly all of them was their forging quality.
The swords forged in this era were made with very backward skills. A person like him was not a master of one trade but a jack of many. Although his eyes were not as good as the experts of his former world, he could still tell of the vast amount of impurities in forging these swords.
Chiron could swear that the only reason many of the swords here were effective, was because of the presence of spirit energy that was embedded in them when the user used the weapon.
However, Chiron did not have spirit energy. He needed a sword that was on its own a true masterpiece he could use.