There was a flash of metal, sparks flew, and weapons were once again held at the ready.
"Here I come, young master."
Erwin evaded backwards as an iron sword cut a horizontal line where his stomach would be, his spear twirling behind him as he switched dominant hands, thrusting forward and aiming for the elbow that currently held the still outstretched sword.
York gritted his teeth, stepping forward and taking the hit on his shoulder, the damage mitigated as it was only the shaft and not the sharp spearhead.
Erwin frowned, the recoil of his hit opening up his right side for another attack, which York happily took as he covered the small distance of three feet in a flash.
Erwin fumbled for control of his spear, throwing a shaky swipe toward his assailant in hopes of keeping the distance between them intact.
York smiled, slashing outward to meet the sloppy attack. However, he was surprised to notice how he felt no resistance from his swinging sword.
Erwin smirked, the metal spear easily circling around the sword and stopping a foot away from York's chin. He had feigned losing control, the entire charade just enough to end the battle that had been going on for minutes.
The two stood frozen, their eyes meeting, and only the sound of their shallow breaths could be heard.
"You win young master, how timely for our last session together." York seemed sad at the fact this was indeed their last practice, as Erwin was heading toward the academy three days in advance because of travel time. "I will miss this dearly."
Erwin wanted to frown, but despite the haunting fact York was probably attracted to him, he still was a good teacher.
"Me too, please critique me."
York sheathed his broadsword, taking a seat on the ground as he spoke, "Your footwork is what you excel at the most, along with the few tricks you seem to never stop using. Pocket sand, how could I not think of that, plus spitting in my eyes when I was too close, disgusting, but enough that it would keep you alive.
However, those tricks will not work on the more experienced knights and adventurers. They will only be caught off guard mentally, as their body would react timely and appropriately anyways. You also have to sometimes think about your next step, but in battles you will not have time, so you need to ingrain your style of fighting."
Erwin put down the spear he could barely hold on the rack next to him, "Will that not make me predictable, if I have the same style of fighting for everything?"
York smirked as he wiped the sweat from his brow, "That, young master, is where sigils and artifacts come in. They will be another factor that cannot be predicted so easily, and I would go as far as to say impossible without the exact details of each one."
Erwin had forgotten since he was still exhausted from their spar, realizing that he had yet to even touch the mainstay power of Love and Artifacts, the power of sigils. A form of arts that granted the holder bizarre strength.
A body made of rubber, a mind as fast as a computer, the ability to teleport, sword arts that made it seem like fire followed closely behind each blade, and spells that could devastate entire forests.
Sigils, circular patterns that were taken from the ancient language of the Titans, commonly known as the runic language, or just runes; could command the mana that flowed through them to have a desired effect.
Erwin knew the language well enough now, as he would need to engrave complex enchantments on his artifacts to have them work. If he wanted to have a fire sword, he would need to inscribe runes that would convert the mana to generate a consonant flame.
He equated it much the same to booleans in javascript, though they were much more complex. His prior expertise in said language gave him an edge, so much so even Horace was frightened by his ability to comprehend the runic language.
Horace, the old crafter, would be waiting to look over the artifacts Erwin had made. The same ones he planned to use to join the combat course at Queen's Spear.
Though, no one knew he planned too, as it was not incorrect to believe that the -Magical crafter- would join the support course. Erwin's choice was going to cause waves, and if he passed the exam then he would be altering the original timeline more than he already had.
A simple crafter, fighting amongst others who clearly have an advantage over him, was nothing short of suicide.
However, Erwin knew the future, or enough of it that he could potentially save millions of lives if he so pleased. The last few weeks had made him realize the burden he carried, well if he chose to carry it. He was no saint, but he was no devil ethier, if he could save that many then he would do so as long as he had the strength to.
He would not sacrifice himself, but he would help to the best of his ability.
'Hell, who is to say the story will be as I have read it? What if something changes, and the main cast cannot thwart one of the coming threats?'
A spiral of thought that would only lead to headaches, so Erwin dropped it and thanked York from the bottom of his heart.
"Thank you, I appreciate the time you took to teach me." he bowed.
York's face turned slightly pink as he grinned and nodded fevernly, "Of course, I mean no problem, your dad is paying me anyway so it's not like- I don't mean it that I am only doing this for money, young master, I would definitely have done it otherwise."
Erwin chuckled, "Does it matter?"
York ran a hand through his shaggy black hair, "Not particularly, no."
The two talked a little bit more, and with a dreadfully awkward goodbye, Erwin took a leisurely stroll through the castle he now knew well enough.
He watched the butlers and maids that cleaned with smiles, the windows that let in the beautiful rays of the morning sun, and listened to the occasional sound of birds who sang as they perched on open balconies.
It was peaceful, but he knew it was only temporary. The coming battles would be hard, hard enough for a man who a month ago worried about the most mundane first world problems could handle.
Now, he would soon be actively shedding blood, a stark contrast to what Erwin's old life was. He somehow was not too shy about it, because If he wanted a semblance of stability in this world, then he had no choice.
Murder or sitting in meetings, the choice was quite obvious.
Erwin chuckled at the thought, trying his best to downplay how bleak his future looked.
And with said thoughts running wild, he had already shed his clothes and stepped within the humongous bath, whistling softly as he took a moment to think more about the future.
He was going to meet characters that he had technically already met, and it would be before their character development. Davaniel would still be a full blown tsundere, Hal an edgelord hellbent on gaining power, Emi a storm that would destroy everything in her path, and even a few side characters that only got a few conversations here and there.
Erwin would be up front and center, and the story was not always sunshine and rainbows.
The first semester at Queen's Spear would be no exception, there would be the school ranking tournaments, the first hunt that would go haywire and put most of the first years in danger, Hal's duel against the second prince of the human realm, and finally the beast tide that would officially kick start the horrible chain of events for the MC to tackle.
The Beast King, a name given to a figure who no one knew of. It could be a creature, a man or woman, or an ancient deity doing all of the schemes for sick kicks. The identity of the Beast King was not even revealed in the manhwa, but Erwin would have to change that.
Because of the Beast King, hundreds of thousands would die, and it was going to be impossible to stop him before he started his destruction. He would just have to thwart as much of it as possible, even if there was no way for him to try and glean any information now.
Erwin had no leads, only a faint hint which was shown on the single panel before the Beast King perished due to one of the teachers sacrificing their lives, which was that the king's had silver eyes.
That was it, all he knew was that this mysterious Beast King had silver irises, along with the fact he could control every single rune beast in all the realms.
He would be a force that Erwin could not fight alone, so he would need the canon timeline to do it for him, it was the only way.
After the first arc, it would be the organization known as the Red Lotus that would come to wreak havoc, their whole ideal is to revive the enemies of old known as the Dread Dragons. They would need three artifacts, one of which the MC Hal had, one carried by the mysterious existence known as the Seer, and the second member of Hal's harem Michael.
However, such things were too far for Erwin to truly plan for, he was not mentally equipped enough to start preparing.
'That can change though, with the power of Sigils.'
The academy had many secrets, and one that Erwin wanted to further explore was the inheritance of Madam Gray, a ranker who had the strangest ability to see into the future; or that was what was said briefly by one of the characters in the manhwa.
If he could gain his own inheritance like Hal, then maybe he might be powerful enough to change some of his goals to a higher peak.
Done thinking about the impending doom, Erwin left the bath, although he stopped after realizing that the water that disappeared was much more than before. It had been a few inches when he first used it, but now it was approximately two feet. The rise in usage meant he was getting stronger, and the [Common] water of the bath would not be as effective anymore.
"I'll need to take alchemy at the academy, that is for sure."
He checked out his body as he spoke, muscles lining most of his scrawny frame and giving him the build of a soccer player from his previous world; though his legs were not as big. He was not crazy toned, but much more fit than he was a month ago, all thanks to the bath water that recovered him quickly, eliminating the need to find cheats for now.
However, remembering the shirtless scenes of the MC and his harem put whatever he had to shame, because who could even manifest ten pack abs. It was impossible, but then again it was a different world.
A world where the main focus was on hot steamy handsome men doing unspeakable things for the enjoyment of women and a few men.
Erwin was happy he would not be involved in those acts, as he was as straight as an arrow through a tube.
The heroines of this world were too beautiful to pass up. He wanted to meet them, to show them that not all the hot males were gay, but then again none of the female characters were simple.
Emi.
She was definitely an avenger's level threat, but it was the fact that she died that made Erwin want to change her fate. Such a stoic, honorable, honest, and drop dead gorgeous girl did not deserve the fate the creator of Love and Artifacts gave her.
In the same vein, none of the female characters deserve the back seats they were forced to sit on, and if Erwin would do his best to change that.
'Maybe it is all an excuse to chase these women because of my recent breakup with Cassandra, to prove that I can have a relationship that won't be fucked by the world.'
All of his romantic relationships, Cassandra being the heaviest one, had been dropped due the circumstances of life.
He wanted to change that, to not let distance, financial situations, or family conflicts keep him from love.
However, that could wait, overthinking helped no one but his future enemies. So once Erwin was cleaned and dressed in men's clothes, thank the heavens, he headed toward the workshop he had been diligently working and learning in for the last few weeks.
He was going to show the artifacts he had made for Horace to look over and give critiques on.
He had been looking forward to this day the most because it was something that reminded him of his early days when learning code. The times in which all he wanted to do was create, even wanting to make his own full fledged video game. A journey where everyday was a new adventure, and Erwin could always learn something new.
Before he had to do all of it for money.
It had seemingly stained the fun of coding and building stuff from the ground up, because in reality, most of the projects he had to work on as a front end developer were not of his own ideas, but of others.
Crafting his artifacts however, was different. He could build his ideas, experiment, understand the use of the runic language, and excel more than he ever could before.
He was stuck with being a -Magical Crafter-, and at first Erwin even wanted to somehow find a way to change his class. In a world teeming with secrets and inheritances for bizarre classes, he had hoped maybe he could find one and get lucky.
It was wishful thinking then, but now Erwin was finding how versatile his class could actually be, especially in combat. He had no inherit advantage because of the horrible basic traits of the class, but that would be solved once he finished creating a mana battery.
He had the materials needed, all that was left was experimentation and a lot of imagination.
There was still the factor of making weapons of earth, which could be fast tracked due to the wonders of magic.
Erwin was suddenly pulled from his thoughts the second he opened the door, Horace patiently waiting on the stool he always sat on since the day he came to teach him. The old crafter looked over at Erwin, a slight smile on his face as he did so.
Over the course of the few weeks he had taught Erwin, Horace had been thoroughly shocked to find out how intuitive his mind was. The ideas he had were not of this world, and his ability to pick up crafting so quickly would make him a genius, and also his ability to comprehend the runic language.
Maybe it was naive thinking on Horace's part, but he could not wait to see what Erwin would make.
Today, he would get to see exactly that, if Erwin could take his own ideas and make them a reality.
"Start whenever you are ready, give me the full details of the materials used, the functions of the artifact, and how you incorporated the enhancements if needed."
The old crafter had always been abrupt and straightforward, so Erwin did not hesitate to follow his instructions.
He grabbed the bag situated on one of the tables, pulled out the first artifact he was going to show, and turned toward Horace with a devilish grin.
"The first artifact is [Common] grade, made up of copper mixed with emerald dust. It is simple, and its function is to send out a quick bolt of lighting, though its power is nothing to write home about, it still carries a punch of a low class spell."
Horace nodded, a little disappointed in the simplicity of it, "Show me how it works."
Erwin kept his smile, taking the ring and slipping it on his right index finger. Looking at the wall, he snapped his fingers.
A [Common] white colored Sigil the size of a quarter flashed for but a second on his palm, and a bolt of blue electricity flashed forward like an arrow and shattered against the opposite wall.
The spell was thankfully tanked by the wards inside the room, and Horace clapped once in appreciation.
"For an artifact that works without issue, not bad."
Erwin chuckled, "Ah, it's part of a series."
Horace raised a single brow, "Oh? Show me."
Four more rings appeared, each one able to shoot out something different. The first sent out a fireball the size of a watermelon, the second an orb of water of equal size, the third a slice of wind that was fairly sharp, and the last a spike of earth the size of a baseball bat.
Erwin wore three on his right hand and two on his left.
Horace spoke after his demonstration, "Clever, using all the better known affinities to give a versatile use to the rings, though it would be much better if you could combine all of them into one. Selling them separately could fetch you a hundred mares tops, and as a set maybe two thousand mares."
Erwin nodded, not willing to tell Horace that he plans to use all of them during the combat exam, and did not plan to sell any of them.
He was keeping a lid on the fact he was doing it, because he knew how protective his Father was after the death of canon Erwin's mother.
He would do everything in his power to block him, and at the moment it would be stupid to even mention it, only if he wanted his life to be harder would he do so.
There was also something Erwin discovered upon learning more about the class he held. -Magical Crafter- had a low affinity for everything, no matter what it was.
They were a jack of all trades when it came to affinities, but they would never excel in them. He could practically use every affinity he could think of, whether it was space, time, fire, void, ice, bone, stone, emotions, lust, life, healing, etc.
Although, mastering them would be near impossible.
Still, he could have a variety in his artifact usage, something not just anyone could do.
Done with showing his rings, which simply had the name of what affinity they were like
It was a rod that looked like it was made of bronze, swirling yellow runes etched within it, which gave it a mystical look like an ancient treasure used by a god.
"It is [Uncommon], made of copper, tainted yellow iron, diamonds, and referro. Its function, well, just look."
Mana flowed into the rod, and with a bang the rod extended into a spear, one that glowed and had a sharp edge.
Horace was more inclined to it, as he had been waiting for an actual weapon, "Retraching ability, I never taught you that?"
Erwin nodded, "Didn't have to."
Horace nodded, "Most artifacts with this ability are [Rare], to see you make it on your own shows how far you will go, I look forward to it Erwin Everett, don't disappoint."
Erwin was thankful for the praise, but he wasn't finished. He thrust the spear forward, and with more mana a burst of fire left the spear head like a flamethrower.
Horace was flabbergasted, "That seems extra."
Then, he was left even more surprised when the spear switched from fire to water, then to lightning, then the spear seemed to get faster as if wind resistance did not exist, and finally the tip was coated in a layer of stone.
"Impressive, but having the affinity for every one of those is a low chance, but because of that you could charge even more because it is a niche item. I can say you have surprised me dearly, does it have a name?"
Erwin strugged, "
Putting away the
"This is
Erwin took a moment to look at
The materials that he knew of Earth had almost completely different functions. Silver was very resistant to damage instead of steel, copper did not conduct electricity but mana, emeralds had the ability to amplify mana, diamonds completely blocked any mana from passing through, and gold was funny enough just regular old gold.
Steel even was naturally occuring in the world, not man-made as it was on Earth, however that worked.
Everything was bizarre, which is why Erwin had some trouble making the mana battery and even the few experiments of making a firearm.
Iron was vastly weaker in this world, and its main purpose was to help alloy different metals together like glue, it was almost as hard as cardboard; actually weaker in a sense.
Iron had no relation to what he knew of Earth, but because of everything being different, it amplified Erwin's thirst for knowledge.
He wanted to understand it all, and with it he was able to make the artifacts he now had today.
"The shield is just a regular old shield, but still it could be bought for around eighty mares. I expected something a little more interesting, but nonetheless, for a beginner you did well." Horace got off his chair and waddled over to Erwin, "If you want I can show you a few merchants in Horris that could fetch you a good price, though most of this province is wilderness, adventurers often pass through for their quests."
Erwin thanked the man, but had to refuse, spouting bullshit that he wanted to discover the hardships of mercantile on his own.
Instead, he would be using all of these, hoping it would be enough to pass the combat exam.
"Kid." Horace called as he was gathering his things to leave. "I see great things in your future, and with your mind I don't doubt it for a second. If you ever need advice or you have other crafters trying to run you out of business let me know. I'll kick their ass to the grass legally or illegally."
Erwin smiled, reminiscing about the last few weeks he had spent under the tutelage of Horace.
In a sense, he was truly the first friend he had come to make in this world, a world that Erwin had no say in coming too.
It was nice to see that the regular people of Love and Artifacts were not cardboard cutouts, they had their own lives. Horace had a family, a wife he loved and kids he took care of. York was single, loved knitting, and was very serious about his swordsmanship.
They were living, breathing, and did things without the consent of the main storyline. Those discoveries gave Erwin much needed relief, since he still had the doubts that this was all a dream, and he would suddenly wake up in his tent.
Slowly forgetting what he experienced like any other dream.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, it was not the case.
Erwin was in Albion, a world where mana made nothing simple, the five species were constantly breathing down each other's necks, and world ending disasters would soon come one after another.
And over this short month, Erwin had begun to change, to learn that regretting was inevitable. He had a second chance to live a life of wonder, to see this beautiful world with even more beautiful women.
It was a blessing, he just had to make sure to keep it that way.
"I will never forget this Horace, you may not understand what you have done, but you gave me the strength and knowledge to survive the coming tribulations."
The old crafter chuckled, "You say that like you are going to go fight Gods boy, -Magical Crafters- like us have to stick together. We are weak, and in a world teeming with dangers, the only thing we can do is make a wall with our immense money, praying it keeps us safe."
Erwin smiled widely at his words, "True, not like I am going to be fighting Gods, more like demi-gods."
"Come again?"
"Nothing." Erwin chuckled and shook the hand that Horace outstretched. "I won't forget you Horace, thank you again, and may you and your family be safe."
With that, Horace left, leaving Erwin to stand alone in the workshop.
He looked down at his palms to see the rough calluses, his once petite and skeletal hands now filled out. They were nothing like they were a mere three weeks ago, which gave Erwin hope.
A hope to succeed.
[A/N:
Hope you are liking it so far, and again Harem and sex scenes will be in here so be aware. We just believe you need plot to make the 'plot' better if you catch my drift.
Thank you 3,000.
-Grimm ]