*Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* *Swoosh!* *Swoosh!*
5 shadows weaved around the pedestrians minding their own business, walking on the sidewalk of the busy streets of Outer Haven.
"Hey, watch where you going!" An old man with a thick, bushy white moustache shouted when he nearly tripped due to one of the shadows passing him by.
Some Outer Haven Disciples could see the figure of a man moving on all fours and slightly behind him were 4 wolves chasing after him.
They thought the man was running away from the wolves and wanted to save him, but after seeing the man slap and admonish one of the wolves who had what looked like a mohawk because it stole a little girl's ice cream, they realised he didn't need any help.
5 minutes later, Vasari and the wolf cubs stopped running when they reached a specific building.
"Haha, I won. You boys are still too slow to keep up with me." Vasari teased, but the wolves were too happy to care if they lost or won. They were just excited to be running around with their father.
"Stay here while I fetch Hiromi, Kurumi and Hozumi. Otis!"
Hearing his name Otis descended and landed next to the wolves. "Watch them."
Otis neighed and Vasari walked into the building.
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"Wow, this is our new house?" Hiromi said in awe at the sight of a large open land filled with green grass and a large mansion built in the centre.
"I'm still confused about how this is all floating thousands of metres above ground." Kurumi couldn't get her head around how formations kept this entire sect afloat, but a bud of curiosity started to emerge.
The girls were riding on Otis while Vasari and the wolves were running on the ground below them.
The distance from the hotel that the Nakata girls were staying into the property was not a joke and they had to stop for a break twice for the wolf cubs to recover.
"Welcome to your new home," Vasari announced after arriving outside the mansion. Hiromi and the girls couldn't hide their smiles, they were so excited to be living in the Cloud Haven Sect and only now was it starting to sink in.
The fresh air, a dense concentration of Mana that was so many times thicker than on Planet Voxotis that it was incomparable.
As they took in the sights of the mansion and its surroundings, the front door opened and 4 outstanding beauties walked out. They were all dressed in white Sect robes and looked stunning as usual.
"Ah right, let me introduce everyone. This is Hiromi, Hozumi and Kurumi." Vasari pointed to each one respectively, introducing them to the four rookie beauties. He then did the same for the Nakata girls. "This is Witney, Talia, Jiang Xia and Gia. I hope everyone can get along."
The first to step forward was Hiromi, she looked quite nervous and her self-confidence was shot when she saw how much prettier they were compared to herself.
"I'm Nakata Hiromi, it's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you all, especially Witney who Vasari constantly talked about."
Witney eyes sparkled in delight after hearing Hiromi's words. She walked forward and hugged Hiromi. "There's no need to be nervous, we can be considered sisters so I would like for you to treat me so, sister Hiromi."
Hiromi smiled in relief and hugged Witney back.
"Well, now that everyone is introduced, I am going back to the city for a little while."
Vasari deftly excused himself and took Otis back to the City centre, leaving the 7 girls and 4 wolf cubs to mingle together. He had enough girl talk for the day.
"Let's go to the Blacksmith first. Otis, do you know where it is?"
Otis neighed confidently and flew off towards the city.
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Otis and Vasari landed outside one of the tallest buildings in Outer Haven. Vasari had his white Sect robe on and his blindfold covering his eyes as usual. Since he didn't need to hide his face anymore, he stopped wearing a mask.
This building in front of him was called the CloudSmith Association and this was where most of the blacksmiths in the Cloud Haven Sect worked.
Inside the building, on the first floor, Vasari waited in one of the many long lines queuing in front of a receptionist's desk. There were not only Outer Haven Disciples in the lines but also Inner Haven Disciples and also normal citizens of Outer Haven.
After 40 minutes of waiting, it was finally Vasari's turn to be serviced.
"Good afternoon sir, how may I help you today." The receptionist asked with a professional tone.
"Hi, I would like to have a weapon made."
"What grade and weapon type, sir?"
"I think it would be easier if I just gave you this." Vasari pulled out a slip from his Sect robe pocket and handed it over to the receptionist.
The receptionist quickly read it and her eyebrows lifted in surprise before nodding her head. She frantically typed something on the keyboard resting on the desk in front of her before turning back to Vasari.
"Sir. at the moment we only have 2 blacksmiths available who can create custom Heaven-grade equipment. There's Blacksmith Yi Long Ma who specialises in artefacts and long-range weapons, and Blacksmith Davenport who is one of the best blade craftsmen in the Sect. Who would you like to choose?"
Vasari didn't need much time to decide which blacksmith to choose and picked Blacksmith Davenport.
"Blacksmith Davenport should be in workshop 312. All you have to do is show your slip and everything should be plain sailing." The receptionist gave the slip back to Vasari and Vasari thanked her for the service before making his way to workshop 312.
The receptionist watched him leave with a dreamy look in her eyes but it quickly returned to normal when the next customer approached her.
Vasari had to ask for directions a few times while navigating this massive building, but he eventually found Workshop 312.
*knock* *knock*
He knocked on the door and a few seconds later it opened. A strong odour of metallic combined with burnt coal wafted out the room and Vasari involuntarily caught a whiff of it.
'It's like this room hasn't been opened in weeks. Fuck me, it's strong.' Vasari fought back the urge to cough his lungs out and he was sure it was blackening every second he breathed in these fumes.
"What are you standing outside for, come in."
He heard the raspy voice of someone who had just woken up call out from inside the room.
'A woman?' He had previously assumed that Blacksmith Davenport was a male, but clearly, he was mistaken.
Vasari steeled his lungs and walked into the room where the smell only intensified.
"Blind?" Vasari heard the raspy voice ask, to which he nodded in response. "Well, what are you here for, I hope you're not here to waste my time."
The more Blacksmith Davenport spoke, the quicker the raspiness of her voice faded away, giving way to a mature, slightly aged voice.
"My name is Vasari, I'm supposed to give this to you." Vasari held out the same note he gave to the receptionist. He felt the note being enveloped by Mana and pulled from his hand.
"You want a heaven-grade weapon huh? No problem, what kind of weapon would you like?"
Blacksmith Davenport, who had been staring at her forge this whole time, turned to face Vasari.
'Hoh Hoh Hoh, he is one handsome fella. If I was a few hundred years younger I would've snatched him up.' She thought while waiting for Vasari to answer.
He couldn't decide if he wanted a sabre or a sword. So he went with the most logical choice.
"I would like a sword combined with a sabre."
Blacksmith Davenport stared at Vasari as if she was looking at an idiot.
'At least he's handsome.'
"Vasari, was it? Do you know what some of the differences between swords and sabres are?"
Seeing the young man shake his head, the blacksmith sighed in annoyance.
"A sword typically refers to a straight-bladed weapon with a double-edged blade, designed for thrusting and cutting.
A sabre, on the other hand, is a curved-bladed weapon with a single cutting edge, designed for stabbing and slashing.
Swords are considered more versatile and well-rounded, while sabres are better suited for those who prefer brute force and fight on mounts."
Vasari nodded in understanding and understood why his 'Savage Spartan Sabre Art' relied heavily on large movements and stabbing motions.
"Then I would like a short sword. I want the versatility of the sword as well as the brutality of a sabre. Is that possible?"
Blacksmith Davenport thought about it and ended up nodding, it wasn't the first time she would be making a short sword. "Anything else you want to add like a custom handle and which element would you like to incorporate into your short sword?"
"A normal handle is fine and what do you mean by what element I would like to incorporate into the sword?"
Blacksmith Davenport rolled her eyes in exasperation. 'How clueless was this guy?'
"What makes a weapon Heaven-grade and above is the ability to absorb Elemental essence and assimilate it perfectly. Of course, it is only able to do so because of the skill of the blacksmith who crafted it."
"How does an inanimate object absorb Elemental essence?"
"You have to remember that Heaven-grade weapons are supposed to be used by True Soul Realm cultivators and above, and most of the time they have already comprehended an Intent. And only when you have comprehended a specific element to the level of Intent, can a cultivator create their own Elemental Essence from that element.
You have to forcefully feed your newly created Elemental Essence into the weapon for it to assimilate and 'modify' itself according to the element/s of your choice."
Steam was escaping Vasari's ears after listening to her complicated explanation. While he was trying to comprehend her explanation, a certain word stuck in his head.
'Absorb'
'If I put the sword in my eye's subspace, will it absorb the energies it releases, similar to what the eggs are doing?'
He asked himself, but he wouldn't know unless he tried.
"Can you please make the short sword for me, and then I get someone else to do whatever you just explained?"
Blacksmith Davenport's eyebrow twitched in frustration. 'Why is he acting like my explanation was complicated? I dumbed it down for him to understand.'
With grunt, she agreed, but before sending Vasari away she told him to test a few handles and tell her which one he liked best.
"Okay, you can leave now, come back in 2 days and I'll have your short sword ready for you."
"Thank you, Blacksmith Davenport."
Vasari made his way out of the building and met up with Otis again.
"There's still a few hours until the sun sets, so we might as well go to the Cloud Library to pick up some new techniques and then go to the Cloud Bestiary to get the girls some mounts."
Otis neighed and flew towards the Cloud Library with Vasari chilling on his back.
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Inside a standard-looking room, a handsome young man with short black hair with shaved sides slept on the only bed in the room.
Sitting on a chair next to the bed, was a man with grey shoulder-length hair tied into a bun, dark eyes exuding magnificent sword energies and eyebrows sharp enough to cut through wood.
Suddenly the young man on the bed started screaming and his eyes shot open, fear was evident in his yellow irises and his body uncontrollably shivered.
"Calm down." The grey-haired man causally said and the screaming young man immediately relaxed.
"M-master, I-I'm still alive?"
The man on the chair stared at the young man calling him 'master' with an inquisitive look.
"You still dare to call me master after losing so embarrassingly to a boy who had been on a mission in a shitty world for over a year? You have no shame."
Alex's pupils shook slightly at the mention of Vasari and Elder Di Nicola easily noticed this. Alex wanted to plead for forgiveness and another chance but before he could, Elder Di Nicola spoke again.
"You've formed a heart demon huh? Don't worry, when I start properly training you, and you begin to unlock the full potential of your Physique, you will easily get your revenge on that boy and eliminate that heart demon before it can fully consume you.
The first lesson I'm going to give you as your master is to get that Copper Dragon girl out of your head and heart. You have to accept the fact that she has never loved you and never will. It might be hard to hear but it is the truth and it will be the first obstacle you have to overcome on your path to greatness.
Sharpen your heart and sever all unnecessary emotions."
After saying everything he wanted to say, Elder Di Nicola left the room, leaving Alex alone with only his thoughts as company.
His face was scrunched up and far from his usual handsome self as he contemplated Elder Di Nicola's advice.
"Master is right. I don't need that stone-faced bitch, and sooner or later I will surpass that bastard. It's only a matter of time."
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*Achoo!*
"Argh, someone must be talking about me. Sigh, it sucks being so popular."
Vasari sighed depressingly at his misfortune as he walked through the entrance of an ancient-looking building near the centre of Outer Haven.
"Welcome to the Cloud Library. How may I assist you today sir?"