Chapter 11: The Gatekeepers (2)
Changing a katana's handle was more difficult than Blake had expected. However, because his existing handle was basic and of poor quality, he only needed to be careful with the blade. He discarded the inferior handle without much thought and fitted Pride's Shackle's blade into the new, superiorly designed handle.
The new handle, wrapped in black cloth with red strings crisscrossing in an intricate pattern, was both aesthetically pleasing and comfortable to grip. It fit Blake's blade perfectly, with no need for hammering.
As he held his katana, the game system displayed a message.
Smiling, Blake sheathed the blade and placed the weapon in his inventory. He also stored his equipment there, avoiding the awkwardness of walking around the smithy in full gear, and preventing dirt from getting on his precious armor.
He turned his attention to the icons representing the empty scrolls and selected one. As a beta tester, Blake no longer had to use his fingers to operate the game system. He could control it all with his mind—from opening menus with a thought to logging out.
A simple scroll materialized before him, out of thin air. Blake unrolled it, holding the edges and staring at the blank sheet. Vargar stood beside him on a small chair, peering at the scroll as well.
An awkward silence settled over them; neither knew how to proceed. According to their descriptions, these scrolls could become any enchantment, but they gave no instructions on what to write or how to compose the enchantment.
"I'll try with a pencil," Blake said.
"Ye sure?" Vargar gave him a skeptical glance.
Placing the scroll on the workbench, Blake wrote "Life Steal" on the white canvas. He had considered enchanting his katana with life steal since it would help him handle solo challenges—he could regain health by damaging enemies.
But…
"Nothing happened," Blake said.
"Ye," Vargar replied, stroking his beard.
"Do you know anything about enchantments?" Blake asked the old dwarf.
Vargar closed his eyes in thought. After the umpteenth stroke of his beard, he opened them and spoke about the tense rivalry between dwarves and elves. As Blake tilted his head, Vargar quickly added that dwarves excelled in blacksmithing, while elves specialized in enchantments.
"Many of my kin would murder anyone for sayin' this, but these two concepts are similar—at least in their essence. We shape tough metals through raw strength, fire, and ingenuity, makin' all sorts of weapons, armor, utensils, tools—ye name it. Each item ends up with different stats and abilities, dependin' on the blacksmith and his skills. Ye could say ye've already enchanted yer katana with three skills when ye forged it.
"Word has it that the elves are the opposite of us," Vargar concluded.
The old dwarf didn't seem to know more about the elves' enchantment principles, which was unfortunate. Even so, he had given Blake a few ideas. Had Blake realized how little was known about elves, he might have appreciated Vargar's knowledge even more.
"Opposite… so they enchant items after they're made, using mana?" Blake mused aloud, prompting a few nods from the dwarf.
Vargar said, "It appears The Lost King's dynasty understood that these two concepts are unbeatable when combined, and they perfected them more than we did. If it weren't for our differences, maybe we dwarves and the elves would've reached the Lost Kingdom's level by now."
Once again, the old dwarf made a statement bound to enrage both races, but he only laughed heartily.
As Blake listened, he checked the scroll's description again.
"Is this like getting a taste of limitless enchantment?" Blake wondered aloud.
Each of these skills consumed half his mana and would either curse or bless. Neither skill explained its exact mechanics, implying their effects depended on the target.
'Maybe blessing a fire item would make it burn more intensely or cause the flames to last longer… I guess?' Blake thought. 'If I use Endless Curse on my katana, will it debuff my enemies or me?'
Initially, Blake assumed he might gain permanent life steal via Endless Curse, since he viewed it as a debuff. But there was a chance it would weaken his katana instead, harming him in the process. If life steal belonged under Infinite Blessing, then he'd regret not realizing sooner.
Although eager, Blake restrained himself.
"Let's forge a weapon with the wasted iron ore," he said.
Trial and error, once again!