Even after joining a top-tier familia, it doesn't mean everything will be smooth sailing from then on. In the top-tier familias of Freya and Loki, there have been prodigies who joined with high spirits but ended up as mere gatekeepers.
However, Shirou being able to work as an assistant in Tsubaki's workshop from the start already puts his starting point above everyone else.
"Shirou-kun learns so quickly, even as a beginner, he can repair damaged blades so well, it's really hard to imagine.",Tsubaki praised,"He's like a natural-born blacksmith."
Indeed, Anya and the others think Shirou has a talent for combat, but that's actually false, it's the result of cheating. Shirou had accumulated enough training and combat experience in his previous life, which is why he appears to have a talent for combat.
In reality, Shirou's combat abilities outside of swordsmanship and archery are only average, but his deep understanding of the limits of mortal martial arts makes people mistakenly think he has talent.
But forging is different; he had never touched blacksmithing in his previous life, but the moment he stood by the bellows, he showed extraordinary talent.
The quality of materials, he could understand with just a touch; the model of equipment, he could construct in his mind with just a glance; the state of the furnace, he could confirm just by feeling.
Goddess Hephaestus indeed has a keen eye for talent, Emiya Shirou is a natural-born blacksmith, and it would be a waste for his talent not to join the familia of the god of forging. In terms of forging alone, Shirou's talent is among the best in the lower world.
Tsubaki thinks so too, even without considering the magic [Unlimited Blade Works], Emiya Shirou's forging talent is not inferior to hers—so after Shirou completed the polishing of a longsword, she simply invited him to help check the blueprints of a magic sword, to see if he could provide some ideas.
Shirou carefully studied the blueprints, then used his magic.
"Trace on."
A "magic sword" appeared in his hand, of course, it didn't contain the explosive magic power of a real magic sword, and even the material was just simulated ordinary iron.
But the shape and structure were completely consistent with the finished product, this was the model Shirou constructed in his mind based on the blueprints of the magic sword.
Tsubaki stared intently at the magic sword in Shirou's hand, and after a moment, she made a sound of sudden realization.
"So that's it!"
"There's a deviation in the blueprint, the inscription at the connection here is too thin, so there will be a problem when the magic power transmission reaches its maximum, it should be thickened a bit.",Tsubaki immediately pounced on the blueprint, sketching and drawing.
Blueprints and actual objects are completely different things, some things seem reasonable on the blueprint, but in the actual creation, problems can easily be found.
"But if we thicken it, will it cause magic power leakage, reducing the storage period of the magic sword…",Tsubaki muttered to herself,"How about adding a conduction inscription, two circuits in parallel, increasing the flow while maintaining the caliber of a single circuit, like this, Shirou—"
"I understand.",Shirou said,"Trace on."
A new sword appeared in his hand.
"This should be fine, wait, there's still a bit of a problem, if the magic power transmission is too high, will there be interference… how about making the blade wider and thicker, like this.",Tsubaki modified the blueprint again.
"Trace on.",Shirou also projected again.
"Wouldn't that waste too much material, with this volume, the material used is one and a half times the original. Hmm… how about this, hollow out the middle."
"Trace on."
"Well, this saves material, but the difficulty of forging a hollow magic sword is too high."
"Let's just increase the power, as long as the power justifies the material, it's not a waste, like this.",Shirou suggested,"Trace on."
"Oh oh, good idea.",Tsubaki nodded,"If we add more material here, the power can be increased even more."
"Trace on."
Changing the shape of the magic sword to carry more material.
"Trace on."
Increase the length a bit more.
"Trace on."
Upgrade the material, add more magic stones.
"Trace on."
Tsubaki and Shirou were so immersed in their own world, until.
"I feel a bit dizzy…"
Shirou's magic power was overconsumed.
Because he had a full understanding of the structure of the projected creation from the blueprints, and it was a sword type, the magic power consumed by projection was very little.
But, if done too many times, it adds up, especially since Shirou's current status values are not high.
If it weren't for his strong spirit supporting him, he probably would have collapsed long ago.
If his magic power were completely depleted, he would faint outright, and Shirou was on the edge of that.
"Tsubaki-nee, I'll rest for a while."
Shirou leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
Tsubaki looked down at Shirou's face, and at the same time looked at the "finished product" they had decided on together on the table.
After a brainstorming session, it couldn't be said to be completely unrelated to the original blueprint, but at least it was unrecognizable.
Change a bit here, change a bit there, change the shape, change the length, change the blade, change the hilt, and finally even the attribute was changed.
"This shape should be more suitable for the thunder attribute, let's just change it to a thunder magic sword."
The original design was a flame magic sword.
A flame magic sword, when activated, releases a powerful thunder magic…
"The blade is spiral-shaped, let's call it the Spiral Sword, Shirou-kun, this magic sword, I'll attribute both our names to it."
'Hmm, this is our, first work.'
"The next forging, leave it to your sister!"
What Shirou projected was just a sample for reference, the real magic sword still needs the blacksmith's dedicated crafting.
In Tsubaki's eyes, a passionate flame burned.
[Unlimited Blade Works] is too significant for a blacksmith, Tsubaki has a premonition that with Shirou's help, she can achieve her long-cherished ambition—
To forge, a weapon that surpasses the divine realm.
———
"Goddess Hephaestus, I'm here."
"Oh~ Shirou-kun, are you here to update your status?"
"Yes."
"You're really patient, most kids, when they first receive the God's Blessing, can't wait to update their status every day."
"This is Tsubaki-nee's suggestion, she said, even if I don't update my status, the experience gained will accumulate in my body, and besides, I'm at a critical period of training my skills, getting more status bonuses at this time might not be a good thing."
Just like giving a novice overly sharp first-class weapons, it might actually hinder their growth, updating status enhances the body's quality and capacity, while improving skills is another matter.
A typical example is, adventurers with higher "dexterity" points can often learn "archery" techniques faster, but in actual combat, their performance is far inferior to elves with the same "dexterity" points.
Because the latter are often already familiar with archery before receiving the God's Blessing, possessing skills beyond the panel.
"Hmm, that makes sense, but, updating status to gain higher endurance and magic power allows for longer training sessions.",Hephaestus said,"There are benefits to both, need to consider comprehensively."
"Yes, Tsubaki-nee also thinks it's time for me to update my status."
This is also one of the benefits of joining a large familia, the valuable experience of the gods and high-level adventurers, even something as simple as whether a novice should frequently update their status has been researched.
"Then, Shirou-kun, let me see your growth over the past half month."
It has been fifteen days since Shirou received the God's Blessing.
He has been very busy these past two weeks, during the day he learns forging at the Hephaestus Familia, Tsubaki is now fully focused on forging the magic sword, so he follows other craftsmen patiently learning.
The seniors in the Hephaestus Familia are very nice, of course, it might also be because they know Shirou is a junior favored by Tsubaki, but in any case, they never hold back, patiently teaching all kinds of experience, and Shirou learns quickly.
After the familia's work, he returns to the [Hostess of Fertility] tavern, buys a fish on the way, and then follows Anya for combat training at night (and occasionally gets beaten up by the eager Ryuu).
The more he understands, the more he marvels at Anya's strength, the cat girl's overall ability should be among the strongest in Lv.4, something must have happened to make her give up her adventurer status and choose to stay in this tavern.
After the sparring, he makes grilled fish for Anya in the courtyard, Ryuu and Syr always join in, but eighty percent of the grilled fish ends up in Anya's stomach.
Shirou noticed that Ryuu likes to look at the stars, and also, one day after Tsubaki-nee came to the tavern for a meal, Ryuu always stares at him from behind, not sure what happened.
Before bed, he practices projection until his magic power is depleted, then sleeps peacefully through the night.
Day after day like this, living a fulfilling and meaningful life.
Until Tsubaki judged that Shirou's forging skills had a solid foundation, she let him come to the main god for an update.
Taking off his shirt, revealing a body that had noticeably changed, with muscle lines appearing, not just his physique, Shirou felt that his height had also visibly changed over the past half month.
"Shirou-kun's body is getting better and better.",Goddess Hephaestus said, skillfully pricking her finger and smearing divine blood on the boy's back.
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Emiya Shirou
Lv.1
Strength: I0 > H120
Endurance: I0 > G204
Dexterity: I0 > F332
Agility: I0 > H104
Magic: I0 > G248
— Development Abilities —
—: Magic
:—
[Unlimited Blade Works]
— Materializes the mirror image or imitation of items that exist in reality using magic power.
— Increases the magic effect based on the understanding of the projected item.
— The magic power consumption required for projecting sword-type items is greatly reduced.
—: Skills
:—
[Oath under the Snow]
— When acting to protect others, attack power and endurance increase, magic and skill effects increase.
—When having a bond with the protected, attack power, endurance, and agility are greatly increased, magic and skill effects are greatly increased.
— When having an intimate bond with the protected, all abilities are superbly increased, status value growth accelerates, status value upper limit breaks, magic and skill effects are superbly increased.
[??????]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
"Wow!", Hephaestus couldn't help but exclaim.
'One skill is still in an unreadable state, which is expected, but the increase in basic status values is a bit beyond common sense.'
'The total exceeds 1000, with an average increase of over 200 per section, the highest dexterity increase exceeds 300, and magic also increased by over 200.
'
'Even though status increases faster when starting from I0, this magnitude is still a bit shocking.'
'However, upon careful consideration, it makes sense.'
'If that child lives at the [Hostess of Fertility] tavern, there are at least two high-level adventurers who have spare time to spar with him, as long as he can withstand the attacks of high-level adventers with skill or willpower, he can gain a lot of experience.'
'The increase in magic power comes from extensive use of magic, presumably the child trains until his magic power is depleted every day, the projection magic of [Unlimited Blade Works] is indeed very suitable for training.'
'As for dexterity, it should be because he participated in the forging activities of Tsubaki, the strongest Lv.5 adventurer in the city, and made substantial contributions to the forging of the magic sword that required Tsubaki's full effort, thus gaining excess experience.'
'And all this, considering he spent a lot of time learning forging techniques.'
Shirou has a skill that accelerates growth, the third stage of [Oath under the Snow], which has the effect of accelerating status value growth, but this stage is relatively difficult to trigger, most likely it hasn't been triggered.
"To be honest, if it were an ordinary child, with this level of growth, rather than feeling pleased, I would be more worried."
This kind of abnormal growth speed, Hephaestus has seen it before.
Once there was a child, whose important family members were involved in an attack by a Evilus, and were killed.
From then on, he started training desperately, recklessly exploring the dungeon, not only leveling up quickly, but also increasing his status by nearly 800 points in the two weeks after leveling up.
And that child's end was, using a magic sword and a firestone trap, as a newly leveled Lv.2, he perished together with a high-ranking Evilus executive who was also Lv.3.
His name is engraved in the history of Orario's struggle with the Evilus as a "hero", but Hephaestus doesn't want such things to happen again.
Extraordinary growth may mean extraordinary talent, or it may mean, burning oneself out.
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