Kanae glanced at him. "I have a feeling whatever you’re about to say won’t be anything serious."
"...How could that be?"
Sosuke declared with righteous indignation, "A man of such noble character as myself would never bring up such strange topics!"
"As if you haven’t said plenty already!" Kanae retorted with a teasing smile. "What are you hesitating about?"
"Well, I’m hesitating about whether to beco a Pillar," Sosuke admitted. "Even now, it’s not certain if I’ll even qualify. But if I do beco a Pillar, I’d probably have to leave the Butterfly Mansion, right? They’d assign to a post, and I’d only be able to leave for missions. We might not see each other for long stretches of ti, and I’d get so lonely..."
Leaning close to Kanae’s ear, he whispered, "Especially at night."
Kanae’s face flushed crimson, her ears burning red.
’This guy really can’t talk about anything serious, can he?!’
Sosuke, however, was captivated by the delicate, petite ear before him, and he couldn’t resist giving it a gentle kiss.
Kanae flinched violently and imdiately looked up. The Kakushi were still busy at work—how dare he be so bold?!
Fortunately, all the Kakushi were focused on their tasks, heads bowed, and no one noticed their little exchange.
Still, mortified and indignant, Kanae couldn’t help but pinch Sosuke’s thigh hard. She huffed, turned her face away, and made it clear she was angry.
Sosuke chuckled heartily and tugged lightly on her sleeve.
Kanae knew she couldn’t let him get away with this. If she did, he’d definitely push his luck further.
So she decided to ignore him.
Sosuke resorted to relentless tugging, one tug after another, never letting up.
Kanae tried to maintain a stern expression as she glanced back at him, but the mont she saw his face, she couldn’t suppress a smile. Even more exasperated, she lightly slapped his arm. "Why are you being so annoying?"
"No way," Sosuke stubbornly refused to admit.
"Just say you’re wrong," Kanae said, regaining her stern deanor.
"I was wrong!"
Sosuke imdiately surrendered. Kanae blinked in surprise. Hadn’t he been so stubborn just a mont ago? Was it really okay for him to give in so quickly?
In that instant, she felt both exasperated and amused. The anger made her teeth itch, while the amusent seed to bubble up from her very bones, filling her with a warm, joyful feeling.
Forcing a stern expression, she said, "You can’t just do whatever you want from now on, understand?"
"Mm-hmm," Sosuke nodded.
"Especially not in front of others," Kanae added. "It’s so embarrassing if soone sees us."
"So it’s okay if no one’s watching?"
"Absolutely not!"
The two continued their whispered conversation, which would have made any outsider cringe. The Kakushi lowered their heads even further, wishing they could disappear into the ground. They couldn’t shake the feeling that their presence here was entirely unnecessary.
When there was sothing to say, they spoke at length; when there wasn’t, they kept it brief.
That night, Sosuke sneaked into Kanae’s room, held his beloved girl in his arms, and slept soundly through the night. Before dawn the next morning, he quickly slipped away, returning to his courtyard to begin forging the Hamr-Sword’s scabbard.
Having gained experience from his first attempt, this ti he worked with ease and familiarity.
Three days later, a large, square-headed iron hamr lay before Sosuke. Perhaps due to the Bloodforged thod, the entire hamr had a faint reddish hue.
It wasn’t a gaudy, blood-red color, but rather a muted, dusky crimson.
When Sosuke held the hamr, it felt weightless in his hand, yet it moved with perfect responsiveness.
Normally, a weightless weapon would feel awkward to wield, but this was different.
This was another unique characteristic of the Bloodforged thod: even though the weapon felt weightless in use, its movents were remarkably fluid and comfortable, allowing the wielder to fully channel their strength and connect with the weapon.
The Nichirin Blade clicked into the chanical lock, and when he lifted it again, it felt weightless.
He raised it overhead and swung it twice in the courtyard, nodding in satisfaction.
The Hamr-Sword was complete—his second hamr. While its overall structure remained similar to the first, the chanical aspects had been refined beyond the Bloodforged thod.
The design was now more robust, less likely to be easily destroyed in fierce combat.
As he carried the hamr out the door, the long-absent thunder rumbled through the bamboo forest once more.
That evening, Sosuke received a scroll from Jigoro.
It contained the Thunder Breathing technique, including all its Sword Forms.
Sosuke studied each detail, morizing every aspect. The next day, he resud his forging journey.
The only regret was that forging Automata didn’t grant any attribute points.
Fortunately, Sosuke had other sources of attributes.
For example, when the Pillars’ Nichirin Blades broke and needed repair, fixing them would yield both attribute points and rewards.
However, both the attribute points and rewards gradually diminished with each repair, eventually ceasing altogether.
This left Sosuke sowhat disheartened.
Yet, there was a silver lining. When he used the rewards, new forging techniques, or newly crafted tools, combined with his own growing mastery and insights, to forge weapons that surpassed the original sharpness limits, the attribute points would still be granted.
This proved that his Cheat wanted him to constantly push his boundaries in forging, creating ever more powerful weapons.
***
Half a year was neither long nor short; the days passed in a blur, and before he knew it, the ti had flown by.
During the initial months, he focused on forging Automata. Once the primary inherited Automata were completed, he crafted several more to be used for patient rehabilitation at the Butterfly Mansion.
After that, he repaired the Pillars’ Nichirin Blades or forged new ones according to their specifications.
Beyond forging, his unwavering focus remained on honing his swordsmanship and training.
In the first two months, he perfected the Fourth Form of Sun Breathing.
The remaining four months were dedicated solely to refining the Fifth Form.
It took the full four months for the Fifth Form to finally achieve complete success.
An amusing incident occurred after the Fifth Form’s completion: he sparred with Shinobu using wooden swords.
The result was Shinobu’s wooden sword shattering completely, sending the young girl running off in tears.
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