"We have quite a lot to use, don't we?"
It wasn't a question.
And Kaleran knew it.
He exhaled through his nose, clearly weighing whether reminding Lucavion that he was in possession of more exam points than half the region combined was wise or necessary.
He settled on clipped precision. "Yes. Your score entitles you to… extensive material rights. And priority." He paused, then added with faint resignation, "Nearly unrestricted within the forge's sanctioned inventory."
Lucavion turned back to Harlan, voice low and easy.
"There you have it, old man. Empire says I'm rich in fire."
Harlan gave a single nod at Kaleran's reluctant confirmation, the gesture curt but approving.
"That's good then," he said, eyes narrowing just slightly. "Because what I'm about to do… it won't be cheap. Not in steel. Not in effort."
Then his gaze shifted.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
And locked onto Lucavion.
"Kid," Harlan said, voice lower now—rougher. Not with annoyance, but with weight. "Your condition is as unique as your fla."
Lucavion tilted his head, his smirk gone, expression sharpening with curiosity. He didn't interrupt.
Harlan continued, stepping closer, his voice almost quiet enough to get lost in the flicker of forgelight.
"When I forged that first blade for you… you brought the materials. The Lesser Abyssal Wyrm's scale, tempered under your fla, fit with you. It wasn't just resonance. It was alignnt. Symbiosis." His eyes flickered down to the sword still resting at Lucavion's hip. "But let's not pretend that's what made it work."
He tapped a knuckle lightly against the hilt, a hollow tallic thud echoing off the stone.
"It worked because I forged it right. Tempered it with your fla in mind. Held it at the edge of destruction until it stabilized. Anyone else would've cracked it in the first hour."
Lucavion didn't argue.
He didn't need to.
They both knew it.
"But we're not gonna find sothing like that again," Harlan said, straightening. "No second miracle scale just waiting to fall into your hands. And frankly…"
He folded his arms again, tone shifting with quiet certainty.
"We don't need one."
Lucavion's brow rose slightly. "Oh?"
Harlan nodded toward the old blade.
"We're not starting over. We're building forward. That weapon of yours—it's taken more than most royal-armory prototypes could. It's seasoned. Balanced. But it's strained."
He turned and began pacing slowly, thoughtfully, as if outlining the blueprint aloud more for the forge than the boy.
"So here's what I'm going to do: I'll reforged it—not replace it. The base stays. Abyssal scale stays. But I'm going to layer it."
He glanced toward the vault doors at the side of the forge chamber.
"There's a cache of Umbracite alloy—strong enough to add structural reinforcent without fighting the wyrm's mana signature. I'll weave it through the inner core, bolster the edges where the resonance channels are thinning."
Lucavion's eyes sharpened slightly. Not with skepticism—but with understanding.
"And the runes?" he asked.
Harlan smirked.
"I'm going to re-etch them. Properly this ti. Conductive series from the old Aetherium school. Built for hybrid fla users, and crazy bastards with unstable circuits."
"I'll take that as a complint," Lucavion muttered.
"You better," Harlan shot back, then continued.
"The new runes'll boost your control—less strain on your core when channeling through the blade. They'll let you push farther, harder, and longer without snapping your resonance wide open."
Lucavion nodded slowly, fingers brushing once more along the flat of the blade.
"Alright," he said, voice quiet but resolute. "Let's give her one more life."
He unfastened the sheath from his hip and held it out—not like a weapon being returned, but like a mory entrusted.
Harlan took it without ceremony, but with a kind of reverence only smiths ever understood. He turned it once in his hands, ran a thumb along the aged spine, then gave a curt nod.
"Good," he muttered. "I'll start the prep now."
Lucavion was already stepping back when Harlan's voice followed him, just a bit lower.
"…Also not done."
Lucavion paused mid-turn. "Not done?"
Harlan didn't look up. He was already walking toward the inner forge chamber, blade in hand.
"I'll be forging so other artifacts for you."
Lucavion's brow rose. "So other artifacts?"
"You'll see them when the ti cos."
Lucavion crossed his arms, leaning slightly to one side. "Co on, old man, you know I hate surprises."
"No."
"That's it? No elaboration? Not even a hint?"
"No."
Harlan gestured vaguely without turning around, the motion half dismissive, half threatening. "You're already a pain just standing here. Go."
Lucavion made an exaggerated show of sighing. "Acting pretty cold for soone with all our shared history."
Harlan finally stopped.
Turned his head just enough to show one eye beneath the shadow of his brow.
"Shared history?" he asked, voice deadpan. "Kid, we spent two days in Rackenshore before you ran off with a blade and three cracked ribs."
Lucavion shrugged. "morable two days."
"You slept in the corner of my forge and threatened a custor over tea."
Lucavion grinned. "Again. morable."
Harlan pointed toward the exit with the handle of a smithing hamr.
"Out. Before I start forging your sense of drama into a horseshoe."
Lucavion held up both hands in surrender, chuckling. "Alright, alright. I'm going."
As he stepped out of the forge chamber, the heat pulsing at his back like a familiar breath, he glanced over his shoulder once.
"Don't ruin her," he said softly.
Harlan didn't turn around.
"She is my own creation."
And with that, the forge roared to life behind him.
****
The heat of the forge faded behind Lucavion like the breath of an old dragon content to slumber once more. The corridor ahead pulsed with the quieter lights of polished stone and embedded runes, and just beyond it—distantly—the ringing of other blacksmiths' work.
It didn't take long for the others to finish.
One by one, they erged from their designated forge stations—so with blades wrapped in enchantnt cloth, others with reinforced gloves, gauntlets, or magical focusing pendants held tight to their chest.
Caeden was first. His weapon was a refined greatsword, elegantly minimal but layered with latent aether coils. It looked like it belonged on a battlefield carved from myth. He said nothing, only gave Lucavion a quiet nod that held far more than words.
Elayne followed, her artifact not a weapon in the traditional sense, but an intricate bracer-rig for spell acceleration. It shimred faintly in the light—almost like it didn't want to be noticed. Typical.
Mireilla's was a vine-bound glaive, the shaft reinforced with talroot and the edge carved from sothing too luminous to be iron. Her expression remained unreadable, but her knuckles never left the grip.
And then—Toven.
Dragging his feet. Grumbling like a child denied dessert.
"I'm just saying," he muttered, holding up a mana-core stabilized wand lined with defensive runes, "it's nice, but it's not a flaming sword that can split mountains."
Mireilla gave him a sideways look. "You can barely lift a sword."
"I could've trained."
"You still wouldn't lift it."
"I could've asked for an enchanted—"
Lucavion patted Toven once on the back as they walked. "Sword is every man's romance, right?"
Toven sighed theatrically. "At least soone understands ."
Together, the five exited the Emberhold, the fading hum of the forge at their backs, and made their way back through the crystalline pathways of the Imperial Borough. The floating lights above had dimd into twilight colors—deep blue and pale gold—marking the capital's transition into evening.
By the ti they reached their accommodations again, dinner had already been prepared.
It wasn't opulent—not by noble standards—but it was refined. Elegance without waste. Spiced bread, stead root blends, seared at glazed in mana-brew, and wine that adjusted its notes to the drinker's mana.
Lucavion took his seat at the circular dining table last, reclining just enough to give the impression of contentnt while still keeping his posture guarded.
They ate together. Not boisterously, not like comrades. But like people who had bled in the sa ring and now found themselves tethered, however reluctantly, by fate and circumstance.
Then—
Kaleran arrived again.
This ti, he didn't lecture. He didn't sigh. He simply stood by the edge of the room like the herald of a new chapter.
"Your sponsor etings will begin tomorrow," he said, his tone formal. "You've received more interest than any entrant class in recent mory—particularly you, Lucavion."
Lucavion didn't respond, just swirled the last of his wine in its cup.
"I suggest," Kaleran continued, "you review your provided dossiers tonight. All sponsors for the first wave of etings will be finalized by sunrise. You will be expected to dress accordingly and be on ti."
Toven blinked. "Wait—we have to et them?"
"You don't have to accept anyone," Kaleran replied. "But you will be present. The Academy has its own pride to maintain. I suggest," his eyes flicked toward Lucavion briefly, "you do not greet any of them with fire."
Lucavion raised his glass.
"No promises."
Kaleran didn't even twitch. He just turned and left the room in silence.
Leaving only the soft chi of floating utensils and the quiet thought:
Reviews
All reviews (0)