After they started talking with each other, Teo and Hanaan became friends very quickly as well. They had been chatting about sword techniques for many hours straight until the night started to slowly close in and the caravan halted to set up camp for tonight. Tents were built up, animals were fed, and large campfires were ignited for cooking. The various squads sat around the fires and immediately began preparing dinner. Multiple pieces of meat were hung over the grill, and pots filled with soup were quickly fetched as well. Soon, dinner was ready, and a decent smell, as well as hearty laughter, accompanied the sounds of everyone wolfing down their meals.
Corwyn also sat down with his fellow squad members, enjoying funny conversations while eating. Jarrok occasionally made some crude jokes, making everyone burst out in laughter time after time. In addition, Hanaan showed off his skill in juggling, throwing several torches through the air. Suddenly, Corwyn felt like he was traveling with a circus, and not with an exploration party. Everyone's mood was so good here. When was the last time he had laughed so much in a single evening? It had to be ages ago, if it had ever happened at all.
After dinner, some people continued their conversations, some managed the clean-up, and others again began preparations for the next day, like sharpening their swords or discussing details about the route. Corwyn offered to do a little maintenance on the weapons of his squad members, which quite a few accepted. By the time he had finished, most people had already gone to sleep, so he put the weapons in the squad's weapon stash and looked around. Teo had apparently already gone to bed, but Corwyn didn't feel like sleeping yet.
After quickly analyzing his surroundings, he found a large rock nearby, half of it covered in sand and disguising an excavation, which made it a nearly perfect hiding place. Once he had confirmed that no one had seen him, he quickly slipped into the excavation. Once he settled down into a comfortable position, he began drawing the adjacent Arcor towards him, then absorbing it slowly inside him. Although the concentration wasn't as high as near a well, they were traveling alongside an Arcor vein, so it was still quite good. Additionally, Corwyn had grown very proficient in sensing and drawing in the surrounding Arcor over the five years since he discovered his ability for the first time.
He soon guided the Arcor into his hands and began forming a sword. Since he had only succeeded once in creating a completely flawless weapon, he still needed practice. He already had the ability to draw in enough Arcor relatively quickly, but he was still far from good enough in forming a weapon, it still took too much time, which made concentrating on the task throughout the process much harder.
Slowly but surely, a weapon formed between his two hands. The last time, he first produced the required amount of metal, then took his time transforming it into the correct shape, followed by applying pressure to make it flat. But this time, he combined the first two steps, creating metal while at the same time already forming it into the shape of a sword. Concentrating on these two things at once was anything but easy, and it didn't take Corwyn long until he finally slipped up, making the weapon break cleanly in two because he hadn't created enough metal yet and already began forming that part of the weapon into shape.
Letting out a breath of disappointment, he prepared to try once again, when he suddenly heard a voice next to him say:
"Aah, that didn't go too well, did it?"
Corwyn nearly screamed when the voice seemingly coming out of nowhere let out that comment. Startled, he turned his head to the left, and saw Hanaan crouching only 3 feet next to him. He hadn't noticed his approach at all! Even though he was focused on the work before him, it wasn't like he was in a trance or something and didn't hear anything that happened around him. But Hanaan even managed to get this close to him without him noticing at all, what kind of stealth skill was that?
But more importantly, he had seen Corwyn practicing. Until now, Teo and his parents were the only people who knew about his ability to create metal. He couldn't really explain that well why he didn't want it to be publicly known. If he had to give a reason, it was because he was still a far cry from mastering his ability, and didn't want people to bother him. If it was publicly known that he could make weapons indistinguishable from normal ones in by far less time, he would be swarmed with orders and never left alone. This fear was unlikely to come true while he was within this expedition party, but he still couldn't help but be secretive about it.
However, he was now exposed, and in a completely unexpected way at that. Even after several seconds passed, he still stayed struck dumb, making him look ridiculous.
Hanaan had the same look as always on his face, brightly grinning and holding back his laughter.
"What, did I scare you? I didn't want to interrupt your practice, but sneaking into hiding is suspicious, you know? I just couldn't help but be curious."
Hearing him talk so casually, Corwyn slowly recovered from his shock. Carefully, he inquired:
"How long have you been crouching there?"
"Well, for about two minutes, I guess."
Hanaan rubbed his chin while letting his usual grin show on his face.
"What, was that supposed to be a secret? That you are an ability user? C'mon, no need to be shy about it!"
At his questions, Corwyn felt like he looked like an idiot. He awkwardly cleared his throat before answering:
"If people knew I had an ability like this, they would bother me without end. I just don't want all the trouble and attention."
Listening to his explanation, Hanaan rubbed his chin while being apparently lost in thought. He slowly mumbled:
"Hmm, I have to admit, if it was a random person, creating metal out of nowhere wouldn't be too astounding. But since you're a blacksmith, and know how to make weapons with that ability, it really would attract quite a number of people. That would certainly be bothersome."
"If I really could use that ability, I wouldn't mind so much, but until now, I only succeeded once, and it takes a great mental toll. But customers might not understand that, once news gets out, they will all demand such a weapon, and my business would take a hit since I can't possibly fulfill their demands. Okay, now that I'm no longer occupied with my business, it shouldn't be a problem anymore, but I guess I'm still in this mindset."
Hanaan gently patted his shoulder, like he had often done today.
"Don't worry, if you don't want me to, I won't tell anyone. But you'd better continue to practice. Such an amazing ability would be a waste if it wasn't perfected!"
"Thank you, I will try my best!"
Corwyn gratefully bowed. Hanaan really was a good friend. He instantly understood and respected his concerns, but somehow he always found a way to lighten the heavy mood and make it feel unimportant.
"By the way..."
Hanaan started to speak while snatching the sword on Corwyn's waist.
"Was this sword created the same way? With your ability?"
Corwyn nodded his head while gazing at the sword in Hanaan's hand.
"Yes. It was the first and only time I succeeded in creating a genuine sword with Arcor until now. I have been practicing for nearly five years now, and I can't describe how happy I felt when it finally bore fruit!"
Hanaan smiled.
"I can understand that. You never managed to do it again until now?"
He shook his head.
"No, every other attempt since then failed. I might manage to do it again, but the process of creating it right now still takes too much time and staying focused over a long period of time is extremely difficult. Just now, I tried to shorten the process significantly, but it is still too difficult for me at the moment. I need to practice hard in order to make a breakthrough!"
"Well, you have enough time for that on this trip for sure! Continue to work hard!"
Hanaan yawned loudly.
"Well, I'm tired and we have a long trip before us tomorrow, so I'll be going to bed now. Don't stay up for too long!"
"Thanks, will do. Have a good night!"
They both waved at each other, then Hanaan quickly left the excavation and returned to his tent. Corwyn returned his attention back to the Arcor-network and resumed his practice. After one more our, he finally felt the built-up fatigue of the day and went to sleep as well.
The next day, everything was packed up onto the animals and wagons again, and the caravan resumed its march through the desert. During their travel, nothing outstanding happened, and they advanced towards their first destination quite smoothly. In the evening, Corwyn once again found a place to hide and practice, however, this time he wasn't interrupted. During the day, Hanaan told him after looking at his fighting capabilities that he was still lacking and offered to train him on a daily basis in the future. Corwyn originally wanted to decline, but after Teo interjected and said that he really was lacking in many ways yet, he was being pressured by two people at once and found himself unable to refuse.
So, just half an hour before he went off to practice in Arcor control, Hanaan trained him for the first time and mercilessly beat him into the ground. His body was still aching all over, making it very difficult to concentrate on the Arcor around him.
The days went by quickly just like this. During the day, they walked. In the evening, he was beaten up and tried hard in practicing his ability afterward. About two weeks had passed from the time they began their journey, and their first destination was now in sight.
Sunahara, the city of trade.
It earned itself that title by the massive number of merchants buying and selling items every day. It was located near the center of the desert, and therefore was one of the key trading points amongst cities. The city center was, in a nutshell, one large bazaar, with hundreds if not thousands market stands selling even the most exotic kinds of wares. An old saying said: "If it can't be found in Sunahara, don't even bother trying to look elsewhere!"
The only thing outstanding in this giant vortex of trade was a tall but slim white tower with a golden roof, looming over the whole city like a monument housing kings. Its shadow reached far and wide in a straight line, being actually used as the world's largest clock. Around the giant bazaar, long markings with numbers from one to twelve were carved into the ground in a circle pattern around the city center, showing to those up in the tower the time of day at all times.
The expedition party arrived at the city around noon, and Corwyn couldn't help but marvel at the grand display in front of him. This was his first time in another city than Quorin, and it really looked quite different from the city he grew up in and called his home for so long. Excitement started to grow within him. He wanted to take a tour around the whole city, and looking at Teo beside him, he knew his friend was extremely eager to go as well.
But first, they had to make their stay known to the local government, find lodgings for the whole expedition party and other trivial things. Once those were taken care of, they were allowed to go through the city sight-seeing. According to Jarrok, it would take them at least 2-3 days to resupply everything and finalize preparations for their next destination, so there was no rush.
As soon as they heard that, Teo and Corwyn literally flew out of their inn and began to walk through the streets. They were accompanied by Hanaan and Dalios, who they became good friends with by now. Hanaan also looked around town curiously, though he was far away from showing overflowing excitement like Corwyn and Teo. Dalios looked as indifferent as ever, occasionally giving some market stands a glance.
"Have you ever been to Sunahara before, Hanaan?"
Corwyn asked him. Hanaan shrugged his shoulders.
"Once or twice, but I don't really know that much about it since I only used it as a stopover back then. But it really has some interesting wares even I have not ever seen before, so there are lots of things waiting to be discovered for sure. Look over there, Teo is already hooked!"
Hanaan pointed to one of the stands, and Corwyn followed with his eyes. Seeing his friend buying some strange kind of food, he had to hold himself back from breaking out into laughter. He walked up to his friend and asked with a curious look on his face:
"What are you buying here?"
Teo showed a smug smile on his face and answered:
"Lugunya melons! The shopkeeper said they only grow in the south near the border to the jungle and let me try some. They are really sweet and juicy, and most important of all, they don't dry up for several days."
Teo let him try some as well, and he had to admit, they really tasted great. Marveling, he wondered what other mystical things they could discover in this magnificent city.
However, his dreamlike thoughts were interrupted by Hanaan, clearing his throat next to him and saying:
"Well, I know there are many things you two want to see here, but if it isn't too much of a problem, I would like Corwyn to first forge a new weapon for Dalios."
Corwyn was stunned briefly at the sudden topic switch, but he soon recovered and replied:
"Of course, if that is your priority, I have no problem with taking care of it right now. Do you know where we could find a forge for me to use?"
"Sure, I'll lead the way!"