[Arthur's POV]
Waking up today, I was excited — today I'll have finished assimilating Kaseki and get a new template. But for now, let's go to the forge and try to make the best weapon I can. On my way back to the bakery from yesterday to get breakfast—
"Hello, how are you, mister?" The same waitress from yesterday smiled at me."I'm well, and you?""I'm good! Hey mister, if you plan on coming back again, could I know your name?""Yes, of course. My name is Artur, and you are?""My name's Anna. So, what will it be today?""Today, something more fruity. Any suggestions?""You're lucky — we just made a batch of red fruit tartlets.""Then I'll take that, thank you.""Will that be all?""Yeah, I've got things to do this morning.""Then have a good day, and come back tomorrow!"
Telling her goodbye, I did the same thing as yesterday — jumping from roof to roof, I went back to my temporary workshop. With some materials I'd left there, I started to make a blade. I could feel Kaseki's skill — it was almost like my hands were guided by instinct. That's not good; it needs to be perfected.
[3 hours later]
After making blades for 3 hours, I ran out of materials. I'd made 1, 2, 3… 33 blades of varying size and shape — katanas, spears, daggers, swords, and even small arrowheads. My best work so far were the spears, arrowheads, and daggers. That must have been what he made the most of. I think most fighters in Ishigami Village used spears, and daggers are simply needed for many things, while arrowheads were for hunting — and they're pretty simple to make. I'll need to work on my swords, but for now, a little break before getting more materials. After that, I'll work on making armor, though it might be harder since he never made any himself.
Let's try to make some arm armor. Thank god for Senku's brains — I know exactly how to make pretty much anything. For a first try, I think it's pretty good. Trying it on to see if anything blocks movement — it's not bad. I'll need to test it later, but for now, let's make the left arm, then the legs. After that, I'll see what to do for the torso and helmet.
[2 hours later]
I made a helmet and torso and trained with sword and armor. I think it's pretty good."OK, system, show me the templates please."
Kaseki 80% → 100%, Nanami 20% → 25%, Senku 35% → 45%
"Congratulations Arthur, you've finished the assimilation of Kaseki. You now know everything he knows and are as skilled as him. Would you like your new template?""Yes — who did I get?""New template: Alphonse Elric. Starting assimilation."
Wow, I just got access to another power system — and it's insanely overpowered! Now I'll have materials wherever I go. I don't even need to study since I have Senku's template. This is great! Let's try first with a transmutation circle — and then without. I don't have any memory of the Truth, so maybe it won't work. Trying to make a small bird from the ground… it works exactly as I imagined! And now without a circle — it works too, though the small bird is a bit rough, not as detailed as the other one. For now, I'll try not to use circles, but I'll engrave one on my spear, sword, dagger, and arm armor if needed.
I'm so excited — I think I'll go to the dungeon to test all that.
[Freya's POV]
A new color appeared in his soul. Wow. This night I realized his soul had three main colors that mixed — no, four — and now there's a fifth. Wow.At first, I thought I should push him to evolve and change, but he does that on his own.
This new color… wow.
Before, he had a bright orange with a comforting and warm feeling; a deep green, cooler but still kind — like a light, welcoming breeze; a deep blue — this one was sadder, like the rain, but even more comforting than the others. And then, a hidden one, barely visible — a strange color that let itself change and stayed only for half a second. That one was like a receptacle, a mirror. When alone, it was white — innocent, but not bright, more like snow.
And now there's a bright yellow, like the sun — full of kindness. What a beautiful soul.
[Arthur's POV]
After cleaning up and picking up my sword, spear, dagger, and arm armor, I planned to go to the dungeon later. But first, I wanted something to eat.
Before entering the dungeon, I paid a visit to Rowan."Hey Rowan, how are you today?""Pretty good, and you?""Yeah, I'm fine. I came to show you some of the weapons I made today, to see if they're good compared to the other shops since you've been in the city longer than me." I handed him the spear, sword, and dagger."Hey, they look pretty good! I don't really know much — I'm not an adventurer — but I think they're good until around level 2, where the monsters' defenses start needing a bit of enhancement to be effective, like Durandal. But it's really good, you can already sell them if you want. But what's that mark on the blades?""Oh, nothing — just my mark, to know who made it. Until I open my own store, I'll sell them through a shop with low commission."
Telling him goodbye, I did my usual routine, going as deep as I could — for now, the 13th floor. That's where level 2 adventurers go. The weapons held up perfectly, no problem at all. I held back from reinforcing them with cursed energy to test them — then came the fun part: testing my alchemy.
I started by modifying the form of my weapons mid-fight. I held back from using alchemy directly on the dungeon, since it's alive — it might get angry if I tried to alter it. So I kept it small-scale, creating small spikes shaped like arrowheads to block or impale monsters' feet. The dungeon didn't seem to mind at all.
Leaving with my spoils and satisfied with the tests, I went to the Hostess of Fertility and took the same seat as yesterday. I greeted Syr and gave her my order. She was as unfocused as before but seemed to notice and didn't care — weird, but okay.
"Hey Syr, do you know the city well? I'm searching for a store that'll sell my weapons and armor.""You're a smith, right? I know a shop — but let me accompany you and show you around the city.""Are you asking for a date? Never had a pretty girl do that before, but okay, sure — let's do that the day after tomorrow. I've got things to do tomorrow, if that's okay with you."
She seemed to blush — either her acting was amazing, or she actually liked me that way."Yeah, sure, the day after tomorrow is fine. But what are you doing tomorrow?" Her tone and eyes suddenly turned cold."Tomorrow there's a competition to join the Hephaestus Familia, so I'll try my luck." Now the air around her was freezing. The other waitresses looked at us, but I just tried to focus on my food instead of the killing intent she was giving off.
"Syr! What are you doing slacking off? Get back to work!" — a pan flew at her.Thank you, Mama Mia. Never thought you'd be the one to save me, but I'll take it.
"Sorry, Mia! I'll get back to work!" She scrambled back, tears in her eyes from the hit. Mia walked over to me."Hey you, what did you say to her to put her in that state?" She looked at me with scary eyes."I don't know — I just told her I was going to try to join the Hephaestus Familia tomorrow.""Oh yeah, I heard about that, but I thought you already had a familia.""What makes you think that? I've never had one.""You're serious?" She looked genuinely surprised."Yes, I am," I said, clueless. Maybe she could sense how strong I was — except for that fight with Bete, I hadn't shown any real ability."I understand now." She looked thoughtful for a moment, then walked away.
Getting back to my food, I sometimes felt a cold gaze on my back. I asked Syr for the check."Hey, by the way, does it work for you if I come pick you up at ten a.m. here?""Yeah, sure. Then it's settled — the day after tomorrow, you'll come pick me up at 10 a.m. here, and I'll show you around the city." She looked happy this time. That girl's like a cat — when you say something she doesn't like, she hates you; but give her what she wants, and she's all love. There's no in-between.
With that, I left and got a good night's sleep.
[The next day]
Getting up, I felt excited — time for breakfast and a bit of small-scale, hidden alchemy to pass the time."Hey, system, can you show me my progress, please?"
Nanami 25% → 35%, Senku 45% → 60%, Alphonse 0% → 10%
Yeah, still crazy fast. This is really the best. I'm ready for the competition — this is great.
Walking toward Babel, where the competition will take place, I saw many Hephaestus Familia shops along the way. So many workshops… We'll each be working alone, to avoid teamwork. The competition will last 3 hours, and they'll give us an assignment — some of us will have to make armor pieces, others specific weapons. We'll also make one additional item of our choice to show where our skill lies. The rules are simple: no helping each other, and we can't use anything not given by the examiners.
Walking into the main hall where everyone was gathered, I saw Tsubaki Collbrande, the captain of the familia.
"Hello everyone, welcome to the competition! Everyone, get in line. We'll give you your assignment, then you'll introduce yourself and say what you plan to make. When you're ready, you can go to the back of any of our familia's shops, where one of our members will supervise you. When you're done, they'll judge your work, and if it's good enough, our goddess will judge it herself."
Waiting in line, I decided I'd make a guandao, a Chinese spear — thank you, Senku. It's a good weapon to showcase both Kaseki's habits and my technical skill.
"Hello, my name is Arthur. I'm going to make a guandao.""A guandao?""Yes. A guandao has a sturdy, curved blade, often with a point at the back. Some variations even feature a notch at the top of the blade, designed to catch or hold an opponent's weapon during combat." Thank you again, Senku."And your assignment is… let's see — gauntlets. They need to protect the joints; I don't want you to just cover the immobile parts, okay?""Okay, thank you."
Walking to the back of one of the forges, I met a dwarf."Hello. So, tell me — what are you going to make?" he asked, focused on me."I'm going to make gauntlets and a guandao — a special kind of spear.""Never heard of that. If you need more materials, ask me — I took a small margin just in case.""Thanks, that should be enough."
I got to work on the gauntlets first. Thanks to Senku's knowledge, I already had a design in mind. It was easy enough — they looked like the ones from the Hope Armor in Monster Hunter Wilds, but without the sling. Then, it was time for the guandao. I decided to go for substance over style — a plain-looking weapon, but the sharpest and sturdiest I could make. It took me about two hours to finish both.
"Hey, I'm done. Could you come and check them?""Yeah, sure. Let's see… The gauntlets are pretty good — nothing exceptional, but there's clear savoir-faire. But this thing, whatever you called it — it's really good. Even without enhancement, it's sturdy and sharp. I think our goddess will like it. But I have a question — this weapon seems made more for fighting humans than monsters.""Yeah, the spike on the back of the blade is meant to catch an opponent's weapon during combat.""Oh, I see. Alright, let's bring these to the goddess and see what she says."
Coming out of the workshop, I waited. I saw some people leaving right away — they must have failed. After about an hour and a half, only ten of us remained, including me. Then Tsubaki came back.
"Everyone, the winner is Arthur. The rest, thank you for your time, but you've failed."
"What?!" a tall, well-dressed man shouted angrily. He looked like some noble or someone from a wealthy blacksmithing family — maybe the child of an adventurer with money.
"What are you yelling for? Our goddess made her choice," Tsubaki said coldly. "Arthur, could you come with me to get your falna?"
Following her, the angry guy tried to attack me. I was ready to knock him out, but Tsubaki was faster — she literally launched him twenty meters away. Wow, she's terrifying.
"Let's continue. Follow me."
"Hey Hephy, I got our new recruit," she said, knocking on the door."Come in," a gentle voice replied.
Walking in, two things hit me immediately: first, her — she radiated warmth. Second, the enormous feeling of cursed energy coming from her right eye, hidden beneath her eyepatch.
"Come in, Arthur. You can leave, Tsubaki.""Hello," I said, my tone a bit nervous."Hello to you too. Are you okay? You seem pale.""Nothing serious. If you really want to know, I'll tell you after getting the falna." I mean, she'd know if I lied anyway."Is it something bad? Is this a trap?""No, of course not.""Alright then — take off your shirt and show me your back."
I removed my shirt, and she let a drop of blood fall on my back. Finally — I was an adventurer.
"Wow… Whatever problems you've got, they're worth it. This is a jackpot! Incredible — you already have three skills from the start. Here, let me show you."
Strength: I0Endurance: I0Dexterity: I0Agility: I0Magic: I0
Skills:
Cursed Energy: Grants access to energy born from negative emotions.
Ratio: Allows the user to determine the weak point of a chosen target — the seventh point being the weakest.
Alchemy: Enables transmutation through three core principles: deconstruction, comprehension, and reconstruction.
"And you don't even seem shocked," she said. "So you knew about them? Are they something you inherit, like elves and their innate magic?"
I'd forgotten — some abilities in this world are hereditary, like Crozzo's magic swords."No, they're not inherited. I gained them — and trained for them." It wasn't exactly a lie. I did train to assimilate Kaseki faster, and that led to my alchemy.
"Wow. What makes you so special?" she asked, then smiled slightly. "For now, I can feel you're not ready to tell me, and that's fine. But one day, I'll need to know. Anyway, let's talk about that spear you made — it's excellent. Really impressive for someone without a falna. But your gauntlets… well, not bad, but they're not great either. I'd like you to focus more on armor-making for now.""Of course, Goddess." Kaseki was a genius, but he never made armor, so it made sense."You can settle into one of the lower workshops. You'll make and sell your work there. If it doesn't sell, that's on you. You can enter the dungeon or ask for help from a partner familia to get materials. You can also join other familias' expeditions to reach the lower floors."
She handed me the guandao and gauntlets."Here — take your spear and gauntlets. Settle into your shop. And let's make one thing clear: we have a reputation to uphold, so there are standards. Understood? You can go now — and welcome to the familia."
Walking down the stairs, I looked around until I found my new workshop. It was perfect — big enough, with three rooms: a front room with shelves to display items, a back room with a forge, tools, a window, and a chimney to vent smoke and heat, and finally a small bedroom with a bed, a shelf, and a window.
I smiled. This was it. My new start.
Let's rest a bit, clean up, and then grab something to eat.