The Custom Weapon Mandate
The morning after my emotionally draining, yet level-gaining, dungeon massacre with Lucy, I walked into the S-Class lecture hall feeling utterly exhausted. Kaelen, of course, was impeccably rested and already setting up my customized ergonomic chair and a cup of restorative tea. The air in the classroom was thick with the tension of four overpowered rivals all watching me.
Our teacher for the day, a serious, high-ranking mage, stepped forward. "Good morning, S-Class students. Today, we begin a foundational lesson. In this world, the greatest figures—the Heroes, the Demon Lords, the S-Rank adventurers—do not simply buy their gear. Their weapons are an extension of their soul."
He tapped the board, displaying glowing schematics. "A Hero's weapon must be built with their own mana; a Demon Lord's, with their own magic power. This is the custom weapon mandate."
He explained the core concept: to reach true mastery, a weapon must resonate with the user's highest attributes. The Academy's curriculum included a mandatory course on forging and enchanting, ensuring every S-Class student learned how to customize, if not fully build, their ultimate gear.
"Whether you purchase a base weapon from a store or forge the entire thing yourself, you must integrate your unique mana signature. For that, you will be receiving personalized instruction from a master craftsman."
The Arrival of the S-Rank Dwarf
Just as he finished, a loud, booming knock rattled the heavy oak door. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
The door swung open, and in strode a figure of pure, compact intensity: Grumble Ironhand, a renowned S-Rank Blacksmith whose legendary workshop was said to be powered by a captured volcanic spirit.
"I am Grumble Ironhand!" the dwarf roared, his voice shaking the chalk off the blackboard. "Your professor says you need metal junk to beat demons? Fine! But junk ain't good enough! Everything needs to be forged from the soul out!"
Grumble slapped a rough schematic down on the desk. "This is the process. First, we need the mana signature reading to match the alloys. Second, we need the affinity analysis to choose the right magical core. You spoiled little nobles are useless at the forge, so I'm doing the first step for you!"
Grumble's blazing eyes scanned the room and landed squarely on Lucy.
"That little one," he grunted, pointing his massive, calloused finger at my stoic sister. "You reek of starlight and bloodlust! Yours first! You have the true killer's scent!"
Lucy, completely unemotional, simply stood and walked toward him.
The Cosmic Blacksmith's Shock
Grumble set up a rune-etched anvil and a heavy iron orb for the reading. Lucy placed her hand on the orb, and the resulting reading was instantaneous and terrifying.
The orb didn't just glow; it burst with a blinding white light that looked like a compressed nebula. The runes on the anvil screamed, and a holographic status screen materialized above Lucy's head, displaying a Star-forged Chaos Swordmaster affinity.
"Unpredicted chaos! What the—" Grumble sputtered, his fiery beard actually twitching. "That's not a mana reading! That's a cosmic signature! You need a weapon forged from the very remnants of a dying sun!"
Grumble, thoroughly rattled, waved her away. "Next! The butler! You're clearly channeling power. Let's see your refined junk."
Kaelen stepped forward, his expression of polite serenity unchanged. He placed his pristine white-gloved hand on the orb.
The orb went completely silent. The runes froze. The holographic screen displayed nothing but a shimmering violet void and the words: ERROR: DATA OVERLOAD. SOURCE DETECTED: UNMAINTAINABLE.
Grumble's jaw dropped. "It broke the scanner! I've had gods on this thing! What in the volcanoes are you?!"
Kaelen simply retrieved his hand and bowed. "My apologies, Master Grumble. My current power source is, regrettably, incompatible with local calibration standards. Perhaps I only require a high-quality, silver-plated serving tray."
Grumble, wiping a bead of sweat, looked at me, the last of the powerful students.
"Alright, kid. The Savior of Humanity. You caused that mess at the altar. Let's see your cheat code."
I approached the anvil. I had to reveal just enough power to be a prodigy, but not enough to be a Demi-Cosmic Deity like Kaelen, or a silent killer like Lucy.
I placed my hand on the orb. The device whined, then glowed with a chaotic, shifting aura of electric-blue, shadowy purple, and scarlet.
"A triple affinity!" Grumble yelled, now energized. "Thunder, Shadow, and Chaos! And the core mana reading is... infinite? No, not infinite. It's Triple Infinity, but contained! You're a sealed catastrophe!"
Grumble slammed his hand on the anvil. "I see it! You don't need a sword, boy! You need a pair of Black Thunder Gauntlets to channel your raw energy! And the material needs to be a metal that eats shadows and laughs at thunder!"
My brief hope for a quiet life was officially dead.
The Scholar's Defeat and the Fairy Loan
Grumble was still shouting about Black Thunder Gauntlets. "You need to forge your own core material! With that triple affinity and Triple Infinity mana, you can mold raw energy into the densest metal ever conceived! Do you even know the principles of mana-forging?!"
I don't. But my system does.
I looked across the room at Christopher Silkream, who was watching me with intense, analytical eyes. If I failed to answer, I was subjecting myself to intellectual torment. Time to use the new toy.
I discretely activated my Special Skill (4): Intelligent Fairy Loan. I mentally offered the memory of complex thermodynamics as payment. A ripple of golden light shimmered, and a tiny, translucent sprite materialized right in front of my face.
"Intelligent Fairy Loan at your service, Master," the sprite chirped.
The effect on Christopher was immediate. His golden aura of wisdom suddenly flickered, sputtered, and died. He didn't see me talking to the fairy; he saw the golden shimmer of a legendary skill.
"That is... that is..." Christopher stammered, his analytical mind completely broken. "SSS-Legendary! The highest-tier Intelligent Skill! The one capable of accessing Absolute Knowledge! Only a Supreme Legendary Scholar in a thousand years possessed that skill!" Christopher slumped, utterly defeated. His scholarly purpose had been rendered moot by my casual cheat skill.
The Mana-Forging Lesson
"Never mind the fainting scholar! Tell me the process, boy!" Grumble roared.
I addressed the Intelligent Fairy Loan. "Fairy, explain the precise method of constructing a dense, elemental core material using cosmic-grade mana."
The tiny sprite zipped around my head, relaying complex arcane equations and forging techniques directly into my mind.
"The principle, Master Grumble," I stated, channeling the Fairy's knowledge, "is that since my mana is intrinsically linked to the three unstable cosmic affinities (Thunder, Chaos, and Shadow), I must use the absolute lowest fraction of my mana to stabilize the bond, not destroy the element."
I extended my hand, focusing my Triple Infinity Mana with impossible precision on the absolute bare minimum required for atomic bonding with my cosmic signature.
I used only 0.00000000000000000000001\% of my Triple Infinity Mana.
The system registered the transaction instantly.
\text{Mana Cost} = 9,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 \text{ units}
The raw number was astronomical, representing the total mana equivalent needed to power a thousand suns, but to me, it was a rounding error.
The Birth of the Core and The Cosmic Deception
The effect was instantaneous. From my palm, a chaotic surge of the three affinities—black, scarlet, and electric-blue—erupted and solidified into a dense, crystalline block. It was a heavy, perfectly faceted gemstone humming with contained power.
"The density! The stability! It's absorbing the ambient light! What in the eternal forge is that?!" Grumble shouted.
"It is the core material, Master Grumble," I explained, holding the warm, throbbing core. "A self-stabilizing Shadow-Chaos Thunder Stone."
Grumble started laughing, a deep, booming, delighted sound. "A 'stone' that eats shadows! Boy, you're the real deal! I'll forge those gauntlets myself! This is the most fun I've had in a thousand years!"
I quickly deactivated the Intelligent Fairy Loan. I am so stupid to show off, I silently berated myself, rubbing my temples. My need to avoid Christopher's dissection had led me to casually unleash an SSS-Legendary Skill and create a priceless cosmic artifact. My quiet life is now a weekly performance of escalating cheats.
Grumble led us to his workshop, a sprawling, subterranean cavern filled with roaring furnaces.
"No more talking! We forge now!" Grumble roared. "You, Savior Boy, you forge your own damn gauntlets!"
While the others—even the stone-faced Lucy—began hammering mundane steel, I slipped behind a pillar and activated the Intelligent Fairy Loan again.
"Fairy," I whispered urgently, offering the memory of a perfectly executed katana swing as payment. "I need a normal magical weapon. Something simple, sturdy, and low-key. Nothing fancy, no cosmic powers, nothing that shouts 'I was forged in heaven's inferno,' okay? Just a pair of normal, high-quality focusing gauntlets."
The sprite nodded eagerly. "Understood, Master. A simple, sturdy focusing weapon to maintain your anonymity. I shall teach you the forging technique for an artifact that will perfectly mask your true power."
I felt a wave of relief. Finally, a sensible cheat skill. The Fairy downloaded the instructions: a complex, millennia-old method of folding the Shadow-Chaos Thunder Stone into a dark alloy to create a flawless pair of gauntlets.
I spent the next two hours meticulously channeling my Triple Infinity Mana to bind the cosmic gemstone into the metal, ensuring the resulting armor was dense, sleek, and utterly normal-looking. When I finished, I held a pair of black, matte gauntlets with a faint violet trim—perfect for a powerful decoy.
I've been tricked, I realized, looking closer at the faint, unsettling violet trim.
Excalibur Karma: The Butler's Nightmare
As I examined the gauntlets, a title screen I hadn't summoned flashed over the finished weapon:
Category Gauntlets (Concealed Form)
Name Excalibur Karma (Gauntlets)
Title The Holder of the Galaxy, The Cosmic Destroyer, Black Hole Creator
Status
Defense 70,000,000
Attack 90,000,000
Skill Depends on User Skill (Scales with Triple Infinity Mana)
I stared at the attack and defense stats. Seventy and ninety million. This wasn't a normal magical weapon; this was a divine and demonic weapon designed for cosmic-level annihilation, masked as elegant gloves.
"It's not a fairy!" I cried out, grabbing my head and sinking to my knees in the soot. "It's the devil wearing the mask of a fairy! I asked for a mask! Not a planet-destroying fashion statement!" I was utterly and loudly crying, but the tears were the dry, wracking sobs of emotional exhaustion.
The Inspection and the Final Shock
My sudden, uncharacteristic despair immediately drew the attention of the entire room.
"Brother! What's wrong?" Lucy asked, gliding over.
"Leon, did the heat damage your structural integrity?" Christopher asked, rushing over, his scholarly panic now replaced with simple human concern.
Jenny, fully recovered, rushed forward. "Did the Dwarf insult you? I'll challenge him!"
They all gathered around me, their eyes falling on the sleek, black, utterly inconspicuous gauntlets.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Jenny demanded. "They look like perfectly standard, high-quality focusing gauntlets."
"No! Look closer!" I screamed, pointing at the stats that only I could see. "This is a Black Hole Creator! It's Excalibur Karma!"
As they crowded around, the gauntlets pulsed faintly with a deep violet light. The light was enough to trigger a collective response from the S-Class students.
Lucy's eyes narrowed, sensing the overwhelming power signature. Jenny took a sharp step back, the lightning around her fingers dying down in pure, instinctive fear. "That's not just a weapon," she whispered. "That's power itself. It feels... wrong."
Mariana's dark aura retracted slightly, recognizing a tool of destruction far beyond a mere Demon Lord.
Even Grumble Ironhand dropped his hammer with a thunderous CLANG.
"By the volcanic core of my ancestors," Grumble whispered, stepping forward with reverence. "The boy didn't forge gauntlets. He forged a Law. That thing could punch a hole through the veil of reality!"
The sheer, overwhelming scale of my cheat artifact had silenced the entire room. I was left clutching my head, weeping dry tears of despair.
My quiet life is truly dead. I'm now forced to walk around with two little black hole generators on my hands.