CHAPTER 130(Frontier Preperations)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

Discord: https://discord.gg/K7f8qGpvuk

pat.treon:/Keanu_Eugene

CHAPTER START---

Early in the morning on Yang's couch, Welf and Thalie are in their casual clothes watching the looming shadow of Babel stretch across the city below as the sun rises on the other side of the tower.

With a large glass bowl of Crystal Drops on her belly Thalie enjoys the sweet-tasting dungeon candies as she lays across the couch, patiently waiting for their leader.

Sitting at the end of the couch with Thalie's feet on his lap, Welf rests an elbow on the armrest to support his head as he finalizes some changes to his crafting journal.

"Think he forgot?" Welf asks, breaking the peaceful silence.

"Nah, he's probably sleeping in. I'd imagine spending a night with a goddess is exhausting," she gives him a curious look, "right?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Didn't you and Hephaestus have your date yesterday?"

"Yeah but we... we're taking it very slowly, nothing physically intimate until I make something impressive," Welf explains.

"That's so lame, did she at least use the potion?" Thalie rolls her eyes at their hesitation, anyone with eyes could see the care both smiths have for each other.

"Potions, as in two, and no. She said she wasn't sure how she wanted to go about it since it's a one-time-only type thing. That's all she said about it."

"Just make me do all that work for her to choke when she gets it, ugh." Thalie eats another Crystal Drop from the bowl.

"I'm sure she has her reasons," Welf defends his goddess.

At this point, both adventurers turn to look down the hallway as they hear footsteps approaching.

As Thalie sits up and Welf looks over his shoulder they see Freya, her hair slightly messy, wearing a long purple robe hiding her body as she looks at them in confusion.

"Can I help you?" the goddess asks, completely caught off guard by her surprise guests.

As Thalie snickers and lays back down Welf answers for them, "Uh... is Yang awake. Kinda had a team meeting planned."

"Oh, of course," the goddess quickly responds before disappearing back down the hallway.

"She really isn't what I expected," Welf says. Not sure how to process his first encounter with Orario's number one goddess.

"She's a real psycho," Thalie says, "bet she already has her wedding dress picked out."

"She seemed harmless."

"Uh-huh. You thought Hephaestus was harmless too and how'd that turn out," Thalie reminds him.

"Right...maybe I'm just not a good judge of character..."

A few moments later and Freya emerges from the hallways once more, this time wearing some loose-fitting pants and a sweater with her hair obviously brushed, "he'll be out in a minute," she says while taking a single seat across from both adventurers.

"So how was the seafood place?" Thalie asks the goddess as she eats another crystal drop.

"Delightful, how'd you know about our date?"

At this question, Welf answers," Yang told us about it at the team dinner a few days ago. You took him to a high-class seafood restaurant, pretty classy. Guess you both spoil each other huh."

Raising a brow at the question Freya isn't quite sure how to respond, "I don't think we spoil each other, we just enjoy good quality..."

"Uh-huh," Thalie clearly disagrees as she gestures to the bowl of Crystal Drops resting on her belly, "so this isn't your 100 thousand Valis bowl of candy here? Because I know Yang doesn't like sweets."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you sound jealous..." Freya leans forward giving Thalie a scrutinizing look.

"Hate to break it to you but the whole love and romance thing isn't for me. Sex is cool but I've had men and women...doesn't do anything for me. It's just not my life," Thalie says, completely ignoring the blush on Welf's awkward face.

"Oh... so what does it for you, what do you enjoy?" Freya asks.

Sitting up on the couch to give Freya her attention Thalie answers, "I like to train, improve, fight, test myself... shopping. Ya'know, just normal girl stuff."

Releasing a melodic laugh Freya sinks back into her seat and shakes her head in amusement at such an answer, "you would have made a fine Valkyrie, you can be if you'd like," Freya gives Thalie an inviting smile.

"Sorry but I've got enough war gods horny for me, you'll have to keep looking."

Hearing these words Freya gets a thoughtful look on her face as she recalls a certain debate in heaven, "ahh, so you're part of their little bet. Hephaestus really did collects some treasures to put your team together. I was wondering what made you special..."

Thalie's gaze immediately narrows at hearing Freya's words.

"Don't go starting any fights with my team babe," Yang's voice calls out as he enters the room, now wearing some casual clothes as he gives everyone a small smile. "You guys ready?"

"Yeah, just waiting for you to wake up," Welf says and he and Thalie rise from the couch and begin walking toward the door.

Walking over to Freya, Yang quickly leans down to give her a small kiss as he ruffles her hair, "I'll be back in a bit," he says while pulling away.

"Mmmm," she gives him an annoyed pout while trying to fix her hair, "I'll be waiting."

Moments later, Welf and Thalie are sitting around a marble conference table in their official meeting room. Yang stands only a few feet away facing them with a chalkboard at his back as they begin their official planning session.

"Alright," Yang begins, "with the items I brought out of the dungeon yesterday we aren't in any debt, I'm ready to hit the frontier zones, how about you guys?" he asks.

Welf and Thalie look at each other for a moment before they nod in agreement.

"Good, now let's talk preparations," Yang withdraws the documents he received from the guild and drops them onto the table," everything in there is outdated, nobody's been to those floors in well over a decade and the dungeon changed recently, the monsters had a common theme at least, he turns to write one word on the board, "ICE."

"Yeah those floors are all cold right, it's supposed to be a giant frozen wasteland," Thalie says.

"Ice means we need fire," Welf can't help but smile, "sounds perfect for us."

Yang can't help but agree with his friend, "exactly, but we can't be cocky, I want Magic Swords with fire. The monster rex is a giant ice serpent so if we all have fire that's the best approach. But the monsters aren't my biggest worry..."

Raising a brow at him Thalie turns to Welf, only to see that he's just as confused, "then what is?"

"The cold. Balor was heating a massive area but we were fine because our armor is prepared to fight fire. It's good against ice too but that's not our specialty, that's why we need some special items," he turns to the board once more and lists them as he speaks. "Reinforced Salamander Wool tent, that's why I bought all that extra material from Airmid. I've stocked up on frostbite curing potions in case we get hit with something elixirs can't fix. And I want both of you to add more layers of cold protection to your gear."

"That's easy," Welf says. "I've got more than enough material and already got magic swords like what you need. How many you need?"

"Better safe than sorry right, how about at least 20?"

"I can have that done in a week, I've already been making lots of them for practice honestly and with the materials we have, it's just that much easier," Welf admits.

"Alright, how long should everything take?"

"Ten days, give or take a day. Would have been more but the big project is already done," Welf gives Yang the cockiest smile he's ever seen on the smith.

"Nooo," Yang whispers in disbelief.

"Oh yeah, one Supreme Black Switch-Axe, order complete."

"Show me..."

With Welf excitedly leading the way, the adventurers walk through the door connecting their meeting room to the forge. Immediately feeling the warmth of the slumbering forge as they enter.

Looking around they could see the rough stone floor, crates, and boxes stacked on shelves along the walls. Racks of weapons lining the far wall. Orichalcum hammers on hooks alongside other tools.

The massive room was the size of a suite for a reason and the size of the workstation as well as the large stock of materials showed that it was needed space.

The forge was at the back of the room with enough space to fit a few people within, only a magic crystal furnace would be able to heat such a large area at once to such insane temperatures. A privilege only Welf could currently afford.

Following Welf to a table with a heat-resistant treated leather cloth draped over it all the way to the ground, they see a few non-magical weapons laid out. The weapons clearly increased in size from left to right.

"Uh, I don't see it..." Yang says

"I'll get to that, hold this first," Welf hands him a standard sword.

Taking the sword Yang isn't sure where this is going.

"That's 3.5 pounds, standard non-Falna users sword."

"What's the difference?" Yang asks.

"Weight," Thalie answers for him as she takes a closer look at the weapons on the table. "Before Falna using anything above 8 pounds wasn't useful, and even that was pushing it for the largest greatswords, try this," she picks up the greatsword from the table. At 4ft weapon, the blade 10 inches wide and almost a centimeter thick.

Yang casually holds the sword by the handle and gives it a few practice swings.

"That's almost thirty pounds," Welf says. "Without Falna no way in hell can anyone use it, you see where this is going?"

"Yeah, adventuring weapons and regular weapons aren't the same. My adamantite sword is like what 20 pounds right?"

"Just about... but magic swords are inherently heavier because Blacksmiths instill more properties into the material. They literally carry the weight of our will. If your skills don't match what you invision then it shatters, that's why it's rare to find anyone that can make a magic sword bigger than a dagger," Welf explains.

"Didn't know you were so rare..."

"Thanks, but that's not the point here... this is," he says while removing the leather tablecloth from the table.

As the cloth is removed both Thalie and Yang stare with wide eyes at the 'table'.

A 6ft long greataxe, two inches thick, and the head of the axe easily reaching two feet long from the edge of the blade to the back of the weapon where the top half of a greatsword blade rests, the point facing the handle of the weapon. Resting on a metal stand to act as a table, Yang can't help but pass a hand over the smooth black metal, dipping his fingers into the circuit-like grooves on the main shaft of the weapon leading from the handle, passing behind the Trifecta symbol and going all the way to the head of the weapon.

"Wow... never thought I'd see one for real, much less use one..." Yang mutters as he feels the pitch-black weapon.

"Hephaestus's symbol is on the other side, but it's not a growing weapon like ours...sorry," Welf says.

"Then what is it?" Thalie asks, noticing Yang is too preoccupied with ogling the weapon.

"It's basically three magic swords on one handle, they're Durandal but I had to break it up to stop them from tearing themselves apart."

"Ya'know, all weapons are just sticks with extra steps...but that's one sexy stick," Thalie says as she looks at the axe, "can I get one?"

"That's a crude but true way of looking at it...but no. Honestly, I don't even know if this one works," Welf admits.

"What?" Yang's head snaps over to him.

"Pick it up."

"Hmm, ok..." Yang says as he moves to stand by the handle. Placing both hands on the handle he lifts the weapon off the stands and hoists it on his shoulder with no issue, "what next?"

"Hold it out in front of you," Welf says. Seeing where this is going Thalie immediately takes a few steps away from Yang.

As he stretches his arm out the head of the axe pulls him down. The weapon easily outweighs his body and tries to drag him to the ground. The floor gets chipped and cracked as he loses his balance and stumbles forward allowing the axe to hit the ground.

"So it's too heavy?" Yang asks.

"Among other things," Welf says.

"Let me try," Thalie takes the handle from Yang as he steps to the side. With a much wider stance, she lifts the axe up, forced to lean over to keep herself stable. "Yeah, this won't work, what is this, 200 pounds?"

"240 actually, and miracle boy weights maybe 180."

"Yeah, he can't fight if he needs to keep this stance, at best he'd need to keep landing hits to avoid having the momentum drag him all over. If he misses that's it game over. Maybe if he was short he could get away with something like this, that's how Gareth does it. Or just be heavier than the weapon like Ottar," Thalie says as she sets the weapon down on the head.

"Hmmm," Yang recedes into his mind as Thalie and Welf discuss the weapon in question. The woman does a few practice swings and true to her word the weapon takes her off her feet because she doesn't have a target to absorb the momentum. "What if you could fly?" Yang blurts out.

"Huh?" They both look at him confused.

"Look, you can't move in three dimensions but I can. You guys only have forward, backward and your sides. But I can freely move up and down remember, I can use my flight skills to keep myself balanced, that should work right?"

"Hmmm," Thalie thinks it over for a moment, "yeah either flying or anchoring yourself, like digging in with your feet before you swing, you can probably sink into the floor with your magic before using it to hold you in place right?"

"Uh...that's a bit tougher but yeah probably."

"Right, then just get some practice and problem solved," Thalie says.

"Well, not really. That's just the first problem," Welf earns a frown from both his allies this time.

"Alright what is it?"

"In theory, you can channel elements into it to do elemental damage with the physical hits. No range like mine so more like a mix of your magic and Thalie's spear."

"In theory?"

"Right, in order to make it work with your 6 elements I broke the design into three separate pieces, the axe head the sword blade, and the main shaft. It takes magic to move and bind them into place, then it takes magic to actually activate the attack enhancement effect. Then probably more to actually add an element to the attacks."

"So what, the problem is magic?" Yang asks.

"Yeah, it needs more than I even have, at best I can get the blades to move, I can't even get them to touch before I pass out. So if that's how much magic you need just to make it transform, imagine how much you'd need to actually activate it fully," Welf says.

"Ok, so it's just a fancy stick basically. That much magic is just insane for any weapon. For anything at all actually," Thalie says.

"Well," Yang gives them a small smile, "good thing I'm the one using it..."

Focusing his magic, he pours his fire element into the weapon. Unlike Welf, for Yang, the blades immediately move. The axe head slides down the shaft closer to the handle as the sword blade at the back rotates over the top of the main shaft. It extends slightly as it slides down and with a clicking sound, it links together with the axe head to make one 6ft, blue glowing greatsword.

The heat radiating from the weapon caused both Welf and Thalie to takes a few steps backward.

"Wow," Yang says as he admires the weapon, holding his wide low stance he turns it gently before cutting off his magic. With a single click, the blades separate once more and silently slide back into place. Yang's eyes remain wide as saucers during the entire process as he feels a drop of sweat on his forehead. "I actually felt that, I normally can't feel many things draining my magic, but this...holy shit," Yang takes a few deep breaths as he stores the weapon into his inventory, an elated smile on his face.

"Ya'know. For once I actually thought you wouldn't be able to do something, but damn dude..." Welf says in disbelief as he stares at Yang, in awe of someone having that much magic.

"Really glad you're on our team Yang," Thalie says.

"Since this weapon isn't locked to anyone...think anyone has enough magic to even use it?" Yang asks.

Looking at each other Welf and Thalie shrug before she answers, "Nah, you're the only freak that can use that thing....most people either max Strength or Magic, never both."

"huh, fair enough, now I've got 10 days to get used to it..."

END CHAPTER---

Was honestly gonna retcon the Monster Hunter weapon plot because I thought I bit off more than I can chew...glad I didn't :)