The Marks of Fate

[Arius POV]

After a few minutes of walking, we arrive at a building on the far side of the city. It was a small house with a shop built on the first floor. With a few dusty windows, the shop had a wooden sign hanging above the old door.

"The Marks of Fate? This place has a weird name."

"I was quite ambitious when I first came to this city. Come on let's go in."

Pulling out a key from his back pocket, the old man opens the door of the store and walks inside. Immediately after walking inside, I feel a waft of dusty air as I look around the store. The shelf was mostly empty with only a few items here or there. There was a thick layer of dust everywhere with a couple of thick spider webs visible in the corners of the room. For the few items that were on display, they were well kept without a single speck of dust upon them.

"Old grampa, why is it so messy here?"

"Business hasn't been great. Also, don't call me old grampa, my name is Edward."

"Ok, Grampa Edward, my name is Arius if you want to know!"

Walking through the store, I follow Edward as he headed up a set of stairs. Opening another door, I'm greeted by a messy workshop

Walking in, I see many broken tools and papers all over the ground and tables. Walking over the many pieces of debris on the floor, Grampa Edward opens a window highlighting the sheer amount of things within the room.

Pulling a clothe over a table, Grampa Edward reveals a small shield with a distinct mark.

"Grampa Edward, what is that?"

"Nothing much, a small project that I've been working on from time to time."

As Edward was talking, he started looking around a few shelves of stuff. While he was busy, I pick up the shield and trace my finger over the subtle engraving on it. Out of curiosity, I decided to give it a flick with my fingers

Ting! TONG!

As soon as my finger hit the shield, I hear my initial impact before a much larger sound gets produced by the shield.

"Woah!"

"Watch out kiddo. I was researching an engraving that will amplify an attack and return it to the attacker. It didn't turn out how I wanted it to. It just returns a large sound instead."

"That was all caused by an engravement, wow!"

"Amazed right? I was in your shoes many years ago, I was amazed and even now, it's still just as magical."

After he finished talking, Old Edward pulls a box from a shelf and sets it on the table.

Thump!

"Alright. Don't mind that item for now. Place that dagger on the table for now. I'll show the amazing world of engravement."

Rummaging in the box, Edward pulls out two bags and a super small blade that was attached to a stick. Placing them on the table, he puts on a single lens over his eyes and turns on a lamp.

"Grampa Edward, what are all these things?"

Opening the first bag, I look inside to see a familiar type of dust. Fonotavic Dust.

"Since you are a craftsman, you should know what Fonotavic dust is. A simple mana dust that is used for engraving. This dust softens the dagger to allow me to carve my engraving on it. It also ensures that the dagger won't get too damaged in the process."

"What about this second bag?"

Looking inside the other bag, I didn't recognize the stuff inside. It was also a bag of dust but looked like pieces of rocks, all plain and grey.

"That's some Depleted Fonotavic Dust. It's like the opposite of the stuff in the first bag. It will reverse the effects of the Fonotavic Dust and harden the dagger again."

As he continued to talk, Edward sat down in the chair and began examining the dagger, looking at the dagger through the lens on his eye.

"My, this is truly one beautiful dagger. The craftsmanship is amazing. Young man, you should be proud."

"Thanks, Gramps!"

I had a beaming smile on my face from the compliment as I observed Edward from the side. As he continued to look at the dagger, I see his hand start to move across the desk before reaching into the bag and taking a handful of Fonotavic Dust. Then he begins to slowly sprinkle the dust all over a certain area of the dagger. Rubbing the area around, I slowly see the dust disappear, leaving not a mark behind.

Out of curiosity, I activate my spectacles and see that the area where the Fonotavic Dust was applied was glowing with a lot of mana. It was like a hole that was releasing all the mana inside the blade.

Before I could get a better look, Grampa Edward quickly flips the dagger over and begins slowly carving into the dagger on the opposite side of the mana hole. Looking at the small blade he was using, it was coated in man making it as sharp as a needle. It cut into my dagger like me eating chicken.

Slowly but surely, I see Grampa Edward slowly make more and more cuts into the dagger until it formed a beautiful pattern within the area.

"Done."

Placing his blade down and taking off his lens, Grampa Edward turns the blade around revealing the hole once again. Taking some of the depleted Fonotavic Dust, he once again sprinkles it on the blade and rubs it in the area. Through my spectacles, I see mana rushing back into the hole as it slowly disappears.

Once it was all over, I see the blade emitting its normal blue colour but there were hints of yellow inside it as well.

"Phew, that was tiring."

Placing the dagger down, Grampa Edward gets up and stretches before drinking from a cup nearby.

"What engraving did you do?"

"I said I'll do the best for you, the engravement I put on there would be best described as corruption."

Hearing a lightning strike in my head, I see Grampa Edward casually drink from his cup. In my fright, I quickly scurried away from the dagger on the table.

"C-c-corruption?!! That sounds super scary!"

"Ha HA ha ha!"

With my terrified voice, Grampa Edward burst into laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha! You don't have to be so scared. I simply named it corruption but it is nowhere on that level of terror. It's just an engraving I designed myself. It's just an engraving of laceration along with an engraving of anti-heal, all in one. So just don't touch the edge or I'll need to bring you to the church to remove the effects of the engraving."

"A-Alright, ha ha."

After giving a dry laugh, I carefully grab the dagger by the handle and wrap it back in the piece of leather. Hanging it on my waist, I once again look around the messy workshop with a newfound curiosity. As the scenes of engraving, I witnessed played in my head, I couldn't help but to delve into it right now.

"Um, Grampa-"

"HEY, OLD MAN GET DOWN HERE!!"

Just as I was about to ask Grampa Edward, I was rudely interrupted by the yell from below us. Just from the tone of the yeah, I could tell that the person wasn't going to be nice. I see Granpa Edward get up and head downstairs with eyebrows nit in anger.

"What is it? The store isn't open at this hour, please leav- oof!"

Following Grampa Edward downstairs, I see him exclaim as he gets pushed back off his feet. Catching him, I get my first look at the attacker, a guard in full body armour wearing a familiar symbol.

"What do you want?! How can you attack a civilian like that?"

"He got what he deserves. Lord Kaiser has seen the performance of this shop. He wants you to move out within the next week so that a more useful shop can here."

"What! How can he kick Grampa Edward out like that?"

"Ha, he controls the rules so, of course, he can!"

Seeing the guard laugh at me, I feel my blood boil. How can that guy treat his people like that?!

"That-"

"ARIUS! That's enough."

Just as I go to yell at the guard some more, Grampa Edward interrupts me and slowly gets back up.

"And what if I don't, the Kingdom's laws state that you can't kill me. What could you do?!"

"We certainly can't kill you but Lord Kaiser already has a plan. You may have nothing to lose, but we know a certain someone who could."

"Ark! You bastard!"

"Ha HA HA, well, just remember to move out."

As Grampa Edward seemed stumped by what the guard said, I was nearing my limit. I was gritting my teeth and balling my fists so hard. Hearing the guard laugh, he starts to leave.

"WAIT!"

"What, Kid?"

"We'll get better. Since we're getting kicked out due to performance then we'll just get better and show that Kaiser that he's wrong!"

"Ha Ha HA HA! I've heard that too many times! And guess how many times it worked. ZERO! See you guys in a week."

I felt my body shaking as the guard continued walking away laughing. I'm definitely going to prove that guard and Kaiser wrong, I'll do it! I'll Do IT!

"Arius, why bother helping this out-of-touch old man?"

"Because I want to! I don't like Kaiser! I want to prove him wrong! And most of all, I want to see more engraving!"

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Dakra's Fun Fact: Durability is something that almost every item has. Normal items with no mana have durability based on hardness, tensile strength and stuff like that. For items that contain man, ranked items, their durability is measured based on mana. Every use of an item will reduce the amount of mana present within the item. There are of course ways of replenishing the mana but should it reach zero, the item will become brittle and weak for it's the mana that gives it strength.

The difference between 1 durability and 0 happens in an instant