Crossing the Limit

Everyone reaches his limit at some point and finds himself at an impasse. You shouldn`t fear it, for it is inevitable. In such a case, one must try with all one's strength to break through the barrier and move on.

Often it takes one step, one small step to cross the line that separates you from reaching new heights, and Evan took that step. The moment of entering the "Gust", the explosion and the devastating beam, it's all a small but extremely important step.

Sure, Evan hadn`t reach the first stage of "Awareness" in "Magic Missile," but he now knew where he's going and, most importantly, he could step forward. Evan continued casting "Magic Missile", regardless of his condition.

He wasted every last drop of mana, and then began to create. That's how the first, second, and third day went. By the fourth day, most of the burns on Evan's body were gone, and the wall in the lab had sustained serious damage from countless explosions.

By the fourth day, Evan could see the results of his training: compared to the results before he got into the "Gust", the beam became denser and the blast more powerful. Evan was slowly but surely getting closer to his goal. He was now certain that he could reach the first stage of "Awareness" before the tournament began.

On the fifth day, Evan stopped his training. Something very intriguing awaited him, namely, Sitreg`s work. Evan had used many weapons in his past life, but there were some that he particularly liked. One such weapon Evan had ordered from Sitreg.

After taking a shower, Evan headed to Sitreg's forge. By now, all the effects of the "Magic Missile" detonation had been completely gone. His hands were safe and sound, and there was no trace of the burns.

Evan had bought a simple green apple on his way out and while enjoying it, opened the door of the forge.

"Old man, was there a typhoon here?" Evan said in amazement.

The last time he had brought Sitreg materials, the forge had been perfectly clean. Now it was the opposite. There was soot everywhere, the tools and debris were scattered all over the floor. Moreover, in the corner of the forge there were empty bottles of alcohol that were obviously unnecessary for the work.

In the corner of the room next to the anvil was Sitreg, sitting in a chair and reading a newspaper as if nothing had happened. Hearing Evan's voice the blacksmith immediately perked up.

"Oh, Evan! You`re just in time. I barely had time to finish everything last night. Sorry about the mess, but I guess you didn't come here to check how tidy I am." Sitreg said tiredly, putting the paper aside.

Evan nodded.

"We both know what I`ve come here for today. Show me what you`ve forged for me!" Evan wanted to see Sitreg's work as soon as possible.

"Okay. I'll bring it now, wait here." Sitreg got up and went into the next room, kicking the garbage.

A minute later, he returned with a long object wrapped in a thick cloth. With a smile on his face, Sitreg handed it to Evan.

Evan instantly removed the cloth and saw his order, his coveted weapon.

It was a long spear of "Black Iron". The weapon itself had beautiful and unusual carvings, from top to bottom. The tip of the spear was a polished "Cave Troll Crystal". Around the spear, from its base to the crystal, was a thin, crimson stem of "Bloody Perversity". The spear looked deadly and impressive.

Without saying anything, Evan smiled, gripped the spear tighter in his hands, and made several lunges into the air. His movements were smooth and precise, although in fact Evan could not be called the "Master of the Spear".

Sitreg was pleased with his work, and for good reason. It was the most challenging and interesting thing he had ever done in his life. One might ask, how could a simple spear be Sitreg's best creation? It's simple - it wasn't just a spear.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, old man, and you're really good. The weapon lies in my hand like it was made for me." Evan noted with satisfaction.

"Well, it was really made especially for you. Since you like it so much, don't you think it's time to get to the fun part?" Sitreg said with anticipation.

The young man nodded and said: "I agree."

Click.

Suddenly there was the sound of gears working and a perfectly straight, snow-white blade protruded from the spear. Now it was no longer a spear, but a scythe. As it was not hard to guess, the blade was made from the "Sacred Deer`s Horn".

Sitreg had spent a great deal of time to properly polish, machine, and sharpen it. Sitreg's goal was to make the blade perfectly flat so that it could completely hide in the spear, and he`d succeeded a hundred percent.

What's more, the gears were made of "Rain Steel", which moved the whole mechanism. The oil of "Volcanic Flower" and 'Amber Powder" gave it stability. One moment it was a spear, and the next moment it was a scythe.

At the moment, Evan was holding a scythe as black as the abyss with a glowing, blue tip and a snow-white blade. The crimson stem of the Bloody Perversity"" gave the weapon an unusual appearance.

Evan gripped the scythe tighter, and at the same moment, Sitreg felt a peculiar aura from the young man. When Evan had the spear in his hands, Sitreg felt nothing and simply watched his attacks, but now it was different. It seemed as if Evan had used the scythe hundreds and thousands of times on the battlefield before.

Evan adored scythes and used them skilfully.

<Good weight and balance. Sitreg did a good job. Now would be time to check it out in action> Evan thought to himself and held the scythe high up.

Swing.

The next moment Evan swung the scythe from top to bottom in a flash. The action was simple, but deadly. Sitreg could even hear the air being slashed by the white blade.

After his attack, Evan took another look at the scythe then laughed out loud:

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, that's great! It's been a long time since I've experienced anything like this! It seems like a lifetime has passed."

Whoosh.

The next moment Evan started waving his scythe nonstop. Sitreg tried to calm him down, but the young man just couldn't hear him. Evan was in a real euphoria, he just wanted to wave his scythe as fast as possible.

Whoosh.

Suddenly Evan's "Warp" started spinning and mana was gathering in his hand. Evan was casting the "Ice Veil" and wanted to see what would come out of it.

Normally when you use "Ice Veil" the entire weapon is covered in a layer of ice, but this was a little different now.

<А? >. To Evan's surprise, the ice did not begin to spread across the base of the scythe. All of the ice was taken up by the stem of the "Bloody Perversity". It covered itself in ice after which it transferred it to the blue crystal and the white blade.

The point was that, unlike the base, made of "Black Iron", the "Bloody Perversity" stem, the "Cave Troll Crystal", and the "Sacred Deer's Horn" could conduct mana.

It could be said that Evan's scythe was partly a "Catalyst," though initially that wasn`t his goal. Evan was pleasantly surprised by this discovery.

Evan looked at the ice-blue covered white blade, smiled, and gripped the scythe tighter.

Whoosh.

The next moment he swung the scythe and without even knowing it, split part of the Sitreg`s forge, causing it to collapse.