Chapter 39

"Alright, gather up everyone!" A man who looked like a well-built man, and whose face also seemed a bit off, yelled from the center of the room.

"My name is Arnold, I'm the instructor in charge of the forging club."

"For all of you who have come from the fights, wait until I hold up your weapon then you can come up and tell me what you will want to change about it. You have two choices, I can add mana lines for your affinity, or I can make them more durable." he said before grabbing a pair of daggers and lifting them up. "Get up here Tom. I recognize these blades."

'Oh, that's what was off. Arnold doesn't have any eyebrows. How did I miss that?' Alex thought as he realized what was off.

He watched as Tom told Arnold what he wanted to do. Arnold nodded and handed the weapon to one of the members of his club and they nodded as he told them what to do.

One by one the rest of the students left as they watched their weapons go into different forges to heat up.

"You two must be Alex and Taylor." Arnold said to the two students that remained.

"You two are lucky, Daniel has been building a fund for those who would defeat him. So tell me, what would your ideal weapons be like?" Arnold asked.

"You mean we get to pick what we want to change?" Taylor asked.

"Anything within the realm of possibility will do. Now don't go spouting anything about laser weapons either." Arnold answered.

Taylor smiled as he stopped himself from saying what he was about to say. "I'll get both options that the others were given. How durable can you make them?"

"For now, the best I can do is Enriched Titanium. It's found near strong beasts with the earth affinity. It'll be harder to work with but it's still possible."

Taylor nodded in confirmation. "That will work."

Alex looked at the chain blades. 'What would I want to be changed about them? It is good that I've already thought about this. Heavier blades and lighter chains, but not just any chains, hopefully, he doesn't laugh at this question.'

"And you?" Arnold said as he looked over to Alex.

"Heavy scythes." Alex paused before asking.

"Do you know those training dummies in the public training rooms?" Alex asked the instructor.

Arnold smiled as he understood where this question was going.

"You want to know if the chains could be replaced with that material?"

Alex nodded. With the elastic properties, he would be able to attack with both scythes and not worry about one not being able to reach his opponent.

"While the material is hard to work with, it is still within the realm of possibility. I won't be able to place any mana lines within it as that would ruin its integrity and the chain would be significantly more brittle."

Alex nodded the ups were greater than the downs.

Arnold walked off as he went to grab some materials. "Grab one of the extra dummies from the storage rooms." He told a student as he went to a back room and came back with a crate filled with metal.

"This heavy enough?" He said as he tossed Alex a chunk of metal.

Alex caught the chunk without too much trouble, surprising the instructor. "What is this?" Alex asked.

"Enriched Tungsten. Heaviest and most stable metal for a weapon." He said before pausing. "From earth that is, I've heard of a few rare metals coming along with tides of beasts. Never got my hand on any so no asking for any."

Alex tossed the chunk of metal back. "This is perfect, thank you."

A student came by carrying a dummy that was covered in scorch marks. "Will this do?" He asked the instructor.

Arnold inspected the dummy closely. "This will work."

He set it aside as he removed the blades and hilt from Taylor's sword with his hammer he tossed the chunk of titanium into a furnace.

Alex watched as he infused his hammer with earth mana. Arnold's arms flexed as the hammer became heavier. The strong man struggled to hold the hammer that he beforehand held like a twig.

He pulled out a bright piece of metal from the furnace swinging the hammer and shaping the tough metal like dough.

Bright sparks flew from the hot titanium every time he smacked it.

Before long the once large chunk of metal was gone. Some of the material had split off in sparks, and Arnold had just enough left to complete the blade and hilt.

Arnold sharpened the weapon before he began putting it into a liquid next to him.

Alex watched the process in awe.

Arnold left the two as he went to finish the weapon up. He came back a few minutes later with a shiny new sword that had lines running throughout it.

He handed the weapon to Taylor.

Taylor put his energy into the blade, it hummed as the light began congregating in a thin line of light that was seen visible on the edge of the blade. Taylor held the blade up to his sleeve, the sharp edge cut through his sleeve easily.

Arnold smiled and grabbed a handmade pair of scissors. He summoned a flame in his hand holding it over a part of the dummy.

Slowly the flame grew hotter and hotter. After a bit, Arnold poked the dummy with the scissors, they didn't go through. He increased the heat even more and repeated the process.

Eventually, the scissors went through the material like a knife through butter. Alex could feel the heat radiating from the flame in Arnold's hand.

He watched as he slowly cut out a strip of the material. Arnold took the strip and put it into a hollow circular bronze pole. Struggling as it didn't seem like it would fit. He then heated up the pole, the previously square strip slowly took the same shape as the pole.

Arnold took some giant shears and cut the pole into equal parts. He heated the first piece up before sticking it into a machine. The elastic material covered in bronze came out of the machine now in circular shape he heated up a second before sending it through. It came out and was sent through the first one becoming the second link in the chain. This continued until the chain was as long as the old one.

Arnold left for a few minutes and returned with a new chain. He set it down before beginning on the scythes.

——————

Alex grabbed his new weapon and gave it a swing. The scythe flew far before being pulled back at a faster speed. Alex reached out and caught the handle.

'It's very good.' He thought as he caught the heavy handle. The impact had pushed him back slightly.

"Do you think they'll let us fight a master class beast today?" Alex asked Taylor.

"I sure hope they do." Alex said. "Why don't we ask them their weapons will be done soon?"

Arnold watched as the two strange students walked away. 'It's always strange to be able to watch young potential blossom. These two will turn out to be very powerful in the future.'

"Arnold was able to complete such complicated modifications in a fraction of the time that it took the members to do it." Taylor said while staring at his sword.

"Such is the difference between a master and a beginner. Let's be quiet this guy is still working on Tom's daggers." Alex said as he got closer.

The person at the forge looked left and right before speaking up. "If you are talking about me, I am a girl."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Alex said as he realized his mistake.

"Don't worry about it. You're not the first, and I'm guessing you're not gonna be the last. Tom over here has done it multiple times over the years. My name's Tabitha by the way." She said in between swings of her hammer.

"I'm Alex, and this is Taylor." Alex said after the embarrassment left him.

Tabitha's hair was on the shorter side and she was definitely taller than Alex. The baggy uniform that the forging club wore didn't help when hiding her figure either.

Alex had realized that he was wrong when he had seen her face. While she seemed to be male from other perspectives her face was very beautiful.

"I know. In fact, there may not be a student in our school who doesn't know your names. My younger sister tells me that you two have many secret admirers among your peers." She said with a chuckle.

"We do?" Taylor asked. "Oh, they are secret so I wasn't supposed to know."

Tabitha laughed at Taylor's airheadedness.

"Surprisingly she doesn't know that you two are the strongest mages in your year group. They only know you two as the 'avatars of light and dark.' She says that Alex only speaks to a few people and is considered super smart while you are way too talkative and a bit of an airhead." She said while she lifted the daggers to inspect them.

"They definitely got that right." Tom said as he heard that.

"Hey, I'm not an airhead I've got perfect grades so far. If you take out anything that doesn't have a perfect grade that is." Taylor replied, saying the second half in a lower voice.

"I'll be right back, your daggers are nearly done." Tabitha said as she left the forging area.

"You gonna ask him, or am I gonna have to do it?" Alex whispered to Taylor.

"You do it, he will say yes if you ask." Taylor whispered back.

"What are you two whispering about?" Tom asked.

Taylor looked at Alex with pleading eyes.

Alex spoke up. "Can we hunt a Master class beast today? We really want to try out our new weapons."

Tom smiled as he watched Alex ask for something like a child.

"What's the magic word?" Tom asked.

"Eh?" Alex paused. "Do you know any magic words?" He said as he turned to Taylor.

Taylor looked Tom dead in the eye before saying. "Pretty please."

Tom laughed at the actions of the two freshmen. "I will speak with James, most likely he will have you test them on an Expert class beast first before you go up against a Master class beast."

"See I told you he would say yes if you asked." Taylor said as his excitement grew.

"I'm pretty sure what he gave us was a maybe, it all depends on what James says." Alex said calming the excited kid down.

"Here are your daggers." Tabitha said as she walked back. "Be sure to visit me again Tom. See you two around."

The three said their farewells as they went to their respective clubs.

——————

"Alright you draw it to me and I'll take it out." Alex said as he and Taylor planned how to take out the wolf in front of them.

"I've got a better idea you draw it towards me and I'll take it out." Taylor said in reply.

"Too late you have already done your job." Alex said as he noticed the wolf was headed in their direction.

"Oh, crap." Taylor said as he quickly pulled up his sword.

Alex had already swung out a scythe. It embedded itself deeply in the wolf's side. Alex raised his feet from the ground and was pulled towards the wolf by the new chain. The beast, that was attempting to remove the blade from its side, felt the pressure from the blade lessen as the chains pull on the scythe lessened.

It didn't even realize that the human had already reached it. Alex swung the other scythe and ended the wolf's life.

"Oh come on! you see that James, way too easy we need a Master class beast." Taylor said as the fight was already over before he had even swung his sword.

The two captains whispered for a moment.

"We have just the perfect hunt for you." James said as he pulled out a map.

"What do you two think about tangoing with a big crab?" He said as he looked at the two freshmen.