She?

Chapter 56: She?

"Where are we going?" Kalon asked with confusion as Igris guided him through the kitchen and then down a set of stairs into the tavern's basement. Kalon felt a little nervous, but he knew that Roah wouldn't put him in the care of anyone who would harm him.

"Well, since you feel upset about Roah not being here, we are going to turn your emotions into motivation. It's easy. I used to do it a lot when I was younger. It's how I rose through the ranks faster than everyone else my age. I think it might be good for you if you learnt it too." Igris explained as they both descended into darkness.

Kalon tried his best to look around, but it was simply too dark for him to see anything until the sound of a metal hinge opening up squeaked through the room as Igris pulled out a lighter to illuminate the room before holding it against the wall and lit a candle that hung from it.

'He just created fire from his hands. How is that possible? Is that the ability of a caster?' Kalon wondered as he had never seen a lighter before and let alone someone summon fire from their hands. He had heard stories about it.

"Okay, let me just get everything ready. And I need to get your sword don't I? Roah gave it to me since civilians can't carry them within the city. She thought it was best if I looked after it until we head to Fission academy later on." Igris explained before now walking through the dimly lit room to a large metal door on the opposite side and pulling a key out from his jacket pocket and then unlocking it.

He pulled open the door to reveal another void of darkness before yet again lighting a candle within. The room suddenly lit up as metal reflected the light all around as it bounced off the surface of hundreds of swords.

Kalon was amazed by the sheer amount of swords within the room. There were many different shapes and sizes and even various coloured blades since they were made from different materials. But as he looked around, he saw the most impressive one right in the middle of the room on a stand that held the sword horizontally.

The blade was a dark red colour and looked as though it absorbed the light around it. There was a faint feeling of anger that seemed to emerge from the blade as Kalon looked at it, and it made him take a few steps back. The hilt was gold, with the scabbard being a dark brown wood finish.

It looked both refined and elegant with no sign of any forging marks. It seemed as though its creation was perfect. And for someone who didn't know a lot about swords, even Kalon could understand that it was a sight to behold.

"Here it is," Igris called out as he turned to his left and pulled Kalons sword out of a wooden rack and then held it up to the light.

"Looks like you absorbed all of the oil I rubbed on you last night. You're quite a thirsty one, aren't you" Igris looked down at the sword and spoke to it as though it was a person. It seemed a little strange to Kalon, who was watching from afar, but it was by far not the most bizarre thing he had seen.

"You have quite the amazing sword, you know? I have only seen craftsmanship like this from the Chaotic Sword Sect. But she seems to be a lot older than their sect." Igris said as he ran his finger along the edge of the blade. To Kalon, it seemed as though he could read the sword-like someone would read a book. He seemed to understand everything about it with just a single touch. But only a single word he said left a mark on Kalon.

"She?" He asked with a confused expression. He wasn't sure if he was just making things up, or swords could, in fact, be male or female.

"Yeah, Your sword gives off very feminine energy. It's a feeling of love and compassion but also tenderness, much like a woman would give to her child. So, therefore, I can tell that a woman forged this sword." Igris said with a smile as he showed off his skills at being able to read a sword just by feel.

"Really? How do you know that? Is it Qi?" Kalon asked excitedly. It wasn't a very practical skill, but he knew that it would be nice to know information about his weapons from just a touch. But he wasn't sure if he could learn it or not.

"Qi? No, It's nothing like that. When I was younger, I was a blacksmith, that's all. It's a relatively easy skill to pick up if you are working with metal all day. You see that sword with the red blade over there? That's my pride and glory as a blacksmith. But it was also my downfall as a cultivator.

He was quite the aggressive chunk of metal and ended up sucking out a third of my soul during the forging process. I didn't expect that my hobby would ruin my job. But that's in the past now. Anyway, make sure you look after her. She is around five thousand years old and a little bit fragile from weathering.

I will give you some things to care for your blades later. But for now, attack that dummy behind you." Igris told Kalon a bit about his life and then ordered him to fight a training dummy in the corner of the room before flipping the sword in his hands and presenting the hilt to Kalon while holding the tip of the blade.

"Okay?" Kalon replied with a look of confusion. He didn't understand how attacking a training dummy would make him feel better. But now that he had been with Igris for a while, he seemed to have calmed down and was no longer upset about Roah leaving him behind.

Kalon took his sword back from Igris and then walked towards the training dummy and widened his stance while pointing the tip of the blade towards the head of the dummy and tensed the muscles in his arms to warm his muscles slightly before slashing towards the neck of the dummy as hard as he could.