The other two swords were no less impressive, but Zu couldn’t deny his attraction to the starsword in particular. The claim that it could cut through anything drew his attention like nothing else. He couldn't resist something that powerful. Even if he did retrieve Fire Twilight death, he may keep the starsword to supplement. It wouldn't ever be a bad thing to have an extra powerful sword around.

Zu didn't want to let the proprietor get away without treating him to the fullest extent of his potential. So he refused to leave until they'd worked out a plan for Zu to take the swords now and repay the man in the future.

He promised to come by every few days with part of the money. Of course, he received a hefty discount, but even for one such as Zu Mari the godsword and starsteel couldn't be given away. He wasn't concerned.

Both were his now and he felt confident there would be plenty of ways to obtain more money in the future. If not, he would try again next loop.

It felt so good being able to rely on Luja Ni and know he was secure. The days when he'd thought the loop was lost to him had been the most stressful and tedious of his life. Having to pretend to be submissive and weak? No. That was not Zu Mari's destiny. He would do better, and then he would do better still.

"You should be aware that those blades require special care," said the blademaster, much more accommodating now that Zu was a paying customer.

Zu's insistence on paying for them himself rather than sending a bill up to the green flame towers had earned him some serious points with the man. As much as he'd love to bill his purchases to his captors, he did want to avoid attracting their notice at least long enough to learn more about the city.

"The godsword will degrade over time unless returned to its sheath," continued the swordsmith. "It requires no less than three hours of every day to retain its strength. The sheath consumes spirit energy and can be recharged at any time, but it requires purified essence of life at least once every three months."

“Sure, no problem. I’m sure I can find that.”

"It must be pure," the blademaster insisted. "Life essence alone will not suffice. Only when it is purified of all taint of mortality will its substance be strong enough to sustain the godsword.”

Zu waved away the concerns. “I’m sure I’ll be able to find someone capable of performing such a purification. Now, the important question. Can I bind this to my soul?”

The blademaster stared at him in bafflement. “What? I must not have heard you correctly.”

“You did. I want to bind the godsword to my soul. The starfire blade too, if possible, but I don’t know if it would work without a spirit.”

“You… want to bind a life-eating blade directly to your soul?”

“Ye-es… is there a reason I wouldn’t? We are to be allies for life, after all.”

“Your life will be very brief indeed if you follow through on this foolish venture.”

Zu shrugged. "I would rather not have to go through this hassle every time I want my sword though. If I can bind it to my soul, things will be much easier."

He could practice retrieving the blade's physical form here, at increasing distances, in order to ascertain what exactly was required in the transition process, and then one day bring Fire Twilight Death to join him as he grew stronger and stronger.

It was a perfect plan. Except that this blade crafter guy thought he knew better than Zu about his own soul. Hah.

"You know the implications of life eating, right?"

"Yes. It will feed on my spirit much as I do my phoenix, and we will live together in unity and strength."

"You are no acolyte of the Green Flame," the blademaster said, eyes narrowing. "Who are you?"

"Zu Mari, traveling... scholar, I suppose you'd call it. I seek enlightenment and ascension, the troubles of this world are only passing trials to forge me into something greater."

"And you want to bind a hungry godsword to your soul."

"Yes. I thought I'd made that clear some time ago."

The blademaster sighed heavily. "I cannot help you bind the weapon until you have paid its cost fully. If you die, I refuse to be responsible for the weapon that did it. It must be entirely clear to anyone watching that it was your blade and your volition to do such an idiotic thing."

"Then I'll return with the full payment and we can do this."

"Four hundred zeples," the swordcrafter reminded him. "Not a snide less."

"That won’t be a problem." Zu bowed, collected his new swords, and departed the shop. The next stop was going to be an important one.

He avoided the main streets and resumed hiding under Shadow's Darkest Secrets Surrounding and made his way through the least wide and bright streets he could find, though all of them were pretty bright.

Not many people were out and about, even for a market district in a city. It seemed that there were dozens of open shops and waiting attendants for a very small number of people. Even the Mari clan, small as it was, had more bustling market days. This place seemed lifeless in comparison. Zu was far from the only shopper, but most of them weren't paying any attention to each other and there was no sense of camaraderie. Each seemed intent on their own goals, without any of the 'us' feeling that would have pervaded a normal town.

No one called out greetings, no one stopped on their way to chat, no one so much as inquired after another's business. The whole thing felt very cold and, well, lifeless.

Zu began to see why Serena was in danger. If these people conquered the world, it would not be peace they left in their wake, but numbness and apathy.

"Don't worry," he promised the goddess, wherever she may be now. "I will kill them all for you."

He didn't know where to start his crusade against the Green Flame, not when even their youngest master could annihilate him with a look, but he was a Mari. He could disappear, and he would destroy.

And now he was armed.

He waited until the shopping began to slow for the evening, lurking by one shop after another, measuring the reaction of the proprietors against his Protagonist Fragment aura. Some seemed unaffected, others began looking around for him almost at once. They could sense his presence and knew they wanted to help him, even if he wasn't traditionally visible.

A useful measure of their willpower. He made note of those who seemed most susceptible, such as the chef he'd visited first, and the glass-worker selling crystalline flowers to the visitors.

There was another who kept looking Zu's direction, but with a decidedly cold gaze. He decided to leave that one well alone. The cold-faced man stood by an unmarked canopy in front of an unmarked shop, whose windows showed only darkness within. Zu wasn't sure what it was about the man and his shop, but though nothing specific stood out to him as a warning signal everything about him came together in a 'noooooo, stay away from that one' vibe which he was not foolish enough to ignore.

He approached the crystal glass-worker instead, who was gently chipping at a hot stone with something like a caliper, creating tiny rifts in the carved piece to mimic the texture of a petal. He looked up when Zu approached, looked around in confusion, then returned to his work.

Zu leaned against the side of his workspace for several minutes, waiting out the duration of Shadow's Darkest Secrets Surrounding.

"Hello good sir," he said politely.

The man looked up, a smile ready to his face. "Ah, hello. I thought I saw you earlier. Welcome. Can I interest you in a flower? All carved by hand, each unique."

"I think not at the moment. I find myself in need of 400 zeples to expedite a small purchase. Could you assist me in obtaining them?"

The man paled a bit. "Fo— four hundred? Why, sir, I suspect you have been played for a fool, the most successful among us would make barely over one hundred in a year's time. How could you have possibly incurred such a debt?"

"It doesn't matter. I need the zeples and I need them today. How do I go about getting them?"

"I... I could lend you fifty. My life savings is another eighty. I suppose you could borrow that as well. My wife wouldn't be pleased with me, but for you... of course, I know this must be very important."

"It is. So you can get me 130. Good. Where can I find the rest?"

The glass-worker shook his head in sad bafflement. "I don't know. Truly, I can think of no solution. The bankers wouldn't give me a loan for twenty, much less three hundred."

"Bankers?" Zu was unfamiliar with the concept.

"They would charge interest," the man said, without explaining himself. "If you could persuade them at all. But they tend to be tight with their money and stingy with their terms."

"That is fine. I can incur whatever interest is necessary. As long as I have the zeples today."

"Then I hope you have better credentials than I. Let's go to the bank. I can get you my savings and introduce you to their loan-master."