Chapter 74: A Blade Within

“The winner, Edwin Fenwar!”

The cheers of the crowd poured over the Colosseum as the tournament finally ended. The winner, as expected was the strongest eighth year student. With the absence of the strongest batch of students last year, many attempted to test their mettle and thus, the tournament days reached the final days of the month.

Windle and Lia sat within the stands as they watched the final match.

“That senior is skilled! Good thing he’ll be gone next year,” Windle said.

“I agree. If I remember correctly, last year he reached top 32 despite being short as well,” Lia added

“Speaking of which, I hope Teo doesn’t forget that combat classes start tomorrow.”

“Is he even serious about this? *sigh* He’s been locked up in his room for almost a month now..”

Since the third day of the tournament, Teo rarely left his cave. Aside from eating with Lia and Windle, he mysteriously avoided going outside.

—–

With the cover of the moonlight, Teo circulated his Qi with the attributes within his blood. Elemental energy swirled into his body like an inescapable vortex. As it enter his body, like a phantom, they disappear without a trace. Much like his Qi, it was undetectable underneath his skin.

His breath returned to normal as his eyes slowly opened. His eyes unhindered, without the light of his [God’s Eyes], he looked at the elemental energy that were slowly dissipating.

‘I still need to gather more elemental energy, but this amount should be still useful enough.’

During the past 27 days, Teo had focused on mastering his Sensing stage. During the 13th day, with the help of the inner world, he completely mastered them. Before the old man had endowed his eyes with the [God’s Eyes] array, Teo’s mastery of these stages were almost complete, but because of the convenience of the [God’s Eyes], he completely stopped mastering them.

The only reason he returned mastering them once again was the fear of his [God’s Eyes] failing in the future. Since his defensive array suddenly stopped working, he prepared for the worst and mastered his Sensing stages.

After the 13th stage, he moved onto the Gathering stage. The thick world Qi within the inner world helped him greatly in accumulating elemental energy. During the last 14 days, he had absorbed enough elemental energy to be of some use.

Teo knew his weakness, his speed was not that great, nor was his strength. His only way of winning before was by relying on the old man Cien’s arrays, but now, he decided to only rely on his own power.

Without much hesitation, Teo quickly jumped into the pond and headed for the Emerald Road.

—–

The streets were empty like a ghost town. The many patrons and visitors that usually flooded them were watching the final matches of the tournament. Thus, only the shopkeepers and a few others were in the vicinity.

One store after another Teo hunted for a new weapon. His attack power was lacking, and despite taking a liking to his short dual sticks, he knew that the fastest way to increase his power was to get a new weapon.

He did not consider any other weapons that required two hands to handle. The best choice he had were daggers or short swords. As for long swords, he did not bother with them. Although he was in his growth period, a long sword would be too long for him to wield properly.

‘This one doesn’t feel right,’ he thought as he swung a short sword.

He tried about 14 stores, even the Emerald Pavilion’s wares did not satisfy him. He considered some that had potential, but he refused to make a decision until after checking all possible stores.

After looking through most of the shops, Teo found an old looking store. If not for the sign in front, Teo would not consider this small shop as one to sell weapons.

-Ring Ring Ring-

A bell rang as he entered the shop. The place was dark as only a single window illuminated it from the outside.

Teo looked around but found no one at the counter. There were only a few armor and weapons up for display.

He walked up into a rack of swords and found the quality to be quite exceptional. Despite the accumulation of dust on top of the tables, he found that the weapons were well maintained. After trying every sword within these racks, Teo was still not satisfied.

*Sigh*

As he was about to walk outside, he noticed a few swords behind the counter. One of them was visibly noticeable as it was something that would not normally be within these kinds of shops.

Within a store full of metallic made wares, a wooden sword with no hilt caught Teo’s eye. He walked around the counter and took the wooden sword in his hand. The sword’s weight surprised Teo as it was clearly heavier than it looked.

*Swing*

The wooden sword sliced through the air and a familiar feeling told Teo that this sword was the one! A heavy wood, enough to rival a real sword’s weight. Using the sword’s weight, his attack power was tripled!

*Swing Swing Swing*

As Teo took several practice swings, the door behind the counter opened as an old burly man stepped out.

“Hmm? Oi Kid, what are you doing with that sword?”

Teo turned around and saw and old burly man with a thick white beard. His arms were thicker than Teo’s head and his height was twice as tall.

“Mister, I would like to buy this practice sword,” Teo replied as he showed the sword in his hand.

“Buy it? Not just anyone can buy those swords behind the counter. These are my masterpieces!” the old man replied as he took the sword from Teo.

“If you want them, you have to pay hmm.. Let’s see… for you.. Only 15 gold!”

‘Hmm is it made of some special wood?’

“Isn’t 15 gold for a practice sword too much? Even if it is made from a heavy wood i don’t think-”

“Hahaha, heavy wood? You got it wrong kid. This sword is no practice sword.”

As the old man poured a little bit of Qi into the sword handle, *click*. A soft click sounded off as the old man pulled the sword apart revealing a blade within the wooden sword.

Teo’s eyes brightened and he realized that this was the reason why wooden sword seemed so heavy!

A single edge blade with a slight curve. The blade’s width of 1.3 inches and the length of 23 inches. Despite being called a masterpiece, the blade looked ordinary. The edge was similar to the other swords within the shop and the metal did not look anything special.

“See this? This one of the few trick scabbards I’ve made. On the outside it looks like a practice sword, but hidden inside is actually a real sword!”

The old man showed off the scabbard and the sword to Teo.

“See this, I had this handle inscribed to move this little latch whenever Qi is specifically placed in this point. It is both a sword and a heavy practice sword; Two in one!”

Teo was surprised that the sword’s worth was not actually on the quality of the blade but rather it’s scabbard!

A hiltless sword would usually be seen as a disadvantage by most people, but Teo thought otherwise. All he could think of is how cool it looked! Even the mechanism of the concealed blade made Teo want this sword even more!

He liked the feel of the wooden handle in his hands and that he could use this sword in two different ways, but the price was very high; For an ordinary sword, it was too much.

“One of a few trick scabbard? Do you have any more?” Teo inquired.

If there was another sword like this, then he could continue his dual wielding without problems! If the price was cheaper, then he would most likely buy it.

“Sure I do, but its price isn’t low!”

Despite knowing that most students couldn’t afford his masterpieces, he did not mind showing them off to Teo.

He opened a drawer behind the counter and pulled out a small wooden dagger, similar to the concealed blade before, but its length was much shorter.

“This is it, ‘Ya’, a dagger version of ‘Sai’.”

“Sai? Ya?”

“Haha those are the names of these two, they come in a pair. Sai is 15 gold, and Ya is 7 gold”

“Isn’t the price too expensive just for a trick scabbard?”

Teo wanted it, but was reluctant to pay that much.

“Fool! This is why you kids don’t have eyes for quality. The price is not merely for the scabbard but the swords as well!”

He took out both blades and showed it closer to Teo.

“Look at this bevel, do you know how hard it is to get it to this form? This blade is both hard and resilient!”

Teo looked at the distinct bevel on the blade’s edge. It had two different bevels. One was sharp for the edge while the other was not as steep. He was surprised at this as most swords he had seen were simple edged blades, but he was not too convinced that this was worth it’s price.

Seeing Teo’s reaction, the old man smirked, pitying Teo who had no eyes for weapons.

“Hmph, a brat like you probably can’t even afford my wares. Go ahead and get out!”

Teo became slightly annoyed and brought out 22 gold coins from his pouch and looked at the old man.

“I just don’t know if your swords are actually worth this much,” Teo said in a mocking tone as he disproved the old man’s statement.

*Gulp*

Seeing the pile of gold coins on the counter, the old man swallowed his saliva. His demeanor instantly changed and he looked towards Teo in a respectable manner.

“Young master, my swords are indeed worth it. Just for you I shall demonstrate why it is priced this way.”

The old man took a two inch thick steel rod and then held it horizontally. With the other hand holding Sai, he sliced through the steel rod like a hot knife through butter.

“This is the sharpness of my wares! Even with Ya, I can easily carve into this steel rod without much effort.”

Teo’s eyes widened as he saw the old man’s demonstration. Being able to cut a steel rod was indeed impressive, but what Teo did not know was that this rod was actually very soft. It was neither hardened nor tempered. With enough speed and power, any sharp blade could cut this steel rod.

The old man knew that the boy in front of him had no clue about weapons. He used this rod to impress the young master, but was also confident of the sharpness of his blade. The only thing lacking about this blades were inscriptions. He could forge extremely sharp weapons but he lacked knowledge in inscribing his wares which is why his shop had become so unpopular.

“How about it young master? Interested in buying? If you buy now, I’ll even include a custom strap so you can carry them with you at all times!”

Teo became even more tempted with the offer and quickly replied,

“Okay, I’ll take it.”

Teo left 15 gold coins in the counter and reached for the sword, Sai, but before he could the old man interrupted and said,

“Like I said before, they both come in a pair. If you wish to buy one, you have to purchase the other.”

Teo’s eyebrows frowned as he did not want to take this dagger with him as well. He wanted to dual wield with two swords, but a sword and a dagger? It seemed weird to him.

“Young master, don’t be fooled. This dagger may not look much, but if used correctly, you can surprise any opponent!”

After much deliberation, Teo caved in. He really liked the sword and just thought about the price of it being 22 gold, with a free useless knife.

[Proofread by Soeir]

[Author's Note: If you wish to read ahead, check out byCienz. Thanks for reading and have a nice day!]