“It’s a very nice sword, unfortunately I don’t have that much gold.”

“No fret, my child. How about this sword?” He walked over to the sword rack and pulled a black sword, swinging and playing with the sword, “The Flaming Sword. The inheritance of the Wind tribe. It burned down everything it touched. Its only one hundred gold, before discount, of course.”

“Hmmm.. This is too dangerous. You don’t want me to burn down the whole forest, do you?”

“Haha.. Yes, yes. If you said so. How about this one?” He picked up another sword, “The Soul Crusher. If you swing and thrust hard enough, it will crush the soul of the opponent, sending them straight to death. This one is forty gold coin, a special price.”

‘Anyone will die if you thrust them hard enough with a sword.’

Luna turned around and rolled her eyes.

‘Even if you want to scam my money, I don’t have much in the first place.’

A thousand excuses crossed her mind as Luna made a plan to flee from the persistent old man who shoved more than ten kinds of weapons to her. At first, it was the ridiculous price that startled her, but now the ludicrous remarks the old man said made Luna doubt every single item in the store.

Just when Luna was about to blurt out an excuse to escape, a sight of a dull, lifeless sword at the back of the door caught her attention. It was a single-edged blade sword with a squared guard and long grip, one that reminded her of a samurai sword his grandfather had. It was a sword he had made her swung a hundred times a day when he taught her Kenjutsu.

“What about that one?” Luna pointed at the sword and turned to face the old elf.

The old elf sighed with a disappointed look on his face, thinking for a while before he said, “An old forgotten sword. Too dull that it can’t even cut open an apple into half.”

“Is it for sale then?” Luna hid her excitement as she spoke. Somehow, she felt a strange urge to hold the sword, as if was calling for her.

“Not for sale.” He shook his head. He trod over to the sword, picked it up and stared at it for a minute or so, somewhat reminiscing a distant memory in his heart.

“Are you really not selling this sword?” A little disappointed, Luna touched the sword. A strange tingling feeling flowed in her consciousness.

“The Blade of Fate, The Destined Crusader – whatever it is called, once belonged to a child of prodigy on this land. Destined to bring salvation to millions of lives in this world, but with a cost of great calamity towards the people he cared. Determined to change his fate after losing his loved one, he challenged the gods and slay everyone to death. Enemies or friends, he no longer care about the difference,” the old man stopped for a while and took a deep breath, “Of course, this is just a legend. A narrative tale passed down by my old man when I was a child. Probably one of his many tales to urged customers to buy.”

The old man laughed and passed the sword to Luna, “How about you buy a dagger from me? I’ll give you a good dagger, just five gold after less. I will give you this sword for free then.”

Happy with the bargain, Luna agreed and walked towards the dagger section. She left not long after with the Blade of Fate and Ruby Dagger.

The young girl left the store, the old man headed to the small shrine at the back of his store. He burned the incense and chanted a prayer, making an offering of gratitude to the Blessed Goddess.

The blue sky turned to a fiery red as the sun set in the distant horizon. Merchants closed their stores as they rest for the night. The buzzing streets slowly turned lonely. Luna grabbed some food rations from the Witching Flours, half-priced unsold bread that was expiring soon, cheese, dried fruits, and jerky.

The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing them into darkness. Ahead, Luna saw two figures on the bridge. She hastened her step towards them, holding a lantern on her hand.

“What’s that in your hand?” Silvertooth asked.

“Isn’t it's obvious? It’s a lantern,” She said, “We’re heading to the graveyard, at night. A little lantern would surely scare the skeletons, right?”

“Most unlikely,” Salmon said. “You’re attracting more skeletons to you. Anyway, it's your problem if you wanted to fight that much.”

“Salmon! I’m a human! I can’t see at night. I’m not like any of you.” She snapped.

“Sorry, I forgot about that.” Salmon laughed dryly, “Luckily, I had just the right item for you.”

Luna rolled her eyes as she put off the lantern, hanging it on the side of her backpack.

“A little bit of cheat won’t hurt,” Salmon said and handed her a round bead in the color of azure blue.

Luna followed the instruction given by Salmon and put the bead inside her mouth. There was a prickling sensation on her tongue. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

The dark forest had turned a bit brighter. She could make up the shapes of trees. From a corner of her eyes, she spotted an owl resting on a tree, and branches swinging, blown by the wind. Above her head was millions of stars, shining brighter than ever.

You have consumed Lunar Teardrops.

The tears of the Lunar race, whom upon the bright moon they wept. Upon consumption, you will be blessed with the night vision of the Lunar race for twenty feet range until the sun rises.

‘For god’s sake, who would have thought about selling teardrops.’

Silvertooth led the team to the very edge of the forest as they make their way to the graveyard. He sniffed the ground and pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick willow trees. A light breeze lifted her hair as Luna looked into the forest.

The forest was pitched black and silent. They walked quietly, their eyes on the surrounding. Every now and then a ray of moonlight shone through the branches.

“Skeleton coming from your left side!” Salmon warned Luna.

She pulled out her sword, ready to fight. The three of them stood and waited. Something was skidding over dead leaves and branches. Bones crackling and popping was heading their way. It was getting closer and closer.

Luna squinted her eyes and tried to catch the sight of the skeleton, expecting those familiar skeleton figure she assembled during Biology class or those walking skeleton on Halloween night.

“It’s getting closer,” Said Silvertooth.

She fastened her grip on the sword that she had painstakingly sharpened the whole way, ears strained for the faintest sound. She caught in a clearing ahead, the sound was getting louder and louder.

Far from what she had expected, a skeleton with rotten meats falling off from his body and eyes popping out followed by a strong stench of rotten corpse appeared within her sight. His steps was wobbly. He almost fell on the ground when he stumbled on the roots. A piece of meats covered his body here and there, but almost nonexistence. He probably dropped all those rotten meats on the way, Luna was sure.

Twenty feet – Fifteen feet – Five feet –

Silvertooth and Salmon hid behind her. They smirked and laughed as they gave her the first taste of killing a skeleton who probably had died a thousand times.

Three feet –

“Remember, thrust his heart or completely chopped off his head!” Salmon yelled.

Luna raised her sword, putting all her strength into both of her arms and swung it hard against the skeleton. She aimed at the space between his head and shoulder. Her first swing was strong enough to throw it down to the floor, but not good enough to cut off his neck. For a second, Luna regretted not buying the Soul Crusher, but the thought that she was too poor for it dragged her back to her feet.

Congratulations! You have unlocked a new skill: Swordmaster (Novice rank)

They said a pen is sharper than a sword, but a pen cannot chop off a monster’s head. The power of a great warrior is not determined by their sword, but by the way they use it.

“You are damn right!” Luna yelped, determined to send another attack.