The graft for my horn took a little getting used to but not too much. It was like a dull pain, in a piece of my body that wasn't there anymore, that had been plaguing me for some time now was all of a sudden gone while the feeling in that missing body part returned all of a sudden at the same time. It was a little weird but in a good way. I couldn't help but stand a little straighter. It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. That in turn made me stand just a little taller than before as well.

Gash'zur was too busy to notice, working with the others at one of the forges. The Arcanist hadn't missed the little change in posture though. Instead of wasting time commenting on it she waved me over to another workstation. There were two shafts waiting for me. They seemed to be intended for my new weapon. One was as a matter of fact, already fitted with a steel blade. The blade wasn't sharpened though and it looked oddly thin as well.

What was even more curious though was the material the weapons' shafts were made of. The material was mostly black with a slight metallic shimmer to it. The master crafter motioned for me to pick up the one already fitted with a mock blade. “It will take me some more time to finish the actual blade. This one can serve as a training weapon for you in the meantime. Sadly your old weapon is lost to us but I think this one is sufficiently different to warrant some additional training to make sure you will be able to handle it properly.”

I gripped it in earnest and moved a few steps back to move through a few attack patterns. Finally I nodded. “The shaft is considerably longer and the balance is a little different.” I swung it a few more times as she watched me closely. “I'm curious about that steel blade though. It seems awfully thin, doesn't it.”

She just nodded, not concerned in the least. “It is. The real blade will be more sturdy. It will be made of titanium though and titanium is in general lighter than steel. For that reason we made the mock up thinner so it will have the same weight. That way it should already be pretty close to the balance of the final weapon.”

That made sense. The Arcanist motioned for me to follow her to a spot where some space had been cleared for a number of training dummies. “Go ahead. Put it through the paces in earnest. That way I can see if we need to make some more adjustments.”

I took a deep breath and did as she had told me. I swung the weapon again and again, going through every exercise I could recall. As I did I shifted my grip several times, marveling at the curious material of the shaft. In a way it was similar to the wyvern's wing bone. Light and flexible yet surprisingly sturdy. At the same time it was different though. Finally I decided to ask. “What is the shaft made off? It feels a little like the bone one I'm used to but I doubt there is any creature with bones quite like that. Right?”

She laughed at my question. It was a cheerful laugh though, one that suggested that I had asked just the right question. “You are quite right. There are no creatures with bones quite like that, although dragons do in fact come close in a way. It is made of adamant laced with titanium fibers, grown into this shape to mimic the structure of bone.”

She rummaged around her work table for a moment until she found some sort of magnifying glass. “Come, have a closer look at it.”

I moved over and looked through the magnification device, marveling at the intricate arches and honeycomb like structures that became visible like that. Then I let my fingers wander over the shaft to see if I could actually feel them. I could but probably only because I knew they were there. Otherwise I would have interpreted what I felt just as a generally pleasantly rough texture that allowed for a better grip. Then something else occurred to me. “It soaks up sweat! Almost like a sponge? But what is adamant? I don't think I have ever heard of a material like that.”

She nodded once more. “It is a special kind of diamond. We first weave the titanium structure before growing the adamant upon it. The way the two materials work together it is both sturdy and flexible while still being quite light weight.” She chuckled. “That it can soak up sweat due to all the small pores in it is a happy little accident. Now, I think I have seen enough to finish the actual weapon. Feel free to practice some more if you want.”

I watched her return to her work on the blade for the actual weapon before turning on the practice dummies once again. It felt good to loose myself in the repetitive movements for a while. After some time I started enhancing myself with the various spells at my disposal. And I kept going like that until my latest strike actually managed to put a dent into the mock up steel piece my practice weapon had instead of an actual blade.

Apparently it was too thin to stand up to the continued abuse. I didn't feel too bad about it though. Instead of worrying I went to have a drink and cool myself off a little. I had worked up a bit of a sweat after all. The workers thankfully had a pretty well stocked break room. Well, if you wanted to call an area barely separated from the rest of the place a room. There was always someone on duty preparing fresh tea and other brews as well as quick meals on duty though. That alone made up for all other shortcomings there might have been in my mind.

After resting a little I returned to the area where the Arcanist was working, aided by her forgeborn daughters. The blade for my glaive looked already pretty much finished, at least in my eyes, but apparently it wasn't. Sure, it had the right shape and everything. Its edge was already sharp as well but that still didn't satisfy its creator. The ancient being went to even greater lengths to make this weapon the best she could.

I watched in awe as she engraved rune after rune into the flat of the blade. And that wasn't everything! After watching for a moment I could feel her draw in Mana. Except she didn't draw in power to cast a spell as I was used to. Instead the runes started glowing after a while. She was enchanting the blade! In hindsight, if you already had a weapon made from the best materials it would have been a waste not to enchant it.

I moved to get a closer look at the runes and to possibly better understand the spell matrix she was binding into the blade. Except it wasn't just one spell! One enchantment would make the blade's edge even sharper. Another would make the weapon retain its edge better. Those alone were already fabulous enchantments but what came after them made my mind boggle. “Is that some kind of anti magic effect? Won't it harm the rest of the enchantments?”

“It is. And no, it wont.” She kept working in silence for another moment, finishing up what she was doing without any hurry. Then she motioned for me to join her at her workbench. She pulled a sheaf of papers from a drawer and spread across the surface, pinning them in place to make sure none would go flying off into the forge.

The papers contained the spell matrix in question, describing it in extraordinary detail. It wasn't just the spell matrix either, the papers detailed the runes necessary for the process of binding the spell into the weapon as well. I studied all, taking my time. I really wished Kaele were here. She could have helped me understand it all much quicker. In the end I managed though. “The anti magic spell disrupts a spell effect the blade of the weapon is plunged into?”

Apparently my understanding of its workings were good enough. The ancient forgeborn smiled at my words. “Exactly. Like a Mage Armor or a Mage Shield for example.” She went over to the forge and patted the flat of the blade affectionately. “This blade cuts everything. Even magic.”

One of her daughters brought the shaft for the weapon and together they fixed the blade to it. I watched them briefly but returned to the workbench with the laid out schematics soon after again, to study them further. Yes, this weapon was really terrifying. My old glaive had been as well, but this was on another level entirely.

Finally the two were done and the Arcanist offered the new glaive to me. “Want to give it a try? The other enchantments will always draw their own Mana. You won't have to worry about those. The Mage Cutter on the other hand you will have to fuel yourself. Just gather Mana as you would for casting a spell and push it into the weapon instead.” As she explained the details we returned to the practice dummies.

I got ready and my host cast some spells on the dummy in question. My mind boggled at the ease with which she layered protective spells upon the target. Mage Armor and Stoneskin were only the first. I couldn't even begin to guess at the exact nature of half of these spells. This was total overkill!

When she was done she moved back several steps and motioned for me to attack.

I took one last deep breath and started gathering Mana. I had felt her gather Mana for the defenses and assumed that I would require a similar amount to break the defensive spells.

She tilted her head slightly as I kept gathering more Power. Then she spoke up. “You haven't figured out how much you can draw in safely yet, haven't you?”

I nodded but didn't stop. Finally I was ready and as I swung my glaive for a powerful blow I got ready to push the gathered power out through the weapon. I judged the moment when the first spell tried to deflect my weapon to be the right moment and it was. With a flash all the spells upon the dummy winked out and the blade cut through the padded steel as if it were butter. When I was done, the upper half fell away, crashing to the ground a few paces away.

The Arcanist clapped, a happy smile on her face. “Very good!” Then she put the same enchantments on another dummy. “And now try again but draw in power about a quarter faster.”