The Birth of the Soul Sword

After returning to the 4th floor, I squeezed every drop of technique and know-how out of Baroness Helene before heading back to my workshop. It had only been a little over a month, but I moved with practiced ease. I melted the Black Iron Stone I’d received as my share, burned off the impurities in the converter, and tilted it into the mold to produce ingots of a uniform size. Afterward, I bought a ton of iron ore from a Gallery sales post and processed that into ingots as well. Finally, I accessed my Gallery storage and claimed all the points earned from the equipment sold so far.

"Finally, I can buy both!" I cheered, jumping up and down and throwing punches into the air. I’d considered buying one early to test the skill, but I knew I’d be dying of curiosity about the other, so I decided to get them both at once. Between the thirty days I’d already spent and the five additional days spent learning Mana Circuit Imprinting, artifact crafting, and other odds and ends from Baroness Helene, it had taken me a whopping forty days to reach this point. These were the special blacksmithing skills I’d been waiting for!

The names alone sound grand, don't they? The fact that it requires a soul or that I need to learn how to imprint magic doesn't worry me; the knowledge comes automatically once the skills are learned. "That Special Shop is an insane perk." It’s only open to Hell-difficulty climbers, so it’s naturally extraordinary. An infinite shop containing special materials, traits, and even skills that don't exist anywhere else in this world! "No point in hesitating. Buying both."

"Ugh." Knowledge flooded my brain like a tsunami. The sensation of information and experience being forcibly imprinted into my head and body is always a trip. Hmm, I'm curious about magic swords, but I'm even more curious about Soul Sword Crafting. As for the soul... I don't need to go out and collect one; I can designate one from among the sentient creatures I've killed so far. "An Ego Sword... is this for real?" Ego Swords are a staple in novels and comics... I'm genuinely dying to see how this works. But wait, sentient creatures? Does that include humans? I shuddered at the sudden thought and shook my head to clear it. What is wrong with me, thinking about stuffing a human soul into a sword?

"Ugh..." I emptied my cluttered mind and organized the new knowledge. The material of the sword doesn't matter. It's influenced by the crafter's magical power and knowledge. I can imbue it with all of my mana. The stats increase by a fixed amount based on that maximum, and the sword's mana capacity increases. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠When using magic, it draws from the user's mana. The trade-off is reduced attack power and significantly reduced durability. The options vary greatly depending on the quality of the soul.

"I don't know, let's just make one." Since I just got the skill, my proficiency is low and I don't know how it'll turn out, so I need to experiment. *Clang!* I hammered the steel heated in the furnace. For some reason, I felt more focused than usual. Aside from the sound of the hammer striking the iron, all surrounding noise faded away, leaving me in a state of perfect concentration. *Clang!* I used the Mana Circuit Imprinting skill I'd learned from Baroness Helene.

As the steel began to take the shape of a sword, faint lines and dots slightly larger than the lines began to appear. 'I have to create paths for mana to flow through these dots and lines.' *Clang!* My hammer was imbued with twice as much mana as usual. Normally, you strike with mana spread across the entire hammer, but when imbuing a mana circuit, you concentrate the mana at the very tip. Imbuing the whole hammer strengthens the strike to quickly make the metal's crystal structure dense, while concentrating it at the tip pierces the metal to create the mana paths.

*Clang!* Mana Circuit Imprinting isn't strictly related to Soul Sword Crafting, but... the effect is that when using magic, the mana flows through the circuits, reducing consumption. It's an incredibly good effect when crafting weapons or armor. "It's essential when making staves or wands." It's so good that it's practically mandatory for crafting mage weapons. I've never heard of anyone else having this skill, so the mage weapons on the market must just be items obtained from the Tower or crafted from minerals or wood with high mana affinity. There might be someone else who hasn't revealed their skills, but who knows.

In a short time, I used my new skills to expertly craft a sharp steel sword.

"Nice..." I just made it out of plain steel, but a mana-reduction option appeared. Until now, mana-related options only appeared when I used special materials, so this is a first for a piece of equipment made solely from steel. It's encouraging, but today's highlight is Soul Sword Crafting! "Soul Sword Crafting."

Hmm, looking at these options, I guess the variety of sentient monsters I've killed is still quite low. I suppose the Metal Slime on the 1st floor was judged to have no sentience. Still, a knight is better than a regular goblin, right? "Imbue the soul of a Goblin Knight."

I checked the information with a trembling heart.

I had high expectations for Soul Sword Crafting, expecting something grand and amazing. "It's trash." The grade is only High, the attack power is at the level of a Normal-grade item, and the durability is at the level of a Low-grade weapon, or one on the verge of breaking! According to the knowledge I received, a soul sword awakens through repeated hunting, realizes its own self-awareness, and then grows by absorbing the souls of enemies. For example, a sword with 20 attack power could grow to 40 or 50 through hunting. There's a limit to its growth based on the quality of the soul, but if the magical power is strong, it can even use defensive or offensive magic on its own. It's a skill that transcends the limits of a weapon! But there was a serious drawback.

"Attack power aside... the durability reduction is too much." Even without this, repairing a weapon significantly reduces its maximum durability, but at this level, it's basically a Low-grade weapon. It's a consumable that will break after just a few uses. "And the magical abilities aren't anything special, either." Since performance is determined by skill level, soul quality, the crafter's mana, and magical knowledge, only the most basic traits were imbued. It's not even a spell I can trigger; it's just a basic magic imprint that adds poison damage and paralyzes the opponent. Even if I can use the imprinted traits infinitely based on my mana, mages can just cast spells on equipment for a set number of uses, which is much better.

Even if the sword's self-awareness awakens, since it's a goblin, it might not even be able to speak or learn combat. It seems my Soul Sword Crafting skill is too low, and I'm a layman when it comes to magic. I have to learn magic to use this properly? "Ah... my 3 million points..." It's not that production classes can't learn magic, but I don't have any related skills, and this is... this won't be easy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠unless I raise my skill level significantly. "It's a burden." Using special metals that result in higher durability would provide some compensation, but it's still disappointing. "But it's a waste to use up all my Black Iron Stone just to level up the skill..."

Should I try using Mana Circuit Imprinting to influence the durability? To make the metal crystals combine densely and tightly... "Ah! It's difficult." I scratched my head vigorously and then sharpened the sword on a whetstone.

"Still, the attack power will increase as I hunt..." The skill level will go up as I craft, the quality of the souls I imbue will improve as I climb, and the crafter's mana will do the same. "As for magical knowledge... I'll have to think about that." Still, if I can just make the durability high ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enough, it seems manageable. I decided to mass-produce soul swords using steel instead of expensive materials to level up the skill.