Agnisotra: Origin Tails

I woke up and noticed I had a lot of energy flowing into me. I grinned, as that meant my trap worked out. I woke up at my regular time which was around 07:00. I put the energy I absorbed from that Guyana chick yesterday to analyze in my tail before I went to sleep. Normally I hide it but I can't while it is still analyzing. I look at my silver tail. I took this opportunity to brush it. I applied an illusion to make it as if it wasn't there. I turned around, If I only made it visually imperceptible it would knock stuff over. It didn't, I only applied 3 illusion layers so that was a given but I can still make mistakes. It seems the illusions I made yesterday to make it appear that we were doing stuff above ground were quite productive.

The illusions I made of Gregory and myself were crafting stuff the whole time while the ones of Ted and Raishin were hunting. The problem with illusions is that I can't make illusions do stuff that isn't outside of what we normally do. The ones I make in battle can but ones meant for simple deception will just follow our regular life day. That is why clones are superior in this case. They can do whatever I want to do but I personally can't since my main body is occupied and also after dispelling them, I get the information they have gathered. I have no clue what my illusions did while I was underground, I just heard from Hera that I seemed hard at work in the workshop and after a short talk with my buddies it seemed the illusions of themselves also did something similar. I greeted Hera and asked where Philip was.

“Oh, Philip? He said he felt better and dove into his workshop.” Oh, that is good to hear. I haven't seen Philip get near his workshop since I finished my apprenticeship. I went to his workshop, which was next to mine, to say good morning. But he seemed too absorbed in his work so I didn't disturb him. Hera looked at me as she saw me walk to the front door.

“Oh, by the way Gianni will arrive today.” Johnny is returning?

“Yes, and I don't know if that's a nickname you have for him or if you’re messing with him but make sure you use ‘Gianni’ when talking to other people about him since they won't know who you mean by ‘Johnny’” I went out and picked up Gregory, I couldn't find Raishin anywhere, He didn't seem to be at his regular hunting spots either. Ted was training and said he would meet with us after he was finished. Do you know where Raishin went off to? No clue, but I don't think he's reckless enough to go back alone.

True, but can you check just in case? I sealed the entrance again with frost magic so he couldn't enter even if he wanted to.

Good. Hera said Johnny will arrive today.

Ooh, I wonder what he brought this time. Oh, I see him! He will arrive at the front gate in about an hour.

So, what are we going to do in the meantime?

“Hey, punks! This time you will pay for what you did last time!” Who are you?

“See dad this is what I meant! This asshole just keeps pretending to forget who I am!” No seriously, who are you? He is not pretending; he is top-class in forgetting names and faces.

Hey! that is not true! Ok then, describe and name Cecilia’s daughter.

Ok, I got this! Her name is uh random villager #56, and she looks like uhm she’s invisible! Easy! You suck.

“See dad! This is the other thing! They just keep ignoring me!”

“I see that Dunkey. Hello, you two are Agnis and Gregory, right?” You know us?

“Yes. my son here, Dunkey, has told me about how you keep bullying him.” I'm sorry Mr. Eh?

"Munkey is the name, Munkey Hurado.” I was trying to hold in my laugh. Hey, stop it! Gregory smacked me while also trying to hold in his laugh.

“Is something the matter?” Donkey and Monkey! Hahaha!

“See dad!”

“Yes, I see son. They are indeed bullies.” Hey, come on with names like that you’re just asking for it! Hahaha. Hahaha, damn sorry, I’m trying, but he has a point haha.

“What would your parents think of this?” Monkey said. I thought about it. My mom would probably have the same stance as Gregory. Gregory’s mom would throw a savage joke on top of it. Trust, me, it would be worse if you would talk to our mothers.

“It seems you guys had a poor upbringing then!” Gregory and I stopped laughing. Listen here, Monkey, Donkey, and parents of their friends, everything is fun and games until you badmouth our mothers. We will let this slide for now but if something like this repeats, don't blame us for the consequences. Normally I'm the calm one but after Agnis said that I will stand down, however, if you decide to go on with this prepare for the worst. Gregory and I were exerting killing intent and the bullies who brought their parents all backed off.

A smart move and I will suggest you guys either accept that Agnis is going to forget your face and name or accept that he's gonna mess up your name unless you put in the effort to get close to him. Judging from your personality I would suggest just staying away from us, you don't mix well with people like us. We walked away in a badass way.

“Hey, dad I think I peed my pants.” Never mind that cracked me up.

The encounter with Donkey and his friends only took about a half hour. We spent some time talking to Uraya and hanging around in her shop. She had a lot of interesting stories. About a battle that happened long ago when a beautiful young woman fought against a god and got imprisoned or how a huge whale once sunk entire coasts just because it was hungry. As Johnny’s arrival was nearing, we thanked Uraya for her stories to which she thanked us for spending time with her and for the sapphire I gave her. She said something about it making a great catalyst. I don't know what she meant by that but if she's happy, that's great. We stepped outside on the town square and decided to wait there for Johnny. Ted joined us as he was done with his training. Raishin was still nowhere to be found, we sent telepathic messages but he wasn't responding. A group of people arrived at the town square.

Johnny was part of the merchant group of Boshi town who went around and buy stuff up at other places and bring them back here. We can't keep relying on other merchants coming here to sell stuff so the town decided to send out merchants itself. The merchants all came and rest a bit on the town square and talk to some townspeople before they would get their stuff home and prepare for the market tomorrow. Hey Johnny! What do you have for us this time?

“Yoo guys, my name is Gianni by the way, how have you been?” We’re doing fine, how are you?

“You two seem to have some bandages though. Did Charlize finally catch you? I had my bet that she would catch you guys in about two months.” These people here really do love gambling, don't they? Ah, it's not a big deal it will heal in no time.

“Well, I got some cool stuff for you guys but they were expensive so I hope you guys have money on you.” Ugh, I hope I can get by with 20 silver. Hmm, I'm also relatively broke because Raishin and his boars ruined the last market for me.

“For Ted, I have a book full of foreign puns translated into Kaledonian.” Awesome!

“And for the expensive gift.” Gianni rummaged through his stuff. “A hand cannon!” Whoa! Wow. Ooh! Ehh how much for it?

“I will take your 20 silver and it's yours.” Back to broke again I guess but I’ll take it!

“For Raishin, oh he's not here. For Gregory I have this device, I don't know how it works but it can detect nearby ores and minerals. I was thinking of giving it to Agnis but you seem to need them more, He mainly needs metal ores while you need all kinds of rocks for whatever you cook up in your lab.” Oooh, nice! Thanks.

“And speaking of labs.” Gianni went to a big cart and took out a box. It seemed similar to those bags of gold I got, as in what was in it was compressed to save space. “So, I got this for relatively cheap because nobody in his right mind would want to use this when they can just use their own lab.” He took out what was inside the box. “It's a portable lab. It has basic functions and stuff to store certain concoctions safely. As you can guess I also don't know how this works and perhaps you can use it.” Hmm, using my own lab would be way more convenient but I can't say that a mobile lab isn't useless. How much for it?

“As I said I got it for cheap 6 silver and it's yours.” I don't know what the prices are out there but that sounds quite cheap.

“Alright for Agnis, well this might be a problem but let's start with the free gift first. I remember you had problems with hard materials before. Something about your tools not being sturdy enough. Here I got some top-grade blacksmithing tools for you! Well, they are not top grade a higher grade than this came out recently so a good blacksmith friend of mine who just bought these gave them to me.” Wow! Any clue how sturdy they are?

“It advertises that if you want to make diamond-tipped spears you can make those with these tools.” Ooh, that sounds very good. Gianni handed a big box to me. This thing was really heavy but to me, these tools were more valuable than Gianni could imagine. I have no way to get better tools except outside the town and barrier. Everything I have was handed down to me by Philip.

“Well, I got lucky with this at the auction.” He took something out that was wrapped in cloth. Oh, is it a sword?

“Yes, but it's not just a sword!” Gianni unwrapped it and showed a quite rusty old sword. Looks like junk.

“Well, that might be true and its previous owner also lost its scabbard driving down the price. But my merchant's eye tells me that this sword is special. Nobody could use it but I think it's a magic sword.” Wow! That must have cost you a fortune to get this then?

“Well not really, firstly it's really old and rusty so nobody looks at it but it also seems that blacksmiths that tried to restore it all failed to. As if it has a will of its own. What I know about magic swords is that some have a will of their own and don't accept anyone who isn't worthy.” Hmm, I've heard stuff like that on my travels but I've seen some magic items get exchanged like they were regular items, I don't know if that's true.

“Well, I don't buy it either. Well until I bought the sword and tried to transport it. The reason why I wrapped it up was not only for safety and to protect the sword but it wouldn't let me if I didn't. Now I know you are good at using a sword and a blacksmith. A combination I weirdly enough haven't seen much. Maybe you can do something with this.” I looked at the blade. It did seem different from a regular blade. If it had any secrets, it was hiding them very well, or maybe it was dormant. I assume this sword is going to cost me an arm and a leg.

“Well, if you can't pay for it, I will just keep it until you can, I can't think of anyone who could do anything with this sword. I will buy it back from you if you can't restore it so don't worry.” Oh, it’s fine, I might be able to pay for it, how much?

“Ugh, I feel bad asking so much gold from a friend.” That’s fine you have to live too, how much is it?

“9 gold.” What! That's insane. Holy shit I could live like half a year off that amount of money. I looked at the sword. It did seem interesting. I decided to buy the sword. I discreetly got some gold coins out of my dimensional pocket. Here you go, I'll take the sword, it looks interesting. Gianni, Ted, and Gregory looked at me as if they just witnessed a miracle.

What the! How do you have so much gold?

“How even!” Oh, I found some valuable rocks and managed to sell them for a good price.

“Hmm, I guess that makes sense, I will drop by Raishin later for his stuff. The week-long market rush will end tomorrow. I have to get my stuff in order so I can sell as much as possible tomorrow. Too bad that the trip back here took longer than I expected. I hope I can sell most of my stuff else I will have to wait a month for the next market rush. Wanna hang out the day after tomorrow?” We will see, we’ve been a bit occupied lately.

“Hmm, and I guess that Agnis will be busy trying to fix that sword. Ok, that’s no problem, you guys know where to find me!” Johnny waved and got his stuff and left. We got some good stuff. Yeah, with this hand cannon, I have more options for ranged combat.

I am curious about that sword though; it gives off an interesting energy. Yeah, I can't see much about this sword but I think that's because it is dormant. Try unwrapping it and touching it.

Hmm, bad idea, who knows what might happen, if it is a magic sword you do want to mess with it with a lot of innocent civilians nearby. Yeah, we probably need to see what it does in a place where we are safe and where there is nobody around. Like my workshop! Let's go!

Not really what I was expecting but I'm curious. Me too!

We got to my workshop. Gregory and Ted took defensive measures while I laid an illusion over the area. I first inspected the tools I got from Johnny. As far as I could tell these were as good as new. I didn't know how to tackle this magic sword though; Do I just treat it like a regular sword or do I apply magic to fix it?

I decided to fix this sword with magic. This might get rough. How did a magic sword get rusted anyway? You would think something like that would be protected from something simple like rust.

I have no idea; this sword doesn't even seem to be made out of anything that can rust. Maybe it decided to rust since there are no worthy opponents. It sounds like a convenient explanation but I can't come on with another reason that could apply here. I put the sword on a workbench. It was still wrapped. I carefully unwrapped it without touching it.

I still think it looks like a piece of junk. It seems to be in a bad state but it is a katana, something you've always wanted to make. Hmm yeah, if I could fix this and use it, that would be great, but I still want to make one myself one day. I was wondering how to approach this; Normally I would take the blade out of the handle but what I know about magic weapons is that every part of it is as important as the others. While a normal sword separating the two might be no big deal, a potential magic sword might make this impossible or end up destroying the magic sword. Can magic weapons even be destroyed? I don't know but I don't want to find out now. I wanted to put on my gloves but realized I don't need them if I would fix it with magic. I approached the sword. I kept my distance and carefully poked it with my index finger and then immediately jump back.

What are you doing? I was checking if it would explode if I touched it. Why would it explode?

I don't know maybe it's an exploding magic sword. It didn't seem to react at all. Judging from what Johnny said it didn't explode when he touched it, he just couldn't move it without wrapping it up. Try to pick it up and move around with it.

Right. I touched the sword again before picking it up. It didn't seem too heavy. I swung it from the height I picked it up to a downward motion making the tip point to the ground. A motion I always made after picking up a sword.

So far nothing feels off. I could probably fight well with this katana. I took a step and I could feel something activate. It is doing something! I took a look at it and it seemed to have woken up. I took another step but nothing exciting seemed to happen. A lot of magic was being generated within it but that's all. Magic weapons have a different kind of magic than normally gets used. I knew this but witnessing it with my own eyes was something new. Very interesting. I swung the sword around while taking some steps and so far, it seemed like the sword accepted me as someone who can use it. I don't feel like it has a will, nor do I see strange things in it. If it chose me as worthy then I can't feel or see anything special about it.

Try holding this, Gregory. I gave the sword to Gregory. Do you feel anything funny?

Hmm, this is interesting but I think I know what the issue is here. I don't need to swing it or move with it to know I can't use it. Its energy frequency doesn't align with mine. It's a bit different from yours but I think it can synchronize with yours. Gregory tried to swing and walk with the sword but it looked like he was trying to move something that looked like it weighed tons. Yeah. as I thought, try it out, Ted. Is there a point? I probably wouldn't be able to move it either.

It's a good thing to at least get the feeling of different kinds of energies and experiences, maybe one day you might find a magic weapon with a similar feeling. But unlike weapons, we can adjust our energies a bit. Yours and mine are far from this sword but your energy is closer to Agnis than it is to mine so try and see if you can match it. Gregory gestured to Ted to take the sword. Ted took the sword and tried to lift it. There seemed to be a bit of movement in it.

I don't know how well you feel the energy the sword gives off but try to match it. Ugh, I don't know how! This thing doesn't cooperate. After making a lot of weird bear and grunting noises Ted managed to lift the sword in the air. To drop it moments later.

Ugh, I think I figured it out but that's the best I could do. I picked up the sword and tried to feel the magic Gregory was talking about and tried to match mine better with it. The sword seemed to feel lighter and lighter and then it became a bit heavier. Seems I found the sweet spot. I went back to where it felt the lightest and swung it down like I did before. But during my swing, Gregory put up a shadow wall.

What are you doing? Are you trying to kill us? The shadow wall seemed to have blocked a wind blade that was created by swinging the sword down. Whoa sorry, I didn't know this would happen.

Didn't you also almost cut off Charlize’s arm with a high-quality sword of yours just by swinging it around quite fast? Hmm, something like that happened yeah. It seems pretty powerful to me like this. What could restoring it do?

I guess the magic that gets trapped in the sword because of its state could flow free. Time for some restoration! I chucked the sword in the air and caught it in a water bubble. The first step would be to get the rust off. I would normally let it soak in an acid bath, but nobody has time for that. I have put a lot of effort and research into a lot of techniques that could be mimicked and sped up with magic. Water is very versatile and it can easily be turned into an acid. All I need to get rid of rust are hydrogen ions. I worked my water magic to split into H+ and OH- ions and moved the ions I didn't need to the edge of the bubble. I then made the acid that made contact with the blade spin at high speeds to also polish the blade in the process. If this went too slow, I would have to throw in some abrasives to mimic the effect of a grinder. I don't know how well those would do in a strong acid though.

Hmm, what are you doing? I'm giving it an acid bath and also grinding it to make it smooth.

Acid? I thought that was water! Well yeah, water can be turned into acid if you know how it works.

Ugh, that is scary. I'm feeling like all the water users out there aren't using it to its highest potential. Well because magic is quite omnipotent and everywhere, not a lot of people bother studying chemistry and physics. I'm not too great at physics but chemistry is very important as an alchemist so I could, in theory, do something like this too.

Ugh, I’ll keep punching stuff. Hmm, the sword doesn't seem to be doing any funny stuff so this is going quite well. The blade seemed rust-free and kind of polished.

So, is it done? Hmm, I don't know, this is the second time I have restored a rusted blade. I will just do every process I did the last time. Time to heat it!

Hey, wouldn't it, like I don't know, retaliate when you start heating it? Only one way to figure out! Get that shadow wall ready Gregory! Hoo boi. I grabbed the sword at the hilt with my right hand and with my left hand, I went over the side of the blade and started to heat it. The magic inside the sword erupted outward and set the blade on fire.

I guess that works. Makes it easier for me. After making sure it reached the correct temperature, I started grinding it again with water by making it spin over the blade at high speed. Then I carefully heat the blade to temper it. After it reached the right temperature, I applied some time magic on it to skip waiting for half a day.

Ugh note to self, don't use time magic when not transformed. Do I need to fetch some energy I have stored in the shadows for you?

Yeah, please do. I have no idea what you’re doing but it seems intensive even though you're speeding it up with magic. Yeah, this is not something you can finish in 30 minutes if you want to do it properly. More grinding and polishing with water magic.

Alright, this seems fine. A lot of steps can be skipped when using magic. I guess now I gotta check its magic conductivity. I picked up the sword and it felt even lighter. I ran some lightning magic through it while putting the tip on a device that measures magic output. I knew exactly how much I put in the sword so I could see how much difference there would be at the tip.

Hey, isn't this cheating? What’s up?

I get 3 times the value of magic I put into this sword as output. Hmm, although that is a lot, isn't that the point of magic swords? It should be able to make its wielder compete with those proficient in magic.

Well, yes but if someone who can use magic uses this wouldn't he become like really overpowered? Well congratulations, you just became overpowered.

Hmm, I don't think that matters though. Why?

Well, just think about it, Raishin, Gregory, and I are mythical beasts, we should have had no problems with whatever we had to fight in theory, even if we don't transform. But despite that, everything just managed to more or less own us. Doesn't that mean that you guys just suck? Well, that is a possibility but the problem I see here is that so far, we haven't dealt with regular inhabitants. This tree those guardians are all things that are not supposed to be here. And back home there were just too many beings out of our league because were just babies compared to all of them.

Yeah, we’re taking the wrong place, wrong time, and wrong enemy quite to the max here. Even though this thing is overpowered I can't see it dealing with those trees or roots easily. The guardians might be another story though, although I have the feeling that if I didn't sneak attack, one shot that guardian the other day, she would send us packing. I carefully swung the sword making sure to not create any wind blades.

How is analyzing her energy going? Hmm from what I could analyze so far, the only thing I can tell you is that she could've easily soloed us. This guardian seems to be really old and has a lot of fighting experience. Also, I'm not sure about this but it seems that even landing hits on her would be a challenge. So, her sister would have similar characteristics. Sounds like we might get our asses kicked if we don't take this seriously. Hmm, I see, I will go do some more training unless you guys need me for something.

Oh, by the way, I kind of forgot to give this to you. I opened my dimensional pocket and shot the hammer at Gregory. He caught it but the weight made him fly backward. He cushioned himself with a shadow wall.

Why can't you do anything normally? I'm sorry…

Thanks for the hammer, I will train too I guess, it has been a long time since I've held a hammer. It looks cool though, what did you use to make it this nice and blue? Oh, this hammer was quite simple, I just drove a pole into a big sapphire, at first it was a bit rough but I managed, if you don't like the shape, you can alter it with earth magic. Be warned though, it is very hard.

Wait, you made this out of sapphire? Sapphire? Holy shit, where did you get that from? Do you know you could get a fortune for it if you sold it? I told you about that corundum dungeon, right?

Oooh, wait is that how you are so filthy rich? Yeah, I sold some rubies yesterday. I said proudly while making a cool swordsman stance.

Hey sugar daddy, Ted needs new shoes. That is no problem but don't ever call me that.

Ok… A very beautiful hammer, ehh I mean I guess we won't ever have financial issues. Just don't let Raishin get wind of this. Yah, I'm not gonna pay for all his dumb dates and presents.

Alright, I'm off. I want the shoes on sale at Heffner’s shop! Thank you and Cya! Well, I guess we both have to train with our new weapons. We went to do our own training. I kept analyzing the magic of that guardian I absorbed while practicing with the new katana. I noticed that it was moving as if I owned this sword for years. I made a scabbard for it to make it safer to carry around. I also wanted to try this technique I once saw. It was a move where Viridian drew his katana out of its sheathe, did a really quick slash, and sheathed the sword back, all within the blink of an eye. Speed is my specialty so I should be able to do something like this. I just need to practice a lot. If I remember correctly, it was called Quickdraw or Iai.

Getting the sword quickly out of the sheathe was easy, getting it back in quickly was another story. I almost cut my hand multiple times by trying to sheathe the sword swiftly. Accuracy wasn't an issue with my eyes but without them, I could imagine that this technique could take years if not a lifetime to master. For a magic sword, it didn't seem any special, it had no fancy effects, it just amplified my output and it seemed to make me able to have faster movements. I practiced till dinner time; I did take a break before dinnertime and got the shoes Ted asked for before the shops closed. After dinner time I contacted my buddies to talk about the results of my analysis and to discuss how we're going to tackle the guardian.