Chapter 50: Wind Blade

Gopuran held out her hand and carefully accepted the short sword, staring at it for a long moment.

"So... beautiful..." the goblin girl murmured.

Curious, Gopuro waddled over as well and sneaked a peek.

"Wowwww!"

His eyes widened the moment he saw the iron sword.

To be honest, it wasn’t particularly fancy by my standards. It was simply a well-made one-handed sword with a polished, gleaming blade and a slight curve, measuring around 35 centimeters in length. The handle was wrapped in white leather, giving it a clean and refined appearance.

But perhaps, in the eyes of these goblins, a weapon like this was already a masterpiece of craftsmanship.

Gopuro suddenly reached out, clearly intending to grab the sword. The dude probably just wanted to hold it and give it a few swings.

But Gopuran reacted instantly.

SMACK!

She slapped his hand away.

Then, without even giving him a chance to complain, she followed up with a punch straight to his stomach!

POW!

"OWWWW!"

Gopuro staggered backward, clutching his stomach as his face twisted in pain.

"P-Puran... why did you hit me?!"

"Hmph! This is the sword Big Boss gave me! It’s mine!"

She hugged the sword against her chest, her ears standing proudly upright.

"Only I can touch it!"

"Ehhhh?"

Gopuro stared at his sister in disbelief.

"But I just want to try it once!"

He quickly raised his big axe.

"How about you let me hold the sword and swing it once? I’ll let you swing my axe too!"

Gopuran glanced at his axe.

Then she looked down at her shiny new sword.

She immediately turned her head away.

"No."

"Eh?!"

"I don’t want to."

"But why?!"

"Because this is my present!"

She hugged the sword even tighter.

Gopuro’s face scrunched up in disbelief.

"You’re so mean!"

"Blehh!" Gopuran simply stuck her tongue out at him.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Yep. She definitely likes that sword.

And considering how long she’d been watching Gopuro show off with his new axe, I guess I can’t really blame her for wanting to keep her own present all to herself.

Eventually, Gopuran took a few steps away from her brother, gripping the sword firmly as she prepared to test its special skill.

Gopuro stopped complaining and watched with curiosity.

I focused my attention on her as well.

Alright.

Let’s see what this [Wind Blade] can really do!

*****

Now...

Gopuran stood three meters away from a thick tree trunk, the sword held firmly in her hand. She took a deep breath, steadied herself, and raised the weapon.

"Wind Blade!"

Whoosh!

A thin, crescent-shaped blade of compressed wind shot from the sword, slicing through the air with a sharp whistle.

It flew straight toward the tree.

Slash!

The wind blade struck the trunk cleanly, leaving a deep cut across the bark.

Gopuran’s eyes widened.

"Woah!"

Gopuro, who had been watching from the side, leaned forward with interest.

"Puran, can you do it again? But step back farther this time?" I asked.

"Yes!"

Gopuran nodded eagerly and moved back until she was about five meters from the tree.

Once again, she raised the sword and concentrated.

"Wind Blade!"

Whoosh!

Another crescent of compressed wind shot forward. It traveled several meters before striking the tree.

Slash!

A second cut appeared across the trunk. It wasn’t quite as deep as the first, but it was still impressive, easily powerful enough to cause serious injury to a living creature.

Oho! Not bad!

The damage was obviously nowhere near Gopuro’s [Big Slash]. That skill could cleave straight through a massive tree trunk in a single hit.

[Wind Blade], on the other hand, was much weaker.

But that wasn’t really the point.

[Big Slash] was a powerful close-range attack that consumed 10 MP, while [Wind Blade] only cost 5 MP. That meant Gopuran could use it much more frequently.

More importantly, it gave her something a sword normally lacked: range.

A melee weapon user usually had to get dangerously close to an enemy to attack. But with [Wind Blade], Gopuran could slash the air and send a cutting blade of wind several meters toward her target.

That alone made the skill extremely useful.

Still, I wanted to find out exactly how far it could go.

"Gopuran, try ten meters."

"Nn!"

Gopuran immediately nodded.

She carefully backed away from the tree until she was roughly ten meters away.

Then she raised the sword once more.

The surrounding air seemed to stir around the blade as she channeled her mana into it.

"Wind Blade!"

Whoosh!

Gopuran swung with all her strength.

The crescent-shaped blade of wind shot forward, maintaining its shape as it flew toward the tree.

Five meters...

Six...

Seven...

The blade continued forward.

But as it approached the target, its edges began to blur. The compressed wind rapidly weakened, and the crescent became thinner and thinner.

Then, just before it could reach the tree, it completely dissipated.

So ten meters is already beyond its effective range, huh?

The exact maximum range seemed to be somewhere between seven and ten meters. And naturally, the farther the target was, the weaker the attack became.

Still, that was pretty damn good for a sword skill.

Not bad at all.

"Nice! That’s really useful, Gopuran!"

Puran’s ears immediately perked up, and her eyes sparkled.

"Hehe... Big Boss gave Puran a really good weapon!"

Gopuro stared down at his enormous axe.

"Big Boss... can my axe do that too?"

Haha, this guy...

"Come on, Puro. You already have the [Big Slash] skill, and you still want another fancy skill?"

"Of course! I want as many skills as possible!"

He proudly raised his giant axe as though he were making a perfectly reasonable demand.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

"Then chop more wood! If you give me enough wood, I’ll be able to make better weapons and better skills for you!"

Gopuro’s eyes immediately lit up.

"Yes, Big Boss!"

The dude turned around and charged toward the nearest tree without wasting another second.

"Hahaha! Wood chopping! Here I come!"