Chapter 205: Legendary Swords, One After Another

[Swordgrave]

[Quality: Legendary | Type: Weapon Forge]

[Level: 0 | Area: 1,000 square meters]

[Forges: 9 | Swordsmiths: 18]

[Available equipment recipes: None]

[Trait 1 — Shared Craft: A recipe learned by any swordsmith is shared by every swordsmith within the Swordgrave.]

[Trait 2 — Enhanced Forging: Sword weapons receive a 20% increase to their base attributes.]

[Trait 3 — Enchantment: A 20% chance to add an extra attribute to a forged sword.]

[Trait 4 — Sword Soul: Swords planted within the Swordgrave generate Sword Soul. More swords, greater variety, and higher Quality increase the rate. Infusing Sword Soul during forging can greatly improve a sword’s attributes. Current reserve: 0.]

"So that’s why it looked like a hedgehog."

Cassian kept reading.

[Trait 5 — Equipment Dismantling: Recovered materials may only be used to forge swords within this Swordgrave.]

[Trait 6 — Material Refining: Refine lower-Quality materials into higher-Quality materials. Refined materials may only be used to forge swords within this Swordgrave.]

His eyes brightened.

At last, a use for all that unwanted equipment. The hundred thousand Black Banner Lords had left him millions of pieces, nearly ten million. He still remembered the piles.

Dismantling and refining worked perfectly together. Break the junk down, then turn large quantities of cheap material into something worth using.

[Trait 7 — Reverse Engineering: Convert a sword weapon into its forging recipe. The resulting recipe is bound to this Swordgrave.]

Cassian sucked in a breath.

"Worth the trip. More than worth it!"

A recipe cost far more than a finished weapon. With this, all he needed was one example of a sword, and he could start producing it.

"Pity the recipes are bound. Otherwise I could keep making swords, turning them into recipes, and selling the recipes. What a business that would be."

The Swordgrave’s capabilities swept away much of his frustration at being trapped here.

Cassian sent Rhea a private message, asking her to come over. Then he turned to the eighteen swordsmiths who had come with the Building.

Their leader, a middle-aged man, stepped forward and bowed.

"Good day, Lord. I am the chief swordsmith. How may I serve you?"

"Do you have names?"

It had been a while since Cassian named anyone. He was beginning to feel the urge.

The smith brightened.

"Sword One through Sword Eighteen, Lord. Terrible names, frankly. If you would be kind enough to give us new ones, we would be most grateful."

Cassian’s mouth fell slightly open.

Rhea arrived before he had to answer.

"This is Rhea, one of my Praetorians."

"Sword One greets Lady Rhea."

"Sword One?" She glanced at Cassian. "The Lord named you, didn’t he?"

The smith looked blank for a moment, then straightened.

"A name of rare simplicity and depth. Timeless, yet quite without precedent—"

"Enough." Cassian waved him quiet and turned to Rhea. "Give me your sword."

Puzzled, she handed him the blade he had bought for her before the battle.

[Heartsense Sword — Legendary]

[Level: 65]

[Sharpness: 320 | Durability: 280]

[Physique +1,200 | Aether +800 | Spirit +800 | Load −900]

[Skills: Heartpiercing Touch / Skyward Slash / Clearspirit Dance]

The attributes were a useful addition for a Nine-Star Legendary fighter. The skills were better still. Heartpiercing Touch was Grade A, with power comparable to Lifeless Sword Arc. Skyward Slash was about as powerful as the Ninefold Blade Art, while the passive Clearspirit Dance improved movement speed.

An excellent Legendary weapon.

"Reverse Engineering."

Cassian dropped it into a blazing forge.

"My sword!"

Rhea stared at him in dismay. She had owned it for less than a day. The pleasure of having a new weapon had barely begun, and he had already thrown it into a furnace.

Then her eyes widened.

Light blazed within the forge. A golden recipe flew out and landed in Cassian’s hand. The sword was gone.

He smiled at the description. Without the word Bound, he would have smiled even more.

[Available equipment recipes: Heartsense Sword.]

Buying the original had cost twelve million Aether. Buying seven hundred at that price would bankrupt him.

Forging one required only forty units of Legendary materials, worth less than five hundred thousand Aether. More than twenty times cheaper.

And the money was only part of it. Swords forged here gained at least twenty percent in attributes.

At least.

A Level-0 Swordgrave could only forge equipment up to Level 5. Cassian bought the additional Legendary materials required for its upgrades through the Exchange, then consumed them and paid each Building upgrade charge.

Bringing the Swordgrave to Level 12 cost him more than a billion Aether in all.

Now it could make the Level-65 sword he wanted.

Cassian gave the command.

"Forge a Heartsense Sword."

Two smiths began work. Hammer blows rang beside the forge.

He waited patiently for half an hour. At last, the first sword was ready. Cassian had been watching the Building’s notices all along.

[Enhanced Forging: positive equipment attributes +20%.]

[Enchantment triggered. One extra attribute added.]

[Divine Favor triggered. Equipment attributes +20%.]

"Even the Vein’s blessing? What luck. Is this a gift for forging my first sword?"

Cassian examined it at once.

[Heartsense Sword — Legendary]

[Level: 65]

[Sharpness: 384 | Durability: 336]

[Physique +1,680 | Aether +1,120 | Spirit +1,120 | Load −900]

[Skills: Heartpiercing Touch / Skyward Slash / Clearspirit Dance]

[Extra attribute: Physique +500]

"That’s incredible."

The positive attribute bonuses had risen by forty percent, with another five hundred Physique on top. Even its edge and durability benefited from Enhanced Forging.

The original had already been an excellent Legendary sword. This one was exceptional even among the best. And he had not infused any Sword Soul into it.

His seven hundred veteran Legionnaires completed the Hall’s second-floor trial, and he paid the required Battle Essence to advance them to Epic Two-Star. With a sword like this for every veteran, he estimated their fighting strength could rise another thirty or forty percent.

Cassian tossed the new Heartsense Sword back to Rhea.

"Full production, Sword One. Make as many Heartsense Swords as you can."

Once Cassian left Swordheart, his Vein would lose this strength. He wanted as many exceptional Legendary swords as possible before then.

He opened the Time Acceleration settings for the Swordgrave’s own section of the Deep Layer and paid the displayed charge. Faster time would let its smiths make more swords before he had to leave.

For the moment, he did not even need to buy more forging materials. He brought out the unused non-sword equipment accumulated in his stores, including Epic and Legendary pieces, and had the Swordgrave dismantle it. The recovered materials went through refining next.

By his estimate, there was enough for hundreds of Heartsense Swords.

The hundreds of swords among the haul had another use. He planted them throughout the Swordgrave to begin gathering Sword Soul.

Once everything was arranged, Cassian left Veyra in charge of the Domain and went into the Enclosure. He renewed its fiftyfold acceleration for fourteen Realm Days, paying a hundred and forty million Aether, and kept the other accelerated sections funded as they worked.

Sword of Space had given him a powerful reason to train. He thought the motivation might last a good couple of weeks.

Time passed quickly.

Fourteen days later, the day of the Governorship’s Final Stage arrived.