The spar was me against Fenrir, Torva, Juliet and Crimson.
Crimson's part in that needs explaining. While I'd been shut away crafting, Crimson had broken through to unique, and gained a humanoid form. He saved the reveal for the morning of the spar, and walked into the training yard on two legs while everyone was stretching.
He was about 1.83 meters tall, with short red hair, crimson eyes, long rabbit ears, and a slim but toned build. Torva dropped her greatsword. Not on purpose.
"You took long enough," she said, when she'd picked it back up. Her ears were pink. Torva doesn't have ears that can go pink. I don't know how she did it.
"I wanted to be sure," Crimson said.
I'm glad the two of them could finally be together.
The big thing about this spar was that all four would fight me at once. Normally I'd object to something that absurd. But when the Golem Kingdom was announced, I'd gained a new skill that made it possible.
[The Golem King]
Lets the King of All Golems show power befitting his status. Choose one or more aspects of your golems. You gain that aspect at a level equal to all of your golems under that aspect combined.
No time limit. No requirements.
For example, in this spar I chose only the aspect of swordsmanship. That meant my sword skill was equal to the combined skill of every golem I'd made who uses a sword.
Thanks to that little tidbit, none of the four could land a single hit on me. They ended up exhausted on the floor, looking up at me with bemused expressions. It seemed like they'd been expecting it, even though I hadn't told any of them about the skill.
"That's cheating, Papa," Juliet said, from the floor, upside down.
"That's being King, sweetheart."
"Same thing."
We spent most of the day sparring, although for a lot of it, it barely counted as a spar. So I switched to one-on-ones, and lowered myself to just above each of their levels so they could actually get something out of it.
Crimson didn't know much about swordsmanship when we started, but wanted to learn because of Torva. So I taught him the basics, and decided I'd help him regularly so he'd improve faster.
A few days later, I ended up sparring with every single swordsman and swordswoman golem I had. Juliet and Fenrir had been excitedly telling everyone how I hadn't even broken a sweat against them, and how I'd barely moved an inch from my spot. Jarn asked for three rounds. She lost all three, and thanked me for every one of them.
While I sparred with the rest of my golems, I was also watching Euphemina explore a new area called the Siren Kingdom. Turns out she was still looking for that orb recipe, so she could get Grid to make it for her.
The cameagle following her had evolved to handle being underwater. The kingdom was somewhat interesting, and I might make golems out of some of its residents, but that was about it.
Torva also spotted Grid wielding a sword that let him view people's stats. It'd be useless to me, since I can already do that, but I let Torva try to make one anyway. One more thing she can craft and practice.
One thing I did notice about Fenrir's and Juliet's swordsmanship: their skills were renamed [Dazzle's Swordsmanship]. That threw me off. I didn't think my amalgamation of different sword styles would become a style of my own.
It also made Torva train much harder, because she started losing spars against Juliet and Fenrir more often after the change. Crimson started learning my swordsmanship too.
Fenrir started leveling again, and was close to becoming a Legend. He said he had to complete a quest for it to happen. He wouldn't say what the quest was, only that it had to do with me. I could try to guess, but I'd probably be wrong, so I gave up before I started.
Around then, Grid made a legendary weapon he named 'Failure'. It's kind of sad that he named it that, but I could tell it was because of the weapon's design. Torva studied it for days anyway. She said even a Failure from Pagma's successor has something to teach.
She'd also been inspired by the myth-grade weapon Grid saw in a church a while back, and kept trying to make something like it. Sadly, she couldn't, because she'd never been able to break it down herself.
That was Lifael's spear. I'd have to get my hands on it temporarily.
I sent my best unique assassin golems to take the spear while Isabel slept. From what I could tell, it was also draining the girl's life force. I didn't care much. That's a problem Grid made, and he'll have to solve it himself.
I just had to make sure Torva could understand the weapon completely. So I sent her and Crimson along with the assassins to get it done as fast as possible.
It took several nights. Torva would break the spear down and reconstruct it, and the assassins would return it before the girl woke up, then take it back again when she fell asleep. Finally, she understood it completely. She received a mythical blueprint, and the moniker Witness of God's Weapon was added to her craftsmanship skill.
By the time she came home and started forging a spear like it from some of our rarest materials, everyone else was waiting nearby.
Shortly before she finished, a server announcement went out.
[A successor to Pagma's techniques and will has emerged. He is one of the only legends in the world who can produce legendary items.]
Torva's expression changed. It was pure determination. She'd seen the announcement too.
What threw me off was what happened when she finished her spear.
[A Legend has been created.]
[A being created with the ability to use Pagma's techniques has emerged. She is one of the only legends who can create legendary items.]
[Requirement for Legendary rating: legendary beings created, 2/2. Remaining: 1 new unique golem with a unique class (0/1).]
Torva set the spear down very carefully on the anvil. Then she turned around, walked straight over, and sat on my lap in front of every golem in the room.
"I need to recharge," she announced.
Nobody argued. Not even Crimson.
[The S.A. Group Headquarters]
Yoon Nahee and her team were watching two different monitors. One showed Grid creating the legendary Failure. The other showed Torva creating the legendary Lifael's Spear [Reproduction].
"It's like night and day with those two. They're in completely different worlds."
"Grid finally made a legendary item right away, and Torva made one too, determined to one-up him."
Yoon Sangmin spoke from the corner. "Now they both have the strongest legendary weapons. The balance will collapse rapidly."
Team Leader Yoon Nahee shook her head. "Rather, the balance will be adjusted. In Grid's case, at least."
"He gets fewer stats and less reputation when he makes items now. Well, isn't that overdue?" Yoon Sangmin said. "I understand Torva's case, since she and Daz's whole group are classified as NPCs now, but still."
The team kept discussing Grid and set Torva's case aside. Since the Golem Kingdom was classified as an NPC kingdom, it would have its own 'episode' or 'event' when the time came.