"What a waste… what an absolute waste!" After closely examining the massive black door in Ur's hands, Master Dingley suddenly cried out in anguish.
"Cloud-pattern steel, magnetite demon stone, tungsten black iron… and even mithril! Th-this, this many rare magical materials… it'd be more than enough to forge a secret treasure! Just who was the idiot that ruined all of this by forging it into this?!" Master Dingley was so furious that his voice trembled, his beard practically standing on end.
After all, with the magical materials contained in those black doors, even a complete amateur hammering away at random could probably have produced a decent piece of magical equipment.
And yet now, these two doors had been "ruined."
One could only imagine just how terrible the original forger's skill had been. It was nothing short of criminal—an outright waste of priceless materials.
"Kid, where did you get these doors from—… no, never mind. Forget it. But are you really planning to repair this piece of junk?" Master Dingley said, glancing at Ur's broken blade. "With the materials you brought, you could easily forge a brand-new, top-tier weapon from scratch!"
He originally intended to ask where Ur got the doors, but after thinking about it, he decided against it.
He was afraid that if he found out who had forged those doors, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from hunting that person down and beating them half to death.
"No need to remake it," Ur said firmly. "Just repair and upgrade it based on the original."
You might not believe it, but Ur actually had feelings.
After all, he'd used this blade for so long—there was bound to be a bit of nostalgia. Even if it was cheap and worn, human emotions weren't so easily changed by such things.
...
Alright. He couldn't keep that nonsense going.
The real reason Ur chose to repair the weapon instead of reforging a new one was simple: the original blade felt right in his hand.
"A weapon has a soul."
Ur had always thought that saying was pure nonsense. But ever since he obtained the passive skill Way of the Wanderer, his sensitivity to what people called a "weapon's spirit" had grown stronger by the day.
Of course, this "spirit" wasn't a soul or intelligence of any kind. It simply meant a higher level of compatibility between Ur and his weapon.
Ur summed it up in one phrase:
"It feels right."
That was why he insisted on repairing the long blade instead of forging a new one.
"Very well. Since that's what you want, I'll forge you a high-grade magical weapon," Master Dingley said. Though he found it strange that Ur was so attached to a piece of junk, to him, repairing and upgrading it versus reforging it entirely would lead to almost the same result—just with a bit more work in the former case.
Besides, getting his hands on so many high-end materials at once was a rare opportunity for Master Dingley himself.
In the past, he had often used advanced magical materials to forge equipment, but never before had he possessed so many at the same time.
"Oh, right," Master Dingley suddenly said. "You brought enough money, didn't you?"
Ur froze for a moment, then replied uncertainly, "I think… it should be enough?"
Master Dingley's words had thrown him off a bit. Based on what Ur had learned, if the materials were provided by the customer, forging a weapon shouldn't cost that much.
Could it be different for high-grade magical weapons?
Noticing Ur's confusion, Master Dingley explained, "Don't misunderstand. What I mean is, to perfectly fuse all of these high-level materials you brought, I may need to use some rather rare special materials."
"Special materials?" Ur asked curiously. "What kind?"
"Dragon blood."
❖≔﴾═══════ﺤ
Outside Dingley's Forge, Erza and Natsu were crouched in a corner, sneakily spying on the situation inside.
From time to time, the sounds of hammering rang out from the forge's back courtyard, making it hard for them to hear Ur and Master Dingley's conversation clearly. They could only catch fragments of words here and there.
At first, neither Natsu nor Erza reacted much to what they overheard.
But the moment Master Dingley uttered the word "dragon", Natsu's expression instantly changed.
Before Erza could even react, Natsu had already charged straight toward the forge.
Boom!
The wall near the forge entrance exploded outward, dust and debris billowing everywhere.
The people inside the forge were dumbfounded. Before they could figure out what was happening, a figure shot forward in a blur, appearing right in front of Master Dingley.
Grabbing him by the shoulders, the newcomer shook him violently.
"Hehehe, tell me right now!"
"Where is the dragon?!"
❖≔﴾═══════ﺤ
Next Chapter: Who Are You, Really?
Next Next Chapter: An Unsolvable Proposition
Next Next Next Chapter: Raven Tail