"Here you go. Twenty Swords, all accounted for."
"Perfect. Thank you, sir."
Twenty training-grade Swords lay in a neat row across the long workbench. Rover's golden eyes lit up as he swept them all into his Tacet Mark storage, fingers already itching for a fight.
I need to get outside the city walls. Find some Tacet Discords, test these out, turn them into nice shiny Echoes to absorb.
"Please, call me Uncle Wei. And don't thank me. If anything, I should be thanking you. These Swords are all pieces I wasn't satisfied with. They'd never have made it to market. But since you're planning to use them as throwing knives, they'll serve fine. I'll only charge you half price."
The old smith chuckled as he spoke. Rover blinked, thinking the man was being far too modest. He'd already inspected every blade while accepting them. Each one was solid work. A few minor imperfections here and there, but nothing that would affect performance. They were good Swords by any reasonable standard. It was only through the exacting lens of a veteran craftsman that they fell short of "acceptable."
Half price was likely just covering materials.
"I've also finished repairing your Sword, but I can't reinforce it yet. I'm out of a particular rare ore. If you're willing to wait, though, I might have stock again soon." Uncle Wei glanced to one side.
Rover followed his gaze.
A Sword sat on the repair bench. Same spec as his own Originite: Type II.
Except this one looked like a teething toy that had lost a fight with a wolfhound. Pitted, cracked, gouged to hell.
"Whose blade is this? Someone put it through the wringer."
It looked like some brute of a warrior had taken it to solid rock and just kept hacking.
"Belongs to another customer who came in earlier. Young woman, asked me to restore it. But as you can see, the damage is severe, and a full repair needs that same rare ore I mentioned. I told her it's only found in Desorock Highland, and she bolted out the door without a second word. Hasn't been gone long. She might be back any minute now."
Uncle Wei stared at the mangled blade with a pained expression. Even with the ore in hand, getting this wreck back into shape would take him considerable effort.
But the blade wasn't what worried him most.
Desorock Highland is no walk in the park. Tacet Discords, Exiles roaming around... can that girl handle it?
He thought back to what the customer had looked like. A young woman in red, all wide-eyed innocence. The kind of girl who made an old man like Uncle Wei think wistfully of the granddaughter he never had.
The fact that she'd brought in a Sword this badly wrecked was strange enough. He'd assumed she was running an errand for an older relative.
Then she'd heard the words "Desorock Highland" and sprinted out the door.
No, no, no. A girl like that, alone in the Highlands? Why didn't I stop her? If something happens to her, this old fool will never forgive himself.
The deeper he thought, the tighter his frown became. What had he been thinking, letting a young girl run off into danger like that?
So when the old smith looked up and noticed the clearly capable Rover standing before him, the request came tumbling out.
"Young friend, might I ask you to head to Desorock Highland and look for a red-haired girl? Bring her back safely, and I'll waive the cost of everything. The weapons, the reinforcement, all of it. Free of charge."
"Heh. Uncle Wei, I think you've been worrying for nothing."
"What?"
"She's already back. That's the one you mean, right?"
Rover nodded toward the distance with an amused smile. A red-haired girl was jogging toward them, arms wrapped around several hefty chunks of rare ore, beaming so wide it could split her face. The same kind of guileless sunshine as Yangyang.
Like the adorable girl next door, the sort whose smile made everything around her feel a shade brighter. There was a purity to it, though something fierce lurked underneath, like a little cherry-red rabbit that was equal parts healing and dangerous. The kind that made you want to pat her head and hand her a snack.
There was, however, one small caveat.
You had to overlook the blood splattered all over her.
"Gah...! Cough, cough!"
Uncle Wei nearly fainted on the spot.
"I'm back, Grandpa! Are these enough?" She held out her haul of rare ore like a child presenting treasure.
"Plenty! More than... no, wait, that's not the point! You... why is there so much blood on you?! Someone call a medic!"
"Hm? Oh, this? Don't worry, it's not mine."
She glanced down at the red staining her clothes, as if only now realizing how alarming she looked, and scratched the back of her head with a sheepish grin. She was fine, she explained. Totally fine.
On the way back with the ore, she'd run into a pack of Exiles looking to rob her. So she'd cut them all down. The blood was mostly theirs.
"You... you beat an entire group of Exiles by yourself?"
"Ahem. Uncle Wei, she didn't say 'beat.' She said 'cut down.'" Rover studied the girl with open fascination.
Red hair like sunset. Red clothes like flame.
Delicate as porcelain, innocent as morning light.
Guileless and sweet, yet lethal in a way that looped right back around to terrifying.
No question about it. This was the Chopping Queen of Jinzhou, the Light of Righteousness, the girl the Wuthering Waves community had crowned the "Little Reaper." Danjin.
Hey buddy, this right here is Jinzhou's number-one killer. Think you can hold eye contact with her for ten seconds?
Ten seconds later... Okay, she's adorable.
Uncle Wei, meanwhile, still hadn't recovered. He stared at the blood-drenched girl who somehow still smiled like a little angel, the corner of his eye twitching violently.
"Your weapon is sitting right here on my bench. How could you possibly have fought off those Exiles?" He jabbed a finger at the battered Sword.
"Oh, that! My Forte, Crimson Tutelage, lets me condense my own blood into weapons. Makes combat pretty convenient. Though if I use it too much, I get a little... carried away, hehe."
She demonstrated on the spot. Crimson welled from her palm, stretched and solidified into a scarlet blade. A few casual swings and the air itself seemed to turn sharp, carrying the scent of iron and the promise of violence.
Uncle Wei sucked in a breath, realizing how badly he'd misjudged her.
This girl, who looked like she couldn't hurt a fly, was a powerful Resonator.
A "disguise" so thorough it had fooled even his practiced eye.
He explained the situation with the Sword repairs.
"Oh? You need the same ore for your weapon too, big bro?" Danjin peered at the blade in his hand.
"Hi, I'm Rover. Would you mind sharing some of that ore?"
"Sure! Of course! I brought back plenty, take whatever you need. Oh, and I almost forgot. My name's Danjin."
The girl offered without hesitation. She'd gone through real trouble to collect those stones, but if they could help someone else, she wouldn't think twice about sharing. In that moment, she seemed more precious than the exquisite jade pendant hanging at her chest.
Rover smiled, then produced several packets of Loong Whiskers Crisp. He'd originally bought them for Abby, but he knew from his past life, from maxing out her affection meter, that this was Danjin's favorite treat.
"Loong Whiskers Crisp! Thank you, Rover!"
"Don't mention it. And hold still for a second."
"Huh? Oh... that's cold."
Danjin was happily munching away when Rover was already pulling a fresh tin of healing salve from his belt pouch, dabbing it along a bleeding gash on her forearm.
"Your Forte lets you control your own blood, so even when you're wounded you can prevent blood loss. But that doesn't mean you can ignore it. The cut itself won't close on its own."
He pressed a few extra tins of salve into her hands.
"Thank you, but... this stuff is expensive. I can't just..."
"Costs me next to nothing. And consider it a fair trade for the ore. We're even."
"Deal! You're a really good person, you know that?"
"Wow. Hit me with the 'good person' card right out of nowhere."
Rover shook his head with a wry laugh, watching Danjin grin from ear to ear.
Off to the side, Uncle Wei was already working the ore into the weapon upgrades. He looked from Danjin nibbling her candy to Rover finishing up the bandage on her arm, and something struck him. There was a strange similarity between these two.
One, gentle and poised. The other, bright and carefree.
But when either of them drew a blade...
Some people's blood was going to fly very, very high.