The last time Roman witnessed a guy forcing himself on a girl was in Second Grade at Starfall Academy. It had ended with the girl pouring hot water on him after he pushed too far, and the news spread across the entire academy within hours. For many months after that, the guy was never seen around, nursing both his peeled skin and his shame somewhere out of sight.
'There's no doubt this one is heading somewhere similar,' Roman thought.
He hadn't been shaken by the threats at all, and he quickly shifted his attention to what actually mattered. The Blade Queen's Mandible Shard was sitting in his possession, and it was time to put it to use.
But just as he was about to reach the workshop, a sudden realisation stopped him in his tracks.
"Can't I just do it myself without needing the Blacksmith?" he muttered.
"The Blacksmith Profession is available to me. I can handle this on my own."
Roman diverted straight to his cottage and got himself settled. He figured the process might take a while, and he didn't want to leave for the valley any later than necessary.
Ding!
[You have successfully switched to the Blacksmith Profession.]
Roman nodded and waited for the skills to come through.
[You have acquired an F Rank Skill, Basic Forge! — Allows the user to shape and work raw materials into basic weapons and armor using heat and impact. 30 to 100% efficiency.]
[You have acquired an F Rank Skill, Material Read! — The ability to assess any material and immediately understand its properties, durability, strengths and weaknesses. 30 to 100% efficiency.]
[You have acquired an F Rank Skill, Temper Strike! — A controlled hammering technique that strengthens the molecular structure of a material during the forging process, increasing the final product's durability beyond what the raw material would naturally allow. 30 to 100% efficiency.]
[You have acquired an F Rank Skill, Edge Set! — A finishing skill applied at the final stage of any blade creation. Sharpens and sets the cutting edge of any bladed weapon to its maximum possible sharpness relative to the material used. 30 to 100% efficiency.]
[You have acquired an F Rank Skill, Rough Repair! — Allows the Blacksmith to perform basic field repairs on damaged weapons and armor. At F rank, the repair is functional rather than perfect but enough to keep equipment operational.]
[You have acquired an F Rank Skill, Heat Read! — The ability to judge the precise temperature of a material during forging without any external tool. Prevents overheating or underworking a material during the creation process. 30 to 100% efficiency.]
Roman was about to dismiss the descriptions when one more skill suddenly appeared.
[You have acquired an X Rank Skill, Essence Forge! — A skill that goes beyond shaping raw material and instead draws out the innate essence stored within a monster drop, binding it permanently into the weapon being created. Where Basic Forge produces a weapon shaped from a material, Essence Forge produces a weapon that carries the nature of the creature the material came from. Assured 100% efficiency.]
The moment Roman read the description, he went completely still.
Not just because of what the skill could do, but because of the rank attached to it.
X rank. The same rank as his Soulmancy Talent. A rank that technically did not exist within the standard ranking system of the Badlands, which climbed from F all the way to SSS and stopped there. He still hadn't gotten a clear answer on what the X rank truly represented, but everything it had produced so far told him it sat somewhere beyond the ceiling that everyone else was working toward.
And if it turned out to be above SSS entirely, he wouldn't be surprised.
The thought that followed came naturally, the same one that kept returning whenever he sat with the reality of his Talent.
Souls were not something the Badlands discussed openly. The common understanding was that when an Entrant or monster died, their soul passed on to whatever vast existence stretched beyond the Omniverse. The Gods, as some called it.
*So if I'm taking souls that are meant to reach the heavens, am I committing a crime against the Gods themselves?*
The question sat with him for a moment longer than he wanted it to, and then he pushed it aside and focused.
Essence Forge was clearly the right skill for this. The Mandible Shard was a monster drop, and that was exactly what the skill was built for.
He brought the Blade Queen's Mandible Shard out from his Possession stat and activated [Essence Forge].
[Essence Forge Activated!]
[Essence Forge has identified a material of potential innate essence!]
[Material Name: Blade Queen's Mandible Shard.]
[Material Potential Product: A Blade.]
[Estimated Production Time: 20 seconds.]
[Do you wish to craft a Blade from the Blade Queen's Mandible Shard?]
"Exactly why I activated you," Roman said.
[Production Order received. Production in progress...]
The Mandible Shard lifted from his palm on its own, rising slowly into the air before the amber glow coating its surface intensified into a deep, burning red. It began to shift, its rigid shape softening and stretching as the essence within it responded to the skill, the material folding and reforming with a precision that no hammer or anvil could have replicated.
The heat in the room climbed noticeably, and a faint hum resonated from the suspended mass as it continued its transformation, edges sharpening, length extending, the flat of the blade smoothing itself into something clean and deliberate.
Then, at exactly twenty seconds, the glow extinguished.
[Production Complete!]
What floated before him was a blade without a hilt, which Roman had expected since Essence Forge was not responsible for that, and neither was the Mandible Shard itself. That part would need to be handled separately.
But the blade itself.
It was long and narrow, its surface carrying the deep amber-black colouring of the Blade Ant Queen's mandible, but refined now into something far more intentional.
The flat caught the evening light bleeding through the window and scattered it in sharp fragments across the walls of the cottage, and the edge was something else entirely. It did not simply look sharp.
It looked like sharpness had been made into a physical object and given a form. Even sitting perfectly still and untouched, the edge seemed to hum with a latent cutting force that made the air around it feel slightly thinner.
Roman reached out and took it from where it floated, and the warmth still sitting in the grip told him that the forge had only just finished its work. He turned it slowly, watching the light move across the surface, and felt the weight of it settle into his hand with a balance that the sword from the outpost stockpile had never come close to.
"Peak," he muttered.
[You have created a Rare Grade Blade. Do you wish to give it a name?]
"A Rare Grade???"
Roman's voice came out louder than he intended.
"It came from an Ordinary Monster drop. How is this a Rare Grade Blade?"
He stared at the notification for a long moment, genuinely struggling to process it. A Rare Grade weapon was something that even the Outpost Head would have difficulty acquiring at this stage.
Weapons were graded from Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Transcendent and Legendary, and Roman was standing in his cottage holding a Rare Grade blade he had forged himself at F rank.
If anyone in the outpost found out, he would be worshipped!
He settled his breathing, pushed the shock aside, and went straight to the name. He already had one waiting.
"Queenfang... Yeah, Queenfang."
[Blade name acquired: Queenfang.]
With that done, he headed straight to the blacksmith to have the hilt fitted, and the moment the blacksmith laid eyes on Queenfang, the questions came without pause.
"Where did you get this from?"
"Did you steal it?"
"Oh my God. Tell me the grade. Is it Common? It has to be Common, right? Roman, tell me."
Roman collected his sword and walked out without answering a single one of them.
He passed through the gate with minimal resistance from the gatekeepers, and once the valley was ahead of him, he made one final switch.
[You have successfully switched to the Swordsman Profession.]
Roman looked down at Queenfang in his hand, feeling the weight of it settle differently now that he was carrying the skills to match it.
"Let's ride as a Swordsman this time."