Kendo did not sleep.
The dagger blank rested on his workbench, its surface dark and smooth, still faintly warm hours after leaving the forge. Every few minutes he found himself touching it again, half expecting it to cool at last.
It did not.
At dawn, Rollo pushed open the forge door and stopped mid-step.
"You look terrible," he said. Then he noticed the metal. "What is that?"
Kendo hesitated only a second before answering. "Something I found in the disposal grounds."
"That glow isn't normal."
"No."
Rollo stepped closer, studying it without touching. "You didn't steal it from the guild, did you?"
"It was buried beneath the refuse. No markers. No claim."
"That doesn't mean it belongs to you."
Kendo met his friend's gaze. "No one knew it existed."
Rollo held that look for a moment, then nodded slowly. "So what is it?"
"I don't know yet."
He reheated the blank, this time to shape it properly. The metal responded differently from iron. It resisted force unless struck at the correct angle. When his hammer connected precisely along its grain, the surface smoothed almost eagerly.
Rollo watched the process in silence.
"You're smiling," he said eventually.
Kendo paused, realizing he was.
The shaping did not exhaust him the way normal forging did. The metal seemed to carry its own weight, its own density. When he quenched it in oil, the liquid hissed violently, steam curling upward in thick waves.
He lifted the finished dagger.
The edge caught light without reflection. It absorbed it.
"Test it," Rollo said.
They stepped outside the forge toward a discarded boar plate leaning near the alley wall. Kendo had tried cutting it days ago with ordinary steel. The blade had skidded uselessly across its surface.
He positioned the new dagger carefully.
He did not swing wildly. He drew the edge downward with steady pressure.
The hide parted.
Clean.
No resistance. No bend.
Rollo let out a low breath. "That's not F-tier."
Kendo examined the cut surface. The dagger's edge remained flawless.
"Neither is that metal," Rollo added quietly.
Kendo's pulse quickened.
If this small fragment could produce such strength…
Then what waited in the cavern below?
He looked down at the blade in his hand.