"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Lloyd, you... where on earth did you get this many monster nuclei!?"
Dian’s eyes went wide with shock as he stared at the mountain of nuclei piled before him.
"Shiro and the others brought them for me."
"Woof!"
"That’s incredible! Thanks, little guy!"
Dian reached out to pat Shiro’s head as the beast nodded proudly.
"Grrr...!"
However, Shiro let out a low growl and refused his touch.
Dian flinched for a moment, then looked at me and smirked.
"Whoa there. Won’t take to anyone but your master, huh? Good grief, what a prideful little pup."
"I’m sorry, Dian-niisan."
"Don’t worry about it. More importantly, it looks like we can finally move forward with mass-producing those magic swords."
"Yes, the Magic Sword Squad... it has a nice ring to it. Let's do it."
Thanks to Shiro and the others gathering the monster nuclei, the mass production of the swords was likely to proceed without a hitch.
We had plenty of materials; now all that was left was the work itself.
For a while after that, I devoted myself to crafting magic swords under Dian’s guidance.
By failing dozens of times, my perspective on enchantments began to shift.
First of all, once a weapon is enchanted, it becomes incomparably stronger than any ordinary blade.
However, enchantments are surprisingly fragile.
Beyond degradation from combat, the simple friction of drawing the sword from its sheath and putting it back cannot be ignored.
With some of the less stable ones, the enchantment seemed to wear off in less than ten days.
Therefore, rather than merely increasing attack power or the strength of the blade, maintaining the integrity of the spell formula was overwhelmingly more important.
Particularly with a magic sword, if even a small part of the spell formula is lost, the magic will fail to trigger, and it becomes nothing more than a mundane piece of iron.
"I need to be precise... and strong. I have to carve the spell formula deep...!"
Carefully, painstakingly, one character at a time—I wasn't just weaving the mana; I was carving it deep into the steel.
Just to be safe, if I applied a double layer of the maintenance formula, it would probably last about a year.
At least, I hoped it would. The sheer cost and effort required for each one was enough to make my head spin.
"Woof!"
The Mini-Shiros entered the workshop, carrying monster nuclei in their mouths.
"Oh, you guys came again today? Thanks!"
"Woof, woof!"
"All right, all right, here’s your food."
The Mini-Shiros dropped the monster nuclei and swarmed the food Dian set out for them.
Honestly, I wondered where they were finding these... They were probably hunting down every monster in the vicinity.
Since they brought back a significant amount, I was able to produce about one magic sword and two enchanted swords every day.
And then—
"Albert-nii, I’ve finished thirty magic swords for now."
"Oh! This many magic swords... Wonderful!"
Albert’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the row of blades.
"With this many, they should function perfectly as a dedicated unit. Dian, Lloyd, you both did a magnificent job!"
"Heh, I just did what I love."
"Yes, it was a great learning experience for me too."
Thanks to this project, I gained a lot of know-how regarding fixing spell formulas and enchanting physical objects.
I’d have to see if I could adapt those techniques to something else eventually.
"I’d like to give you some kind of reward, but..."
"Yeah, you’re right, Albert-nii. We’ve gotta give Little Roddy a prize!"
"Indeed. What do you want? Just name your wish."
I thought for a moment at Albert's question before answering.
"Well... in that case, I’d like Dian-niisan to forge me a magic sword. One for my own personal use."
The two looked at each other and laughed.
"It’s true, Lloyd didn’t have his own magic sword yet."
"Hahaha! After making that many for others, of course you’d want your own! My bad, my bad. But if that’s the case, leave it to me. I’ll forge you the best blade possible!"
"I’ll help gather the materials. I promise to collect the very best components available."
"Ohh! Then Albert-nii, since we’re at it, let's make an incredible weapon without worrying about the cost! Think you can get some Tamahagane!?"
"Hmm, the Magic Steel considered the most suitable for magic swords, right? Very well, I shall use my connections to prepare the highest quality material."
"Heh, I’ve got a feeling we’re about to create a real monster of a blade. I’m getting excited!"
The two of them got worked up, leaving me out of the conversation.
Well, as long as I get a good magic sword out of it, I don't mind.
The next day, I received word that the materials had been gathered, so I headed to the workshop.
"Yo, Lloyd, glad you could make it."
"As requested, I’ve gathered the finest materials."
"Thank you very much. Let’s start making it right away."
And so, the production of my personal magic sword began.
I engraved the spell formula along with the magic marrow fluid into the blade Dian had forged.
"By the way, what kind of magic do you plan to imbue it with-ssu? Is it going to be one of the supreme magics after all-ssu?"
"That’s a surprise for later."
Concentrating on my work without answering Grimo’s question, my magic sword was finally complete after some time.
It was a slightly short sword, perfectly sized for my height. It had a nice weight to it and felt just right in my hand.
As I held it and tilted the blade, the light reflected off the silver steel, making it gleam.
"Now, Lloyd, isn't it about time you told us what kind of magic you imbued it with?"
"Yeah, Lloyd, don't keep us in suspense."
Come to think of it, I had kept it a secret from them, too.
Grimo also seemed to be listening intently.
I’d kept it a secret for no particular reason, but it wasn't really something I needed to hide... now I was starting to feel a bit embarrassed about it.
"It’s not really something worth being so formal about, but... well. Let’s go outside and test it."
Once we were outside, I gripped the sword, and the blade began to glow with a white light.
I waved to Albert, who was standing a short distance away.
"Now, Albert-niisan, could you fire some magic at me?"
"Understood."
Saying that, Albert fired a Fireball at me.
I held the sword up toward the sphere of flames flying my way.
The fireball vanished instantly, and the sword glowed with a faint red tint.
"Good, it was a success."
Seeing me do a victory pose, Dian looked puzzled.
"I’m surprised. The fireball just disappeared. What kind of trick did you use?"
"...I see, Magic Absorption, huh?"
I nodded back at Albert’s words.
Magic Absorption is a spell that catches enemy magic and converts it into one’s own mana.
It is one of the spells used against mages, and while it looks strong at first glance, it requires you to activate it after seeing the opponent's magic, meaning you must always have the spell formula ready.
Because of that, you can't go on the offensive and must concentrate entirely on catching the spell, making it difficult to perform other movements.
It’s a spell that seems convenient but is surprisingly difficult to master.
"Hmph, you’ve put some thought into this, Lloyd. It's true that Magic Absorption is difficult to use as a spell, but if you turn it into a magic sword, you no longer need to prepare the formula manually. Being able to nullify an opponent's magic and absorb their mana just by swinging a sword would be a massive advantage in a mage duel. Future battles will undoubtedly be centered around magic. To have already looked that far ahead... what foresight for my younger brother! Truly wonderful, Lloyd...!"
"Magic Absorption, huh... Heh, you really thought this through. This isn't well-known, but it's a spell that can be used for offense, not just defense. Once you catch a spell, you can do more than just absorb it into mana; you can fire it back exactly as it was, chantless. If you combine it with your own magic at that moment, you can activate it as Double Magic. And if you add another layer, it becomes Triple Magic...! Heh, naturally, you must have calculated that far. You’re quite the guy...!"
"Diald? No, Rodibert? Or perhaps Aldild...? Hmm, all those names are hard to pass up..."
The three of them were muttering various things under their breaths.
For the record, the reason I chose Magic Absorption was so that if a spell I didn't know was fired at me, I could capture it and study it thoroughly.
There are probably countless spells I’ve never seen before.
For that purpose, I had dedicated most of the sword's performance to expanding the spell formula, increasing the mana capacity, and maintaining the formula itself.
With this, I can capture any kind of magic.
I think it's a great idea. I’ll call it the Sword of Magic Absorption.