Chapter Three: Spirit Tortoise Shell
It was the following day, just after breakfast.
After giving my orders to everyone, I decided what to do for the day. Training was going pretty well. I was making progress with life force too. S’yne knew a lot about the topic, so when she had the time, I was having her teach me and Atla.
“Naofumi.” Ren, also having finished his breakfast, came over to me.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“We need me to learn some smithing, right? So I’d like to see the weapon shop guy and his master if possible,” he said. Yeah, I’d forgotten about that. I’d introduced him to them when I took him over to Q’ten Lo. It would be a good chance to request some things from the old guy too.
“Okay then, today we’ll go and see them in Q’ten Lo,” I decided. “We can’t afford to leave the Melromarc store closed for any longer.” Worst-case scenario, we’d end up bringing Imiya’s uncle back with us.
That reminded me. There had been some developments with Imiya. While I was away from the village, the accessory dealer had paid a visit, looked at some of the accessories that Imiya made, and given her some advice. If he thought she was worth teaching, that meant she had some real skill. He knew she was my underling too.
When I found a moment, I’d try and chat with her about how to make better accessories.
With that, we used Raphtalia’s Return Dragon Vein and headed to Q’ten Lo.
In the capital of Q’ten Lo, Raphtalia was the Heavenly Emperor— basically the queen—and so she couldn’t just stroll around the streets. So we had her wait in the castle. Just Ren and I headed over to Motoyasu II’s workshop.
“Hey! What’re you doing here, kid?” The weapon guy came out to greet us. As for Motoyasu II . . . Hold on! He was forging away with a serious look on his face. That seemed unprecedented! Imiya’s uncle was working as his assistant too. He was carrying in what looked like a vast volume of water . . . no, holy water. Above it all, some members of the Q’ten Lo clergy were chanting away constantly in the corner. It was totally crazy, to be honest.
“How’s it going with you?” I asked.
“I’m improving a lot, thanks to my master,” the old guy replied.
“That’s great to hear,” I complimented him.
“You’ve done a lot to help me out recently. I’m sorry for all the trouble, kid. Really, I am,” he said gruffly.
“Hey, you always do so much for us,” I pointed out. “No need to worry about it. What about them?” I looked over to Imiya’s uncle and Motoyasu II.
“My master is just reforging that cursed sword for the Sword Kid. Tolly and I are in the middle of helping him out,” the old guy explained.
“Got any plans for the store in Melromarc?” I prodded gently.
“Hmmm.” The old guy crossed his arms and gave it some serious thought. The whole setup for forging was really great here in Q’ten Lo, that much was true, but I doubted that was keeping him from wanting to leave. After all, he just had to ask me and I could move everything around.
“You’re worried about letting your master off the leash again, aren’t you?” The old man nodded at this perceptive comment from Ren.
Yeah, I had already guessed as much. If I took the old guy away now, his master would probably jump for joy.
“That said, leaving things as they are probably isn’t going to be much better. He’s going to run up a tab the first chance he gets,” I surmised.
“He really is incorrigible, isn’t he,” Ren agreed.
What to do with the creepy letch once the old guy and Imiya’s uncle finished their training was definitely something I needed to think about.
“Anyway, we can worry about that later,” the old guy said. “It’s not like me or Tolly have finished our training yet anyway.”
“You haven’t?” I asked.
“Just a little more and I think I’m really going to have something,” the old guy enthused. “Although there’s still a lot more beyond that too.” So he was coming up to a milestone at least. Hmmm.
In any case, we needed all this cursed gear to be purified.
“I don’t want it to sound like an afterthought, but we’ve also got some weapons we made using the Spirit Tortoise materials. After all the hassle recently, go ahead and take them with you,” the old guy said, truly sounding apologetic.
“So you solved the problem?” I queried.
“Yep, that’s right. I asked my master about it, and seriously, he solved it so damn quick. All that worrying on my part just seemed silly. It really makes me think, you know, I’ve got a long way to go yet,” the old man replied. He was so skilled though. I had to wonder at his humble personality sometimes. “The Q’ten Lo bigwigs said they’d pay, so no need to worry about that,” he continued.
“Hey, that’s a big help,” I said gladly. Just as we finished that exchange, Imiya’s uncle found a break in his work and came over. Hmmm, he also looked a bit thinner.
Then he went into the back room with the old man. They clattered back with all sorts of gear in their arms. There was a shield among the pieces and some armor too.
“That dragon of yours brought the core on over. That let us complete this armor for you!” The old guy beamed. It looked a lot like the Barbaroi Armor that I’d worn in the past. However, after a closer inspection, a tortoiseshell-colored material had been added to the metal parts. The slightly darker coloring had been made brighter too.
Barbarian Armor + 3
defense up: impact resistance (large), slash resistance (large), fire resistance (large), wind resistance (large), water resistance (large), earth resistance (large), lightning resistance (large), absorb resistant (medium), HP recovery (low), magic recovery (low), SP recovery (low), EP recovery (low), magic power-up (medium), dragon territory, earth vein protection, dragon element, four holy beasts power, Spirit Tortoise power, magic defense processing, automatic self-repair, growth power
It had so many effects on it that it made my head spin a little. The curse from when it was the Barbaroi Armor was gone too. I could already tell, just from a glance, that it was better than what Romina had made. No, more like an enhancement to one of Romina’s pieces that had ceased to function.
“Can I give it a try right away?” I asked.
“Sure thing. Show us what it looks like!” the old guy enthused. I took the armor and got changed in the fitting room. While feeling familiar and well-worn, it also had a new feeling to it. It felt a bit strange. Still, although the coloring was different, the design wasn’t changed much.
“How is it?” I asked the old guy.
“Looks like you’ve come back to yourself at last, kid,” the old guy replied.
“Yes . . . I’m not sure it’s my place to say this perhaps, but for a hero it might be a little . . . Ah, sorry, it’s nothing,” Imiya’s uncle started and then thought better of it. I mean, he wasn’t wrong. The old guy always seemed pretty pleased with it, but when I first saw the armor, the first thing I thought of was a thug from some apocalyptic future. But just putting that same armor on made me feel stronger. The old guy made it—someone I entrusted implicitly—making it the armor I felt I could rely on the most.
Raphtalia had said she wanted to become my sword. The old guy had given me this armor. Modifying this Barbarian Armor really did make the best armor.
“Now I just have to think about the shield. After copying it, what to do?” I wondered. It was another piece the old man had taken the time to make for me, after all. Maybe hang it up on display in the storehouse?
“I think I’ve got an idea of what you’re thinking kid, from the look on your face. But am I mistaken? You look like some blue-blooded collector who just found his next trophy.” Ulp. I guessed I’d have someone equip it.
With that I gripped the shield, and with a sparkly flash, weapon copy was activated.
Weapon copy activated! Conditions for the Spirit Tortoise Shell were unlocked!
Connecting with the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield!
Spirit Tortoise Shell (awakened) 80/80 AT <abilities locked> equip bonus: skills: S Float Shield, Reflect Shield, special effects: gravity field, C soul recovery, C magic snatch, C gravity shot, vitality boost, magic defense (large), lightning resistance, nullify SP drain, magic assistance, spell support, growth power special equip effect: comet shield (Spirit Tortoise) mastery level: 100
So it had blended with the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield? It looked like an enhanced version of that. Its shape was also different from the original, strengthening the idea of it being a mixture with the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield.
However, it looked like it couldn’t use Energy Blast.
It was still incredible. It was like it had all the best parts of the Spirit Tortoise line of shields. Overall, it was better than the Demon Dragon Shield too. I thought I should be making this my main shield in the future.
“S Float” was likely “Second Float Shield.” That would make it a semi-passive skill that created a floating shield, like E Float. Considering other “Second Shield” examples, it probably made a second shield appear or something like that.
What about Reflect Shield though?
Based on the text and the games I knew of, it might perform a counter based on a percentage of the damage taken, but that would be worthless against weaker enemies.
Also, what was this “growth power” that I sometimes saw? Yeah, there were quite a few effects here that I didn’t really know what they did.
The special equip effect comet shield (Spirit Tortoise) also caught my eye. I’d caused trouble for the old guy by testing things in front of him before, however, so I’d put that off until later.
“It looks like you’ve copied it, but hasn’t its appearance changed quite a bit?” the old man noticed.
“Yeah, it’s because it’s a Spirit Tortoise shield,” I explained. “I’ve got all these bonuses which make it transform.” Ost’s blessing was still in effect.
I was happy to make use of it.
“Here, Sword Kid, one for you too. This is the Spirit Tortoise sword created by my master,” the old man said.
“Huh? Spirit Tortoise sword? We saw one of those in Zeltoble,” I recalled.
“Yeah, about that,” the old man started.
“What?” I prompted.
“We reckon the Spirit Tortoise piece you saw in Zeltoble was one made by my master,” the old guy finally explained, his face looking pained. “Once, when he was looking for some spending money, my master used some rare materials to make a sword, and it seems those were Spirit Tortoise materials. He only told me once he got a good look at these materials.” What? So the sword we saw in that auction had been made by Motoyasu II?
“In the least, I’m yet to encounter a blacksmith other than the two of us who can turn Spirit Tortoise materials into any kind of workable weapon. I think that has to be the case,” the old guy continued sheepishly. I mean, Motoyasu II was exceptionally skilled . . . but had that piece traveled all the way from Q’ten Lo?
I probably should have pressed for more information, but Motoyasu II looked hard at work and I didn’t want to disturb him.
“Hmmm. Ren, how about your curse?” I asked.
“Yeah, it feels a lot better, thanks to you guys, Naofumi. I don’t think the sword will snap or anything like that,” Ren answered.
“My master made that especially sturdy, just for you, Sword Kid.
Should be fine,” the old guy added. Without further ado, Ren took hold of the Spirit Tortoise Sword.
“Wow!” He was impressed at once. “It has incredible sharpness. I just copied it, and the quality is so high. It has some bonuses on it!”
“What! Even those effects are reflected in the copy?!” I failed to contain my surprise.
“Yeah, the level required for transformation has been significantly dropped, and there’s a pretty big bonus on the sharpness. It looks very easy to use too. It’s like an order-made weapon with all sorts of effects on it!” Ren said, sounding very pleased.
I hadn’t seen the same kind of stuff with the Spirit Tortoise Shell though. Mine had been a special transformation realized solely by the link with the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield. So why didn’t it have these other bonuses?
I looked at the old guy, and he was embarrassedly scratching at his head.
“I’m sorry. When you compare things made by my master with the Spirit Tortoise Shell, I’m ashamed of how poor it looks,” he lamented.
“Hmmm. In that case, in light of the further growth I expect from you, I think it best I leave the Spirit Tortoise Shell with you. Right?” If he could enhance the Spirit Tortoise Shell further, it would only make me stronger too.
“I’ll make it just like the weapon the Sword Kid just got,” the old guy vowed.
“Good. I believe in you,” I replied.
“Right, what else? Ah, my master also made weapons using Spirit Tortoise materials for Raphtalia, S’yne, Filo, Rishia, and Atla,” the old guy confirmed.
“That lecherous dog. He only made weapons for the women? The size of his balls!” I was almost impressed. He’d likely only made the sword for Ren because he sensed a kindred spirit.
“Anyway. Come by again soon,” the old guy told us.
With that, we carried the gaggle of new weapons back home with us.
Once we were in the village again, I looked at the sword Motoyasu II had made for Raphtalia.
Spirit Tortoise Katana
Its specs were too high. I could only see the name. I seriously needed a shield that would raise my appraisal abilities.
I had Raphtalia copy it anyway. She quickly started swinging it around, reporting that the level and status required to use it were lower than the White Tiger Katana. It had some powerful bonuses on it.
Just what the hell was Motoyasu II? Some kind of forging god?
I didn’t like it. Not one bit! Were we going to have to suck up to that perv to get him to make the best weapons now?
Rishia’s own weapon was semitransparent and couldn’t activate copy, so there was no way to use her new one. The gear that the old guy and his master had provided would fetch a pretty penny if we sold it though. Not too shabby, if we considered it our reward for the invasion of Q’ten Lo.
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