After getting abandoned by her new teammate, Sera entered the smithy. Not that she cared much for that fact, since she had managed to learn enough of the language of the Realms to at least buy one or the other item.
Letting her gaze wander through the shop, she had to notice that it had a very rustic feel. The counter which had a bunch of scratches was empty and a lot of weapons were on display, either hanging on the walls, or lying on shelves and tables, some even on top of each other. Though the items were still in top condition.
Looking over a few more weapons, she also found a kusarigama, more commonly known as a chain-sickle. Though contrary to that type of weapon in her old world, the weight on one end of the chain wasn’t just a piece of metal but a small morning star. A trend she noticed throughout the store. Most weapons focused on cutting or piercing, while weapons which crushed their targets like hammers, mace and clubs were mostly absent and those remaining had spikes or edges added, basically making them heavier versions of swords, axes and morning stars. A fact she contributed to the game-like system present in the realms, it wouldn’t make sense for that specific type of weapon to be absent otherwise.
Sera could contemplate longer about the question and try to figure out a better answer to it, but chose to continue to study the displayed weapons instead. Her sister could take care of the thinking later.
After further rummaging through the weapons, she found probably the weirdest one so far in a corner. At the first glance it looked like a scythe, however it wasn’t a war scythe and the angle of the blade as well as the missing additional handle meant it also wasn’t a harvesting tool. A point further reinforced by the heavy looking double-edged roughly crescent shaped blade. As usual the weapon was made from a dark metal and some engraving could be seen on it.
Charmed by the item, metaphorically, she had checked that she wasn’t actually charmed, Sara reached out for the weapon.
“Interested in the scythe?” The [Human Lv 98] smith behind the counter suddenly asked. She had already noticed the appearance of the man a while ago, but as she hadn’t sensed any danger so far and he hadn’t spoken, she had ignored him. Maybe not the best choice with his level, if she thought about it.
“Ah, uhm, yea… kind of…” Sera replied, though as she wasn’t very secure with the local language yet, she tried to keep her part in the conversation short. However that didn’t change the fact that she liked the scythe, optically. Usability-wise the weapon seemed a bit unwieldy, though that could change once she tried it out.
He looked at her for a moment. “Hm… Well, i won’t prevent you from buying it, but you should know that this isn’t the easiest weapon to handle. While the enchantments reduce the weight as usual, the blade makes it top heavy, not to mention that the weight could easily be too much for someone at your level.
Well, try to lift it. It would be meaningless to continue the explanation, if you can’t use the weapon.”
Doing as she was told, she grabbed the shaft of the scythe with a hand and tried to lift it. It moved, to the surprise of the shop owner, though only after taking both hands could she truly wield the weapon, even with her boosted physical status values. “Ho, i wasn’t expecting someone at level 11 to actually use it. But try to hold the blade horizontally in front of you.”
Following the instructions she attempted to hold the weapon as described, though with the round shaft, gravity and the weight of the blade it was hard to hold it in place. While a small part of the blade was positioned on the other side of the shaft to offer a counter weight, that could only do so much. “As you can see, the natural weight makes striking difficult. Well, that is part of the reason why scythes aren’t used. Now try to channel your mana through the scythe.”
Letting her mana flow into the shaft and blade, Sera soon noticed a change. While the weight was still present and draining her stamina, the blade didn’t try to change its orientation. “That should make striking easier. As long as you keep channeling your mana, the orientation of the blade can’t be changed. I think a good solution for the problem in theory, though it would require someone who can handle the weight and adjust their mana flow quickly during battle. Also… can you give me the scythe for a moment.” Offering the weapon to the smith, he took and held it easily in one hand. “… if you channel your mana in it and twist the handle like this…” In the next moment the shaft vanished and his hand was on a newly appeared smaller handle near the blade. It seemed like the old one had shrunk and rotated itself halfway. Now melded into the blade and connected at both sides to it, the whole construct looked more like a crescent shaped sword, though still quite weird. “… you can reduce its size or use it as a more or less normal sword, in case you don’t have the area to use the full scythe. However i wouldn’t recommend trying this during combat.”
Taking a deep breath the smith continued. “Anyway, as you can see this is a pretty advanced weapon, however where normal weapons would use enchantments to increase the bleeding of their victims or to offer a variety of other effects, this one uses those slots to become usable in the first place. It was just an experiment of mine. Sure i would like to find someone who wants to use it, but neither do i want to sell it to someone who just throws it in a corner as a trophy nor do i want to endanger its user. That would defeat its purpose as a weapon. Also don’t expect to find anything similar once you outgrow this one. Though i guess it’ll last until you reach around level 100. So, with knowing all that, do you still want the scythe?”
The man talked too much. He was nearly as bad as Sarah once she started to monologue. A quick look at its item description would have also given her that information. Though she guessed he wanted to make sure that she understood what she was about to buy. More than once was the girl about to just throw some money at the man and leave with the weapon. Unfortunately money only existed virtual in the Realms and had to be given through the system. If she wanted the weapon and had the money, why had she to listen to that speech? However, also knowing that just listening would be the most reliable way to get the weapon, the smith was level 98, she could only channel her inner actress.
Mustering the weapon carefully, she turned to the smith and looked at him with determination. “Yes, i want it!”
“Haha, a good expression. I guess i finally found a worthy owner! That just leaves one question: do you also have the money?”
Having paid enough to easily buy five other weapons, because research funds and material costs and the enchantments and whatever else he listed but she had started to ignore, she was lastly in possession of her scythe and left the store. The money was partially a very generous and very voluntary gift from her sister, to compensate Sera for her missed boss fight, and partially earned by her kills in the dungeon.
Though it felt a bit like she just made a bad deal for herself and paid way too much for a mostly useless weapon. A thought which was quickly forgotten as she looked at the weapon currently in its sword-form. At least he had given her a special scabbard which would reduce the weapons weight.
Looking around the street she couldn’t find anything interesting, so she started to walk around aimlessly. If there was one shop with unusual items in the town then there should be more.
Time passed as Sera was walking through the mostly desolated part of the settlement. From time to time she met other people though no interactions followed. Some of the shop-windows took her attention for a few minutes, though in the end she didn’t enter the shops. Just because she bought some items on impulse, it didn’t mean she didn’t have any self-restraint.
Tearing her sight away from the window of a toy shop a while later, she had enough. Yes, she had found a lot of interesting things, but unfortunately her savings were in this world more than limited, nothing on a level similar to the scythe caught her eye and she couldn’t just take whatever she liked. Even the voice in her head, who told her otherwise, was quickly silenced once she recalled the level 98 smith. Sure, it wasn’t a combat profession, but the attribute values alone should be more than enough to cause her trouble. Not to mention the possibility that clerks could also have a combat class.
Dissatisfied by the shops in the area and unsure in which direction she had to go to get back to the more normal stores, the girl used her improved body and the close to each other standing houses to jump on the roof. She wasn’t sure whether it was actually allowed, but she also didn’t care about it.
Using the higher vantage point the lack of high landmarks was apparent, though she could see the walls and somewhat make out where the bigger streets were located. With a new goal in mind Sera started to jump from roof to roof.
Though it didn’t take long until a being covered in darkness, which was also using the roofs as a shortcut, caught her eye.
