Chapter 26: 2nd Monthly Exam (Part 1)

2 weeks had passed since Izumi had started training under Zald and he had made progress. In fact he'd even unlocked a new skill, it was a skill that fixed his issue of over thinking during a fight, causing him to be slower, it also was useful for blacksmithing and even everyday life.

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[Instinct(I)]

Allows the user the ability to sense most sneak attacks and make better judgments. Also allows access to a stat in which the user gains heightened senses and a sixth sense like ability during use. Sixth sense also allows the user to make micro adjustments to make techniques slightly better.

Increases chances of making the right choice judgment.

Grade of ability affects the effectiveness.

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It gave Izumi a new sense and heighten his other ones, it could be adapted to things like combat for countering and dodging, in blacksmithing by instinctively knowing information like heat and finding impurities, or even in everyday like for coming up with an ingredient that would add flavor or detecting traps.

The only downside being it enhances 'all' sense, this includes touch, hearing, and sight. Meaning he would feel more pain or could be susceptible to loud noises due to his heightened hearing or increase the damage done by light based attacks due to heightened sight.

But for every weakness there was an equivalent strength, his heightened touch allowed him to feel wind flows or details better, allowing him to find or understand mechanisms and weapons better. His heightened hearing allowed him to pick up movement and even small sounds from long ranges, though this one could be controlled based on his focus. Finally, there was his sight which allowed his eyes to adapt quicker, see in the dark better, and see further.

Izumi had used this ability multiple times in the time he had it, for blacksmithing, combat, cooking, even his head pat technique.

On top of that his hieroglyphics knowledge had also increased, he would sometimes meet with Eina and discuss his understanding with her. At this point he had reached an intermediate rank of reading and was soon to reach an advanced stage of it. His earlier lessons under Eina had turned into him teaching her, something Eina was quite bashful and shameful about, since she had gone from teacher to student. But sadly, she could not keep up with Izumi's speed of growth and now was the one behind.

Though that could not completely be attributed to Izumi's growth speed, a lot of the thanks went to Seshat's teachings. On the topic of Seshat, her and Izumi's relationship had grown quite a bit, she would push for a sexual interaction after every lesson and Izumi most certainly complied, although never going past the point of sex, which quite annoyed Seshat. She had also become quite obedient and clingy when near Izumi, sometimes sitting beside him and taking in his scent while he studied. After getting over her notions as a goddess, she found Izumi perfectly fitting her preferences. He was young, handsome, and dominant in bed, the latter a new kink she had discovered through Izumi's dominant nature. On top of that he was studious and hungry for knowledge, while also possessing vast insight and out of the box thinking. Outside of the time she spent teaching and pleasuring Izumi, she found herself in deep and complex conversation, as Izumi talked about theories from his old world, of course he never stated the origin of the theories and Seshat had assumed they originated from him.

She would sometimes refresh her own knowledge or spend hours deliberating between the complex theories Izumi described. Even in her off time she would practice and test the formulas she'd learned from Izumi, fascinated by the sheer amount of math that went into the natural laws in an undisturbed state. She sometimes found herself deliberating what the world would be like without gods and magic which violate the natural laws.

Outside of his combat and academical growth, Izumi found his greatest growth in his [Blacksmithing] due to the advancement of his template. In fact his template of [Hotaru Haganezaka] had already reached a completion percentile of 98%.

Izumi hoped to complete it during the monthly evaluation, which was taking place today. However he was aiming to pass the final pillar this time, the fourth one. For it, he had practiced his [Blacksmithing] development ability and had practiced it by learning to enhance his swords, although they weren't at the level of [Durandal], Izumi's enchants weren't something to snuff at. But Izumi was left with a problem, he needed to decide on making a sword with [Unbreaking] but risk not cutting or [Sharpness] but risk breaking before going through.

After deliberating it, Izumi decided to make a blade enhanced with [Unbreaking] due to the influence of his [Hotaru Haganezaka] template, which made Izumi despise the thought of his blades breaking, even at the chance of the blade breaking.

Because of this, Izumi really wanted to learn [Durandal] later, so his blades would never break again.

Walking into the class Izumi took his seat, the class was sullen and quiet since it was the evaluation date and many were afraid of failing since the difficulty would be higher than the one on the first day. Due to most students only passing the first pillar back then, many students were worried about themselves creating a heavy mood.

As Eitr walked in with Leon beside him, the room became stiff as every student paid attention intently, waiting for Eitr to commence the smithing portion of the evaluation.

''Alright, I'll begin explaining the evaluation to all of you now.'' Eitr said as he started writing on the board.

He wrote three different things; [Planning] [Crafting] [Testing]. Most became confused at the new phase in the test.

Pointing at the 3 words Eitr began to explain.

''The duration of the test will be the entire day for the first two phases and [Testing] will happen tomorrow. But unlike the previous test, this one includes the [Planning] phase; in which you will hand pick your own equipment and metal. Instead of being provided a certain metal you will choose among different metals, however you will not be told what the metals are and it will be up to you to pick a good metal. This can either increase or decrease your weapons quality or the difficulty in crafting it, you are however allowed to default and request normal steel. This will not harm your evaluation whatsoever, instead you will be more seriously marked on the other 2 categories harsher.'' Eitr explained as he described the procedure of choosing metals..

''After you decide on the metal, you will receive a weapon type and required parameters, which can range from simple requirements like the weapon being single or double edged to more complex requirements like a certain design. These are requirements you must abide by to pass, failure to do so will lead to docking of marks. '' Eitr said as a small commotion broke out and a few students raised their hands.

Pointing at someone Eitr allowed them to speak.

''You, what is your question?'' Eitr asked sternly.

''Um sir, you didn't tell us about weapon requirements and types earlier.'' The student voiced, asking the question everyone shared.

''It's part of the test, a blacksmith must be prepared for difficult or unique orders, you must complete yours under a similar stress.'' Eitr explained shutting most of the students.

''Now, during the [Crafting] procedure you will be marked based on improvement and overall technique based on your previous assessment and analysis on your crafts. During this time you are free to leave at any moment if you feel, but you must submit a weapon for [Testing].'' EItr explained.

Finishing his explanation, Eitr handed out a paper on the weapon type and requirements.

Looking through the requirements, Izumi felt it might be harder than he thought to break the [4th pillar].

On the paper it read…

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Weapon Type: Ax

Parameters:

Single bladed

One handed

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Looking at the requirements Izumi decided to make a one handed bearded axe for the examination.

With his blade design decided, Izumi followed Eitr with the rest of the class to the smithy.

Reaching the smithy, Izumi and the other students were met with a large amount of unmark lumps of metal mixed into a large pile.

Some students were intimidated and opted out of choosing a metal due to not being able to tell any apart. Some students who had barely passed decided to take a shot in the dark and tried their luck with a random piece of metal, hoping it would work out.

Izumi on the other hand, activated his [Hotaru Haganezaka] template and used his [instinct] skill. As everyone else picked a piece quickly and left, Izumi had stayed behind and spent nearly 10-20 minutes purely looking through and finding a good metal.

Izumi looked through the stack, stood inside of it, with a jolt he turned over and spotted a metal, it wasn't anything special outwardly in fact it even looked slightly worse than the rest. But Izumi was drawn to it by his [Instinct] skill and for some reason felt satisfied with it using his [Hotaru Haganezaka] template.

Grabbing a hold of it, Izumi smiled as he nodded and decided to take it, showing it to Eitr as was procedure, he walked with it to the smithy, covered in scratches from looking through the metals.

Eitr with a surprised look smiled as he watched Izumi walk away, Izumi had chosen the 5th best metal in the pile, ranging from hundreds of different types.Eitr marveled at Izumi's decision and finished the metal choosing phase.

'He chose a good material, but it's one of the hardest to craft with…' Eitr said as he smirked, eager to see Izumi's results in the smithing portion.

…

Walking to his smithing station, Izumi turned to the metal and felt slightly lost as he didn't know what the metal was or the melting point and other key pieces of information to make it into a weapon.

[Would you like to see its information?.] Uriel informed.

'Wait, I could do that the entire time!?' Izumi asked.

[Yes, however it would take a lot of time to do so in large quantities, as this function cannot be filtered to choose the best metal.] Uriel replied.

'Well, that's good to know. Can you show me its info?' Izumi thought.

[Understood…]

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[Metal: [Blood Steel]

A rare type of steel that turns permanently red after being heated. It has the added ability to act as a good mana conductor, which allows it to do more damage when attacking.

In terms of performance it is above normal steel being stronger and more durable, however it also is prone to rust far easier and is not

It is also known for being difficult to use for smithing with high melting points, extreme sensitivity, and due to high mana conductivity breaks easier during enchanting process.

[+Properties]

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Reading through the description, Izumi gulped. The metal he had chosen was both better and worse in different ways.

What concerned Izumi the most was its difficulty to use in crafting, but he trusted his skills and was quite excited as the metal was very strong and conductive. The only thing truly concerning in terms of Izumi's own skill is his ability to enhance the item.

He had only begun enhancing for 2 weeks and although with his boosted learning speed, he had achieved a respectable mastery, he still had a limited amount of experience actually enhancing.

Stealing his will, Izumi opened the [+Properties] tab and looked at all the finer details and exact properties. Quickly vomiting them all to memory, Izumi closed the system window and dedicated himself to the task at hand.

Allowing the forge to heat up, Izumi prepared his tools and made sure that his [Instinct] skill and [Hotaru Haganezaka] template were on. Satisfied with his preparation, Izumi put in his [Earbuds] turning on [invisible mode] and activating his [BGM] skill which was connected to the [Earbuds.]

*[Lord of the rings (soundtrack)]*

As music, only Izumi could hear, began to play, Izumi focused on his surroundings and turned to his equipment.

Heating up the [Blood Steel], Izumi began the forging process.

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[hours later.]

Izumi stood in a hot smithy, the sound of heavy metals pounding steels could be heard all around him.

But Izumi stood there with a smug expression and little sweat, and few of the other blacksmiths looked over at the weapon he had created. A luxurious red single bladed ax, it had a sturdy red metal handle with a black grip. Its blade was a semi-translucent color, its edge gold. The Blade intimidate clutched onto the pole like handle and the weapon spotted a snake like design on it.

Izumi, staring at his latest piece felt proud, grasping a hold of it, decided to name it something grand.

''I'll name you… jormun'' Izumi spoke and the axe held up to the light, seemingly glowing.

And spontaneously, a screen appeared in front of Izumi.

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Name: [Jormun]

Grade: [D]

Material: [Blood Steel]

Enhancements:

[Unbreaking] [E]

An enhancement granted due to the [Blacksmith] development ability.

Blade is slightly harder to break.

[Skilled craftsmen]

Made by a skilled craftsman.

Slightly increases all parameters of the weapon.

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Displaying the ax's capability, Izumi smiled.

First the name [Jormun] appeared under [name], Izumi had chosen this name due to the snake design on the ax's handle. It was short for Jormungandr, a mythical snake from Norse mythology that was said to be big enough to wrap around an entire world.

It was also ranked as a D grade item by the system, which seemed kind of low to Izumi but he understood since it took him much longer to make [Hoshi no Umi] and it was only a C grade item.

Izumi now content handed his weapon to Eitr, but when he did, he noticed Eitr having a slightly odd look.

''Is there something wrong sir?'' Izumi asked.

''...No… but… actually, nevermind'' Eitr replied as he sighed and accepted the blade.

Although Izumi was a little worried about Eitr's response, he didn't falter and left the smithy.

Watching Izumi's retreating figure, Eitr could only sigh and look down at the axe.

'It's beautiful, indeed and it will easily cut through the 3rd pillar… but it looks hollow… His heart was not in this blade.' Eitr thought as he looked at the axe.