After arriving in Vox, the first thing that Shiro did was go to the Mercenary Hall and report the completion of her bounty with the Hamoena.

  With some more gold in her pockets, Shiro was a little closer to affording the sword that Maria was going to craft but with the time that she had spent chasing the Hamoena among other things, she wasn’t going to be able to make enough gold in the time to purchase the sword.

  Eventually, she borrowed some gold from Quella and decided to spend some of this time doing bounties on the side to pay off her debt to Quella. Mostly, she would help out at the library and organise a few of the books that people forget to put back in the right places since that was usually Quella’s job.

  But now that Shiro had come to help her, she was given more chances to rest.

  Today was the date that Maria had set for Shiro as her sword would be done today.

  Tidying up the final shelf of the day, Shiro sighed in satisfaction before massaging her neck.

  "I’m heading out for the sword now." Shiro called out since she needed to let Quella know that she wasn’t in.

  "Mn, be back soon. You still need to earn enough money for the armour." Quella replied with a smile as Shiro shrugged.

  For one of the richest people in the world she was awfully stringent on debts. Of course Shiro didn’t mind since this was perfect for her.

  Vaulting over the edge of the barrier, she unfurled her wings and glided to the bottom of the library before dashing out of the front gates.

  Looking at this, Quella only shook her head with a soft chuckle.

  Making her way through the streets of Vox, Shiro arrived at the blacksmiths and saw Maria waiting with a grin and a crystal case.

  "You’ve arrived." She nodded her head while glancing towards Shiro.

  "Mn, I’ve brought the payment too." Shiro smiled while patting her coin pouch.

  "Leave it at the side. Come come, sit down and look at this blade." Maria stood up and dragged Shiro towards her chair.

  Setting the crystal case on the table in front of them, she flicked a few of the locks open.

  "Do you want to know why I had to use a special case? It’s because this sword is rather…… aggressive. Your fighting style is adaptive and aggressive at the same time. To focus the strengths of the sword around these traits, I had to obtain some rather unique metals and materials for this. The outcome was great but this kid is a feisty one." Maria explained and opened the case.

  Just as she opened this case, Maria quickly tilted her head to the side as some hair was cut.

  "Tsk, I’m the one who made you yet you still strike at me." Maria clicked her tongue before presenting the blade to Shiro.

  The blade was crafted from a strange black marble like material that had a white mist pattern swirl across the surface of the material. The guard was made from a clear silver with a small red bead in the centre while the handle had several runic patterns etched on the side.

  The overall size of the guard wasn’t too big as it reminded her of a smaller version of the average guard.

  Raising her hand, Shiro reached towards the blade but immediately felt killing intent directed towards her.

  However, compared to the killing intent she felt from Akram that the god slayer had presented to her, this was a piece of cake.

  Smirking slightly, Shiro focused her killing intent at the blade before boldly grabbing the handle.

  "Oh my." Maria raised her eyebrow in surprise, seeing as how Shiro was rather fearless in grabbing a blade that literally threatened to kill you.

  Feeling some cuts on her palm, Shiro increased her grip strength and slashed the blade beside her.

  *BANG!!!

  A split suddenly appeared in the workshop as quite a few of the blacksmiths were started from the sudden sound.

  Feeling several glares at her, Shiro scratched her head awkwardly and apologised.

  Looking at the sword, she understood that it was still trying to fight against her control.

  "What did you even make this with?" Shiro asked after a short pause.

  "Underworld Soul Metal. Ever heard of trials that took you to the underworld? Well the Underworld Soul Metal is a special material from the manacles that restrain the souls while they’re being tortured. After being tempered by several souls coming into contact with the metal, it has become highly resistant to contact along with the fact that it can ignore armour to a certain extent since it aims for the soul." Maria explained as Shiro nodded her head.

  Thinking about it for a moment, she flicked the sword up and grabbed it with her left hand instead as both the Sigil and the chains were on her left hand.

  The moment she grabbed the sword, her Sigil lit up ever so slightly as only Maria noticed the mark on Shiro’s hand.

  Widening her eyes, she watched as a dark purple aura wrapped around the edge of the blade.

  "Interesting……" Shiro muttered since the chains were now connected to the sword from the guard.

  If she willed it, the chains would disconnect from the sword and she could use the sword separately but it was better to leave the two together.

  [Potential unlocked. Nivlim – Blade of Hades, will have the properties of the Chains of Hades but with some bonuses.]

  [Maximum Soul Steal chance increased from 30% to 40%.]

  [Maximum Body Reinforcement increased from 40% to 50%.]

  [Stack bonuses have been increased by 5%.]

  [5 stacks = 15% Attack Speed, Damage and Armour Penetration.]

  [10 stacks = 25% Attack Speed, Damage and Armour Penetration.]

  [Stack effects will now last for 1 minute and 30 seconds.]

  Reading the description of Nivlim, Shiro raised her eyebrow in surprise since the sword had calmed down a lot more now. While there was still some discomfort and a strange sense of stubbornness, it was at least willing to listen to her much like Error 403.

  Unsummoning her chains, she watched as the sword also disappeared before a faint sword like Sigil flicked on her hand and faded away.

  "Did…… did you just turn my sword into a blessed weapon?" Maria asked while blinking her eyes in shock.

  "Seems like it. Due to the metals that you used along with the nature of my current weapon, it seems like they were pretty compatible. It even got a name now." Shiro replied with a smile.

  Quickly rummaging through her things to grab a note, she looked at Shiro.

  "Please take it out. I need to make a note of this!" Maria asked as her eyes were shining with excitement.

  "Mn." Nodding her head, she brought Nivlim out and set it on the table.

  "Recent discoveries. As this is the first of its kind, it cannot be confirmed just yet however the possibility is there. Should a blacksmith use a unique type of metal or material that has a rather large connection with a certain blessed weapon, there is a chance for fusion. Current observable phenomenon that may cause this is for the weapon to have a kind of essence that lets it choose the wielder. When the fusion is complete, the weapon will apparently gain a name. As stated before, this is the first of its kind so this could be a unique scenario. The only weapon I’ve seen is Nivlim, a blade that had been fused together with a chain that seemed to be Hades’ blessed weapon. Further observations will be held at later times when possible. Experimentations will be carried out." Maria muttered as she quickly sketched out an image of the blade.

  "Thank you for letting me record this. Do you have any other blessed weapons that you would like to test this out with?" She asked eagerly.

  "Ah I do but it’s a bow." Shiro nodded her head.

  Hearing that it’s a bow, Maria clicked her tongue and sighed heavily.

  "Haaa…… since it’s a bow there’s nothing that can be done." She muttered before looking away and rummaging through the rest of her things.

  Taking it as her sign to leave, Shiro set down the gold on the table and made her way back to the library.

  Unsummoning Nivlim, she had a bit of time before her armour was done so she could probably test out this blade a few times.

  Once she received her armour, she was going to see which Primordial Trial is best for her in her current state.