B2 Chapter 153: Absorption

Kaius breathed deep, clenching his fist and concealing the new sigil that was splayed across his palm. Sitting up from his brother’s side, he grasped A Father’s Gift by the hilt and lifted it up. Firelight danced across its surface, shimmering like oil across the waves of darkened metal that were impressed into the steel.

It was a strange sense, the one he had of his blade. Almost similar to his bond with Porkchop, but different in nature. Afterall, his blade was no living thing. Still, he could feel the link empowering the blade. If it had been sharp and durable before, now he could tell it would be sharp enough to shave with.

Reaching out with a finger he brushed it against the edge. A feather touch, barely a whisper, but still enough that a thin line of red welled for a moment before his healing wiped away the small cut.

If it was stronger now, what would happen when he actively used the skill and flooded his connection with empowering Stamina? Unfortunately, his testing would have to wait. No reason to wake Ianmus by hacking at logs.

Prodding at the link with his will, he felt something else. An eagre readiness to grow, one that hungered for more. An instinct was there, how he could feed his blade and encourage its development. The Spent Forgeheart!

Kaius’s eyes whipped over to the saddlebags. Restraining himself was an effort of will, but he slowly lay his blade on the grass in front of him, before he crawled towards their belongings.

“What are you doing?” Porkchop asked, looking up from the fire to watch him with curiosity.

“Grabbing that material we got from the Guardian. I want to see if A Father’s Gift can absorb it now that there is a link.” Kaius pushed along their bond as he reached their bags. Sneaking a hand under the flap, he connected with the spatial box held within, withdrawing his prize.

A fist sized rock appeared in his hand, glossy and covered in jagged edges. It was warm, like it had been resting a few strides from an open fire. As he pulled it out, the strange glass hunk lit up his surroundings.

It was a soft light, almost invisible in the day, but under the cover of the stars it glowed with the fadinging luminance of a guttering candle.

Kaius’s eyes flicked over to Ianmus. Seeing the elf still deep in his slumber he breathed a sigh of relief and hurried back to his blade.

“What if using it wakes him?” Porkchop asked.

Kaius shrugged. In the end, it would be better if the elf figured out a new secret than to have the nature of his weapon revealed while they stayed in Deadacre. After everything, the magi was likely to at least acquiesce if they said it was something they didn’t want to share. If the process did let off some signal, an overzealous artificer or mage might not be so generous.

Sitting in front of his sword once more, a keening desire started to emanate from the link he now felt with the blade. A want for the hunk of glass he held in his hand. No, something baser than a want, something without emotion or assigned value.

Acting on instinct, Kaius pressed the Spent Forgeheart to the sigil that now adorned the flat of his blade just above its hilt.

**Ding! Material appropriate for A Father’s Gift detected! Facilitate absorption?**

The words of the system rung clear, revealing themselves to him in his mind’s eye. He accepted the prompt.

Immediately the pull on the Forgeheart intensified. Yanking itself from his grasp, it sealed itself to his sigil with a soft tink. Kaius looked up, gladdened to see the noise hadn’t roused Ianmus.

Snapping back to his blade, he watched the soft glowing obsidian start to melt. Fine drips of glossy black emitted a soft orange light, sinking into the shallow engravings of the glyph beneath it. There was no mana, no pulse of light, and no clap of thunder. Just the slow drip of glass, and the ravenous hunger that pulsed from his sword in waves.

Fully liquified, the Forgeheart started to flow like treacle, shimmering its way up the fuller that marked its centre. Glossy black covered runes and steel alike, sealing itself tightly to the metal in a thin film.

Desire intensified, and the soft rhythmic pulse of orange from within the glass started to increase its tempo, flashing faster and faster. Then the suction started, and before his very eyes Kaius watched his blade drink the fluid.

Solid steel absorbed molten glass with agonising slowness as he watched on enraptured.

Just as his blade had almost fully absorbed the Forgeheart, liquid black began to bleed from the edge of his sword. Collecting like morning dew, at first there were only a few droplets, but as more were excreted they merged together to form an unbroken coat that stretched just barely less than a fingertip into the body of the blade.

That wasn’t all. Glossy black welled up from his pommel too, morphing with pulsing change as the filgreed block of steel formed a disc of black on both sides of its coin-like figure.

The thin layer of black that covered the fuller, edge, and pommel of his sword let out a low hiss and started to boil. Kaius jumped, half expecting a searing heat to burn his legs where the sword lay flat, only for nothing of the sort to happen.

He looked over to his brother with wild eyes, only to find Porkchop staring at the blade with the same impassioned intensity that he had been.

Minute by minute, the black boiled away, absorbed fully by his sword.

What was left in its place filled him with awe. Everywhere the liquid Forgeheart had touched had been transformed, wave patterned steel transfigured into a solid black crystal. The edges tapered to a point so fine he could see through the material, barely able to make out the subtle jagged edge his blade now had. Almost like it had been knapped.

Yet there was none of the jagged lack of refinement of a primitive tool. Where the edge transitioned into the body of the blade, as well as the fuller and orb of black crystal that sat embedded in his pommel, it was perfectly smooth – like a polished and rounded gem.

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Light gleamed off the surface, shining resplendent in the soft light of the fire. He lifted the blade up to get a better look, and suppressed a gasp as the firelight shone through his fuller in a smokey grey.

It revealed his glyph, and the runic enchantments. They soaked up the light, shining suspended in glass with the same pulsing orange light that had once lived within the Spent Forgeheart.

With the transformation complete, Kaius felt only a faint whisper of …fullness come across his link with his weapon. It seemed even if another material was already in his possession, he would have had to wait for the changes to settle before adding more.

Similarly, he could simply tell that the blade had improved. Sharper, tougher, and more penetrating. Yet, there was a glimmer that this was but a hint of potential barely revealed, that the changes were only skin deep. Most of the energy seemed to have been squirrelled away, saved for some greater purpose. Only when he had provided the rest of what it needed would its transformation be complete.

The familiar ding of a system notification sounded in his mind.

“Well. That was more dramatic than I expected.” Porkchop said plainly, still watching his sword in curiosity.