Rayleigh arrived at the Guild again.
He waited in line for a while and exchanged his Magic Stones for money.
Staring at the small amount of cash in his palm, he sighed. "Goblin Magic Stones, Dungeon Lizard Magic Stones... none of them are worth much, as expected."
'A pathetic 1800 Valis.'
Tucking the money into his pocket, Rayleigh found his Advisor to report on his day's exploration.
Novice Adventurers still relied on their Advisors' guidance.
Half an hour later, Rayleigh reached the Tower of Babel and rode an otherworldly elevator for the first time in this world.
The Hephaestus Familia's base was located high up in the tower.
Besides serving as the Dungeon's "lid," the Tower of Babel's interior space was utilized like a modern-day mega-mall.
The Hephaestus Familia's weapon shop, the Dian Cecht Familia's infirmary, along with restaurants and bathhouses, occupied the commercial floors.
The Tower of Babel had 17 commercial floors available for lease, with the Hephaestus Weapon Shop alone taking up four of them.
The remaining floors housed the gods' residences, plus a balcony rented by the Goddess of Beauty, Freya... for spying.
"Oh, you're back, you're back."
"Hephaestus?"
Rayleigh was surprised to see the goddess waiting for him.
The next moment, he heard someone else speak.
"So you're the new recruit?"
A woman stepped out from behind Hephaestus.
She stood 1.7 meters tall, with what could be described as striking feminine features.
She wore a chest wrap, revealing a defined six-pack and healthy, tanned skin.
She had black hair, red eyes, and the face of someone from the Far East.
Over her eye, she wore an eyepatch, on the opposite side from Hephaestus's.
Rayleigh recognize her.
The Captain of the Hephaestus Familia!
Tsubaki Collbrande.
A Lv5 First-Class Adventurer known as the "Cyclops."
"Hello, Captain. I'm Rayleigh."
"Huh?"
Tsubaki blinked, then remarked with a curious tone, "This new recruit is polite."
"Hahaha."
"Just call me Tsubaki. I don't like complicated formalities."
"Alright, Tsubaki." Rayleigh adopted the new form of address.
"Oh.... hello there."
After exchanging greetings, Tsubaki stepped forward.
Rayleigh watched as she closed in, step by step, her face getting so close it almost touched his.
He felt flustered.
'The distance... it's too close.'
She pointed a finger at the Asauchi at Rayleigh's waist and asked, "Hey, can I see your work?"
Before Rayleigh could react, Hephaestus smacked Tsubaki on the head.
"You idiot! Everyone's been waiting inside for ages! Can't you, the Captain, stop causing trouble for once?!"
After being scolded, Tsubaki behaved.
But she still whispered to Rayleigh, asking him to promise they'd discuss swords later.
Following the two of them into the base, Rayleigh found himself in the middle of a banquet.
Nearly a hundred people were present.
'Could this... could this all be to welcome me?'
"Hey, kid! You the new guy? You're scrawny, but your muscles are solid. Good potential." A Dwarf uncle slapped Rayleigh's back, making it sting.
'This dude... he's probably Lv3.'
"Come on, let's drink!"
...
The rest of the night was a blur for Rayleigh.
He greeted countless people, tried to memorize a mountain of names, and drank way too much.
And that Dwarf dude... turned out he was only twenty...
'Ugh...'
Cheap booze is hell on the stomach.
Rayleigh pushed himself up with one hand, sitting upright, and sensed something was wrong.
He turned his head and he saw his Captain, Tsubaki, snoring beside him.
She was a terrible sleeper!
'No.'
'That's not the point!'
'Tsubaki!'
'Why is she sleeping with me?!'
'What the hell?!'
Rayleigh leaped out of bed, staring at his own hands in shock.
'Just now, I think I accidentally... Hiss... Why do I feel a draft?'
'Where are my clothes?'
He searched around and found his clothes in a corner, reeking of vomit.
'Did I throw up that much?'
'Anyway, I need to cover myself first.'
Rayleigh pulled the bedsheet off the bed, wrapped it around his waist, and walked over to the window to look outside.
For a moment, he thought he had returned to his past life.
Looking out from this window, he saw the bustling city of Orario.
As one of the rare tall buildings in the city, it offered a commanding view, dwarfing everything else below.
The sight cleared his head a bit.
'Right, the clothes problem... This is a good chance to test it out.'
'Constructing a Shinigami uniform with spiritual power.'
Rayleigh took a deep breath, focusing his consciousness on the small amount of spiritual pressure within him.
He visualized enveloping his body with it while shaping its form.
In a minute, he succeeded.
A black Shinigami uniform materialized on his body, its style just like he imagined.
Also, the Hephaestus Familia emblem was emblazoned on the uniform!
...
Rayleigh inspected his Shinigami uniform.
Finding the smallest details flawless, he nodded in satisfaction.
"Not bad for a first try," he said.
He glanced back at the Half-Dwarf woman on the bed. She was dead to the world, showing no signs of waking up.
Rayleigh tucked her in, then went out to fetch two sets of clothes.
He placed them on the bedside table before leaving.
As he did, fragments of last night's events resurfaced.
'Tsubaki had insisted on seeing the sword i'd forged, pestering me all the way to my room.'
With the Asauchi tucked at his waist, Rayleigh headed toward the workshop district, greeting everyone he passed along the way.
A senior blacksmith led him to the Forge Workshop.
Clang!
CLANG!
For someone nursing a hangover, the rhythmic hammering was a bit much.
"Rayleigh, are you here to forge?"
"Yes."
"Forging a sword like the one at your waist?"
"That's right."
Rayleigh was puzzled, wondering what the blacksmith was getting at.
"In that case, I have a request."
'A request?'
"Go on," Rayleigh said. "I'll hear you out."
"I'll cover the cost of your materials," the blacksmith said, "but in return, I want to observe the Far Eastern swordsmithing process."
Rayleigh understood. 'So that's what this is about.'
The Familia of the Goddess of Smithing Hephaestus was a gathering of masters from every field of smithing.
They were like "Forging Otaku," possessing a passion for their craft.
The chance to witness a foreign forging technique was appealing to them.
For these blacksmiths, observing the process once was often enough to grasp its core principles, or even replicate it.
But Rayleigh didn't mind.
It was just an Asauchi, after all.
Without the [Soul Blade] Skill, an Asauchi was no different from an ordinary katana.
Countless blacksmiths within the Hephaestus Familia alone, let alone the rest of Orario, could forge a blade of this quality.
Agreeing to the senior blacksmith's proposal, Rayleigh received a set of high-quality materials and began hammering the steel on the spot.
The workshop district was equipped, and Rayleigh saw some advanced tools for the first time.
Under the rhythmic blows of his hammer, the steel elongated, taking on the rough shape of a sword blade.
Rayleigh cut and ground away the excess material.
As the blade took shape, he applied a clay coating to the edge before heat-treating it.
After quenching, Rayleigh polished the blade until it gleamed with a mirror finish.
He prepared a shirasaya for the sword, a plain wooden scabbard and hilt, devoid of any ornate fittings.
"Rayleigh, that's incredible," the senior blacksmith praised. "What an exquisite technique."
"Heh, thank you."
"If I could offer one piece of advice," the blacksmith continued, "it would be to level up as soon as possible and acquire a Development Ability. The [Blacksmith] ability is useful, it'll boost your efficiency."
Rayleigh nodded in thanks.
'Blacksmith...'
It was true.
Even a Level 1 blacksmith could work, but once they gained a reputation, commissions would flood in, making efficiency crucial.
But that was for ordinary blacksmiths.
As the creator of Zanpakuto in this world, the future Shinigami, Rayleigh prioritized quality over quantity.
Each Zanpakuto was unique.
Only those he deemed worthy would ever possess one!
...
The forging was complete.
Rayleigh left the base, carrying the two Asauchi with him.
With this, he now had one more of the materials needed to create a Zanpakuto.
Considering he would be exploring the Dungeon alone for a while, he wanted to forge a Zanpakuto to boost his combat power and serve as a trump card.
With his current spiritual pressure, maintaining Shikai for an extended period would be difficult.
Zanpakuto could be divided into two categories: Direct Combat and Kido-type.
The former required little explanation.
In the Seireitei, aside from the Eleventh Division, the majority of Shinigami wielded Kido-type Zanpakuto.
Kido-type Zanpakuto included elemental blades like the Fire-type (Ryūjin Jakka, Tobiume) and Ice-type (Hyōrinmaru, Yuki no Hyōrinmaru), as well as Special-type blades with unique effects, such as Wabisuke (doubles the weight of anything it strikes) and Suzumebachi (kills on the second strike).
Direct Combat-type Zanpakuto were a low priority.
The monsters on the Upper Floors couldn't withstand the sharpness of an Asauchi.
Further boosting single-target attack power with a Direct Combat-type Zanpakuto would result in more overkill.
With that, the requirements became clear.
-First, it had to be a Kidō-type.
-Second, it needed low spiritual pressure consumption.
-Third, it should be an elemental type with crowd control capabilities, effective at mid-to-long range, and possess an excellent area of effect.
'A Zanpakuto that could satisfy all these conditions....'
Rayleigh sifted through the possibilities in his mind.
He recalled the breast he had accidentally touched that morning.
This brought to mind Matsumoto Rangiku, renowned for having the Soul Society's "highest peaks."
'Alright, I've decided!'
'It's you, Haineko!'
...
The spiritual pressure amount to the magic stats he has.