"Ardi, what was that... magic you just used?"
After making it back to the Upper Floors, Shakti couldn't hold back the question anymore.
Her eyes locked onto the sword at Ardi's waist.
If she hadn't seen it with her own two eyes, she never would've believed that normal-looking sword had just been a massive, two-meter-long trident.
"Magic?" Ardi paused, then shook her head. "No, Nee-san. That was Nejibana's ability."
She rested her hand on the hilt of her sword.
The gesture hit Shakti as weirdly intimate—a bizarre way to act around a weapon.
"My Nejibana is a Water-type Zanpakuto. When I trigger its Shikai, it whips up waves of water and hits way harder."
"..."
Shakti went quiet for a few seconds, she couldn't help it.
She didn't understand a single word coming from her sister mouth.
'Zanpakuto? Water-type? Shikai?' They were all total gibberish to her.
"Can I take a look?"
"Sure, Nee-san." Ardi handed Nejibana over.
Taking the sword, Shakti looked it over top to bottom but couldn't spot any hidden tricks or mechanisms.
So she asked, "How do you even use this thing?"
"I don't think that'll work." Ardi scratched her cheek. "Only I can wield Nejibana."
"What? What do you mean?" Shakti asked, thrown off. Obviously, she wasn't trying to steal her sister's weapon.
But a weapon was just a cold hunk of metal.
She was holding it right now, so wasn't she already using it?
"Hmm, how do I explain this... A Zanpakuto is a Soul Blade. Because Nejibana was forged from my own soul, I'm the only one who can use it."
"Oh, right! Nee-san, try hitting me with Nejibana."
'??'
Shakti froze.
Then she snapped, "What kind of bullshit are you talking about?! I'm not going to hit you with a sword!"
Ardi shook her head. "It's not like that, Nee-san. Nejibana won't hurt me."
This was what Rayleigh told her when he forged the sword.
The blade was literally another version of herself, it would never try to hurt its own master.
Shakti frowned.
She hesitated before resting the blade on Ardi's shoulder.
'Huh?'
In a split second, she got what Ardi meant.
'It really works like this?'
This sword, which was sharp enough to slice a Middle Floors monster in half with a light swing, couldn't even cut the fabric of Ardi's shirt!
There was nothing wrong with the edge. It sure as hell hadn't gone dull from the fight earlier.
'A soul? Does this sword have a mind of its own?!'
Shakti was low-key horrified and shoved Nejibana back into Ardi's hands.
At first, she figured the weapon fell somewhere between Second-Tier and Third-Tier gear.
Now, she realized she was dead wrong.
This weapon's value blew fifty million Valis right out of the water.
Just based on how it hit before the transformation and the fact that it couldn't hurt its owner, it was already way past Second-Tier gear.
Even without the magic tricks, this sword would run you seventy, maybe even eighty million Valis.
And that wasn't even factoring in the power, which rivaled a Magic Sword, and its durability.
It wouldn't shatter into dust from running out of Magic.
'Could you even call this thing a weapon anymore?'
Having a sword like this was like having a heavy-hitting Magic spell. And since it was the weapon's ability, it had zero ties to Falna!
It was a literal miracle.
Even a basic Magic Sword that just shoots fireballs costs a steep two million Valis. If it packed the punch of Intermediate Magic, the price would skyrocket past ten million.
With one swing, tens of millions of Valis would burn up right along with the Magic Sword and the enemy.
Compared to this Nejibana, Magic Swords were a fucking scam.
"Ardi," Shakti asked, her face dead serious. "Where did you buy this weapon? What's the blacksmith's name?"
"His name's Rayleigh. He's a new friend i make. We met at the Adventurer's Guild a few days ago. He hadn't joined a Familia yet back then so i invited him to join ours, but he turned me down. The next time I saw him, he was already with the Hephaestus Familia."
Ardi explained how they met.
Shakti was blown away.
'What the hell? He's actually a Level 1?'
Not just that, he got his Falna a few days ago and he's already forging weapons this insane.
It was bullshit.
Unbelievable bullshit!
"Ardi, I need a favor. Set up a meeting with this blacksmith for me."
"Sure thing!" Ardi beamed. "You should get a Zanpakuto too nee-san! Rayleigh is really, really cool."
Seeing the pride written all over Ardi's face, Shakti softened up and rubbed her sister's head.
The Zanpakuto was powerful sure, but what Shakti really wanted to see was the blacksmith himself.
As one of the city's top Familias, the Ganesha crew needed to stay sharp.
She had a gut feeling that this blacksmith and his swords were about to flip Orario upside down!
...
"Alright, the update's done."
Back in Rayleigh's room, Hephaestus handed him the updated status sheet.
[Status Update]
─────────────────────
Name: Rayleigh
Level: Lv. 1
[Abilities]
Strength: I42 → H101
Endurance: I15 → I88
Dexterity: I22 → I92
Agility: I39 → I99
Magic: I28 → H108
[Magic]
[Hadō (Destructive Path)]
Offensive Magic | Rapid-Cast Magic | Area-of-Effect Magic
Can use Hadō spells #1–99.
[Bakudō (Binding Path)]
Suppression Magic | Defensive Magic | Barrier Magic
Can use Bakudō spells #1–99.
[Kaidō (Healing Path)]
Healing Magic | Regeneration Magic | Purification Magic
Can use Kaidō spells.
[Skills]
[Soul Blade (Zanpakuto)]
Can forge Zanpakuto.
Can name Zanpakuto.
Gains Excellia when a Zanpakuto achieves a great feat.
─────────────────────
'My Strength and Magic hit H-Rank, and the other stats shot up too.'
This was a way bigger jump than his first Dungeon dive.
Leveling up two stats after just two trips down there... forging that Zanpakuto definitely played a part.
Even with his base stats looking like garbage, with his Shikai released, a normal Lv.2 Adventurer wouldn't stand a chance against him.
Unless they had some quick-cast bullshit magic like Bell Cranel.
Haineko wasn't built for defense. It probably wouldn't hold up against a barrage of Firebolts.
'With the 50 million Valis I made off Ardi, I need to forge another Zanpakuto to cover my blind spots.'
Hammering out Haineko and Nejibana taught Rayleigh one hard lesson: his current limits.
Forging both swords drained a massive chunk of his spiritual pressure.
It left his soul beat to hell, forcing him to sleep it off.
If he tried to forge a heavy hitter like Ryūjin Jakka or Hyōrinmaru, he'd probably fail.
He might even drop dead before the blade was finished!
'You gotta be strong to forge strong weapons. That shit is true.'
He needed to focus on getting stronger.
Otherwise, he'd end up sacrificing his own life to his blades way before he ever became a Sword God.
At least he wouldn't be hurting for cash for a while.
He could just focus on grinding the Dungeon!
...
The next morning.
Shakti, the Captain of the Ganesha Familia, and her sister Ardi Varma, showed up at the Hephaestus weapon shop to see Rayleigh.
But after waiting around for ten minutes, they found out Rayleigh had already left the base.
He'd been gone for over three hours and nobody had a clue where he went.
"I see. I'll come back another day, then."
Shakti then left with a bummed-out Ardi.
...
Meanwhile.
Deep down on the 6th Floor.
Covered in blood and gore, Rayleigh cut down every War Shadow that rushed him.
He threw out unpredictable slashes, turning their severed bodies into Magic Stones as they hit the dirt.
"Time to hit the next floor."
After grabbing the loot, Rayleigh dropped Haineko's Shikai and sheathed his sword.
He headed down the tunnel to the 7th Floor.
He didn't get far before running into a pack of six Killer Ants.
These were another breed of monster known as "Rookie Killers."
Their hard shells were a pain in the ass—but only for rookies.
Swish!
A sweeping slash of dust ripped from his blade.
The Killer Ant's back was sliced wide open and blood spraying everywhere.
'Huh? Not a one-hit kill?'
'Its defense is tough... No, that's not it. This isn't Haineko's fault, my spiritual pressure is just too weak to unlock its real power.'
He knew Matsumoto's Haineko could slice straight through the Hierro of an Adjuchas-class Hollow.
A basic Killer Ant was comparable to the weakest Low-Class Hollows at best—nowhere near a Gillian.
'To kill it in one shot, I need to tighten the attack range and crank up the density.'
Rayleigh pulled Haineko's dust cloud in tighter, packing the ash together to make it heavier.
He swung the bare hilt.
Swish!
This time, the slash split the Killer Ant's head clean in half—a fatal blow.
Because he was focusing so hard on controlling the Zanpakuto, another Killer Ant managed to sneak up behind him.
Rayleigh didn't sweat it.
The second the ant went for its "Death Hug," he vanished and popped up right above its head like he teleported.
Focusing spiritual power into his leg, Rayleigh dropped a guillotine axe kick, crushing the bug on the spot!
'My Shunpo is getting a lot smoother.'
'Combat really is the best way to grind!'
...
That evening, the city's taverns were packed with Adventurers buzzing about the exact same thing.
"It's true! I saw it with my own eyes! A monster in the Dungeon just suddenly dropped dead!"
"Nobody was even around! The thing just... died!"
"I saw it too!"
"What? You think I'm full of shit? I'm telling the truth!"
"Maybe a fucking ghost did it!"
Rumors of some invisible ghost hunting monsters in the Dungeon spread like wildfire.
Some people even went to the Guild to bitch about it, begging them to send High-Class Adventurers down to check it out!