Having formed his core Zatu sits on the ground satisfied.
Opening his system panel he checks his mana and just as he suspected it had grown larger with his new mana core.
[Mana] -- (3/3) / [Sword Intent] -- (5/5)
"Nice, with this speed I can probably output at least 10 imbue lightnings today, each with triple the investment than the earlier ones. "
'Maybe even more, but I guess I'll only know after trying it out more.'
After having said and thought so far a plan for the day formed in his mind, to Imbue lightning as many times as he could in his prized bastard sword.
Activating his skill the sword shines with a dim purple light for a few moments.
But before he can notice any difference in time his mana bottoms out and the light dims into nothingness.
[Mana] -- (0/3) / [Sword Intent] -- (2/5)
His sword becomes sharper, but just like the infusion the difference is so small that Zatu isn't sure if it happened or not.
'It should be better at higher levels.'
With that thought he decides that today he will cast it as many times as possible.
With a bit of hesitation he repeats the process of forming his mana core.
This time with the goal to restore his mana.
To his happy surprise there is heart doesn't stop this time.
When his mana is full, he casts Imbue lightning till his sword intent depletes.
Then he meditates on the sword.
When sword intent is full, he imbues till mana bottoms out.
A couple of hours of circles go by till he notices something changed.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but he could swear the dim light was lasting a second longer than before.
At that time he glanced at his system panel and it all made sense.
[Imbue Lightning] -- (level 1 → 2 /100)
***
Late afternoon, in a comfy house in the outer district.
Maira scribbles furiously inside a notebook, pouring down everything she gathered on Lyara during this first day of investigation.
And to her surprise it was A LOT.
All thanks to her father being one of the few councilors you could talk with casually in their smith.
A quirk which made him and his family prime real state for gossip inside inner city,
Talking about her past, Lyara is the only child Gronk Redhammer ever had.
Why was that the case when most large families promote having multiple backup heirs?
Maira couldn't be sure, there were just too many stories.
In some, Councilor Redhammer made a covenant to only love a single woman in his life, then that woman dies soon after birthing Lyara, leaving him fated to have only one child in his life.
In others, the Councilor was secretly sterile because of long hours in the forge and Lyara was actually a product from a night between his brother and his wife.
And those were just two of the numerous stories on how Lyara came to be.
But no matter who Maira asked, there were still a few consistencies between all of them.
One, Gronk loved Lyara very VERY much and had raised her from birth to become the next Redhammer leader.
Two, his wife had died at some point and he has not remarried since.
Three, Lyara had an isolated childhood and only was allowed to even step foot outside their smithy after having awakened.
Talking about her present.
Surprisingly though she was actually as good with people as she was with the forge.
And being from the main branch from THE smithing family in Unbreon, meant she was not just good, but exceptional at it.
Most interestingly, she still remains without either husband or fiance.
And not for a lack of proposals mind you, but because no matter who, when or how, Gronk made sure to shut down any and all attempts of courting her daughter's hand.
That was most of the gist of it, well…
There were rumors about Lyara hiding a boyfriend from her father, but that one both Maira and Zatu knew was true.
And even who this mysterious boyfriend was.
When Maira finishes writing she looks at the book filled with rumors and stories and puffs her chest with a smile.
Before deflating back to normal with a sigh, her hands massaging her temples.
The culprit of her headache?
NIGHT FANG!!!
Somehow, some way nobody she asked knew anything new about the woman.
Even for those that hired her all she got was the basics.
She is a woman, She doesn't live in the inner city, she guides people into the outer south and....
That's it.
No name, no age, no affiliation, no past, no tier, no gossip, no NOTHING.
How could someone who had multiple dealings with inner city residents be completely unknown?
As Maira squirmed in her seat trying to make sense of this shiver crawled up her spine.
This couldn't be normal, it was like a hand was censoring things behind the scenes.
And it did not try to be subtle about it.
Biting her lip Maira stares deeply at the pile of gold she traded for the two platinum coins.
'Will I ever do such an important task ever again?'
Maira shakes her head.
'I'll look around the outer city this time, there must be something I can find, then I can visit Zatu tomorrow with this basic investigation.'
***
In the liminal moment between day and night, a dim purple light glowed in the inner city.
In contrast to earlier, the glow lasted multiple seconds instead of one.
All the while small purple arcs escaped the blade's edge.
'Even longer this time' Zatu grinned.
Knowing what that meant he called forth his system panel.
================
Name: [Zatu Rainfall]
Age: [18]
Class: [Magic Swordsman] -- (Tier 1 - Level 5/100)
Resources:
(Tier 1)
[Mana] -- (2 / 11) {3 → 11}
[Sword Intent] -- (0 / 9) {5 → 9}
Skills:
(Tier 1)
[Basic Mana control] -- (level 1 → 2 /100)
[Basic Sword intent control] -- (level 2 → 3 /100)
[Imbue Lightning] -- (level 2 → 5 /100)
============
A giggle escaped his mouth as he confirmed Imbue Lightning had leveled up once more.
Even without his main level having any change whatsoever, he could barely contain his smile as he looked across the panel.
From this morning till now he had raised a total of four levels in Imbue Lightning.
And he had to admit it, the panel tracking progress was nice.
But seeing his blade glow for a slightly longer time with each level up brought out a childlike giggle from him without exception.
Aside from that his main gains were in the resources tabs, of which to his surprise mana had overtaken sword intent in their maximum value.
A detail Zatu attributed one hundred percent to the core, since he had used the exact same amount of both throughout the whole day.
With a hand on his chest another giggle skips out of his lips before an old voice brings him back to reality.
"I'm back and I brought you something Kid."
Old man Arbo walks in with a light gray metal dummy, from which Zatu feels a weird mana leak.
'A magical device?'
Zatu tilts his head.
"It's a sharpness test dummy." Arbo grins looking at his confused face. " The city uses it to test those with intent from cutting weapons."
Zatu rises from the ground with his sword in hand. "Let me have a go at it."
Arbo plants the dummy securely on the ground, before stepping back to watch.
With a couple steps Zatu closes distance on the dummy.
With a zing his sword cuts through the air.
With a clink it bounces away from the metallic dummy without leaving a single scratch.
However where the sword and dummy met a thin white line appears.
"Good job Zatu" Arbo claps his hands in congratulations. "White means your blade can pierce the average skin from a level 25 beast and below."
Zatu sheaths his sword and stands tall. "And that was without any sword intent old man!"
"Don't feel too proud yet!" Arbo chuckles and shakes his head. "There are many other colors the dummy can show. And each of them means an increase of 50 levels in terms of beast skin's toughness."
Zatu's eyes glint and shift towards the dummy.
"What's the next color?"
Arbo shots his grandson a smile and shrugs.
"Who knows? When you discover it, you tell me hahahaha."
Arbo laughs and lays down on his chair, completely ignoring Zatu's response.
There, he basks under the sky, even though the sun had just gone to sleep.
He hadn't even argued much during the meeting, but just watching the young ones from the council bicker had drained his mental way more than he would ever admit.
'I'm too old for that shit. Hope they come to a conclusion soon.'