Chapter 71 — The Fire Sword

Chapter 71 — The Fire Sword

The sword was in my hand now. Just a few seconds ago it had been an old, rusted blade, and now I was holding a new sword with a gleaming edge. Since my Ascensio skill had worked, that meant the sword had been magical from the beginning.

I opened the status window.

Spent: 10,000 mana.

So the item had been Rank 1 and became Rank 2. And it didn’t just “upgrade” — it looked completely new.

I looked at Sherial.

"Well, it worked exactly like I thought it would," she said.

My gaze shifted to the bag. So the other things inside were magical too. Now that was obvious.

And then it hit me. Damn… I used “Module 1” right out on the street, in the middle of people.

I quickly looked around. No one was paying much attention — everyone was busy with their own business.

"Don’t worry," Sherial said calmly. "When the flash happened, people looked, but… that’s normal. Things like that happen in the city all the time."

And she was right. It would be strange if a simple flash of light caused panic. This world had a system, magic, and monsters — magical effects didn’t surprise anyone here. And it was unlikely anyone even understood what exactly had happened.

"It’s better to upgrade the rest later," Sherial added. "When we get back to the hotel… or even better — in your training room."

"Yeah, you’re right. I’ll do that."

She glanced around.

Right… I still needed to buy various things for the training room. The only problem was that I had absolutely no idea where anything like that was even sold. But Sherial had to know places like that. Yeah, I should take advantage of the moment while we were together in the city and buy everything I needed at once. Judging by how confidently she moved through shops, she definitely knew where to find the right things.

--

I bought everything I needed. I probably could have found most of it even without Sherial, but with her help everything ended up much cheaper — and the quality was much better.

In front of me stood 120 barrels of water. Of course, they weren’t ordinary barrels. They were made from some special kind of wood and a few other materials whose names I didn’t even remember. The seller swore that water could stay fresh in them for a very long time — almost a hundred years, remaining as pure as if it had just been drawn from a spring.

Each barrel held 100 liters, which meant I now had twelve tons of drinking water in the training room. And of course I wasn’t going to use it only for drinking — I needed it for other things too. And still, somehow, it felt like it wasn’t enough… though if the seller wasn’t lying, I wouldn’t need to replace it anytime soon. Still, I’d probably refresh part of the stock once a month — just to feel safer.

Besides water, I also bought building materials so I could create at least some kind of imitation of rooms. Yeah, I wasn’t a builder. I just stacked blocks on top of each other, and in some places tied them down with ropes. It turned out… primitive. But I still managed to make a few spaces that were actually livable.

I also bought a large bathtub.

And the most important thing — for 50 gold coins I managed to buy a portable toilet. It looked a lot like the ones they put at festivals back on Earth — at least, that’s how I imagined them from photos online. There were clearly some magical mechanisms inside: no smell, no problems. The seller said one person could use it for almost a year, and then you just had to replace the waste container. I had no idea how it worked, but it sounded convenient.

So my training room finally started turning into a real living space. Sure, everything looked rough and crooked in places, but now I could live there for a long time.

The only thing left was the issue of long-term food. Finding products that could last a hundred years was unlikely. Rations, sure, could last a long time — some even up to ten years — but over time they became too disgusting.

Besides, Sherial said Rem already had enough food stocked for the three of us for a long time, so I didn’t need to worry about huge reserves. Of course, I’d still take some food, but I wasn’t going to store it in the training room.

--

I stood in the bathroom, staring at my reflection in the mirror. I’d heard before that clothes could change a person… but what I was seeing now was hard to process.

The armor, the clothing — everything I had on: boots, gloves, pants — looked expensive and incredibly cool. And I myself in that reflection looked… much better than before.

Yeah, these were things Sherial had given me, and I upgraded all of them to Rank 3. Of course, raising the rank didn’t change their design or appearance — but it seemed that once they had been new and looked very decent. Over time they had simply become old, worn, and rusty in places. And the upgrade was like returning them to their original condition… and I think it made them much stronger too.

Still… they were magical items. They should have some special effects, not just durability, right?

Though… durability was a good thing too. It could save my life.

I tried to pull on the fabric. The material was unbelievably tough — I had to use much more strength to tear it. And when I finally managed to, I immediately realized I’d done something stupid.

Luckily, the torn place began to slowly close up.

Very slowly… but fast enough that I could see it with my own eyes. After about ten minutes, only a faint trace of the tear remained, and then the fabric fully restored itself, as if nothing had happened.

So… it really regenerates on its own.

Strange.

Then why did these things look so old and worn before, if they were capable of regeneration?

Very strange…

I opened the status window, hoping to see extra stats from the items I was wearing. In games, that’s usually how it works — swords and armor give bonuses. But, just as I expected, there was nothing like that. Only my own stats were displayed.

Well, yeah… if weapons or armor added stats directly, I would have noticed it earlier — back when I used the sword I got from the dungeon. Too bad I couldn’t find out, for example, exactly how much defense this armor gave, or what the other items did.

Damn… when am I going to get a skill like “Analyze” or “Appraise”? Something that lets me see an item’s properties. I hope I get a skill like that someday.

Alright, enough thinking about it. I’ll get those kinds of skills sooner or later. And right now — it was time to work. I still had more than 8,000 Origin Mushrooms that I needed to upgrade to Rank 3.

After returning from the bathroom to the room, I set the sword on the bed and started changing back into my old clothes.

I began taking off the new armor and weapon. I wasn’t going to work in them.

And then I noticed… the smell of burning.

Something was on fire?

Damn!

The bed was starting to smoke. I snapped my eyes downward — smoke was rising straight from the sword’s blade. The sheet beneath it had already blackened.

I grabbed the weapon. The blade was scorching hot.

What the hell?.. Ah right, it was a magical sword… but I never thought it could heat up like this.

I quickly shoved the sword into its scabbard and, without wasting a second, sprinted to the bathroom. I filled water, ran back, and poured it onto the sheet so it wouldn’t fully catch fire. That’s it, problem solved… or so I thought.

But the sword, lying on the floor in its scabbard, suddenly started smoking.

Damn!

I grabbed the hilt. Strange — it was cool, unlike the blade, which was already starting to burn through the scabbard. I thought it would be over the moment I put it away…

Alright. Focus. I have to be able to control this. It’s just a magical sword.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. Oh… I think I felt something. Yes, that feeling… hold it…

And suddenly the flame flared even stronger.

The scabbard tore apart and crumbled into pieces, revealing the blade, fully engulfed in fire.

"Damn it! I wasn’t trying to make the fire stronger! I was trying to put it out!"

I tried to focus again. The flames twisting around the blade began to weaken little by little.

Yes… it’s working…

FSSSHH!…

A jet of fire suddenly burst from the sword toward the wall.

"Turn off! Enough!"

Why is it still shooting fire?!

If this keeps going, I’ll burn the entire hotel down.

I aimed the stream of fire toward the wall — where nothing was burning. I just hoped the wall itself wouldn’t catch. It had to be stone… The surface started to blacken, but thankfully it didn’t ignite.

Alright… what do I do? The bathroom. Yes — I just need to shove the sword into the tub and drown it in water. But how am I supposed to drag it there while it’s still blasting fire?

Concentrating, I kept the stream of flame aimed at the wall and began backing away slowly, step by step, moving toward the bathroom.

And then… the flow of fire started to weaken. The flame trembled — and disappeared completely. The blade stopped burning.

In my hands was an ordinary sword, only faintly smoking, as if none of this had happened.

"Finally… it turned off," I breathed out.

I managed to prevent a fire in the hotel…

"Oh no… no-no-no!"

I spun around — the curtains by the window were already starting to smolder, and the first tongues of flame ran across the fabric.

"Damn it!"

I rushed to the window, tore the curtains down with their fixtures, and, clutching them to myself, hurried toward the bathroom before the fire could spread further.