Chapter 10: 10. Master of living weapons
AT THE SAME TIME
ALEXANDER
Zavier didn’t waste time, he placed his hand on the anvil and the entire forge answered like it had been waiting years for permission to wake up. Metal that was dead seconds ago started glowing faintly, not red, not orange. Something deeper like heated memory.
"Bring me the base metal." Zavier said calmly.
Scarlet moved instantly, no hesitation, no doubt. She dragged forward broken steel plates from the coner of the workshop like they were sacred objects. Noa followed, tossing in a few discarded blades without a word. The dwarf watched silently, arms crossed, expression unreadable.
"So I am not doing anything?"I just stood there.
"You will."Zavier didn’t look at me.
That was it, no explanation, just certainty. The forge flared.
"SYSTEM NOTICE."The system said.
My vision froze. A new panel ripped across my sight.
"ANALYZING ENTITY: ZAVIER"The system said.
"What?" I muttered.
"Master?"Scarlet looked over sharply.
"System interference?"Noa narrowed her eyes.
"STATUS READOUT: ZAVIER."The panel continued.
Lines of data began to drop in. FAST, too fast. Like something was being forcibly unmasked.
"FORGE AUTHORITY: ABSOLUTE. COMBAT RANK: UNKNOWN "SKILL TYPE: ARTISAN, ERROR CATEGORY DOES NOT EXIST. WEAPON CREATION OUTPUT: EXCEEDS DRAGON CLASS LIMITS."The system said.
The dwarf exhaled slowly.
"They finally admitted it." He muttered.
"Admitted what?"I blinked.
Zavier still didn’t look up, but the forge got hotter.
"Continue." He said.
Metal bent, not hammered, not shaped, obeyed.
"WARNING: ENTITY STAT OVERFLOW DETECTED. DISPLAYING SIMPLIFIED PROFILE."Then the system flickered again.
And suddenly Zavier’s stats appeared. Scarlet froze, Noa stopped moving completely, even the dwarf went still.
"That’s not a stat sheet."I stared.
It wasn’t normal. It was just numbers that didn’t feel like they belonged in reality.
"FORGE AUTHORITY: SSS+. CREATION OUTPUT: LIMITLESS (UNSTABLE CLASSIFICATION). LIFE SIGNATURE: BOUND TO FORGE DOMAIN ONLY. COMBAT POTENTIAL: NOT MEASURED."The system said.
"Not measured?" I whispered.
The dwarf laughed once under his breath.
"Yeah." He said. "That’s why they kicked him out."
"He is not classified as a combatant."Scarlet said.
"He is classified as a disaster."Noa explained.
"I am not meant to fight."Zavier finally spoke.
"I am meant to decide what fighting even is."He lifted a piece of molten steel with his bare hand.
The forge exploded with light. The weapon didn’t form like a normal sword, it didn’t become a sword, it chose to look like one. Shape shifting slightly with every pulse of heat, black steel, silver veins a faint glow that reacted to my heartbeat.
"That’s mine?" I asked cautiously.
"Pick it up."Zavier nodded once.
I hesitated.
"Master, the energy is stable but extreme."Scarlet stepped closer.
"High probability of system reaction."Noa said.
"If it kills you, I’ll be impressed."The dwarf smirked.
"That’s not comforting!"I said angrily.
I did not wanted to die because a damn sword haven’t chosen me as it’s owner.
Still I reached out and grabbed the hilt. The moment my fingers closed around it I heard a ’DING’. The system froze.
"NEW WEAPON REGISTERED. NAME: UNDEFINED. CLASS: UNKNOWN (FORGE BOUND ADAPTIVE TYPE)."The system announced.
Then everything spiked. Pain, pressure, light.
"LEVEL UP."The system announced.
My body lurched, qarmth surged through my chest like something unlocked.
"Master!"Scarlet’s eyes widened.
"Level threshold exceeded."Noa said excitedly.
"USER LEVEL INCREASED" "LEVEL 3 to LEVEL 4 to LEVEL 5 to LEVEL 6."The system screamed.
I gasped as the weapon stabilized in my hand. The forge slowly dimmed. My breathing finally caught up.
"I leveled... twice?" I muttered.
Zavier watched me quietly.
"No." He said. "You synced."
"That’s worse."The dwarf tilted his head.
"Explain."Scarlet blinked.
Zavier finally looked at me directly.
"That weapon isn’t giving you power." He said. "It’s accepting yours. In simple terms your sword will go stronger as you go. He is your teammate and partner."
"So the system is no longer in control of growth."Then Noa spoke.
"For now."Zavier nodded.
The forge settled, and the weapon in my hand pulsed once. Like it was alive, or listening.
I swallowed.
"Okay." I said quietly. "I officially don’t understand anything anymore."
The dwarf laughed.
"Welcome to blacksmithing." He said. "Now it gets worse."
The forge slowly cooled, but it didn’t go back to being dead. It just stopped screaming. Like something inside it had finally been heard, I still had the weapon in my hand. It pulsed once, soft, almost curious. Scarlet was staring at it like it might blink back. Noa had her arms crossed, but her eyes hadn’t left Zavier for even a second. The dwarf leaned against a broken anvil, waiting like he already knew where this was going. Zavier looked at the weapon, then at me, then, finally, he spoke.
"You want to know why I was banned."He said.
"Yes."Scarlet nodded carefully.
"Confirmed necessity of explanation."Noa said.
Zavier exhaled once, not tired, more like deciding how honest he wanted to be.
"I didn’t just forge weapons." He said.
"That sounds like a bad start."I frowned slightly.
"It is." The dwarf muttered.
"I forged weapons that learned."Zavier ignored him.
The words didn’t land immediately.
"Learned?"Scarlet blinked.
"They adapted, they remembered, they changed based on the person holding them."Zavier nodded.
I looked down at the sword in my hand without thinking. It pulsed faintly again.
"This is the same category."Noa noticed and her eyes narrowed.
"At first, they called it innovation." His voice stayed calm, then slightly colder. "Then the weapons started refusing bad owners."
A pause.
"That sounds reasonable."I frowned.
"No, it doesn’t."The dwarf snorted.
"They stopped responding to commands that led to pointless killing." Zavier’s gaze sharpened slightly.
"Ethical decision layer inside weapon behavior."Noa said confused.
"Yes."Zavier said.
"And then I made one that refused to be disarmed."Then he looked at me directly.
Silence, as that one hit differently.
"Master..."Scarlet whispered,
"Yeah, I’m also concerned."I glanced at her.
"It bonded."Zavier continued. His hand moved slightly, as if remembering weight that wasn’t there anymore. "Not to a master, to the intent."
"That’s the one they couldn’t accept."The dwarf’s voice was lower now.
"It protected its wielder even when they were wrong."Zavier nodded.
"That sounds like a problem."I stiffened slightly.
"It was." Zavier said. "Because the world prefers obedient weapons."
"So... living weapons were rejected because they chose morality?"Scarlet looked down at the blade in my hand.
"Or independence."Noa said.
"They said I was creating tools that disobeyed order."Zavier gave a small nod. "I said I was creating tools that understood consequence."
The forge gave a faint, uneasy hum, like it remembered arguments it didn’t want to repeat. Zavier stepped closer to me, the weapon in my hand reacted immediately.
"This one is already unstable."Zavier said.
"It just keeps reacting to everything."I said and sighed.
"No." Zavier said. "It’s reacting to you."
That made the air feel heavier. Scarlet shifted slightly closer. Noa’s hand moved a fraction toward her weapon.
"Here it comes."The dwarf smiled faintly.
"They didn’t ban me for forging living weapons." Zavier looked at the blade again. "They banned me because the last one chose its own owner."
"That’s not ominous at all."I muttered.
"And then it refused to let them take it apart." Zavier’s expression didn’t change. "If yours is already responding like that." He said. "Then you should understand something."
"What?"I swallowed.
"Living weapons don’t make you stronger."His voice lowered slightly. "They decide what you become."
The sword in my hand pulsed again, a little warmer this time, like it had heard him and agreed.
