"I honestly don''t know if I cane up with the proper words to describe it. This saber feels so natural in my hands, more than any other de I have ever wielded. It''s like an extension of myself."


    After picking up her new weapon for the first time, Mrazivy was instantly amazed by it. For several minutes she gazed at it while lightly adjusting her grip and asionally extoling how great the sword was.


    Eventually she asked for something to test the de out on, and Marcus held up an adamantine ingot for her.


    With a single sh, she cleaved the adamantine in half. There was almost no resistance as the de cut through. The feat all the more impressive because Mrazivy had not enhanced her or the saber''s abilities in any way. The attack had simply been the result of her skill and the weapon''s innate power.


    "Such a clean cut. You''d think she had just sliced through butter instead of the second strongest metal." Thabon said, shocked to see how easily Mrazivy had sliced through the ingot.


    Naturally, when they examined the saber for any dulling or chips on the de, neither Marcus nor Thabon found the slightest bit of damage.


    "If it can cut through adamantine so easily, I wonder how it will fair against amethros." Marcus said, pulling out a gleaming purple ingot from his item box.


    Mrazivy was more than happy to try her new saber out again and held her weapon in both hands above her head.


    This time she enhanced both her body and sword with mana, knowing that she would likely be unable to as effortlessly cut through this ingot as she had thest.


    When Mrazivy was ready, she brought her sword down so fast that it looked like a blur.


    Sparks flew the moment her de reached the amethros ingot Marcus was holding out and he had to brace himself to prevent being smashed into eh ground by the force of the blow.


    A loud grating sound echoed through the room as the de quickly sliced through the ingot, until finallying to a stop around eighty percent of the way through.


    Seeing that she had not cleaved the amethros ingot in half, Mrazivy clicked her tongue in irritation. She had been hoping to do better.


    Nevertheless, this feat was still worthy of praise. Marcus knew that she had not used anywhere near her full power. Had she, the amethros ingot surely would have been sliced in two without offering any resistance.


    "I think that should be enough for now. Any further tests will need to be somewhere that no one will mind the surroundings getting destroyed." Marcus said, noticing a dangerous glint in Mrazivy''s eyes. If she lessened her control even just a bit, there was a good chance the entire zegram forge could end up as a pile of rubble.


    "Yeah, you''re right. We need to go and pick up our beastpanions from the Retharin before leaving anyway. I''m sure they are tired of just raining in the mountains. We can test out our new weapons when we get them."


    Nodding his head, Marcus agreed. He also wanted to test his newly reforged scythe out and figured that Retharin would be more than happy to spar with him. He was a magical beast that enjoyed a good battle after all.


    Having finished up their business at the zegram Forge, Marcus bid farewell to Thabon, Gurrom, and the rest of the members of the forge. A part of him wanted to stay longer since it had been a while since he hadst spent time working with everyone, but he only had a couple of months before having to pay back his debt to Relia.


    "What do you want to do now?" Mrazivy asked once they exited the forge.


    "I think we should head for the Verkoudhied Mountains. I want to hurry up and leave for Houten. There will be time to rx once I have a ghost king''s core."


    "Got it. I need to inform everyone at the castle that I am leaving for a bit. Why don''t you tell Lilia and once you are done, we can meet at the capital''s northern gate."


    With their n''s set Marcus and Mrazivy went their separate ways to inform their families that they would be going on a short trip. Then a few hourster they met back up and flew towards the Verkoudhied Mountains where their beastpanions had been training with Retharin.


    When they arrived, Retharin dragged them into severalrge-scale battles, but this at least gave Marcus and Mrazivy ample opportunity to get a feel for their new weapons.


    After three days of nearly nonstop fighting, Retharin was finally satisfied and let Marcus, Mrazivy, and all of their beastpanions go.


    Upon returning to the royal capital, Marcus and Mrazivy, along with their beastpanions, headed directly for the adventurers guild''s main headquarters in the city. They nned to meet up with Lilia, ric, and Miguel there and immediately teleport to Houten.


    ''Looks like everyone is here.''


    Entering the guild hall Marcus quickly spotted Miguel sitting by himself in one corner of the guild, while Lilia and ric were speaking with a member of the guild''s staff.


    Seeing that his sister and ric were busy, Marcus made his way towards Miguel first.


    "I was starting to worry you wouldn''t show up." Miguel said, ncing towards therge clock in the guild hall.


    "Sorry, we got a bit held up going along with a friends'' requests."


    "I see. So then, those four must be your beastpanions, right?" Miguel asked, an edge of wariness in his voice. He could sense how powerful Roxene, Blitz, Inten, and Eirwen.


    "Yeah, these three are my beastparisons, Roxene, Blitz, and Inten. While this guy here is Mrazivy''s beastpassion Eirwen." Marcus said introducing his and Mrazivy''s beastpanions who had taken human form.


    "I can''t believe they just casually brought four mythic grade beasts into a city." Miguel muttered to himself. All of their beastpanions would be considered living cmities that most nations would not want anywhere near a popted area.


    After they finished up with introductions, Mrazivy was the first to ask Miguel what he had been able to find out about Houten.


    Unfortunately, Borealia was pretty far away from the newest country joining up with the adventurers guild and information was scarce. All Miguel had found out was that it would take them three jumps using the guild''s teleportation circles to reach Houten.


    "I was told that if we wanted to learn more, it would be best to ask once we reach in Houten. Since we are mithril rank most intel will be easily obtainable at the guild hall upon our arrival."


    "That''s not anything to go on, but I suppose that is to be expected from a nation on another continent that Borealia has almost no rtionship with." Mrazivy said, wearing a slightly frustrated expression.


    Sadly, it seemed that in order to find out anything they would need to simply head to their destination.


    "Though, I''m not sure if ourck of information is our biggest problem. Only adventurers can use the teleportation circles. How are you nning on getting your beastpanions toe along. If you reveal what they really are, there is going to be an uproar." Miguel said.


    "That won''t be a problem. I did some identity farming, and they are all gold rank adventurers that are our party''s junior members as far as anyone is concerned."


    Marcus had an evil grin on his face as he exined how he had used his False Status unique skill to create several identification papers and guild cards for hispanions.


    However, before Miguel couldment on Marcus'' tant disregard for severalws, Lilia and ric, along with Lilia'' beastpanions Aurelia and Zareen came over.


    "So, this must be the new friend you mentioned. Nice to meet you, I''m Lilia, Marcus'' sister."


    Turning towards the person that had addressed him, Miguel prepared to introduce himself, but stopped when he saw her face.


    An ufortable silence permeated the area as Miguel stared at Lilia without saying anything.


    "It is also a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am ric, Lilia''s fiancé."


    A hint of jealousy in his tone, ric introduced himself as well in order to break the trace that Miguel appeared to be in as he gazed at Lilia.


    Coming back to his senses, Miguel returned the instructions and then looked away embarrassedly.


    "Well, we are all together now, so how about we reserve a timeslot to use the teleportation circle." Marcus said to break the awkward tension.


    Thankfully this worked like a charm and their group of eleven headed towards a guild counter that was only mithril rank and higher adventurers.


    "Of course, your highnesses. We will get the teleportation circle ready for your departure posthaste." The guild employ said after hearing Marcus and Mrazivy''s request. He recognized them from thest time they had used the circle when Valerius had acted as their escort.


    For this reason, as well as their statues as members of the royal family, they received expedited permission to use the teleportation circle.


    Within less than twenty minutes their entire group was engulfed by bright light and on their way to another nation that sat on the eastern edge of the continent to the west of Borealia.


    Then after another two jumps they found themselves standing on the newly created teleportation circle inside Houten''s recently built main guild hall.