Chapter 16: Finding a Sword


    Jia Yuan looked around the room he was in. His eyes truly


    sparkled, but the receptionist couldn’t tell because of the straw hat.


    If she could see Jia Yuan’s face, she could see that he was


    quite literally drooling at the site of the weapons.


    Unfortunately for Jia Yuan, a good half of the room was


    filled with axes. After all, axes paired well with the fire element, as both


    provided for strong and explosive attacks. As such, for many in the Fire Kingdom,


    either the one-handed or two-handed axe was the weapon of choice. In this


    regard, sword practitioners like Jia Yuan were still plentiful, but part of the


    minority.


    However, the swords he saw were more than enough to sate his


    eyes. It took him a while to remember his goal: to find a sword that he could


    go through life and death battles with.


    He began to look at the swords more discerningly.


    He looked back at the receptionist.


    “If I just want to check the balance of a weapon, do I have


    to go to the field testing area?”


    After all, he was on the third floor of the building, and


    the field testing area had to be outside. It would be quite troublesome to have


    to repeatedly go from place to place.


    “No, but I will have to invite one of our weapon specialists


    over. Would you like me to do so?”


    “Sure.”


    Jia Yuan understood that the two main things he needed in a


    sword was for it to be made of good materials so that it wouldn’t be damaged or


    break during the heat of battle, and that it needed to have a balance that he


    liked. As such, he needed a sword that had similar balance to the wooden sword


    that he had been using all of these years.


    The receptionist led Jia Yuan to the first room, where he


    had noticed some people lounging about earlier. Apparently, these were the


    weapon specialists.


    The receptionist led Jia Yuan to one and said, “Hello sir,


    this esteemed customer would like to check the balance of some weapons.”


    “Hmm? Alright, alright… let’s go.”


    They walked back to the 4th room, and the weapon


    specialist turned to ask Jia Yuan “So, what sort of weapon are you looking for?”


    “I am looking for a straight hand and a half sword with


    the balance slightly ahead of the guard.”


    Jia Yuan had been practicing with a straight sword, after


    all. As for the change to the hand and a half sword, at points he wanted to


    be able to grip the sword with two hands so that he could swing with more


    power. Furthermore, since Jia Yuan only ever wielded a sword and had never


    practiced with a shield, he used his blade to defend against attacks. As such,


    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.it was easier to block attacks if one had two hands gripping the


    sword.


    However, he didn''t want a two-handed sword, as the sword would likely be too big compared to the sword he had practiced with. Furthermore, many of the stances he practiced were one-handed. Combining all of these factors meant that the hand and a half sword would be the best choice.


    “Hmm… would you mind if I recommended some swords to you,


    sir?”


    “That would definitely help.”


    Seeing that the two got along fine, the receptionist


    followed them calmly at a moderate distance.


    “Alright, lad. Er, uh, esteemed customer. We only have about


    ten swords fitting the description of what you just said. Unfortunately,


    RockFire City isn’t exactly the largest city around, so when it comes to the


    lesser used swords, such as the hand and a half swords we don’t carry many.”


    “However, we still have some high quality ones. Usually


    people only buy the cheaper swords, so most of the better swords haven’t been


    purchased. As such, we’ll probably still be able to find a fit for you.”


    “Here. This is a one and a half hand sword specially designed


    to maximize one’s fiery aura. It’s made from extremely rare fire stones which


    are not only beneficial to those who train in a Song of fire, but are also very hard. The sword was also forged in a way to maximize flexibility, so the


    sword is also not likely to break from stress in battle.”


    Jia Yuan looked at the sword. He then grabbed it and swung


    it around a bit to test the balance.


    “It’s okay, but it’s also not exactly what I was looking


    for. Do you have any swords that are compatible with all elements?”


    This startled the weapon master, who quickly gave Jia Yuan another glance.


    “No, but you could probably get one custom made at a larger


    city. Although, it’ll probably cost you an arm and a leg. For someone to be


    able to forge stones of all four elements together would mean that they would


    be a master blacksmith, and their services are high in demand.”


    “Furthermore, the creations of those master blacksmiths


    would probably be great enough to be considered a prized item in any household.


    As such, you’d probably be looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of a few


    million large fire shards…quite a sum even for the royal family.”


    Jia Yuan suddenly had a bitter feeling in his heart. He had


    felt just minutes prior that he was at the top of the world with his 9 thousand


    large fire shards, but now he had just found out that this fortune of his wasn’t


    even enough to cover even a single percentage of the costs needed to buy type


    of sword he wanted.