When I received the system notification, my heart started racing once again. Every time I forged a good sword, I felt an unusual excitement.

  "Legendary rank!" I shouted, thrilled.

  The sword hadn't changed much in appearance. It seemed like the system was holding back a little. The only noticeable difference was the golden veins running through the bde, giving it a mystical look.

  Excited, I swung the sword a few times.

  "And these abilities? They're incredible."

  I had no idea how the first ability worked, but it had a fshy name. "Lunar Ssh..." Should I test it?

  I approached one of the training dummies and activated the skill before swinging the sword.

  Swosh!

  The bde sliced through the air and struck the dummy head-on. The dummy was easily cut cleanly in half, but nothing else happened.

  "Did the skill not activate?"

  I tried activating it again, but nothing changed.

  I then asked the system for help, but it didn't expin what the ability actually did.

  "Useless system. I should be able to see the skill's effects! I created them!"

  Maybe something will change when I rank up again.

  Well, since I can't use this skill, how about the second one?

  "Absolute Resistance. It has something to do with the sword's durability."

  I activated the skill and immediately felt my magic being drained at a rapid pace. After that, I approached the table and picked up my hammer.

  Holding the sword steady, I rested its tip against the table and struck it with all my strength.

  CLANG!

  When the hammer hit the bde, a powerful metallic sound echoed in my ears—but nothing happened to the sword. Not even a scratch.

  I started hitting it against the floor and other surfaces, but still, there was no damage.

  If it were an ordinary sword, even one made of mithril, it would have taken some damage from that.

  "I'll admit, this is an interesting ability if I want to keep a sword for a long time... But for now, I don't see much use for it. And the third ability..."

  "Shadow Dance"—now that's a cool name.

  It felt like I was reading an extremely chuuni novel where the author gave exotic names to abilities.

  "Dark magic. I've always been fascinated by this kind of magic—it's so cool."

  I picked up the sword and activated the ability, only to be surprised at how quickly its bde changed.

  The silver bde with golden details turned pitch bck.

  As dark as the night, yet without a single star in the sky.

  Just looking at it made me anxious.

  "This magic is making me feel uneasy. Is it because it's dark magic? They say dark magic is associated with demons or something like that. I wonder if that connection exists in this world too."

  The darkness on the sword didn't dissipate; instead, it began creeping onto my hand.

  I didn't panic and remained still, letting the magic consume me little by little.

  In just a few seconds, my entire arm was covered by that bck magical yer.

  I thought it would stop there, but the magic kept spreading, covering every part of my body in bck. Even though my entire body was engulfed in darkness, I didn't feel any different.

  The only thing I could sense was my magic draining at an arming rate. If I kept the skill activated for much longer, I would lose consciousness!

  "Please, deactivate the magic!"

  At my command, the magic stopped draining, and the dark yer covering my body began to dissipate.

  The st thing to return to normal was the sword's bde.

  Drenched in sweat and feeling slightly dizzy, I stared at the sword for a few moments.

  "I can't use this ability for now. If this sword had 'Magic Enhancement LV3,' it would be a different story. Now I'm curious—should I ask Hephaestus to test it?"

  ####

  I stored the sword I had just forged and left the training room. It was lunchtime, so I headed to the dining room.

  However, when I arrived, I didn't find Nina.

  The table was empty as well.

  "I guess it's because I haven't been eating here for the past few days."

  Since I started training with Tsubaki, I always had lunch with her somewhere or just grabbed a quick meal.

  I sighed, a little disappointed, and was about to leave the room when the door opened.

  Nina walked in, wearing her usual uniform.

  She was carrying a tray with two ptes of food, a pitcher of juice, and a cup. The ptes were covered, so I couldn't tell what the food was—but the aroma was amazing.

  "Ah!" Nina widened her eyes. "Why are you here? I was just about to call you..."

  "Sorry, I was hungry, so I decided to come here. Is this for me?"

  "The Goddess told me you finished your training with Tsubaki and that I should prepare food for you. I just finished cooking and was about to call you. I didn't expect to find you here."

  "Here, let me take that."

  "Oh, it's fine—"

  I took the tray from Nina's hands and pced it on the table. She lowered her head slightly, her cheeks flushed.

  "Thank you, but you didn't have to..."

  A rge steak and a pte full of mashed potatoes covered in cheese.

  The wonderful aroma I smelled earlier was coming from the meat.

  "Why did you bring food for yourself too? We could eat together."

  "Oh, I already ate, it's fine." Nina raised her hands and shook her head. "Enjoy your meal. I'll stay here until you finish."

  She moved to the corner of the room and stood there, unmoving.

  I stared at her for a few seconds and sighed.

  "Sit down. I hate it when you just stand there behind me while I eat. Let's talk for a bit."

  "But—"

  "We've done this before, haven't we?"

  "..."

  Nina swallowed nervously before finally sitting down.

  She pced her hands on her p and remained silent. Her nervousness was almost palpable.

  "Why are you so nervous?"

  "It's nothing... Hahaha..."

  ParodyGirl