While waiting for the metal to heat up, Lila did a few practice swings with the hammer to get a better feel for it. While she didn’t have her oglunite tools, these were more than sufficient to work with.

  Once the emberite was ready to be worked, she went to swinging her hammer. To get the proper rhythm going, she would lightly strike the anvil twice before hitting the ingot. Once she found her rhythm, this part was forgotten.

  She knew the shape to make the katana, the length, and even what kind of skills she wanted to enchant in it.

  While Akira didn’t have any defining skills yet, she was given absolute freedom to design it as she pleased.

  The tricky part was maintaining a steady flow of mana in the fire to weaken the emberite to be hammered. Otherwise, its fire resistance would take forever just to soften. Once the blade was done, she quenched it and moved onto the handle and sheath.

  She had plenty of time to let the blade cool down, which she spent every second making the sheath and handle. Considering that both brothers wore clothes made from good material but had nothing else that flaunted their family's wealth and/or prosperity, she figured the blade should match.

  She made the sheath and handle under the idea of elegance in simplicity.

  *

  During the forging process, the two brothers waited patiently just outside the smithy.

  “So, where did you find such a weird kitsune?” Akira asked after waiting patiently for a couple of minutes.

  “Believe it or not, I bumped into her a couple of days ago. She is incredible. I watched her go up to a suiko that was just beaten by a bunch of kyuso. The thing is, she gave it advice and armed it.” Tetsu began to remember that night and recounted the events, only leaving out the fight with the tengu.

  ‘The fewer people that know about that fight, the better.’ He thought as he recalled the fight itself. The tengu was only a level 25 warrior-type class, while Tetsu was a level 20 with a commander-type class.

  Even if Tetsu’s combat capabilities had been superior so he could cover a five-level difference, he specialized in giving orders and leading groups.

  “Did you fall in love with her?” Akira inquired as he had never seen his brother so passionate or emotional in his life. The Nurarihyon clan was all aloof to some degree, but Tetsu was always so serious that it worried everyone except their father and grandfather.

  It was because of his choice of class and his personality that their father had named Tetsu his successor, despite their older siblings having worked so hard for it. All Tetsu had to do was complete his night parade, and he was only short of twelve members.

  “Yeah, I think I have. Though I doubt she will ever look at me that way.” He answered with a melancholy smirk. While Tetsu has fooled around with women and even visited the brothels from time to time to relax, he never truly fell in love with anyone. He just allowed himself to be deceived for the night to forget the loneliness he felt.

  He could show a side of himself to his men, another side to his family, and then there was the face he put on for dealing with everyone else. While he was never alone, he still felt as if a part of him was neglected with the constant masks he had to wear.

  While he was never interested in making a new mask for dealing with a lover or a wife, something about Lila made him want to try, otherwise, he knew he would regret it.

  “Come on. She may be a kitsune, but I think you still have a chance. She showed up when you asked, didn’t she?”

  “She is living in the Kyubi Palace, and from what she said in passing, she is the disciple of Seimei. Whoever she is, she is beyond my reach.”

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  “Bullshit. That old fart has thousands of students, most of which are oni’s and kitsune who brag about being his disciple, whereas he has declared publicly he has only ever had a handful of actual disciples. I doubt he would choose someone so eccentric.”

  “Yes, because an eccentric would never choose another eccentric. I’m more curious about who turned her into a kitsune than whether she truly is his disciple.”

  Akira looked at him, dumbfounded by what he said.

  “You mean she was born mortal?” He asked. While he didn’t believe it at first, it did explain a few things that he thought were abnormal about her. While it did happen, kitsune were too proud to let most mortals be adopted into their clans. Even the few that did would have to work twice as hard to earn their place in the clan.

  “Look at how she’s dressed. She dresses like a human, and the look on her face when she touched you was as if she was doing something immoral.”

  When hearing Tetsu confirm it, Akira blushed in embarrassment as he realized that Lila probably just looked at him as a kid.

  After a moment of awkward silence, they laughed and pulled out some sake as they talked about their future plans. Now that Akira was thirteen, he had to form his own night parade and decide whether he would stay and fight to be the clan head or start a minor clan in some other city, if not the realm of Spiritus itself. This went on for a few hours before the door opened.

  The first thing that Akira noticed was the sheathed blade in her hand. It was just a simple wooden sheath and handle with no wraps or any aesthetic touches except for some quality treatment to the wood.

  Tetsu noticed the look of disappointment on Lila’s face. Her eyes kept shifting between red and blue before she took a deep breath to calm herself, causing her eyes to stop changing as they reverted to yellow.

  “Here you go, kid. This is the best blade I have ever made myself, even if it was rushed. It’s not an authentic katana as I had to skip several steps to save time, but it should do the job. Take good care of it.” Lila warned as her face returned to its neutral state.

  Akira took the blade, and when he checked its stats, he was in awe of what was in front of him.

  “What level craftsman are you?” He inquired. He needed to know just so he could explain this better when anyone asked about his blade.

  “Level 10 classless.” Lila's response shocked both of the Nurarihyon brothers.

  Akira couldn’t believe it with the blade he was holding, while Tetsu was recalling how she ripped out that tengu’s heart with ease.

  “So, I would like that tour of the city another time, as dawn should be approaching, and I have training first thing in the morning. That bastard Haru is a slave driver.” Lila explained, leaving out the wrath that Kon might show if she found out she slipped out again.

  “That would be no problem.” Tetsu responded with a deep bow that he and his brother gave together before he checked the stats of the sword he had commissioned for his brother.

  What he saw took his breath away. This kind of blade was usually reserved for those who were at least level 100, maybe level 150 if they were from a middle-class family in Spiritus, due to limited resources, and that’s just for its attack power alone. Its perks made this weapon a prized heirloom for lower-tier to mid-tier factions. He could even see high-tier factions willing to fight for such a blade.

  [Name: Sakura Mirage]

  [Type: Katana]

  [Physical Attack Power: 750]

  [Magic Attack Power: 500]

  [Durability: 660]

  [Perks]

  [Emberite’s Flame: Sakura Mirage deals an additional 150 fire damage with every strike of the blade. Sakura Mirage also has a low chance of igniting foes upon striking, causing them to take 50 fire damage per second for 5 seconds.]

  [Lustful Spirit: Each strike has a 20% chance to sap the target's energy, reducing their stamina by 10% while slightly healing the wielder. The blade also enhances the wielder’s allure, increasing their charisma by 15%.]

  [Sakura Mirage: Upon activation, the blade creates a mirage of falling cherry blossoms that disorients enemies within a 10-meter radius, reducing their accuracy by 25% and lowering their defense by 10% for 15 seconds.]

  [Phantom Edge: Sakura Mirage allows the blade to phase through armor, bypassing 30% of the target's physical defenses.]

  [Flame Resonance: When the wielder channels fire magic through Sakura Mirage, the blade’s fire damage is amplified by 50%, turning Sakura Mirage into a conduit for fiery destruction.]

  [Ethereal Touch: Sakura Mirage enhances the wielder’s sensitivity to spiritual energy, allowing them to better control over mana with a spirit affinity. This connection increases the effectiveness of spirit-based skills and magic arts by 20%, and the wielder can sense nearby sources of spirit mana.]