Atop the outer wall, half an hour away from Whitefall, Lev and his team gazed at the endless forest, each lost in thought. He didn't know what they were thinking about, and his own mind was consumed by the plans and steps of the sword he was about to form.

Going over the details for the last time in his mind, he glanced at Amelia.

"Are you happy with the current longsword you're using?"

She blinked at the random question, then nodded slowly. Lev supposed that was good enough to go ahead.

Forming a barrier wall between himself and his teammates, he summoned the backup longsword from his ring. A few silent seconds passed as he scanned the weapon again, double-checking if he had missed anything.

He had not.

Storing it back, Lev took a deep breath. Raising his right palm in front of him, a barrier hilt started taking shape. It was one whole construct, not divided into layers, and several runes formed inside it along with its creation.

Lev paused once that part was done. The runes were incomplete by his design, a portion of the whole formation. Seeing that there were no deviations from his mental map, he set the hilt aside and pulled out a simple core he had bought before.

[

Ashen Sparrow Core

Possesses decent mana conductivity and capacity.

Shows minor properties of fire.

]

The core was meant for Adept equipment, and not a strong one either. That was fine by him though, and he went about painting ambient mana absorption and mana extraction runes on it.

All the while, his team watched curiously, not disturbing a crafter during his craft. Amelia's excitement could be felt through her small aura regardless, something Lev found pretty adorable. She was like a kid waiting for a Christmas gift right now.

Shoving them to the back of his mind, Lev picked up the hilt again. It was slightly hollowed out in the middle, and with a simple formation carved inside the hole, he put the core in it. Supplying the enchantment a bit of mana, he waved the hilt around, finding the core not budging from its place, fully glued to the surface by the enchantment.

Alright, this part is tricky, he noted and took a few seconds to gather his thoughts. I hope it works.

Closing his eyes, he brought the hilt closer and slowly formed the first layer of the blade. The full, thin length of the layer formed initially before he started expanding it to the sides, slowly matching the original sword's dimensions. The core was also accounted for, its small size covered by the layer.

Then his mind narrowed to the edges, thinning them out until only a delicate blade remained, too feeble to be used in combat. It was going to shatter with a single swing, and the durability was further lowered by the fire coalescence rune trailing slightly behind the edge, all around the blade.

First layer done.

From the hilt, another layer sprang up, this one much thicker than the one before. The planned durability runes were created along with it, and before anything, Lev used his latest 4th rank skill to increase the weight of the layer. It took a few tries, but before long, he was holding a blade that weighed exactly as much as the metal version.

Lazily swinging it around a few times, he deemed it good enough and started working on the second layer. It was thinned yet again, this time less than the lowest layer, resting snugly over the base without obstruction.

The third and final layer could wait, however. Closing his eyes again, he sent his senses deeper into the barrier sword. The gap between the layers was not uniform, observing it made possible by all his bonuses to Perception, and he fixed that first.

Slowly, the distance between the layers lessened, going as low as he could manage with his current attributes and skill levels. By the end, they seemed like they were connected seamlessly, the space between them unnoticeable to the naked eye. But it was there, and he wanted it to be there.

Satisfied, the final layer formed from the hilt once again, covering the previous two. This one was enchanted with a sharpness formation, and was also the thickest layer of them all.

Lev quickly repeated the previous steps, thinning the layer as needed and further evening out the uneven gaps between layers. Then the final runes were carved on the flat of the blade, connecting all three distinct formations to the core at the blade's base, their power source.

When he was done, the longsword in his hand looked like a single whole instead of a construct formed of layers, exactly how he wanted it to. For the final step, he focused on the sharp double-edge of the weapon, and slowly, connected all three of the layers' edges together.

Now the enchantments were divided into layers, each with its own function that didn't interfere with the others' working, and also combined at the edges to create a mixture of their features. Overall, the sharpness enchantment was weakened slightly, but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

There was something to be said about redundancy. Lev could've divided the enchantments along the flat of the blade, ensuring that they could empower the whole sword and only meet on the edges.

That wouldn't advance his enchanting capabilities. He needed to look into layers and methods of utilizing three-dimensional runes, as well as the effects of the technique he had just deployed for the sword. Layers sounded like a neat idea on paper, keeping enchantments from clashing with each other, but their effectiveness remained to be seen.

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Without Identifying the sword, he nudged the core's enchantments. It let out a small stream of mana into the sharpness and durability formations, gradually powering them up as pure fuel coursed through the runes.

For the fire rune, Lev gave it fire mana from his converter. A deep orange hue lit up along the sword's sharp blade, further increasing its lethality and also providing an additional source of elemental damage.

Then he finally used his identification skill.

[

Flamesword - Rare

Enchantments: Molten Edge, Advanced Sharpness, Sturdy.

]

Rare… Lev breathed out slowly, letting his focused mind return to normal. The core definitely didn't do the rarity any favors. Good to know that my barriers, their inherent sharpness and durability, and Drakys' runes are enough to form rare equipment somewhat reliably. It probably helped that I shamelessly stole the sword's shape, size, and weight.

Dismissing the wall between him and his teammates, Lev held out the hilt of the sword to Amelia. She clasped it gingerly, whereas the other two stayed at a safe distance, far away from her range.

"Test number one," Lev announced, and formed a simple shield in front of him. "Try to cut through it to the best of your abilities."

She didn't have to be told twice. Amelia adopted her usual stance, an excited grin on her face, and slashed diagonally. The sword cut through the air with a shrill whistle, its temperature making the air vibrate loudly in its passing. Her active enhancement only added to the sight, painting her as an otherworldly demon with its bright intensity.

Lev kept his Perception stretched to the limit, watching intently as the sword cut into his shield with only a little resistance. It continued on, slashing through a quarter of the construct before slowing down. The momentum was great still, and by the end of the swing, the sword was resting in the middle of the shield.

Respectable sharpness, Lev noted, nodding slightly to himself. The weight is low, which makes sense as the weapon is designed for an Adept. The shape seems to be fine, given how easily she swung it with the same grace she uses her metal sword.

I could also feel the heat affecting my barriers, weakening the resistance, and subsequently improving the sharpness. Overall, the sword seems like a decent success, even if the base blade leaves a lot to be desired. It's not even close to as good as my previous version of Stargazer.

"Again."

Amelia happily brutalized whatever construct Lev conjured for the next few minutes, proving a valuable assistant for his testing. Not only did he observe the nature of the sword's enchantments and their working, but he now also knew the limits of his barriers better.

The first surprise came when he lowered the durability of his barriers, to the level of the strongest he could manage as a new Adept. They didn't stand a chance. His new sword hacked them apart with casual ease, proving just how bad his barriers were at defense back then. Thankfully, he had largely fixed that problem by now.

For the third-last test, Lev formed a large shield and enchanted it with the stone enhancement rune he had earned from killing a stone snake.

"Again."

Amelia was already prepared. Her sword moved in a horizontal arc, smashing into the shield that cleanly absorbed the impact. A small scratch remained from the impact, the full extent of the damage.

"What?" the swordswoman voiced, looking at the result. "That little?"

Lev shook his head. "It's already impressive that you and the sword could damage this shield at all. Not only is it the highest durability I can manage in my barriers, but the enchantment is also pretty decent."

She nodded, the gears in her mind visibly spinning. It slowly dawned on her that she had hurt a Master's enchanted barrier, and the growing smile on her face matched that.

For the last two tests, Amelia failed to even scratch his enchanted walls, which was expected.

"Can I keep this?" she asked shamelessly, pointing to the sword.

"No," Lev shot her down, masking his amusement. "I'll make you a better one at the level cap."

"Okay," she returned the sword easily enough and joined Jack and Kayla, who were watching from the sidelines.

"For you, Jack, I have a hammer and shield also in the making. For Kayla, though… what do you want?"

He also waved for them to sit down no their usual seats. Lev did the same.

"What are my options?" she questioned back, unable to hide her excitement completely.

"See," Lev scratched his head. "That's the main problem. I have no idea. Never saw aura mage equipment. Even Trailblazer casually manhandles third-threshold monsters. The only things I have in mind are healing items, but you don't have a use for those."

"A treatment, then?"

A chuckle burst out of his lips, devolving into full-blown laughter. It took Lev a few seconds to get himself under control, struggling to manage that after seeing the disapproving glare Jack was giving his girlfriend, who brushed it off.

"Yeah, no."

"Figured," she grinned. "I'm fine-"

"That's not an option either," Lev cut her off. "I'll ask around for any cores or equipment related to buffing others or simply enhancing healing."

Kayla only nodded once gratefully, knowing she didn't have any better ideas. Anything she would get was already more than they needed as Classers.

Further conversation was cut off when Sherron landed near his bubble. An opening let her step inside, and she motioned for his teammates to remain seated before they could even get up to bow.

"Your creation?" she asked, looking at the sword.

"Yep," Lev replied, holding out the hilt for her. "First proper attempt."

Sherron swung it a few times with far more grace than he could've managed. Then she powered the enchantment, raising a brow after feeling the fire mana required. Lev just shrugged a shoulder towards Amelia and powered the sword with a bit of fire mana.

Its tip immediately became fiery, now much more deadly with the added sharpness enchantment. Sherron, the idiot, tried to cut her own palm with it. Lev mentally stopped the barrier sword before she could.

"That's enough," he pried it out of her hand, giving her a disapproving look. "We've tested it already. It works perfectly fine."

"I doubt it would've cut through my skin, but sure," she grinned and sat down in his driver's seat.

There's no way this wasn't ragebait, Lev scanned her mischievous expression with narrowed eyes and stored the sword in his ring.

"So, what brings you here?"

"Curiosity, mainly," Sherron answered, more interested in his teammates. "How much do they want to watch, and what are your plans?"

"Hmm," Lev took a moment to reply. "How far can I go?"

"As much as you want."

"Then I want to explore the limits of my class," he immediately replied. "The gecko fight demanded I fight at full strength constantly. There's still so much more I want to test."

"Such as?"

"The limits of my arrows, lances, their enchantments, their durability, their infusion capacity, their imbuement capacity, the difference between both, my base shields, my enchanted shields, my walls, the extent of my willpower's effectiveness, my base physical capabilities, the limits of my enhancement formation, its relation to lightning imbuement at full power, the maximum sharpness of my glaive, its maximum weight, its highest consistent output, the limits of my converters, the combination of both types in my mana slash-"

"Alright! Okay, fine. You can do all of that and more, jeez."

"Thank you for your understanding," he smiled brightly and glanced at his team. "It would be quite nice if you could let them watch too."

Sherron turned to them as well. "Do you guys want to?"

Lev was surprised she still needed to ask that question, even after feeling their auras.

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