After looking over the description of the sword, Thomas couldn't help but smile. Just the base Power bonus of 150 was more than his own Power attribute of 130. Even without using the fire element this sword would more than double his Power! That was a huge buff to his strength. If he boosted the power of the sword by channeling his mana into it and got the full 500 Power bonus then the sword would literally be five times as powerful as he was. This was a prime example of why he loved being a crafter in games. Just making this one item likely made him the most powerful player inside of AoG right now! Well... maybe not but the odds of someone having a weapon that was equally as powerful seemed low.

After admiring his work for a bit it was time to fully test it. He gripped the handle in both hands and started channeling his mana into it. He didn't hold back at all or take it slow this time as a thick stream of mana poured out of his hands and into the blade. At first, nothing happened as his mana sank into the weapon. He watched closely with his 'All Seeing Eyes' as his mana poured into the massive weapon. Once the blade was fully saturated the ethereal flames it always emitted roared loudly and burst forth to become towering flames that emitted waves of heat. The red flames swirled around the blade violently until the enchantment gathered them all and focused them onto the edges of the sword.

Two blades of writhing condensed flames hovered millimeters away from the edges of the sword. Though Thomas was immune to the intense heat the flames generated, the guards were not so lucky. The moment the flames condensed the guards felt as if they were plunged into a flaming pit. They took no damage but the heat emitted by the weapon in Thomas's hands was terrible. All of them immediately started to sweat profusely as they stared at the weapon in awe. None of them had felt such heat being emitted by fire magic before. Naturally, one of the guards came to his senses and immediately left to report the incident to Yorik. This was big news and their captain had to know right away!

Thomas was too busy admiring the weapon in his hands to pay any attention to the guards that were watching him. Just from feeling the mana he was pouring into the weapon he knew that he hadn't brought out its full potential yet. It was instinctive but he was certain that he'd only brought out about twenty percent of the power of the flames. At the moment, he was unable to bring out any more. There was a hard limit to the amount of mana he could emit from his body and even pouring out his maximum, this was the most power he could draw from the sword. Still, twenty percent was at least an additional 100 Power. The only downside is that the additional Power from the flames would have a reduced or no effect on creatures with fire resistance or immunity. Not that it would matter with the monsters he planned to use it on!

He held the sword and continued to pour his mana into it. He wanted to see how long he could use it before it drained his mana pool. As he did so he started with a few practice swings of the weapon. With his own Power attribute, it felt like he was swinging a simple stick around. The sword easily sliced through the air with the flames emitting hissing and crackling sounds as small dust particles were burnt to ashes by the flame blades. What he found interesting was that despite the weapon weighing more than he did, it didn't try to unbalance his body or pull him in the direction it was swung. According to physics, just holding the weapon should make him have to brace his body to keep him from being pulled off balance. None of that happened though.

He started swinging the weapon faster and harder but no matter how he slashed it the weapon didn't pull him off balance. It really was like he was just swinging a twig around. No matter what angle he slashed at or how much strength he put into his arms he maintained perfect control over the large weapon. He continued his practice for about ten minutes until he felt that his mana was getting dangerously low. Once he stopped channeling his mana into the weapon the hot flames vanished and only the ethereal flames remained on the weapon. Ten minutes of continuous use could translate into quite a few battles with just using bursts of power. He didn't think it would take more than one or two slashes to kill a troll with the sword.

As he set the tip of the sword on the ground and wiped a bit of sweat off his brow he noticed a large crowd of pirates all staring at him from the other side of the workshop. Not only had the guard gotten Yorik but other curious pirates had shown up to see what the fuss was about. Thomas just smiled at the crowd while the massive sword vanished from sight and was stored away.

Yorik clapped his hands and loudly said, "All right, shows over. Go about your business!"

Most of the pirates left leaving only the assigned guards, Yorik, and Mr. Pancake. Yorik walked over to Thomas while wiping the sweat off of his face. Thomas might have sweat a little from the exertion of swinging the sword but Yorik had been baking in the heat of its flames for quite some time. He was soaked in his own sweat. As he got closer he looked Thomas over before speaking, "That was one impressive weapon. How the hell did you make something like that? Even from the other side of the room, I felt like I was melting."

Thomas shrugged his shoulders and just decided to be honest, "I used special and rare materials. Plain iron can only be taken so far. By using better steel, special ores, enchantments, and so on even more impressive weapons can be made. It's really not all that complicated."

Yorik stroked the short beard on his face as he thought for a bit. When he spoke he asked, "So if we got you higher grade materials you could make similar weapons for us?"

The only reason Yorik hadn't already tried to procure higher grade materials was simply that he had little to no understanding of Thomas's actual crafting ability. He'd just gone to procure the items that had been specifically requested. If he was to procure better materials then... Thomas smiled at Yorik and nodded, "That's right. If you can get better materials I can make better items. But just randomly grabbing anything won't make something as impressive as my sword. It's only as good as it is because the materials worked in harmony. Everything I used was fire-based for the sole purpose of making a strong fire-related weapon."

Yorik nodded in understanding. It was a basic concept in almost any game. Materials with similar attributes would always come together to form something stronger. Doing something idiotic like mixing a water attributed material with a fire attributed material would lead to a weaker creation. Yorik turned to look at Mr. Pancake who simply nodded and made a note. The pirates had plenty of funds and unrestricted access to a dungeon to make even more money. Cash was not a problem they had to worry about. Yorik and Thomas spoke for a bit longer but the gist of their conversation was about using special ores like Fahrentite to enhance weapons. Thomas never spilled any details about the Origin Steel or purified mana crystals. Those were his trade secrets.

With the conversation over and half the day spent making his new sword, Thomas wasted no time in gathering his guards and making his way to the dungeon. Thankfully he could just skip the first two floors and teleport directly to the third floor. He hadn't paid too much attention to the experience that the trolls gave but when looking at his character sheet it was easy to notice that they gave over two thousand experience each. They were definitely a tastier target than the orcs. Each time he killed a troll he would be able to raise his magic attribute by a single point. For now, his plan was to get his Magic attribute up to at least three hundred. That should give him more than enough mana to work with normal materials. It's not like he would be making the pirates gear out of Origin Steel or any of his other purified items.

After taking the teleportation circle down to the third floor he pulled out his brand new sword and smiled playfully. The ethereal flames danced on the sword but like they didn't emit heat they also didn't emit light. It wasn't a big deal but it was noted. He carried the sword down a randomly picked path until he arrived at a room with a single troll standing inside of it. He was a little disappointed that there was only a single enemy but it made for a good practice target. Mana poured out of his right hand into the handle of the sword in torrents that caused the sword to once again burst into flames and create the two flaming edges.

When Thomas stepped into the room the troll had become aggressive but the second the flames burst out of the sword it took a step back in fear. Monster or not, seeing a two-meter long sword with its edges covered in flames filled its heart with fear. Thomas watched the monster and was surprised to see that it was afraid of him. Monsters were usually mindless and simply tried their best to kill anyone that invaded their territory. Seeing one take a step back in fear was a brand new thing. The monster didn't just stay back and tremble in fear though, it overcame its fear with a loud roar and charged at Thomas with all its might.

Thomas watched the nearly three-meter tall monster running at him at its top speed and just smiled. As the troll closed in he dashed to the left and slashed from right to left with the sword. The troll let out a grunt as the sword bisected it at the waist. The two halves of the troll collapsed to the ground while blood and viscera spilled out of its gut onto the ground. The visuals didn't last long as the troll died almost immediately and dispersed into dust. Thomas let the flames die out on the sword and collected the mana crystal.

As he made his way down a random path toward the next room of trolls he examined the sword in his hand. Despite cutting through the thick abdominal muscles, intestines, spine, and back muscles of the troll there were no signs of the trolls body having even messed up the oil and soot on the blade. There wasn't even any blood on the blade, the flames had completely protected the blade from getting dirty.

When he stepped into the next room the sword burst into flames while the two trolls present let out deep roars and charged at him. Thomas crouched down and leaned forward before charging at the trolls himself. His sword trailed behind him as he gripped it tightly. As the two trolls closed in, Thomas stomped on the ground and launched himself into the air. Mid-leap he gripped the sword with both hands and slashed down. The flaming edge of the sword slammed into one of the troll's heads and obliterated its skull. As he fell the second troll disregarded his companion's death and swung its tree-trunk sized club at Thomas. In response, Thomas shifted the sword in front of his body and used it as a shield. The tree-trunk club slammed into his sword and sent him rocketing across the large room.

Thomas flipped in the air and landed feet-first on the wall. He used the momentum to crouch on the wall then leap off. He rocketed through the air and rapidly closed in on the troll. He slashed horizontally with his sword as the troll stared at him in surprise. It was the last thing the troll saw as its head was separated from its body. Unfortunately, Thomas wasn't really used to such maneuvers. He'd pulled them on in the past but it had been a while and right now he couldn't remember how to land. Before he could remember he slammed into the wall behind the troll and bounced off of it to fall to the ground.

He lay on the ground and replayed the fight against the tolls in his mind. He should have tried to flip in the air and land on the wall with his feet and then hop off of it and land on the ground. Three-dimensional movement took a quick reaction and a good plan to pull off properly. It's not something he could do in the heat of the moment. He let out a sigh and climbed to his feet so he could collect the mana crystals and continue his hunt. The sword worked excellently against the trolls, it was just his technique that needed work.

When he stepped into the next room he was surprised to see three trolls waiting for him. So far the rooms he'd entered only had one to two trolls. Of course, it's not like there was a rule that said there couldn't be more of them. Thomas ignited his sword and charged at the trolls while they charged at him with their giant clubs. He decided to use these trolls for some practice with his new sword instead of obliterating them in a single hit. When the trolls swung their clubs at him he would block or parry them with his sword and when he saw an opening he would counter-attack. He fought back and forth with the trolls for a good five minutes before sneakily ducking down and sweeping his sword horizontally to cut their legs out from under them.

Without legs the trolls were easy pickings and their mana crystals were soon stored inside of his inventory. He set his sword down and leaned it against a wall while he got comfortable. He wanted to recover his mana before he continued as well as spending the experience he'd gained. Thanks to the six he'd just killed and the previous two he had a nice pool of 20,000 experience to spend on his Magic attribute. He quickly spent the experience and increased his Magic from 253 to 260. Just forty more points and he would reach his goal of 300. Once his mana was fully recovered with Serenity, he climbed to his feet and shouldered his sword. The trolls didn't know it but today was the day their grim reaper came for them.