[Days Left: 6 months (168 days)].
More than a week passed uneventfully.
The day after Baron Savani was captured and imprisoned, the Avanti Merchant House people came over with a response.
They decided not to buy the License as a group, but rather, one of their head blacksmiths used his own personal money to purchase the license for the blueprint from Marcus.
This seemed like a smart move on their part, however, it was somewhat redundant to Marcus.
It didn't matter who among them bought it, there would be signs that his technology was used in another product if he checked.
And by extension, he was entitled to receive his own share of the profit from that product.
Whether it was made by the blacksmith or not.
Marcus was cunning enough to include a clause in the contract that would ensure his entitlement. And if they refused…
Well, it's not as if he can punish them directly… for now.
As for Baron Savani, after questioning him and getting some crucial answers, Marcus made sure to keep him locked up in his dungeon.
The news of his manor burning down had long spread within Agard, putting a lot of nobles and rich individuals on edge.
Currently, none of this concerned Marcus.
It was long past dawn, and Marcus hadn't slept since yesterday.
After finding out who it was that conspired with Baron Savani, Marcus made no further move.
In fact, he acted as though he didn't hear a thing.
For now, he was going to build his power first.
Dressed in a sleeveless shirt, long gloves, and an apron with scorched marks, Marcus stared at a dark-silver material that resembled iron. It was shaped like a bar.
Next to it was a sword without edges and any intricate designs or trinkets.
The blade of the sword resembled the dark-silver material.
"Milord, it doesn't look much better than iron. Though the purity of the iron increased, after putting the purified iron through the treatment process you mentioned, its color became darker and its weight dropped significantly." Dorian said and the other blacksmiths around nodded their heads.
Marcus had come to meet them two days ago with a new task at hand.
All of them were so excited that they rushed like children about to be given gifts.
They had been stuck making farm tools for more than two weeks and they were tired of it.
When Marcus revealed that it was a technique of purifying iron and treatment, they were stunned.
Hoffman even hesitated to stay.
Such techniques, families, and powerful organizations would guard with their lives, and yet, the young lord wanted to give that to them.
To be grateful or scared, they didn't know which to feel.
"Was it difficult to forge this sword out of it?" Marcus asked as he reached for the sword and picked it up.
"Oh," his brows shot up. "It's very light."
Dorian nodded. "We still haven't sharpened the edges though, so it's not complete yet." He added.
Marcus knew this, after all, he had actively participated, for the first time, in the creation of an item he realized from the system.
Why did he do this?
Because Marcus wanted to confirm a theory of his.
"Still, let's have it tested," Marcus said as he looked around the workshop for something he could test this blunt sword on.
In the corner of the room, there were a few finished farm tools.
He walked towards an iron plow and immediately struck it down with all his strength.
Whoosh!
The blunt sword fell quickly and sliced through the iron plow without much difficulty.
Everyone in the room had their mouths hanging open.
Some even forgot to breathe.
How did a blunt, light sword cut through iron with such sharpness? Is the young lord a true swordsman?
None of them could see that Marcus's mouth was also hanging as his back was facing them.
What he had wanted to test wasn't the sharpness of the blade, he wanted to test its durability.
According to the information he got from the system, the technique used to purify and treat the iron used to make this sword wasn't too good.
At least compared to the four other techniques he received.
Isn't this too… strong?
Marcus brought the sword closer to his face and searched for any signs of weakness, however, he found nothing.
Unconvinced, he slashed at another tool, serving it the same fate as the iron plow.
He repeated this until the blacksmiths intervened.
"Lord Marcus! Please stop! That's a few days of vigorous repetition you're destroying!"
"Oh… sorry about that," Marcus said lightly and chuckled.
Dorian and the rest felt like crying.
More than half of the farm tools they made in the last three days had been destroyed.
At the time, they marveled at the sharpness of this blunt sword.
What would it be like once sharpened?
A curious light shone in their eyes.
I don't have any Blood Force, but if I wield a complete version of this sword, I can cut through armor with ease. But will this be enough to deal with the Devilish Mutant?
He wondered.
Handing the sword over, he said. "Sharpen it and ask one of the knights to use it with their Blood Force. We need to estimate its capabilities as well as its durability threshold."
As for the other iron purifying techniques, Marcus couldn't test them yet as Bradley wasn't able to find some of the ingredients needed.
Marcus left and walked into another room right next to the workshop.
This was his own personal workshop which he opened when he started thinking of how to manage and fight the Devilish Mutant.
After searching the system's blueprints for an answer, he left with nothing.
Since then, Marcus had decided to figure this out on his own. And so far, he has drawn two prototypes. Both being a hybrid of the two fields of knowledge he possessed; Advanced Technological Knowledge and Arcane Knowledge.
Looking at the stack of papers on his work desk, Marcus sighed. "Will this work?" He muttered.
He had little to no confidence in his prototypes. It was one thing to make plans and execute them. And it was another to create a device purely from imagination and concepts.