"Sigh, I need to find some other way."
I need to do something, and soon that is. I looked at the sword in my hand and then glanced over in the direction where the other swords were kept. 'What'll happen if I used them in my experiment?'
It was indeed a good question. I mean, there isn't anything written that I've to pay for the swords if I broke them. And I know that Leon broke a great number of swords during his training; loli_pop made him do that to show how overpowered he is.
'I can't really see how that works though.'
Anyway, even if I did have to pay a cost I guess I can afford that. The swords here are just normal swords made with iron and they don't have any enchantments so the price won't be too high.
If I have to take a guess, then I think it'll be around 10,000 to 20,000 C. Say I broke 5 swords—the maximum number of swords kept here—and the average price of each sword is 15,000 C.
Then the total will be 75,000 C; after getting the money from Walric's family, I can afford that much easier.
Yeah, I'll have to withdraw money from the bank but that is not a problem. 'Hmm, come to think of it; won't it be better if I created a separate bank account for myself? Considering the things I have to do in the future, I will have to spend money on regular basis… I'll look into this later on.'
For now, it's better to focus on what I came here to do. With money not being a concern, I can break the swords freely. Hence the experiment continued.
The fire I cast on the blade wasn't of use any use because I kept its temperature low since a high-temperature flame can melt the blade. Due to that, the fire didn't make much of a difference to the target; and that was when I was hitting a dummy with no armor or a sword to counter.
If I take this sword into battle and clash it with someone's sword that is using the magiken technique, they will win by a landslide. Right now, hitting someone with my flame sword was like rubbing a fire torch against a wood log; it won't burn immediately.
It is the same with the sword; yes, it will burn if I stuck the sword inside a person's body for a while but I don't think that's reasonable and possible in any way. I mean, the opponent won't just stand there and let me kill him, will they?
But now that I don't have to care about melting the sword, I can increase the temperature of the flame.
I stood before a human dummy and held the sword straight toward its head. A flame once again engulfed the sword, though this time the flame wasn't yellow or orange.
It was crimson; the color of blood.
The temperature of this flame was relatively high from before; around 800 degree Celsius I guess. Its size was also bigger and it was covering the sword's blade fully while it launched strings of fire at moments.
The sword would've melted at this point but I had a little trick to prevent it. Along with fire, I was also using sub-element ice to cool the blade faster than the fire can melt it.
I know doing this will slowly destroy the blade but it was the only way to keep it on fire without melting it. Though, I was using two elements at the same time and both of them at extreme levels as well. This was taking more mana than usual; I was able to feel it in my body.
"Now then."
I increased my grip on the sword's handle, it was hot due to the fire but even so, I held onto it as tightly as I could. I narrowed my eyes and looked at the blue human dummy in front of me.
I dashed forward and with a swift motion, I threw a slash at the dummy's abdomen on the right side. The sword cutting through the rubber-like slimy flesh made its way inside the stomach.
The force required to deliver a cut this deep was great, but as of now, I was not experiencing that. I was applying force indeed but it was a bit low from before.
Though I was not able to slash it fully and the sword stopped splitting half of its stomach. When I did stop, the fire covering the sword's blade slowly begin melting the dummy from the inside.
I didn't want to burn the dummy hence I pulled the sword outside, instantly putting off the flame on the sword afterward.
The dummy as usual healed itself and the fire in its inside also vanished; in a few minutes, it was the same as it was before I slashed it.
I looked at the sword's blade, and my reaction was, "Kinda knew this would happen."
Its color was completely changed and it was a mixture of grey and black, there were dents and scratches all over the blade and its condition was also looking very fragile.
This was bound to happen. I mean, I was heating and cooling the blade—which was made of iron—constantly. Subjecting metal to extreme heat causes it to expand in addition to impacting its structure, cooling it down does the opposite and contracts the metal.
Normally, this is a process used for making blades that involve the metal is heated at a high temperature and this temperature is maintained until a proportion of carbon has been dissolved. Next, the metal is quenched, which involves rapidly cooling it in oil or water. Hardening will produce an alloy that has high strength and wear resistance.
But if you repeat the process again and again and heck, I was cooling and heating the blade almost at the same time with a second's difference; doing that will only slowly destroy the blade.