Chapter 16 Viper Spear

"You...like that weapon?"

The blacksmith sounded oddly affected by the fact that Nial had picked the spear to swing around in short movement sequences.

As such, he stopped swinging it around, and turned around, smiling lightly as he nodded his head in response.

Somehow, Nial felt a unique connection to the spear as if it was perfectly suitable for him.

After touching and inspecting the other weapons, he had not felt this connection which he felt to the spear, as if it was beckoning him.

Because of that, he felt a little bit restless as well as hopeful.

It made him ignore the blacksmith's weird question as he asked,

"It has no price tag...how expensive is the spear? It should have been a custom weapon...so I know that I won't be able to purchase it right now, but...if possible...can you let me save up for...a while to earn enough to purchase it?"

Nial knew that he had planned to support his family financially, but that was exactly why he wanted to get his hands on the spear that lay in his hands as if it had always belonged to him.

It was almost as if it had become a part of Nial, even though he had just wielded it for a few minutes.

What Nial didn't notice was that the blacksmith looked at him with an extremely sad expression.

"Do you like the Viper spear that much?"

His words were filled with agony, which was not difficult to notice, and Nial instinctively halted in his tracks.

He understood that the blacksmith had a deeper connection to the spear than he had expected.

Nevertheless, he couldn't help but lightly caressed the cold metal staff, trying to figure out every single characteristic of it as he mumbled.

"Viper spear...it's a good name…"

While Nial's thoughts were focused around the Viper spear, the blacksmith couldn't avert his attention from him, recalling a faint, –old memory.

'He is just like her...if she were still able to wield mana, would she be as joyous as this young brat? I...don't think so…'

Clenching his fist, he recalled his daughter's greed and desperation. It took him some time to forget the painful memories but he managed to shake his head to get back to his senses.

'They're not the same!' Trying to get his act together, the blacksmith took deep breaths.

His gaze never left Nial, and once he had calmed down he suddenly asked,

"Do you want the Viper spear?"

Arnold, the blacksmith, had always wanted to sell the Viper spear, but to date, he had never been able to muster the courage to let go of it whenever a customer had expressed an interest in purchasing it.

Because of that he had moved it to the farthest corner of his shop which was an area designated for used goods.

None of his customers so far had bothered sparing a glance at used goods.

Only Nial, the blind young man, who had just undergone his origin awakening had done so.

It seemed as if fate was playing into his hands, and Arnold felt oddly relieved seeing the bright smile on Nial's face while he held the Viper spear.

Even though Nial knew that he couldn't purchase the weapon, it was evident that he was extremely keen to purchase it.

As such, the moment Nial heard what the blacksmith said, he reacted instinctively.

"Of course! But I don't have enough money...if possible, can I come back later and purchase when I have enough funds...we are not exactly rich, you know. So it might take a while, Sir."

Nial was clueless about the Viper spear's value, which the blacksmith had noticed.

As such, he couldn't help but smile seeing how Nial acted like a little kid who had found his favorite treat.

It was almost like he had given the young man a treat, only to hold it too far away for him to reach.

In the end, Arnold had never intended to keep the Viper spear, to begin with.

It had only been his selfish desire to keep something that had both good and bad memories of a time that had long since passed.

Because of that, and the fact that the Viper spear would continue to simply collect dust, if he wouldn't sell it, Arnold decided to give it to someone.

But, he wanted the owner to be someone who valued it even more than his beloved daughter, who had been consumed by greed.

"I didn't ask you if you wanted to purchase it, but if you want to have it!" Arnold thus repeated himself in a clearer way.

This made Nial's expression change from his initial joy to be able to purchase it to confusion, and even more confusion.

Soon expressions of astonishment, and shock chased each other before doubt settled on his face yet again.

"Sir...are you sure...This is not a simple Lowest quality Common grade weapon, right? I cannot take something so valuable for free… Why would Sir give me something so valuable..there is no reason…?"

Nial was utterly dumbfounded because it made no sense for him to receive such a valuable gift.

He didn't even know the blacksmith less than half an hour ago either!

Upon hearing his remark 'lowest quality common grade weapon', the blacksmith suppressed a chuckle as he thought of a proper solution.

A second later, he got an idea.

"You said something about Shana before, right? The boyish girl working at the Originals association?"

Nodding his head, he stared at the blacksmith in astonishment.

He was taken aback by the revelation that the blacksmith knew that Shana was a girl.

This told Arnold that his earlier assumption was right. Thus he simply added further,

"Let's say it is thanks to her and the fact that you made me recall the pleasant memories of someone, that I consider it to be payment enough for me."

Arnold stopped for a moment, awaiting Nial's adamant refusal upon seeing that the doubt was still lingering in his eyes.

Wanting to reassure him, the blacksmith offered,

"If that's not enough for you, just give me a tip, and help Shana if she were to need help in the future!"

The 'tip' was just something he said to make Nial feel better, while the latter held more ground.

Nial was stunned to hear the blacksmith's generous offer, quite literally.

He seemed to have frozen on the spot and it took him several minutes to articulate a hesitant response.

"Okay...It would be stupid to deny the offer...I guess?" He was confused all the same and was still struggling to understand what kind of opportunity lay in front of him.

But then, he realized that it would be extremely stupid to reject it. Nevertheless, Nial felt uncomfortable about paying nothing. Thus he used the entire accumulated wealth of 10,960$ in his Originals ID card to tip the blacksmith, who had introduced himself as Arnold Birg.

After the deal, the blacksmith even gave Nial his contact details, which were simply stored in the Originals ID card.

Finally having completed his purchase, and bought a nice weapon Nial went home.

On the way, he continued to wield the Viper spear, whose blade was retracted. It had an additional feature wherein the blade on the tip of the rod could be controlled to a certain extent.

That was as long as one inserted mana. Meanwhile, the main function of it acting as a rod, and a simple spear with a seemingly simple blade were usable without the need to use up a large amount of mana.

This was extremely beneficial for Nial.

In the end, the spear could be used as a rod, halberd, glaive, and spear, which was, in fact, perfect for Nial.

It had an additional ability, but Nial didn't have enough mana to activate it. The only thing he knew was that there was a unique crystal that was embedded at the top of the staff, right below the freely adjustable blades.

The crystal had unique mana in it and seemed to have been engraved with some unique words or runes, which Nial was unable to decipher.

Because of all the unique features the weapon had, Nial was confused why this weapon was placed in the section for used goods, even more so because it seemed as if nobody had used it before.

Yet, the moment he arrived at home, he left the blacksmith shop with a bright expression on his face.

It felt like he had only taken a second to reach home.

Nial didn't even think about the unique encounters he had today as he wanted to brag to his father, confident that he had made an extremely good purchase!

'I have to test the Viper spear as soon as possible!! Hopefully, the respawn time would be over soon!' Nial thought, only for his smile to vanish with a sad expression to replace it as he entered the house.

'Until the timer runs out, let me have some fun teasing dad!!'