The Sword's Attributes

Suddenly, the notification in his ear changed.

[Endurance +1]

"Huh?"

Tetsu no Sosuke froze. He snapped out of his trance, and a fierce ache flooded his entire body.

His stomach burned with hunger, and his head rang.

"Holy shit... What just happened to me...?"

He set down the Forging Hammer and took a step back, but his vision went black, and he dropped onto his backside.

Chapter Three: The Sword's Attributes

"What the hell happened just now? Why was I acting like I'd lost my mind? Do I have to go mad to make it?"

His head still ringing, Tetsu no Sosuke sat on the ground for a long while before he managed to get up. His arms and legs felt weak, as though he'd been drained dry.

Yet as he looked at the iron on the anvil, an indescribable sense of accomplishment rose within him.

"I've removed all the impurities. I can shape this sword tomorrow. Speaking of which, what was that notification just now?"

He remembered that it was the [Endurance +1] notification that had pulled him out of his frenzy.

He had a vague feeling it might be connected to the attributes the sword would have once it was finished.

His head throbbed. Tetsu no Sosuke shook it. "I can't keep thinking. I need to eat, then rest. I skipped dinner and have been hammering iron since noon. Even a man made of iron couldn't take this."

He staggered back into the house and found the rice balls he'd made earlier in a cupboard. After wolfing them down, he finally felt some strength return to his limbs.

He groped his way to the bed and collapsed onto it. Before he could even take off his clothes, he was out cold!

He slept straight through until morning!

Tetsu no Sosuke slept like the dead that night. Just before waking, he dreamed he was still hammering iron...

He opened his eyes with his arm swinging. Looking at his hand, still poised to grip the Forging Hammer, he twitched his lips. "I guess I really was born to be a swordsmith."

After a full night's sleep, he felt refreshed!

Deep sleep had restored his depleted strength and exhausted mind. He stepped outside and breathed in the fresh mountain air, feeling better in both body and mind than he ever had before.

"While I was in that state yesterday, I vaguely heard notifications about Strength +1 and Constitution +1. So my physical abilities really did improve?"

There was a flat stone in the yard, a natural sword-sharpening stone.

It was extremely heavy. He couldn't say exactly how much it weighed, but before, Tetsu no Sosuke had barely been able to lift it even with all his strength.

Now he walked up, wrapped both arms around it, and heaved. With a whoosh, the stone left the ground—and Tetsu no Sosuke still had strength to spare!

"So I really have gotten stronger!"

With a little more effort, he raised it over his head. He held it there for ten breaths before he could take no more and set it back down.

"I've improved, but I'm still nowhere near a swordsman. Still, I gained this much from just one day of hammering iron. If I keep at it for a week, a month, a year—how much stronger could I get?"

A strange excitement stirred in him. Looking at the iron on the anvil, he itched to get started.