"Oo, do you think she has a shepherd's pie recipe? Shepherd's pie is my favorite."
"Yep, she made one aboard the ship."
Not wanting to waste time he hopped up and went to ask for it.
Finishing his meal Chronos stood up and went back to the ship. On his way back he noticed several thugs following him, but they looked like they had no intention of contacting him, so he left them alone.
"Perhaps they learned from their last meeting and are only keeping track of where I am to avoid conflict? Well at least the lower ranks are learning." Chronos thought as he stepped through an alleyway, he had tried to lure them into.
Regardless of what they wanted they wouldn't be able to cause problems for him but just in case he sent a system message to the others not to travel alone.
Approaching the ship, he saw multiple craftsmen climbing the rigging strung over the sides fixing the small holes and damage from the battle with the birds. At the end of the boom, he saw a man wearing robes with the emblem of the bronze dragon on them casting a repair spell to fill in the hole a woodpecker monster had made.
Up on the deck were deck swabs cleaning the ship and reapplying a magic coating in preparation for takeoff tomorrow.
The coating would make it easier to move through wind and prevent water from building up on deck or rotting the wood while allowing the smooth transfer of magic in the ship all while sealing small holes and smoothing out any rough edges. It was a genius invention that cut the power needed to fly by nearly 15%. If he could acquire the recipe his goal of creating his own flying ship would be much closer.
Well, that was a concern for when he was in the capital, right now he needed to meet with Smith.
Moving through the hold he was struggling to find him until he heard shouting coming from a staircase leading to the lowest level of the ship. Following the voices he found Smith arguing with the captain about ship balance and where to place his anvil.
"You can't keep it here, it's too heavy. Leave it behind and get a new one in the capital." The captain shouted.
"Not happening, this anvil has been in my family for generations and I'm not about to leave it behind now. Move the research equipment to balance out the ship, it's not that hard." Smith shouted back.
"We can't just move the equipment! We'd have to reorganize the entire hold if we did that!" He shouted back.
"Both of you stop shouting, you've been at each other's throats since before I left. Captain you should go and double check the repairs and I'll work with Smith to decrease the weight of his anvil." Chronos interrupted them before they could come to blows.
Although looking at the black eye each of them was sporting it seems it wouldn't be the first time they had fought today.
"I hope you can talk some sense into him because this man is impossible." The captain said as he stormed out the door.
"Hmph, that man doesn't get it. I can't just leave my anvil behind; I've forged every weapon I've ever made on it. It's practically family at this point." Smith shook his head while talking. "So, what are we going to do about it? You said something about decreasing its weight?"
Chronos smiled and took out a sphere from his storage. "This is an item sphere that I made with Old Tobias. It can hold anything that's no larger than a meter in size and there is practically no weight, at least not with anything I've put inside it before. Your anvil is made out of a heavy metal, right? I've never put anything that heavy inside before, so we'll have to see."
Nodding Smith explained, "It's made from an adamantium and star metal alloy making it one of the heaviest metals in the world. The benefit is that it takes its users intent into consideration during crafting and enhances anything made on it while the anvil never takes damage. Of course that doesn't mean just anybody will be successful with it, if you aren't skilled then you'll still make junk no matter how good your gear is."
Star metal! He remembered reading about that in the books Old Tobias gave him. It was a very rare metal that could hold the power of dreams and easily transfer intent into a weapon. Using it in the creation of a crafting tool like a hammer or an anvil would drastically boost a skilled craftsmen's ability.
Its only real flaw was that it weighed far more than you would think. Even a small piece no larger than a finger could weigh several pounds. When combined with adamantium which weighed almost as much it made an alloy that could weigh several times either metal on their own.
This made it impossible to predict whether or not the item sphere would have weight to it or if it would still be too light to tell the difference.
"Alright time to see how much this weighs."
Opening the sphere Chronos set both sides on either end of the anvil and closed them. Like always the anvil appeared in the sphere but unlike before Chronos nearly dropped the sphere. The sphere remained as large as an apple, and it was now quite heavy.
Hefting it in one hand he turned to Smith. "Here, it's heavy but not nearly as heavy as when it's outside the sphere. I think the weight's been cut by half or more."
"Oh, that's not too bad. You could cause some real damage with it like this. Well now that annoying blowhard will get off my case. Why not make a bunch of these for the researchers?"
"They haven't asked for them yet." Chronos chuckled at their oversight. "More importantly I need you to take a look at my new sword. It's been feeling kind of weird lately and I want to know if there's a way to upgrade it with runes. I need an expert's opinion before I do anything with it."
He took out the heartwood war sword and passed it to Smith. Taking the sword Smith examined it closely, he knew weapons better than anyone Chronos had ever met and Chronos trusted him to give good advice.
"Hm, I don't know much about wood and bone but don't add anything to this sword, not yet. It's absorbing your bloodline power and slowly growing to become a specialized weapon only usable by your clan. Until it has grown to a certain point adding runes or other powers or materials to it would destroy its future." He said.
"So that's what's going on. No wonder it occasionally feels like it's in another space." Chronos muttered.
"Was it really that bad?"
"Yeah, it would suddenly become sharper and was cutting through the scabbard I was using. The ship's movements make it hard to keep it attached to my hip with an armory amulet safely. There's too much of a chance that it will activate and cut a wall or person by mistake."
"That's your own fault for not having sea legs... air legs? What do we call it when it bucks like we're at sea but are flying through the air?" Smith muttered in confusion.
"I don't know, more importantly is there a way to contain it. At this rate I'm liable to cut someone's arm off if I'm not careful when moving in such tight quarters. Even a small touch could be catastrophic for others. I don't suppose you have a durable scabbard I could use?"
Smith rummaged through his things for a bit before pulling out a metal scabbard with runes for sealing on it.
"Give me a few moments to put growth runes on this scabbard then you can use it to keep it contained and help it grow faster." He said as he used an engraving tool on it.
While Smith worked Chronos started to daydream, "What do you think the sword will become? It'll definitely be able to cut space, but could it also extend through space? It is a heartwood sword. Or maybe it could transfer its attacks over a great distance to strike an enemy?"
"You're thinking is too shallow. It might cut everything around it, including its wielder, or it might open paths to other spaces or planes. A blade like this one doesn't really have limits, except how long it takes to grow."
That got Chronos's mind going. He had seen a lot of different spatial abilities in the system, but it sounded like this sword could replicate almost any of them if he grew it right.
"Is there any way to tell what sort of power it will hold?" Chronos asked.
"Not this early on, give it a few months to stabilize and we can check again. Giving it a name might help it grow in a specific direction too so think about what to call it."