Searching far and wide | Glowfic Constellation

She'll try a glaive. What are the features they do have? Accessories?

"The essential features of the glaive are the shaft, the guard, and the blade. Anything else is superfluous, and I pity cultivators who choose a weapon based on how it looks. If the looks compromise function, at least- There's a beauty in the simplicity of form that functionality brings. The difference between a glaive and a pike or spear is the blade. You can see how the blade of this one is longer and curved. It's also only sharp on one side. This makes sweeping motions more efficient while still allowing stabs, and gives you a less lethal option by hitting with the flat or the dull side, while also bringing its Dao further from that of the sword and closer to an axe or saber. The guard, too, draws inspiration from the Dao of the spear, allowing you to catch a foe's blade and disrupt it. A glaive is a flexible weapon, with elements of staff, spear, and saber. The guard is optional, and can be located anywhere from the base of the blade to the base of the shaft. It is both a boon and a vulnerability- Just as the guard can catch enemy blades, so can enemy blades catch your guard."

The all sounds good. She likes versatility, she likes reach, and the only question is whether it trades off too much against other functions—but the smith said she's trying to read too much into this. And she's not locking herself into a choice right now.

"Is it able to conduct sword qi? Would it be easy to locate a competent tutor for the glaive?"

She'll choose one with the guard at the base of the blade.

"Is there somewhere I can try this out?"

"Sword qi, or more properly weapon qi, forms along blades and is a matter of comprehension, practice, and focus. We do have skilled users of the glaive, who I'm sure would be happy to give you pointers for proper consideration. And you're free to use this arena, just here."

"How much for half an hour on the basics now, to help me determine how well it suits me? And similar for the sword, spear and staff."

It'll be faster to get it out of the way this morning than trying to pore over textbooks or set up tryouts with different freelance outer disciples.

"At the initiate level, We would be honored to perform this simple introduction in one of the private combat stages for thirty tael of gold."

A cultivation manual was tens of spirits stones, which is tens of thousands of tael, if her exchange rates are right. One week at a moderately upscale cultivator's lodge was three spirit stones, or thousands of tael. Thirty tael is nothing. More than enough to put a common laborer out of pocket, but not in the cultivator price range.

"Very well. That will be for all four weapons, or only one—or is it a more standard broad-based introduction you offer?"

"That will be for a demonstration of the most basic forms of all four weapons. And truly it is just to cover the ]private room and the energy expense of the practice field. We do wish to guide you to the best fitting weapon we can. If you leave here with an ill-suited weapon and come to regret it, it would bring shame to the Five Ways Forge."

"Of course."

To the demonstration?

The smith shows her to a back room that contains little but the dojo space and the field of energy, and drags in yet another person, a young woman who starts calmly demonstrating weapon forms. She can even explain why you use this motion instead of that slightly different motion most of the time.

Learning! She picks up the basics quickly, and spends some time quizzing about comparative styles, and eventually gets around to asking about sheaths and how to carry each type of weapon in a way that restricts mobility the least. At least for now, she still has hand-to-hand as a major part of her toolkit. Can she try on some different configurations for each weapon?

The initiate kind of wants to run away and refer her to someone more important but will gamely go along with the demonstrations- Swords are most convenient, with all the longer weapons generally requiring being carried on the shoulder or on the back or in positions where they protrude. Mounted warriors often have a holster fashioned for their mount, and some flying treasures have similar holders. Size-changing is in fact the most common enchantment request for polearm weapons- They can then be stored in smaller sheathes on the hip or inside robes. She has a few tiny glaives and spears that serve as models for how one might sit when shrunk- They essentially turn into a very short knife.

Makes sense. Can they be used safely in short-knife form?

(She tries them on so she can Dressing Room clone them in the future.)

Of course they remain fully functional as weapons in miniature form! It would be a travesty to have it be otherwise!

Once they're done, Rebecca will go back and buys one of the pricier glaives on display. Playing around with the options improved her opinion of the sword slightly, but she still wants the reach for now. The fastest way for a high-end Brute to die is by touch of Striker. How much is that going to run her?

This glaive, forged from three different alloys (Shaft- Sky Touched Aluminum; Head and Detailing- Low-Grade Living Steel; Edge and Tang- Five Ways Bronze) to best take advantage of their unique properties, includes a size-changing mechanism and has a slight metal and water affinity. It will not make her stronger or deadlier directly, but will, as she grows in cultivation, deflect the blows and pierce the defenses of up to early core-formation cultivators. It also be attuned to one's qi by using it and cycling qi through it over time, which will make the weapon 'loyal', whatever that means in practice.

Two thousand five hundred spirit stones.

Wow, that's expensive. She lets on in her body language that she's tempted but really shouldn't spend that much money—can she try the size-changing, slot it in and out of a belt holster—

Do they have something less expensive. She's clearly trying not to appear upset. What's the cheapest glaive that has size-changing?

Ah, yes, making the most of one's resources is understandable.

A Yin-Yang Purified Steel and Five Ways Bronze weapon of comparable design, which was in fact forged by this very intermediate level smith, can last until the middle Foundation Establishment level (this might be a slightly hopeful estimate from tone, more like early-level). It can accept a size-changing enchantment, which will take a day, and will cost 180 spirit stones. 60 for the weapon, 120 for the enchantment, done by a Master. Alternately, she could provide 30 spirit stones to provide energy for the enchantment, which will be done by a journeyman hoping to accumulate experience in the art at no labor cost, with the warning that it may be flawed.

She admires it for a bit. 180 spirit stones is acceptable. How does she pay and how does she know when and where to come back and collect?

They will be happy to settle the accounts in a different back room, where they have a stone appraiser tool. Also, the enchanter will meet her and discuss her needs for the fine particulars of the enchantment. And they will send an initiate as a runner to the residence she rented or anywhere else she indicates.

Excellent. As they migrate to the back room, she adjusts her bags so she has the necessary stones and a good margin for safety at hand.

The enchanter is a distant-eyed older woman carrying dozens of strange tools, who might remind her of some Tinkers she's worked with before. She watches Rebecca move with it and measures a few things.

How small does she need the blade? How fast should the transformation be? Is it alright if it requires a large amount of qi to activate? Does the transformation need to be stealthy to qi senses? Does it need extra grippiness? Should she channel some of the enchantment into boosting the durability, or perhaps the striking power, or blow-absorbing? Each individual tweak is not so hard, but if everything is top priority for optimization, nothing is.

Huh. For some reason her picture of a weapons enchanter didn't contain complex tools.

The blade should be easily carriable on her belt without impeding movement but doesn't need to be smaller: she indicates a size with her hands of about a hunting knife. Not picky about speed as long as she'll be able to draw it before a fight. How large is 'a large amount'? Enough to put a small dent in a Foundation Building reserve is fine, too much for a Qi Gathering cultivator to trigger at all isn't. It doesn't have to be stealthy to qi senses. Grippiness is an absolute yes, if they can do it, and definitely aim for durability.

"O-Kay~~ There's limits to grippiness, but understood! Ah, here, channel qi into this rod until you reach the amount you want it to stay under. Oh, or I can add a little port for a spirit stone instead, if you doesn't expect to be constrained on spirit stones?"

They keep putting the stones she provides on the appraisal machine until it reads out correctly, then give her a bit of change by removing a couple of smaller ones.