The blacksmith, short but stout with a brown beard covering half of his face, opens up his goggles from a round of hammering, greeting the pair.
"A new recruit from our guild, coincidentally he's also a swordsman. But his weapon is too dangerous to use, just look at his hand."
"Hoohh... Not like anything I've seen, but this pipsqueak is tougher than he looks! Gahahahaha."
"Uhh, thanks?"
"Can I see your hands lad? The one's that's still good."
"Oh, here." Luka put up his hand that's not corroded by the Angel Halo.
The dwarf grab his hand and start to inspect it. From the palm up to the shoulder.
"Hoho, good hands you've got here. Haven't used the sword for a long time, but already pretty skilled."
"Eh? You know just from looking at my hand?"
"Heh, I'm the best blacksmith around. If the tool can't accommodate the user perfectly, the tool creator is a failure, not the tool. Gahahaha"
Erza smiled when the blacksmith happy to have Luka as his customer. "You guys discuss the sword that Luka want, I'll leave back to the guild first."
"Hmm, see you around Erza girl. Now, what kind of sword you're looking for boy?'
"Something blunt if possible. I don't want to hurt people too badly. And the other one will be the sharp one, in case something dangerous happen."
"A super softie we've got here, gahahaha! I like that. How about I make it into one sword, the blunt one is the default condition and when you pour mana in, it becomes sharp."
"Whoah, you can do that?"
"Heh, only best of the best lad. Any other request for the sword? That's still quite simple for me to make. If you're confused, just look at the ledger there. Write down the ones that you want"
Luka grab the ledger and starts looking at it. There's a lot of customization, though there are ones that seems to be useless. Like when the sword is swung, it can make certain sound, one of the guy here requested a fart sound.
"...I think it's gonna be awhile for me to decide..." His eyes focused on scanning the book.
"Then I'll be in the back. Ring the bell when you're done." He walks back inside his forge.
....
After an hour or so, Luka still can't really decide on the many customization, but there is one that he wants. His eyes locked onto 'User's Custom' and based on the description says this will make the sword adapt based on how the owner use it. It's basically like a personalized sword perfectly fit for him. The dwarf comes back from the forge, done with his current commission and he go towards Luka.
"Hmm? That's a good choice, but hard to make. Coincidentally I've just got the materials last month. Even Erza only have one."
"Oh it's that rare? I'll pass then."
"Hah! It's better that you have it now boy, chance like this doesn't come everyday. Besides, it's been a while since I've had a go at this type of customization."
"...I'll choose this one then. How long will it take?"
"Not long, since most of the job came from the sword itself. Come back in a few hours, boy. This old man is raring to have a go at it."
"Then I'll come see you... umm... mr?"
"Call me Sazza. See you later boy." He goes back to his forge with a prep in his step while stretching his body.
Luka smiled and go outside of the store, deciding to go back to the guild.
....
"Oh, Luka, welcome back. Wanna have a drink?"
"Just some water please. By the way, where's Erza?"
"Ah, about that. She left a while ago rushing to catch Natsu, Lucy, and Gray. They stole an S rank mission and Erza is going to punish them. Though knowing Erza, she's gonna help them solve it."
"I see, I want to talk to her more about sword stuff."
"You're a sword fanatic huh? Here's your drink by the way"
"Thanks. Well, I don't really know about fanatic since I don't know sword that much. I've only held basically one sword after all."
"You mean the what's the name? Angel Halo? It's quite the heavy sword you know."
"Oh, that means you guys have stored it somewhere?"
"Yeah, me, Levy, and Master store it to a magic sealed container. Anyway, how was your experience on the blacksmith. I heard he's a rough guy"
"Hmm? Not really, he's quite friendly if anything."
"Lucky you then. Being friends Erza has it perks I guess. Many people rarely got the chance to have it made by him."
"Really? That's... interesting."
"How's your hand?"
Luka looks down at his hand. "I don't know... I kinda feel and don't feel it at the same time. Like, I know I can move it but I don't feel anything when I touch something. Like there's no, receptors."
"...Hopefully it can heal soon."
"I hope so too. Let's move on, do you know any some kind of elemental spirit of this world? I kinda feel weak without them. Like Mistgun's sleeping magic, if I had Sylph she'd automatically help protect me from that magic."
"Hmm, not that I know off. Maybe you can ask Master or maybe search the Library."
"Library, huh? Makes sense. In my world the spirit did get worshipped. Alright, I'm off then." He jumps down from the seat and walks off from the guild.
"See you soon, Luka." She waves her hand.
"Man, *hic* that guy's face is too adorable for his own good *hic*"
"C-Cana? you were here the whole time?!"
....
After a few moment of exploration, Luka arrived at the library of Magnolia town. He opened the door and a small ring of the bell caught the attention of the girl working there.
"Welcome, what can I help you with?" She smiled at Luka, her hands holding a book she's about to stamp.
"Hello, I'm looking for a book about some folklore. Maybe something about the locals worship before the church"
"Oh, that's an old one. Follow me" She stands up and walk towards the end of the library. "Let's see... Maybe this and this..." She grabbed two books with no titles on them, only symbols and drawings as sign of the book. "Here, I think this two should cover it all."
"Thank you, I'll go and start reading." Luka took a nearby seat and opened the first book. Before he starts reading he realized something. He can somehow read the language presented in the book even though he don't know the lettering. "That's... weird..." Nevertheless, he opened the book and sure enough, he can read this book like how he can just read Sazza's ledger.
Hours passed as he's engrossed on the two books but there're nowhere sign of the locals worshipping any spirits.
"Let's stop here, it's getting late. Let's go meet with Sazza." He stands up and leave the library, a trace of small bell rang in his step.
Luka opened he door the Sazza's store.
"Oh, you're late boy. The sword already done an hour ago." He crossed his arm.
"Sorry, I was at the library to look for something" He scratch the back of his head.
"Here, your sword. Did you get at what you're looking for there, lad?"
"Well, kind of" He grabbed the sword. Although it was light at first, the sword immediately increased it's weight to what Luka is comfortable with. "Whoa, this sword awesome!"
"Hahaha, only from the best lad!" He puffed his chest as his laugh, his pride showing off. "What were you looking for in the library there?"
"I was reading a book about what people worship before the church. Didn't get what I'm looking for but it was an interesting read."
"I see, now bugger off. I've got a date coming~" He hums and starts to pinch and rub his mustache.
"Oh, good luck with that then" He leaves the store and go back to the guild.
...
Instead of going straight back to the guild, he goes to the edge of the woods. He gathers sticks, dry leaves, and small logs to make a small campfire.
"There we go, all done. Now time to feel how much I've fallen" He readies his sword.
Luka starts off with a nice simple slash then slowly goes up until Death Sword Chaos Star. He can feel at least he stayed around the same when he isn't using any spirits from his original world. Though the lack of spirits made the skill a bit more to be desired. He's not any faster, not any durable, not any stronger, and not any flexible when he has his spirits.
"I feel so powerless... Though Mirajane's comment about me can become an S-rank made me have a bit more confidence." He sits on the fallen tree he slashed in front of the crackling campfire as he looked into the sky.
Luka reminisce on his old world with worries. When Illias is full of worry against something that he can't see, that can easily kill her albeit it was only a sliver of her powers, it can go through holy energy. He just hope that whatever it was doesn't go for his friends. Especial Alice, whenever he thinks about anything bad happening to her, his feels as if his heart is being squeezed hard just to the point of rupturing.
He stands up, his worries made him even more determined to go back home. He closes his eyes and use his holy power. His hand hurts as the erosion kicking in. Despite that, he take a deep breath and goes into a Fallen Angel Dance. Immediately, he feels as if his hand is being cut off multiple times on every part where the holy erosion are and just don't stop cutting them. In just a few second, he fell out of his angelic state, sweat filled his body.
"Well... That hurts... So that's how the angels felt when being struck by the Angel Halo... I didn't even have time to use angelic skills yet..." He sits down on the log in exhaustion.
Luka closes his eyes and starts meditating and he feels his exhaustion lift up almost instantly. He stands up and put out the fire and he go back to the guild.
....
"Oh Luka, welcome back" Mirajane smiles gently as she greets him.
"Hey Mira, a glass of water please" He go to the counter and jump up to his seat.
"Coming right up~" She turns around and fills a glass of water and put it in front of Luka. "You came back quite late, I thought you were lost out there."
"Oh, I tested my skill in the woods before coming back here."
"How is it? I think you're still plenty strong though"
Luka smiled "Thanks! But I still quite powerless without my spirits and I can't even go my angel state so this is all I have."
"That's okay, that means you just have to get stronger in that state, no?"
"You're right. Back to the beginning." He empty his glass. "Thanks for the drink, I think I'll go to sleep"
"Oh, You've got your own room by the way" She gives Luka the key. "Master arranged it for you"
"Oh, I feel like a burden... But I'll make the best of it" He go pass the infirmary and to the room based on the key's number.
When inside, he clean himself up and go straight to sleep.