Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

From my own collection, I have three pieces of priceless treasures— namely: my katana, my wakizashi, and my tanto which were all made by a grandmaster blacksmith named Kaiseki Yamamoto. However, that didn't mean I didn't peruse what else was available on the market—purchasing a few along the way—but nothing could just compare to what I have right now that was made just for me.

It's just that the packaging of some of their merchandise looked to be from a bladesmithing company that ships their works worldwide: Bladeworks Limited.

Sticking out from its signature box was also its signature velvet pouch where they would always place their merchandise and it was sticking out from the pile— no, aside from that, the length of this particular item for sale far exceeded the normal length of katanas and it just made this weeb and nerd in the apocalypse a little excited.

But yeah, I wouldn't just take my eyes off my blade so I made Isaac get it for me before Royo asked for permission to draw my blade.

"Go ahead."

"Mannn~ I've never been this nervous, here we go—"

As Royo pulled my blade in its entirety, this was the first time I met him but he had never been this awestruck as he saw his crisp reflection from my blade while trying to take in all of the work that was done on it.

He just looked like he was in a trance-like state combined with a state of bliss as his eyes slowly scanned over each detail he could perceive, starting from the intricacies of the entirety of the handle and the handguard to how flame-like yet ever-flowing like waves of water the genuine edge pattern a.k.a the "Hamon" was due to how it was made.

Royo was one of the few folks who looked like he understood what was in front of him—totally different from the dudes from Cuervo Heights who wanted to sell me trash—but funnily enough, Thomas, Brandon, Chicago, and the rest of their group was looking at Royo like he lost himself.

Thomas waved him off, "Yo. You okay there—"

"Shut up, man! This is the first time I've seen this shit—" then he suddenly looked at me apologetically, "I didn't mean it in a literal sense, man. You know what I meant, yeah?"

"Of course, of course… I understand."

"Whew~ Almost got my head lopped off over here… Heh…"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Royo!"

"What?! I'm still lookin' at it! Bugger off!" then he turned to me once again, "Can I look at it for five more minutes? I won't run away with it, I promise. You can peruse my collection while you're at it like your friends."

"Eh. I'm good. It's been a while since someone can differentiate what's made commercially and once every few years, no?"

"What?! It's that special?! Hold fuck— How many layers is this one?! Was it made for a shogunate or something?!"

"That… That I cannot answer—"

"Fuck! I'm sorry, right. Master's secrets… I can't even imagine what kind of steel runs in here. I could check but that's just too fucking rude and could cost me my life!"

I chuckled, "Hah! You really are different…"

'All I know is that it's made with nine layers but the actual combination of the steel—whatever the fuck was used is still unknown to me. It's some sort of alloy at this point but we never know with the old man…'

With that said, I didn't think that it'd be this amusing to see a huge fucking guy with a curly mustache get lost for five minutes just looking at my treasured blade, and once he was done—after taking a few pictures and selfies, of course—he returned it back to me with a bow and both arms stretched towards me.

"I'll never forget this, my man. That's something I hope to accomplish in my life but the modern method just lost something along the way…"

"You a blacksmith or something?"

"Nothing as grand to receive a title— an amateur, if you will. But I do know proper forging but I usually opt for cutting out the form out from 1095s or just plain sheet metal then working from there. I know how the temps work for the hardening process and all that jazz but working with a good ol' hammer and anvil's the dream."

"You can still start by doing just that, no? Looking around, it looks like you don't have the things you need from a modern forge as well."

He then looked sullen as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Eh. It is what it is. I can't afford to practice now since I'm supposed to make different types of shit every day and the old way just takes too fucking long, no offense."

"None taken. It's the price for such things, no? As long as it works though, right?"

"Yeah~ That's true, that's true… Oh! Looks like your sidekick found the tachi, huh?"

This time, instead of the one I was speaking to, Isaac was now like a statue staring at the long-ass blade in front of his eyes with longing and admiration while everyone else was just looking at him weirdly. However, I broke his trance the moment I took it from his hands, put it back in its sheathe, and then drew it back to get a good feel from it.

And for some reason, Kaley and a few others didn't give me the same look they did Isaac and my "sidekick" definitely got ticked off:

"Hey! That's not fair!"

I turned to him, "What's not fair?"

"I saw them look at me like I'm some weeb before my mind drifted away but when you do it, they look like they're creaming their pants right now— Ow! Why'd you hit me, bro?"

"First of all, don't talk to them like that. And secondly, we're both weebs. What's the problem?"

"Argh… Would be nice to have someone— Holdup, why are you putting it back? Don't you like it?"

"Doesn't feel right, for some reason."

"Oh. Can I have it instead?!"