It was no surprise that the glaive was top heavy, though a small spike at the butt of the glaive did serve as a small counterweight. What did surprise Nero, however, was that the overall weight of the glaive was not significantly greater than that of the Spartan-II series. Of course, with his enhanced strength, he might not be the best person to comment on such a thing as weight.
The body of the weapon was made from some unfamiliar alloy, while the blade of it was also made from yet another different alloy. It was strange, for after a lifetime - even if that lifetime was just that of a teenager - of studying weapons, it was unusual for Nero to be completely unable to determine its make. Then again, it was said that this was an experimental weapon.
"Once the weapon officially exits the experimental stage, it will get the designation of Neo-I, whereas right now it’s just called Neo-0.78. This is a weapon specifically designed to be used by Neophytes, who still lack significant means of attack and defense. That is why you have been selected to review the weapon in live combat.
"Let me go over the strengths and weaknesses of the weapon, so you know what to test for. The materials used for the Neo, as I’ll just call it for now, are meant to be aether conductive. The concept is to allow Neophytes to channel their aether into the weapon, giving it an aetheric edge.
"Some Neophytes, such as yourself, already boast the ability to cover external weapons with their elements, but the Neo series is supposed to make that even more seamless and effective. More importantly, in theory, once enhanced by aether, the Neo series should be able to interact with other aetheric bodies, as well as curses.
"Numerous tests in a lab setting support this conjecture for now, but until it is tested in non-controlled environments, it is impossible to confirm the extent of the Neo series enhancements and capabilities."
A weapon that conducted aether? It wasn’t as if such a thing was unheard of, such as the Hammer of Valefor used by one of Emperor Iskander’s generals, General Astarties. It is said that the hammer boasted many unique abilities, and conducting aether was just one of them.
But though modern technology had gone a long way towards creating aether conducting wires, there were barely any weapons that boasted the same feat.
This wasn’t because it was hard to do, but that so far no one had found a way to enhance weapons through the conducting aether.
Forget adding augmentative abilities to the weapons such as the ones he found in Lumina, even just making the weapon stronger through aether was a nigh impossible task. More often than not, the strength and durability of a weapon would be significantly compromised in such an attempt, or if that was not the case, then the aether conduction of the weapon provided no noticeable boon.
So now the claim that adding aether could allow the Neo series weapon to combat curses, or other things containing aether, was a bold to say the very least.
One had to pay attention to the fact that the armourer said that by channeling aether into the weapon, it would achieve such a feat, not his element. That meant that, if this weapon really could do what it claimed, then even those who did not have elements that could combat curses would be able to better defend themselves.
Destroying curses was still too far off a concept, but just being able to combat them with reduced risk could change the dynamic of their era!
He picked up the glaive, and recalled what he knew of fighting with one. He still preferred combat with a spear, personally. A glaive just seemed like too much of a gimmick to him. That did not mean, however, that glaives did not have its own advantages.
Compared to the smaller blade of a spear, a glaives bigger blade granted a greater damage area. The greater weight of the weapon allowed for more penetrative power, especially when facing armored opponents. Swinging attacks were more lethal, and based on the specific shape of the blade, enemies could be hooked and pulled or pushed as one desired.
There was a significant tradeoff in flexibility, but given Nero’s enhanced strength, perhaps this was a better weapon for him at the moment.
"May I try it out first?" Nero asked, to which the armourer responded by bringing him to an open area with a few dummies if he wished to practice. Nero began by familiarising himself with the weight.
Even if he had the strength to wield it, the glaive was still heavier than the weapons he was used to, so he began with his usual set of manoeuvres. Thrust attacks weren’t necessarily as good with a glaive, especially this one due to the shape of the blade, and so Nero had to get used to swinging attacks, not that it was difficult to do so.
Once the glaive felt comfortable in his hands, he tried channeling his aether into it. He wanted to know how channeling aether would be different from covering the blade with his flames, not to mention that it would be best to know what to expect when he faced enemies.
He was not about to find out exactly how useful the edge of this blade was against a real foe. The dummies would have to suffer first.
To his surprise, it was much easier than expected. The glaive almost drank up all his aether, and the veins of gold traveling across the blade began to shine. He could feel that there was something different about the blade.
He turned to the nearest dummy and swung, but he was taken aback by how easily the dummy was decapitated! He barely felt any resistance at all!
Nero tried again, this time without aether in the glaive, and finally realised that the weight of the weapon was doing just as much work as the aether.
That was not a criticism to how effective the aether was - quite the contrary. By adding aether to his blade, he could literally double its cutting power, which seemed ridiculous.
"Why is a weapon this strong being developed only for Neophytes?" Nero couldn’t help but ask.
"A few reasons," the armourer said, studying the decapitated dummy. "Primarily because the stronger a Card Master becomes, the more they distance themselves from reliance on traditional weapons, such as swords and spears. They may still use them, but that’s mostly just for appearances, or in case of emergencies or unexpected situations.
"But yes, while Initiates and Arcanists could also benefit from such a weapon, the truth is we haven’t yet developed a weapon that can provide enough of an enhancement to card masters at their level. Don’t be amazed by how easy it is to cut a dummy just yet.
"The real challenge comes when your opponent has their own aether field. The potency of the weapon drops drastically, and skill plays a much greater role in that case than sheer brute force."
Nero nodded, though he knew there was one more reason that the armourer didn’t mention. The fact that only Neophytes could enter the basements in Lumina, except for when a Fair Weather card was used, meant that Neophytes became a lot more valuable all of a sudden.
The extreme number of casualties that Neophytes faced this year was not something Kolar could afford to sustain, so they needed to come up with ways to enhance the strength of Neophytes.
A dimension such as Perilith, where the level of all enemies could be fixed according to one’s own level, was almost too ideal a location to test out such weapons.
It wasn’t like making stronger weapons was a bad thing, and he’d seen firsthand how the other soldiers were also fighting tooth and nail against the horde of cursed monsters.
It was hard to hate soldiers - they were all in the same boat. It was also hard to think that the superiors who were giving orders were bad for creating weapons to make Neophytes more useful.
But what couldn’t be denied was that Neophytes remained the most disposable of all groups, at least for now, and that was not a sentiment Nero could get behind.
But this was getting too far ahead of himself for now. At the moment, he was still just a private, playing a small role in a much larger setting.
’Be humble,’ Nero repeated to himself as he cleaved through all the dummies as if they were made of grass. Once he was completely used to the weapon, he finally switched.
Instead of channeling aether into the weapon, he channeled his Cryoflame. Now that’s when things became interesting. He could feel his flames travel through wires, or maybe it would be more accurate to call them veins, within the glaive, finally reaching the blade.
This time, instead of the gold veins shining brighter, they turned blue, and only the blade of the weapon was encompassed by his flames.
Much more importantly, his aether consumption for coating the weapon in flames dropped significantly.
Nero’s eyes couldn’t help but shine as he wondered just how the glaive would react to his Virtuous Moonlight.