Nezha

Nezha (ネズハ) is one of the 10,000 players who were trapped in Sword Art Online, working as a blacksmith. He is the first player to ever open a shop in Aincrad since the Official Server Service.

«Nezha's Smith Shop», was merely a small street stall consisting of a Vendor's Carpet which was first located in the town of Urbus on the 2nd Floor, then moved to Taran until Nezha gave up on his career as a blacksmith.

Appearance
Nezha is short and squat, with a young honest face, appearing to be in his teens. He has slightly drooping eyes and plain parted bangs, making him look like a perfectly typical crafter. Kirito described Nezha's voice as young and boyish.

During the 2nd Floor boss battle, Nezha wore a bronze breastplate, gauntlets of the same material, and an open-faced helmet. According to Kirito, his short, stocky build and round, dour face accentuated his image of a beardless dwarf.

Rondo of a Fragile Blade
On December 8, 2022, Nezha was introduced trying and failing to enhance Ryufior's «Anneal Blade +4» four consecutive times. After passively accepting his client's outraged vituperation and timidly apologizing, he offered to buy the spent weapon for 8,000 Col, a generous amount considering the sword's inability to be upgraded any further, which was accepted by a stunned Ryufior and his friends.

Later that day, Asuna and Kirito came to him to enhance the former's Wind Fleuret's accuracy. Receiving the rapier alongside the maximum amount of materials needed for the upgrade, he melded the materials with the blade in his portable furnace, then carefully hammered the sword on the anvil; however, on the tenth and last strike, the weapon completely and irreparably shattered. The blacksmith and his clients remained motionless in shock for several seconds as the shards disappeared, then Nezha stood and began profusely apologizing and offered to refund the enhancement fee. However, Kirito partially mollified him and divulged his status as a former beta tester before requesting for an explanation on what they just witnessed; during the beta period of Sword Art Online, the outcomes for weapon enhancement failure were limited to no change in properties, reduction in properties, and change in properties. Nezha revealed that destruction of the enhanced weapon may had been added to the list of possible penalties in the official service, as he had suffered the same incident before. He offered to give an Iron Rapier as compensation, as he had no weapon similar to the Wind Fleuret in his inventory, then to return the cost of the materials, but Asuna and Kirito declined respectively, and he apologized once more as the two left.

That evening, he closed his shop and carried his equipment to an inn, unaware that Kirito had become suspicion of his string of weapon enhancement failures and was following him. After some hesitation, Nezha entered the inn and was greeted by the Legend Braves, to who he discussed the results of his business for the day, which was received with avidity. Nezha expressed his concern over their usage of the weapon enhancement scam, how performing it any longer would risk exposing them and that they had already made enough money to cover the cost, but the Legend Braves reassured him that they would not be caught and would be able to make three times the money they paid for the Vendor's Carpet and blacksmithing tools. Unbeknownst to them, Kirito had been eavesdropping on them and determined what had really happened to Asuna's Wind Fleuret, and hurried back to her lodgings to retrieve it before it was permanently claimed by the Legend Braves.

After Lind and Kibaou's groups defeated the Bullbous Bow, Nezha moved his shop to Taran to avoid having the scam unearthed in Urbus.

It was later discovered by Kirito that he stole the weapons given to him for enhancement by using the skill mod «Quick Change» to replace them for end products of the same weapon while the players were distracted. He then triggered the weapon destruction effect by attempting to enhance the end product again. He then sold the stolen weapons to others and used the money earned to equip his friends, allowing them to battle on the front lines despite their relatively low level.

Trivia

 * Nezha's name is based on a deity from Chinese folk religion and a Ming dynasty Chinese fantasy novel, Fengshen Yanyi. The deity's name was pronounced as Ne-zha or Na-ja in Chinese and as Nataku (ナタク) or Nata (ナタ) in Japanese.

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