blacksmithoftheapocalypse

1014. Simon's Suggestion

With a worry more, Seth returned to the workshop. Stuff just kept popping up from everywhere, at least the other troublemakers were not of as much concern. Mary and Leana told him about reports of individual cultivators being seen on the outside and making a scene here and there in Detla, but it stayed civil so far.

There was no direct news about Spatia's moves and apart from the imminent change of Chrona's representative, there was also no news on that front. Delta was rather calm, as ...

1013. Ceres, The Savior

---Unclaimed Mountains, Emerald City---

In the dim corner of a pub not far from the lively main roads of the city, sat and told a story. It was a popular one that came with the last groups of people, who all had the same thing to report. It gave hope to the people, stuck in the dreary, heated mountains.

As glamorous as Emerald City seemed, the lives of the people were dark and seldom with hope. Without many electronics, they hungered for entertainment. They gambled, they drank, an...

1012. An old mine

Even in the night, Emerald City was shining in bright neon colors, hiding the unfathomable darkness it was built on. Mike watched the mesmerizing scenery flit by, as they rode the convoy to Adam's hideout.

To this point, he had only seen Delta and the small, central district could not compare to this kind of spectacle. Especially not recently.

The group of trucks filled with people drove to the edge of Emerald City. This neighborhood was not as glamorous and the biggest light sour...

1011. Knocked an hour later

“Ah, sure.”

In front of the dazzled demon, Mike simply stabbed Whitehilt into the gap between the door and the frame and slashed down, severing the bolts of the lock. Tano cleared his throat.

“You are lucky these doors aren't secured with an alarm...” he mumbled embarrassed to have taken so long and took the lead going in.

“About the way to contact Minas Mar...” Mike returned to the topic.

“Can't you see I'm on a mission? You can return with me to our bas...

1010. Mike's Suspicions

“Hoen, I need your help with something.”

Not even an hour had gone by after Seth succeeded in making the bronze, when he appeared at the neighboring workshop, asking for the help of one of his dwarven colleagues. It was already late, but he found that the dwarf was still in.

Hoen was from a world, where dwarfs held a more modern perspective on their craft. He was also the one in charge of creating the lower-level items for the Bronze Anvil since he was the one with the knowled...

1009. Durable Olympian Bronze

---Minas Mar---

The golem production was in full swing, however, Seth took a small break, leaving the insertion of souls to Cerberus, while he had to follow an idea of his own. The fact that the size restriction of the Golem Forge was lifted simply would let him alone.

How much of a torment was it, every time he tried to make massive golems? Because of this, they were forced to loot many of the bodies they brought from the Colossal Dungeon, without being able to use even a single ...

1008. Part of a journey is the walk home

---Unclaimed Mountains, Emerald City---

“Urgh, finally...” the staggering figure moaned when he finally saw Emerald City in the distance. He couldn't count the days he had been walking to finally reach Emerald City.

The fight with the people who called themselves Apiaries was harrowing, as they were crying and begging for mercy as they kept attacking him viciously. Unless he dismembered them completely, they also kept standing up. Even their severed heads would keep begging an...

1007. Scrap Armors

“Scrap Armors,” was Simon's quick and cost-effective solution.

“Scrap Armor?” Seth asked, to make sure he understood the priest correctly.

“Hmm, yes. As you know, the Pathworks are not the most peaceful place. There are hundreds of wars across hundreds of worlds raising the demands for items at all times. It might take a week or two to get over 2000 full sets of new armor, even if your requirements are not high.

But it's a different story if we are talking about sc...

Srry, Guys

I wanted to post a bunch of chapters today, but Patreon is working like ass. So will see if I can do it tomorrow.

1006. Limited Power

~This is not my fault! It’s your stupid skill!~

Neloth, the alchemy table, failed to make a true Journeyman potion despite having craftsman lv.8 <Alchemy>. Why? Something Seth had not foreseen, was the fact that all his crafting stations started off with restriction. Most prominently: they could not exert abilities that were above his own skill level!

Since he was just an adept alchemist, there was no way for Neloth to succeed in a journeyman recipe! He had just put an alm...

1005. Alchemy Station

Creating an alchemy table from the parts of a soul was much more challenging than Seth had expected and it wasn't because Neloth kept trying to argue and negotiate with him. It was simply very different from making weapons, or armor.

The central cauldron was still one of the easier parts. It became very finicky when he started working on the parts for the distillery.  These were the parts that would be made of intricate glass objects on a normal alchemy station.

Frustration w...

1004. Fine alchemy Table

Upon his return, Seth was immediately briefed on the announcement. Mary and the others really spared no expenses. Not only were ads running on local and across Chrona Empire's channels, but they had even hired some of Y-City's engineers to broadcast on several older technologies such as radio and TV.

Although the range was limited, even people who were cut off from the districts, like Mount Agra, would be able to receive the message with older systems. Now Seth's task was simply to read...

1002. I just have to eat

---Holy Land, 3 days later---

On the evening of the fifth day, Seth and Tano'Mol had razed almost 50 garrisons and settlements to the ground. The haul of these five days of work was over 16,000 small, about 2600 medium, 40 big, and 2 massive souls of various qualities.

They were leaving the last dungeon on the list, when the blacksmith also finally got a message from the demon Maestro, just before the end of his deadline. He gave them coordinates to a place in the Holy Land, sayin...

1003. Nobody is broadcasting anymore

---New Hope, Scouting Vessel Beetle---

“Johanson! Stop tinkering on that thing already and come up.  You won't receive anything anyway, nobody is broadcasting anymore,” the voice came from the upper deck, prompting the man in question to look up from soldering a circuit board.

The room surrounding him was filled with wire, spare parts, and old technology like radios, mobile phones, and portable TVs. Some showed signs of repair and retrofitting with skills and magic. He ha...

1001. Vegga Gorz

“How many were that?” Seth asked the demon when the notifications fell silent and the flames inside slowly died down.

“Roughly 1300 souls. About 900 small ones, 400 Medium-sized ones, and 5 big ones.”

“Wow, that's quite good for a single target. Especially the five big souls,” Seth exclaimed pleasantly surprised.

Over the past two days, Seth and Tano had laid waste to 36 garrisons and settlements, some based on smaller and medium dungeons. Over the course of thei...

1000. Heart Seeker

---Holy Land, 3 Days Later---

Riding a giant boar, the oni general came before the great gates of the orctown. It was a huge fortified settlement surrounded by 15m high city walls and a barrier. It was a frontier city at the edge of Kozdam's heartland on Urth.

“Halt, who are you? What do you want at Gurruk's Haven?” the guard grunted, brandishing its weapon against the mounted visitor.

“I'm General Viggu under Prince Durzub, I have concerning news,” the oni announced...

999. Mustache Detection

---Unclaimed Mountains---

The ATV was struggling through the savage wind of the blizzard, but the group led by Mike made consistent progress on their path back to civilization. Since he had enough and more material for his divine quest, the beastman fully concentrated on keeping the group safe.

While Kruger was driving the transporter, Mike stayed alert to fend off against the stealth hunters that made these mountains so incredibly dangerous. It was a profound trump card that allo...

998. Pushing the Border

---Adventurer Guild's Holy Land, Border of Kozdam---

The Kingdom of Kozdam had grown further after the last time Seth was here. It now reigned over a vast part of the surface and upper levels of the canyon. Many of the dungeon entrances were now fortified with manned garrisons, while the Orcs deeper in the heartland actually started building villages and farms.

One could have gotten the notion the Orcs were intelligent or civilized, but those who had these ideas and tried to appro...

997. Someone to introduce

“Let's go back now. I still have someone to introduce to you.”

The trio said their farewells to Gallwell and left the scene of the incident. Returning to the branch building, Seth pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind and concentrated on spending time with Mina and Fin.

“So, you said you had something to show us?” Fin asked expectantly once they reached the suite where Yulecat's Fur was staying at.

“Someone to introduce to you,” he corrected her. “This is...

996. Primordial Silver Blade

Badum and Ts looked up in shock, seeing their master vanish in the throat of a snake barely fitting in between the massive buildings of the city.  There was no more sign of him, not even screams. He had just vanished. The gap in their defense resulted in a thorough pelting by the surrounding golems.

The brave onlookers that stayed despite the fight, fell into uproarious cheers. It was the whole reason they stayed. They had waited with bated breath for Python to appear. The giant sn...

995. Elder Gack

The three got food from some of the places Fin recommended and sauntered around the city. After strolling around Little Gama for an hour or three, they finally ended up at the headquarters of Gamma Resistance, where they met Gallwell Ropartz already waiting at the entrance.

“Seth, you are here! I'm glad you were able to make it,” he greeted Seth and then the other two, before asking them to come inside. The reason Seth had come here personally was because Gallwell had asked for epic...

994. Some truths were better left unspoken

---Little Gamma---

“Who would have thought those lowly guys were useful for something? As they said, it was worth monitoring this building,” a man whispered to his partner. They were hiding in the crowd opposite the System Church in Little Gamma.

“Is that really him?” his partner asked in a hushed voice, stealing a glance at the sketch in his hands.

“It's definitely him. We have to inform the sect master,” the first said and started writing characters on a paper ...

993. Bazilith

<Ding! Your ability Compulsive Precognition has slightly strengthened.>

<Ding! Your Power of Existence has risen by 1000 points!>

<Compulsive Precognition>, an ability that made him prepare for a possible future without really knowing what would happen or how it would help. He didn't know whether it was 100% reliable, but it was never wrong so far. Who would have thought it would improve?

What slightly bothered him was the power of existence. 1000 points wa...

992. Emblazoned with Flames

The girls were in little Gamma, so there was no need for him to go home early. After watching the guys train, he felt the urge to go to the workshop. While watching Tekar and Ortega sparring, Seth had also sorted out his thoughts.

He found the reason he had been so occupied with this incident. The blacksmith was unsettled because his friends had been in actual danger for the first time. Of course, there were other situations, but this one was unexpected. At no point had he thought that ...

991. Hubert’s Report

With an audible click, a finger kept hitting the tabletop. They were sitting in the meeting room and had just listened to Lydia’s report and McCarthy’s testimony about the happenings in Emerald City. Seth’s index finger couldn’t stay still as he mulled over the information in a bad mood.

The Unclaimed Mountains were like a tumor. People being people, exploring the depths of their desires, bringing suffering to almost everyone around them. It already sounded bad when Lydia, Mike,...

990. Storm Ore

Flickering lamps submerged the rough mine walls in their unsteady line. The surviving mining personnel were huddling together, trying to share some warmth. Although the mines had proven their relative safety, they were cold and desolate.

Mike was staring at the communication orb as he supplied it with magic power. It stayed unresponsive, just like the little bar on the phone he got in Delta. There was no way to report back what he had just heard.

Cyber Worms, what a terrifying tho...

989. The Great Return

---Thres ---

“Governor, you have to come quick! There is an airship aiming for Thres!” Bercy, one of the former experiments informed him. Curious what the commotion was about, Adam got up and walked out on the street.

He took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh and clean air that had filled Thres after Minas Mar delivered on the promise. Although the tree was not big enough to cover the whole city, it fit snuggly under their barrier and protected the part they had and intended t...

988. Hardwig vanished

Feeling the burning hot fabric on his bare skin was invigorating. He could immediately feel the effects of <Fire Absorption EX>. The fatigue that had built up over the day was quickly melting away. It was not like he was incredibly tired, but it still felt like he drank a coffee, or an energy drink as he felt wide awake again.

Looking at the aura of fire surrounding him, quickly melting the stone below his feet and threatening the wooden workbenches in the room, Seth decided that ...

987. Salamander Skin

---Minas Mar---

Carefully, Seth started cutting the pieces from the warm fabric Nädel had finished just the other day, in the evening. It had really only taken him a day to weave the bale of cloth from the salamander thread.

The blacksmith followed the template he had created using <Blueprint>. For the design, he had actually taken inspiration from the suits Neeco had designed for the Oathguard and some of the members of the Field Teams to wear below the armor.

Of cou...

986. Saint of Sol'Fiam

The ragged robes ripped, revealing a deep gash from his left shoulder, across his torso, down to the left hip. A mortal wound, this was the end for the weird shaman. Aden, the Dark Jackal Knight was sure of it.

The shaman sank to his knees, however, the deep gash in his body did not bleed. Pale flesh was revealed below the ragged robes forming a stark contrast to the gaping black wound. As he watched for several seconds, he finally saw a viscous liquid droop out from the gash.

Lik...