blacksmithoftheapocalypse

957. Morranto(3)

“Yeah, they are crime lords, so shouldn’t they be greedy? Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to ask for the information directly and pay for it? We might even be able to buy her back for the right price.” the saint of the ugly sun asserted.

“Ray, we didn’t really bring a lot of money,” Lydia mentioned. Although Seth was Mr. Moneybags and would definitely approve Ray's method, given their current circumstances, Mike and Lydia didn’t really bring a lot with them. They doubted it ...

956. Morranto(2)

---Unclaimed Mountains, Morranto---

The guard had already returned to the posts when the group of three came closer to the gate. Although they had tried to stop the bird, they didn’t seem overly concerned about the people they lost.

“Leave the talking to me. I will get us in, “ Ray assured them as he stepped before the guards. However, there was not much talking at all! It was a quick exchange of a stack of silver coins that made the guard step aside, letting them enter thro...

955. Morranto

---Unclaimed Mountains, Morranto, 2 days later---

The Emerald City was called the entrance to the Unclaimed Mountains, the most western branch of the central mountain range. After passing the entrance, the climate quickly changed again. They were still in the mountains, but the climate became closer to a desert.

The mountains were dry and hot in the day, and freezing cold in the night. The mountains were not really covered in snow, instead, it was a barren and desolate landscape o...

954. Death Thread

The next day, Seth finally started enchanting Evee's new armor. For starters, there was the integrated circuit, based on the master tier necromancy enchantments he had gotten from Arget Nore and further refined with Sivri's experienced eyes.

Although Seth couldn't finish the armor until Neeco delivered the gloves for the gauntlets and the gambeson, he could still go ahead and engrave the circuit on the parts he had already forged, and he started with the cuirass.

Engraving the <...

953. Neeco's Bling

The next few hours, the blacksmith and the automaton were working side by side and Seth did his best to converse with her. Nothing personal, he didn’t try to pry into Forgebrand either. It was a purely professional dialogue, as they made jewelry side by side.

Although her specialty was jewelry and Seth had already inferred many of the things he asked about on his own, the conversation served as an affirmation of many of the blacksmith’s ideas. In some points, Sivri could even correc...

952. Two old Coots

“Delta actually lost 107 granaries, with ten  being damaged and needing repair...” Mina read the news on her phone. Overnight, Delta had done a thorough investigation and gave a press conference in the morning about the current state of affairs.

It seemed that several employees of the maintenance team had fled Delta after setting up arcane bombs in the granaries. There was no attempt to hide that this was a planned action to harm Delta. After the investigation, they also found ...

951. Neither Seth nor Evee

Under the strikes of his hammer, the crystalline material was filled with his magic power and became malleable. As the hammer struck, demonic runes took shape from Seth's unintelligible growls and fell onto the <Enriched Necron>.

The blacksmith folded the material several times, to make sure the demon's blessing permeated it evenly. Murmur's tune was surprisingly enjoyable for Seth, although it was hard on his throat.  The reason was quite simple, he did not have to care abou...

950. Why don’t we try right away?

---Minas Mar---

“Are you really going back to the workshop now?” Fin asked, lying in the bed beside him-

“You have been staying longer, lately,” Mina commented from the other side. Seth nodded with a smile.

“I’m sorry, but work has been fun lately and I keep forgetting the time,” the blacksmith answered with an apologetic smile. He was being honest, it all started when he got his hands on the collection of enchantments from Arget Nore.

Apart from the basi...

949. Tailor's Request (2)

After his interview with Paolo, Seth was finally done with the castings, though the harvest was not very good.  He had found a few people that were to his liking and the best candidates for now. There were three he currently preferred and some others like Paolo he wanted to keep in mind.

As a candidate for the Jaws of Apep, there was Ortega, the current commander of the Oathguard. Previously he was the leader of the Oathguard's elite team when it was still smaller. As a knight his ...

948. Somewhere Else(28)

---Arget Nore---

The preparation to exchange the native meat sacks for golems was a hot topic among all circles. Even the lowest skeleton soldiers didn't get tired of clattering with their jawbones about it. Although they paid a hefty price for the treaty, it was seen as a positive outcome by most.

After the reveal of Spatia's involvement with Y-City,  the undead became careful. Although Arget Nore could not fully compare to superpowers like Chrona or Spatia, they had no inte...

947. Casting(2)

His heart quivered as he entered the embassy of Minas Mar. The day was finally here. Nervously, Marco adjusted his clothes. It was nothing fancy, or expensive. A simple button-up shirt and black trousers he got from a shop not far from the embassy.

Looking forward to his audition, it more and more felt like he was going to a job interview. His thoughts kept revolving about the things he was going to say, or the things the other party was going to ask. What question would there be in a c...

946. Casting

---Minas Palan---

“Marco, Paolo, how are you guys doing?“ James greeted the two. They were sitting in the cafeteria of Minas Palan, together with the rest of the party they joined when entering the Oathguard.  Surprised they looked up at the figure of James and Jess.

Since Lydia, the leader of Field Team 3 was currently on a special mission, the rest of Team 3 were working as Supervisors at the Holy Land. However, this didn't mean they were often in Minas Palan, as they k...

945. To Morranto

---Minas Mar---

The blacksmith was aiming for the alchemy laboratories when the person he wanted to talk to almost charged into him. “Seth!“ Evee exclaimed a little out of breath. “I felt a massive presence of death and it's moving north of Delta!“

A presence of death going north? The blacksmith halted for a moment, lifting his eyebrows. Then he realized what she was talking about.

“It's great to see you, I was just on my way to you. I think I can calm your worries...

944 Somewhere Else (27)

---Eastern Plains, New Hope--

“Admiral, the sensors picked up a settlement in the distance. We are also picking up massive heat signals grouped together close by,” the man on the sensors exclaimed to the expressionless girl seated on the central chair of the bridge.

“Signal everyone to follow. Set course for the settlement. Maybe we can stock up on rations there,” she commanded with slight interest. According to the maps, they still had some ways to go before reaching Gamm...

943. A little over the top

---Adventurer Guild’s Holy Land---

Commander Harrad and a troop made up of 50 elites and 250 nameless heroes summoned through the powers of the dungeon were galloping toward the location the priest had given with his prayer when he suddenly signaled all of them to stop.

He had just received a divine message, to pull back and return. It seemed that the priest and the rest of the band of Knights and brought the ultimate sacrifice to relay a final warning. Their words and sight had...

942. Unexpected Message

--- Unclaimed Mountains---

“I'm just glad we are out of that hell for a moment...” Lydia sighed as she sat down on the bed beside Mike. The beastman was getting dressed while she only wore a towel. They had just gotten out of the shower.

It had been a couple of days since they almost lost their lives in the side effects of the parrot's battle and subsequent promotion to a legend. After that terrifying experience, traveling through the humid green hell of the mountains borderin...

941. Vision of the Past

Vast planes, high grass swaying in the wind like waves in an ocean. The inside of the dungeon was an idyllic scenery that resembled Kozdam's central planes. However, a darkness had come over the land, as the grass turned to gray ashes and the desolate earth was drenched in blood.

The scenery the band of knights got to see as they entered was very different from how it originally looked. A black haze covered the now ashen wasteland. The corpses of orcs littered the ground of what looked ...

940. Into the Dungeon

<Ding! You have been marked by divine power. Duration 5 Hours.>

Seth lifted an eyebrow. He had just left the branch of the Adventurer Guild and someone put a tracker on him out of nowhere. There was no knowing who it was, except if he decided to play along. As such, he simply continued with what they intended to do from the start.

“Alone”, he got on his golem griffin and rode to the dungeon he had just booked. It was a level 73 orc dungeon that belonged to Kozdam, the Ki...

939. Testing on a Fieldtrip

The massive fist of the mountain troll slammed against the black golem knight, who blocked the attack with its crossed arms. Despite <Enriched Necron> being among the softer epic materials, there was no deformation when being hit by the full power of a lv.90 massive beast.

They had to travel quite far to find a beast, but the level was another proof that the world outside the district, especially the mountains, had become a lot more dangerous. Seth didn’t know that it was not as...

938. Work-Life Balance

---Former Gamma---

The room was a dark crypt, light was not needed, as none of the creatures present in the ostentatious room, depended on light to see. The only illumination came from the dim, otherworldly flames burning in some of their eyes.

Creatures of various shapes and sizes were seated around the table. After many setbacks, like floods, a zombie plague that even affected undead, and an exhaustive war with a bunch of regenerating psychos, Arget Nore had finally managed to c...

937. Immortal Summit

---XiGuang Province, Yijing City---

Close to the center of the provincial capital of the Western Expanse stood a massive tower. This tower was 700 meters tall and built hollow, like a tube. The inside of the tube was filled with rows and rows of terraces and stands.

The massive Conference Tower had been summoned for the Immortal Conference of the Western Expanse Province. The main point of the conference, which had drawn in most of the guests from all of the sects of XiGuang, was ...

936. News Spreading(2)

Another master-level blacksmith, especially if they could only create legendary items from already legendary or special materials, was actually no hot news across the Pathworks. It was an important piece of information for power looking out for these kinds of characters, but in general, a Master Blacksmith was not in the focus of the public.

As a consequence the news spread rather slowly outside of Urth, apart from the power that paid special attention to Urth and Minas Mar. it was one ...

935. News Spreading

---Somewhere in the Unclaimed Mountains---

In a dark cave, filled with the stench of evil and death, sat a man dressed in dark rags. It was hard to tell what their original color was, as they were covered in layers of various stains of indeterminate nature.

His hideous face, disfigured by dark necrotic blotches, pockmarks, and wound seeping with pus, was reflected in the small orb he was holding as close to his face as he could, so he didn't have to recognize his own reflection. 2023-10-26 17:30:45 +0000 UTC View Post

934. Announcement

Minas Mar had really outdone themselves with the preparations today. Compared to the times before when they still lacked experience and things were done a little amateurishly, they had really managed to set up a massive press conference.

The vast entrance hall of Minas Mar’s embassy was opened to a selected crowd of VIPs and reporters. The place was filled with chairs and a small stage was set up. Bryce, the master of Delta’s Adventurer guild was sitting in the first row, right belo...

933. Flooding Mountains

--- The Unclaimed Mountains---

They had been left standing there, while Ceres took off. There was an awkward silence between the massive Questing Beast and the couple. One couldn't talk, and the others didn't feel like making conversation in front of the creature.

They had been sharing evasive glances, even Blotches seemed to feel weird in the situation. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the silence was broken by sudden storm winds racing through the valley, followed by torrential ra...

932. Agreeing on an Agreement

“Leana are you in?” the blacksmith asked, opening the door to her office. He had just appeared out of thin air only moments before. It was early evening when he finished, so his question was rather rhetorical.

“Seth? Did you finish early?” she asked slightly surprised, looking up from her papers.  The bard always felt surprised when he saw her flawless appearance despite working really hard. Not to devalue Mary, but despite becoming the Chosen of Hestia, the scribe was stil...

931. Storm of Death

It was an experiment, but he felt comfortable with the possible risk. After he finished the soul staff, the glue had also hardened, allowing Seth to continue with the enchantments of the wood. They were nothing spectacular, as the blacksmith didn't want to add too many different effects.

This was why he chose the usual attribute-enhancing circuits that would improve the user's intelligence and willpower. He used bands of <Ithildin> to inlay the enchantments into the handle of the ...

930. Eye of the Storm

Finally, it was time for the last item he was going to make with their spoils from Y-City, for now at least. This one was arguably the easiest since most of the work was already done. The item in question was of course the staff with the wind orb, Lyxiss had brought back.

<Eye of the Storm, crafting material

Legendary

Mag. Damage: 2000

Durability: 1500

1. 50% Wind Affection

2. +300% Damage on Wind Magic or Skills

3. 50% Chant Reduction on Wind Magi...

929. The Unclaimed Mountains

A vast stretch of mountains, covered in a blanket of fog and clouds. The Unclaimed Mountains as this piece of land, west and northwest of Deta came to be called. An unusual party, that had left from Thres a few days ago, finally faced the massive landscape.

Mike had only come through here once, but he had not seen much of the place back then. It was during their Travel with the Adventurer’s guild to their holy land, which was found further south. As fascinating the expansive mountains...

928. Tyr's Gavel

After Lunchbreak the blacksmiths returned to their workshops and Seth was once again alone with the hammer. Well, not completely alone, Sivri and Cerberus were busily working on their own projects in the background.

Although the big boy Cerberus had been working on did not get his time to shine in their battle with The Scene, it was finished, and Cerberus was back to passively farming proficiency for Seth. Sivri was similarly helping the bard attack the giant wall that was the master ti...