blacksmithoftheapocalypse

838. Like a normal Snake

Seth was bummed out, but Alison went into goblin mode when she saw the materials the blacksmith beat out of the Demon. While he had not much of interest for Seth, he had a lot of materials that made the heart of an Alchemist beat quicker. Evee, the witch, was also chuckling to herself as she packed away stuff.

“Fine, I guess you live to die another day,” Seth and the others finally stopped beating the demon. They had only healed him three or four times so he wouldn't die. He was rea...

837. Guess What

Barren plains filled with poisonous gas and traps. The first destination of the strike force of Minas Mar was the territory of Payne Indias, the demon maestro. Seth had not forgotten the sudden intrusion of Dragos Cernat during their last trip to the Abyss.

In the meant time, Seth had also made the connection between the Maestro's formations that blocked Home Call and Dragos. Now, it was very obvious that those two had some kind of connection.

Dragos, the heart eater, had profited...

836. Back to the Abyss

Belatedly, Seth found that he was one of the last among his friends that finally decided on the path. Following his reveal to Mina and Fin, the two quickly asked him to come for a meeting the next day.

When he followed the two he found all the members already assembled. When they explained their intentions, he could only sigh touched. They all had actually waited for him to choose a path because they already had a plan for this time's excursion to the abyss.

“We will all go toge...

835. Blacksmith of Legends

“Today I managed to unlock a really cool path thanks to Leana's booklet. It's called “Fist of the Dog Star” and improved my hand-to-hand combat and  allows me to use existential power to strengthen or create my own set of skills as my level rises!” Fin cheered.

“I thought of choosing “Night Consumed by Blades” which would allow me to turn night itself into my weapons, but the meaning is hard to grasp. How about you Seth? Have you finally decided?” Mina asked him int...

834. Thres

---Beta---

“What are these things?” Adam cursed as he crushed the skull of a man in his hand.

It had been a few days since they came across these creatures on another expedition to determine the current state of Beta.

Over the past weeks, the new governor had spent much of his time surveying his new territory and collecting his forces. After his departure with Prince Mur, now Emperor Mur, things had fallen apart a lot further than he had expected.

The former distri...

833. Devil's Wheel Fiddle

Seth quite liked the name, but “A demonic device of doom.”?

Seth looked across the broken landscape and pulverized glacier. Mutilated monster corpses were slowly freezing in the cold wind.  After some tests, Seth could not deny that. He could have expected it since he witnessed what simply plucking a string of <Essence of Kova> was able to do but it had not weakened a lot, despite everything he had done to dampen the effect.

It was all to make it more controllable, ...

832. Soul of the Enchantress

---3 Days Prior---

“You said you found a soul I might be interested in?” the bard asked as he sat down opposite of the goat.

They were sitting on the third floor of Tano'Mol's Soul Emporium, the exhibition room for the special souls. The demon seemed nervous as he fiddled with his hooves.

“Just so you know, I could really get into one hell of a mess because of your request. As much as soul trading has suffered from a bad reputation, dealing with the souls of our own- i...

831. Concert of Creation

A week later, Wedan, Hoen, Orry, and other blacksmiths in the adjacent workshops fell into a trance as a subtle but piercing melody found its way through the walls and through the doors. Forging the wood on his underworldly anvil, the singing blacksmith was surrounded by an orchestra of instruments.

Floating in the air and playing themselves they were accompanying his demonic patter with hypnotic tunes. Mouth agape and her eyes widened in shock, Sivri witnessed such a scene for the firs...

830. Hero&Rakshasa

Cromwel enjoyed his new work environment. Although it had taken him a few days to get used to the ancient devices of Minas Mar and completed the equipment with some of the stuff he got from Zeontech, now he had made himself at home.

He was even happier when the Tower Master showed unrivaled competence and brought him a high-grade research subject. With his laboratory destroyed and all his original prototypes gone, he had been afraid that he would have to start from scratch or form his o...

829. Somewhere Else (23)

As he stood up from the damp earthen ground, he felt a cold rain wash over his rugged skin. The cold seeped into his skin, waking his numb bones. He didn't know what happened, or where he was, but his sharp eyes observed his surrounding in a practiced manner.

Creeping over his was was a crooked smile, exposing sharp fangs, as he saw where he was. An architecture he didn't know but unmistakably broken houses as far as the eye could see. His crumpled heart rejoiced at the sight of ruins, ...

828. Guardian Tree

“Can I leave this to you? I will check on the Hangingtree,” he asked Leana but was already gone when she wanted to answer.

Leana's explanation had calmed his nerves. The awakening was nothing he could stop, or avoid, and most importantly it was not his fault. In that case, there was only one thing he needed to do. The next moment he appeared in the chamber of the Hangingtree, where he found a mesmerized Karina.

Standing still in front of the massive tree she was staring at her...

827. Underworld Fairy

The Tower Master didn't bother going the long way this time and simply used the mage tower's teleport to appear in front of the laboratories door. It wasn't locked and the door stood slightly ajar, so Seth carefully pushed it open to peek inside.

Beyond the door was darkness. The lights inside the lab were turned off. What was she doing with all lights off?

“Evee? Can I come in?” he asked into the darkness.

“Seth? Do you need something from me?” she asked surprised. ...

826. Door to Door

Of the five Items Sivri had made, a necklace, a bracelet, and a scepter were left. His next target was Shay's room. The bracelet the golden dwarf had made was similar to the choker, but created from the crystal of Olaf. With their current roster, the water mage was the best recipient for it.

The main effect of the bracelet was the terrifying passive skill of Olaf, which allowed the boss to build up a field of ice that could shock-freeze people. But it could also improve ice magic as wel...

825. Fat Choker

After finishing the first complete version of the Armor of Lunacy, Seth couldn't help looking forward to putting one on every mage in the field teams. But not today. Like anyone who had prepared good presents, he was giddy to hand them out. Since everyone had now returned, he could finally do so.

It wasn't just the armor that waited to be worn by Alison. Seth also had the Fiery Nail and the items Sivri had created.  While Seth was preoccupied with the Armor of Lunacy, Sivri hat wor...

824. Armor of Lunacy(2)

After having sketched how to place the connected engravings, Seth could immediately start engraving when he entered the workshop the next day. After finishing the combined circuit, the blacksmith started adding the individual enchantments.

These enchantments themselves were nothing wild or exotic. So they wouldn't get in the way of the armor's magic. Taking into account the Encroachment of Lunacy, most of these additional circuits were meant to reinforce willpower. This strengthened the...

823. Armor of Lunacy.

Over the following days, the four field teams that had gone out to train in their new constellations slowly returned to Minas Mar to receive their copy of the little booklet. Much to Seth's joy, Mina and Fin also returned.

The blacksmith had spent these days with exploring different enchantments using <Blueprints> before testing the final enchantments on the prototype to make sure all worked together like in the simulation.

The enchantment he had come up with was something i...

822. Gone with the Wind.

---Delta, Warehouse under Governmental Control---

Rocking his chair back and forth, he stared at the wall of screens with a bored expression. One shouldn't misunderstand, he was glad to have gotten such a calm job with his low level and a common class like Guard. Still, he couldn't help feeling bored sitting in the little observation room all night, staring at the screens.

It wasn't like anyone would really dare to break into this place. Heck, how would anyone even know about this...

821. Booklet of Paths

A day later Seth had already worked his way up to making something complex like a acoustic guitar. While his <Instrument Maker> rose to Adept lv.3, his <Carpentry> also rose to Journeyman lv.2 while working on wooden instruments.

The blacksmith found that his abilities to forge even something like wood eased fashioning specific parts for the instruments tremendously.  He was currently occupied with gluing the prepared pieces prepared together when the princess appeared ...

820. Secret Hangingtree

“We have to keep this a secret for as long as possible. We have to contact Karina and see if she can do something about it,” the princess stammered panicky.

“Leana! Calm down! What is this about? Why do you react like that and why do we have to keep it secret?” the blacksmith asked confused.

“If the Hangingtree becomes a legend and it gets out that this world had already birthed a legend, it will lose the protection of the covenant. Now hurry and contact Karina!” she e...

819. Hangingtree's Secret

“Lady Alison, are you okay?” an apprentice alchemist ran into the Laboratory after the tower shook and a loud explosion was heard inside. Contrary to the loud noise, almost nothing was destroyed. Almost.

“What happened? What did I do? How did I do it? Did I use Pearl Blade Powder? How much did I use? No, it wasn't Pearl Blade, it couldn't be. Maybe some Charged Azola fell in? But why would it...”

Alison was madly looking around an alchemy station in complete disarray, lift...

818. The Saintess

“Yvette, I'm glad you were able to make it.”

“Princess Leana, thank you for the invitation, “ Yvette greeted her with a bright smile.

The saintess was in a great mood. Despite the state of present Delta, things were going up for her. With the help of Minas Mar, she was able to build a church and her religion had grown over the past months. It was true that tragedy was the best soil for religion.

Yvette herself wasn't religious by any means, but she couldn't help but ...

817. Essence of Kova

--A few days ago--

“You called it Essence of Kova?” Leana asked a few days after he requested her to look for info. Seth nodded. The material's description simply called it the coagulated blood of Kova. Since it was special rated, Kova had to be a god. If the princes had been unable to find anything, he would have asked Simon, though he doubted the priest could do better than her.

“Well, I found something. There was a good called Kova. It was actually quite prominent across ...

816. Fiery Nail

Looking at the materials he chose, he found there was not a lot of material, definitely not enough for a full-sized staff. This was no problem. Jess was a pure fire mage and she fully specialized in being in the rearguard. In addition, she was chosen by the goddess of Fire, Lohe, and had a protective synergy with her partner.

Taking all of this into account, there was no need for Jess to have a staff that could also act as a melee weapon. Instead, Seth intended to turn her into a true g...

815. Lesser Firedragon's Toenail

It was okay to call Seth slow, but he would also argue that the solution was also abstruse when he thought about her reactions and what she said, and what he knew and could do. It was hard to believe somebody would do that.

“You can't mean that he split off parts of his soul and used those on these items?” he threw out the easiest but most unnatural solution. Sivri didn't say anything, but her intricately crafted face betrayed her silence. Her reaction confirmed his suspicion.

814. Sivri Silverview

Seth spend the next two days, taking a break with Mina and Fin in Little Sigma before the two went on their dungeon tour. The place had changed a lot since the first time Seth came to take a look at Karina's work. With the influx of people and the development of infrastructure, it became a very lively metropolis.

Since nobody came here with cars or anything like that, the streets were filled with cafes and magical mounts, giving it a truly magical feel. The blacksmith knew it from the p...

813. New Members, New Teams

“There are two things I would like to say before we start. Both have to do with Team 1.”

Monique looked at him in surprise.

“First I would like to introduce someone to everyone. She is an old acquaintance who studied abroad. Thanks to Leana she was allowed to come back to Urth and receive the blessing of the system god.”

After his announcement, the door opened and a graceful lady entered the room. She was not a perfect beauty, but she was good-looking, well-endowed, ...

812. War Council

A day later Team 3 finally returned from the Holy Land and they could finally hold a meeting with all members and make the final decisions on how to deal with the situation in Y-City and the Scene. Listening to Leana's explanation everyone had grim faces.

Mina and Fin only looked at him in shock. He could only nod to confirm that what Leana said was serious. Thinking that something so horrible and bizarre was actually true, they had a hard time believing it. Nobody really doubted the in...

811. Door finally unlocked

“After gaining the fourth key for the door, the party tracked back down to the door at the lowest floor. Setting in the symbols for fire, wind, water, and earth completed the mural on the wall, and the final boss door was finally unlocked.

Beyond the door covered in ancient murals appeared a mighty-”

“Was it a dragon!?” an Oathguard exclaimed.

“Shut up when I'm narrating our story!” Ray threw a spoon at the guy who interrupted him. He turned back to the crowd of ...

810. Exceptions two and three

Over the next few days, Seth mostly took a break. He would spend most of his time with Mina and Fin,  as they waited for the return of the other teams. The blacksmith only returned to his workshop once in a while to work on the prototype of the Armor of Lunacy. Aside from this, he paid a visit to the people Leana had invited.

“Good morning, Senior White. I didn't expect you to be serious when you said that you would come,” he greeted the first person he visited.

Stretched...

809. Paths

“I'm really sorry,” Leana repeated herself.

The two went through Seth's list of options, but the princess was only able to confirm his suspicion that he did not meet all requirements for them. Leana only knew the more common paths from memory. One was Legendary Enchanter, for which one not only needed to master <Enchantment> but also needed to create a legendary enchantment before reaching lv.100.

Seth was predominantly a user of enchantments, not a developer. Creating a...