blacksmithoftheapocalypse

305. Seth on the Prowl

His big sigh echoed through the desolate hallway. How could he have known that she was the plaything of his superior?  Still, he just had some fun with a slave, why did they have to condemn him to guard duty in this place?

This was the worst. Standing all day at the entrance to the prison block and feeling bored beyond belief. This wasn’t why he joined the army. He wanted to see exotic places and get his hands on exotic slaves.

Cute girls, mature women, he was into everythi...

304. Somewhere Else (6)

She ran along with her friends casting <Aura of Affection>. Using the color of their aura they made insects like butterflies, dragonflies, and fireflies fly around and follow them.

It was the third Serras, one of the Seven Serras. A number of games to learn nature magic. All the children wanted to master these seven games because they could become an apprentice of Master Karina.

Pip was 13 this year. Like many of the others here she came from a place...

303. Go!

“Let’s make our instrument of freedom.”

~ You are going to make an instrument?! How would that help? ~ Puffles asked confused.

~ It’s a metaphor, fudge roll ~ Al commented

Seth ignored their bickering.

His idea was inspired by quite a few games he had played in the past which held an item called a Skeleton Key. An item that could open any lock or tremendously increased the probability of lockpicking.

The material he wanted to use ...

302. Ready, Seth-

All the items he was making were not just the improvements needed for him to feel safe once he started his operation. They were all experiments at the same time. The next one would be a rather large step in experimenting.

The next involved a very precious item he couldn’t really afford to ruin but he didn’t have the time for long tests. It was a masterpiece Nädel had sent him back a few weeks prior.

It was an almost translucent gray cloak. The fabric felt thin ...

301. Gear up

~ Do you even have any idea how to get out of the cell? ~

Puffles asked worriedly. Seth was putting so much effort into readying himself but if he couldn’t leave the cell without being noticed.

“Oh, that? I have an idea for that. It will be a surprise.”

After getting a good rest, Seth got up and returned to his work. He wanted to slowly get started with upgrading some of his current equipment. Some still had no enchantment because he didn’t see his skills fitting at ...

300. Unique

Seth was dismayed. His dream of 100% resistance to disease and poison was gone! He should have guessed it as it mentioned a limit. Charon's Physique.

He had just infused 5 souls when resistance to disease stopped growing but there was hope, as another effect appeared. Resistance to decay. Seth kept infusing up to ten souls when all values stopped growing and did not budge even when he infused another soul.

<Charon’s Physique

Mag. Def.: 860

1. 60% Resistance to Dis...

299. Soul Armaments (2)

These three had been a no-brainer as their effects were understandable from the short description in the enchantment catalog. They also aligned with his goal to reach the usage requirement of the Helm of Hades.

The others were often too vague or did not necessarily seem fit to be used on armor.

As he kept looking through them one by one and tried to understand the sigils, he noticed a tab that had not been there the last time.

A completely new list of enchantments opened whe...

298. Soul Armaments

Nobody woke him up this time. He woke up because he had slept enough. It was around noon and another bowl of slob was already waiting at the hatch of the door.

He remembered finishing the important helmet and brought it out to appraise it. He rotated the dark helmet in his hands. It felt light but had a certain gravity to it.

Seth couldn’t appraise it. <Blacksmith’s Eyes lv.5 > was not enough to see the item's options. It was definitely a piece of armor! His skill was su...

297. A special Hat

~ Seth, they are coming.~

Seth had slept quite deep thanks to his fatigue, not even the hard and uncomfortable bed could have changed that.

He heard the key rattle in the lock of the door. He just sat up when it swung open. Two workers led by a well-kempt officer brought in two big boxes and put them on the wall beside the door.

“This is your quota. Finish it in the next 6 days,” he said with visible disgust at Seth who still wore the dirty set of clothes and had not was...

296. Olympian Enchantments

~ Seth, wake up!~

~ Wake up you crazed Metalbeater! ~

~ You have to put away the smithy before they come!~

Seth drowsily opened one eye to look around his little cell. The voiced of Puffles and Al woke him up.

~ Come on! Those lunatics will come soon to get those weapons! You have to change everything back before they come in!~

His heart dropped down to his feet and he was wide away when the shock set in, and he realized what they were talking about.

Seth h...

295 Growing Guild

“I can’t believe you. Were you always like this?” Jack spoke to the spear woman beside him and shook his head.

Evee’s plan had worked wonders.

With Simon’s Influence, they managed to offer their help as the first guild in Delta on the day after the incident at the stadium. Their offer was like a glass of water to a man dying of thirst in the desert.

Not only were they the first, but their help also didn’t end with only offering troops.

If they enlarged Mina...

294. Days as a Blacksmith (4)

The following days grew hazy as he kept working and only slept when he was too tired to keep working. His only breaks were for food and water.

A Shield for Tekar, Monique’s Armor, Lixiss’ Staff, Bulko’s gear...

But it was still not enough.  So, he started to also make equipment for Lydia and the other members of the field service that were not parts of the Lords like Ray and Shay.

After the armors, he started making jewelry for everyone. Finally, the first thing t...

293. Days as a Blacksmith (3)

For the set Seth used 4 of the cold souls and 6 of the common medium-sized souls to make a big cold soul.

Everyone else in the group had various kinds of crowd control effects. In theory, the combination of the Frigid Soul and the ice troll leather would take care of this for Mike.

Seth engraved the complex circuits for shield and health regeneration onto the big soul before splitting it into 5 parts for the brigandine, leg guards and bracers.

He forged the parts to mirror t...

292. Days as a Blacksmith (2)

Seth used 3 bars of <Crimson Steel> for Mike’s sword because it was the material with the highest affinity for demonic ballads. It was also because it was the most numerous and reliable epic material he currently possessed.

He sang a song in demon tongue. Of warriors that went to battle, not in valor, but to kill. Lacking honor but not skill, each of them would get their fill. Mercenaries to the bone, they fought not for ideals but money alone.

As he welded the bars of blo...

291. Days as a Blacksmith

Her face was marked from the stress of the last few days. Leana sat in her office rubbing her temples.

A lot had happened recently, and she had a hard time dealing with everything at the same time. They had just fixed their alliance with Arget Nore and got ready to bring over a Starta Village when the followers of Zarkon suddenly went on a full offense.

Her troops had a hard time holding their position and protecting the refugees. They managed to fight off the beastlike Zarkists w...

290. Managing without

---------Delta----------

The whole city was currently in a state of emergency. There had been explosions all over the city and there was a mass abduction that had just happened on live TV.

Many people felt reminded of the day just after the apocalypse and they didn’t know how close they came to the truth.

With the field generators sabotaged, more and more reports of gates opening in the city reached the joint emergency command center.

The leadership of Delta and the ...

289. Days as a Slave

The following days were the worst. The guards would wake them early in the morning when the sun was not even up yet. They were fed a watery slob that seemed to be just enough to keep them from starvation.

Their tasks could be summarized in three categories. Wood, Stone, or Construction. The task could change depending on the guards or the overseer’s mood.

Wood meant that they were sent into the forest to cut lumber and carry it back to the camp. No matter how much the cut, it wo...

288. Weighed, Measured, Judged

A person stepped into the square. This time an actual human. He wore a unique hat and black robes with red details. The symbol of chain links was embroidered on his chest and he wore a thick crimson red chain around his neck.

An entourage of people in similar robes followed him. They wore black chains on their wrists and their faces were covered in by a loose fabric with the chain symbol.

As they later came to know these were the Chained Apostles. A caste of priests that were in c...

287. Theocracy of Chains

----Delta----

“What? They bombed the field generators? What are you waiting for? Get them repaired before something happens! It’s too late, what do you mean?” the archbishop of the system church hollered.

“We just received an emergency signal from Priest Simon. The theocracy has managed to open a portal.” the acolyte answered intimidated.

The old man looked at him with eyes like floodlights.

“...where?”

“The stadium.”

“We have to hurry!�...

286. Surprising Finale

“A big applause for our four semifinalists!

Marcel, the magic swordsman of the Volcano Guild,

Elza, the ice queen of the Mountain Guild,

Duhu, the ferocious Tigerman,

and Derog, the self-proclaimed Adventurer King. “

The four semifinalists entered the arena under the roaring cheers if the audience. On the big screen around the arena, their matchup was decided like on a slot machine.

“And we have our Matchups!  In our first fight, the Ice Magician...

285. Champion of Vitzliputzli

Second to last day. The Single PVP Tournament had a whopping 500+ participants registered. Just like the party event, they would go through a traditional tournament.

The many fields in the stadium had been turned into 50 arenas.

“On the first day, we will cull the herd and reduce the numbers to 64 combatants in the first 5 rounds of the tournament! These warriors will proceed to the great finale on the sixth and last day of this great event.” the announcer explained excitedly....

284. PVP-Tournament

“Hello! Are you new members of the Oathguard?” a young woman with bright blue hair greeted them as they appeared in a wide-open room with marble floors.

“Yes! We were told to come here!”  Jess answered excitedly. She and James had broken all bridges behind them and were looking forward to their new workplace.

“Great! I’m Evee. Follow me, I will show you your accommodations”

The couple followed the young girl along luxurious corridors and down a wide regal ...

283. Somewhere else (5)

“The messenger of Arget Nore has arrived.” the subordinate reported to the Princess.

Leana had set off from Delta about 2 months ago to investigate and eradicate the Followers of Zarkon. These Zarkists had recently encroached on the empire's authority and attacked citizens.

In their preliminary research, they found that Arget Nore, the Empire of undead led by their immortal Godking,  had already been waging war with the Zarkists for a while now and had managed to push the...

282 Third Round

James and Jess were up again on the evening of the second day. James had tried to get his original sword back, but the smith told him that it would probably take until after the tournament to repair. The warrior gladly kept the better substitute for the third round.

They had watched the second round and as they had suspected, there were less than 150 people who made it to the third round. Their chances to get into the top50 were good. Maybe they could aim even higher?

These notion...

281.Increasing the Difficulty

“Seth. Are you okay?” Mina took off her mask and stood beside him.

“Hmm? Oh. Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“You seemed to be brooding about something.”

“It’s just... it’s about Puffles.”

“Puffles?” Mina asked surprised.

“Seeing all these people and parties with their pets... it’s already been over three months, Mina,” he said depressed. The Ivicer had not spoken to him ever since he closed up. Seth was worried.

“I know you are worri...

280. The Tournament (2)

In a cinema dimension sat a bunch of people with Hades, Hephaistos, and Seth sitting in the prime seats. They were flanked by a huffy faceless magician in a catchy robe and another faceless figure in a brown old robe.

“I really like what you built here. I normally only get to see cinemas after humanity got overrun by monsters.” the figure in the brown robe wondered.

“I’m glad you like it,” Hades said amicably.

The robe talking was the god of dungeons. He and Hades ...

278. The Lords of Minas Mar

“Hey, it’s been a while since you joined us in sparring!” Monique said excitedly when Seth entered the training room.

Seth greeted Mike, Monique, Jonah, and Tekar who were currently refining their combat skills. It had really been a while.

During the last three months, he had stayed at the Bard College most of the time, The only exceptions were the few dungeon excursions to level up. He wanted to use the free time before the tournament to spend more time with them, too.

279. The Tournament

Jess and James had prepared as best as they could. The change of the exam to a public event had come as a surprise, but the two adventurers decided to join anyway.

Not because they thought they were able to win and get a piece of epic equipment. The two wanted to go after the prizes for the lower seats. The top 5 got epic items and the top 10 would still get a rare item. The top 20 could get a set of potions.

And everyone in the top 50 would get a coupon for the Turquoise Anvil. I...

277. Little Demon

“Wow, so this is how demons live?” the fairy marveled at the sight of the chaotic demon city.

The other day had ended rather abruptly after Seth finished Mina’s gear. They didn’t get the chance to talk to Neeco anymore as he had vanished in his apartment and didn’t respond to phone calls anymore. He might still be asleep even now.

Seth held his promise brought the fairy into the demon district. Like a child in a candy shop, she buzzed around at high speed as if she had t...

276. Spending Time with the Family

Mina and Fin followed, and they entered the workshop area. There was not much in the sense of crafting stations except some abandoned sewing machines.

Except for the place where Neeco seemed to usually work, everything was either filled with shelves of fabric or all kinds of dress forms and mannequins with finished or half-finished pieces of clothing.

Mina and Fin immediately started exploring the place and inspecting the yet-to-be-released clothes. The tailor sat down on a comfy-...