Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Marn and Fin had already returned when they came back to the workshop. One of the advantages of a world where everyone has an inventory was that one did not need to wait for deliveries. As long as it was judged as one object, it could be stored. It was as if you could buy a washing machine and bring it back home in your pocket.

The whole smithy was already completely upgraded. A new forge, a power hammer, exchangeable grinding wheels. Everything a blacksmith would need to make high-end weapons and armor. The fairy and the elf had really no mercy on his wallet. He really couldn´t complain, he was Mr. Moneybags after all. Funny enough, they used less money than him.

They met the two joking together at the counter when they entered the shop. It seemed like Mr.J listened to his advice since Fin had not much to do besides keeping Marn company. They did not have much time to talk as the caterpillar kept bouncing around him.

Kyu kyu kyu!

The Ivicer was excited and urged him to bring out the material. Seth brought out a bar fo mithril, serenum, and a dusk ore, but the Ivicer did not eat.

Kyurr!

~ These two are refined, that one is not. I am not going to accept this uncooked food. Refine it for me!~

He could only sigh. The little brat would not let him off if he didn´t do it right now. Dusk iron was allegedly hard to refine, this might be interesting. He belatedly excused himself and went to the spirit furnace. He had only agreed to not use it for the shop, this was not for the shop, so he would obviously use any cheats he could get.

With antsy Puffles behind him, Seth put several rocks of the dusk ore into the smelter and started controlling the flame. Now he just waited for the ore to melt. He waited for the ore. For the ore to melt. Melt? The ore was glowing red but did not melt. Until now it never mattered what metal he put into the furnace, it would always melt in a matter of minutes.

Seth took full control of the fire and started to increase its power. Sweat covered his forehead as he used mental force to increase the temperature. Finally, as if a thin membrane ripped, small droplets of liquid metal leaked out and it formed a pool with the slag floating on top.

The ore ingots strongly varied in size so Seth concluded that he needed 4 or 5 rocks for 2 ingots. If his stamina and mental strength held up, he could make about 40 dusk iron ingots. Hey, just another 20 more times...

It really warmed his heart seeing the greedy Ivicer immediately gobbling up the fruit of his hard labor. Not. This unthankful little-! But he wanted to see the new material, so Seth could only keep on pouring sweat and tears into working the furnace.

<Ding! Skill: Fire Affection 3 has become Fire Affection 4!>

At least it was not without gains. Working so intensely with the fire increased his <Fire Affection> again! It lessened the burden a little bit, but Seth felt his energy dwindling. It was salvation, when Puffles who had been nibbling away at the fresh ingot, told him after 10 ingots that he had enough for now. Seth worried a little that his <Fire Manipulation> would still not level up. But the 9th level was always the hardest.

Entranced Fin and Marn joined Seth in watching the caterpillar devour the refined metal ingots. After eating the 10 ingots of dusk iron, 2 ingots of mithril and 5 ingots of serenum Puffles stopped moving for a while, and then a bright golden thread emerged from his mandibles. It didn´t end there, the Ivicer started to wrap it around himself. Wait... he was going to pupate?!

Completely spellbound sat the three people, a fairy, an elf, and a human, there and watched a caterpillar turn into a cocoon of bright, silver-golden thread. It became late evening when Puffles was finally finished and turned into a cocoon.

"Are you okay, Puff?"

~ Don´t talk to me. I´m will enter my first transition. I will talk to you once I'm done. ~

Seth nodded. He finally remembered and used his <Blacksmith´s Eyes> on the cocoon.

<Celestial Bronze, Crafting material, Rare

A mysterious material created by a divine beast. It rivals mithril in strength and is on par with it in magic conductivity. It excels in durability and tensile strength. It has a great affinity with fire and light>

Celestial Bronze? It really had almost perfectly combined the traits of the different parts of the alloy. Seth had not messed around a lot with alloys, but from what he heard, it was actually very hard to harmonize many different metals and minerals in a way to create an alloy that is better than the individual ingredients. <Blacksmith´s Eyes> judged it as rare, would it be epic for Nädel? He hoped the old man would not die from a heart attack once he saw it.

After checking the new material Seth put the cocoon into the pet space. Now he had finally time to test the new furnace! Or not, it was already late. To end the day, he invited Marn to eat out with him and Fin.

The next day Seth could finally start working with the super material <Mithril>. Everyone knew how strong it was and it had one of the highest magic conductivities there were. Mithril would not only help him in <Blacksmith> but also in enchantment. Even so, he made uncommon enchanted steel weapons, they gave almost no experience since iron was not a good medium for magic. He couldn´t get much proficiency with the basic enchantments he could use.

But he had qualms about using pure mithril. It was a really expensive material and... What was he thinking? This was all to level his skill, not to make more money. The money came in anyway!

One ingot was enough to make a short sword or two normal daggers. As long as he didn´t fail they were guaranteed to be rare if he made it from pure <Mithril>. He wanted to use this and instead of making two more traditional daggers, he opted to make stiletto daggers.

This was not a blueprint the system had given him, but Seth had originally designed this blueprint. He wanted to make a few of them from snake teeth. Unfortunately, the material was not strong enough to make a good stiletto, but <Mithril> was different. This weapon shape enabled him to make 3 rare weapons from one ingot. He was only able to use one basic enchantment per weapon, to begin with. A stiletto had enough space for that.

Seth would have made the handles from <High-Quality Steel> if he had been using the <Spirit Smithy>, but like this, he went with a handle carved from the snake teeth and the small crossguard and pommel from steel.

Despite the new furnace, working a rare material gave Seth a hard time. Stilettos had a thin blade specialized in stabbing. He had expected that it would be easier than the broader dagger shapes, but it felt actually harder to control the movement of the metal when the goal was a very thin blade.

He heaved a big sigh of relief when he finished the first stiletto and gained almost 5% proficiency. It was already late afternoon when he looked at the clock.

<Mithril Stiletto

Rare

Damage:590

Durability:1700

An intriguing dagger made by an aspiring Blacksmith. The peculiar shape doubles the damage on stabbing attacks but halves the damage of slashes. >

The damage values rivaled the <Loyal Spear> and the durability was also recommendable. What kind of enchantment would fit this the best? A bight silver stiletto with a white boney handle and darker steel elements. As he looked through the catalog of simple enchantments, he could make his eyes fell on the elemental damages.

Elemental damage was a simple circuit that turned the channeled mana into a magical attack of a specific element. The one Seth chose was one of the enchantments he had recently gotten on their journey.

Lighting Damage.

It was an enchantment that did a certain amount of electrical damage to the target and had a chance to paralyze or even stun. Paralysis and stun seemed appropriate for an assassin's weapon. Another enchantment that fit such a bright metal was frost damage, it could also slow and freeze the opponent.

Seth didn´t really have to choose between the two, he could just make a few of each and see how they sold. The time flew by and he just didn´t expect, how big of a buff the increased production speed from his <Spirit Smithy> was. It became evening before he finally finished the enchantment. He needed one full day to make this one stiletto. In one day, he only gained 5% in his <Blacksmith>and 11% in his <Enchantment>. Other blacksmiths would feel accomplished to make a rare weapon in one day, but to Seth, it felt agonizingly slow.

Still, he would not break his promise to Tored. He was looking forward to tomorrow when this new dagger entered the shop.

<Stunning Stiletto

Rare

Damage:590

Durability:1700

1. 20 lightning damage on target Mana Cost: 10/s

An intriguing dagger made by an aspiring Blacksmith. The peculiar shape doubles the damage on stabbing attacks but halves the damage of slashes. The lightning damage has 25% chance to cause partial paralysis and 5% to cause stun or full paralysis >