Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The mithril stiletto was the final straw. Their shop had a good reputation from the poison weapons and the consistent quality of the other Weapons he and Marn made. Seh's action during the quest also brought in a lot of potential patrons. With the news of a rare dagger making the round they got a lot more influx in their shop and also more wealthy figures.

One had to admit, that the location of their shop was bad, so much it could not be worse. Having people come to this place to look for weapons was not short of a miracle. But why would they come down there when the shops on the surface and in the upper layer also often sold rare weapons?

One had to know, that many of these adventurers understood what happened in Ora. Many young blacksmiths came here looking for the teachings of the dwarven craftsmen and masters. Many opted to sell their weapons through the established shops and make a deficit to gain recognition.

A blacksmith who rather opted to open an own shop, even in the 2nd layer, was recommendable, but not enough for a lot of higher ranked adventurers to visit it. This changed when Seth started to manufacture rare-rated weapons. A rare rated weapon was a good weapon for a B-Rank adventurer and the dream of any C-Rank adventurer.

It was not only the rank that made people come to take a look, getting to know a young and talented blacksmith was always a good investment for the future.

Another aspect that pulled in the masses was the price. Seth had seen the prizes for similar weapons in the other shops when he tried to find a place to sell his weapons for him. He only spent a day on making the stiletto and had no qualms about mercilessly undercut their prices. With 10 gold for one stiletto, he asked for approximately 10 times the material cost and was still cheaper than the professional stores.

The real success was not selling the stiletto and other weapons but pulling in customers. Some B-Ranks approached Seth to commission weapons after seeing the delicate stiletto. Most of them were thieves or assassins looking for a new dagger but some others like archers also came looking for short swords as secondary weapons.

Marn and Fin were staffing the counter. While Marn was dealing with the customer, Fin lazily watching the hubbub. Seth was working on making the third stiletto and only met some customers. Those who wanted to order customized weapons. This was the real sign of a successful shop, Customer paying him money to make weapons to order.

Seth had little experience with customers, but by now he had worked long enough with weapons and had held a huge variety in his hands, that the basic knowledge had stuck with him. Two short swords were never the same. For a customer, he had to take into account the size of their hands, their strength, their preference in fighting style, weight, balance, and weapon length.

He knew the basics, but Seth was nowhere near a master who could simply look at a person and their hand and accurately judge what weapon they needed. That's why he only spoke with few customers, as each one took 20 minutes to half an hour of his time to specify the weapons they wanted and needed. He diligently made notes for every weapon, so he would not forget later.

One thing he was glad about, was that not everyone wanted mithril weapons. Some specifically asked for steel stilettos. The weapon design itself was a huge hit with many adventurers. It didn´t just look stylish but offered increased stabbing damage without completely losing the option of slashing like some spikes or armor-piercing daggers did.

At the end of the second day after introducing the mithril stiletto they had sold two stilettos, one frost, one lighting, and had 15 commissions for more weapons.7 of them were asking for steel stilettos, 3 for mithril daggers, and the other 5 were a mix of orders for different weapons.

They had only a little more than a week and Seth was sure this was enough. Not just that, it might actually a little too much to finish alone in the rest of the time. This was when Seth asked himself the question: Why should he do it alone?

"Oh Marn~ How about we close shop for a few days and you help me with this." he said with an alluring smile. He had an employee who was also a blacksmith, why would he suffer alone?

The next few days they closed the shop and Marn helped Seth finish the uncommon weapons made from steel. Using <High-Quality Steel> Seth was able to finish the 7 stiletto blades in one day and half-elf started making crossguard and pommels on the smaller forge. Afterward, Seth started working on the mithril Stilettos, while Marn worked on assembling the handles.

It was really busy in the smithy with both men sweating and working intensely. Fin had watched the spectacle for some time, but it became too hot in the smithy for her in more than one way. Two half-naked muscular men swinging their hammers together in sync was a sight that soon attracted Mina who had recently returned from a quest.

Fin graciously took it upon herself and led the drooling cat girl away from the tempting display of masculinity. It was definitely not because the fairy was bored without Puffles and thought she could have some fun going around with Mina.

While the two girls hit it off with each other, the two men didn´t even notice they were gone. There was a satisfied smile on Marn´s lips. Just working in the smithy without worrying about money or expectations in him. This was all he had ever wanted. The two continued this routine.

On the third day having the shop closed, when Marn had finished the 7 steel stilettos and Seth finished two mithril blades, they started with the other 5 weapons. Namely, there were 2 mithril short swords, a stiletto from <Dark Steel> and 2 mithril spears. While Seth got onto making the blades, Marn was left with finishing the shafts and handles.

Seth first made the spear tips as they did not take too long and then went to make the stiletto from <Dark Steel>. Even so, this was also a rare material, it was a lot easier to forge than <Mithril>. It made him once again realize that there were differences even in the same rank, it was just not displayed by most system skills. The <Appraisal> from the old man at the auction house was able to judge a material's status within its rank.

On the fourth day after closing shop, they were mostly finished and reopened. Marn stayed a the counter while Seth finished up the weapons. By making the Weapons in tandem the proficiency was shared, similar to the experience in a party. Seth still got a whopping 35% proficiency and was now only missing about 20% to reach lv.9!

The proficiency of <Enchantment> on the other hand was not shared and he slowly got better in engraving, which increased his experience even more. In the end after finishing everything, his skill leveled up and he stopped at <Enchantment (Beginner) lv.9 (43%). Seth was now really close to rank up!

The information that their shop opened again spread fast, as soon customers flooded in and some people came to ask for their order. The shop was busy and the atmosphere was good, as those who came for the weapons, they ordered left the shop with a sparkling new weapon and a satisfied smile, for all other customers to see.

Seth was happy, too. Just a few more days and he could seriously learn skills from Master Tored. He almost expected something terrible to happen, but nothing did. The two weeks ended on a good note and Seth got ready to visit Master Tored again.