Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"You are telling me that was the manifestation of a 200+ years old lich you released from a dungeon?" Tored asked in disbelieve

"That about sums it up," Seth answered meekly.

"And she just taught you a foreign forging ballad?"

"Yes."

Seth was not sure whether he wanted to really use this ballad that was taught to him. What if it was dangerous? Or not a forging ballad. He did not really trust Al, yet.

"Let's try it!" the dwarven master said with excitement visible in his eyes. "It's been a long time since I saw a new forging ballad. And this should be an ancient one, considering that Lich is more than 200 years old and from a different world!"

It was painfully obvious that this old man was a forging geek. He couldn't wait to learn something new if it was connected to his profession. He did not even put the ear protectors back on when Seth got ready to start again.

The song leaving his lips was nothing the dwarf had ever heard before. Different from his previous tries, Seth immediately felt a connection, despite not knowing the language. A deep disharmonious song filled the smithy and at first, it sounded unsettling and appalling to the two listeners. But on second thought there was a layer of demonic charm swinging within the deep chaotic melody. He felt his mana saturate his voice and the song kept urging them to keep singing, to keep listening.

Finally, as Seth kept singing a string of dark reddish runes slowly left his lips. Like a snake they slithered through the air and fell onto the steel he kept forging and folding on the anvil. At this point, there was no stopping. Seth kept singing and forging and the steel turned darker and darker as more and more of these runes found their place within the metal.

Seth forged it into a short saber, a Yatagan. He had kept practicing this shape for the snake and wyvern fangs. Now it had inexplicably surfaced in his mind. The compulsion to sing finally ended when the blade had taken shape.

<Ding! You have succeeded in using a forging ballad for the first time! You gained bonus proficiency>

He really did it! This was not some curse or failed product. With the bonus, his <Enchantment> finally reached lv.4. He could not wait for the finished product and appraised the unfinished blade.

<Feasting Blade, Crafting Material, Rare

The blade of a short saber originally made of steel. It had been slightly blessed by a high-ranking blood demon and changed into feasting steel. The material will heal and strengthen by feasting upon the blood of its victims. >

"Hoh, so this a demonic ballad." Tored suddenly appeared beside him. Sweat covered his forehead and he seemed tired as if he himself was the one forging just now.

"Demonic...?" Seth was not sure what he should think about this. Remembering his previous fails, did he have the talent to ask demons for assistance, instead of spirits? It explained why he ended up with so many cursed weapons and peculiar effects.

"It imbued the blade with the inherent ability to heal and strengthen itself. That's pretty good. You even managed to increase the rating of the steel." he said appreciatingly.

"You should finish this weapon. It might become really powerful if you enchant it with bleeding and life steal."

"I don't know. I don't really want to mess with something like demons."

"Stop worrying for now. You already did the enchantment. No need to hesitate at this point." he encouraged Seth.

Seth followed the dwarf's advice. Life Steal was a complex enchantment while bleeding counted as simple. Since he reached the adept rank he could put either two simple enchantments on an item or combine a simple and a complex one.

After finishing the hilt, he carved the circuits for bleeding and life steal into the reddish dark blade.

<Ding! The effects are in synergy and will experience a substantial growth>

<Blooddrinker Yatagan

Rare

Damage: 350

Durability: 1500

1. Will absorb part of the target's blood to heal and strengthen itself

2. Will absorb part of the target's blood to heal and strengthen the user

3. Skill <Bleed>

An excellent weapon made by an aspiring blacksmith. This weapon shows greatly improved performance owing to special treatment. >

<Bleed Mana Cost: 50 Cool Down:60sec

+200% Chance to cause Bleeding

+50% Chance to cause Strong Bleeding>

Strengthen the user? Would it be like in some novel, where the protagonist could steal attribute points from his victims? Nah, that would be too powerful for a simply rare-rated weapon. Unless...

It had a good performance considering the base material was <High-Quality Steel> and he didn't use <Soul Infusion> on it. And it would even keep growing stronger. Just imagine how good this would be if he used a better material like <Mithril> for this. Or if he used something that fit the demonic nature...

What was he thinking? He didn't want to mess with such entities. Even if he had the talent to hug demonic thighs. Well, maybe... He should ask Al when she rested up. Until then he would not do that again.

For now, he decided to just continue with Tored's tasks until the Lich called again. It took another week of peaceful crafting before the lich-sorceress ghost spoke again.

In the meantime, he had visited the human district of Ora but had not found Mina, Fin, or one of the other guys. He had looked for Bertram to meet Marn, but the elf had also vanished after starting his tutelage under his new master.

Was their timing really this bad, or did something happen? They wouldn't avoid him, would they? He decided to leave a message for them with the guild since the guild would not hand out information on running quests. They were B-Ranks, they could simply visit him at the shop once they were back.

Feeling slightly down, he cheered himself up by splurging on a meal before returning to the halls of stone. Al appeared once he closed the shop's door behind him.

"Would it hurt to take my soul out of that weird space of yours? Do you have any idea how much power I have to spend to astral project myself out of there?" she said before vanishing again. Seth had no idea, that storing souls had also the effect to seal them... He went to his room and released the soul of the sorceress from his space.

~Finally, outside. Not cool man, I thought you would bring me out for a conversation after I talked to you, but you simply kept me away for another week! I even gifted you a forging ballad! Oh yeah, how did that work out?~

Seth felt a little overwhelmed by the flood of words flowing in his mind.

"S-Sorry. I forgot that we could talk like this, too."

~Hmp, don't lie! You just wanted to ogle my astral body. Admit it!~ she accused self-assertive.

"It's not like I don't like the view, but I really just-"

~I'm joking- Wait, wha-? Forget it. Anyway, how did the ballad work?~

Seth explained to the Lich what had happened and the effects.

"haha! As I thought. You have a great affinity with demons, considering that horrible musical talent of yours. It's a shame I don't know many demonic ballads. I, with my angelic voice and talent, lack the affinity with demons. I'm also not a blacksmith, so I only learned those for research."

"But isn't it dangerous to mess with demons? Using these ballads wouldn't mess with my mind or the user's mind, right? Or summon a demon? And I don't really want to create the kind of demonic weapons that take control of their wielder..."

"Pff, where did you get those dumb ideas? Why don't you worry about that when asking spirits and elementals to bless your weapon? They are no bit better than demons when it comes to this. Using ballads is a simple trade of entertainment for a blessing. Well, demons will also take mana, but that's the only difference."

She fell silent for a moment.

"If you really want to summon demons you should consider Bard as your second class. Then you could even learn more ballads because of the class-specific-"

"What? A second class?!"

Seth interrupted her This was the first time someone mentioned a second class.

"Oh, whoops. Forget that, you aren't supposed to know that."

"Too late! Tell me!"

"No... te he, not for free."

"What do you want?"

"A new physical medium! I will also teach you the other demonic ballads I know. Deal?!"

It seemed like she really didn't like being a soul.

"Deal."