Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Having tested that Seth started making the bow. He used both, <Energy Circulation> and the effect of Charon's Obol in tandem to forge the crooked branch into form. It was always interesting to see the skill work its magic. When his hammer strikes hit the bark's surface it was smoothened and flattened. It reacted much much more like a metal than wood.

He turned the uneven stick into a smooth uniform billet with a length of about one meter. The fact that not even the bark was damaged in the process, but fuse into the surface and homogenized with the rest of the material led to the billet looking like layered steel with twists and turns visible where the wood had been crooked before.

At this point, Seth needed a break. This was still a rare material and even with the combination of skill and hammer, it was hard to forge it. He was not exhausted, but he needed to be in shape for the next step.

So, he went out and had a meal in the church's canteen.

"Seth, there you are! I have not seen you since morning."

Simon approached him as he sat down to eat.

"Yeah, I started working on my equipment. Why are you looking for me?"

Simon rummaged through the pockets of his red robe and brought out an envelope. It was not from Fin or Mina, but an answer from Tored. The letter was brief, it fit the dwarf.

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I'm glad you were able to safely return, Seth. That piece of leather is safe, use it to your heart's content. Keep surviving over there, you still owe me! The money you left was not even close to enough to pay for the stuff you took! Stay alive until you paid your debt.

-Tored

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Seth could feel the care of the dwarf from these short words. There was no way the dwarf would see that money. Simon saw his smile.

"good news?"

"I guess they are."

They ate together before Seth returned to his room. He had recovered and felt relaxed. It was the best condition to start. He removed the vengeful souls from the bow and started fusing them with medium-sized souls. It took about 9 before the modifier on the soul changed to big.

With the soul ready he took the wood lath-No, billet, and singing. The flat shook under the vibrations of the guttural demonic song. This song was one of the more terrifying ones Al taught him but it fit the previous effects of the soul very well. It would imbue the projectiles with the attribute of decay.

As he sang the demonic runes slithered from his lips and entered the wood. At the same time, he had to concentrate on infusing the soul even into the material. Both tasks took a lot of mental force and his head soon started to ache. His forehead was covered with sweat that started running down his face.

Even if he wanted to, he could not stop at this point. The demonic ballad forced him to continue as it consumed his mana. Fold by fold he infused and distributed the enchantment and the soul throughout the wood. More and more the wood looked like layered steel and he started shaping the bow.

He used twisted wire made from three threads of <Celestial Bronze> as the bowstring and infused a tiny bit of the souls into it.

The ballad finally ended and he had finished infusing the soul. His clothes were drenched in sweat, he looked as if he had taken a walk by heavy rain. He felt really exhausted and his head ached, but he gave the bow the finish it deserved. After sanding and polishing it he tumbled towards the water barrel and dunked the bow into it

<Ding! You have succeeded in making an epic-rated item!>

<Ding! You are the first to create an epic-rate item on your server! +5 to all stats.>

<Ding! The lame one is watching you with great interest.>

<Ding! A synergy has greatly increased the power of your item>

It was a smooth and sleek-looking recurve bow. The surface was densely covered with a black and gray pattern, making it look pitch black from the distance. Standing on the ground it almost reached his chin, so it was a little shorter than 180cm.

<Cursed Bow of Decay

Epic

Damage: 570

Durability: 2400

1. Arrows shot with this bow show great malice and will aim to hit vital points.

2. Inflicted wounds will cause greater pain and won't heal naturally.

3. Inflicted wounds will start to decay and have a high chance to get infected and poison the target.

A terrifying weapon made by the devious hands of Journeyman Smith. A bow possessed by a malicious will to hurt its benefactor's enemies. If someone other tries to use this bow they will be hit by the curse of decay.

Usage Requirements: Seth Smith, 90 Strength>

And he had yet to carve an enchantment into the bow. He suddenly had the thought, that maybe he shouldn't enchant it himself and find an enchantment master like Tored instead. He had a plan for the enchantments beforehand, but he had not expected the weapon to be epic-rated. The enchantments felt slightly shabby compared to its current abilities.

When his excitement over the new weapon finally waned and he stopped touching and playing with the bow, he realized what the messages had said.

Epic items also brought epic rewards. +5 on all his stats! That was like 5 or 6 level-ups, but unlike the normal attribute points, these were also distributed into luck and personality! This meant he would look even better from now on.

Wasn't there something else? He tried to remember what other message was there between these announcements... oh no. There was another god watching him now!

But wait. He started watching him after he made the item. Maybe this god was interested in crafting? Then he would give this god a good show!

There was nothing to lose. He might even get some overpowered blessing!

Seth had big plans, but the time was not right. He needed to take the next step in one fell swoop and he lacked the energy now. Instead, he started making some weapons to sell. On one hand, there was still a shop in Ora he needed to supply.

Seth had not forgotten about that. He had written a letter to Bertram to tell his clerk to keep selling the stock but at double the price. His wares would still be below market price, but the stock would last longer. He also contacted Marn and asked if he wanted to take over the shop. It was still a good place to sell his weapons. Otherwise, he would have to close the shop or find a way to send merchandise via the church.

The other reason was that he didn't feel like converting his currency. So, he planned to casually make some weapons and sell them for credits through the church. He had mana to spare and used a demonic ballad he had not gotten to use until now.

Using <High-Quality Steel> he made a bunch of uncommon swords and enchanted them with a demonic ballad. It was similar to the curse on the bow, but the effect it created was like soul-bound items in games. Once an owner was registered, nobody else could use this weapon.

These were meant to be sold in Urth. Seth guessed that people would appreciate weapons that cannot be stolen with the current situation in this world. He also put a simple enchantment for fire damage onto the weapon.

<Fire Sword

Uncommon

Damage:283

Durability:1250

1.+ 75 Fire Damage Mana Cost 15/minute

A magic sword casually made by Journeyman Seth to make some money.>

The only flaw was the description. People really didn't need to know his reasons... Everything else seemed fine. Seth did not want to introduce the people of Urth to too strong weapons. He was already doubting whether this was not already too good. The weapons also needed to be affordable...

Yeah, as if. He would thoroughly bleed them dry. From now on, this was a pay2win game and Seth intended to be the Item Shop. He made 7 swords in a matter of a few hours until it became evening.

"Is Simon still here?" he asked Samuel when he met him in the canteen.

"No, he already left. Can I help you with anything?" Samuel asked as they sat down.

"hmm, I think you are more qualified anyways. Are you interested in a business?"

After Seth had pitched his idea, they relocated to Samuel's office.

It was a simple deal in the end. The church would be his front and sell the weapons he made for credits. In exchange, the church would get a management fee.

One might ask why the church did not just sell weapons, to begin with? On one side it was too big of interference into the lives of the ori huma. And it was not cost-effective. It was expensive to transfer weapons and goods from another dimension and the natives were poor.