Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth had prepared enough merchandise for the store and decided to concentrate his efforts on his studies. The success in making the "Necrotic Troll Skin"-Set showed him that he did not have to concentrate on just the crafting aspects taught at the Bard College.

If he got a better idea of the demons and their history, he would not need the advice of others like Trith to know where else he could look for good effects. He also visited other courses like Song Writing, Poetry and tried to learn how to read notes.

In the following weeks, he left the store in the care of the Administration. With the plans they made it would take some time until the grand opening. Marry and Jane were busy finding employees and taking care of furnishing the shop.

The Tower Master's only job in this was giving his approval on the budget and plans. Other than that, he spent his time either with Mina on her days off or at the College.

In his pursuit for knowledge, he also got closer to Ember. She was mischievous and liked pranks but was trustworthy otherwise. She was also a total music nerd and a big help along the way in learning the more creative things.

His singing skill had soon almost caught up to his sewing skill, becoming <Singing (Beginner) lv.8>. And not just the ordinary singing skill grew, but <Orpheus' Voice> also reached lv. 4.

Another skill he managed to gain in his studies was <Rune Mastery> which also reached lv.4 thanks to the combination of his <Universal Translation> and <Demon Language> which had become Adept lv. 7 by now.

Another Tower Master thing was meeting the new members the Lords brought in.

Bulko had called an old friend of his. Otto was a Journeyman Pharmacist. Although he lacked the attribute boost of the blessing, his skills were genuine. He also came across a promising healer from Delta. His name was Orion, or at least he called himself that.

They got a contract from Mary and Seth handed them a sigil ring each. With this, the medical wing was staffed.

Monique similarly found a healing mage specialized in water magic and a shaman that could heal and attack. They were brothers called Ray and Shay with levels in the mid-40s. They had been working as a duo until now and had proven their worth in the dungeon.

After a few dives with them, Monique decided to get them onboard. With the addition of these two the crafters could finally concentrate on production. Alison and Evee were grinding Potions while Link was cooking like there was no tomorrow.

Seth didn't give Evee the new armor immediately. He wanted to make it an event and give every member their new gear when the time was right. It was not complete without a pair of gauntlets anyway.

The new members were allowed to choose a few pieces from the items prepared for the store. His care did not stretch as far as to make personalized armor for the new guys, yet.

But Seth did not just study and laze around. He also joined the two parties on a few trips to the dungeons. The 5 trips he joined were barely enough to help him level up to 44. Because the abilities of a bard needed a lot of memory, he used a part of his ability points to increase his INT to 70 and distributed the rest on the other attributes.

3 Weeks after choosing the location the grand opening was finally announced. The store looked just like Seth had imagined. The lowest floor featured an assortment of uncommon armors and weapons. There were also some of the weaker rare items among them.

Beside the armory was a separate counter that sold common and uncommon potions and similar products that Evee and Alison had crafted. They had made a breakthrough and ranked up their skill some time ago.

They were currently grinding uncommon potions, but most of those were held back for the Field Service of Minas Mar. The store mostly sold the stocked-up common merchandise.

On the second floor were any kind of uncommon and rare accessories and the rare armaments like the blooddrinker weapons Seth had brought from Ora. Seth had decided to sell them since he could make much better ones now if needed. And they could be a great advertisement.

The third floor was a restaurant that served Link's cuisine. The gourmet hunter's cooking had already reached the taste of fine dining. The prices charged seemed astronomical at first but considering that many of his dishes were able to increase the stats of people below a certain threshold they were appropriate.

Only a few restaurants had started selling such foods in Delta, yet. This kind of food not only needed a high cooking skill, but also a vast knowledge of ingredients and their powers. And who could have better knowledge in that, than a gourmet hunter?

But the hunter had not just improved in the kitchen. It became apparent during the few times Seth and Link had entered the dungeon together recently. Since Link was able to concentrate on cooking and eating, his own stats had tremendously increased, and he had also inherited some peculiar skills from the ingredients.

Skills like <Poinson Claw> and <Tough Skin>. The hunter had a hard time using poison claw in a fight, but tough skin was a good skill to increase defense for a short time.

The only thing Seth was not quite sure about was the name. Above the entrance was a big sign displaying the name "The Turquoise Anvil". He had not chosen the name, but he understood where they were coming from.

Jane seemed very proud of the name, so Seth simply accepted it. There had been quite a bit of promotion going on for the last 3 weeks and a crowd of adventurers had assembled in front of the entrance.

The VIP of the opening was Leana. Fin had passive aggressively pressured her into it and now a princess of the Chrona Empire was opening their store. This lured in not just people of Delta but also Demons and people of the Empire.

"Then without further ado, I shall open this-"

"I won't accept it!" a whiny scream came from among the crowd.

"You! Time and time again I told you that I won't accept this kind of store here!" a man with a slim figure and long curly hair closed in on Jane swinging an accusing pointer. His brown mane swung around wildly as he gesticulated like a conductor

"I don't want to have a shop with those ugly armors and weapons in the vicinity of my outlet!"

One had to mention here, that Seth's products followed the dwarven principles. His products followed a traditional design that put effectivity above anything else. The blacksmiths of Delta had an inclination to make fantasy armors and weapons.

As such Seth's weapons were very conservative in comparison. The raging maniac was the designer Neeco Boos, the crazy cook who started the superhero suit trend.

Seth had stepped over his shadow and opened his store beside this man's crazy store and it totally freaked the other out. Perfect. He felt a lot better with his choice of location. He couldn't help but grin from ear to ear.

"I will open this shop!" the princess ignored the raving lunatic and officially opened their store. The crowd flowed into the store.

"NOOOO!" Neeco kneeled as if a searing arrow hit his very soul. Seth couldn't help but burst out in laughter.

"Why are you laughing, you cretin!?"

"Couldn't help myself. This is hilarious."

"Do you know who I am?"

"I do. It makes this even better. But do you know who I am?"

"Some nobody taking joy in a celebrity's anguish."

"Some nobody responsible for the celebrities anguish," he said laughing and entered his shop.

"Wait, what?" the man exclaimed and followed suit.