Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The following days grew hazy as he kept working and only slept when he was too tired to keep working. His only breaks were for food and water.

A Shield for Tekar, Monique's Armor, Lixiss' Staff, Bulko's gear...

But it was still not enough. So, he started to also make equipment for Lydia and the other members of the field service that were not parts of the Lords like Ray and Shay.

After the armors, he started making jewelry for everyone. Finally, the first thing to break through was <Enchantment> while <Blacksmith> was still some distance away from ranking up.

It was a trance he had experienced before. Like a machine, he kept making items. Al'Salzar and Puffles actually needed to remind him to eat and drink.

Only the things he did just before finishing really stood out to him when he remembered back to these days.

Fin's Amor.

Seth drank another stamina potion to keep his concentration as he worked on this finicky piece of art. He didn't use the forge for this but was sitting at the jeweler's table with a big magnifying glass in front of his face.

Fin already had a robe made by Nädel and infused with a soul by him. He would improve it further when they met again.

What Seth worked on were tiny greaves, gauntlets, and jewelry for the fairy brute. As a specialist in close quarters combat these would help increase Fin's damage output.

Instead of simply trusting the auto-sizing function, Seth made the items fitting for Fin. Auto-Sizing had its limits too and this way he could use a useful enchantment instead.

Another reason was that he was using demonic gold and it would count to his <Goldsmith> skill which slightly lacked behind <Blacksmith> and <Enchantment> in proficiency.

Seth meticulously heated up the small gold plates to forge and bend them roughly into shape. He used this chance to chant "The Brawlers Manifesto" it was a short song like a nursery rhyme.

He used it because it had immediately made him think of the little fairy when he read it the first time. The books described the effects a very conditional.

It was the kind of blessing where the demon offering the power would watch the fight and grant power depending on his satisfaction with the wearer.

As Seth was using <Channeling> during the chant the only thing transmitted to him was a chuckle and the feeling of interest. He couldn't really interpret its meaning.

The greaves were quite simple while the gauntlets needed some more intricate work. He lacked the material or even skills to make something like fairy-sized leather gloves for inside the gauntlets.

As a workaround, the gauntlets became less like metal gloves and more like armored knuckle dusters for fairy hands. He used the <Sky Silk> to make straps for the armor parts.

The armor pieces were very small which restricted Seth to using simple enchantments. And even with the magnifying glass he barely managed to engrave one per armor piece.

The stronger effects would need to come from the soul armament he planned to infuse. He engraved the gauntlets with strength but could not engrave the greaves as they would overlay with the enchantments on the soul.

The most obvious change with <Enchantment> on craftsman rank was that he could use up to 3 enchantments on one piece which he directly used.

A great point of <Demonic Gold< was not just that it was strong enough to act as armor, but also that it still kept the property of <Arcane Gold> which was to store mana. The mana from the material was enough to make these simple enchantments permanent and lend additional mana.

Seth used a medium-sized common soul for each of the greaves and enchanted them with the complex circuit of strength. He did this thinking of the effect of Fin's gear that would multiply damage depending on the strength difference with the target.

As for the gauntlets... In a fit of megalomania, Seth wanted to replicate the effect of Evee's gauntlets.

Using a strengthened <Cold Soul>, he spent some of the precious <Soul Ink> and inscribed his own song <Ode to the Queen> onto the soul armaments before infusing them into the gauntlets.

He didn't know whether this would work or not, but ever since he had the idea, he couldn't stop imagining Fin spawning demon insects her size with every hit. With great expectations he dunked the finished pieced into the waters of Styx.

<

Power Greaves (Left)

Power Greaves Set 1/2

Epic

Phys. Def.: 450

Mag. Def.: 425

Durability: 2050

1. +200 Mana

2. 5% Overall Powerup under the open sky

3. +5% Mana Regeneration

4. +135 Strength

6.+10% Chant Reduction

Tiny golden greaves made by the deft hands of Journeyman Smith. Any martial artist would love to have these if he could wear them.

Set Effect:

+10-35% Attack Speed in Unarmed Combat

+10-35% Damage in Unarmed Combat

>

Unexpectedly the special effect of Charon's Obol had triggered on the greaves which led to them granting Chant Reduction. Seth only observed them shortly before he put his attentions on the gauntlets.

< Frostmoth-Duster (Left)

Relic

Frostmoth-set 1/2

Damage: 350

Phys. Def.: 450

Mag. Def.: 425

Durability: 2050

1. +300 Mana

2. +5% Overall Powerup under the open sky

3. +10% Mana Regeneration

4. 10% additional Frost Damage

5. +10% less damage from Frost related attacks

6. +30 Strength

Tiny golden gauntlets made by the deft hands of Journeyman Smith. Any martial artist would love to have these if he could wear them.

Enemies will quake in fear and cold.

Once rumors of the set's effects spread or it plays a role in the wearer's ascend to a legend, the item might become legendary.

Set Effect:

+10-35% Attack Speed in Unarmed Combat

+10-35% Damage in Unarmed Combat

Not the Moths!

Every Strike with Frostmoth-Duster had a 35% chance to spawn between 1 and 5 demonic Frostmoths that attack the target.

>

Seth was a little surprised. He had bet on demon wasps... would Fin be fine with spawning butterflies on hit? Well, he couldn't change it at this point. The fact the ballad even worked as an inscription was a great fortune.

~ Don't look down on Frostmoths. They are quite dangerous monsters when met in the wild. ~

"Really?"

~ They look like dark blue butterflies at first glance but when they attack they will cover their victim in the dust of their wing scales which will drain mana and warmth out of anyone hit. They will then proceed to feed on the incapacitated prey. Only dried-out and frozen husks are left of their victims. ~

A literal cold shower went down Seth's back.

Looking at his skills he was now at the cusp of <Goldsmith (Journeyman) lv. 9>. The same was true for <Blacksmith>. But Seth wasn't done yet. Next were Fin's accessories.

A circlet and necklace for the fairy.

The circlet was about the size of a pinky ring and made from thin <Demonic Gold> and <Fey Steel> wires the blacksmith braided and flattened. He simply infused a medium-sized soul with strength into the circlet.

The epic-rated circlet made the proficiency bar barely budge.

For the necklace, he made a tiny pendant from <Cold Copper> and used <Sky Silk> as the chain. Although copper was just an uncommon material, it had a good affinity with the Cold Souls from the ice trolls.

He didn't know whether the moth's attacks could damage Fin, so he decided to try and give her more resistance to ice.

<Frosty Necklace

Epic

Mag. Def.: 325

Durability: 900

1. +150 Mana

2. +10% Overall Powerup under the open sky

3. +35% less damage from Frost Related Attacks

4. +15% Affinity to Ice

5. +135 Strength

A tiny pendant on a string made by the incomprehensible Journeyman Smith.

Who is supposed to wear this? Ants? >

Was the system getting agitated...? He was too. It was still not enough to overcome the few percent that separated him from the rank up.

If he couldn't do it with quality, he would do it with quantity.

There were still 2 points on his list. He needed to make soul armament weapons to fight Zarkists and he wanted to make soul armors for everyone to guard against something like the weapons he was going to give them...

Just to protect their souls it didn't need anything fancy or expensive since full coverage was enough. A full suit for everyone in Minas Mar meant about 60 soul armaments. it was a good thing he was able to stock up on souls just recently.

Seth started with the 15 daggers for the 13 lords without Mina and 3 members of the field service. He lacked epic material and used <Mithril> instead.

<Soul Piercer

Epic

Damage: 825

Durability: 1800

1. +45 Agility

2. +45 Strength

3. +45 Willpower

4. Soulbound

A simple dagger forged by Journeyman Smith and enchanted with superior skills. Mysterious techniques have enabled the weapon to hurt an opponent's soul. >

Although they were "only" epic, they gave Seth almost 0,3% each which was more than double what he got for other epic-rated items. Was it because of the ranked up <Enchantment>?

Because of this <Blacksmith> finally ranked up on the eighth dagger.

He did it! Finally. The tension fell off him. He didn't mind that he had only finished half the daggers. He crawled on the bed and fell asleep.