Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

After the meeting was finally over and their intentions were conveyed, the members and future members of Minas Mar got ready to return to Delta.

Although the princess had asked whether they could take the refugees, Seth had denied it. On one hand, were the technical difficulties. On the other hand, he simply did not like them enough to let them visit their secret base for even just a moment.

He had spoken with the chimeras about staying with the caravan and they accepted when Seth told them about the benefits. They could gain a guaranteed citizenship in Delta and the empire would fork out a fitting pay for the chimeras and Minas Mar.

~ Okay to set up the beacon formation you have to... ~

Unsuccessfully the great sorceress tried to explain the intricate details of a spatial formation to Seth and the others. In the end, she could only sigh.

~Just summon me. I will do it. There is something I have to give you anyway. ~

Seth was apprehensive for just a moment, but once the beacon was set, they would be able to return home anyway. He should be able to give up this trump card for now. So he summoned Al'Zalsar the almost legendary sorceress for the first time in weeks.

Her tall voluptuous figure with curves in all the right places had not changed one bit from his memories. It was the first time for some of them to see her and even Duhu who had completely different beauty standards could only stare slack jawed.

Poor Evan's brain almost melted as he was torn between ogling her revealing outfit and showing decency by looking away. His hand also made a weird dance between covering his eyes and pulling away.

"Finally, I have returned," she stated and stretched relaxed, letting out some ambiguous moans.

"How long will you need to set up the formation?" Seth swallowed and asked.

"heh." she scoffed and looked at him like a predator.

"Oh no..." he had fallen for her ruse! He had summoned the greatest danger himself.

Before he could react, he was caught by the gruff and couldn't escape.

"Mina, help me!"

"Oh ho! Don't worry, I did not forget about your little girlfriend. She will join us."

"What!?" Mina cried out in a panic, but before the drama could unfold, she was caught too and the three had vanished into Seth's tent. Shortly after a barrier materialized that stopped any interference.

She was surprisingly gentle with the couple leaving both of the behind only exhausted.

"You better get to work once you return." with that she dematerialized.

Before she vanished, she left two tomes in the tent.

~These are the manuals and blueprints you need to create the spatial beacon and my vessel. ~

That's right. She had not taken them out of an inventory or written them down. The sorceress had used the enchanter's skill to create things like the Enchantment Scrolls blacksmiths could use to learn enchantments.

This was simply the Grandmaster-level of this skill. In one go, she had compiled all enchantments and instructions needed to build something into a tome that could be immediately learned by reading it.

With this, Seth would have no trouble creating her vessel or building the spatial beacon. And if anything was not clear, she was still there after all. It just saved her a lot of time explaining complicated stuff to the numbskull that was Seth.

Said blacksmith had barely enough power to lift his arm and put the tomes in his inventory. He could only read them later. First, he needed to catch up on some sleep.

Mina and Seth were not seen again until the morning of the next day.

When he woke up, he felt a lot better. It was not just the direly needed sleep, but also the realization that this odyssey was over.

With the still sleeping Mina in his arms, he brought out the manual for the spatial beakon. The moment he opened the tome, page by page, the knowledge was projected in his mind. It felt similar to using a skill scroll as the foreign knowledge was crammed into his brain.

"ouh..." he moaned when it was finally over.

He felt like a massive headache was coming over him, after this kind of procedure. Seth decided that it was better to ask someone to appraise the tome for Al's vessel before he used it. It felt like these items should have an intelligence requirement and he had barely fulfilled those for the spatial beacon.

"Are you okay?" Mina mumbled as she hugged him tightly. As an answer he just hugged her back.

What was a little headache? He now knew how to get back home. All he needed to do was lay out the formation that would stabilize the spatial travel, insert the core sent by Evee and give it a strong power source for the signal. And he already knew exactly what to use for that power source.

The soul of Zarkon's Champion.

Of course, he could have used a different soul for this, but Seth had a hunch that he did not want to keep this soul. As tempting as making something with a living soul was, he had that weird premonition that he should not keep it.

He had learned to listen to his intuition. He had enough items and skills that gave it credibility.

After washing up and getting dressed he went to the field kitchen to get something to eat for Mina and himself. It was early noon, so he came just in time to get what was left of breakfast and some of the stuff for lunch.

Mina and Seth happily shared a brunch before he called his people together to inform them about their next steps.

"Puffles, we have to leave and look for a place to set up the formation."

~You just woke up and already want to leave...? ~ Puffles asked lazily

Seth remembered the landscape he had scouted on the search for the allied forces had a lot of blank cliffs and places that looked like quarries. It was a great place to look for a flat surface and carve a magic circle into.

Although he had thought it could be interesting to look around that area, at this point it seemed too much of a hassle to travel that far. He didn't really want to return there right now but he still mentioned this possibility to the others.

"Why would you make the formation so far away? Just stay close, okay?" Mina saw right through him.

"Traveling this far in such a small group might be dangerous for our weaker members," Duhu mentioned, gesturing at the group of children around Pip.

Mina gave him a personal excuse not to go and Duhu a logical one. Gladly he took this chance to let go of the thought of that area. Was there treasure lurking in those remnants? Maybe. But did he need more treasure?

He just wanted to get home.

"Alright, we will just scout the area close by to find a suitable place for the formation," he exclaimed happily.

"Maybe I could ask the trees-?"

"Judging by the geology of the area, the mountains in the vicinity should have some places fit for the purpose. You should look further north from here." Wedan suddenly mentioned.

"How do you know that?" Pip asked interestedly. She had wanted to ask the nature for a good place, but before she could finish, Wedan had already spoken up.

"I may not be a mason, but I am still a dwarf. My ancestors would be ashamed if I could not do some simple geology." Wedan answered proudly.

The small mountain range they were currently in continued and grew taller further north. If Seth remembered correctly, these were a branch of the mountain range that separated the southern districts from Omega in the north.

"Alright then, north it is. "

"Fin wants to come along! Mountains are dangerous." Fin suddenly shouted and took her traditional seat on Seth's head.

For a moment he thought about declining her. He was able to become invisible if there was any real danger and Puffles... Seth was unsure if there was something that could pose a real danger to the ivicer.

On the other hand, Fin was small and fast. And-

"I almost forgot!" Seth suddenly exclaimed surprising the others.

Then Santa Seth started pulling out chests and boxes from his inventory. Over their chaotic reunion, the blacksmith had not gotten the chance to upgrade his followers, yet.

As Fin had reminded him, she was the first to receive a small jewelry chest, which to her was the size of a big treasure trove. Inside she found the tiny pair of greaves, pseudo-gauntlets, a necklace, two bangles, and a Soul Piercer the size of a toothpick.

Her eyes sparkled as everything was made to fit her size and could be further adjusted with tiny leather straps. She was brimming with a thirst for battle after Seth finished. The fairy brute hugged his cheek so tightly that it felt like he got a bruise from it.

Maybe this was the wrong move, Seth thought as he watched the fairy enthusiastically punching the air. Just how much more terrifying would she become, when demonic frost moths spawned with her every strike?

Next was Mike, who stopped listening to him the moment he had given out the new sword. Flaming Fury immediately piqued his interest, and his obsession grew when Seth explained the blessing of violence.

"I guess you are okay with only the sword? Maybe I should give the rest to someone else..." for a moment he thought of simply keeping the rest of his equipment.

This Sword-lunatic was probably unable to appreciate his hard work. When Mike heard his word, he looked up in shock and immediately start whacking his tail.

"No! No! I'm sorry. Please, great Master Smith, bestow upon me your grace! This filthy worm did not mean to disrespect!" he fell to his knees and begged but couldn't keep a straight face himself.

Seth also couldn't help but laugh.

"Fine, fine. Stop the act, you sword-loon. Just listen to me when I explain."

With that, Seth continued to hand out everyone's new equipment, even Mike got the rest of his. Lyxiss got her new staff, the Ring of the Ice Witch, and earrings similar to his, made from volcanic glass for fire and earth affinity.

Seth didn't have any specialized materials at the time, so he focused on Bulko's needs when he made his equipment. He got a full epic leather armor that primarily increased his status resistances and mana pool.

Additionally, he got a mace that also acted as a scepter for casting spells. So, it was more like a scepter for hitting people?

Bulko was the last one and with that Yulecat's Fur had gotten a full upgrade to epic and above equipment.

Now that Fin was a whole lot more dangerous than before, he felt they were ready to set off.