Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth, with Fin on his head, sat on Puffles who started running off into the distance. The ivicer stayed on the ground to save mana since they were unsure whether they would have to fight or not.

They were traveling in silence for roughly an hour which gave Seth time to once more go over the knowledge he had gained. Consciously remembering this knowledge was different than just having it shoved in his brain the first time.

This time he really understood the theories and steps one by one and could also make associations and connections with his own experience and knowledge. It gave him a few ideas about how he could improve the Rings of Minas Mar for example.

It was also a foundation he could use to further his knowledge in this area. Only now did he really realize how much of a gift this manual was. And this was just the simple beacon. Just what would the manual for Al'Zalsar's vessel hold in store for him?

~ You should really learn it as soon as possible. ~ the lich spoke up.

Sometimes there were really long breaks between her doing something or speaking up. Seth started suspecting, that her talking to him like this took a harder toll on her than she was willing to admit,

"Isn't there a restriction to use those things? The space beacon already gave me a headache," he spoke in his mind.

~ Tch, as expected of a numbskull like you. What's your current intelligence? ~

"Errm, 100 without items and 330 with Items"

~... Your items are really broken. Anyways, the minimum requirement for my vessel is 300 intelligence. You may get a mean headache but that's all. ~

"Fine, I will learn it when we return to the camp." he gave in.

"Seeth~ D-Did you miss Fin at all?" the little brute on his head suddenly spoke up after a while.

"Of course, I missed Fin."

"Fin also missed Seth. Fin misses the time when it was just the three of us."

~Oh, have you included the great me? ~

"Yes, Puffles is included."

"It's not like we were separated, Fin."

"But you are always working on something and if you aren't working you are with Mina. Don't you like Fin anymore? Fin hoped to save you this time but...even if you are in trouble, Fin can't come in time to shine..." the fairy kept rambling while drawing circles on his head.

"...I'm sorry Fin. Maybe I was a little too caught up in the work. Let's play more games together in the future. Or maybe you can come and accompany me in the workshop."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You mean it?"

"Sure, why are you doubting me?"

"Yay!"

Having emotionally extorted a promise from Seth, the fairy became much happier on their journey.

In the meantime, Seth had kept an eye on his <Map> but there was no suitable terrain yet. Just small valleys and mountains. Only once they entered the actual mountain range, did they come across a suitable terrain.

It was an almost even plateau. Seth wanted to carve the formation into a rock surface because this would help stabilize the overall function. Puffles flew up and landed on the wide surface and Seth dismounted to check the place.

"This seems okay. I will start sketching it, you guys should scout the area for danger," he said and brought out the chalk.

Puffles and Fin left while Seth started drawing complicated lines and geometrical patterns. He was half done when he heard steps behind him.

"hoh, this seems quite intricate. What are you doing here?"

Seth turned around and found a man looking like a magician. His robes looked quite magical and expensive, but they were dirty and ripped.

"I'm setting up a space beacon to return home. How about you? It seems like you had better days?" Seth did not stop sketching and answered freely.

"Wow! You already have that kind of technology in this world?" the old man asked innocently.

"First one is free. Anything more has to be paid." Seth answered with a smirk. He could audibly hear the other swallow in surprise before he coughed.

"Please excuse my intrusiveness."

"No harm done. Don't worry about it."

An awkward silence followed that was soon broken by Puffles swooping down on the plateau. The visitor stepped back in shock but did not run away.

~Bad news. Some people are fighting a rock giant a few valleys away. Obviously, I could take it on, but there is no need for unnecessary fights, right? We should leave before we are implicated ~

"That rock giant is really massive! Fin could barely see its head! It's tall as a mountain." Fin described wildly gesticulating with her tiny hands.

Seth glanced at the bedraggled wizard who awkwardly looked into the distance.

"So, tell me, are you hunting the rock giant, or did you accidentally provoke it?"

"W-What? I have no idea what you are talking about? Rock giant? What is that? Never heard of it..."

"You know, if you are honest with me, I might help you," Seth said with an alluring voice.

There was no way he would help them just like that. The scale-tipping information why he thought of helping these people was the rock giant itself. Of course, he didn't want to find a new place for the formation, too.

Said Rock Giant had just stepped into the range of his automapping and to Seth's surprise, it was a walking ore deposit. One quite different from the ones he had seen before. This one was golden as if to indicate how special it was.

How could he simply walk away from this? Especially if there was another party that could carry the losses and could be squeezed for profits. Now he just needed to make this old coot talk.

If they came to hunt it, they might have prepared a way to kill it. This would ease Seth's workload by a lot. If they were just surprised by it, they were practically cannon fodder.

"C-Can you really help?" the old man asked unsurely.

He warily looked at Puffles and Fin. Sure, the ivicer was impressive, but it was tiny compared to the walking mountain. He had planned to recover his mana here and then find a way to get his guard out of that situation.

"Sure, i could help, but what is in it for me?" the blacksmith asked as he mounted the giant centipede. The message was clear. He could either leave or go help those people.

The wizard only hesitated for a moment before he knelt down.

"My name is Xardus Dragglbot, and I am the court wizard of Myrrhtana. We indeed came to this world to hunt this stone giant. Our princess has contracted a terrible disease. To cure it we need the Cäellapis, which grows in the brain of some stone giants." the old man immediately spilled their tragic story to garner empathy.

"is that a real thing?" Seth thought in his mind to verify the information with Al.

~Hmm, I did hear about this material somewhere before. It is actually some kind of stone plant that grows in some earth-creatures like a brain tumor. But I have no idea about its medical uses. ~ the lich-dex explained.

"So, what went wrong?" Seth asked emotionlessly. He didn't want them to think they could get his help with a sad story.

"The beast we finally found using a huge number of resources and trans-dimensional detection magic turned out stronger than expected. It is actually a terrifying field boss. At the final moment it broke away from our array trap and... and..." he hesitated.

"You ran off to recover your mana while your subordinates keep it in check." Seth helped him with his story.

"Y-Yes..."

"Could we lure it back into that array? Will that kill it?"

"I don't think that is possible. It is in a berserk state and already knows about- "

"Let that be my worry. Would that kill it?"

"Yes, as long as it steps into the soul dispersion array and stays there for another 10 seconds."

"S-Soul dispersion?"

"Yes? It is the only way to kill such a huge beast without risking damaging the Cäellapis. "

"Tell me, how does that array work..."

Suddenly, Seth's face was directly in front of the kneeling old man's. Shocked he fell back on his butt.

"I- I can't disclose-"

"I will help you and consider this part of the payment. Your subordinates don't have much time, right? And don't forget about your poor princess. Speak~ "

He felt some strings tuck in the back of his mind, but for whatever reason the old man trusted Seth. What could go wrong? it wasn't like the young man asked for the blueprints. No harm would come from that. Xardus spilled the beans.

Following this, a plan formed in Seth's mind.