Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The moment Seth opened the book an enormous amount of knowledge kept pouring into his mind. The principles behind making a Golem, the theories behind Automatons. He learned dozens of foreign circuits, formations, and enchantments.

Finally, based on all this, came Al'Salzar's blueprint for her new body. Where Golems had a core that their body was formed around and Automatons an Energysource and a control unit, the sorceress combined these concepts with his ability to infuse souls.

In function alone, the token worked like a golem core, that materialized a flesh body, but a huge amount of Al'Salzars power was sacrificed in the process. It was very inefficient.

It was obvious that her idea was based on what happened with Evee. Permanent flesh on artificial bones. The problem was that she lacked Evee's immortal soul. This was why everything became a lot more complicated.

The theory and knowledge made Seth's brain overheat, but together with a giant headache he also understood the brilliance of the sorceress. To give a rough outline, she created a way to use the technology behind Automatons to produce a skeleton and turn the whole skeleton into a golem core.

Of course, the whole thing only worked with someone like Seth who could bind a soul to a physical object in a way that turned the object into a substitute of a body. She had spent a long time watching the blacksmith work, to understand the underlying concepts even Seth had no idea of.

"Urgh-"

Now he knew, he knew a lot. And it came at the price of an almost unbearable headache. Even equipping the golden fleece, with its healing magic, did not soothe his pain. He could only endure until the knowledge had firmly taken root in his mind.

For hours he kept tossing and turning in his bed until the headache finally reduced to a bearable level. His sheets were crumbled and drenched in sweat. He was completely exhausted. His mouth was dry, and his body felt weak.

An overbearing growl could be hard in the room. Seth closed his eyes and didn't move. Again, a commanding growl echoed from the depths of his bowels.

Hunger made his body move like a zombie. Or it didn't-

"Minas Mar, teleport be to the canteen."

With disheveled hair, wrinkly, moist pajamas, and dried drool on his chin, the imposing Tower Master of Minas Mat appeared lying down on a table in the canteen.

Surprised shouts and gasps could be heard as he had just crashed into the lunch break of the Oathguard. Seth had not expected people to be present in the canteen. Mina and the others had told him about the Oathguard, but it had not rally sunken in, that there was now permanent personal present in his tour.

The domineering complaints of his stomach brought his mind back on track. He was hungry.

"Link? Are you there?" he called out

The commotion had already spread to the kitchen, and the gourmet hunter had come out looking when he heard someone call for him.

"Seth?! What happened?" he exclaimed at the sight of the tower master slovenly lying on one of the lunch tables in the middle of food trays.

"I have a headache. I'm hungry. Please give me food. It's been ages since i had your cooking."

"Sure, sure. Erm...can you stand up? Let's go to the kitchen and I make you something fresh." he stammered to get Seth out of the situation. Although it did not look like the tower master cared, his reputation might take an even greater hit if he stayed here.

"Fine..." Seth mumbled and flopped off the table like a wet towel, before slowly standing up like an undead.

"Here, try this." Link said when he put a dish in front of Seth. There were something like noodles and a finely cut piece of meat with a cream-colored sauce. The smell made his mouth water. He flinched when he took the first bite.

The explosion of flavors hurt but there was no stopping after he took the first bite. He did not gobble it down like usual. Seth ate slowly but persistently, savoring every bite.

<Ding! Your Willpower has increased. +2>

<Ding! Your Intelligence has increased. +1>

To his surprise, his stats started rising from the food. Link must have finally managed to level up his cooking skills in the last weeks. Seth gained four Willpower and 3 Intelligence from the dish.

<Ding! Attack power +150%, Intelligence and Willpower +25 for 1 hour.>

Another message came after finishing the meal. The temporary increase in stats helped a lot with his headache. That wasn't the only thing, despite the hunger he felt before, he was completely satiated with just this one dish.

"Link, did your cooking skill increase?" he asked.

"Yes, it did. Thanks to the establishment of the Oathguard I get a lot more varied ingredients which helps in farming experience with new recipes, even though their ranking isn't that high."

"That's great to hear. I feel a lot better now, thank you." Seth stood up and padded the hunter's shoulder.

"By the way, what was that dish?"

"The tentacles of a mental squid and a filet of a Hypnotoad. They are only monsters around level 35, but with the right cooking method, they can still have a huge bonus even on people with a high level." Link explained happily.

"... I see. Oh, before I forget it, I have some work for you. How about meeting me at the dismantling are later?"

"Oh, I don't usually dismantle anything anymore. Monique hired some pretty talented hunters into the Oathguard."

"Hmm, but I believe you will want to dismantle these things yourself. The ingredients are plentiful and should be of high quality." Seh insisted, thinking of the giant snakes and apes.

"Okay, I will come there, when you need me." the gourmet hunter answered after a short silence.

Seth stretched for a moment before teleporting back to his quarters to get dressed. He was finally relaxed enough to wear the simple casual clothes made in Deltan again. When he stepped out of his room he was greeted by a crowd of people.

The information of his sudden appearance in the canteen had made the round and reached the Lords of Minas Mar who dropped whatever they were currently doing and assembled at the entrance of his room. Mina and Fin were immediately attached to him, happy that he finally woke up after several days.

There were also Duhu, Evan, Lynri, Wedan, Azul, the Archer, and Lydia.

When his eyes fell on the cybergoth his heart sank. She wore a dark heavy robe, and her hair was styled to hide the cursed scars. She looked a lot gloomier than he remembered. Although they had looked for ways to treat it before, there was no improvement while he was gone.

But now he had a brainwave. Maybe the skills of the Golden Fleece could cure her affliction. It wouldn't undo what happened, but he hoped she could return to her cheerful self afterward.

"It's a little cramped on here. Why don't we go to the meeting room and talk there?" Seth suggested and the moved location. After everyone took a seat, the first thing he wanted to do was speak to Lydia.

He was well aware, that he might have been a little neglectful of her situation before. Seth had left looking for a cure to others. He had a lot of time to think during his travel and wished to treat the people close to him with more care.

But before he could say anything Monique bombarded him with a business report.

He had heard a lot already from Mina and the others, but as his substitute, Monique gave a more coherent report on the recent activities of Minas Mar and the situation of Delta. There were also Mary and Jane to give updates on the more official proceedings.

There was a lot to talk about and catch up on.

"Is it really okay for us to hear this? Maybe we should leave for this part of the conversation?" Duhu suggested sensibly. He and some others present were not even official members of Minas Mar yet. Was it okay for them to hear this information?

"Oh, great you are bringing that up! How about we start with that? Mary, could you get the contracts ready for our new members?"