Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The first items he brought out for forging, were six Minotaur horns.

The most fitting weapon he had chosen to make from these was called Sagaris. A Sagaris could take on the form of a battle-axe, a war hammer or a war pike at times. It was great for something like the horn of a Minotaur and had a place in Olympian Myths.

However, although these were the most fitting, Seth wanted to try something else first. What he wanted to try first was the signature weapon of a Minotaur. A giant, two-headed axe, too big to be wielded by ordinary men.

Although he could give it to one of the bigger golems later, his reason was purely that he wanted to make one. What was the point of being a blacksmith that could make technically everything and not joke around a little?

But it wasn't all for the laughs, this was also a greater burden. Turning the curved bull horns into two flat axe blades was a process that would give him a good amount of proficiency.

Working with monster materials required a blacksmith to not only possess precise energy manipulation. Every material was different, but a basic rule was that the higher the rating of the material, the more mana it would take to process and reinforce it.

Along with the huge amounts of mana, the energy manipulation itself fed on mental energy. This was why smiths specializing in this kind of work, also had to put their attribute points into intelligence and willpower.

Thanks to his various passive buffs and his stat distribution, this was not that big a problem for the spirit blacksmith.

Standing in his smithy with two of the big horns placed on his anvil, Seth took a deep breath and concentrated on his energy flow, connecting it with Charon's Obol in his hands. He had to be careful not to activate the hammer option.

As Seth wanted to train his <Energy Manipulation 2>, he sustained from using the hammer option that allowed him to forge any material at the cost of mana. Using the hammer as a medium, he began driving his mana into the horn.

Hit by hit, he infused the horn with his mana and slowly made it malleable until he could forge it like hot metal. The blacksmith started by straightening the bent horn before slowly drawing it out into the rough shape of an axe blade.

After flattening and refining the shape a little more, Seth did the same with the second blade. By the time he finished these two parts, he was covered in sweat. Working without the hammer's function and the anvil's improved crafting speed took more from him than he thought.

All the while singing the ballad of decay, in addition, tired him out a lot. Because of that, he took a break before continuing with finishing the head. Seth knew that he used the decay-effect often, but it was a great ballad in his opinion.

To connect the two individual blades, he brought out an ingot of <Olympian Silver>. He started off, as he would for an ordinary axe, by punching and drifting a hole for the handle. Instead of turning the material to the left and right into blades, he split it and used the as fitting for the horn blades.

Using <Energy Manipulation> he was able to meld these very different materials together as if he welted them, ending up with a very clean look from the outside and a reliable structural strength for the axe head.

The shaft for the giant axe had been graciously donated by Karina, who was able to create naturally grown staffs. Seth had made sure to have a good amount of those for various weapons. The hangingtree's wood was surprisingly dense and sturdy and satiated to the brim with magic. The rare wood was great for the shafts of polearms.

With the fitting of the axe head on the shaft, he got the system's notification that there was a synergy with his trait and that the weapon was finished. He had not actually expected this and it was not the most surprising.

<Sacrilegious Labrys

Epic

Phys. Damage: 2000

Mag. Damage: 700

Durability: 2800

1. +45% Additional Damage in Dark Places

2. +80% Additional Unholy Damage

3. +40% Skill Damage

4. +25% Magic Damage

5. Active Skill: Unholy Slash

6. Passive Skill: Grievous Wounds

7. Passive Skill: Strength of the Minotaur EX

8. Active Skill: Cleave

A ceremonial axe from the Minoan culture that was defiled as a weapon by King Minos' darkest secret, the Minotaur. By creating the defiled weapon from the descendants of the beast, Craftsman Smith has brought a sacrilegious weapon, that should not exist.

Requirement: 300 Strength >

Considering that the axe still had no enchantments, it was very powerful.

But what Seth really surprised was the correlation between King Minos, the Minotaur, and its signature weapon. The blacksmith had not known that the giant double-bladed axes that Minotaurs often carried in dungeons and labyrinths had such a cultural background.

Especially not one so strong, that it would activate his trait and change it into a kind of unholy weapon with no less than four skills.

Passive Skill: Strength of the Minotaur EX was the stronger version of the skill on the sanguine weapons, adding 50 to strength and endurance of the user at a mana cost of 20 per minute.

Passive Skill: Grievous Wounds were the effect of the ballad of decay, causing wounds to be harder to heal and fester quickly.

Active Skill: Unholy Slash was an energy slash that dealt 150% of the weapon damage as unholy damage. While Cleave was relatively self-explanatory from the name.

What made him ponder was that it actually had less additional magic skill damage than the sanguine weapons, despite using more Minotaur materials. His only explanation was that this was most likely because the hangingtree's wood was lacking compared to <Olympian Silver>

If Seth were to infuse a soul in addition there was a good chance for the first two passive skills to become permanent options. Together with enchantments, Seth could see it becoming a relic if he finished it later. He oped to maybe get his hand on a Minotaur's soul before he finished the axe.

For now, he wanted to grind his <Energy Manipulation> which had gained a good amount of proficiency as expected. If he kept going like this, he saw a good chance to upgrade the skill within the next hours.

Next, he made a Sagaris from one of the horns. It was an axe-style sagaris with a spike on the opposite side of the blade, similar to a fire axe.

<Horn Sagaris

Rare

Phys. Damage: 1400

Durability: 1800

1. +25% Skill Damage

2. +10% Magic Damage

3. Active Skill: Wind Blade

4. Active Skill: Cleave

5. Passive Skill: Strength of the Minotaur++

6. Passive Skill: Grievous Wounds

An ancient axe style recreated by Craftsman Smith. The element of wind was imbued into the weapon through special means. >

Although it was good weapons, Seth's expectations were betrayed. Unlike the labrys, there was no reaction to his trait. It also had the skill Grievous Wounds because he used the decay ballad on it.

Sometimes he lamented that he had no Olympian ballads, they might have increased the chance for a synergy. On the other hand, he probably didn't have a talent for them...

The only thing special about the Sagaris was that the hammer's option had activated and imbued it with wind attribute damage. It was only rare for now, but it might become an epic weapon once he put enchantments on it, but it was not the time for that.

The blacksmith made another Sagaris of similar style and again the hammer proceed. This time it imbued an armor penetration bonus on the spike.

Seth eyed his hammer, Charon's Obol suspiciously. He could not help but feel that the frequency of its effects had increased ever since he returned from Keväti Kuinen. Checking the hammer with <Blacksmith's Eyes> he found all its effects slightly improved.

He tended to forget that the hammer was constantly growing, the soul of the Bone Dragon and his increased work with <Olympian Silver> must have given it quite the boost, maybe it would become a relic in the not too far future?

The bard made a mental note, the growth of his hammer was another thing he had to keep an eye on. The effects it was able to imbue depended on the materials he processed with the hammer. The question was should he be more careful about the materials he used, to confine the random options to things he judged positive? Or was it better to increase the overall repertoire by using various materials?

Shaking his head he got back in the game. His skill proficiency was going up and that was what mattered. He had to keep going if he wanted to stay on schedule and finish the dungeon in time.