Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Sitting at the enchanting table he set everything up to start working on the right vambrace. The acid this time was a dreadful sludge that Alison came up with during her experiments with different acid recipes.

This stuff was so potent that it could even corrode the flesh of high-level creatures and instantly cause sepsis and necrosis. The divinities he wanted to stir for this vambrace was the light god's double property of healing and the plague.

Finding a plague demon was easy. There were dozens of demons that specialized in plagues and diseases. Fittingly there were hundreds of literary works dedicated to them. On the contrary, it was a lot harder to find demons that dealt with healing diseases.

Looking for a fitting demon and researching the work of other bards took quite some time and was not easy. Finally, he had found the demon that fit the bill. Barbas, a demon of secrets. Similar to Apollo, he had a few specialties, and one of them was causing and healing disease. He was also a demon that taught mechanical art, which made Seth feel sympathetic.

The poem he was now etching onto his right vambrace spoke of equivalent exchange. One cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. Seth liked the described effects because they were easy to understand and had no additional price. The enchantment would always have the same power.

When he channeled the power, he could almost feel the smirk of someone looking forward to a show. Some demons had long fallen asleep, others were like gods. They graved entertainment, which was why many demonic enchantments came with the price of their donors' surveillance.

This one was a little different. The described effect was called Demonic Debt. One could imagine it as a scale. The power allowed one to cause and heal diseases, however, by healing diseases one became indebted to Barbas, and by causing disease one paid the debt. The interesting part was that Barbas could also become indebted to the user if he brought more suffering than healing.

Either way, Barbas would get his fun. He would either watch the user bring disease on people or if the user was a good person, he could pay the debt by suffering the disease themselves.

Seth had chosen this one because he had a definite way to control which of the two aspects would be active at the time. After the last demonic rune was drawn, they all lit up for a moment a sign of completion, and the effect was added to the vambrace.

The last step was the soul. At first, he thought of using one of the souls he had at hand, but they were all unfitting for the enchantment he intended to use. This was why he had made a trip to Tano'Mol's shop the other day.

Seth still had to chuckle, when he remembered how flustered the goat was when he came to collect the debt so early. The demon was close to crying when he chose this soul, as one of his two freebies, and left the shop without having to pay.

<Soul of a Brave( Big, Rare)

The soul of a nameless brave who was denied a hero's death. Attack power improves when facing strong adversaries.>

Seth didn't quite know what it meant that it was denied a hero's death, but the effects fit what he needed. As the description said, it would increase his attack power, depending on the challenge he was facing. It was just short of a hero's ability to exponentially grow when fighting an overwhelming opponent.

As for the enchantment the blacksmith had chosen for the right vambrace, it was called "Call of the Keres". The Keres were the spirits of violent or cruel death, such as death in battle, or death by ravaging disease in Olympian mythology. Seth was rather sure that this enchantment also had the effect of improving strength in battle.

After he turned the brave's soul into the mirror image of the right vambraces, he started engraving the sigil. It looked like a stylized swarm of winged creatures that gave him a feeling of slight discomfort. He was glad that he couldn't feel a presence in his back, so this one also did not count as the blessing of a deity.

Once he finished the Sigil, the swarm of winged creatures grew, until a sea of them covered the soul vambrace. Feeling a little uneasy, he still decided to continue and infuse the soul vambrace into the right scorpion vambrace.

Once again, the notifications sounded.

<Ding! An antagonistic reaction of powers has changed your item.>

<Ding! You have finished a legendary item! +1 to all attributes.>

<Ding! Your Skill: Blacksmith (Craftsman) lv.6 had become Blacksmith (Craftsman) lv.7!>

<Blacksmith> had now also reached level seven, while the proficiency bar on enchantment made a noticeably smaller jump than on the previous level. Looking at it like this, he might not even be able to reach level 8, even if all the following armor parts were also legendary.

This cursed exponentially increasing proficiency requirement. He shook his head in defeat and finally looked at the vambrace he had just finished.

"Lesath? Again with the weird names," he thought when he read the name. <Universal Translation> told him it meant something like a venomous sting or bite.

<Lesath

Legendary

Scorpio Set 1/X

Phys. Def.:2500

Mag: Def:2400

Durability: 6666

1. 80% Damage Negation

2. Complete Weapon Damage Negation

3. +35% Spell Damage

4. +20% Damage in the Dark

5. +25 Agility

6. +5% Movement Speed

7. +40% Damage Reflection

8. Active Skill: Demonic Debt

9. Active Skill: Scale of Apollo

10. Active Skill: Call of the Keres

11. Passive Skill: Brave's Disposition

Set Effects: To be updated.

Second part of a celestial set, planned and crafted by the gifted hands of Craftsman Smith.

Using divine and legendary materials, coupled with godly and demonic powers he created a piece that is seeking its equal. With nigh invincibility and a set of powerful skills, it would even shine apart from its set.

Requirements: Seth Smith>

Why had the last sentence changed so much?! Were bardic skills really that unpopular? He stared at the flavor text for a moment, before his attention went back to the effects. Obvious, the first few were the same, as he intended for all the armor parts to share these.

The Demonic Debt was exactly as described in the book. The skill offered either to give the next attack the property to cause diseases called the Plague Fall, or offered the use of a Healing Hand that could cure diseases and injury on touch. Causing disease would give him credits, while healing would accrue debt. It was rather straightforward.

The interesting thing was how the divine power of Apollo had reacted to the enchantment of Barbas. While Demonic Debt was a back-and-forth he could control, Apollo's Scale would automatically react to the setting of the debt.

If Seth caused disease and gained credit, the Demonic Debt would have the attribute of healing, causing Apollo's Scale to turn into Healing Tunes. No matter what music he played, the ability to heal his allies would be added to it automatically.

But if it was the other way around and the bard used the healing properties of Demonic Debt and accrued debt, Apollo's scale would turn into Plague Wave, which would attack to his music and cause a plague status to all enemies in range.

Seth felt that this was probably the most complicated mechanic in one of his items, so far.

Call of Keres was a simple self-buff that could improve all kinds of damaged that would cause a "violent death". Since plague counted to this, it had a good synergy with the two disease options.

Lastly, there was the Disposition of a Brave. It had the same effects that were mentioned in the soul description. It would give the wearer the potential to grow in unfavorable circumstances. The skill description was rather vague about what counted as "unfavorable" and how much the growth was.

This one was a bit of a shame since Seth really disliked getting into unfavorable situations in general. It wasn't that big of a deal. He shrugged and checked one last time that the two finished vambraces fit seamlessly with the Trignis Gloves when equipped.

Satisfied with his work he stretched and tidied up the workshop. Seth was in a good mood. He was ready to work until deep in the night, but finished up for the day a lot sooner than expected.

…

The mighty sounds of the heavy Labrys cutting through the air echoed through the mountains. Overflowing muscles gave off wisps of vapor and drops of sweat flew through the air, as he swung his weapon.

Asterion, the bull-headed warrior was training at the entrance of Minas Mar. Only wearing a skimpy leather outfit that exposed his defined body. Since Seth had told him, that he could do whatever he wanted, as long as he guarded the entrance, the Minotaur had started training in the cold mountain air.

From the entrance, he could hear the jiggles and squeals, but he took it a challenge to tamper his mind. Over there, was a group of people, led by the tiny humanoid Fin. At some point, they had made it their routine to come at some point of the day and watch him train.

He tried not to train, but they still appeared and watched him from afar. At first, their grimy gazes had made his skin crawl. He could feel their dirty thoughts. However, now, he had tempered himself to be able to ignore these "fans".

"Oh, my. What an interesting creature... or rather a creation?" a wizened voice suddenly spoke up behind Asterion, making the Minotaur almost jump out of his skin.

He was used to being able to detect everything in his surroundings, but somehow an old man had sneaked up on him. In one fluid motion, the bull-barbarian changed his scared jump into a turn and faced the old man with a battle-ready stance.

"Hohoho, no need to be so on edge with this old man, " he said while playing with his beard.

"I was given his ring and told to come by and visit if I had the chance."

With that, he flashed a small golden ring with the crest of Minas Mar on it.