Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

<Ding! Goldsmith(Craftsman) lv.4 had become Goldsmith(Craftsman) lv.5>

In the morning of the day after tomorrow he finally managed to level his <Goldsmith> skill, he had wanted to get at least this far, before he finally started working on his cuirass.

Seth had several plates made from two and a half scale he had made over the past two days. They were the parts of the cuirass, the gorget, and the pauldrons. The first thing he did was get mentally prepared for the work and activate the different skills of Forgeright and Wraithguard.

Working with the composite materials was harder than he had expected. Considering, that they were both materials with a high resistance to almost everything, it made sense. Knowing this still didn't make the work easier, but thinking of the end result made him able to pull through.

Inspired by the original structure of the scorpion carapace, Seth decided on a design that diverted from his usually traditional style. The cuirass was more form-fitting and made of a few segments to allow for more mobility and flexibility. Obviously, also because Seth thought it would look pretty neat.

Once he was in the right head space he started swinging Charon's Obol, parting and forging the almost black plates. He had to strike the metal with all his power. It was different from the vambraces. The individual plates were bigger and slightly thicker, which meant there was a lot more material to move. Having to split his concentration between forging and singing the forging ballad also didn't help.

By the time he got to the parts for the back plate of the cuirass, he was already drenched in sweat and his muscles were screaming. Seth was also mentally exhausted from keeping up the forging ballad for this long. It was at this point that he put away everything for a moment and took a break.

He drank some water and walked a little to cool off. This wasn't the way. Of course, he could pull through with brute force. But this was not how things were supposed to be. Facing the process of working with legendary, highly resistant material, forced Seth to make a decision.

"Cerberus, pause whatever you are doing. I need my assistant here."

It was to use his forge assistant for the first time. The tower master decided that the merchandise for the Turquoise Anvil would not run out if he made Cerberus help him for a day or two.

This was the way to deal with hard work in a smithy. He did not have to carry the entire burden. While Seth guided the hammer, Cerberus strike it at his signal to bring in the force. With the help of Cerberus, he roughly forged out the parts, all the while singing the forging ballad.

With this method, the forging did not become much faster, but Seth was able to stay a lot calmer and more composed as he didn't have to exert as much force and energy. By the time the parts for the cuirass were roughly forged, the blacksmith still had the energy to also work out the tassets.

They were the party of the cuirass that would cover the transition to the cuisse, the armor for the upper thigh. Since this armor would not feature an armored skirt, like the Wyvern Cuirass, he also planned for thorough leg protection this time.

The armor would be overall less bulky than the Wyvern Cuirass, making it easier to wear the Sky Robe on top even when wearing the Golden Fleece and the Sky Silk Clothes under it.

"Thank you, Cerberus. You can return to your work now, I will call you if I need you again."

After forging all the parts with the golem's help, he took a short break to drink a recovery potion and eat a small meal. While he was eating he couldn't help thinking. Despite all the improvement his crafting stations gave him, he would have probably not managed to get this far in a day, without the help of Cerberus.

When the potion showed its effects and he felt better, the blacksmith returned to his anvil. All that was left was refining the rough parts and assembling the cuirass today and then maybe completely finish it the next day. Using the anvils horn and some other add-ons Seth started refining the parts they had previously forged out.

It became evening when he decided that the parts for the cuirass, pauldrons, and gorget were clean enough to continue the next steps. It would have been easier to finish the gorget first, but similar to the pauldrons, he wanted to finish the cuirass first to adjust the gorget to the cuirass.

The blacksmith used straps from the leftover leather of the Shadow Imugi, which he had used for Mina's armor, to attach the segments of the cuirass to each other. The reason was relatively simple. The leather's only attribute was darkness, which did not conflict with the already present power within the materials.

It was a good thing that Puffles and Tatzel usually did their own thing when they were home at Minas Mar. Otherwise, he would have needed to be a little more careful for Tatzel not to see the leather.

Although they were related in name only it could become an awkward moment if the snakelet found out. There might have even been some stupid misunderstanding. Like, who knew what the mind of a child would cook up?

He was in the middle of assembling the cuirass when a head peeked in through the door to the workshop.

"Tower Master?" the young man asked.

"Yes?" Seth looked up.

He needed a moment to recognize the young man as one of the people under Mary.

"Lord Mary sent me to inform you that the negotiations with the Adventurer Guild have finished. She wanted me to ask you, when you finished your current project, so you could talk about further proceeding pertaining to the trade route," the man explained.

Seth looked at the half-finished cuirass and started thinking. He would probably need another day to finish this one, another two days for the pauldrons and gorget...

"Let's go with a week. Is that okay?"

"Of course, tower Master. I will inform the Lord."

With a nod, the man noted something down and vanished again.

Seth doubted he would be able to finish the whole armor within a week, but it was probably enough to finish the most important parts.

After the short distraction, the blacksmith returned to his work and managed to finish the cuirass just before midnight. Today he was leaving the workshop a little late, so Mina was already asleep. Usually, they would talk a little when he returned early from the workshop, but he couldn't blame her for not waiting.

It seemed like the situation in the city kept getting worse over the past two days. Maybe he should visit Mary later and prepone the date a little. Maybe after he finished the cuirass? He would send Mary a notice.

They caught up on the "talk" and talking in the morning of the next day before Mina left for Delta and Seth returned to the workshop. The cuirass still lacked it's enchantments before he could work on the soul armament.

For the enchantments, Seth decided on a mix of etchings and engravings. The piece he was going to etch in the center of the chest and back plate was called the Verse of Self-Immolation. This one was not long, which left space to add some enchantments in the form of inlays.

The Verse of Self-Immolation was dedicated to Foras, a high-ranking demon with many diverse powers, among which was granting increased defense. There were even rumors of invincibility.

However, this was not the case for the Verse of Self-Immolation. The poem was quite straightforward and was a very simple example of the way most demonic enchantments functioned. The caster could choose to burn a resource in exchange for increased defense. It had a clear price and a clear effect.

Although it was not possible to reach invincibility, thanks to the different buffs and <Soul Trade> he was able to majorly improve the efficiency of the exchange. He estimated that, if he chose to burn his mana with the maximum exchange rate, he would be able to quintuple his defense for 2 minutes.

Seth chose this piece to try and trigger one of the lesser-known aspects of Apollo, as he was sometimes called a protector from evil and granted protection to children, refugees, and foreigners. The blacksmith hoped to tilt the balance to generate some kind of protective effect.

The verse took a prominent place on the chest plate, right above the heart, while Seth hid the enchantment inlays among decorative carvings and inlays across the chest and back plate.

For the inlays Seth also chose protection. Aside from the etchings, he used <Olympian Silver> to inlay the complex formations for the Shield and Endurance enchantment. The reason he didn't choose to use <Ithildin> was purely based on the fact that the <Olympian Silver> was not much worse in conductivity, but much more durable than the latter.

It was just noon when he finished the cuirass and could finally start with the soul forging.

As for the soul, Tano'Mol almost started crying when Seth chose it as the last free soul.

<Shieldmaiden's Soul (Epic, Massive) Crafting Material,

The soul of a Valkyrie known from Myths and Legends. A great warrior apt wielding any combination of Shield and other weapons. Affinities with strengthening magics and aerial combat.>