Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

--- Current---

~Hurry up and put me in already!~ the soul spurred him

Seth really didn't know why Archer chose such a feisty girl. Was that his type? The blacksmith shook his head and started hammering Archer's new girl into shape.

The identity of the soul was a young woman named Mable. She was originally a junior mage and adventurer when she happened to be caught by a demonic cultist during a quest. She was sacrificed and somehow ended up in Tano'mol's hands after existing as currency for a while.

Her soul was big, epic, and had an ego. Aside from her size and personality, she was a top-notch material. Even when Seth offered her and Archer to give her a body, Mable was weirdly fixated on becoming a piece of equipment.

She kept going on about wanting to see how it would feel and stuff like that, but it made Seth feel quite awkward seeing her this...eager. Other than that she was very direct, to say it nicely. Well, her nasty- her rough-... her personality fit well with the enchantment he had prepared.

Since Team 3 had no dedicated tanker, Seth found this the perfect opportunity to make Archer the one in control of the enemy's aggro. He intended to do so with the Apple of Discord, another enchantment sponsored the by the goddess of Strife, Eris.

The first enchantment of Eris, Seth had used in Tekar's Armor, giving him the ability of a war cry that could focus all aggro on him. The Apple of Discord in mythology was a golden apple thrown by Eris that led to a contest of beauty between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, even indirectly sparking the Trojan War.

"Now, be still. Once I'm done engraving this, we can proceed and finally make you an item."

Saying it this way was less fun than he thought, he felt just weird. Especially, as Mable eagerly agreed.

When Seth got ready to engrave the Apple of Discord to Mable's soul, he suddenly felt a presence behind him. It was a strong presence that gave him a polarizing feeling. Even when it was not called a "Blessing of", this seemed to have the same effect.

Her presence made it hard to think, as not-so-nice thoughts about other people and people he knew in the past kept surfacing. The sigil was a simple depiction of a beautiful shining apple, but when Seth finished he found that the pattern spreading from the apple was that of cut chains and broken bonds.

~Kukuku, what is this power that flowing into me?~ Mable asked in glee. She seemed quite happy over the power of discord pumping through her incorporeal veins.

Seth hurriedly infused the soul quiver into the physical item and threw the Mable Quiver into the waters of Styy that finally drowned out the soul's manic laughter. He was just glad, that he had given her neither a weapon nor a body as a vessel.

It was a really good thing she was going to be Archer's problem from here on after.

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

<Ding! A synergy between materials has changed your item.>

<Mable, Quiver of Discord

Legendary, Ego

Durability: 9000

Capacity:25

1. Blessing of Wind

2. Arrows of cursed Wind

3. Arrows of cursed Thunder

4. Arrows of cursed Fire

5. Arrows of cursed Paralysis

6. Arrows of Eris

7. Mable's Madness

8.+15% Casting Reduction

9. Passive Skill: Leraje's Archery

A quiver with terrifying potential, if used with the right ammunition. It is the work of Craftsman Smith and the first Master Enchanter of Urth, Master Smith. Using demonic, divine, and mysterious means to make a mad quiver.

Requirement: Acknowledgment of Mable, the Quiver of Discord>

Except for Mable's Madness and the Arrows of cursed Wind, there were no weird surprises. Seth had forgotten that the <Olympian Silver> had inherited the element of Wind from the original <Gale Silver>.

This explained the Arrows cursed of Wind. These were actually the standard arrows and their options were included in all the other options since the random curses and wind were always present in the quiver.

To explain Mable's Madness, one had to look at the Arrows of cursed Wind, Fire, Lightning, and Paralysis first. All of them needed special ammunition, the arrows that would mimic the properties of their surrounding.

The effects could not work on ordinary arrows, except with the help of Mable's Madness. This effect gave a 25% chance to randomly imbue one of the effects to ordinary arrows, too. The other option like Leraje's Archery was self-explanatory.

But the effect Seth had been really looking forward to were the Arrows of Eris. Like always, his thoughts and plans had actually been taken into account by the entity giving the blessing. Arrows of Eris did not need a special ammunition. Any arrows stored in the quiver would become Arrows of Eris with the ability "sow discord" among enemies.

The aggro of the one hit by the arrow would be redirected to a single other hostile target. If there were no other hostile targets, the aggro would be without direction, meaning it would start attacking the environment.

However, there was one more effect of Arrows of Eris. When arrows made of <Olympian Silver> were stored in the quiver for at least 24h, they would permanently turn into Arrows of Eris. In this case, it did not matter whether they were enchanted with a forging ballad. The only requirement was the material.

This meant that not just Archer, but everyone using a bow in Minas Mar could have some basic Arrows of Eris. They could be a life-saving trump card in case something unforeseen happened during an expedition or a dungeon dive. It was only a shame that the max-number that could be created was 25, and one needed Mable's approval to use the quiver for it.

~So, how is it to be a quiver? ~ Seth asked a little awkwardly.

~It's weird, but also very interesting. Quick, give me to Archer. I want to try my power!~

This was a quite obvious hint, that Seth definitely did not have her approval...

~Later, I have more things to do. Bye.~ With that he threw the quiver in his inventory.

The quiver was finished quicker than he expected, so Seth took a short break to recuperate, before starting on the item for James, who was also part of Team 3. James was a typical knight wearing a plate armor and wielding an arming sword in combination with a shield.

He was not overly talented, nor did he have any special class as far as Seth knew. Even his classes as a knight and swordsman were quite common. With these classes... it was a shame that he didn't have a chance to further develop into the direction of a tank, in that case, he could have taken that role in Team 3.

Currently, he was more of a mix between damage dealer and off-tank. There was nothing special about him, but that was okay. Seth never wanted to collect a bunch of weird and special oddballs. What was important was James' personality.

It was Seth's task to make him special. Even if Archer had no way to manipulate enemy aggro, there were times when it was important to have a dedicated tank to keep the attention of the enemy. The blacksmith was determined to turn James into a powerful tank, even if his classes were not something especially grand or rare.

In the end, what did classes matter? If he wielded a legendary item or two, and maybe even managed to be chosen by a god, or just gain some blessing, that would be more than enough to rise above the masses.

Nobody could stop ordinary people from becoming special.