Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

By reaching the master tier in all three of his crafting skills, there were a few new blueprints for magic armor sets and jewelry, all with the corresponding enchantments. The moment he saw them in his blueprint overlay, he realized where they came from.

After seeing examples of Forgebrand's works in the treasury of the imperial family of Chrona, he could judge that these were designs left by his predecessor. They were designed to be worn by melee fighters and had each their own specialization.

Aside from basic augmentations to physical attributes and attack power, they were specialized in granting resistances and improvements to specific elements. Remembering what the egos of the items told him, Seth was quite clear that the dwarf had not made these for others, but to adapt to opponents of different elements when he hunted for souls.

As intelligent as that may seem, Seth could only guess that Forgebrand made these at the start of his adventure. With the kind of options <Soul Infusion> and <Soul Forging> could give, he doubted the dwarf didn't come to the same conclusion as himself. Which was to make one ultimate set of armor.

On the other hand, Forgebrand had a completely different set of skills, most likely much more terrifying than Seth's. The blacksmith had no idea how exactly the dwarf had made the Golem Forge, just to give an example. Even a golem like Cerberus was still beyond Seth's capabilities.

When it came to Cerberus, even Al'Zalsar was unsure whether she could beat the golem in a fight. The only drawback was that he was bound to the smithy, which severely restricted his movement radius.

All that aside, he now had the blueprint to turn the Lord of Minas Mar into Mystic Rangers, like in the old TV show he used to watch as a kid. The armor sets gave really good improvements aside from their specific elemental option.

The best part was that these effects were independent of the materials and souls used, which meant he had more than enough options to further customize these armor sets to the specific wearer. The only one who wouldn't need it was probably Tekar, the Ape Armor still held up, even in comparison to these blueprints.

After checking the changes, Seth closed the system windows. Armor sets were something for the future, he currently had other stuff to finish in preparation for their excursion. Now that he was a master in everything, he could finish the rest of the items without worry.

Even though, he didn't feel like continuing for the day. He had finally reached the master -tier. Today he would celebrate!

"Tower, make a tower-wide announcement, that we celebrate today since I reached the master tier!"

So the system wasn't going to give him anything special or meaningful as a prize to master all three basic crafting skills? Then he would have to do it himself. It had been too long since everyone simply took a break for a day.

The sphere in his pocket started vibrating as several people called him as reaction to the sudden announcement. He simply opened them in a group call. What he was going to say was meant for everyone.

"Seth, it's great you reached master tier, but what are you doing? We have several dungeons scheduled for today," Mary's voice was the first that complained exasperated. "Dungeons, smungeons. Today I shall abuse my power as Tower Master and make everyone take a break. You too, Mary. Minas Mar will close up for today and we will plunder Link's reserves." "M-my reserves?" a voice asked faltering, but was overshadowed by others.

"What about our guard duty?" Monique asked weakly.

"I will send the golem knights instead."

"What about the shops, we can't just-"

"They will also close for today. I want all the members currently staying in Delta, to come to Minas Mar and celebrate. I'm opening the banquet hall for today!"

At the mention of the banquet hall, all voices in the group call fell silent.

"Alright. I'm finishing up here and come down."

"Just let me assemble the clerks and we will be there in a jiffy."

The dissenting voices immediately agreed to come. Most of the other just called to congratulate him and were now cheering that they would be there in a moment. The mentioning of the banquet hall had everyone on their feet.

To explain this, one had to look back at the time when they were still new to Minas Mar, this subterranean Magic Tower, or rather a Magician's palace. Aside from the facilities and accommodations, a lot of parts were sealed off, because they took a lot of energy to run.

The reason Minas Mar had excess energy to sell, was precisely because they were only running the essential parts of the palace. One of these switched-off parts was the Great Banquet Hall. With the full integration of Urth in the Pathworks, the mana level on Urth had also sharply increased. This made the blacksmith less hesitant to put some of these places back into operation.

In this case, the Great Banquet Hall. A magical place that could spawn any drink one wanted from magic faucets, play individualized music, give light shows, and even offered an anti-gravity dance floor. These were just a few of the functions it was able to offer.

Seth tidied up the workshop and left with light steps.

...

-Delta: Parliament Offices-

"What do you mean, Minas Mar pulled back their guards?" Ichabod Longbottom, the temporary Chancellor exclaimed irately.

Minas Mar's Tower Master simply leaving during the announcement had not just hurt his ego, but also severely impeded the project itself. Many high-ranking people had left together with the Tower Master and Longbottom had lost quite a lot of support afterward. As if them crashing the accessory market and angering the foreign merchants weren't bad enough! Not only that, his hands were completely bound when it came to Minas Mar, as more the half the parliament supported them.

"They have also canceled all their Dungeon for today. Their shops have also closed down for today. They even canceled all the reservations for the third floor of the Turquoise Anvil. It seems like Minas Mar has pulled their whole manpower out of Delta, Sir."

What was going on? How could they act so willfully? Was this a message for him? For Delta? Maybe they found out- No, there was no way that they found out about that matter.

"You said they pulled back all their people?"

"Yes, Sir."

Why would he need to care about their intentions? This was a chance to gain back some faith in the church and the merchants.

"Send a message to the guild currently guarding the refugee district. They are to relocate and guard the city instead. After the recent event, we need a higher guard presence there."

"But Sir, what about the refugees?"

"What about them? There have been a lot fewer incidents recently. Relate the information to them that even Minas Mar, the staunchest supporter, have pulled back their guards. It has to be safe now."

Although the secretary wasn't fully convinced, there was nothing he could do but frown and follow the orders.

…

-Delta-

"Elder, the guards in Delta have been redistributed."

Sitting cross-legged in the middle of an outlandish formation in the center of in a dark hall, was a man draped in loose black robes. Half his body and face were covered in alien burns that refused to heal.

It had been days since his fight with that terrifying witch. Even when he finally managed to slay the wench, the external Elder regretted having acted in such a way before fully understanding the enemy's strength.

The mystic magic that the priestess had used still threatened to take his life. Without the Fleshly Demon Formation, he would not be able to withstand the burns for long. He wanted nothing more than to return and be treated by a Heavenly Doctor, especially since the natives had become less and less reliable.

Those people that called themselves The Society, the Elder never trusted them, but recently he was more and more convinced that they were scheming something behind their backs. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, our scouts reported that the guard in the refugee district has more than halved."

It seemed like a great chance to cut their losses and make off with as much as they could grab. But the burned child had learned. He wouldn't take the bait that easily.

"This could also be a trap. Send more people to scout and report any changes."

"Yes, Elder."