Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

“You know...”,Fin whispered in his ear, “maybe you could register it as a pet once you reach lv.20?”

““What?””, Seth and Cerno Bolk said at the same time. The giant boss and an unbelievable fine sense of hearing.

“A pet, really?”

“What do you mean a pet? I will let you know; all offspring inherit the memories of their parent! Don´t think you could treat the child like an animal!”, Cerno said indignantly.

“Oh! No! That’s not how it works!”, Fin said hurriedly, waving her arms around in a panic.

“It´s like an... errm...partner system? It only works when both parties agree and can also be broken up at any time, with one disagrees strongly.“

She explained about the Pet System to Cerno Bolk. It was a contract that only worked when both parties were willing.It would allow the pet and the player to share experience and create a pet space where the pet could rest or enter so it did not cause a scene in a city for example.

Cerno was lowly being convinced. If their offspring could see the sun, he would even allow them to enter this alien system.

Seth on the other hand still was not sure. A pet that spits uncommon metal thread might be really cool. And the Ivicer probably was a really strong race, as the direct creations of a god. Weren´t they like angels of this world? They also were –not ugly.

But was it too much for a simple man to dream of a cool pet? The stereotype would be riding a wolf or a lion, right? Or maybe even a ground dragon, if those existed somewhere?

Looking at the sparkling cocoon in his hand. It was soft and he felt a soothing warmth from it.

~please~ he heard a tiny voice in the back of his mind.

Well, at least it would be a very unique partner. Seth embraced the cocoon a little tighter. With this, all parties agreed.

“That only leaves one matter to be dealt with. I still need to reach lv. 20 to unlock this pet system!”

“Oh, that’s easy. Don´t you just need to kill a lot of monsters?”

With this Seth came into the grotesque situation that a dungeon master kept summoning easy targets to power-level him! He just had to stand there and strike down skeleton mages with his sword. Why the sword? Thanks to its effect of increased damage to targets with lower strength, he could easily one-shot the skeleton mages. It was simply faster than the mace.

Skeleton mages gave more experience than archers or warriors, so they still gave 0,5% on lv.19, if he killed them alone. Which meant he used a little more than an hour to non-stop kill 200 mobs and finally reach lv.20!

<Ding! Inventory has been extended.>

<Ding! New Class Skill has been unlocked. Check your Skill Window!>

<Ding! You have completed the quest -The Next Level 3- You have earned new System Rights.>

<Ding! You have received a follow-up quest -The Next Level 4-!>

He was all sweaty and his arm felt heavy, but the fatigue vanished when he took a look at his status. Just like Fin had said, there was a new tab in his status window that said Pets. It was actually split into pets and mounts and he had 1 slot in each of them!He also took a look at his status.

Name: Seth Smith Mark of Ivicer Title: "Faster than the Thought" Level: 20 Exp: 0% Race: Ori Huma Sex: Male Age:23 Class: Spirit Blacksmith (Unique) Affiliation: System Church Health: 960/1000 Mana: 190 Strength:55 Dexterity:55 Agility: 38 Intelligence:19 Willpower:35 Endurance:45 Personality:12 Luck:18(+10) Free AP (Attribute points): 22 Free SP (Skill points): 3 Defense: Physical: 185 (135+50) (ENDx3) Magical: 95 (70+25) (WILx2) Fire Immunity

There were no major changes to his status. He opted to wait with spending his point this time. He wanted to be careful about it. The greatest change was the jump in INT he had gotten. What really made his heart race was the skill window!

Blacksmith (Apprentice) lv.7 (52%) Enchantment (Beginner) lv4 Goldsmith (Beginner) lv.1 Blacksmith's Eyes lv.4 Blueprint (Apprentice) lv.2 Soul Infusion lv.2 Spirit Smithy lv.4 Spirit Capture lv.3 Spirit Forging(Apprentice) lv.1 Weapon Mastery (Adept) lv.6 (54%) Calm Reaction (Passive) lv.7 Fear Resistance lv.8 Fire Affection lv.2 Fire Manipulation lv.8 Map lv.4 Observation lv.3 Concealment lv.4

<Spirit Forging>! He finally got a skill that explained his class!

<Spirit Forging

Requires: Charon´s Obol, minimum (Uncommon)-Blueprint added

The core skill of a Spirit Smith. Create equipment directly from a collected soul. Soul Armaments are worn directly on the soul and take up not equipment slot. Soul Armor has no durability or physical defense. Soul Weapons ignore Phys. defense and directly attack the soul. Soul Equipment can be fused into physical equipment to imitate a permanent enchantment.

Requires: <Soul Infusion> lv.3>

He could directly turn souls into equipment and even fuse it into already finished weapons! He could also wear a second layer of armor just like that! It was also the first skill that actually needed a specific tool. Seth felt that it made sense, that a blacksmith should make and use his own tool at some point.

He was completely caught in the system options, so Cerno Bolk and Fin could only watch him gesturing in the air as he interacted with his menus.

<Charon´s Obol

Uncommon(growth)

Damage: 120-?

Durability:2000-?

Like the coin needed to pay the ferryman Charon to bring the souls to the underworld, this hammer is needed for a soul to find a new purpose in the hands of a Spirit Smith. Charon´s Obol is used to directly forge and damage souls.

Requirement: Spirit Smith >

A growth item! And he didn’t need to go and gain experience with it, but just feed it materials! but now wasn´t the time. Seth forced himself to turn his attention back to the giant Ivicer, the small cocoon, and the even smaller Fin.

“Ah, hehe, sorry. It worked. I unlocked the pet system.”

Seth did not plan to over-level, nor did he feel like slaughters mobs for several hours. So, this concluded their little power-level session. The two said farewell to Cerno and left with the small cocoon. Today they had probably learned many secrets of this world few natives could ever imagine, but to them, it was not much more than a nice fairy tale.

So, what if there were world-ending powers in this world that needed God to intervene? It wasn´t urgent or their world. in the worst-case scenario, they would take the risk of porting back to Urth or the Fairy World.

Seth grew attached to the little cocoon, thinking about the possibilities his new skill and the little Ivicer gave him. Wouldn´t he be able to make scary strong items if he managed to connect all the skills he had? If he could layer the effects of soul armaments, soul infusion, and different enchantments?

These were all thoughts for the future when he got his hands on all kinds of enchantments!

He didn´t fantasize for long. There was no need to care much about the map on their way down, but on the way up he needed to concentrate to find the right way back.

After another two times of sleeping in the dungeon, they finally reached the surface. They hissed like vampires when the bright sunshine fell into their eyes! The dampness and heat of the air hit them like a wall when compared to the pleasant cave environment.

“Maybe we should stay a little longer in the cave, until night time maybe?”, Fin who suffered more than Seth under the heat, suggested.

~noo~!