Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

With the departure of Al'Zalsar, the immortal witch had become their resident expert for space magic. It aligned with her interests, so she happily rose to the task.

Planning and managing the preparation and later construction of the permanent Teleportation hub in the Holy Land was now her duty. Evee was in charge of how to use the materials they had... acquired from the Adventurer Guild to their best advantage.

She had even officially asked for a budget to buy corresponding blueprints from the system church.

As one would expect, this kind of technology was often treated as a trade secret by the country or organization in question.

It meant that it was far from cheap. 3000 gold just to purchase the blueprints felt like daylight robbery and topped any single purchase Seth had ever done. At least they were actual blueprints and not a one-time-use scroll that taught a single person how to do it.

Of course, this came with other problems. It wasn't done with just getting the blueprints. Since it wasn't some magical item, she had to depend on herself to learn and understand the blueprints. This was just the start.

There was a lot going on, apart from herself understanding the magic principles and corresponding skills. She needed to plan the expedition to ultimately build it. Although the materials were accounted for, they even had to keep an eye out for trustworthy masons and sculptors among the applicant to join Minas Mar, as they were also needed to ultimately build the hub from the materials.

All of it was just to gain a stable connection between Minas Mar and the Holy Land. But it was worth it, as they would be able to monopolize this vast land of opportunity. It was a lot of work, but Seth never heard her complain.

Evee knew the best, maybe out of all of them, that weakness was a sin in their current world. Even if people acted civilized on the surface, she had seen what people were ready to do. Only strength could keep oneself and those one cared about safe. And the holy land was their gateway to keep getting stronger.

…

"Seth, are you in?"

Seth looked up from yet another application, to see a burly adventurer leaning into the door frame of his office. It was Bement who came for a surprise visit. Although Bement was now his vassal, he was still having a hard time finding his place in Minas Mar.

"Yes, what is it, Bement?"

"I have made a decision, I have been deliberating for a while," the burly man said seriously.

"A decision?" Seth looked up and asked. What could it be the old man wanted to tell him?

"You are now lv.90, right? I was not sure whether I should intervene or not. I'm sure you have the qualifications, but I think you would have better results if I told you and you started preparing now."

"What are you talking about? Speak clearly, man."

"The path to becoming a legend."

Seth stared at him for a long while. The path to becoming a legend, he said? The blacksmith had been wondering about the existence of legends for a long time. He had some inklings about it based on the item ranks, but it was very vague. Up to now, the system restrictions had always stopped anyone from telling him.

It was a shame, that it was Bement now, who offered it to him. He would have preferred to hear such detail from Al'Zalsar. However, something made Seth suspicious.

"Why did you have to deliberate about whether to tell me or not?"

"Because it is an interference that could change your path, and I don't know if that will be a change for the better or worse. I just suspect it's for the better."

"So, I guess there are some requirements to enter that path, but you are sure I can step on that path. It's only that you think I would have an easier time if I knew beforehand, right?"

"Yes."

"Then don't tell me." "What?" "You heard me." "But why?"

"I made the experience that you are often more prone to ruin stuff if you think too long or serious about it. It just narrows your view and you end up concentrating on the wrong details. I think I can still do that when the time comes naturally."

"I see...?"

"I will still come back to you if I have any questions when that time comes."

Bement nodded with a smile. " Then I will take my leave. Sorry for interrupting your work."

Seth stared at the door for a while after Bement was gone. Was he curious about what a legend was? Terribly so! But he followed his gut on this decision. He had just escaped that pressuring feeling that he needed to work hard to reach a goal.

He had become a master, he had made dozen of legendary items, he reached lv.90, and he had watched many of his friends become chosen or blessed. Although he couldn't say there was no pressure from declaring their independence, the blacksmith found that this was the time that he should bumble a little.

He didn't have a definite goal to reach and could freely develop and explore his skills. Like the <Ithildin> and what things he could do with the Soul Refinery. The bard also wanted to visit the college again and put some work into his <Singing> and <Rune Mastery>.

The only thing that currently made progress was the processing of golems, as the golem forge automatically worked down in his workshop. Golems like the sickle strikers still needed his personal touch, but the golems currently being produced would play a big role in Minas Mar's future profits.

They had brought a lot of insect bodies back from the holy land. Many of them were actually the lower-ranked workers. This had a reason. A smithy needed materials.

Currently, Minas Mar was operating by purchasing a lot of the metals from outside, less than half of the high-rated ores were mined by the Tower's own drones. The problem was that there were no such mines within the reach of the magic tower.

He couldn't send the drone outside the tower's reach. This was why the golem forge was now busy turning the worker insects into obedient golem drones. These bugs were born miners, even without their souls, their bodies were born for mining and possessed <Mining lv.6> and <Mineral Detection lv.2> on average.

The blacksmith could send the golems wherever he wanted. This would enable them to mine the resources in the vicinity of the tree stations and along the tree route. What Seth really wanted was a <Mithril> mine or two.

With <Ithildin> and epic <Olympian Silver> needing <Mithril> as the raw material of refinement, he really needed a cheaper way to get his hands on the rare metal. But it wasn't the only thing he hoped for. If they could even find some <Arcane Gold>, they could try building more mana-gathering formations for Minas Mar.

As their operations grew, Minas Mar also needed a good amount of mana, to create magic crystals, to power things in the tree stations, such as the barrier devices that stopped could block portals from appearing within the cities.

Although the System Church was ready to supply the devices, they had to power them somehow. If they built more gathering formations, the power supply wouldn't compromise their own power supply.

His thoughts kept wandering like this as he looked through the many applications and marked those he would interview personally. Some people had written long texts about their passions, and others started by announcing their ranking on the leaderboard.

The latter he disqualified immediately. The leaderboards were not necessarily a reflection of skill, but more so of opportunity. Despite that, there were still tens of applications. Thinking of the time he would have to spend interviewing so many people, he really wished they could just make a tournament...