Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

< Ding! Your Alchemy(Apprentice) lv.9 has become Alchemy(Adept) lv.1 !>

Finally, Seth was able to collapse. Relieved he sank to the ground, looking like a mess. The white lab coat he borrowed was stained by residues of chemicals, herb juices, powders, and burns for literal explosions, but he did it.

In a secure cabinet in a faraway corner, sat several tens of bottles of rare Medium Health Potion, arduously synthesized from only uncommon and common materials. He had just finished the last set of ingredients and grossed the ninth level of the apprentice tier.

<Ding! You have fulfilled a special condition!

You have gained basic mastery or more for more than five basic crafting skills. Your skill <Blacksmith's Eyes> is evolving in conjunction with your trait Calling of the Maestro.>

<Ding! You have gained the skill <Eyes of the Maestro>. Congratulation!>

He had only a moment to take a breather before the system suddenly dropped a notification on him. Basic mastery, did it mean the adept tier? What happened to his skill? Seth wondered as he opened the skill window to check what that meant. His <Blacksmith's Eyes> had vanished.

The skill had already slightly changed before, because of his new trait and the accompanying skills which allowed him to appraise materials and items of other classes as long as he mastered the corresponding skill, but now the skill had evolved.

Instead of <Blacksmith's Eyes lv.7> now stood <Eyes of the Maestro lv.7>. Checking the skill he found that little had changed, except for a small but powerful detail. His <Blacksmith's Eyes> were not only able to appraise.

The skill had also been able to deduct the blueprints of the items checked and even allowed him to learn the used enchantment under certain conditions. At the start he still had to disassemble the times, but later he only had to do that with anything above epic.

Of course, this only concerned the items that coincided with his class like weapons, armor, and jewelry. Now, however, it counted for every item he could theoretically make with his own crafting skills. This was crazy!

He could gain the blueprint for rare and below bows, the sewing pattern for clothes, and the recipe for potions, just by appraising them, as long as they were rare-rated or below since rare was the tier that correlated to the adept tier in skills.

Especially since he would be able to use the system guidance, once he had the blueprints, or recipes registered. Although Seth had no great interest in being a potion crafter, he was interested in experimenting to make his own acids for etching.

It was no different for other classes like tailor, carpenter, or even bard. He welcomed the passive perks these skills brought him, but he didn't feel like straying too far from his original path. Seth was a blacksmith by the end of the day and intended to stay one.

Tired he closed his skill window. It was almost early morning already.

"Tower, to my quarters," he instructed the tower ego and teleported to the tower master's quarters.

There he found Mina and Fin sleeping together on the couch, in the middle of a battlefield of empty ice cream tubs and the TV still running. After taking a shower and changing clothes, he carefully brought the two victims of the food coma to bed, before falling asleep himself.

…

Neill had worked hard for today. He had been insecure about his application at Minas Mar since he was unsure whether he really had the skill to be chosen. He was ranked 146 on the leaderboard for blacksmiths which was neither high nor low. He also had no special class, he was just a simple blacksmith.

After the apocalypse, his first class had actually been Miner, before he changed his class and started to make items. He had been one of the very first and had experienced their struggle with the demon and the volcano in the beginning.

At the start, he was to raise his skills a little quicker since the miner skills allowed him to work with uncommon materials he had managed to procure from the outside with said mining skills. The items he had made back then were not great, since it was a beginner fumbling around with uncommon materials, but they were enough for the time.

Later on, his goals changed. Delta severely lacked items for adventurers back then, even the most basic one could have saved a life. Instead of pursuing the improvement of his skills, he had focused on making as many items as possible using common materials like steel.

He was sure that his decision had helped many, but in the end, it didn't really help him. Other blacksmiths popped up and the merchants from Chrona, the supply of common items were more than enough, but at that point, he was already stuck.

Neill wasn't the best blacksmith in Delta by far, but his shop was going okay and it had some loyal customers but... he could see it in their eyes and in the eyes of new customers. His products couldn't help anyone anymore.

Even when he made the best steel sword there were, they would fall behind a casual item made with a similar skill level and uncommon items. At the same time, his blacksmith skill was stuck at apprentice lv.9, since he got almost no proficiency for common weapons.

Yet, he couldn't just leave and try to mine for materials himself like he did in the beginning. He also didn't have the money to buy better materials on the current market. He was well and truly stuck. To make matters worse, someday five weeks ago a bunch of suits simply put a pair of guards at the door of his shop and told him that his merchandise was confiscated for the sake of Delta, or whatever.

This had been the last stab his heart could take. His stock of steel stayed untouched, as his workshop became abandoned. What was the sense of still making items? His skill didn't grow, his items were not wanted, and he couldn't even sell them cheaply to whatever aspiring adventurer in dire need would take them.

Until he heard the recruitment offers of Minas Mar, he just sat at home and watched his meager saving dwindle, deliberating whether he should simply change his class again. When he heard that Minas Mar opened their door to recruit, he decided to stake this decision on this last chance.

When he then heard that he was allowed to participate in a practical round that included making a piece that was representative of their skills, his passion was reignited. How would he have known, this chance may have been given mostly because Seth was too lazy to look through all applications seriously?

The deadline of seven days was a tight constraint, but Neill was not deterred. Since he was given the chance, he started to pour all his skill and passion into his work. He didn't have the money to even buy even the most basic uncommon material, nor a high rank on the leader board.

All he could do is to try and win the judged over with his display of skill. Although he had only been working with steel for the past year and something, he was confident to have perfected his craft at least in this aspect.

Since he couldn't afford other materials, he had put a lot of effort into learning all the details of steel, their modern society could offer him. He mastered everything from forging, shaping, and balancing the weapon, to the right heat treatment. He even experimented with smelting and making his own alloys.

The item was supposed to be representative and few things showed a blacksmith's skill as well as a good sword. It was a longsword, and the shape was as traditional and functional as it could get, but Neill decided to be a little fancy and use pattern welded steel to make it stand out.

He used a bar of twisted layered steel for the center, while the edge was made up of patterned crucible steel he had managed to make himself during his experiments. The result was an uncommon dark gray longsword, with almost black, symmetrical patterns in the center. I looked gorgeous and deadly if he said so himself.

By the time he finished, it was already the day he had to submit it, so he only fashioned a simple sheath for it. Still wearing his apron and covered in soot all over, the blacksmith quickly ran to the business building of Minas Mar to submit his work.