Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth spend the next two days, taking a break with Mina and Fin in Little Sigma before the two went on their dungeon tour. The place had changed a lot since the first time Seth came to take a look at Karina's work. With the influx of people and the development of infrastructure, it became a very lively metropolis.

Since nobody came here with cars or anything like that, the streets were filled with cafes and magical mounts, giving it a truly magical feel. The blacksmith knew it from the papers, but the city's atmosphere proved again, that Vlad had a talent for governmental tasks.

They were not the only ones having a vacation with their significant others. Lydia and Mike would often join them on double dates. Seth knew that Jonah had also brought the scientist he met in Beta on break. It was not necessary to Mention Jess and James, they often met in some of the cafes.

Despite the dark clouds on the horizon, one had to enjoy the calm moments for as long as they held on. And then, the teams went on their dungeon tours, while Seth returned to his workshop.

The first thing he did, once he sat in his workshop for a calm moment, was to open his status. Over the past week, he had been pondering on something he had been postponing for a long while now. Spending his skill point and attribute points.

From his trip to the abyss, he had gained another 43 attribute points to spend. Seth had gained. Except for Agility and Intelligence, all his attributes he could put points in had crossed 300. Seth had always advocated for a balanced build, although he had favored Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, and Willpower because of his class and abilities.

After ups and downs, and to get the titles that came with reaching 300 points in an attribute, his status turned out to be almost even across the board. The question was whether he should go with evening it out, using the last AP he was going to get from the system, or was he improving the attributes he favored.

He finally came to a decision because of what Leana said. Once he chose a path, the system would help adapt his body to this path over the last five levels. He intended to choose a blacksmith-related path, no matter what, which meant he would naturally improve in these areas. Whether his attribute or his stat multipliers improves, he didn't know.

Since that was the case, Seth decided to put the points into Intelligence. It was an attribute needed for magic, but also for his music and mana. He could neglect agility because of his armor, but he couldn't let intelligence lack behind in the future. With the 43 he brought INT from 250, he had gained an additional point through Links food, to 293. Just seven points shirt of 300.

Another reason why he decided against Agility, was because there were a lot more ways to improve physical stats. He brought out a bottle swishing around the clear potion inside. Since he was at it, he also decided to drink the fourth dosage of Alison's Attribute Elyxir.

Despite the alchemist saying that there might be a loss in efficiency past three, Seth felt the medicinal power as strong as the first time he drank it. It reminded him more than ever of the Body Refining Pill Master Mountain gave him. When the power subsided, he gained five points in Agility, Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance.

That was the smaller thing he wanted to get out of the way. The bigger decision was to spend the skill points he had been saving up ever since he unlocked the Soul Refinery. As confident as he was to put all his skill points into the <Soul Smithy>, he was a little shaken when he heard that he would not gain any more past lv.100.

He currently had saved up 13 SP and lv.9 of <Soul Smithy> cost 10SP. If that convention continued, he needed at least 11 SP to reach lv.10, if the skill had a lv.10 or lv. max. There was no way he could get those with leveling up alone. At lv.100 he would only have 8 SP.

This was why he had hesitated for some time about whether he should use the SP on a different skill. But it was only hesitation. The situation at hand made him realize that the <Soul Smithy> was his best option. Even if he didn't get a new perk, every level improved the power of his crafting stations.

Having made this decision, he used 10 SP to bring the <Soul Smithy> to lv.9..

<Ding! Please wait a moment as your status is being checked.>

<Skill levels have been affirmed>

A bright light blinded him for a moment. When he could finally see again, his eyes fell on a petite female dwarf made of pure gold. She was an extremely intricate automaton, leagues above the looks of Cerberus when it came to intricate craftsmanship.

"Greetings, Successor. My name is Sivri Silverview. If you need help with jewelry of any kind, I am ready to help you.," it said with a big smile.

In addition to being able to talk, she was able to express an almost natural range of emotions thanks to the dozen of seamlessly fitting plates of <Arcane Gold> that made up her face. Before answering he checked his skill window for the perk list of <Spirit Smithy>.

It quickly explained the situation. Aside from slightly improving all crafting stations, Level 9 improved his Jeweler's station and unlocked "Golem Assistant(Gold)". Like Cerberus, Sivri Silverview shared all his skills, however, she had a great advantage over Cerberus. She was able to talk. There was one thing Seth had to make sure, of first.

"Sivri?" "Yes?" "Will I also have to beat you in a contest of jewelry making?" "No, I wouldn't be here if you had not proven yourself already."

This was one worry gone.

"It says you can't do forging?" was Seth's next question.

"Yes, Master Forgebrand created this body with great precision, however, I'm not durable enough to forge or join physical fights," she answered with an apologetic smile.

Seth perked his ears. She was able to talk about Forgebrand, maybe he was able to get some information about his mysterious predecessor from her? Although he had met him once after dying in a dungeon, the blacksmith was not curious enough to commit suicide in a dungeon, just to see the dwarf.

"That's okay, don't worry...About Forgebrand, can you tell me about him?"

At his question, the golden dwarf hesitated. Her forlorn silver eyes looked far into the distance for a moment. Her expression showed longing for a moment, then she glances at Cerberus working at the forge before she corrected herself and looked at him apologetically.

"I'm sorry, but I would rather not speak about him."

Seeing the way Sivri acted, Seth was quite clear about what Forgebrand had worked towards. Although he didn't know his reasons, but the golden dwarf lady seemed like Forgebrand's attempt to create a golem with a soul. At first glance, she seemed similar to how Seth created Al'Zalsar and some of the earlier golems. A golem with a soul embedded in its core.

He couldn't see in her insides, but it would explain why her body seemed to be completely made of epic <Arcane Gold>. It was not a strong material, barely harder than normal gold, but the property to collect mana from the surrounding would be a great support for a soul that was not very big, to begin with.

"I-I would appreciate it if you didn't look at me with such appraising eyes," she said a little embarrassed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's just a habit of the profession," he apologized.

Seeing the differences in the direction they developed in and seeing the result of these paths was quite interesting to Seth. Judging by the intricate crafting stations and the golems Cerberus and Sivri, he could see that Forgebrand was a much more technical blacksmith than he was, with a huge knowledge of engineering.

The bard on the other hand was not as technical, but if Forgebrand's goal was to give a soul a new body, or even "revive" the dead as the existence of Sivri suggested, then Seth had gotten a lot closer to this goal, using demonic songs, than the dwarf had.

Still, Seth had little idea how he managed to make something like the golems or the crafting stations. Now that he had someone to talk to, even if she didn't want to talk about Forgebrand himself, maybe she could reveal some of his secrets to him.

"Sivri, you don't have to talk about him, but maybe you could explain to me how he created something like you, Cerberus or the Golem forge?"

It was one of his big questions since these crafting stations were obviously able to use skills like a player, yet they were also connected to a skill and restricted by his own skills. If Seth could even just copy Cerberus, he could increase their production even further.

She looked conflicted as she thought about an answer.

"I do not wish to tell you since I do not wish for you to walk down the same path he did. But as part of the Spirit Smithy, I am compelled to answer. Please accept it as an answer when I tell you that you already have all the tools to make the same things."