Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

It was okay to call Seth slow, but he would also argue that the solution was also abstruse when he thought about her reactions and what she said, and what he knew and could do. It was hard to believe somebody would do that.

"You can't mean that he split off parts of his soul and used those on these items?" he threw out the easiest but most unnatural solution. Sivri didn't say anything, but her intricately crafted face betrayed her silence. Her reaction confirmed his suspicion.

It wasn't like the blacksmith didn't have the same thought. For one, he was able to infuse souls to strengthen them, why wouldn't he be able to fuse foreign souls into his own to power up? It was a similar concept to how Cromwel's immortals absorbed souls to grow. However, he saw the same problems with that as when he fused souls.

The remnants of old memories and information would mix up and muddy his soul. It may not have been a problem for a soul cluster with a hivemind but for a normal person? Seth couldn't see any outcome but going crazy.

Was this why Frogebrand created the Soul Refinery? But even then messing with a living soul, especially his very own seemed utterly dangerous and with unknown consequences. So much so that it was a taboo in Seth's mind. He never dared to actually think about doing it.

However, if Forgebrand was able to identify and split off parts of his soul that held some of his skills and knowledge, it could explain something like the Golem Forge, Cerberus, or the Soul Refinery. But splitting off parts of his soul meant serious harm, even if souls were prone to heal. Maybe he didn't need pure souls to strengthen himself, but to heal the parts he separated?

He stared at Cerberus, the Golem Forge, the Soul Refinery, and Sivri for a moment, concentrating on <Soul Capture> and the ability to detect souls.

"But you aren't part of his soul, right?" he singled her out since she had a different aura than the other crafting stations. Forgebrand had split off part of his own soul for most or maybe all the crafting stations and Cerberus, but not Sivri.

"Please..." she asked him sadly. He didn't know whether she meant not to ask further about Forgebrand, or not to experiment with his own soul. He just barely. managed to reign in his curiosity.

"Either way, let's drop this topic here. I won't ask you further about Forgebrand and I have no intention to doctor with my own soul. You could at least tell me about this skill? How can I level the <Soul Smithy>?"

Since Seth couldn't hope to gain enough skill points to level it further, he thought it would be the easiest to ask Sivri, how the skill worked and how he could gain proficiency in it.

"What do you mean? I should be the last component you were missing," the golem asked surprised.

"But my status says it's level 9. Don't skills usually develop when they reach lv.10 or become lv. Max? There should still be a level left to achieve," Seth insisted.

"Hmm, let me check," she closed her eyes, jumping at the chance to get further away from the previous topic.

"I see, this is the system's arrangements. A successor isn't supposed to only inherit the skills of their predecessor, but develop them further. Try concentrating on the skill, it should have changed a little with lv.9."

Seth was a little confused by what she said, but he followed her suggestion and concentrated on the skill. In his mind, he could feel the different crafting stations belonging to the workshop. He instinctively knew their information and could grasp the power to summon them and call them back. As he was sinking deeper into the skill, he really noticed something he had overlooked while using the skill casually.

"Are you telling me, to level the <Spirit Smithy> I have to add more crafting stations myself?" Seth asked flabbergasted.

"That is correct. As the successor, it seems like the system wishes for you to further add to the skill. You should have been able to do this from the beginning, but it seems to have only unlocked after you got me." the dwarf bot explained.

Seth may have sounded displeased when he called out, but he was actually exhilarated. He had often thought how cool it would be if he could add more to the <Soul Smith>, such as his etching table with the self of all the acids he had bought and Alison developed.

There was only one problem. To integrate a crafting station into the skill he needed to use a special method to create it, using <Soul Infusion>. He couldn't just throw anything at it, that would take a lot of time. Time he didn't feel like spending in their current situation. As much as he wanted to follow this distraction, he had more pressing matters.

"You have the same level of skill as me when it comes to jewelry, right? Here, take these and show me what you can do," he suddenly said and immediately shoved some of his work on Sivri.

What the blacksmith handed her were the Sun Bead he had gotten from Solar Solace and a small bar of legendary <Olympian Silver>. As much as he would have liked to make something like a staff for Lynri, his legendary <Olympian Silver> was almost depleted.

Since Sivri had suddenly appeared before him, he thought that it wouldn't hurt to let her make an accessory with the bead and a small part of the leftover silver. This way he could save time and see what the dwarf automaton was capable of.

"I can largely copy your skills, but I have no way to imitate your demonic forging ballads. Would you mind if I use traditional songs and enchantments?" she asked confidently.

"You can sing?" Seth asked surprised.

Forging Ballads was something Cerberus had been unable to truly copy since the golem had no voice. But Sivri's question meant more. She was not restricted to copying his skills, but she possessed her individual wealth of knowledge and experience, independently from him.

"I have a voice and I can sing, yes. However, I'm restricted to Journeyman lv.9," she answered quickly.

"Then go for it, show me the best you can do with these two." "Alright!" motivated the dwarf took the two materials and sat down at his jeweler station.

Seth on the other hand moved to dismantling the crude club he got from the dragon newt in exchange for its life. As much faith as he put into the Armor of Lunacy, the best way to increase their power quickly, was legendary items.

Which was why he also started working on new equipment for his people. It didn't take too much work before he finally held the legendary component in his hands.

<Lesser Firedragon's Toenail (Crafting Material)

Legendary

The toenail of a Lesser Firedragon, imbued with with a dominating affinity and resistance to fire and a great physical durability.>

In the meantime, Seth had also found out why it was called a toenail and not a claw. As he looked up on Lesser Firedragons, he found they were closer to newts in appearance. Their physical prowess was lower and they did not have dragon scales.

They relied on ambush hunting from the depths of magma. Their nails were not used for attacking, or digging through rock, but shoveling away at half-molten rock to deepen their magma ponds. This was why the thick, blunt nail on the club looked more like a hoe or the back of a pickaxe than the claws of a dragon. After extraction, it was a plate the size of a credit card and a thickness of roughly 1cm.

The toenail's physical attributes fell far behind its other traits. This was a good thing since Seth didn't have to feel bad about not making a melee weapon out of it. The second item the blacksmith brought to the anvil was the fist-sized crystal of Maltus.

Since she had become a chosen, Seth intended to make a new item for Jess to commemorate her growth using this time's spoils of war.