Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

However, growing Minas Mar into a force to be reckoned with was all future talk. Right now, there was something bothering Seth that was more pressing than his urge to experiment on artificial life, and it wasn't repairing the gear of the Oathguard.

After several weeks of absence, their armors looked rather dilapidated after the fights in Ora. He left that job to Hoen, the dwarven magic blacksmith who had recently joined Minas Mar with his wife. The dwarf was of advanced level and could also use <Enchantment>.

Like a true dwarven blacksmith, he was a total nerd for armor, weapons, and production methods. He gladly took the chance to get his hand on some foreign armor and thoroughly check it out.

Recently, Seth had found that some of his items had become redundant. It was all the fault, or blessing, of <Kin of Fire>.

<Kin of Fire> improved the conversion of mana cost to power output so much, that he felt some of his items were not pulling their weight anymore. To a point that he saw the need to replace them.

Primarily his accessories such as the Dragon glass Rings and Earrings. They were already rather old anyway and fit for replacement. Seth also needed a new headgear, for when he did not wear the Helm of Hades.

The thought of new equipment also brought up in what direction he wanted to further strengthen himself.

Ther was his second class, the Infernal Skald, but it was more of a support class on its own. It complimented his skills well, depending on the song he learned, but he didn't really know what would improve that.

Maybe he could ask Neeco Boos to make him a Bard's gown that buffed his personality and singing skills? However, this was a question for a second set to switch to, not an augmentation of his current equipment.

He scrolled through his skill window when he spotted <Earth Affinity lv. 5>. This was a passive skill he had gained from the blessing of Hades, but the only use it had until now was to strengthen his mining skill.

It was like <Fire Affinity> that gave 10% earth affinity and resistance to earth attribute damage per level. At the moment he had no skills that really harnessed this potential or helped level it.

However, this was a good starting point. If he could get his hands on a skill scroll for Earth Magic, he could not only add another power to his repertoire, but he could also make equipment to strengthen it.

A nice side effect would also be that earth attribute enchantments would be strengthened even further in the future. Seth nodded to himself. He liked this idea. Following his impulse, to strike the iron while it was hot, he teleported to Delta.

It had been weeks since he last took a look in the auction house. There was a great change. The tab for "local" goods, things from Urth, had been empty for a long time. After his absence, there was a lot more.

Seth started looking through them without much expectation but found surprisingly many skill scrolls. There was no scroll for earth magic, but he found <Instrument Making> for just one gold. It was a steal.

He had <Instrument Mastery> from his second class but never bothered with getting an instrument. Now he could make one himself until he found a better one.

The scroll for earth magic on the other hand was a whole nother world. Skill scrolls for magic ranged at up to 200 gold coins depending on the magic. Fire magic was even traded at 250 gold coins, only topped by really rare scrolls for Light, Darkness, or Lightning.

Beginner Earth Magic ranged around 150 gold for a direct purchase. The starting bid was at 100 gold. Mr. Moneybags saw no reason to join an auction, because of a "mere" 50 gold. He paid another 5 gold for trans-dimensional portage before he finally held the scroll in his hand.

Seth immediately returned to his workshop at Minas Mar, to learn the skills in privacy.

First was <Instrument Maker>, which wedged a bunch of knowledge about the basic techniques and principles. Further, it added a bunch of new blueprints for all kinds of instruments to his <Blueprint> skill.

There was a much greater variety than he had expected. He had somehow expected a range of medieval instruments, but there were even more modern ones like saxophones and electric guitars. It somehow destroyed his medieval fantasy, the image he had made for himself during his journey.

Next was <Earth Magic>. It was the first real magic skill Seth learned. The knowledge that flooded his mind was in its basic similar to his <Pyromancy> but less instinctive and more theoretical.

One was an ability that gave a direct connection to the element and an instinctive communication, the other was a way to communicate with the elements without this fundamental connection. There was a lot more thinking and calculation involved with learning magic.

However, a high affinity was very helpful in this communication. Seth realized that at its peak, Magic and elemental abilities would lead to the same result. Before he had planned to maybe get <Fire Magic> at some point too, but now he saw, that it was not needed.

<Earth Magic (Beginner) lv.1> gave him access to the basic spell "Pebble". Similar to the most basic fire spell "Flame" which created a tiny flame to light a campfire, pebble created a small stone in the caster's hand.

There was no real use, except to maybe throw it as a diversion or use a sling to shoot it? He would need to study and master other spells, similar to the ballads and songs.

The level of <Earth Magic> was a requirement to learn new spells and increase a spells power. Once a spell was mastered, it would gain the buffs and correction of the magic skill based on the level. At least this was roughly how Seth understood it.

The system stayed vague in the amount of information it gave to the user. He would ask Alison, the in-house wizard.

To test it out, he followed the skills instructions and chanted "pebble" to create a small stone in his hand. But what appeared was not the so-called pebble, but a well-sized stone the size of a snowball.

Was this the effect of <Earth Affinity lv.5>? He played around with trying to reduce the mana output to regulate the size of the stone until he could make an actual pebble. The spell would when he used too little or too much mana.

"Interesting."

Since the only magic Seth ever used was the automatic magic from his gloves, he never had the option to vary the mana input like this.

"Seth, are you here?" he heard a voice from the entrance.

Wedan and Hoen, the two dwarves had come looking for him.

"What's up?"

"Ah, you are here! Great. We just ate a meal and Link asked us to tell you that he is done."

"Done?"

"Yeah, with the task you gave him. He said you would know what it means. Also, Hoen had some business with you."

The newcomer greeted Seth with a bow.

"Tower Master, I came to request a workshop. I do not mind sharing one with Wedan, but I would find it more relaxing if I had my own. I would like to start working on my own projects. W-Wedan said it wouldn't be a problem to ask." the dwarfs asked unsurely.

"Oh, sure, no problem. Did you already finish repairing the equipment of the Oathguard?"

"Really?! Thank you! And yes, I finished maintenance and repairs. I was really impressed with the different kinds of techniques you have used on these items, even though I don't understand all of it."

"That great. Well, If you excuse me, I will give Link a visit. I will take care of your workshop in the coming days." Seth assured him before he left.

Adding more rooms to the underground facilities of Minas Mar was no problem at all. The Mountain was big enough and all the work was done by the maintenance drones.

Now Seth hurried to find Link since he guessed he was done with taking apart those Snake corpses.. He had been busy in the meantime, but he had waited for him to finish.