Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

His head filled with thoughts, Seth left the dwarf's mansion and slowly walked back to his own. The old dwarf shared with him two methods he was able to think of.

The first was to offset the curse with another material of equal power. Depending on the material it could also require someone like an Alchemist to process the material. However, the dwarf was unable to give him any tangible example since he did not know the specifics of the curse.

Except for things that were widely known for their effects against curses and their scarcity, like unicorn blood. The joke was that something like unicorn blood was harder to get than dragon materials. Most of the things able to lift such a curse were too precious to be used on something like the dragon scales.

The second option was to get the help of a powerful god with a fitting domain to get rid of the curse. There were more gods than unicorns in the world and people could technically talk to them. This meant this method was much more feasible.

He only needed to find a god or saint who would do it for cheaper than the price of unicorn blood...

Seth looked at the skyline of Chrona that lay at the foot of the imperial palace. Many spires rose from the cityscape, showing how many religions had a church in the capital. It was an option that came up during their conversation, one Seth had never thought of.

The blacksmith had the partial blessing of three gods, but as someone who grew up in a society without religious beliefs, he had never thoughts of visiting their temples. There had also never been a chance on Urth, but it was different here.

"If you were a champion or a chosen one you could have asked your guardian god."

It was this comment of the old dwarf that had turned their conversation to Seth's own blessings. Kothar mentioned to him that there were temples of all kinds of gods in Chrona. Maybe Seth could visit the Temples of Seth, Hades, or Hephaistos. It was a chance to talk to these gods for the first time, ever.

The blacksmith was unsure about how he felt about the gods. Gods themselves were a foreign concept to him, though, of course, he accepted their existence it didn't mean he worshipped them or knew a lot about them.

Even if he knew some mythology, how was someone supposed to speak to a god? Maybe he would need to perform a ritual or something?

On another note, he didn't know their personalities. He knew the stories but hearing of someone's adventure and knowing them was different. Without question, he was thankful for the blessings they gave him, but would they be the type to demand thanks.

Seth's old habit of expecting the worst of people came through. He only knew gods from pop culture and novels. Because of that, he did not have any high opinions or expectations of them. Especially not the Olympian gods or Seth.

They already didn't have the best reputation just based on their original Myths. The blacksmith was thankful, but not thankful enough to throw himself into the dirt or kiss their feet. Seth had a healthy amount of confidence in the fact that he already did well even before gaining a god's handout.

Maybe he would not have advanced as quickly, but except for a few instances, he did not feel like he owed them anything. Then again, he was going there to ask for help...

Lost in thought he walked back to his mansion where he encountered an exhausted messenger from the imperial family. The man was arguing with their servant when Seth entered the premises. The moment the messenger saw Seth he charged at him.

"I finally found you!"

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"I guess you won't be bragging to Kali about our little Blacksmith?" Seth teased Hades.

The god of chaos was a little bummed since there was not as much fire, but overall, he was quite content with the destruction and mayhem their champion had caused.

Hades only smiled mysteriously and didn't speak his thoughts. Why wouldn't he shove it in her face? Her dedicated champion that had a zombie dragon and a massive army of undead lost to a crafting class. Even if Seth wasn't his champion, Hades would find a way to tease her about it.

The smuggest in the room was most likely Hephaistos, as it was Python and other golems that took the center stage this time unlike in previous adventures it was his craft that was able to shine this time.

If Seth continued to train the golems like this and they kept leveling, the blacksmith would end up with a terrifying force under his belt. Making overpowered gear was one thing but letting others fight for you was the true elegance of being a crafter.

Automatons were clean and refined, unlike the stinky undead of necromancers or the dirty animals of tamers. Even a dragon still produced giant dragon shits, and someone had to take care of those. Though he had to admit, that his appreciation for slimes had grown, ever since Seth hang out with Ellie.

"Brother, do you have a way to deal with this scale business?" Hermes suddenly asked Hephaistos.

The three patron gods of Seth had been occupied with analyzing the battle at the cliff, while Hermes kept his attention on the present. Hearing that Seth was planning to visit their temples surprised the three.

"What the dwarf said is correct. Even I would have to neutralize the dragon's grudge somehow or try to separate it from the scales. Since we can't directly interfere, I won't be able to help him. Hades, this is the grudge of a dead dragon, wouldn't you be able to appease the dead?" the blacksmith God spoke to the god of the underworld.

"The cursed dragon scales..." Hades mumbled, and he smiled again. He had a fun idea.

"No, personally I can't. It's Lethe's domain to soothe the dead and make them forget. Just like you, i don't have a way to directly counteract the curse but I know who could and we could kill two birds with one stone."

Within the confines of the system, they had to abide by special rules when it came to interacting with the players. Even when it came to their chosen ones. The only players they could directly interact with were their Saints.

If they wanted to directly help or communicate with a believer without the medium of a skill, it required an equivalent quest to be fulfilled. These were the system god's rules. This made sure that Gods were not able to hand out powerups like candy to their followers.

"Two birds with one stone... Uncle don't tell me!"

"Stop scheming among each other. What are you talking about?" Seth asked intrigued.

"We will ask Apollo to help Seth." Hades put in the room.

Hermes and Hephaistos looked baffled. Seth only listened silently.

"Are you sure about that, if brother finds out about Python..." Hermes mumbled uncertainly.

"That is exactly the reason why we ask him. If he finds out on his own, he might do something stupid, but if we explain everything to him, he might even come to like our little blacksmith instead of antagonizing him." Hades explained living up to the role as the responsible of the three brothers,

Hermes fell silent as he thought about the proposal of his uncle. Among them, he probably knew Apollo the best, and Hades was right.

Although Apollo was known for his reason and virtue, he had an almost irrational loathing for Python. It wasn't that the divine herald didn't understand him. Although it happened on the orders of someone else, the snake had tried to kill his mother when she was pregnant with him and his sister, after all.

If he somehow found out on his own, that something like the seed of Python was created or born, he might make an unfavorable decision. Once he started to make his move, it would be hard to dissuade him, even if it was any of them trying to talk to him.

"It's not a bad idea. If Apollo has some grievance about Seth, he can give him a harder quest." Hephaistos commented. He was sure, that the reasonable Apollon wouldn't make the quest impossible to achieve. If not on his own, then for their sake.

Seth had only been listening silently to the three.

"What kind of guy is Apollo personally? Keep in mind that he and little Seth have a lot in common. He might become another permanent guest here." he mused, eyeing Hermes who kept freeloading in their pocket dimension.

"Don't worry, Apollo isn't as shameless as Hermes." Hephaistos dropped the bomb.

The god of thieves could only look at him with an open mouth. He was shocked. Hermes couldn't deny that he wasn't the most reputable guy, but he never expected Hephaistos to call him out like that with such a dry comment.

"Don' be so harsh. Hermes has his uses. Could you go and ask Apollo to visit us?" Hades doubled down on him and asked the messenger to do his job.

"...Sure," Hermes mumbled and left the cinema dimension in a flash of light.