Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

After a good meal, Seth returned to his tent. There was one more thing he wanted to test. What really impressed him was the fact that the Golem forge was able to clad a body in leather, as if it was the original skin.

This time the blacksmith wanted to see what it would do if he gave it some good quality materials to work with. Before he started, he refined the big soul of the lizardman chief to improve its chance to develop an ego and he looted some of the swamp crocodiles.

Although it was a waste since he only got stuff like some teeth and leather, he only did it with a few exemplars. Then he gave the golem forge the looted sheets of leather, the refined soul, the chief's body, and an ingot of the .

The last one was to check one of his ideas regarding Ithildin.

Like before the body was skinned in a very unappetizing way and the skin was exchanged for the crocodile leather. The important part he focused on was what it did with the . Fitting with his assumption, it used the materials as a seat for the soul, similar to how usually created his golems.

The important takeaway from this for him was, that the refined was better as a core than just infusing the soul into the golem. He had gotten this idea because of the works of Forgebrand he had seen at the treasury. Most of them used as a crucial part.

The resulting golem, stepping out of the bubble of styxian water, was a tall rough looking reptile warrior. The moment it was released from the machine, it stepped forward and snapped to attention, saluting to Seth.

Trait: Unlimited Stamina, Valiant Warrior

Race: Reptilian Golem

Age:0

Affiliation: Minas Mar

Durability: 1000/1000

Mana: 1500

Strength:250

Dexterity:250

Agility: 200

Intelligence: 40

Willpower: 90

Endurance: 450

Personality: 10

Defense:

Physical: 5500

Magical: 3000

Poison Immunity

Mental Immunity

Status Anomaly Resistance: 25%

Magic Resistance 35%

Active Skill: Charge lv.3

Passive Skill: Leadership lv. 3

Passive Skill: Spear Mastery(Adept) lv.5>

Surprised he found that the Tough-Scale Chief was marginally much better than the previous tries. It even had a special trait and started off with good skills.

Besides the hint for the , this also showed Seth, that the automatic customization could have quite good results when given fitting materials. Even when they couldn't quite rival the handcrafted golems, since the forge could not handle fully enhanced armor. The time saving was a strong argument in favor of it if he didn't have the exact materials for any good blueprints.

It was an interesting function to play with, to say the least. He wanted to return home, before doing anything more.

"Whoa, what's with this guy?" Lydia exclaimed, closing the flap of the tent behind her. She was staring at the tall Tough-Scale Chief, still standing at attention.

"Oh, did you guys already return?" Seth asked surprised, seeing the cyber goth suddenly entering.

"Yep, we are done with the dungeon. All that's left is for Karina to finish," she answered, walking around the golem without taking her eyes off of it.

"You like what you see?" Seth asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"I don't know why, but I really like this one. Did you make it with your new forge?"

"I wouldn't have thought that this was your kind of taste... Yeah, I've been playing around with one of the functions. Do you want it?" Seth offered. He felt her taste a little weird, but he wouldn't judge.

"Can I?" she asked with sparkly eyes.

"Tough Scale Chief, from now on you follow this person's orders. Her name is Lydia." Seth commanded the golem, effectively giving Lydia control over it for future use.

"Alright!" she called out and suddenly climbed on the lizardman's shoulders. "Let's go!"

Seth followed her outside where she and the others started playing around with the golem. As they waited for Karina to finish, the bard sat at the campfire and started practicing his music. At some point, even Una and Tearlach left Karina to listen to the bard, playing different songs he learned from Oz.

It got late into the night when Karina finally finished growing the offshoot. They rested for the night before they traveled the last stretch to reach Mount Agra. The expedition was welcomed by the crowd of chimeras and some of the Guard of Nas'Korn.

"Tower Master! You finally arrived!" Pardo greeted them, pulling Seth into a hairy bear hug.

"Tower Master, you came a long way since the last time we met." One of the guards greeted. Seth had a hard time recognizing who it was.

"I'm Kargo, I'm the chosen of Nas'Korn. I don't think you will remember, but I was among the guard back then, when we fought the demon." the chosen explained.

"Nice to meet you again!" Seth greeted and shook his hand.

This was the second chosen native to Urth, that Seth met and he was glad that he seemed like a sane person. Unlike the self-proclaimed Adventurer King...

"Please follow me, Nas'Korn asked to greet you first and foremost." Kargo exerted.

This came in useful, as Seth was also interested in having a talk with the former god, or mountain deity... the blacksmith wasn't sure what exactly was correct.

Kargo led him through the mountain city, which looked a lot better than the first time they had come through. In part, this was thanks to Minas Mar's prospects of connecting the places with the districts with the trading route.

Although they had made a deal with the empire and their rhino riders protected the few routes in the vicinity, none of them were directly connected with their city. Agra Mountain saw not much traffic, despite being in charge of the protection in the region.

However, the big change was mostly thanks to Nas'korn recovering their powers, Kargo readily explained to him during their conversation on the way. Many of the dilapidated and empty buildings Seth had seen the last time, had experienced a thorough renovation.

Seth could even spot some inns and hotels for travelers. What really relieved him was how the Chimeras were treated in the mountain city. He saw the residents happily mingle with the chimeras in the crowd and he couldn't really see any negative reactions.

Maybe, if the chimeras like this place, they could stay here to help guard the trade route? Either way, he decided to leave it to them, to choose where they wanted to stay. Nobody said the chimeras had all stayed together in one place.

Kargo led them to the monument of Nas'Korn. At the foot of the giant anthropomorphic statue hewn into the mountain waiting for a stocky middle-aged woman that greeted him. Seth still remembered her, it was Manila, the leader of the group of mountain people that had saved the last time.

"I'm glad our Savior is doing alright." Manila greeted him with a kind smile.

She was meaning the time when Seth went ahead and looted-...disassembled- When he stopped the mana collection formation from blowing up the region.

"I'm the one who should say that. I'm glad to see you in good health."

"Charmer, but this can wait. Our Deity wishes to speak with you."

"Can you finally understand it?" Seth asked in surprise. He could see the chosen being able to hear and understand the voice but had everyone else also learn it.

Manila coughed a little embarrassed.

"This old lady became Nas'Korn's Saintess," she answered blushing.

"I know, I don't really fit the image of a young and beautiful spokesperson of god, but this was what Nas'korn decided," she added.

"Haha, don't belittle yourself. A Saintess doesn't necessarily have to be a young, innocent woman." Seth answered with a laugh. He had seen quite a few saints and saintesses on broadcast during his time in Chrona.

Often, they reminded him of pop-up ads that tried to sell their religion to people and they came in all forms and ages. Manila couldn't help but laugh when he described it to her. Those people were also far from their romanticized picture of a saint.

"Ah, there you are." he heard a familiar voice speak to him. They had arrived in front of Nas'Korns monument.