Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seeing that the situation in Delta was turning, Seth wanted to finish his armor as quickly as possible. But he couldn't get hasty. He was already very fast, taking into account that he was working on a legendary armor set.

He wanted to quickly return to the workshop, however, he stayed in the meeting room and they kept talking. It had been a while for all of them to meet like this and it felt good to simply talk. Not all of it was important stuff.

At some point, Link brought out food and it became a meal with everyone. Even when the world was currently in chaos and maybe even on the brink of destruction, for Seth things had actually turned for the better.

The last time he had this kind of kinship...It had been a while. The armor was for himself, but this was what he fought for. He just wanted to protect his little piece of the world. He realized that he couldn't just concentrate on the armor.

If the black faction behind the berserk pellet already started sending cultivators to help their associates, the member of the Oathguard were in danger. He didn't know most members of the Oathguard personally, but all of them were chosen by him and the people he trusted.

Most importantly they were also here to protect what was important to him. They were part of it, his people. He thought that Minas Mar may have been big enough now, to weather the storms of the world. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe it was time to go a little further. The was a cabinet with his name on it.

After the meeting/get-together, Seth approached Mary alone.

"Seth, what can I do for you?" she asked with a slightly drunk slur.

"I need 500 Gold from the Guild Funds," he said straight away.

"Y-You are planning something crazy... right? Don't you have your personal funds for this kind of stuff?" she asked confusedly.

So far Seth had never touched the guild funds to buy materials for his own projects. It was a first that he directly asked for such a huge sum of money.

"Yeah, it's probably crazy, but it's for Minas Mar," he assured her.

"You don't have to justify yourself. You can take it whenever you like, but thanks for the heads up. I will write it down later." she said after slightly sobering up.

"Thanks, I will take it tomorrow."

He spent the evening with Mina before going to sleep.

…

The next morning after breakfast, he got the money, bringing the gold in his system wallet to almost 1000. With this much money, he was sure it would suffice for what he intended to do. But it wasn't time yet. The soul emporium only opened in the evening.

He returned to the workshop. He wanted to finish his helmet until evening. The helmet he had designed was inspired by the Helm of Darkness, but the cheek guards were pulled back to reveal the face, making it look more like a nasal helmet with a nose guard from the front.

Although the very enclosed helmets gave better protection, Seth didn't like the way they restricted his sight and voice. Since he was also going to cast magic and sing, he couldn't have that. It was a trade-off between more protected area and utility.

When making the helmet, Seth was especially happy that his skills allowed him to work the metal like in a modern workshop. When working with metal, his allowed him to use flames like a plasma cutter or a gas torch depending on the circumstance.

In the case of the mix of this composite material, he managed to create a similar effect using his and Charon's Obol, although it took a huge amount of mana to soften the legendary material and even more to weld it.

Compared to other armor parts, the helmet especially needed him to switch back and forth between different attachments to shape the material and he had to keep it malleable the whole time while singing the forging ballad. It was a very resource-intensive labor.

After shaping and welding the pieces of the helmet together, he refined them, cut them to shape, and beveled the edges. The last step was forging and adding the nasal guard, similar to how it would be done on what the system called a Norman nasal helmet.

His clothes were drenched in sweat when he finally finished the helmet. As he had expected, it had already become evening. He returned to his quarters for a quick shower and a change of clothes. He took a rueful glance at the mirror.

The blacksmith could now comprehend Jonah's anguish. Ever since the goddess Eos had turned his beard to dust, it had not grown back. His cheeks were as bare as a woman's or those of a young lad.

Fortunately, Seth had never cared about his appearance too much, so losing the beard before he got any deep attachments to it, was only a minor inconvenience. Although it scratched a little on his image of a blacksmith.

Big, muscular, and bearded. He had the height, and defined muscles to show, but now his beard was gone. However, he coped by looking at it from another perspective. A smooth youthful face fit the description of a bard better, despite bard being only one letter away from beard.

He pulled himself out of these useless thoughts and hurried to the demon district. It wasn't like he didn't visit the other soul traders Charred had mentioned, however, they all seemed sketchy when compared to Tano'Mol.

If Seth wanted souls that were gained by unfair contracts, murder, or other kinds of forceful acquisition, he could do it himself. This was why he made the conscious decision to stay with the soul emporium and he had yet to regret it.

The blacksmith had already been to Tano'Mol's Soul Emporium a few times to get the souls needed for his armor. This time he was aiming for something else.

It had been a crazy idea, just a fleeting thought in the back of his mind ever since he had first visited. Still, after realizing how fragile life could be, even when he covered people in high-grade armor, he decided to give it a try.

"Seth, you are back. How can I help you this time?" the demon greeted him

"I came to give your special cabinet a try."

The goat's face turned serious. "You remember that you can only buy what agrees to be bought and it won't be sheep," he cautioned.

"I know," Seth answered seriously, ignoring the stupid pun the demon made. Blacksmith and demon went up the stair to the second floor.

The blacksmith stayed in the Soul Emporium for a long time, almost the whole night. But he deemed it necessary. He only left in the early morning after exhausting all his money and skills. Both the bard and goat seemed quite satisfied with the results of a night's work.

Seth was completely exhausted. All he wanted was to get home and to bed. Despite his exhaustion, he was very satisfied. Tomorrow he would finish the helmet and start the new project on the side. The golem forge would have a lot to do, once he finished the new blueprint.

"I'm in a good mood right now, so skedaddle if you treasure your lives." the blacksmith suddenly said to the darkness. He had detected the presence of two pursuers with the from his earring.

"I'm afraid we can't do that. Tower Master of Minas Mar."

Disgruntled, Seth looked in the dark alleyway, but couldn't see the two figures he was detecting.

"Now you weirdos even target my life? Aren't you going a little overboard?" the blacksmith asked unimpressed.

He didn't get an answer, as the two figures rushed at him. In the same instant, Seth had already equipped his gear. Several dings could be heard as weapons crashed into the barrier that was created with Shieldwarrior's Constitution by equipping the Wyvern Shield.

At the same time, he heard two gasps and blood splattered on the street. They had been hit by a fourth of their own attack thanks to Tisiphone's Mirror.

"Well, you had the chance to walk away. Don't blame me."

"Urgh!" "Argh!"

A wave of orange fire filled the street and alley, revealing the two figures as holes in the fire. The blacksmith took a deep breath and absorbed back the fire that had burned for mere seconds. Old posters on the wall, garbage, anything easily flammable in the street had vanished, eaten away by the Salamander's Flames.

By absorbing it, he had slightly replenished his mana.

"Goodbye."

A concentrated dark red flame swallowed the two figures.