Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth felt motivated when he returned to the workshop. At this pace he would be able to finish all items a week before they had to set off, giving everyone some time to get used to the new equipment.

The next item on his list was one for Faenys, the Mountain Brigand that had joined them after the Evaluation in Chrona. This was the first custom-made item he personally made for her. Although he had a little tryst with her and Mina in Chrona, they had not hung out after they returned.

Her current equipment was freely chosen from the items Seth and Cerberus, held back for members of Minas Mar. When he asked her what she would like, she surprisingly had a list of things for Seth to choose from. She wanted either a quick one-handed short sword, a crossbow, a quiver, or a throwing axe.

A crossbow needed a lot of fine-tuning and the was a better fit for weapons that were wielded, rather than thrown. The blacksmith chose the quickest option for him, a short sword. Seth had a lot of practice in forging a Yatagan and he had taken quite a liking to its overall shape.

From a bar of silver, he was able to quickly shape the swift saber. Faenys had not mentioned any preferences for the power of the weapon, as long as it allowed her quick attacks. Working with that Seth chose the forging ballad dedicated to Botis, the sword-wielding snake demon.

His power could help in wielding a sword quickly and unpredictably, like the attacks of a viper. The price was that the weapon would deal the wielder double the damage if he was clumsy enough to hurt himself with his own weapon.

For the handle, he used bones from the Titanoboas, which made him a little nostalgic for the time he used to make weapons from snake bones all the time. For the enchantments, he chose poison, fitting the snake theme.

Aside from the Deadly Poison Enchantment and Dexterity, he also found a poem that could imbue the same powers as the forging ballad of decay. Lately, he had tried to avoid enchanting weapons with more than one demonic source, but these works that called upon powers that had already become principles seemed to be similar to neutral enchantments, such as those that increased attributes.

Since they had little possibility to negatively interfere with other enchantments he was able to use them without many worries. Along the bade of the one-edged blade, he etched in demonic runes that meant something along the lines of:

"With only a touch, I have the power,

Zim-zam-rim-vim,

to whither man and flower!

I find delight in the gruesome and grim!"

It was only one verse of an incomplete piece, but it had a similar power to the forging ballad of decay he had used previously. After a last polishing of the sharpened blade, he switched over to working on the soul.

According to Faenys's specification, he managed to find a soul that should have been able to satisfy her desire for quick and fast attacks.

The soul of a weasel-like beast with bone blades for appendages, known for its unearthly fast and sharp attacks. Talent: Blade Wielding, Quick Draw, Blade Ghost>

Seth had never seen, nor heard of such a creature until Tano'Mol suggested its soul to him. The talents were decent and fit his criteria almost too well. The last step was the olympian enchantment. For this, he chose Menoetius' Destiny.

The blacksmith had used the Blessing of Menoetius previously which offered a rush of strength. However, the destiny of Menoetius was being struck down by Zeus with lightning and being banished to Tartarus as a cripple.

It was not an enchantment Seth would put on an armor, but it was a promising story for a weapon. The sigil of Menoetius' Destiny was a human figure covered in chaotic lines that could be depicting lightning. The same lines covered the soul yatagan after Seth finished the engraving.

Everything was as usual up to this point. He infused the soul into the weapon without any problems and offered it to the waters of Styx when the floating bubble of water suddenly started churning. Dark tendrils seemed to have invaded the sphere and were entering the floating yatagan.

More glowing runes appeared on the weapon's blade as if etched by invisible hands. Magnificent, marvelous, mad... Seth tried to interpret the runes but it seemed like a kind of dialect. Something about the size of a house, the size of a mouse, ugliness, and beauty...

Only when the last rune's glow receded did the tendrils disappear and the waters stopped churning.

The last notification at least gave him some kind of answer to what had happened just now. He would have never thought that a demon would intervene on their own to change an item. This was unprecedented for Seth.

However, when checking the blade's information, he found that it was not a bad impact, even though the name became a little weird.

Legendary

Phys. Damage: 2600

Durability: 9000

1. Blessing of Wind

2. +200% Power on Skills and Spells

3. Artifice of Botis

4. Poison of Botis

5.+150 Dexterity

6. Blade Ghost

7. Destiny of the Sinner

8. Powers of Mim

9. A "Sporting Chance"

A cruel weapon created by Craftsman Smith and enchanted by Master Smith, the first master enchanter of Urth, using divine and demonic means. A mischievous presence looking for entertainment has completed an ancient enchantment, furthering the blade's malice. The mercy of the blade can never be trusted.>

Seth stared at the thing for a while. Although it did not seem as spectacular as other legendary items that lent the user a lot of skill, there was a lot to unpack on this weapon. The power of Botis had actually reacted with different elements of the weapon, creating two different effects.

His poison seemed like the synergy between the enchantment, the demonic power, and the snake bone handle. It could inflict the Deadly Poison effect with a 20% chance and stack it up to ten times.

His artifice was a reaction between his blade skill and the soul of the weasel. This effect had absorbed quick draw and blade wielder from the soul and became an effect that would lend the carrier a vast array of blade skills to create a more unpredictable fighting style based on pure speed.

Together with the blessing of Wind which raised attack speed by 75% and movement speed by 25%, the Artifice of Botis already made the weapon a great success. But in addition to that, Blade ghost was preserved as an additional effect. It could allow the wielder to hide his presence for a short time, turning practically invisible, for a quick deadly attack.

Destiny of the sinner was a 50% chance to deal additional lightning damage, with a 25% chance to cause paralysis and burns.

As if it was not enough, there were the Powers of Mim.

The first being decay on hit.

The second was to change the size of the weapon, ranging between a dagger and a big long sword. The third was to change its appearance, switching between an old rusty look that could add a sepsis to wounds and a polished finish that increased the chance to cause bleeding by 5%.

Lastly, there was a "Sporting Chance". Seth now understood the last sentence on the notification. This effect actually lowered the attack power of the wielder when facing a weaker opponent, thus giving them a chance on the surface.

However, it also increased the wielder's attack speed by the same percentage it lowered the attack. Not even mentioning all the other effects of the weapon that would outright devastate any opponent, even if the damage was weakened, the base damage of the Yatagan was so high, that a lower damage and higher speed just meant a guaranteed death by a thousand cuts to a weaker opponent.

Seth was almost tempted to keep this weapon to himself and simply make something else for Faenys...Despite such tempting thoughts, Seth decided to give the weapon to the Mountain Brigand. She was much better equipped to bring out the weapon's true power.

Since she was bound by a soul contract anyways, her power was his power. Giving it to her would only grow his power even further than when wielding it himself.