Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

In the small cocoon, maybe the size of a handball was a small baby Ivicer. It had felt the warmth of the sun for the first time and promptly heard someone talking of taking it away from it again! It collected all its power and gave off a weak telepathic shout of disagreement. Its weak and soft voice startled its carrier and the evil witch that wanted to take the sun away from it!

"I guess it can hear us? Hey, little one, did you listen in on the conversation we had with your dad, too?", the carrier asked in a friendly tone. It had! But it was too weak to answer now.

"You don´t have to answer, we can try this. Do you want to be my pet?"

A small window appeared in its mind.

<Do you wish to enter a pet contract with Seth Smith? Y/N>

Seth Smith, it must have been the full name of its carrier. It concentrated on the Y.

<Ding! You have entered a pet-contract with a Baby Ivicer! Congratulation!>

<Ding! Title: "Divine Tamer" gained. "You have entered a contract with a divine race as a pet." Pers +2>

Seth felt a connection being established between himself and the Ivicer in the cocoon. He could slightly feel its emotions and needs of which "feeling the sun" was an overwhelming wish that was transmitted much clearer than anything else.

He also instinctively knew how to call the cocoon back into the pet space. In the pet window, he could now see a picture of the small cocoon and it showed 55% intimacy and 35% loyalty.

Looking at the window he knew that intimacy would strengthen their telepathic bond and loyalty was an indication of their relationship. 30% was the minimum to establish the contract, it was the condition of basic trust and cooperation. If it fell below that the contract would absolve. 100% would mean that they would protect each other with their life on the line.

"Ok, how about we stay here for a while and enjoy the sun, before returning to the city?

Seth had no problem with staying a little longer if it made the little one happy. Just this small act of kindness already made the intimacy increase to 57%. Fin on the other hand hung her head in defeat. The cute and spry fairy had been overruled by a sparkling fluffball! She was over 200 years old and knew that she should be the adult one here, but her pride still took a hit!

After another half, an hour in the sun, Seth could feel the cocoon's satisfaction. He tried to call it into the pet space and it readily agreed. He still had the connection from the Ivicer and could feel, that it was now fell into a satisfied sleep, within the pet space. With the golden ball stored away, they returned to the palace.

They all returned to the palace, where Ikram joyfully welcomes them! They had been worried when they did not return from the dungeon for several days. The poor palace chef suddenly had to improvise a small feast for the gluttonous smith and fairy!

The missing servants had been replaced and a new head butler was hired. It came out, that Russlan, who had turned into some kind of vampire, had also embezzled the wages of the killed servants! The money had not been found yet.

Maybe it was in the dungeon? The Guild had concluded their investigation of the dungeon at this point and found it dormant without a dungeon master present. The decision to ultimately destroy the dungeon core and close the dungeon was still pending.

After a satisfying meal, Seth and Fin were happy to get back to their room. It was a divine feeling to rest on a soft bed once again after sleeping on the cave floor for a few days. At least for Seth, Fin had used him as a bed, so she could not complain a lot. They fell asleep the moment they touched the bed.

They slept all the way to the morning of the next day. Fin was still asleep, so Seth took the chance to have a long bath and wash up. He also shaved the stubble that a grown during the time in the cave. He had been shaving regularly since they stayed at the palace.

When he finally left the bathroom, all squeaky clean and ready for the day, Fin was also awake and they had breakfast together.

Seth could no longer wait and promptly entered the armory after breakfast. It was time! He had 30 finished blades that waited to have their crossguards and handles fitted.

<Ding! You have finished your first enchanted weapon! DEX+1>

<Enchanted Longsword

Uncommon

Damage: 200

1. Increase Damage by 20%. Mana Cost: 15/minute

An enchanted longsword made from high-quality materials by an aspiring blacksmith. The enchantment is a little rough, but functional.

>

<Blacksmith> increased by 5% with just one sword ! But what he did not expect, was that <Enchantment> also increased a slight bit, with the completion of the weapon!

There were little effects that improved the time he needed to fit a good handle to the sword so he needed almost 3 more days to finish all 30 swords. This brought his him to <Blacksmith (Apprentice) lv.8 (63%)> and <Enchantment (Beginner) lv4 (75%)>

Seth let out a relieved sigh and sat on the floor of the armory. Looking at the 30 swords resting on the weapon racks filled him with pride and wonder. He made these. It was him! Seeing his works neatly lined up gave him a completely different feeling than just seeing a stack of weapons in the inventory or scattered around in a room.

Of course, these were not the only things he finished in this time. He had also experimented with some things for his own use. Enchantment working with engraving or inlays were not permanent but needed the supply of magic power to work.

As such there was the option to use minerals like gemstones or magic cores to store magic as a supply for the enchantment. This was one of the things Seth had tried. It was nothing hard, he used a ruby the size of a fingernail (harvested from the jewelry before) and embedded it into the crossguard of a sword, to see how it worked. This actually gave him some proficiency in <Goldsmith>.

It was an ordinary ruby and could only store a small amount of magic. Still, it was enough to try it out. Contrary to his expectations, there was not an automated process. Similarly, to using one´s own mana, one guided the magic power from the stone into the blade. So as long as the power reached the circuit, it worked.

The second thing he tried was enchanting one of the spare longswords with an infused soul.

<Enchanted Superior Longsword

Uncommon

Damage: 180-220

Durability:1100

1. Unless supplied with magic power, the damage will randomly jump between the two values. Mana Cost: 10/minute

A good weapon made by an aspiring blacksmith. Despite minor deficiencies in the workmanship, this weapon shows a slightly improved performance owing to special treatment. >

The outcome was a kind of a failed product?! What happened was that the enchantment on the blade worked for a moment and then started flickering on and off without Seth doing anything. The system did not give him much of a hint, but Seth inferred that the soul he had infused was not strong enough to permanently supply the circuit. Now, the circuit automatically sucked up the magic power the moment the soul regenerated enough for it to work.

As Seth sat there in the armory, he thought about <Soul Infusion> and the perk list. If only he could see what future perks his skills had. But there was a hint in the description of <Soul Forging> and that was that it needed <Soul infusion lv.3> to infuse equipment made of souls into items. So, there might be a change on the third level!

The question now was, should he splurge a little? He could either use some of the now 87 small souls to try and level <Soul Infusion>, or he could use his Free SP on the skill.

Seth didn´t have much time left. In about a week they would have to leave Zhiqe to travel to Oriekot and take the airship to Ora! On the other hand, <Soul Smithy> had unlocked the next level and he needed SP to level it up. The time or <Soul Smithy>?

Thinking back, it had not taken a lot to get <Soul Infusion> to lv.2. Seth decided that the SP was too important for now, he also had a promising idea of what he would make to save time! Back to the roots, Seth made small throwing knives. Yes! The same one he did at the very start of the journey. And he infused them with a small soul each.

<High-quality Throwing knife

Uncommon

Damage: 25-50

Durability: 150

Throwing knives made by an aspiring blacksmith. They have a great performance thanks to special treatment. Targets better dodge, even the blunt end will hurt! 50% chance to cause Bleeding.>

After 25 throwing knives <Soul Infusion> leveled up! And he was right! The perk for lv.3 was:

< lv.3 Strengthen or upgrade souls by consuming souls of the same grade or size. >

He tried several things and found out, that it had no restriction. He could fuse two <Soul(small)> or fuse another soul into an already finished weapon!

And after fusing another 4 small souls into the sword the enchantment stayed activated permanently!

<Enchanted Superior Longsword

Uncommon

Damage: 220

Durability:1100

A good weapon made by an aspiring blacksmith. Despite minor deficiencies in the workmanship, this weapon shows a greatly improved performance owing to special enchantment. >