Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth talked with Tored about his plans to test out his new skills and asked for a break.

"Sure, I won't stop you. Actually, I am also quite interested in the power of this flame in combat. Show me your equipment."

Seth was a little baffled at the sudden command, but he brought out the set of serpent armor and his padded jacket from Nädel. It was then that Seth realized, that he was actually quite lacking in the item department now despite being a blacksmith. And a good one if he was allowed to praise himself a little.

Tored inspected the different parts of the serpent set with a mixed expression but gave an approving nod when he saw the thin golden gambeson. His eyes even shone a little brighter when he touched the fabric.

"Good stuff," he grunted. "I won't let you leave the house wearing the rest of this. You are now my disciple; I will not let you run around in such a shabby armor."

His evaluation of the serpent armor was quite harsh, but Seth could somewhat understand it. His skills in enchantment and goldsmithing had grown a lot and now the enchantments on the bone armor just looked ugly, like a child's doodle.

Tored took the serpent armor and vanished in the storeroom with it. Seth heard him rummaging around and soon the dwarf came back with a new set of armor in his hands.

"I made this as practice when I was about your level. it should fit you."

At first glance the armor did not look very fancy, Seth might have been able to make armor like this himself if he spent a week. It was a set of black full-plate armor. The main material used was <Dark Steel> with mithril inlays for the enchantments.

<Dark Knight Cuirass

Dark Knight Set:1/6

Rare

Phys. Def.: 650

Mag. Def.: 325

Durability: 2800

1.+25 Endurance

2. +10% Mana regeneration in darkness

3. Automatic Sizing

An armor made by a talented blacksmith made from rare materials. Even so, it was made for practice, it is in no way lacking.

Set Effect:

Passive Skill: Menacing Stature

A Dark Knight strikes fear into his opponents. His sight alone is enough to make those of weak hearts flee.

3/6

+20% Defense in darkness.

6/6 Non-Allies are weakened by 10-25% depending on your level difference. 50% chance to make weak opponents flee from a fight. 5-10% chance to paralyze opponent inf fear.

>

Seth's jaw dropped. The other pieces had a similar effect but strengthened other attributes. Each part for itself was not too impressive, but seeing the full set revealed its overbearing nature. It was no brutish show of savagery, but an aura of nobility.

The armor told everyone who looked at it, that he was not good enough. Too weak, too lacking, not worthy to even look at the dark knight's overbearing might. It was like the cold arrogance of absolute power.

It reminded him a lot of one of the most feared opponents of a game known for its merciless difficulty.

"I'm supposed to wear this...?" Seth asked unsurely.

"Sure, I will lend it to you for your adventure."

At the dwarfs urging he put the armor into his inventory and equipped it via the system window. Agility, Strength, Dexterity, Endurance increased by 25 points each filling him with an overwhelming feeling of power. The helmet had an enchantment that allowed him to have an unimpeded vision, despite the helmet.

Tored looked up at him with big round eyes, before shaking his head and coming back to his senses. The set effect did not even halt before its creator. Non-allies meant anyone who was not in the wearer's party. He could not even wear this on his way to the dungeon, he could cause a mass panic!

"Ok, take it off. Did the automatic sizing work? My enchantment skill was still a little immature back then."

"Everything ok. It fits like a glove," Seth answered after taking the armor off again. Feeling the buff effects leave left him with an empty feeling. 25 points increase in all physical attributes was no joke. He wondered whether there were people that got addicted to this...

"Oh, and use this when you go to the dungeon," Tored said and pulled out a sword.

<Training Sword

Common

Damage: 200

Durability:1200

A heavy sword made from common steel by Master Tored for the purpose of training.>

The sword was very thick, slightly dull, and heavy compared to what a sword was supposed to be. It felt more like a steel pipe and less like a sword! First, he gave him this overpowered armor and now an almost unusable sword...

The dwarf read Seth's expression and laughed joyfully.

"You said that you wanted to test the effects of your new skills, didn´t you? Using this will make for a much better test and training. There is no way you will die with this armor, as long as you don't overdo it. Now, go and get some experience in real battles."

Seth kept thinking about Tored's intentions on his way to the guild. It made sense, that using a worse weapon would help to increase his skills, but why did he only give it to him now? The only reason he could think of was his rank up in <Weapon Mastery>. Maybe he simply lacked the skill to reliably use this method before? Or it was needed to guarantee continuous growth? Seth wasn't sure about the reason, but he was certain that Tored had his reasons.

This was actually his first time at the dwarven branch of the guild in the Halls of Stone. The building was part of the City of eternal night. A big pillar decorated by illuminated carvings of adventures and heroes. The inside was dominated by intricate works of marble in different colors.

The biggest difference was that it was filled with dwarven adventurers and only a few other races. The general description for a dwarven adventurer should be "armed to the teeth". No matter their class, they were all armored like tanks and armed like damage dealers. You could only mage out dwarven caster by attentively inspecting their weapons.

A caster's staff normally had a nucleus, like a crystal embedded at the tip. If one looked closely, one could discover these embedded in war hammers, polearms, and maces of dwarven casters. Without his <Blacksmith's eyes> Seth would have seriously thought every dwarf was a frontline fighter and there were no casters classes at all.

He came to the guild to get information on dungeons. With the restrictions he had, he decided to look for a dungeon in his level range. He had little to no idea about the dungeons in the Halls of Stone as those were not part of the little tourist booklet he was given.

He stood out like a sore thumb as he waited in line for one of the counters. Unlike what one might think, the surrounding dwarfs did not look at him with leery and unfriendly eyes. No, their eyes were actually sparkling as if they saw a successful businessman or star.

The reason was simple, to enter the Hall of Stone as a non-dwarf one already needed to be an accomplished person like a good craftsman. Any non-dwarf had to be a respectable person. Especially as an adventurer. B-Ranks were respected far and wide. They were the most common powerhouses in the guild. A or even S-Ranks were hard to meet, even as a guild staff. Seth was a role model who had accomplished their aspiration of becoming a B-Rank.

He finally came to the counter where he found the only kind of dwarf in the whole room, that did not wear heavy armor and weapon. It was a dwarven lady with a shiny blond beard and hair. She wore the guild's staff uniform which made it a lot easier to discern her gender.

"How may I help you?" she asked in a deep and smooth voice.

Seth got a list of all dungeons that were part of the dwarven district. Many were old mines and caves that had transformed after they were not used anymore. The scope became a lot smaller when he looked at those in his level range. There were only three. Two were the kind of cave dungeon where monsters like Orcs, Hobgoblins, or Trolls appeared.

The one that pulled his interest was the last one. It was an old dwarven garrison that originally guarded a now-abandoned trade route. The route became less and less profitable and the soldiers were recalled only leaving a small guard team. At some point, they were overrun by monsters called Cave crawlers.

The place was not worth recapturing and was instead closed off. Only once it had turned into a dungeon and broke out was a subjugation force sent and the guild started managing the place.

The cave crawlers were ant-like insect monsters the size of a wolf. Unlike ants who build a hill, their behavior resembled wolf spiders or tarantulas. The lived in a kind of family or tribe and hunted without nets in the expansive cave and tunnel systems.

An old ruin filled with ant-spider sounded a lot more interesting than a cave with goblins. Seth had the utmost trust in the new armor and treated this as more of a sightseeing tour than something dangerous. The level-cap of the crawler in the garrison was 30, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

Before leaving he asked for a quest at his destination. He could also make some extra money since he was there anyway.

<Ding! A quest has been triggered!>

< Quest: Alchemists Order

Difficulty: D

Alchemist Elric needs the poison sacks of Cave crawlers and asked the guild to get them.

Will you get the sacks for Elric?

Requirement: 0/30 Poison sacks

Rewards: 150 Silver >

<Do you accept the quest?>