Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

After recovering from his hangover Seth returned to his Blacksmith Lair where he brooded over his dark machinations. Also known as: he was planning out the gear for the Lords of Minas Mar. The first was Jonah.

He talked with the vampiric swordman for quite some time. The result was that he would make Jonah a new set of accessories.

Jonah didn't want a new armor. Seth agreed as he had already chosen the best possible material for it and there was not much improvement to be expected.

Seth really just wanted to try out the vampire soul. His first thought was to make a weapon with Valen's soul, but similar to the armor, Aderlass did not need a replacement. The sword kept growing at a tremendous rate under Jonah's careful nurturing.

In the end, he agreed with Jonah's request. Seth fathomed that the biggest advantage of harvested souls was the skill bonus they gave. The vampire's powers would definitely shine in a weapon, but an elegant set of jewelry would not fall behind that.

He also had to take Jonah's second class into account, the "Blood Monk". It was a variation of the Blood Priest that increased Jonah's skills in blood magic and weaponless combat. Remembering the class's specifics, the choice became clear. It also helped him decide on the possible enchantments.

During his studies, Seth had found a whole book with demonic songs he could use to imbue an effect that could help Jonah with his resource management. There were two in particular that could work in tandem. The first was a forging ballad that granted an effect called "Essence Devourer". The second was a chant called "Anima Well".

These texts that could be used for crafting things were often weird and hard to understand in the beginning. Thanks to some help from Al and Ember he managed to understand these topics and mastered them.

Essence Devourer was similar to Life Steal, but it could not just absorb life force but also mana from a target. The original use was rather unsavory as it included using living organisms as a battery.

It worked on weakened targets and did not need damage to be dealt beforehand. The cost was that some of the harvested energy was sent to the demon that granted this blessing.

The Anima Well originated from the same setting. The chant could turn a fitting core into a container for life force. A lot of these spells worked with rather uncomfortable topics because dealing with greater demons and demonic magic usually involved the use of life force or souls as a baseline.

The vampire fang lent itself as such a core. Seth decided to make a necklace. For this, it needed to be brought into shape. At the moment it was a big pearly fang, like that of a dog. Seth used <Energy Circulation> and <Reinforcement> and forged the tooth into a pearly bead with a light sheen and the texture of glass.

He slightly flattened the bead into a coin and punches a hole into it for a string. The coin was placed into a magic formation while chanting the Anima Well. In the process of chanting the ballad, tears of blood started flowing from his eyes.

They fell onto the pendant and the formation where they soaked into the formation and the pendant. The pearly white coin turned into a crimson blood bead.

Using the claw Seth planned to make two rings. The Essence Devourer needed to be as close to the enemy as possible. Rings were the best option, especially since Jonah also fought with his claws.

Aside from the claw, Seth used <Crimson Steel>. It was the result of Seth's experiments with the blood baths. After feasting on rare and epic blood for several months this was the end state of <Dark Steel>.

It was the upper limit the material could reach and stopped strengthening. At this point, the original effect of the feasting ballad became dormant, no matter what blood he used on it. <Crimson Steel> barely reached an epic rating.

Although it was another method to refine a metal into a higher ranked version, it fell far short of the divine methods for creating <Bones of Seth> or <Olympian Silver>.

But the affinities were more or less worth it. The metal had a high affinity for darkness and could enhance the performance of a new forging ballad and even inscriptions.

He started singing the forging ballad when he shaped the big ugly brown-gray fingernail using <Energy Manipulation 2> and <Reinforcement> just how he did with the fang. The ugly thing turned into two cream-colored oval beads; he would set onto the rings.

Knowing the dimensions of the stone, he forged the rings from a piece of <Crimson Steel> before setting the beige vampire jewels into the crimson-black metal ring. He tightened the fixtures parallel with the end of the song.

Seth could already feel a slight suction from the rings, but it was not done yet. Now came the most important step, the vampire soul. The plan was to use the soul to connect these two items into a set.

With lv. 5 in <Spirit Forging> he was now able to forge split souls into armaments that showed their potential before infusion. Onto these two soul armaments he forged from Valen's soul he engraved the formations for life-steal and HP-recovery. He had come up with the idea, but it was with Al'Zalsa's help that he was able to work out the details for the set and the estimated effects.

<Ding! You have completed an epic set!>

<Ding! You have completed your first relic! +5 to all attributes>

<Ding! You are the first to create a relic-level item! +10 to all attributes.>

<Ding! Title: "World's Best Blacksmith" gained. "It takes a master to make a Relic." Proficiency gain is slightly increased.>

<Ding! Title: "Brainy" gained. "You have reached 100p in Intelligence!" +0.5 magical damage per 1p intelligence.>

<Ding! Title: "Fleet-footed" gained. " You have reached 100p in Agility! " +0.5 speed per 1p agility.>

<Ding! Hephaistos is very satisfied with your progress. Your trait has slightly strengthened.>

<Ding! Seth is happy about your efforts.<Voice of Seth> is slightly strengthened.>

The messages rang together with a notification of synergy when he pulled the three pieces of jewelry out of the waters of Styx.

<Left Vampiric Ring

Relic

Epic Vampire-Set 1/3

Durability: 1300

1. +15% Mana regeneration in darkness

2. On Touch: Absorb Lifeforce equivalent to 20% of your own from the target

3. On Touch: Absorb Mana equivalent to 20% of your own from the target

4. Claw Damage is increased by 100%

5. Claw Durability is increased by 100%

6.15% of dealt damage is recovered as health

7.+10% Health Regeneration

A terrifying ring from the hands of Journeyman Smith using demonic arts and unknown means to create a peculiar effect. Once rumors of the ring's terrifying effects spread or it plays a role in the users ascend to a legend, the item might become legendary.

Set Effect:

Ranks of Skills related to <Blood Magic> are increased by 1 rank Ranks of Skills pertaining <Illusion> and <Transformation> gain 3 levels.

Skill cost of Vampire-type Skill is reduced by 30%

Skill: Vampiric Rush

"Limited Power!"

Use stored life force to increase your damage, speed, and health regeneration for as long as the stored power lasts.

+500% Damage, +300% Speed, Recover 10% health every second.

>

<Hungry Coin

Epic

Epic Vampire-Set 1/3

Durability: 1000

1. Life Force and Mana can be directly stored in the Hungry Coin

2. Excess Life Force and Mana that are absorbed can be stored and used to heal or directly as resources for magic or skills.

3. Result of Life Steal-effects are improved by 20%

4. Overall chance to cause Bleeding is increased by 15%

5. 20% of dealt damage is recovered as health

6. +15% Health Regeneration

A weird necklace from the hands of Journeyman Smith using demonic arts and unknown means to create a peculiar effect.

Set Effect: Collapsed >

With this set, Jonah would gain an overall power up on top of the option to store surplus life force from any life steal effect into the necklace. It was like having a second health and mana bar, but it could become greater than his original one.

Once Seth gave them to the vampiric swordsman he would have an epic armor, epic weapon, and more than epic accessories. But there was one thing Seth still owed to the swordsman.

A proper mask.

As the material of the mask, he brought out the rare <Bones of Seth>. They too could have an affinity with the macabre demon magic, but they also had a chaotic element that made them unfit for the rings.

This chaotic attribute caused items made from the bones to have random effects that could be either detrimental or positive. Some had two effects that balanced each other out.

Seth ended up making several masks as he didn't like the effects that often came with the randomness of the material. Stuff like causing blindness to the wearer but increasing speed or making the wearer resistant to most diseases but especially weak against the common cold.

One mask even had a voice-changing function. This would have been perfect if it didn't make the wearer sound like a little girl.

Finally, there was an acceptable option after several attempts. The wearer would be unable to speak and in exchange, their hearing would be improved. Jonah didn't like to speak anyway. It was not perfect, but acceptable.

For all the masks he had used the same forging ballad. It was a ballad that could destabilize someone's mental state when they looked at the item. This was no direct negative effect, but it made fear effects more effective. The cost was that the wearer himself would also be hit with half the effect.

To counter this Seth planned to infuse a soul from the monsters of the fog dimension. He didn't infuse it during the forging but forged a soul armament of the mask from one of the uncommon medium souls.

The mask was also a good example of mixing enchantments and inscriptions. He carved the complex conduits for fear and demotivate onto the soul armament and a poem that could cause discomfort the longer one looked onto the mask.

The poem was called "Tomb of Mind" and summoned the powers of a demon called the "Mind Eater". Similar to the ballad it caused mental derangement, but "Tomb of Mind" would peak in causing a mental shock or a stunned state.

When he dunked it into the barrel, he got the notification that the item was finished!

<Demonic Mask

Relic

Phys. Defense:270

Mag. Defense: 386

Durability: 5000

1. Wearer can't speak

2. Increased auditory senses

3. Destabilize opponents mental State (+19% success chance to Mind-Effects)

4. Active Skill: Demonic Image

A horrifying Mask made by journeyman Smith. The macabre grimace of a demon bears witness to the maker's twisted imagination. A mix of several magic treatments led to effects befitting the imagery of the piece. Once rumors of this mask's terrifying effects spread or it plays a role in the users ascend to a legend, the item might become legendary.

<Active Skill: Demonic Image, No Cost, 5 Minutes Cooldown

If Demonic Image is activated, it will send a mental attack to anyone currently observing the mask. Depending on stats and level differences the target will fall into stages of panic, fear, demotivation, or mental shock. >

Seth stared at the mask which seemed to have awoken to wicked life of its own. Of course, it was just his imagination but just looking at the mask made him feel uncomfortable. He even doubted slightly that he had created this mask.

Maybe the devil has directed my hands? He jokingly thought.

No matter what, Jonah would definitely be happy about the mask. It also fit his second class. Most of the effects had merged into the active skill while the soul's effect had managed to completely counter the negative side effect of the ballad.

The mask had the same durability as the Staff of Seth. Another weird aspect of this divine material. No matter the thickness of the material it had no say about the durability.

Seth put everything in a chest and left the shop for today.