Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

~ Seth, wake up!~

~ Wake up you crazed Metalbeater! ~

~ You have to put away the smithy before they come!~

Seth drowsily opened one eye to look around his little cell. The voiced of Puffles and Al woke him up.

~ Come on! Those lunatics will come soon to get those weapons! You have to change everything back before they come in!~

His heart dropped down to his feet and he was wide away when the shock set in, and he realized what they were talking about.

Seth had to unsummon his <Spirit Smithy> and replace it with the previous furniture! In a hurry, he jumped off the bed and got to work.

The first rays of the morning sun had just fallen in through the tiny window when he heard the door to his cell being unlocked.

He had just finished putting everything in place and sat before the cold forge polishing the weapons, he had made on day one of his... stay. The door opened and the Officer he met 10 days ago stepped in.

"Are they finished?" his sharp eyes scanned the cell and came to rest on the weapons his Seth's hand.

"Y-Yes, Sir!" Seth answered acting intimidated.

A different priest from last time followed the officer into the cell.

"Let me have a look." the newcomer said and took the sword from Seth's hands. The man walked hunched and had the hood of his dark blue robe pulled deep in his face. His fingers that were gliding along the smooth surface of the sword were long and gnarly from age.

Although Seth had not really tried with these items, it wasn't like they were lacking. They were proper epic equipment in rank and finish.

"A journeyman, you said? Hmm, yes. This seems like the work of a high-level journeyman. It will suffice as a weapon for the warriors once our branch enchanted it."

The priest kept the sword as he left the room. Two younger priests in similar, less ornate, robes came in to take the second sword and the twin daggers.

"Don't relax too early, 3663. Your workload will only increase from today onwards," he said coldly. His piercing gaze wandered across the worn and slightly dirty worker uniform and he scowled.

"Take today as a break. You will be issued a new set of clothes. You will get your next batch of materials and quota tomorrow."

With that, the man turned around and left the cell. The door was swiftly locked by a guard after the officer stepped out. Seth rubbed his temple.

Although they were not friendly here, it was better than the cruel environment at the slave camps. He would even get a new set of clothes! He would be so happy- If he didn't a have problem with the whole slave-thing.

So today was a break? He sunk back on the bed and continued catching up on sleep. He was woken again by the sound of the door being unlocked somewhen around noon.

A young female slave in a medieval maid outfit stepped in and put down a set of fresh worker clothes on the ground. She wore a thick slave collar that identified her as a slave, but Seth recognized her.

She was one of the participants of the PVE tournament. She was an archer if he remembered correctly. He had fixed some part of her armor back then.

Her face was emotionless except for the light twitch under her left eye. She only put down the clothes and left again like a robot doing preprogrammed movements.

~Disgusting. ~ Al commented ~ The way they suppress even their emotion from showing is vile. ~

Seth nodded when he understood what she meant. The importance of sabotaging this whole place only kept increasing. Who knew what these people were forced to do, without even getting the chance to cope with it?

He had to get ready. It was time.

From the looks of that priest, he wouldn't be able to hide the fact that he had upgraded his skills and he had no idea what would happen when they found out about it.

Now that he had somewhat recovered and could think clearly it was time to see if there were any changes that came with the rank up.

All skills based on <Blacksmith> were now on craftsmen rank, too. Enchantment on craftsman rank enabled him to not just use three different circuits but also try and combine them into more abstract effects. Al explained that as the level grew, he would be able to do it with up to four.

This opened some new paths but...

His biggest hope was the enchantments and blueprints that were granted through his blessing and fortunately he was not wrong. Many had been locked because of his skill level. Now there were quite a few that he could use.

He also found that they were split into Olympian and Chthonian enchantments.

Seth had always called them the former because the first five he had unlocked came from the knowledge of Hephaistos and counted as Olympian Enchantments. Most of the new ones seemed to be based on Hades' realm and the chthonian gods.

When he looked through these sigils in his enchantment catalog his memory of their usage and the way they work was refreshed.

Their effects were overwhelmingly powerful, but they came with special restrictions. Each sigil had its own enchantment and could only be used once, and it had to be the only enchantment on that item.

And all of them were unique. There could never be two items enchanted with the same sigil.

For example, the first Chthonian enchantment was:

<Titan Physique, Unique

The enchantment grants an increase in all aspects to mirror the physique of a titan of the titan race that is imprisoned in Tartarus. >

He could enchant exactly one item with <Titan Physique> but not a second, so he would never be able to wear two items with <Titan Physique> or give someone else a second item with this power.

Seth had to think carefully about what items to enchant with these, as he would have to destroy them if he wanted to reuse the sigil on something else.

Looking at the possible need to erase the enchantment at some point Seth naturally thought of his soul armament first. It was relatively easy to erase an enchantment through <Soul Forging>.

They all had one thing in common which was that their description was often only vague and Seth had to infer the effects. This was different from his experience with the first five he had experimented on before.

Their effects were rather clear like the enchantments of the system and their names just as simple. they all had started with Olympian: Durability, Sharpness, Speed, Defense, and Levity. Quite straightforward. They all had similar effectiveness.

But it didn't mean this held true for the newly unlocked ones. It was another point to consider. Which soul would he use and how big would it need to be for the optimal performance?

Before he even started on these, there was one last thing he wanted to do first. Level up his <Spirit Forging>. Seth compared his skills and when they usually got a perk and he felt that the skill was not far off from leveling. There was hope it would gain a perk.

Following his instinct, his first action was to forge the soul armaments for the people of Minas Mar. He redecorated the room again to fill it with his <Spirit Smithy> and went to work.

Using his most abundant souls, the common medium-sized ones, he made a soul armament from each of them. There was no time to enchant them, so he didn't bother with it. One soul became one piece of armor. The only effects on them came from the effects of Charon's Obol that would trigger once in a while and add an option.

Although he didn't bother with the effects or material, he forged them into detailed ghostly armors. He felt his skill rise the more he made and the better he refined the details, when finally-

<Ding! Your skill Soul Forging lv. 5 has become Soul Forging lv. 6! >

The skill leveled up after he finished 36 soul armaments. Seth had worked from noon deep into the night before he got what he wanted.

Although it was a risk, he decided to sleep tonight. Making more would be just a waste at this point. he could make a lot when he was back home. This time he remembered to put everything in place for tomorrow when the new materials and order came in.