Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

In the next few days, Seth spent some more of his time practicing the lyre. Oz was very talkative in general, but when it came to learning the lyre he was a great help.

It was not just about the item's effects, but Oz was a great teacher when it came to music. He could not only tell Seth what he did wrong but also immediately show him how to do it right.

As the lyre was his body, he could demonstrate the faulty parts by playing them for Seth to see and repeat.

The songs they were using, were Oz's. The Ballads of Oz were a true demonic bards' music with the purpose to support allies or sabotage opponents.

Every time he practiced; people started gathering around to listen. Despite the demon language usually being rough on the ears of non-demons, when sung together with the full and otherworldly sounds of the magic lyre, it truly unfolded its demonic charm.

Especially the Chimeras, who had little knowledge of music, were enraptured by the new experience and became hardcore fans.

Working with Oz did not only level his <Instrument Mastery>, but also his <Singing> and his <Demon Language> improved. The latter even upgraded to the level of mother tongue.

Although working with the hyped demon lyre was tiresome, it helped Seth build up his foundations.

in the meantime, Puffles gave Neeco the Blessing of Ivice. This was a trait similar to Seth's Mark of Ivice. While Seth was stuck with the Demon lyre, Neeco Boos was dragged through the dungeons to get him to lv. 50.

This was double bad for the tailor, since he had no idea, why he had to reach lv.50 before he was allowed to take the ancient class.

It was a few days after the meeting with the princess and the arrival of Nädel's letter, that Al'Zalsar suddenly barged into the workshop. Seth was currently fiddling with a bunch of giant bones.

"Oh, Al! What's up?"

"I heard you are going to use Boos to make items with the sky silk?"

"Yep."

"If you promise to give me a robe of sky silk after he became a craftsman, I will tell you a secret."

"I was going to give you one anyway, so tell me."

"You were going to find out anyway, sooner or later. Do you know why I insisted on having this vessel made?" she suggestively gestured towards her scantily dressed body and curves.

"Wasn't it so you can stay at the redlight district for as long as you wanted?" Seth asked dryly.

"...I won't deny it, but it was not the biggest reason."

"So, don't make it such a big secret. Tell me, if you want to tell me."

"Fine, unlike ordinary golems, yours can grow."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that unlike golems that are just moving things, or low-ranking undead who are cursed to be stagnant and never become stronger, they can naturally grow like any living beast or player. You have no idea how much I improved just by having a living body like his, compared to when I was a lich."

Seth finally put the bone in his hands away and looked at her. This explained a lot. Cerberus would not need a strong soul or a powerful core if the golems could grow and level up like players or beasts.

Even the most basic golems of <Golem Artisan> could become strong and effective if they grew by gaining experience. One could be inclined to think that Seth's work up to now was useless.

But he knew that it was not. His predecessor had also worked on optimizing the golem's body. Sure, a simple golem could grow strong with time, but the more efficient the body was from the beginning the quicker and greater the growth would be later on.

The sorceress was right, at some point, Seth would have found out on his own. It was just, that he had not done any real combat tests yet, with the golems. Should he just send the golems with the teams of the Oathguard into the dungeons?

No, he had a better idea.

Recently the Chimeras had joined Minas Mar. All of them became citizens of Delta had joined the system. They could now safely raid dungeons to level the new classes and skills they gained.

Unfortunately, the chimeras had an underlying trauma of dark and tight spaces from the stronghold. This description fitted most dungeons. They had gotten used to traveling under the open sky.

Seth had been thinking of sending them to explore the mountains in the direction of Y-City. Actually, it was Mary's idea as a new business venture. To try and open a trade route to Y-City.

There were many big and untouched dungeons on the way that had been growing from the very beginning. They were one of the reasons the path between the cities was so dangerous and filled with monsters.

Not only were the possible profits from the dungeons alluring, if they managed to clear and hold one of the modern routes, like a highway or even the maglev connection, they could take tolls from people to use it.

Seth knew one thing very clearly; the System Church would take a huge portion of profits if corporations really started using the teleport for trading. He knew it from experience.

Mary was right. If Minas Mar was to give them a cheaper and safe alternative through land route, there would be a lot of money to be made.

Nonetheless, this was an extremely dangerous endeavor and Seth had been unsure whether he was ready to send the Chimeras on such a perilous mission. He was worried that the Chimeras would sacrifice their lives "for the mission" if he gave them such a big task.

They were rather naive at times. The chimeras might even get angry if he asked them to be careful and put their own lives first.

Instead of a big mission, he would send them to only explore and train the golems. This way they would not take any risks, since their goal would be to bring the Golem back. It was a roundabout way to keep them safe and clear the mountains a little.

Once they scouted the mountains, they would know the threat level and bring the field teams. Seth talked about this with the other, before they decided to go through with this.

The chimeras would not need to enter the dungeons, the Golems would grow stronger, and they could work on slowly opening a trade route to Y-City.

Only getting the official permission was left. He wouldn't want to be treated as a mountain bandit or something after putting so much work into clearing the path.

The chance had already arrived. The party the princess had mentioned. At that time, he could talk directly with the princess about this endeavor. Since the evaluation was around the corners, wouldn't she be open to unlocking new potential for Delta?

However, money schemes, expeditions, and music recitals were not Seth's main focus.

The Golems he had made up until now were powerful, more powerful than they were in life. It was really cool, but this was just the first step.

He was still missing a step, the most important step of why Al'Salzar, or Evee for that matter, was able to regenerate her flesh and blood body.

Actually, he was pretty clear about the why. To create the body two things were needed. Power and a set of instructions. A blueprint for the body, so to say.

For Evee the power came from herself and her class. The blueprint part of her skill.

For the golems of <Golem Artisan>, the power came from the soul and the blueprint was carved onto it using the spell arrays.

For Al'Zalsar the power came similarly from herself, and according to her, the instructions were part of her ritual to become a lich.

Giving a soul the power to regenerate a body was a consequence of how Seth's class works. <Golem Artisan> gave this consequence a direction. But a working body of flesh and blood was too complicated for him.

What Seth was looking for was a way to get the instructions from the soul, so the original body could be restored like in Al's case.

As long as he managed to generate the blueprint, he could compensate for lacking power using the magic crystals.

He had kept thinking about it in the back of his mind when he got help from an unexpected direction.

~I have to say, you are thinking of this much too sterile and technical, my friend. ~

Oz suddenly told him during a practice session.

~What do you mean, did I misplay?~

~No. No, you did not misplay. I am talking about the thing that has been distracting you the whole time. ~

~ The Golems? ~

~ Yeah, the whole soul business. I am a demon, so trust me when I tell you, that you at looking at souls, too much like an engineer. ~

~ Trust the demon with souls? ~

~ Listen to me and stop joking around. By nature, Souls don't always follow the rules of logic. You have been influenced a lot by the way of your predecessor and the knowledge of that Lich. ~

~ And what are you saying I should do? ~

~ You are a musician! Be more creative. Souls are life, even as remnants. Life always has desires and with desires come demands. Ask them what they want. Make them ask what they want. Make them desire something to ask for and they will tell you what you need in exchange for it. ~

~ You can't mean... Are you serious? ~

~Yes! Get them pumped up and see where it leads you to. Of course, I will help. ~