Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Don't get me wrong, Boy. It's not because I don't want to tell you. Let me explain." the old man added, seeing Seth's fallen face.

From what the old dwarf told him, the way to create <Ithildin> was similar to <Olympian Silver> or <Bones of Seth>. One needed a specific ritual to be created and required several conditions.

<Ithildin> was <Mithril> that was infused with the energy of the moon and gained a high affinity with magic, the night, water, and darkness.

Especially its powerful affinity to magic was what Seth aimed for. Among epic materials <Ithildin> was one of the few that had a reliable method to source it. Is <Olympian Silver> was a great allrounder material, fit for weapons and magic.

But when it came to the creation of golems, <Ithildin> was a much greater fit for the control arrays and formations. The better those conducted magic, the better a golem's movements and reflexes would be.

Kothar revealed that he had also been quite perturbed by the differences between worlds. In their homeworld, the secret to creating <Ithildin> was very precious, but it was technically useless in foreign worlds.

The way to make <Ithildin> was unique to every world.

The first prerequisite was that a moon needs to exist in that world. There were worlds without a moon and there were worlds with many moons. Every moon is different, and if there were more than one it would become even more complicated.

Worst case scenario: It might not be possible to create <Ithildin> even if there is a moon.

The way to imbue was always different depending on the moon of the specific world. In some worlds it will be a goddess to bless the material, in others it is the pure energy of the moon, working without a divine being's intervention.

The old dwarf's knowledge had no guarantee to work because of these differences. The reason the ritual for <Ithildin> was a great secret was that it took a lot of time and resources to find what works depending on the world.

This was why Kothar could not help him with the way to create <Ithildin> on Urth.

"However, I thought of another method to help you. We will source <Ithildin> for you. As long as you provide <Mithril>, we will exchange it at the rate of 10:8 with you. Ten bars of <Mithril> for 8 bars of <Ithildin>." the dwarf finally voiced his proposal.

Seth looked at the dwarf in surprise. This was actually better than knowing how to make it himself. He wouldn't need to build the necessary facilities. This made it incredibly cheap for him compared to sourcing it through the auction house, where it almost never appeared.

"But what do you get out of this?" he asked. This proposal was too good for him to be not suspicious.

"It's the fulfillment of a promise and... A connection with a talented young blacksmith, an aspiring youth that is already close to becoming a master and making transcendent items. This old man would love to get to know you better." the dwarve said with a warm smile.

"I don't know. Isn't that price a little high just for a connection with me? I already became friends with Polter." Seth said a little embarrassed but not quite convinced.

"You seem to underestimate yourself a little. I saw some of your performances on the screen and after what Polter told me, you are an outstanding talent. You must have a great ... what was it called again? A great blacksmithing class and you even attained the skills of the demons. And all that in a little more than a year or two?

I would love to invite you to our smithy and work together on something."

Seth blushed a little when the old dwarf recounted his achievements in skill. He had always been looking forward without really realizing how far he had gotten. He knew that his items were good, but they were still far from perfect.

His competition with Cerberus had shown it to him. The comparison of the two legendary items he currently possessed, his Staff and the gloves Tored had sent him, also made it pretty clear that he still had to refine his skills a lot.

It was the curse of a craftsman to see the flaws and mistakes in an item, others might not even notice or care about. But it was true, although he cheesed it a little, he managed to create a legendary item less than two years after becoming a blacksmith.

"What do you mean with transcendent?" Seth asked when he noticed how the dwarf had called his items.

"What was it in system terms again? Polter?" he asked his grandson.

"Legendary or relic, Grandfather." Polter helped him with the system terms.

"Right, right. Well, I don't know the difference in the eyes of the system, but we call them transcendent items because they transcended the limitation of the materials they were made of." the dwarf explained.

After listening to the old dwarf's explanation, Seth finally got a glimpse at what constituted legendary or relic-rated items. A simple explanation was, that they were greater than the sum of their parts.

Similar to when Al'Zalsar could not tell him about choosing a second class, something hindered the dwarf from further explaining it, but Seth got the gist of it from his own experiences and his ample knowledge of novels.

His Giant's Meteor Rod was legendary because it used legendary items, which became legendary because of the intervention of a god. An item could directly become legendary by using legendary items or being directly linked to a god, like the Helm of Hades which he suspected to be at least legendary.

The other was for it to be part of someone becoming a legend, though Seth still could not quite get behind how that worked. The only thing he was sure of was that it needed more than just a high level.

Al' Zalsar was close to becoming a legend, but even if he asked her, she probably would be unable to explain it to him, just like Kothar was censored by the system. This meant it was knowledge not fit for his current level.

Now he could try to find out more and try to find out what Legends were or accept it for now and wait for his level to rise. It was not a decision he had to make now, though. He shelved it for a later time.

Instead, he started talking with the dwarven master about their crafting experiences. Back in his daily life, he would have never thought that he would eagerly listen to an old dwarf describing his process of crafting a special weapon, jewelry, or a piece of armor.

<Ding! You have listened to the narration of a blacksmith master. Proficiency gained.>

As he listened in rapture, he heard some notification ring in the back of his mind. That was right, his proficiency in <Blacksmithing> and <Goldsmithing> rose slightly. Especially the latter who was behind by a few levels, gained a considerable bit of proficiency, almost reaching level 4.

In exchange, Seth also talked about his own experiences. Especially with etching and demonic ballads in crafting. What he realized was, that by talking about it, he did not only get insights from the old master, but he also gained new insights of his own, as he recounted his experiences.

These did not come in the handy form of a direct increase in proficiency, but Seth felt, that his understanding improved slightly. As they talked Seth had an idea.

"Master Kothar, I'm sure Polter told you about the dragon curse of the hoard. Would you have had a way to lift the curse?" Seth dropped the question.

"How to lift the curse created by a dragon's death?" the old dwarf mused.

...

"How is Uncle Andre?" Leana asked her brother during a meal they shared in the evening. Hardwig sighed.

"He's still recovering," he answered with a dark face.

Leana also looked down. It was true that the Blood Sun had interrupted the final battle, but what really decided things on Keväti Kuinen was the interference of Spatia.

By brazenly sending a legend, Chrona had broken an unwritten rule. It was frowned upon to send legendary players into worlds that were newly added to the pathworks. This was not directly enforced by the system.

From the system's side, Legends would only experience a minor debuff in foreign worlds. Although they were overwhelmingly strong, they couldn't let down their guards, as the still chaotic world could become dangerous, even to them.

Still, not sending legends was more of a silent agreement among the several different multi-dimensional factions. Of course, nobody would move if someone secretly sent them, and they left no proof. However, Chrona had quite openly done so to save their people.

This gave Spatia an excuse to send some of their own people.

Adding onto the sun gods, Andre had suffered some severe wounds while defending during their retreat. Now a team of peak-level healers was working day and night to keep him alive and help him slowly recover.

"On a lighter note, Father will announce the results of the evaluation in a week. It might be a little spoiler, but you won. In the light of your victory, you should make up your mind until then. Do you want to stay in Urth, or do you want to inherit a small peaceful kingdom?"

The princess made a conflicted face.