Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

<Ding! You have finished a legendary item! +1 to all attributes.>

<Ding! A synergy between materials has changed your item.>

<Ding! A synergy between powers has changed your item.>

First thing in the morning, Seth returned to finish the shield for James. All he had left to do was enchant the soul he had prepared and finish the shield. It was safe to say, it was guard dog themed.

<Cerberus Shield

Legendary

Phys. Def.: 9000

Mag: Def: 9000

Durability: 9000

1. Blessing of Wind

2. +200% Power on Skills and Spells

3. Guard Dog

4. Pack Leader

5. +40% Damage Reflection

6. +50% Defense when defending an Entrance

7. +25% Defense when defending a Party

8. Passive Skill: Aura of Glasya-Labolas

9. Passive Skill: Triple Guard

10. Active Skill: Bite Cerberus

11. Active Skill: Dogged Stare

The ultimate Shield of a loyal Guard Dog made by Craftsman Smith and the first master enchanter of Urth, Master Smith. A powerful shield to protect and support.>

The effects were created through the synergy of the Soul of a Pack Leader, which Seth had managed to acquire from a dungeon boss, the enchantment Guard of Cerberus, and the demonic enchantment of Glasya-Labolas.

Guard Dog allowed the carrier of the shield to designate a specific protection target and share their defense with them while gaining additional defense when protecting them.

Pack Leader further improved defense depending on the presence of a pack or party and the size of the pack, up to doubling physical and magical defense.

<Passive Skill: Aura of Glasya-Labolas, No cost, No Cooldown

Puts party members in a trance of battle. Attack Damage is increased by 25%

Attack Speed is increased by 25%

Experience is lowered by 35%

Enemy Aggro grows 25% quicker>

This was the main effect of the Ballad of Glasya-Labolas, the author of manslaughter. The cost for the effects was a decrease in experience, which would be sacrificed to the demon, and the increase of aggro from enemies. It was a skill with advantages and disadvantages, so it was best if it was only activated when necessary.

<Triple Guard> on the other hand may have been the best effect on the shield, it was granted by the divine enchantment.

<Passive Skill: Triple Guard, No cost, No Cooldown

Creates two additional shields that can be manually controlled, or will autonomously protect designated targets. Additional Shields will copy any skill effects in exchange for 50% additional mana costs>

Not only did the skill add two shields that could automatically protect the party, but they could also copy the skills used with the primary shield. For example, if James used Shield Bash he could pay 1,5 times its mana cost and the other two shields would also activate Shield Bash.

Depending on the skill, the user could get three times the effect at half the cost. Seth could only speculate about the last two skills. They had to be the result of the synergies.

<Bite of Cerberus> seemed like the synergy of Glasya-Labolas, Cerberus, and the Pack Leader's soul and was an accumulative skill. The wielder could load the skill by blocking 100 attacks and then unleash an attack with the accumulated damage.

Lastly was the <Dogged Stare> which seemed mostly based on the demoralizing enchantment Steth had used on the shield. He had gotten the idea because the dog faces he sculpted on the shield reminded him of the Wyvern Shield and he wanted to try and add the demoralizing effect to the shield.

Together with all the other dog-themed elements, it had become the <Dogged Stare>.

<Active Skill: Dogged Stare, No Cost, 5min Cooldown

Upon activation, there is a 20-100% chance (depending on the target's willpower) to intimidate any target that looks at the shield for 3 minutes.>

It was a good crowd-control skill that could potentially frighten a whole army of weaklings. Even against strong opponents, it would have a 20% chance of working. It was not overwhelmingly strong, but it had a low cooldown.

Overall, Seth was happy with the shield, and to find out that he was still gaining stats with legendary blacksmith products. This confirmed his guess, that he would not gain attributes for legendary items after he reached the master tier. He could only shrug in resignation at the thought, there was nothing he could do about it.

Also, he doubted there was unlimited support, even if he didn't gain additional proficiency. It would be a little broken if craftsmen could gain 50 or 60 attribute points across the board by making legendary items. This was the equivalent of over 50 levels for an Ori huma. Seth was sure they would be a cut-off even if one didn't reach the master tier as quickly.

Separating from these thoughts, Seth turned to the next item on the list. It was the weapon Azul, the former leader of chimeras asked for. The four-armed lighting witch had taken a liking to Seth's Giant's Rod and asked for something similar.

The chimera wanted a spear that dabbled as staff and could be used to cast magic. With a material like the legendary <Olympian Silver> and its exceptional properties, this order was no problem at all.

Five bars of silver found their way into the forge. Seth decided to make Azul's staff /spear from a solid piece of <Olympian Silver> and add a few pieces of Charged Aquamarine into the tip and along the shaft.

Charged Aquamarine was a special type of gemstone that was loaded with the power of lightning. They were an epic material for magician staffs. Seth had looted a few of them from the treasury of the Theocracy's Stronghold. With his practice in forging, setting the six stones he chose for the weapon, took longer than the forging of the item itself.

Since Azul was a pure lightning mage, it made no sense to focus on anything but improving her lightning damage. This was why the forging ballad this time was dedicated to Furfur, a demon of tempest and lightning storms.

Taking into account the silver natural affinity with wind, this seemed like an obvious choice. The ballad itself would add Furfur's cursed lightning to every attack. This meant, whether it was magic or a physical strike, the attack would leave cursed wounds that needed high-grade recovery magic to purify.

The enchantments he engraved on the other hand had nothing to do with Azul's elemental damage but concentrated on the spear's duality as a staff and a spear. The blacksmith engraved the complex circuits for Mana Storage, Magic Power Efficiency, Piercing, and Sharpness.

On one hand, he used to thoroughly connect the Charged Aquamarine with the spear and enhance its abilities as a magician's staff. On the other, the enchantments improved its power as a spear. Seth abstained from using a demonic poem on purpose since they were not the best in a matter of predictability, which was important when it came to a staff.

With the spear, forged, the stones set and the enchantments bringing everything together, the blacksmith started on the soul of the weapon. Although Seth would have wanted something like the soul of a storm elemental, he would have felt bad because of Ceres.

It was because he felt bad, not because Tano'Mol didn't have any. Although it was true that he didn't have any... The soul he finally got from the goat was the soul of a monster called an Acolyte of Storms.

Mol described it as a monster born from a tree struck by lightning and living in mountainous regions. The burned twig figure would have a roughly humanoid shape that naturally learned wind and lightning magic and grew stronger with age.

They were a terror for travelers in the mountains as they would hunt people for food or out of curiosity. The danger was their almost human-like shape. Before their victims could make out what they truly were, it would already be too late.

Finding a soul that so perfectly fit the item he planned, made Seth appreciate the shop more and more. Being able to choose from a wide selection was really an improvement from before when he had to deal with the souls he had on hand.

After shaping the epic big soul into the shape of the spear, Seth turned to give it its divine enchantment.