Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

According to Yu one of these pills was enough for the initial cleansing of a cultivator, eating more wouldn't have any big effect. However, Seth counted as an ordinary person and according to Master mountain, he would have to swallow at least three for the same effect. He also mentioned that it would not be pleasant for an ordinary person. Well, Seth took offense to being called ordinary, but he was no cultivator. That much was true.

"Here goes nothing."

He steeled his heart and threw the pill down his gullet. It was a thick piece of medicine to swallow without anything to drink and the blacksmith doubted for a moment, whether cultivators had a gag reflex.

When he finally got it down, he could feel a warmth growing in his stomach. It was different from a potion, which felt technically just like a coolness spreading across one's body, followed by a notification of the effects.

The warmth quickly grew into a heat and soon Seth could feel some kind of energy rampaging through his body. This had to be the pill's medical power. It was chaotically emanating from his stomach. He started sweating profusely and wave by wave he could feel it pulse through his body with some measure of pain.

Each time it ripped little pieces away from his body and out of his flesh, pushing them out, after which the wave of power would dissipate outside his body. There was a lot of power, but compared to what it managed to push out, each wave felt like a waste of this precious energy. Not to mention the pain he had to endure with each wave.

After a few moments of getting used to it, Seth had an idea. Master Mountain mentioned that it was uncomfortable for non-cultivators. From what the blacksmith understood, the biggest thing about cultivators was their way of cultivating energy.

Well, they weren't the only ones who could do that. Seth may not have Qi, or whatever they called their internal energy, but he had magic power and <Energy Manipulation 3>. If he managed to control the course of the energy, would he be able to gain more? Maybe he wouldn't have to swallow three pills...

Clumsily at first, Seth tried controlling the medicinal power of the pill directly with his energy manipulation skill, which didn't work at all. However, he was able to guide the power by guiding his magical power originating from his mana.

The joy of having managed to guide it, vanished quickly when he realized that he had no idea where to guide it. He knew that cultivators used some kind of cycle to guide power through their bodies, but he had no idea about the specific.

He had no idea how cultivators did anything, but he was a Spirit Blacksmith and there was something similar burned in his mind. There was a time when he had to guide energy through his body, that was when he created Charon's Obol, his personal blacksmith hammer.

It had been part of the creation process that bound them together. He had no idea whether it would work, but there was no reason not to try. Worst case: he wasted some of the pill's power. Since he didn't know how to do it without, Charon's Obol also appeared in his hands and he started guiding the energy through his body and the hammer, as he had done when he created it.

Seth kept his eyes tightly shut as he concentrated on the energy cycle of Charon's Obol. he created a cycle between him and the hammer and it felt a lot better than before, at least. There was still the feeling of something being removed from him, but it was much gentler that the powerful waves. Whether this really was better, than when the energy waves just blasted through his body, he didn't know.

It wasn't hard to guess, that these were the toxins and impurities being released from his body. He could feel that it became harder to guide the more was released from him, which probably meant that the particles were flowing with the guided energy, just as they did previously with the waves.

Instead of being pushed out through his skin, they vanished together with a big part of the medical power when the energy flowed through Charon's Obol. It was as if the hammer devoured them, just like materials and souls during the crafting process. Seth didn't mind, the energy lost to Charon's Obol was still less than the waves that simply blasted out from his body.

With everything under a sort of control, he could finally concentrate on the feeling of refinement. Removing the toxins was not comfortable, but it left a feeling of refreshment in his body. He also detected some changes. It was hard to describe, but it felt like his flesh had become denser, or rather, more robust.

The blacksmith didn't know for how long he had been circulating, but he found that the number of particles had not only decreased by a little more than half when the power of the first pill was used up. Looking at the clock, he found that he had been immersed in the process for roughly two hours. He grimaced in disgust when he smelled himself. The stench was disgusting and his skin was covered in a layer of grease.

The original process had not been going on for long and this was the result of that? If he had been sitting here for the full two hours the at the start... Seth understood why Yu advised him to do it in a room that was easy to clean.

There were no changes to Charon's Obol at all, but there was quite a bit to his status. Although the system had not given him any announcement, he found that his endurance had increased by a whopping 20 points, while his strength improves by 15 and dexterity and agility improved by 10 each.

With this, his endurance had become his third-highest attribute with 256 points. The power of body refinement was crazy, even if these were only one-time effects. Since the particles had decreased by roughly half, maybe he could gain the same amount of attributes again with the second pill.

This also meant he was faring better than "ordinary" people since he could probably do with only two instead of three pills. Take that, Yu! Then he would have enough pills for another person to go through body refinement.

He stood up and stretched his limbs a little before sitting down again to get ready for the next pill. He popped it in his mouth, and the heat immediately started building up in his stomach. This time, Seth started circulating the energy immediately.

As the impurities got less and less, the circulation was able to become much faster, showing quicker progress. After an hour or so, Seth could not feel the flow being slowed down by anything anymore, however, he kept circulating since Charon's Obol kept absorbing the energy or the pills.

<Ding! Charon's Obol has grown to a relic rating!>

<Ding! You have attained a special feat: Hammer Unity. You are now able to become one with the Hammer and use it even more effectively.>

Seth could feel it, it was as if a wall had crumbled down. Charon's Obol did not feel like an item or a tool anymore but like a part of his body. Now he did not need <Blacksmith's Eyes> anymore to see the effects and powers of the hammer, he could feel them like they were his own.

The blacksmith could feel the changes the evolution had brought to the hammer, and the energy from the Body Refining Pills had no small role in the matter. When he opened his eyes and looked at the hammer, he found that it was covered in forge scale.

It wasn't unlike the muck that covered Seth's skin. Rubbing it off a little, he used <Blacksmith Eyes> to confirm whether what he sensed was true or not.

<Charon´s Obol

Relic (Growth)

Damage: 1300

Durability:7000

1. +50% Damage in Dark Places

2. +30% Dark Damage

3. Devouring and Refinement

4. 50% Chance to imbue an item with additional elemental effects

5. 20% Chance to imbue an item with a strong magical effect

6.-75% Mana Cost

Like the coin needed to pay the ferryman Charon, to bring the souls to the underworld, this hammer is needed for a Soul to find a new purpose in the hand of a Spirit Smith. Charon´s Obol is used to directly forge and damage souls.

The Hammer grows by feeding on souls, energy, and materials.

+50% chance to stagger Enemies

+20% damage to armor

Charon's Obol can forge ANY material but consumes mana corresponding to the change in the structure of anything that is not metal. Only works on the Anvil of Tartarus.

Charon's Obol can automatically refine organic materials during the forging process.

Charon's Obol can take the shape of other forging hammers.

-Other options will be unlocked upon growth>

Looking at its description, he found that a lot had changed and it confirmed what he felt. All the options had become stronger or outright grew. The most obvious was Slow Digestion+, which had now become Devour and Refinement, which meant that Charon's Obol would not just absorb stuff, but also refine it.

This effect became most clear when he looked at the options to imbue items with effects. Although the description from his appraisal did not give a comprehensive list of magical effects like before, he could feel that the random effects had been cut down by a lot.

Before there had been a lot of magical effects, mostly weak ones, that had a chance to be attached to an item. Many of which would have actually gotten in the way of the item, instead of being any helpful.

For example, if he wanted to make a weapon with a strong ice elemental damage, having the hammer imbue it with a weak fire effect, in addition, would have only weakened the original enchantment and muddled the arcane design of the item. He was lucky that the chance had been rather low before.

Now the chance of elemental effects was higher, however, unlike before when it was random, it now had the word "additional". Through his connection, he could sense that it meant that the hammer would either strengthen the already existing elemental effects or add complimentary ones.

It was similar in the case of the magical effects that had no elemental affinities. The number of effects had been drastically shrunk, but he could sense the ones that were left were strong. Devour and Refinement had gotten rid of the weak and useless ones and refinement and combined the stronger ones.

This meant the Charon's Obol would not only have a chance to imbue the effects of materials he had previously absorbed, but also unique combinations of effects.

The new growth had also changed the unique options of Charon's Obol. Being able to feed on energy was added, while the option to refine organic materials during the forging process was added, and the option to change shape was unlocked..

Although he would have to test this, Seth understood it to be similar to folding steel to slowly forge out impurities. His hammer now had the effect to get rid of impurities in organic materials, when forging them using its power.

As for changing shape, it was a quality-of-life option. Some steps in crafting needed a hammer in a specific shape. With this option, Seth would not have to change tools when he wanted to drive more material or peen something for example.

His hands shook a little in excitement, as he thought of all the new possibilities and then he smiled wryly. Why did he wait with the pills for this long? Well, he didn't expect them to be able to improve Charon's Obol in this way and even help it to finally grow to the relic rank.

It was just, if he had done it sooner, they may have helped improve the items for his friends even further. Now, he could only shrug. What happened, happened and he let bygones be bygones.

After marveling over his hammer for some time, he finally thought of checking his status, finding that the second run had been slightly weaker. It added 15 points to endurance, 10 to strength, and 7 to dexterity and agility each. His stats had majorly improved with these two pills, with his base strength now almost reaching 300 points.

When his excitement ebbed down a little, he noticed the terrible stench again. Right. He hurried to take a bath now.

<Status Window

Name: Seth Smith

Mark of Ivicer

Olympian Myths (Hades: Strong, Hephaestus: Moderate, Apollo: Weak, Eos: Weak)

Kin of Fire

Blood of the Inventor

Blessing: Hades, Hephaistos, Seth

Title: "Faster than the Thought"

Level: 72

Exp: 56%

Race: Ori Huma

Sex: Male

Age:24

Class: Spirit Blacksmith (Unique)/ Infernal Scald (Unique)

Affiliation: System Church, Minas Mar

Health: 1000/1000

Mana: 235+6300(Intx30)

Strength:291

Dexterity:278

Agility: 248

Intelligence:210

Willpower:231

Endurance:271

Personality: 144

Luck:130 (50+15+2) -

Free AP (Attribute points): 8

Universal AP:8

Free SP (Skill points): 1

Defense:

Physical: 2316 (1897+50+325+44) (ENDx 7)

Magical: 1117(924+25+150+18) (WILx 4)

Fire Immunity

Earth Resistance(65%)

Light Resistance(35%)

Wind Resistance (15%)

Water Resistance (13%)

Poison Resistance(25%)

Frost Resistance(10%)

Resistance to Mental attacks (10%)

25 % Resistance to Diseases >

<Titles

Title: "Faster than the Thought"

Title: "Lucky Bas*ard"

Title: "Explorer"

Title: "Bold"

Title: "Arsonist" Arsonist lv.2 Pyromaniac

Title: "Overachiever"

Title: "Shut-in"

Title: "Giant Slayer"

Title: "Survivor"

Title: "Snake That"

Title: "Master Skywalker?"

Title: "Survivalist Deviant lv.2"

Title: "Dungeon Conqueror"

Title: "Divine Tamer"

Title: "Flaming Savage"

Title: "Dragon Slayer(minuscule)"

Title: "Bad Boy"

Title: "Stronk"

Title: "Twinkle Fingers"

Title: "Headstrong"

Title: "Brainy"

Title: "Fleet-footed"

Title: "World's Best Blacksmith"

Title: "Struggling Artist"

Title: "One of Fire"

Title: "Creator" +10 to the attributes of all inventions.

Title: "Dreamy"

Title: "Divine Creator"

Title: "Acknowledged by the Gods"

Title: "Composer of Death"

Title: "Resurrector of Lore"

Title: "Civil"

Title: "Apolloproved"

Title:" Muscleman"

Title: "Quick Hands"

Title: "Boneheaded"

Title: "Iron Plate"

Title: "Fortune's Favored"

Title: "Master Enchanter"

Title: "The First" (Enchanter)

Title: "Brainiac"

Title: "Master Goldsmith"

Title: "The First 2"

Title: "Master Blacksmith"

Title: "The First 3">