Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

As they were about to leave, the swarm of golems landed behind them. Clumsily, the people who had spent months in captivity were dropped off by the aerial strikers and stumbled towards the crowd.

“Seth,” Sivri called out to him, shortly after his reunion with Fin. Beside the golem was the already healed Cade. It seemed that they had managed to arrive here safely and Cade was tended to by some of the priests of the System Church.

Similarly, some of the people of the church also approached the group of people Seth had brought. At their front was Mark Baker. Despite being stuck in prison for months he quickly found back to his place in a leadership position. Habits died hard.

He readily helped the people from the church and the saved captives to organize themselves so they could all receive the help they needed. Although the priests could not reverse malnutrition or myatrophy, the superficial wounds and diseases, suffered during capture, torture, and imprisonment, quickly vanished.

Seth and others went to look for Lyxiss and Bulko inside the damaged System Church as they still needed tending to.

“How are you two doing?” he greeted them, relieved that things were not as bad as he thought.

Thanks to the interruption of the three immortals, Lyxiss had failed to finish the chant correctly and was now suffering the backlash of her skill. Bulko had lost a limb, which needed superior healing to be reattached, but none of the priests available was capable of that.

At least this problem could be quickly solved with Seth’s arrival. Casting <Superior Heal> from his golden fleece, the mirror priest’s limb was quickly reattached. However, he couldn't really help Lyxiss with her suffering.

“And it’s really over?” Lyxiss asked pitifully, suffering a heavy migraine. Seth and the others had spent the last hour catching up on the things that had happened. While the others told him about their fights, the blacksmith told them what had happened to him and how he ended the Scene for good. Yet, it seemed hard to believe that everything was supposed to have ended so quickly.

“Well, that’s hard to say. The leaders are gone once and for all, but there are still people out there who received some version of the immortal serum. Not to mention the plague it was based on is still out there. It’s safe to say that the big business with the Scene is over but... maybe this kicked loose something even bigger.”

Seth referenced the slumbering realm. The giant being snoring below their feet was just the start. The catastrophes originating from Urth had been mostly natural, so far. As natural as genetically manipulated monsters and plants, and climate change could be. Others had been external threats resulting from the connection to the Pathworks.

The slumbering realm, however, from what Seth understood, was the past of their own world coming back to haunt them. A past they knew next to nothing about. At this point, Seth was just glad he had not interacted too deeply with Una and Tearlach.

Those two horned people that came from that time, just like Nas’Korn, Samhach, and that god who chose Ray. He was 90% sure he would have been pulled into a companion quest concerning the awakening of the world if he had gotten too close to them.

Although he did leave a Tree Station to them to take care of, he had not met them personally since then, and he was going to keep it that way. He rather approached Nas’korn or looked up the information in their library if he really needed information on the changes that would be happening in the future. After all, Minas Mar itself, their great home, was also from a time when magic still existed in Urth.

But really, he would prefer if those changes wouldn’t affect him at all. He could ignore whatever happened to the world in a place he didn’t know about or concerned him. Despite the vision the cultivators had forced onto Seth, he was still striving for a cozy and peaceful home.

Although he had been youth hungry for adventure, he was not suddenly going to convert into someone with a thirst for exploration and adventure. Though...maybe he was ready for one or the other vacation to look for legendary materials.

While battling the cultivators and killing his way out, Seth had finally reached lv.100 and put his first step on the Path of the Legendary Forger. This meant that now was the time for him when he needed to collect existential power by creating legendary items and becoming known for it.

But even when he entertained the thought of traveling, he wasn't planning to fight any dangerous battles to gain materials, like during the Evaluation. His imagination was more along the lines of going on vacation with Mina and seeing if he could buy legendary materials. Maybe he was lucky like Master Mountain and got the chance to buy something good in an auction?

Seth also thought to offer his skills to others and make an item for them. After all, he didn’t need to own the finished items to gain the power of his path. The blacksmith just had to successfully work with the material to become able to copy its effect. It would do good for his growth as a blacksmith and Legendary Forger if he became more known for his work with legendary materials.

But this was all stuff for later. He hoped for some peace now, to enjoy with Mina and Fin. Holding the two in his arms, he idly looked at his status to decide what to spend

When he reached lv.100 a good amount of information and pressed into his brain, but he had yet to sort out everything he came to know. When it was a little quieter he would need to take the time and comprehend everything about his new power.

A little more obvious were the final gains he got upon reaching lv. 100. Aside from the last level-up bonus and the completion of “The Last Stretch” quest. His inventory now had exactly 100 slots and he had unlocked the window that showed him the progress of his existential power.

Unlike before when he kept getting 15, 10, and 5 in Strength, Dexterity, and willpower, he got 50, 40, and 25 on his last level up. This brought his STR to 429 breaching the 400 points mark. This time Seth did not get a title or a skill, but a trait! The trait for reaching over 400 points in STR was “Muscle Armor” which added 2 points to his physical base defense for every points in strength.

While his strength had grown above 400 points, his Dexterity fell just a little bit short with 398 points. There was no hesitation when he simply put 2 AP into DEX. He had gained another 10 on his last level up, meaning he had 20 to spend (now 18).

The second trait he gained by doing so was called “Hand of the Technician” and raised his crafting speed by 15%. Although Seth was not overly impressed by the trait because he was used to the powerful effects of his spirit smithy, he was still happy about another buff to shorten crafting time.

Now he was left with 18 AP, while his Willpower has reached 366 points after gaining 25 on level up. It was a shame that he didn't really have the chance to bring WIL over 400, too. At least not at the moment. He sighed, but still put all the remaining AP into WIL, bringing it to 384.

Maybe he would be able to further raise the attribute using other means, like potions or titles. After all, some titles gave free AP or directly raised attributes. The blacksmith already felt like he had a lot of titles, but since he never really went on conventional adventures he felt like he only scratched the surface.

Lastly, his attention fell on his skill points. He now had 8 SP he could spend to improve one of his skills. He already knew which one to upgrade. There was one skill that deserved a power up but had always been pushed back because of his <Spirit Smithy>, <Blacksmith's Eyes>, or now <Eyes of the Maestro>. The skill was lv.7, so the eight points were just enough to raise it to lv. 8.

<Ding! Your skill Eyes of the Maestro lv.7 had become Eyes of the Maestro lv.8!>

The change that came with the upgrade was small but important. When <Blacksmith's Eyes> changed to <Eyes of the Maestro> it allowed him to appraise any items that aligned with his own skill level, but <Blacksmith's Eyes> had another effect which was gaining the blueprints of items he dismantled or appraised depending on their rating.

This feature was now strengthened. Now he could copy the blueprint of anything one rating lower than what he could do with his skill level, by simply appraising it. This meant when he appraised a piece of relic-rated equipment, he would be able to copy and understand its structure and save his blueprint in his catalog. Although wasn't originally, it really was a skill befitting a Legendary Forger!

Seth was smiling to himself as he thought so when someone entered the room.

“Sorry for the interruption. Would you please join us outside? I’m sure Samuel would have wished for you to be present during his funeral.” One of the staff suddenly approached them cautiously.

“His funeral?” Seth exclaimed surprised. The man was not even cold yet, and they were already holding his funeral?

“Please follow me first, I will explain on the way.”