Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

While others were on adventures, Seth had his own in the depths of his workshop.

“Seth, I finished dismantling the head you gave me,” Link came by as Seth was idly making the plans for Gallwell’s new war hammer. The blacksmith looked up from the windows of he had been focused on. He saw the gourmet hunter enter, with a stack of materials in his arms.

“Why did you just put them in your inventory?” Seth asked when he saw the hunter staggering under the weight.

“...Ah, I forgot,” Link said with a sudden realization “Anyway, thanks for bringing them here, you can put them over there beside the door,” the blacksmith told him. With a nod, the hunter put the stack of materials on the workbench beside the door.

“Well, I will return to the kitchen and see what I can do with the meat. I already left the alchemy stuff with the girls,” he said before he left. A moment after he left, Seth stood up to check the materials.

On top of everything was the massive skull of the beast, bigger than a human torso. With the head this big there was a good amount of leather, with scales still attached. Rolled into the piece of leather was the set of fangs, pulled from the skull’s jaws. All of them were relic-rated Guivre Materials.

Looking through them, Seth had some ideas about what to do and try with these items in the future, except for the leather. The leather was on the lower end of the relic-rating because it was only the piece cut from the head. Its shape made it hard to make something out of.

“Oh, I know!” he exclaimed. He grabbed the piece of leader and walked to the adjacent workshop. Leather was best used for armor, and he had a craftsman armorer right next door. He was sure Wedan would jump at the relic-rated leather and make something good for someone from the field teams.

“Seth, what’s up?” the dwarf asked as he looked up from the piece, he was currently forging together with one of his assistants.

“I wanted to ask whether you would be interested in this. You know I don’t like doing armor, but I think this could be a good piece for Bement,” the bard explained.

The dwarf put his work aside for a moment and took the leather from his hands. Thoroughly appraising it, he kept flipping it back and forth. After a moment of silence, he started nodding.

“Yeah, I think I can work with this. Are you sure you want to leave it to me?” Wedan asked to make sure.

“Yep, take it. I have enough to do as it is. I’m glad I can leave some of it to you.”

After giving away the leather, Seth returned to the workshop, where he found Link waiting.

“I forgot one thing!” Link answered the question of why he was back and pulled a red gem from his pocket. “I got this from the beast’s head,” he mentioned. Seth at once recognized it as a carbuncle, with its brilliant fire-red color.

“Interesting, thanks Link,” he said as he took the stone. “Nothing to thank me for. I'm off now,”

Relic

The carbuncle of a creature, very close to a low-ranking dragon in nature. Can aid in the power of healing and Water Magic>

“Pseudo?” he mumbled as he appraised the stone between his fingers. It seemed that the System judged the Guivre as something very close to a dragon, but not the same. Yet, close enough to call the stone its head a carbuncle. Seth could see a difference based on the description and pictures from the books.

Maybe, if he got the chance to get an actual dragon carbuncle, which was a legendary material in his hands, he could turn this pseudo into a real one? He shuddered thinking of the cost it would take and looked at his only slowly accumulating Power of Existence. Hopefully, it would grow faster once their plans started gaining traction.

With idle thoughts, Seth returned to designing the war hammer. Ever since his singing had broken through to the craftsman tier, it had opened up a new range of songs, but many of them were very specific and he didn't really have the chance to let them shine,

This time he had a special one, tailored for a special kind of hammer that was a little different from traditional war hammers, in size and design close to something one would usually see in a fantasy game or show.

Although Seth generally did not like these kinds of designs, it wasn't like he or one of his friends was going to use it, so it just had to fit the image of Gallwell. Also, the effects were quite good, compared to the cost of usage. It also didn't go against the original affinities of the material, since it had less demonic properties.

Using he was able to do a simple simulation to see what the item and effects would look like depending on the material and enchantments. Of course, this only worked to a certain extent, since the skill was still only lv.6, and couldn't compute all the skills he had. This was also why he had recently started making blueprints for everything, hoping it would help raise the skill, he could feel that it was close.

When he was finally happy with the basic plan, Seth brought out the chunk and chugged it into the furnace. He expected the metal to resist because it was a special material after all, but to his surprise, it quickly liquefied inside the raging, pale, blue fires of his furnace.

After all, the basic material was an alloy of silver and gold, this was something the blacksmith had not taken into account. The material had not experienced any transformative process that changed its basic properties as a metal. As he poured the bars, the blacksmith was thinking of ways to fix this.

Despite its magical and divine properties, the metal itself seemed more fit for jewelry, than weaponry. Going forward, he decided to change the enchantments he intended to add to the hammer since he couldn't do much to the metal itself to improve its traits. But first, he was going to forge it.

At a snap, a piece of joyful music filled the workshop and could even be heard. It was completely unlike many of the songs Wedan, Hoen and the other had been hearing from behind the closed doors of the Tower master's workshop. Inadvertently, they started nodding and hammering to the happy tune. Soon, Seth's bright voice joined the instrument. Although they couldn't understand the words, they painted pictures in their minds.

“Kro'gan, a facial mess, perpetually partnerless,

was doing it on his own,

Late nights on his throne, with lube, oh, oh, oh,

Maxwell schemingly, majoring in treachery

Surprised him playing his bone

“Are you ready to die, Kro'-o-gone?”

As he was getting ready to jump up and roar,

He's knocked down to the floor~”

The loud and clear sound of the blacksmith's hammer hitting metal echoed across the with unprecedented volume. They had never heard him forge this clearly. Bang! Bang!

“Maxwell's silver hammer

Came down upon his head!”

Clang! Clang! Again, the hammer and anvil played.

“Maxwell's silver hammer

Made sure that he was dead”

What a happy tune, such a violent message. This thought came up in their mind, but they couldn't help swaying to the music and listening.

“Back in strife again, Maxwell plays the brain again...” another verse about how the Demon Maxwell outwits his enemy and strikes them, followed by an especially loud Bang! Bang! Of his hammer.

“Maxwell's silver hammer

Came down upon his head!”

Clang! Clang! This time a few of them noticed that ti wasn't that Seth was playing very loud. Unwittingly, they had joined into the play, rhythmically forging in tune with his song.

“Maxwell's silver hammer

Made sure that he was dead!”

They were caught in the hypnotic tune of the song for quite a while, as they continued to learn about Maxwell's escapades, as he kept ending lives with his silver hammer. Until Seth finally finished the hammer, and the ballad from one of the rare bard troops, the Bugs, came to an end.