Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The hammer that had taken shape under the rhythmic strikes of the blacksmith resembled a big judge's gavel made of silver with golden ribbons. Seth chose this design because it fit Tyr's justice aspect while the requirement for Maxwell's silver hammer was a hammer with two flat faces, instead of a traditional war hammer. But it also wasn't just a solid hunk of metal.

While its faces were solid, the body of the hammerhead was a hollow skeleton made of different geometrical shapes. This lightened the head and saved material for the handle, while not compromising the structural integrity of the weapon.

Now, this would have still been a risky play because of the softness of the base material, but Seth didn't worry. He had taken this into account when he changed his mind on the enchantments he would use. This was the next step, he would-

“Seth? What was that just now?” Hoen and Wedan suddenly appeared at the door of the workshop, some of the other Blacksmiths like Neill standing behind them.

“What do you mean?” Seth asked puzzled.

~They were affected by your song.~ Oz commented. The bard had forgotten to close the door to the workshop correctly

“It's okay if you need our contribution in a forging ballad, but you should really inform us beforehand,” Neill added. He had been slightly disturbed by the weird feeling, although it didn't really interfere with his work.

“I'm sorry, guys. I didn't know it was a ballad that affected you, otherwise, I would have put up a barrier,” the blacksmith apologized to his friends and colleagues. There were not many forging ballads that could be improved by having several craftsmen join and had not known Maxwell's Silver Hammer was one of them. On second thought, maybe it made sense since it was the song of a bard troop and not a single artist.

“I will be more careful in the future,” he assured them.

“It's okay. Just like Neill said, just give us a message beforehand. It's not like I would complain, I managed to finish my item as a relic because of this,” Hoen said with a smile and brought out a forging hammer made of epic <Ithildin>. It seemed that he had coincidentally been working on a new hammer for himself when Seth's ballad took control.

“Congratz!” “Well done!” Seth and the other craftsmen around congratulated him on his work. Although Seth was able to constantly create relics when he was a craftsman, it wasn't the same for others, who couldn't just infuse a soul into their works. After a moment of celebration, everyone got back to their work, since the misunderstanding was cleared up.

Seth took the hammer he had just forged and brought it over to the enchantment table. The next step was adding the enchantment that would make up for the hammer's low durability. Although the first thought was adding the master-level Durability enchantment, even that would not have been enough to make up for the material's weakness.

The blacksmith sat down and activated the system guidance with the blueprint he had made. It was not that he needed it, but it was better to have some assistance on a complicated project, as he was planning to cover the whole hammer in a complicated enchantment.

Now, this wasn't some divine enchantment that Hephaestus' Automaton Core Circuit, but actually one commonly known, although it was not used often, because it took almost all of the space on a workpiece.

The circuit which looked like a complicated mix of geometric shapes that covered the whole hammer, was the highest level of the Mending enchantments. It was not an enchantment that was useful in combat or strengthened the wielder, but it allowed the craftsman to endow an item with a property similar to memory steel.

That was a metal that could bend itself back to its original shape when heated. Mending was similar. The extensive circuit was like the memory of its original shape. If the hammer was damaged, the user just had to infuse mana into the material to repair it. Of course, the mana cost depended on the damage and the material of the item.

Usually, it was not a very popular enchantment since it took away a lot of space and the mana cost was immense, even for common materials. The mana cost was not Something Seth had to mind, since that would be shouldered by the soul he was going to infuse. This way the hammer would instantly repair itself, if it was damaged.

In addition, Seth also added the strength enchantment. However, it was the one he used to use, not the master tier since he was able to do that on his own. The blacksmith feared the overall enchantment would become too complicated if he used the automated circuit fusion.

The shape of the hammer head itself was already tricky to engrave as it was. By weaving the less complicated strength circuit in by hand, he was able to place it on an easier part, like the handle. Apart from the difficult structure of the head, there were no problems with the enchantment and Seth finished the enchantment in time for lunch.

“What are you even making, Tower master?” Neill asked him on the way to lunch break. He was still uncomfortable calling Seth by his name and Seth wasn't going to force him.

“I'm working on the holy hammer for the leader of Gamma Resistance. It will be our first legendary item to go public in preparation for the Tournament, “ the blacksmith explained.

“It's not even funny anymore, how casually we are talking about legendary items at this point,” Hoen commented with a wry smile. Back in the day, just seeing a legendary item was one of his greatest dreams, now he was constantly surrounded by them. He even had a good chance that Seth would at some point give them legendary materials. Then even he could...

“That's just how special new worlds of the system are. There is a reason why the elites scramble to get a piece of the cake whenever another world is added to the Pathworks,” Wedan commented disparagingly.

In the very beginning, Seth had always thought that forces like Chrona, Spatia, or the Muir Empire invaded because of the improved stats of Ori Humas and their lack of a level limit or the world's resources. Ori Huma were a resource to reckon with and the resources were also a big draw, but the bigger reason was Age of Gods.

The gods would choose people in a new world to either represent them or to spread their name. Their power was far above a normal player in many cases and sometimes they even brought along special material. Legendary materials that did not need anybody to fight a legendary creature or find it in some dangerous place.

It was actually Leana who had explained to him the true importance of Master Craftsmen to forces like the Chrona Empire. It was part of the explanation why he shouldn't publicize his true skills too early.

As seen with Minas Mar, a single master that could constantly bring out powerful items was an immense gain for any organization. Coupled with an empire that would support them with materials and equipment, the results were incredible.

The loot from the Y-City and TS9 were a good example. Even the forces they sent out to support allies from the shadows were equipped with legendary items and many of them showed that Spatia had at least two master-tier enchanters who were able to create legendary items. The cost of legendary enchantments was another question but the conclusion this all led to was:

If the scene and the representative of Chrona in Delta had not royally messed up and driven all the people to Minas Mar, Seth would have ended up competing with foreign powers, vying to give the chance to make these special equipment to their own craftsmen.

He would also have to face recruitment offers and threats, once his skills became public. At this point, however, Seth did not have to fear it. The blacksmith felt prepared for what was to come.