Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

---3 Days Prior---

"You said you found a soul I might be interested in?" the bard asked as he sat down opposite of the goat.

They were sitting on the third floor of Tano'Mol's Soul Emporium, the exhibition room for the special souls. The demon seemed nervous as he fiddled with his hooves.

"Just so you know, I could really get into one hell of a mess because of your request. As much as soul trading has suffered from a bad reputation, dealing with the souls of our own- it's frowned upon, to say the least," he explained grimly.

"If you want to increase the price, just say so. You know I'm not someone to skimp on quality," he assured the merchant.

"That's not it! Although I won't say no to raising the price. I'm feeling uncomfortable doing this and I'm only doing this because I appreciate our business relationship. I just hope you won't ask me for something like this again," he mentioned meekly.

"It's not like you killed someone for this, right?" Seth asked surprised.

"NO! No, but... You know how you are okay with selling livestock but it would feel weird to sell another person? It's the same for a demon selling a demon soul," the goat explained.

Seth squinted at the demon.

"I get the analog but I don't like it since you are calling all other souls livestock, but didn't you already sell me a demon soul before? How exactly is this different?"

"...This is different." the goat said uncomfortable. Seth fixated on him.

"How so? "

"Hmm, you probably know that there are some demons who … are not as peaceful as the people here."

"As far as I know, you were not very peaceful until Chrona involved itself," Seth commented with a chuckle. Seth suspected that this had nothing to do with the demon's conscience, but with where he got the soul from.

"There are people who would not even listen to Chrona. They are not a few either. Soo... if you place someone in a world with an ongoing war and wait long enough, you will inevitably get the chance to make off with the soul of a powerful demon."

"So you could call it spoils of war. You won't get any trouble for stealing it?"

"Probably not. They would have to find my contacts first and trace them to me first, which is very unlikely. But you can't be careful enough," the goat explained.

"I guess the people you stole it from are not the nicest, huh? Can I see it now?"

"Oh! Sure, here."

At Seth's question, the demon finally brought out an orb. It was filled with a dark, murky soul glowing in a reddish-violet hue. It gave off a sinister, alluring aura the moment it was revealed.

<Soul of the Enchantress (Epic, Massive)

Crafting Material

The soul of an Enchantress, a high-ranking race of succubi. As a demon specialized in seduction, the soul has a great affinity with darkness and illusion magic, especially charms and curses. Trait: Charming Voice>

<Charming Voice: A voice that can directly enrapture those of weak will or lower their resistance to charm magic.>

"Thank you, Tano. This will do," the blacksmith muttered after a moment.

Seth still wished he could have gotten the soul of a demonic bard, he had even considered out to get the Maestro's soul, but that was too much of a hassle. Payne Indias, albeit a Maestro, seemed to have a greater talent in alchemy than in music.

Fortunately, the blacksmith didn't need to try hard and find the perfect soul. He had the soul refinery, he could use the <Soul of the Enchantress> as a base to refine and customize it using other souls.

Although it was a delicate skill to manipulate the soul on such a basic level, his predecessor laid great groundwork. The crafting station Forgebrand created made the complicated process much easier. Seth might have felt scruples if they were ego souls, but with this kind of soul, he had no moral inhibitions with trying to mix and match their attributes. The only reason he had to be careful was that he could degrade the soul if he made a mistake.

"75 Gold," the demon said dryly.

"Are you a Bandit now? That's daylight robbery."

"75 Gold."

"... Fine. Take 115 and give me all the small, medium, and big common souls you can give me for the rest"

Seth had gained a lot on his travel to the Holy Land and decided that when he was already spending big, he could also splurge. He now had a clean 500 gold left in his inventory, as well as several tens of soul scrolls. No he had enough common souls that he would not have to worry about souls for some time. At least, as long as he did not need a special one.

---Present---

Using the soul he bought as a base, Seth created the soul for the wheel fiddle. Using the Soul Refinery he added the Soul of Dawn and the Soul of Dusk to it. Using the two souls with mixed affinities to light and darkness, he ended up with a massive soul that had a deep connection to darkness, but also some to light.

This would enable it to connect with the original aspects of the wood, maybe causing a synergy, It also added the trait Beast of Dawn which strengthened light-attributed skills and spells when surrounded by darkness or twilight.

With the body of the instrument finished, he started forging this soul he had prepared for today. He was glad that it was a lot easier to rebuild the fiddle using the soul. The hard part came when Seth started engraving the enchantment onto the soul fiddle.

The Basic Automaton Core Circuit was still an Olympian enchantment and it didn't become much easier engraving them, especially since he now had to add it to the soul shape of a complicated instrument. All without being allowed a single mistake.

Still, the stress level was incomparable to having a scrutinizing demon king looking over your shoulder while multitasking several skills at once. As such, it was only a matter of time before he finished successfully and the soul was ready to be infused.

<Ding! You have created a legendary instrument. +1 to all attributes.>

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

<Ding! A new Path has been unlocked.>

<Ding! Your skill Instrument Maker (Craftsman) lv.1 has become Instrument Maker (Craftsman) lv.2!>

<Ding! Your skill Carpentry (Craftsman) lv.1 has become Carpentry (Craftsman) lv.2!>

A bunch of notifications went off, making it hard to hear all of them. The two primary skills involved with the item had gained another level, this was expected. What surprised Seth, was that he gained attribute points! He had not gotten any goodies for legendary items since he reached the master tier in <Goldsmith>, <Blacksmith>, and <Enchantment>.

Was it because this was a legendary instrument? An item that didn't technically involve any of his master-tier skills? Of course, he had forged the wood and enchanted the soul, but it was the only explanation he could come up with.

Did that mean he could continue to gain attribute points by raising other crafting skills to the master tier? Maybe the path of the Legendary Craftsman was not as out of reach as he expected. On the other hand, <Carpentry> and <Instrument Maker> had not really caught his interest.

Raising them to the craftsman tier through grinding was more of a chore than a passion...Especially since he did not have an army of bards. Instruments were a niche product at their current time. Nobody really needed high-grade instruments as very few people chose a bard class.

Aside from the practical aspect, they lacked the valor and mysticism magic armaments had in Seth's mind. A magic lute was cool and all, but it was more fun making a dominating magic sword or armor. Seth was honest with himself in this regard, he liked his work because he was fascinated by the items he made.

The blacksmith didn't have that fascination for instruments. He had reached the point where he didn't force himself to do something just to get a tiny bit stronger. He would keep it in mind for the future when he had time and was bored.

<Carpentry> on the other hand was universally useful and if he really intended to raise more skills to the master tier, it would be <Sewing>. Being able to make and appraise robes and other fabric items would be a lot more handy.

Finally getting out of his thought, his eyes fell on the instrument he just finished. Even when he just thought that he didn't really have a fascination for an instrument, his heart could help to beat in excitement, when he appraised his new item.

<Devil's Wheel Fiddle

Legendary

Durability: 8500

1. Disposition of the Guardian Tree

2. Kova's Thunder

3. Blessing of Paimon

4. Charming Voice

5. Beast of Dawn

6. Passive Skill: Music of Twilight

7. Active Skill: Sound of Madness

8. Active Skill: Illusion Notes

9. Active Skill: Paimon's Presence

A demonic device of doom.

The first legendary instrument created on Urth. An unparalleled creation of Craftsman Smith.

In a fusion of powerful demonic blessing, terrifying divinity, and mysterious means, a device that would make any devil

salivate in greed was born.>

Sivri had observed the whole process and watched the blacksmith stare blankly at his new instrument. "Isn't he going to try it out?" she thought to herself when he suddenly grabbed the thing.

"Sorry, Sivri, I have to leave for a while!" he said and vanished, teleported away from the tower.