Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

An Assistant? Seth was alone on the wide and quiet graveyard, so he summoned the whole smithy to see what it looked like. Among the different crafting stations, Seth already knew towered a humongous figure. At first, it reminded him of Anubis as the three-meter-tall giant was a muscular dog-headed statue. On the second look, unlike Anubis, the golem had 3 dog-faces reminding him of a buddha lycanthrope.

The information came to his mind as he inspected the "assistant".

<Cerberus, Workshop Assistant (Locked)

Fashioned after the gatekeeper of the underworld, Cerberus is a golem assistant to help with work around the smithy. Cerberus possesses rudimentary intelligence and can either give support during the forging process or take over menial tasks in the smithy.

(Strength Trial needed to unlock) >

The hunk just stood there completely motionless. Seth needed to overcome another trial similar to the one for the jeweler′s table to unlock it. His strength was now 65 and he roughly remembered that the trial for the table was rather easy with 50 dexterity.

He looked at the dark and empty graveyard, slightly illuminated by the ghostly glow of his smithy. Should he do it now? He had a quiet and lone moment now, so it may be the best chance to fight the giant here and now. Who knew when he got the next chance?

<Are you willing to take the strength trial to permanently unlock the Workshop Assistant? Y/N>

Seth was still pondering whether this was the right time but still decided to go through with it.

<Ding! A quest has been triggered!>

< Quest: Beat the Golem

Difficulty: C

"Cerberus" is temporarily unlocked. Prove your strength to unlock the workshop assistant "Cerberus" permanently. To prove your strength, you have to best the golem in a contest of strength: an arm-wrestling match.

Requirement: Win against Cerberus 0/1

Rewards: Permanently Unlock "Workshop Assistant". >

<Do you accept the quest?>

An arm-wrestling match?! It took a big load off his mind. Cerberus gave of a suffocation pressure and Seth was unsure whether he had a chance fighting this thing in a serious match, but strength was one of his forte. He was confident in his attributes and accepted the quest.

The eyes of the three dog-faces glowed up in a purplish-blue as the golem started to move. With slow and heavy steps, it walked towards the anvil in the center, knelt down, and set its elbow in the surface. Cerberus kept clenching and unclenching his fist giving Seth a prompting look.

The blacksmith stepped up to the anvil and grasped the golems giant hand. Both gripped firmly and thus the battle of attrition started.

Seth's muscles bulged as he consciously used all his strength for the first time. The big stone muscles of the golem made a grinding noise as its force grew along with his. They locked eyes and kept increasing their grip and pressure until their fingers dug into each other's hands.

It was a tie as their hands came to s standstill in their original position.

After a while, Seth felt his muscles start twitching as they screamed in pain, but he could also see dust crumbling from the golem's arm. The back and forth that had existed before finally started to tilt.

Unfortunately, in Cerberus′ favor. As a golem, it had simply better stamina than a body made of flesh and blood.

Seeing his hand slowly giving in despite his best efforts, Seth started to panic. But he was a long way from giving up. So, what if his current strength was not enough? He thought and summoned his status. Looking into the purple glowing eyes of Cerberus he started putting his fresh attribute points into strength.

It′s not cheating! It a common thing for the main character to suddenly power up during a hard fight. His strength reached 70 and the situation was reversed, as it was now the golem's arm slowly giving away. More and more dust and sand fell from its arm as it tried to fight back.

But the outcome was inevitable. After the protagonist had miraculously powered up during the battle, the antagonist had no choice but to accept his fate!

Its eyes glowed up brightly as the golems elbow broke under the pressure!

<Ding! You have completed the quest - Beat the Golem - You have permanently unlocked "Cerberus, Workshop Assistant"!>

The golem stood back up straight and its broken arm was restored to the way it was before. Facing Seth, it gave him a formal 90°-bow accepting him as the new master and awaiting his orders. At this moment a wave of information concerning Cerberus flooded Seth′s brain. The range of tasks it could be given and the limitations pertaining to it.

Many menial and repetitious tasks could be handed over to the Golem. He could also support him in forging like a forging assistant or similar a power hammer.

It was a shame, that Seth would not be able to make Cerberus fight for him. As Cerberus was an assistant and guardian for the workshop it could only be summoned in the workshop. Its range of action was restricted to within the workshop or the immediate surroundings.

He would not be able to simply summon the golem to protect him as a bodyguard. It was a disappointment because Cerberus was actually a lot stronger than Seth was. The golem's power was simply nerfed for the trial.

Although, it could not simply fight for him, the Golem hat a great range of use. This opened up a great opportunity for him! There were still the bunch of armors he needed to send to Zhiqe. Seth had procrastinated to make them since it was a very monotone and unrewarding task. Now, he could simply use the golem to make all the scales he needed and then assemble the armors later. It saved him a lot of time and effort.

This meant opening a shop became a necessity... Forging was loud, it was not as loud as he would have expected, but it was not something he could just do in a hotel room in the middle of a residential area. He had only dared to forge on the airship because of the VIP rooms and their excellent sound isolation magic.

The golem would be able to work 24/7 all day long until there was no material left anymore, once he had an official workshop.

It was already so late and he needed to meet with mike and the other again tomorrow. He decided to find a workshop in the coming days. Seth unsummoned the smithy and returned to his inn for a good night's sleep. Or what was left of the night.

The following day started with a similar dungeon run. Seth worked on his teamwork with the rest of the party and they started to build up a good rapport. In the quieter moments, he also managed to start up a conversation and got closer to Mina.

As a consequence, he could not go and look for a workshop. After the dungeon, he went drinking with Mina and they spent the night in a different Inn. Obviously, they would not do it at the place of her adoptive parents.

He woke up in a room covered in randomly thrown away clothes. It felt great waking up with a beautiful girl in his arms and actually remembering how he got there.

"Nyaa~" she yawned and woke up. Lifting her head, she planted a soft kiss on his lips with a grin.

"You know, I might know a solution to your problem." she grinned mischievously. Seth could only think that she meant the shop. They had talked about finding a shop yesterday evening.

"Oh, really? Go on."

She started moving and moves on top of him.

"Hehe, not for free. You have to earn it~"

Mina kept him occupied until late at noon so they came almost too late to the team meeting.

But she really told him about a struggling smithy in the commercial district's second underground level. She knew the owner and told him that he might be willing to strike a deal with Seth.

Seth decided to take a look the next day.