Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 578: Graffias

One of Apollo’s domains was the mastery of musical instruments, especially lyres. To kindle this part of the divine power inside the material, Seth chose an etching dedicated to Amducias, a demon of music and called the ghost of music instruments.

Where the library of the college lacked in works that praised the demons of the forge, it excelled in praising demons of music. The poem Seth chose was only rare rated, but it was long. Sometimes in demonic poetry quantity could make up for quality.

The only problem was that long poems were similar to complex engravings, there was only so much space and capacity for enchantments on an item, and long poems ate up all the space. Despite that, Seth chose this work because of its very specific effect and the patron it was dedicated to.

Amducias was a very amicable demon and there were some ways to please him, to make it easier to gain a greater effect. For example the acid he was using to etch the demonic runes. Seth had brought the blood of Gleobem, the satyr minstrel to Alison, who used a demon recipe to make acid with the blood.

It was a very common custom among demonic bards to use the blood of creatures to enhance the effects of etching. This did not even have anything to do with magical properties. The blood of Gleobem was not much different from that of any human when it came to magic properties. However, it had meaning. When it came to demonic bards, the meaning was sometimes more important than magic properties.

Using the blood of a satyr minstrel, a fellow musician, and poets, to etch the sentences into the armor, preserving them for eternity. It had something almost romantic and meaningful. And this was the point. In the end, the powers of these enchantments came from pandering to demonic sugar daddies.

Demon were suckers for these kinds of airs and graces, and Amducias was especially susceptible to this kind of pandering. On top of that, this demon was also not against taking bribes, so Seth could also spend a sizable number of souls to improve the effects even further.

As the demonic power flowed through him using and into the runes he was etching, he could also vaguely feel the divine energy within the vambrace rousing. With the injection of more demonic power, he had broken the fragile power balance within the material.

Just like Apollo, his divine power didn’t like to be outdone. When he finally finished the engraving and checked the stats, Seth found that his assumptions were right. The divine power that had previously been undirected, had aligned itself to directly compete with the alignment of the demonic power he injected.

Had he planned to stop here, it would have already been a legendary item, just on the virtue of the materials used, but the notification had not come yet, as if the system was waiting for the last step.

The last step: Adding a soul.

Before Seth had planned to fuse a bunch of common souls into massive ones and enchant them with the divine enchantments. Yet, after his experience with the Trignis Gloves and seeing that the properties of souls would still have an effect on the final result, he thought differently.

For the left vambrace Seth had chosen Charon’s Grip, an enchantment he unlocked when he reached lv.5 of . Judging by the custom so far, there was also a blessing directly by the deity and an enchantment that was based on their power, often fit for weapons. Charon’s Grip was most likely the latter, as he had already used his Blessing on a soul armament.

Based of the effect he expected from something called Charon’s grip, he decided to use a soul that was already in his possession. The Snatcher’s Soul he had gotten from the haunted mansion. Charon was the ferryman that brought souls across the Styx.

Charon’s grip had most likely something to do with controlling souls, something Seth had seen the Snatcher do, too. That was why he went as far as to use 35 medium souls to rank up the Snatcher’s big soul into a massive one.

The sigil for Charon’s Grip looked like a gnarly, almost skeletal hand. Unlike with blessings, there was no ominous presence looking over his shoulder, as he engraved the sigil onto the Snatcher’s Soul. Like always, once he finished the Sigil, it started spreading across the soul all on its own.

The patterns spreading across the soul this time resembled chains of bones at some places, desiccated thorny vines, and even barbed wire. They gave Seth an ominous feeling, but he thought this was good, since the effects wouldn’t be directed at him, probably.

He heard the notification when the left vambrace left the waters of Styx. He had gotten a chunk of proficiency and his had leveled up. was not too far behind. Turning to the cause of it and checking the stat of the vambraces told him some things he expected and some that surprised him,

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Legendary

Scorpio Set 1/X

Phys. Def.:2500

Mag: Def:2400

Durability: 6666

1. 80% Damage Negation

2. Complete Weapon Damage Negation

3. +35% Spell Damage

4. +20% Damage in the Dark

5. +25 Agility

6. +5% Movement Speed

7. +40% Damage Reflection

8. Passive Skill: Amducias’ Spirit

9. Passive Skill: Apollo’s Dexterity

10. Active Skill: Charon’s Soul Snare

11.+15% Chance to drop and collect souls

Set Effects: To be updated.

First part of a celestial set, planned and crafted by the gifted hands of Craftsman Smith. Using divine and legendary materials, coupled with godly and demonic powers he created a piece that is seeking its equal. Despite giving nigh invincibility, the awkward choice of enchantments makes it undesirable for most of the populace.

Requirements: Seth Smith.>

Although he couldn’t estimate the full effects beforehand, the defensive effects and the extremely high base defense were not unexpected. Some may say that 80% pure damage negation and complete negation of weapon damage were a little redundant, but Seth was not one of them.

One was not complete, while the other didn’t work against natural or magical attacks. This way he covered most bases. As the description called it, nigh invincibility. With a full armor set like this, he would be like Sigurd on steroids.

The additional 40% damage reflection was a cherry on top. Lately, Seth had improved a lot and also gained a few things like titles that improved the power of his ballads. It was just a shame, that 40% seemed like the maximum he could attain. He had not yet found a defensive ballad he liked better.

A light surprise was the additional spell damage, which he credited to the dragon scales. Dragons were known to be masters of magic, he just didn’t expect for the scales to also be part of this achievement.

Seth knew that there were still some things missing, he knew would be part of the set effect, but the vambrace was already a great success. The vambrace alone already had a higher base defense than most epic shields.

The most gratifying was probably the skills that were added. The two passive skills had roughly the similar effects. Both together almost doubled the effects of pieces played on an instrument. In addition, Apollo’s Dexterity improved the level of by one level, or by two if he was holding a lyre.

Amducias’ Spirit on the other hand allowed the demons to manifest part of his powers and possess a designated instrument, to play a chosen piece of music. If was technically a way to give an instrument a temporary ego.

Then there was also the effect of Charon’s grasp. The blacksmith was happy about a higher drop rate of soul, but he really likes to add another crowd control skill to his repertoire,

“Nobody leaves the ferry.”

Cast a Soul Snare on target. Target will become unable to move for the duration of the skill. Skill duration depends on the resistance of the target and the difference in willpower with the caster.>

What gave him a surprise more than anything was actually the name. Because of his , he knew it meant claws, but the blacksmith had no idea where the system got the name from.

It was a ranged skill that completely ignored the physical power of an opponent! The only drawback was that it was only a single target. However, wanting more would have been too greedy, even for him.

Seth did not dwell too long over the stats of the first vambrace. After all, he still wanted to finish the second one today. He once again equipped it to see that it fit well with the Trignis Gloves before he walked over to the etching table.

His plans for the right vambrace were completely different than what he had done with the left.