Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth had a good idea for Jonah ’s armor but lacked the materials. That was the problem with his material catalog being filled with stuff from another world. He knew a lot of things that would work really well but had a hard time acquiring them.

He had tried pattern welding for the first time in a while with Monique ’s spear and was considering it for Jonah ’s sword. He had learned it a little under Tored, but it was mostly a technique for visuals in the eyes of a dwarf. In dwarven mentality, it is always best to use the material best suited for the job, even if it is more costly or takes longer.

Doing this with magical or mystical metals also had its own risks. The same enchantments had. Two different metals could weaken or even cancel each other out. Worst case they could worsen as a whole. The result could become too brittle, or soft. There were many reasons not to try it even if it was possible. Most metals tended not to bond at all.

So why did Seth consider doing it now? He took a liking to the aesthetic, and he could spare some materials like this while combining two strengths. He would have liked to use and to increase the magic conductivity and strength of the sword, but those two didn ’t bond.

When he did it with it lowered the resulting effects in the darkness slightly, but it increased the conductivity overall. Using two materials based on the same metal worked fairly well. The decrease of the effects in darkness was okay because he had a different reason.

Seth included to increase the affinity with the demonic ballads he used. In general techniques like pattern welding or coating one metal with another were methods to save materials at the cost of overall effects.

They were techniques common among human blacksmiths but frowned upon by dwarfs who took pride in making the best possible products.

Of course, he could have ordered more through the church when his reserves ran low. But it was so expensive! He rather avoided it for now. Seth was sure he could find those materials and more on Urth once he left Y-City. He got mining skills from Hades after all.

He first forged a bunch of plates from and . These were stacked and welded together on the sides using his to imitate a welder with his finger. After affixing the plates to each other he forge-welded them into a solid billet. Once this was done, he was ready to forge the blade of the sword. The targeted length came close to that of a rapier but slightly broader and stiffer.

It became a very long slender sword. The black and gray patterns flowed like flames along the blade. Seth made a small crossguard made of and carved a handle from bones covered with some common leather.

It was the first time he tried to enchant a weapon with two complex enchantments. One was life steal and the other was strong bleeding, the higher version of bleeding. Seth heard the synergy notification.

All that was left was infusing another medium-sized soul. He dunked it into the waters of Styx and pulled out the strongest blooddrinker weapon to date.

Seth was just occupied with the last finishing touched on the sword when a clerk knocked on his door.

”Sir, your orders have arrived. Can you check the delivery? ”

Seth agreed and the next moment his workshop was being filled with boxes over boxes. Had he really ordered that much? He checked the boxes one by one which helped him remember some things he had already forgotten.

First and foremost were his recent orders like wood for Alison ’s staff, swamp newt leather for Jonah ’s Armor. There were also the things like the leather he had originally ordered for Links armor or the original materials for Alison ’s staff. He went for a meal after unpacking and storing the new materials.

Well-fed and fully recovered he came back and started on Alison ’s new staff. He measured the storm sphere, making sure not to touch it before he brought out the wood. It was a big, charred slice of a thunderstruck mulberry tree.

In a similar style to how he created his bow, Seth started forging the wood using all his options. He chanted the aggressive balled that would give the staff the power to imbue random curses to an attack.

Unlike with the bow, he started folding it like metal to make it a homogeneous mass of wood. In the process, the wooden grain and charred parts formed all kinds of chaotic patterns. He kept working the material and the demonic runes kept fusing into it until it had no resemblance to wood, except the dark brown, almost black, color.

The big piece of wood was turned into two long strands he melded together in the middle. The four legs of this cross were then twisted together in a long spiral staff with a dark evil sheen. It ended in four claws.

Carefully Seth set the in the center of these claws and molded them to grab the orb with a strong grip. With a deep breath, he sat down and waited for his mana to recover. This had taken longer than expected. Handling the orb was very thrilling.

Now that the sphere was at the end of the staff it was no danger to the carrier of the item. On the opposite, Alison would be able to also use it in melee combat and shock any enemy below level 40.

It was already a finished item, but to really fuse it all together Seth took out one of the few big magic souls he had and used to turn it into a rough copy of the finished staff. He enchanted it with mana efficiency and mana drain before meticulously infusing it into the staff.

As always it was much easier to infuse a soul into an organic material. The waters of Styx sealed the soul into the item and Seth finished his first magician ’s staff.

The staff had canceled the requirement for affinity, but the curse still held true for touching the sphere itself. If Alison hit someone with the staff it would unleash 1000 lightning, 500 wind, and 230 physical damage onto anyone who didn ’t meet the requirements of the sphere.

It would still take a while before Alison would reach lv. 40, but Seth planned to only leave Y-City after all of them had reached it anyways.

Seth decided it was good for the day and went to hand around with the rest of the party.