Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

At first, Tored only watched Seth fumble with the needle, but soon the dwarf would start giving him advice and taught him about the basics of sewing.

Following the 30 scale armors, Seth continued using the needle. He was in the zone and Tored's advice kept helping him making improvements. With Tored's help, he made patterns of Mina's measurements to make a tight leather suit, fitting an assassin and Mina's usual taste. He decided to use a big part of the juvenile's leather to make the complete attire together with a cloak.

When he finished the last stitches, he heard an announcement.

<Ding! Skill: Sewing (Beginner) lv.1 has been learned.>

He had finally gotten the <Sewing> skill after such a long time! He started with the item for Bulko and the effect was immediate as his stitches became a lot more confident and regular.

It would have been great to have gotten the skill before he made Minas. It still came out as uncommon, but the durability and defense could have been increased. Well, he would simply give Mina a mithril stiletto, that should make her more than happy.

Another big part of the juvenile's leather became a steel-reinforced leather robe for Bulko and for Mike he made a similar armor from snake bones as the one he used until now. He also planned to incorporate some of the wyvern scales at the vital parts.

"Hmm, is this the effect of your hammer?" the old dwarf asked interested when he saw Seth forge the snake ribs.

"Yes. It′s very handy. Using the hammer as a medium, I can use mana to make organic materials malleable and forge them like metal." Seth explained proudly. Tored pondered and nodded as if he understood something.

"You asked me about the energy circulation skill, right? Have you tried it ever since the attempt you mention? No? I′m fairly sure that your hammer is the reason, you were unable to correctly learn it."

"What?" Seth exclaimed

"hm hm. <Energy Circulation> is a special skill most blacksmiths only learn on the higher stages. Your hammer already fulfills one of the biggest uses of <Energy Circulation>, which is manipulating organic materials."

"But there are a lot of low-quality weapons made from monster materials on the market. "Seth interrupted him. It couldn′t be that high-level blacksmiths would make anything below uncommon. Tored sighed.

"It′s because there is an exception. It′s a pitfall many young blacksmiths fall. The class "Beast Forger" is an uncommon specialization of blacksmith one can choose right after reaching the apprentice. Now, back to-" he tried to rush the explanation and get back to the topic.

"A pitfall?"

Tored sighed again, heavier. But he decided to explain.

"It′s a shame. The class itself is okay, don′t get me wrong. It gives an array of passive improvements, harvesting skills similar to a hunter's and <Energy Circulation>. A high-level beast forger can make great weapons with strong effects from monster materials.

Unfortunately, it′s simply a bad choice for a young blacksmith. The class needs a huge amount of mana to forge beast materials, as they become unable to use metals for their works. They will need a great investment to purchase monster materials from adventurers.

I think you get the gist of it. They suffer crippling poverty and painfully slow growth until they can either change their class or manage to grow into a successful beast forger. Despite our efforts to warn them, there are many young blacksmiths every year blinded by the chance of a quick advancement. Are you happy now? Can I explain the skill now?" he ended a little grumpily.

"I′m sorry. Please explain, master!" Seth appeased the old dwarf.

Tored explained that the skill helped to circulate mana during the work on the forge. The mana would follow your breathing and flow through your hammer into the workpiece. This can be used to forge organic materials, but when Seth used Charon′s Obol the hammer got into the way of the skill. If Seth already knew how to use the skill, it would not have happened, but since he had always used Charon's Obol, he had no chance to get familiar with the skill.

Following the dwarf's instruction, Seth stopped using the Obol and used a normal hammer to train the skill. He worked from dusk till dawn...well he couldn′t see the sun in this subterranean city. He worked every day until exhaustion under the watchful eyes and guidance of the dwarven master.

The effects were obvious. Even though nothing he made was very special or had a high rating, he got 1.5 to 2 times the proficiency gain and random spurts of experience when he learned something from Tored.

Though it did not make a big difference for his <Blacksmith>, the sewing skill grew to level 4, just from making Bulko's robe and the leather parts on Mike's armor. <Energy Circulation> reached level 3 and Seth managed to understand the skill. It felt a little like the breathing techniques in novels he had read about.

The mana followed specific pathways in his body and following the skill he had to time the flow of mana with his breathing and his movements. If he succeeded mana would flow through the hammer and into the material he hit. It improved the quality of the material slightly and had a similar effect to the option of Charon′s Obol. Just a little slower.

After he reached the third level Seth was able to use the Obol in conjunction with the skill. This not only improved the hammer's effectiveness, but also the resulting enhancements from using <Energy Circulation> such as increased durability and conductivity.

The usability of <Energy Circulation> did not end there. Tored told him to take a break and follow. They went down into the basement where he showed Seth the training area. The dwarven master showed him that this skill was also used in combat.

He took an ax from one of the racks to the side and demonstrated to Seth how it was used. It was very simple in theory. The skill helped to release mana in bursts, only when striking or defending instead of constantly channeling mana into a weapon or equipment to strengthen it or activate its enchantment.

Tored was not only a blacksmith but also a skillful warrior with the ax. Since Seth had the <Weapon Mastery> the dwarf used this chance to add sparring to their regular schedule.

On the seventh day, he finally started working on the enchantment for Fin′s new robe. Tored's curious eyes looked over his shoulder as he started. It was time for the leveled-up <Soul Capture> to shine. The new perk enabled him to extracts souls from objects. It was not specified, but releasing souls from the item he made was part of it.

Seth extracted the orc soul from his padded jacket, which turned back to <N?del′s Golden Jacket>. The orc soul on the other hand had lost the shape he had given it. It was slightly weakened and damaged.

Seth infused one of the few medium-sized souls, he had managed to scavenge from the drakes to repair and strengthen the uncommon soul. It seemed stronger but was still judged as medium. The increase showed in the soul armor he forged from it.

<Soul Armor

Uncommon

Mag. Def. 250

1. Grants 2x the damage against enemies with less STR

2. +340 Mana

An uncommon piece of soul armor. Can be infused into a physical armor or worn as is.>

Since his <Enchantment> was getting close to rank-up the result of engraving the circuit for strength increase was getting close to the best the circuit could do. The enchantment added the option of +22 Strength.

To infuse the armor, he shrunk it to the size of the actual equipment. The training suit for the fairy was a set similar to the pants and shirt N?del had made for Seth. Instead of making two separate pieces, Seth tried something different- He split and stretched the soul like he did during <Soul Infusion> while forging. This had an unexpected result.

<Brute's Robe- Shirt

Rare

Set-Item 1/2

Phys. Def. 150

Mag. Def. 200

Durability:1000

1. Strengthen Defense by 50% for 10s Manacost:70

2. Weight of the armor is halved- No cost.

3. 5% increase in Movement speed

4. + 150 Mana

5. Increase STR +12

This extraordinary piece of clothing made to the size of a fairy is part of a set made by the tailor craftsman N?del. A peculiar enchantment was later added to the equipment.

Set-Effect: 20% increase in defense, 15% increase in Movement speed.

Skill: Rule of the Strong>

<Brute's Robe- Pants

Rare

Set-Item 1/2

Phys. Def. 150

Mag. Def. 150

Durability:1700

1. Strengthen Defense by 50% for 10s Manacost:70

2. Weight of the armor is halved- No cost.

3. 10% increase in Movement speed

4. + 150 Mana

5. Increase STR +12

This extraordinary piece of clothing made to the size of a fairy is part of a set made by the tailor craftsman N?del. A peculiar enchantment was later added to the equipment.

Set-Effect: 20% increase in defense, 15% increase in Movement speed.

Skill: Rule of the Strong>

The Skill granted by the set-effect was slightly different from the effect Seth knew about.

<Rule of the Strong

The weak should fear the strong!

Passive: Grants 2x damage against enemies with less STR

Active: Double your strength for 15 seconds.

Cost: 150 mana

Cool Down: 15 minutes>

He was sure the little fairy brute would love this kind of skill. It had a great synergy with the rest of her skills and her overall fighting style. Technically, this skill could increase her damage by 4 times for a short time. On top of that, the armor would grant her 24 strength and 300 mana.

Seth felt a little prick when he thought that this effect would be better with someone who had an abnormal amount of strength since Fin derived a lot of her damage from her speed. But this was the best most fitting one he had for her right now. He decided to talk to her if he ever got his hand on something better.

It took Seth 8 days to finish everything.. His training had not even officially started yet, but he had already learned a lot.