Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

With the project of “claiming back Urth” as the expansion of the trade route to Mount Agra was now called in public the atmosphere in Delta had taken a little turn for the better. After the failed attack on the speech, the attacks had suddenly stopped.

As more people now smelled the money, more guilds also joined back in the guard duty to get a chance in joining “the expeditions”. The expeditions were the action of collaborators in the expansion, such as the Adventurer Guild. Minas Mar had incentivized them to favor guilds that showed public engagement and volunteer work.

These expeditions intended to explore more paths off from the already established route to Mount Agra in the hope to find similar great dungeons and land to develop their own colonies. It was one of the baits they had thrown at the possible investors to quicken the development.

Nobody had any doubts that Minas Mar would keep its control of the Tree Stations with an iron grasp now that they provided pretty much everything in these places. This made them less attractive to investors. However, the possibility to found their own little goldmines in the mountain range was a big opportunity.

In the current age, many magical materials appeared that were worth a lot more than simple gold, silver or assets. Owning something like a mine would make them not just rich on Urth, but also rich within the Pathworks.

Minas Mar, or rather Seth didn’t mind giving these opportunities to others, as long as it ultimately solved the problem of overpopulation in Delta. The biggest advantage in Seth’s eyes was that his friend who had taken part in the guard duty, especially Mina, were less depressed since the situation turned for the better.

Since some of their biggest worries were dealt with, they would often go on dates, or just spend time together. He also had more time to spend with the rest of Minas Mar, predominantly Fin. The three would often find themselves spending idle time together or going to dungeons.

The blacksmith had more or less gotten used to the increased agility and had started to slowly work on his level. He was still level 71, while most of the lords and executive members of Minas Mar were already close to 80.

However, he took his time with it. Since he had mistaken his recent worries for some kind of precognitive signal for something that didn’t come in the end, he calmed down a lot. There was no point in putting everything he liked aside just because of some alarmist worries.

It was also better for his craft when he made things thoroughly. At the moment he could only grind his skills. Although he had plans for the items he wanted to make for the others, he lacked the materials and hoped to make them after he reached the level of Master. Until then, he wanted to concentrate on items for the Oathguard and having his catch up.

With the bonus from being ranked first, it became viable to level even with epic-rated items, even better if they were relic rated. He had just reached lv.6 of when he heard of Evan’s promotion to being a chosen. That day was destined to be tumultuous for Delta.

After his talk with Evan news came in of many other weird and dangerous phenomena all around Delta. Taking into account that Evan did not suddenly burst out with a herd of beasts, there had to be even more chosen ones that did not announce their existence in such a flashy manner.

Nobody could stop this day from becoming known as the real starting point for the Age of Gods. As many suspected, the sudden introduction of a bunch of overpowered and unreasonable classes had a massive impact on Delta’s power structure. At least within the various independent guilds.

But not all surprises were bad. Just like Evan becoming a chosen. Seth was quite surprised when he saw Elza and Marcel, the couple he came to know during the escape from the Theocracy and the Evaluation, on TV the next day.

It was a report on the sudden storm that burst out from the headquarters of the Boulder Guild. As they came to acknowledge, this was the effect of Elza and Marcel becoming chosen ones at the same time.

They reacted quite embarrassed at the question of what the two were doing at the time and they also did not disclose what gods had chosen them. Only that they were blessed with the powers of fire and ice, which in conjunction created a huge storm that burst the windows of nearby buildings and led to chaos on the streets in the vicinity.

Other reported phenomena were not followed up by the revelation of the responding chosen, which meant there were also champions that kept their identity a secret. This wasn’t common, most champions came forward and took a high seat in their guilds, at the same breath that they announced their status.

The sudden emergence of so many champions was the next big thing. Although people had always known about the chosen of god, as there had already been a few before the announcement, they had never been high-profile in a good sense.

The self-proclaimed Adventurer King was despised, while the Champion of Zarkon was feared and despised. Aside from those two, there were only three known chosen ones before the world quest and none of them were high profile.

One could say that the chosen ones were more of a rumor than a real thing, before the announcement of the World Quest. Now, they were here and everyone wanted to try and find a mythological sugar daddy or their favored type of adventurer.

Seeing the sudden emergence had a definite impact on Urth’s adventurers. What had just been a vague possibility before, had become an actual chance. Where fans tried to find the god of their favorite chosen ones, Adventurers started researching gods to better pander to them.

All of this opened a new door. In the following weeks, foreign religions from the Pathworks would put up the booths and stalls in Delta to try and recruit adventurers. Seth didn’t like this development at all.

He knew that they had been there before, but until now, the people of Urth were not religious. Historic records, novels, and games, taught Seth that a religion led by a church was seldom a good thing. Even when the system church was okay, he still didn’t trust others.

Urth was already so chaotic, if people started to go at each other’s throats because of the different cults they decided to follow… Even when these churches were led by their gods, it didn’t mean gods were good or rational.

The only saving grace was, that these churches, similar to Yvette, could also bless people afflicted by the blood berserker drug to stave off or heal their symptoms. Even when he didn’t like the development, it was a betterment overall. Especially since it didn’t seem like anyone on Urth would instantly turn into some kind of fanatic.

What slightly calmed his mind, was that the currently biggest Church in Delta was actually the Church of Samhach. The building they had planned for Yvette has mostly been completed thanks to the miraculous improvement classes like Architect and Builder had on the construction business.

At least he knew the saintess of this church, which already counted 20 000 people as their members, among which were 400 priests. He couldn’t help but be a little jealous of how quickly a religion could grow. Even when the members were mostly low-level civilians.

But he was only a little jealous since he could technically think of them as allies. It was different for the others. Just a bunch of people that came to fish in turbulent waters. Who knew what those people were planning?

There were so many of them and all with their own agendas… it was too hard for Seth to think about. He didn’t want to and it didn’t matter. Since he didn’t feel like dealing with them, he chose the much easier way. To grow Minas Mar into an absolute powerhouse.

Their forces could not be overlooked at this point. In addition to the Oathguard which now had grown to roughly 150 people, there were now the Chimera’s that decided to return from Agra with just as many people, the original Faer, and the 200 battle-oriented New Faer that had decided to stay with Minas Mar. Aside from them, they had close allies like the Tijaahk led by Duhu and Drosi, and the Chimeras in Mount Agra.

All this was not counting the Golems in Seth’s possession and along the Tree Route. All that was left was the right equipment. With his further developed skills, Seth planned to create improved relic-rated Oatharmors for the Oathguard, The Faer could then wear the hand-me-down from the oathguard.

This way he could not just improve their power, but also his skills. He hoped to reach the master level while looking for the materials to make the items for the executive members and himself.