Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The next morning, or rather afternoon, Seth, Mina, and Fin sat at the kitchen table, having breakfast together. The blacksmith had caught up on some much-needed sleep and now he was staring at a pile of items on the table, together with his girlfriends.

After a good night's sleep, his mind was clearer and he remembered the items he had looted from the necromancer girl. Although he already knew most of what she had carried on her body, he had yet to check the item box that was dropped upon her death. he had put everything he stripped from the necromancer girl onto the table.

Although they couldn't appraise them as he could, the eyes of the girls were glued to the legendary items, which had an unmistakable aura around them. The most interesting to Mina and Fin were obviously the weapons Natina used to flaunt with her eight energy arms.

The Sword of Schlovis was a good sword but its performance was only comparable to an epic weapon, except for the effect , which unconditionally put the target to sleep on hit. Of course, it had not worked, thanks to Lethe's Blessing.

Seth guessed that it was an epic sword that got into the hands of a master enchanter. It was a shame the sword broke in two during the fight, but maybe Al, Idyllon, or Grant would be able to learn something from the remnants. “Sleep of Schlovis” seemed like a powerful legendary enchantment.

It was a similar story for the scimitar that created wounds that would not heal. Another okay weapon, that was upgraded by a master enchanter. The unbreakable shield and the Mace of Armor Destruction followed the same principle. Different enchantment, same approach.

Although this fit in with many of the other items they had previously looted from Spatians, Seth found it a little boring. He couldn't copy these enchantments and the craftsmanship of the items was plain, to say the least. It seemed that magic technology had a very high standing in their empire. But would that be different for Chrona?

He couldn't blame them. How hard was it for most blacksmiths to create a legendary weapon on the anvil? It took a lot of time for them to even become a craftsman to handle legendary materials. But those were extremely rare and legendary enchantments for blacksmiths arguably even rarer AND needed the blacksmith in question to master in addition to .Nôv(el)B\\jnn

As for a blacksmith creating a legendary blade only relying on ? Unless they invented a divine crafting method or became a legend themselves, it was next to impossible.

Another example of this magic development was the spear Natina wielded during their fight. It was called “Sprite Piercer”. It was a transparent spear, that looked almost as if it was made out of murky glass. It glowed dimly and felt warm to the touch.

The name was a little funny because it was not a weapon made to kill sprites, but a spear made from a ghost. The principle was the same as Seth's soul armaments in that it was shaped from something incorporeal, which allowed it to pass by physical defense.

This weapon was not made by a blacksmith, but by an enchanter or mage again. it was an array of magic runes and symbols that forced and condensed the ghost into the shape of a spear. This spear inherited the fundamental ability of a ghost to choose when and what it affected on the material plane.

The gist of the matter was, that the spear could phase through armor and bodies and materialize its tip within the target's bodies, past any defense that could protect it. The damage at that stage, depended on the power and mana of the user. This could have been dangerous if Seth didn't have the effect of Weapon Damage Negation.

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Turning a ghost into a weapon with a magic seal was a very interesting concept, but, again, nothing Seth could or needed to replicate. Unless Al'zalsar took a fancy in studying it, they could give it out to one of the Field Team members.

Finally, the Axe of Ignoramus was a weird, but decent weapon. The axe was influenced by the legend of its wielder Ignoramus. It had the intriguing effect of increasing the damage and defense of the wielder, the less they knew of their enemy.

It also gave the passive skill which allowed the wielder to ignore attacks or ailments, they didn't know of. That skill had the potential to completely negate surprise attacks. God knew how Ignoramus managed to create such a legend... Apart from that, it had decent stats, comparable to a relic Seth would make.

The last weapon Natina used to swing around was her staff, which was actually called the Staff of the Necrotic Ruler. The staff was actually part of a set, together with the Circlet of the Necrotic Ruler and the Ring of the Necrotic Ruler she wore.

These three items were a set used by “The Necrotic Ruler”, all of them were specialized in improving a necromancer's necromancy and magic. Each item on its own was good, but not legendary. It was their set effect that truly stood out about them.

Together they halved the cost to raise, control, and upkeep giant and legendary undead, while lowering the cost of any other undead by 80%, for undead. The effects were halved for living users. It would have been a great set for Evee, it it wasn't for one of them being a circlet. Evee already had the Crown of Death. Maybe they had to raise another necromancer to use these?

Most of the remaining items were also split into two sets. One was made of the blouse and elbow-high gloves Seth pulled from Natina's body. Both were made of incredibly fine, almost transparent white fabric. Since he had raised his to craftsman tier, he was able to appraise them. They were actually the work of an Arachne and Master Tailor named Aela.

Missing another set piece, Seth was unable to see the final option of Aela's set, but the items he had were enough to get the gist. The gloves multiplied Dexterity by 5 times. The shirt did the same for Agility. When worn together the multiplier rose to 8 times.

Despite the effect, Seth saw no signs of enchantments. His best guess was because of the maker's identity. She was an Arachne, which had a natural bonus in tailoring, as well as racial traits. Seth doubted that she only mastered tailoring, as he could feel his path react to the gloves.

The blacksmith felt that he could copy the effects of the item with his path, which meant Aela was a legend of tailoring, which explained the powers of the items. However, Seth felt it was a shame to take apart these items, so he made the excuse to himself, that he would only take them apart when the set was complete.

Lastly, there was the Set of Gönndalf. The dark gray robe and a ring Natina wore, the orb she carried on her right, and a tome she had attached to her belt. All of them had gained the legendary status because of their wearer. Apart from the individual legendary effects, they were comparable to relic items Seth would have made.

The robe had an effect called . It had a magical damage absorption effect that could dampen blows and slowly divert the absorbed damage away from the user. Seth had seen this power himself. Only when the capacity was overpowered in a short amount of time, could it be overcome

In addition to the robe, there was the orb and the ring of Gönndalf. The ring had the effect "Never Lost Hope", which strengthened the wearer's resistance to mental ailments and raised the willpower. It also held the active skill, to bestow a similar buff on others called .

The orb, the third part of the set, gave the passive skills and . The first was a skill that allowed clairvoyance into the distance, while the second raised the accuracy of magic and the damage based on the distance of the shot.

Together they had two set effects. The first was granted the trait “Magic Monstrosity” doubling the wearer's mana and magic damage. The second, legendary one, allowed the user to be revived once at not just optimal, but 250% of their usual power.

At first, this effect raised the blacksmith's suspicion, as he questioned why she didn't use it in their fight. it also had not activated automatically. But the blacksmith smirked when he saw the explanation for why she couldn't do it even if she wanted to.

Although the set effects triggered, she was unable to use the resurrect, because this particular effect had a requirement for usage. To be resurrected, the user's class had to match that of Gönndalf, which was described as an elemental wizard or a higher form of that job.

Although something like a necromancer counted as a caster that branched off of the basic Wizard class, it was different from the elemental wizard class, which meant Natina had been simply unable to use it, even if she wanted to.

Lastly, there was Gönndalf's Tome, which wasn't part of the item set. despite also holding the man's name. It was quite literally a spell book magicians used to store spells for quick deployment in battle. Seth wasn't a mage and never used one himself, but he roughly knew about them and had seen a few.

Apart from various strong improvements to mana, intelligence, and willpower, it also held the effect of All-Knowing Gönndalf. Once a day, it allowed the user to cast ANY spell of Gönndalf at no cost.

Once again, his first question was why she didn't use it. He was sure Gönndalf was a legend. Any spell of his must be devastating. Sure enough, it worked the same way as the set effect. This was also why she wore the tome on her belt and not in battle. Unless one was a wizard or a higher version of the class, they couldn't properly equip it. Seth smiled since they actually had someone that fit the bill.