Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

As they continued through the isles they came across a few interesting items like arcane kitchen utensils or the equivalent of mana-driven power tools. One even was a magic enchantment engraver, similar to a rotary tool. it also came with various bits that could be swapped depending on the rating of the material used.

Seth himself had come across this problem when working with <Adamantium>. As its legend suggested, it was incredibly durable, making it hard to forge but even harder to engrave. The blacksmith had solved that problem by making a set of Adamantium Engraving Tools and heating the finished items to soften it for engraving.

He also tried etching <Adamantium> with demonic runes, but he had no acid strong enough to eat away at <Adamantium. But even if he had, how was he supposed to use it? Make an Adamantium brush? So that option was out of the question.

They kept going around the aisles, slowly realizing that this place was much larger than they thought and offered a lot more variety than just enchanted knickknacks. There were shelves full of ancient scrolls and books, as well as stand of armor and weapons. All of it epic or above grade, at least the things he could appraise.

“Oh, I like the design of this one~” Mina mentioned, pointing at a unique leather armor displayed on a wooden puppet. The set was mostly black, with nuances of blue and dark brown mixed in, as well as some dark, polished gems set into various places. The hood came with a face shield so that only the eyes of the wearer would be exposed.

“Black Bird Armor” was what the sign on the stand called it. it also came with a short explanation of the overall effects of the items, which mirrored what Seth's appraisal told him. However, the stats of the epic armor couldn't even begin to compare to Mina's current equipment. It was really just the looks that caught her attention.

“We could buy it and I could use it as a template for your next one,” Seth suggested, although he wasn't sure whether he was going to be the main contributor to this. Although he hated to admit it, when it came to leather and fabric, Neeco was better at working with them. As one would expect from a master tailor.

When the blacksmith worked with leather in the past he reinforced it to treat it almost like metal most of the time, which was not the most ideal way to approach it. Since they finally got their hand on legendary leather, it was best to leave working with the scarce material to the master.

Taking note of the armor set, they kept exploring until something actually caught Seth's eye. They had wandered into a section that resembled the armory of a disheveled wizard. Rows of weapons on stands were intercepted by shelves filled with tattered scrolls.

At least at first sight, but when Seth looked over it with <Eyes of the Maestro> his breath stocked. The items on the shelves were not simply some tattered scrolls, but the expensive enchantment scrolls used for learning new enchantments quickly and blueprints.

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Seth had seen and used some back when he learned under Tored. Enchantment Scrolls were something that needed a very high level of skill and a lot of time to craft, in addition to the cost of special paper.

Even on the Auction house, these were sparse, partially because people didn't like to share their enchantments. Technically, Seth could make these, too, but he had never bothered learning how since he had no real need to.

The blueprints on the shelves were similar in nature. A blacksmith with a high enough <Blueprint> could create blueprints to share them with other holders of the skill, who could then learn how to copy the item.

What shocked him even more was that many of the scrolls matched the weapons displayed on the respective shelves. Unfortunately, he had long since enlarged his catalog of enchantments by buying items from the Auction House, so nothing on the shelves was of real interest. Suddenly seeing such a huge collection of a usually rare and expensive item still came as a big shock.

Most of the blueprints were also things he could make himself or already did make himself. Still, there was no guarantee they were all like that, so Seth kept scouring the displays together with Fin and Mina, who would point and talk about a weapon or armor once in a while.

“Seth, have a look at this. I never seen a weapon with that kind of effect,” Mina called him over to have a look. Although they didn't have appraisal skills, all weapons had meticulously written tags that explained their powers. So, it was actually Mina who found something interesting before he did.

“You are right. This one seems useful,” the blacksmith praised and he took a look at the weapon.

The item Mina had found was called the Thunderer, it literally said so in its description and it was a relic-rated mace. The head was quite mangled and the only thing that looked slightly out of the ordinary about it was the massive purple crystal at the end of the handle. Now, a lightning mace was not that uncommon, however, that wasn't all this was.

< Thunderer

Relic

Phys. Attack 1500/1700

Mag. Attack 1200

Durability: 765/1500

1. + 50% on Energy-based Attacks

2. + 75% Lightning Magic Damage

3. Charged

4. 20 Armor Destruction

5. 25% Armor Penetration

6. Toggle Skill: Lightning Cloud

7. Active Skill: Thunder Strike

A shocking mace created by Craftsman Oakenguard. This damaged relic was originally created for the battle against the undead, but later found its way into a dilapidated shop to gather dust.>

Seth was slightly bewildered by the description which seemed a little judgy about Erka's Specialty Shop, but he didn't dwell on it. At first glance, the options were nothing overwhelming, neither were the materials it was made of. He didn't need the description to recognize <Magic Steel>.

No, what was special about this mace was the enchantment and the way it worked. The big gem at its hilt that looked like a pommel was called a <Lightning Tourmaline>. Now this alone was nothing new to Seth.

The Tower Master was familiar with using gems as a power source for enchanted weapons. He even knew the practice of using gems with elemental affinities to give the weapon a certain elemental magic damage.

However, where others would usually use circuits to either create an elemental effect from neutral mana or have the elemental effect just an add-on to the circuit's power, Craftsman Oakenguard took this a step further with the Lighting Cloud skill.

Toggle Skill. Lightning Cloud:

Every 5 seconds the mace will generate a ball of lightning which will hover in the vicinity of the user

and automatically attack any hostile entity.

The point was, that Oakenguard used the <Lightning Tourmaline> not just as a power source or an added weapon effect, but he had created an intermediate magic circuit that was able to create auto-aiming magic bullets which used the element of the mana it was supplied with.

This meant that something like the <Lightning Tourmaline> created ball lightning, but something like <Fire Glass> would create fireballs, or the <Terra Topaz> would create rock bullets. Seth could see the potential of this way of thought and how it could be taken even further.

They continued looking and Seth saw a few more items with similar concepts, using an elemental energy source and fusing it with a more abstract magic circuit for a higher concept of enchantment. Since they could leave the elemental part to the energy source, they had more room to fit various different enchantments that acted upon it together.

Noting down the Thunderer and some other enchantment scrolls they continued exploring.