Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1348: How many...?

“Karina, the tower told me you wanted to see me?” the blacksmith asked the dryad. Originally, he wanted to go and finish the accessories first thing in the morning, but the Tower Ego suddenly informed him that Karina was asking for him.

Seth knew that the tree spirit wouldnʼt ask for him without a reason, so he decided to come to the room of the main root of the Guardian Tree. Originally, it was the room where the tree was hidden. Now, it was only filled with roots

“Yes, I wanted to tell you that Iʼm done with the preparation for the move on the Cloud Continent,” the dryad quickly came to the point and presented him with a glowing burl. Seth stared at it with fascination.

“So, this is...?” Seth asked in wonder, staring at the glowing wood.

“The seed of the Guardian Tree, or rather the root of a clone,” Karina revealed the success of her hard work. She had created the seeds for a true seedling of the guardian tree. Karina would not need to spend weeks to grow roots across the continent anymore.

“Once planted, this will grow into a full tree, a clone disconnected from the mother tree,” Karina explained proudly. Unlike the Tree Stations, these would be able to grow independently. They were glowing because they were packed with energy that would allow the tree to shoot into the sky, the same way the guardian Tree did during its reveal.

“How many did you make?” the blacksmith asked, calculating. The sense of wonder was quickly blown away by the thought of the reason they were forced to create it in the first place.

“I used up the reserves and managed to make four. It should suffice,” Karina explained. The process of creating one of these seeds was not easy. Since these could instantly grow a tree the size of a tree station sapling, they needed the energy to do so. Karina had taken this energy from the reserves of the network of tree stations and the Guardian Tree itself to make them.

“So we will have one left after Phase 1,” the blacksmith mumbled. Although Seth was preoccupied with crafting, it didnʼt mean he was not part of the meetings that happened after the big briefing. Minas Mar had made many plans to implement the retaliations they agreed upon during the great meeting.

“If we started right now, yes. Depending on the date of our departure, I could get the energy for maybe one more?” the dryad mused.

Their operation against the cloud continent depended on the state of their preparations. Seth had insisted that they would only leave once he was done with the Dragon Equipment for the Field Teams. His reason was the information Marco had sent back from the Cloud Continent.

The wielder of the harbinger of Winter Woes had put a lot of work into collecting information on the political overview and the structure of their enemies. After all, the Sect Alliance, led by the Silk River Sect, was only a small faction close to the connection between the worlds.

From Yu and Xiong Peng, their direct allies on the continent, they knew that not just the Xiguang Province was comparable to current Urth, after its magical expansion following the apocalypse, but that the Voracious Cloud Continent was several times Urthʼs size. One would expect as much from a world that went around either absorbing other worlds, or sucking them dry for energy.

The Xiguang Province alone, despite being treated as a barren land, was teeming with creatures and people at the level of legends or just below it. At least if they went by the standards of the System Worlds, where having just a handful of Legends or people close to it was a lot.

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Legends could continue to age and die once they were forgotten, leading to a natural cycle over the centuries. But cultivators could increase their lifespan as they grew stronger, meaning that the upper brass slowly accumulated, while Immortals apparently had no set expiration date.

This made the continent a treacherous place, and nobody knew what unforeseen dangers could surprise them when they went to crush the members of the sect alliance and try to bring back the people of Urth that had been sold away by the Scene.

Minas Mar could use the Oathguard and Golems to face the lower ranks, but the problem was facing such powerhouses in case they appeared at some point during the operation. This could only be accomplished by people who walked some distance on the Path of Legend, and maybe the named Golems.

Many of the old guard, the first Oathguards in Minas Mar, had reached the early 90s; the grind was simply too much unless one had legendary items or the backing of a god. They would still take a while to reach lv.100, and then it would still be hard for them to make a name on Urth.

The only ones currently on Urth that could face them and were not tasked with the protection of Minas Mar were the field teams. But the Field Team members, who had all stepped on the Path of Legend, could do little on Urth to raise their level of existence. This meant the only way to strengthen them was through equipment and skill proficiency.

This was why Seth insisted on upgrading their gear as much as possible before they crossed the border to the continent. In the meantime, the Field team members were either on missions or grinding their skill proficiency.

“How long do you need to collect enough energy for one?” Seth asked, mulling over the dates.

Seth was about to finish Finʼs accessories and would then return to the dragon armor, but it could still take two or three weeks before he managed to finish everything, and they had to wait for the members currently on missions to return.

“The beast activities across Minas Mar have subsided considerably lately, so the influx of energy has slowed. It might take over a month to make one more,” Karina estimated.

Even when one saw it, it was hard to grasp the actual size of the Guardian Tree. Even the saplings that covered the smaller Tree Stations were huge beyond measure. The amount of energy one of these trees needed to grow was immense, especially if it was at high speed. But this was when talking about a fully grown one.

“What if they didnʼt have to instantly grow to full size?” the Tower Master asked.

“I get what you mean...” Karina mumbled in thought. Size the weapon to your target. There was no reason to use a nuke on a village. Unless there was someone on the level of a legend or close to it, there was little they could do, even against a tree only a quarter the size of a sapling.

“If I lower the requirements, I can probably make up to 10 in the same time,” the dryad finally gave a rough estimate.

“Then I would like to ask you to proceed in this manner. Simply keep making smaller ones until we are ready to advance our plans,” the Tower Master instructed her. “Anything else I should know?” he asked the dryad before he left.

“Nope, nothing. Except, it will be Pipʼs birthday soon,” Karina suddenly reminded him. At her words, the blacksmith halted and turned his head stiffly. There was a reason for his reaction, that way, because it meant more work in the near future.

Pip was the oldest of Karinaʼs original disciples, the group of children and teens the dryad had adopted before the original died. Seth had met them, or rather their remnants, during his escape from the stronghold of the Theocracy of Chains.

The girl had already gone through a lot at that time, and it didnʼt get better during the journey. She had been a great help on their journey back to Delta by leading them to New Hope, where they were able to stock up on rations. At that time, he had also given her a promise.

Pip had wanted to help her home, where her parents used to live, but she was not strong enough. The blacksmith had promised her that when her time came, he would help her take care of New Hope.

Although she had since then settled in Minas Mar, taking care of the other disciples and the children of Tijaahk. Especially, with the revival of Karina under Seth, she had been able to regain some brightness. However, her plans had not changed. She was always working hard to one day return to New Hope.

Pip was going to become 15, the earliest age at which a player would be offered a class by the system. This meant that Pip would soon not just get a class, but go to level up, raise and and... want to return to New Hope. Of course, she would need support and equipment....