Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1382. Right! That thing!

“Itʼs missing something?” the blacksmith asked. In his opinion, it was a perfectly fine helmet; however, Seth was more of a fan of practicality, so his works rarely stepped into the realm of art and great creativity unless he had a certain inspiration.

“Right, itʼs smooth. I like that, but on the other hand, it is too smooth. It needs something to offset that something like...” Faenys herself didnʼt quite seem to know what she was looking for, as she was grasping for the right words. Suddenly, her eyes widened.

“Right! That thing! What is that thing called when hair or feathers stick up from a helmet?” she suddenly asked, not knowing the right terminology.

“A plume? You mean we should add a plume to the helmet?” Seth asked, intrigued. A plume was an interesting idea. The blacksmith had yet to make a helmet with a plume. Plumes were usually purely for decorative purposes or meant in the context of a battlefield. They made little sense in the kind of combat they usually engaged in, hence Seth tended to ignore such style elements.

“Yeah, a plume. Could we add a plume of white feathers or maybe hair?” she asked, making Seth think. Although he liked practicality, the rule of cool was a concept he never dared to ignore. A slim knight in royal blue plate armor with silver decorations and a bright white plume, that would soar behind them as they charged at incredible speeds? That sounded pretty cool.

“I like the idea. I like it a lot, but what feather would we use for it?” the craftsman asked the important question, stumping the bandit. This was a legendary helmet, part of a legendary set; they couldnʼt just plop just any white feather on it. Normal materials would be unable to keep up with it.

“Right, obviously it would have to fit in with the armor, I didnʼt think of that...” Faenys said pooped.

“Donʼt worry, letʼs go look at what we have in storage,” he suggested. Although Seth could access a catalog of materials thanks to , he didnʼt have all of that in his head, and the catalog had no option to sort materials by color.

...To begin with, what they were looking for wasnʼt a material Seth usually worked with. Hair and feathers were more of a tailor or even alchemy material. This was why Seth suggested descending into the cellar of Minas Mar.

This was not originally part of the magic tower. Just like the blacksmith workshops, they had dug out the storage rooms themselves. Since the field teams and the oathguard had to grind to get levels, there was a constant intake of materials, but much fewer people to process them. So they piled up in the ever-growing storage area.

In this place, they stored all the materials above the uncommon rating that were harvested during hunts and dungeon runs, no matter whether they were currently needed or not. Well, especially because they were not specifically needed at the time.

For the other members of their crafting division, it was quite common to come down here and look for fitting materials to make items. Seth had little use for most of the things that were stashed down here; if he needed something, it often made more sense to take it directly from the auction house. At most, he would sometimes come down to look for epic-rated leathers.

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“We are looking for white feathers or strands of hair to make a plume for a helmet,” Seth explained to Feleth, their storage manager. He didnʼt specify the rating, as there was nothing below rare in the storage, which would suffice as decoration.

Technically, the Tower Ego took over the actual management and storage, but the old man was one of Leanaʼs people and possessed the skill . He was a great help when trying to find materials for a specific purpose.

“Hmm, white feathers and hair should mostly be in the miscellaneous section. I donʼt remember any of those going to the alchemy section,” Felleth said after a moment of thought. The misc rooms were used for materials that could either be used by various crafting classes or had no immediate relation to any.

The slightly rotund elder led them down the hallway and a set of stairs to a single room with a sign reading “Miscellaneous” pasted to the door. There were a few, but Felleth brought them here based on his unerring memory.

“There should be a few in here,” he said, and the three started to look around. The room had roughly 50m² and was filled with shelves that held storage crates. This was how most materials were stored.

Searching with three people, Felleth was the first to find a box with a big, bushy feather that belonged to a flightless bird like an ostrich. They were rated rare and had the ability to lessen the burden.

“Hmm, I think we should see what other options there are first,” the brigand said after taking a look.

Although they would have made for a great plume, Faenys didnʼt seem happy with them and asked to keep searching.

Seth found the next two candidates. The first was a collection of straight, pure white feathers that were immediately rejected. The second were the locks of a sheep monster, but those were not to her taste either. Although Faenys couldnʼt say what it was, she seemed to be looking for something specific.

“Oh, how about this? These are the epic tail hair of a male Hippogriff. I think their usual use would be for instrument bows,” Felleth suddenly exclaimed, putting a small, elongated box onto a table at the entrance.

Inside was a bundle, practically a whole horse or Hippogriff tail, of gray hair with a silver sheen. At first Faenysʼ eyes shone when she heard it, but they dimmed when she saw the color. She seemed disappointed. Was she looking to put a ponytail on the helmet?

“Hmm, they have a nice glow, but they are a little dark... she mumbled and lifted some strands to take a closer look. The moment she touched them, the bundle was suddenly enveloped in a sickly glow, turning a pale gray within a second. Faenys jumped back in surprise, Seth gasped, but the most surprised of them all was Felleth, who stumbled back and actually fell on his ass at the sight.

“Felleth, are you okay? What happened?” Seth asked, seeing the old man still staring at the table in shock, as he helped him up.

“The hair, it just turned legendary!” he exclaimed, prompting Seth to give the hair a probing glance. He was a craftsman in and , so he was able to appraise legendary materials as either, using his .

No wonder Felleth had keeled over in surprise. He had witnessed an item being blessed live and was the first to understand what happened. Her god had not forgotten Faenys after all! Although it was only small, Phobos had actually created a legendary material for his champion.

Maybe he had even guided her hands to look for something of this nature to have it blessed?

“I guess this seals the deal, huh?” the blacksmith announced the end of their excursion, since they obviously had their plume for the helmet.

“Yeah, I guess you are right,” Faenys agreed, finally finding her voice again. Although she couldnʼt appraise the material, she probably knew best what had just happened and how.

With the material in hand, they returned to the workshop to finish the body of the helmet.