Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1408. I told her

“What was that about?” Monique asked, after the two of them appeared at the workshop, using the Towerʼs power of teleportation.

“Leana had the idea that, since you donʼt need the custom set, I could use the materials and make one for Cade, instead of making several smaller sets for the other members of the Field Teams,” Seth explained concisely.

“So I told her, I would think about it if she got everyone who could benefit from more custom pieces to agree. When I brought up my doubts once again in front of Mary, she stipulated that Leana had to ask Cade whether she even wanted the set, to begin with and THEN I would have to talk with Cade, to see whether Iʼm even willing to make one, before Leana goes to the length of asking everyone for permission,” the bard gave her a quick rundown of what happened to lead to the situation.

“Who would have thought I would kick off this kind of tumult by getting an armor blessed by my divine patron,” Monique mumbled.

“Right, your Sky Mommy really kicked off something, but thatʼs fine considering Iʼm getting special materials for a whole armor set. Come, sit down,” the blacksmith waved off her worries. The two sat down at a workbench at the edge of the workshop.

“Since we reached that topic, how are we blessing the material?” the blacksmith asked. When he created or , it included a specific ritual or process. However, when a god blessed a material directly, things could be as easy as the champion or saint simply possessing it.

“I donʼt know? I guess you just have to give it to me? I only have the quest to acquire thirty ingots of epic ,” Monique said, a little clueless. But it was enough to confirm Sethʼs suspicion that taking possession already sufficed.

“If itʼs just that, then follow me,” he said, and asked her to get back up after barely sitting down. Monique didnʼt complain and simply followed the blacksmith as he led her to the workshop vault. This was a place where exclusively the craftsman-level and above members were allowed to enter.

Here, they stored all the epic-rated and above materials that the apprentices were not supposed to put their grubby paws on. At least not whenever they felt like it. Seth had prepared a pallet of refined from .

“So, I just pick them up?” Monique asked for permission.

“Go for it,” the blacksmith said with a shrug.

“Oh, itʼs actually working, the quest info is counting up,” she informed him, taking one ingot after another.

When the 30th ingot went into her inventory, there was a flash of bright light as the quest was concluded and the divine blessing was given as a quest reward. For a moment, Seth imagined the smell of ozone in the air, but it was fleeting and gone quickly.

“The name in the inventory changed, but I donʼt really see a difference...” Monique said hesitantly and brought out one of the freshly blessed ingots. The blacksmithʼs eyes instinctively appraised the new material. Compared to the original material, it had gained a golden hue.

Seth looked at the quest window for a while, but there really was not more to it. A single sentence, no special restrictions, no special design requirements. The finished set only had to integrate the Aegis as a central piece.

The blacksmith obviously knew about the Aegis, one of the works of Hephaestus, modified during various myths. Its nature was ambiguous, often described as a shield, a breastplate, or a cloak. When he accepted the quest, would he gain clarity of what it actually was?

As he was going to do it anyway and there was only things to gain, there was no reason to refuse the quest. The moment he accepted the quest, he got several notifications, as corresponding knowledge flowed into his head.

He had learned the blueprint of the Aegis, as well as the Sigil of Olympian Thunder and the Combat Support Automaton Ego Circuit. His eyes went wide when he realized that these had no caveat. There was no modifier like generic, small, or mediocre with these.

But there was one glaring catch with all of them, and it had to do with the buff he received. To use the blueprint of the Aegis, he needed to be lv.5 and for the enchantment, he needed the same level in .

However. “Divine Armorer of Athens” buffed his skill to the needed level, but only when working with . When the quest was over, he needed to reach lv.5 in both skills before he could use his rewards, and he couldnʼt cheese it, since it only worked on the quest material.

A little bummed, the blacksmith checked his skill progression. Despite having created quite a few legendary and mind-blowing items, he was still level 3 in both and . The former was roughly 3/4s to lv.4 while the latter was almost half of the way there.

It would take ages to reach lv.5 of the master tier at this rate. Maybe he was going to become a legend before he could create a second Aegis or use any of his rewards at all. Well, at least there was also the blessing he could receive upon success.

It would not just strengthen himself, but Seth also had some hope that Athena would be added to his trait, as a potential source of synergies. He would have to read up on her, but he was of the opinion that the more gods there were, the higher his chance of striking a synergy.

“Whatʼs going on?” Monique asked when Seth suddenly grimaced. He had just looked at the blueprint of the Aegis and found the big catch of the quest. There was a very specific material the Aegis needed that was not included in what they had here.

“Monique, we will have to hunt a gorgon for this...” the blacksmith revealed to her. As expected, a proper Aegis needed the head and potentially the leather of an adult gorgon to be made. The leather was not mandatory, but advised.

“A gorgon? We?” Monique asked, flabbergasted. For her, this came out of nowhere. She also questioned why he had to come along.

“Yup, need one for the Aegis I agreed to make for the armor... ” the blacksmith confirmed. “ And if I want the soul, I have to come along,” he added. The two were quiet for a moment, thinking in silence.

“It could take ages to find one...” Monique finally mumbled with a sigh. She had tried to remember whether she had ever heard of one during her travels, but it seemingly wasnʼt the case.

“Well, we could ask the Adventurer Guild. Maybe we are lucky and there is some kind of gorgon dungeon in the abyss,” the blacksmith mused.

“Good idea. Maybe we can also ask Perrerian whether they have one?” Monique suggested another place with rampant dungeons.

“Oh, I didnʼt think of that one. Good idea. We will do this right after we are done here,” the blacksmith said, motivated.

“After we are done? What else is there to do? Donʼt we need the gorgon first?” Monique blurted out.

“The gorgon is only needed for the aegis. What I need for the rest are just your measurements for now,” he said with a smile, pulling the measurement tape that appeared in his hands taught.