Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

---Minas Mar---

The golem production was in full swing, however, Seth took a small break, leaving the insertion of souls to Cerberus, while he had to follow an idea of his own. The fact that the size restriction of the Golem Forge was lifted simply would let him alone.

How much of a torment was it, every time he tried to make massive golems? Because of this, they were forced to loot many of the bodies they brought from the Colossal Dungeon, without being able to use even a single one, up to now.

It wasn’t like they could put them in a storage or leave them to clog up their inventories. They also didn’t have the number of hunters to properly dismantle them, leaving them only the loot option and to get materials out of them. Despite only getting a fraction when using the system to do it, they still ended up with several warehouses of epic materials that were left to their crafters to improve their skills.

Still, Seth had kept the best bodies and he had been thinking about what to do with them, ever since. He never had the time to work on one and Cerberus was needed in other places. But now, now he could leave a lot of the work to the Golem Forge.

With this knowledge, his mind kept mulling over ideas of what to do with the bodies he kept and the idea he had needed some preparations. A lot, actually. But he was sure it would be worth it. This was why he came before the furnace, which also had the size restrictions removed.

He was never much of a smelter. He had accepted the doctrine of the dwarves to use the correct and pure materials for the job. Although he had mixed metals and made some alloys in the past, it was never his go-to answer for anything. But now, he needed this.

Using the new knowledge of his skill, Seth enlarged the furnace. The small furnace that was about his height and enough to smelt and refine and good amount of metal, grew until it almost touched the workshop ceiling. Now it looked like a proper blast furnace, that could melt and refine a great number of ores. Had he known earlier that he would unlock this function, there would have been no need to order the <Stainless Steel> from somewhere else…

Since Tored’s arrival, Seth was able to leave many of the internal tasks to him and benefit from the master’s centuries of knowledge. Among them was finding a use for all the mining produce they had been hogging until now.

Especially ores of uncommon materials were not as attractive to their own craftsmen who had all reached at least the journeyman tier. The best plan for these was to use them for alloys, and this was what he planned on doing now.

After enlarging the furnace, he started dumping in the contents of his inventory. Sacks and Sacks of <Sunburned Tin Ore> and <Cold Copper Ore> started filling the workshop floor. They were the lower-end products of Minas Mar’s aggressive Golem Mining.

Diligently, Seth started filling the furnace with a specific mix of tin ore and copper ore, with layers of flux and coal. The next step was simple, turn on the furnace and let it do its work, while he observed the heat and ventilation inside.

When Tored saw the list of materials they were able to mine, this was one of the very first recipes he insisted on promoting. Although they were uncommon metals, they would lead to a rare alloy called <Tempered Bronze>. According to the dwarven master, <Tempered Bronze> outclassed many other metals in hardness and durability, disregarding their rating.

Despite that, it was usually not very popular among adventurers, since the only effect it had, apart from being physically comparable to <Mithril>, was a 20% increase in resistance to heat and cold. There were better materials to protect from heat or cold respectively and they could usually come with much better options for attack or defense, as the enchant ability of the bronze was also inhibited.

It was not bad, with about 15% the conductivity of <Mithril> it was in the lower middle for conducting magic power. This meant the bonus enchantments and the output of skills that were used through items made of it would experience was much lower than when using a better material.

Then why did Tored suggest it? Because it was actually a great material for making higher-grade golems. The Iron and Steel they used on the golems sold to Arget Nore had almost no conductivity for magic power. Compared to steel, it was 15 times better.

Although it would compare to elite golems using <Mithril>, or <Ithildin>, it was cheaper, more durable in general and they could make it in huge quantities. The plan was to use this alloy for the next generation of mass-produced golem knights because production took time. Until now, but Seth didn’t intend to make a huge amount of bronze for a bronze army. He was looking for something bigger, and it didn’t end with just the alloy.

Seth’s next step was experimental. The bronze was successfully made and waited to be cast. Now was the time for the experiment. The spirit blacksmith had gained confidence after succeeding in infusing souls into fabric, now he wanted to try infusing a soul into liquid metal and essentially creating a material.

It was similar to the time he smelted <Ancient Bronze> and <Celestial Bronze>. At the time, he felt the godly power that stuck to these metals during smelting. He wanted to try and replicate this effect, using his own <Soul Infusion>.

Currently, the soul infused into the item would “die” when the weapon was destroyed by melting it down. He wanted to see whether he could prevent this, by directly infusing the soul into the molten material, making it a permanent effect on the material itself, instead of a kind of enchantment.

Beforehand, he had already prepared the soul for this experiment. It was the massive Soul of the Crystal Vine he had gotten from Tano'Mol. The Crystal vine's soul had the trait of Lining Fossil, increasing its defense and endurance. He enchanted it with Olympian Durability. Using <Soul Infusion>, he began to feel the liquid metal inside the furnace.

There were usually two methods he could use to infuse a soul. Creating a soul armament with <Soul Forging> and infusing it by mixing it into the metal. He tried the first since molten metal didn’t seem too different from mixing it in by folding.

The molten bronze felt very different from the metal or the fabric since it was not a solid material. Seth had trouble finding a place where he could fasten the soul. From the outside, it looked like he was just leaning against the furnace, while he was trying to get an outline of what he was supposed to do.

Seth could feel the liquid metal and he was sure he could infuse the soul, so he kept mulling over it as he scoured the material with his mind. He dove deeper and deeper as he consumed more mental power, but he found nothing.

Was he to keep going until he reached the crystalline structure within the metal? A shiver ran down his spine, at the thought of weaving the soul into the molecular structure of the material. A fabric was already taxing, he would never be able to do molecular bonds. It simply wasn’t the realm of a mortal, or he was using the wrong method.

After all, these skills were originally divine blessings. He was a mortal, but these were the skills of a god. As such, he started turning the soul into a soul armament. With his previous attempt, he had a good idea of the outlines and shapes of the metal within the furnace.

Applying the soul armament was different from fusing it into finished items. It felt jittery and unstable, but it calmed down after a while of him stabilizing everything and burning through his mental power using <Soul infusion>.

When it finally felt like it succeeded, it was time for the last step. Quenching in the Waters of Styx. This was the easiest part. Instead of using molds to catch the bronze, he simply let the molten metal directly run into the waters of Styx. When the bronze gushed into the water with steam and loud sizzling, he almost missed the message.

<Ding! You have created a new material. <Durable Olympian Bronze>. +1500 power of Existence. With the rise of its fame, you will also earn more Power of Existence in the future.>

The system actually acknowledged his efforts and accepted the bronze as a new material altogether! Excited, Seth picked out one of the steaming drops of bronze that were released from the bubble of water.

< Durable Olympian Bronze, Crafting material

Epic

A material created by Master Smith, the first Blacksmith Master of Urth. Using <Tempered Bronze> and a mysterious set of skills connected to the Olympian Gods he created a material with incredible durability.

Traits: Medium Magic Affinity, Resistance to heat and cold, high durability. Good corrosion resistance >

Only after seeing this, did it sink in. He succeeded, he really succeeded. Jumping up and down, with the bronze ball in his hand, he enjoyed this moment of glory. Another joyful consequence was, that he now had enough Power of Existence to level up to lv.4!

Happily, he used 15,000p of Power of Existence to finally rise to lv.4, only to choke when he saw that the next step cost a whopping 40k points... To get to lv.5 he needed more than double than before. He took a deep breath, it didn't matter. There was no need and no possibility to rush this.

Seeing Sivri’s questioning gaze, he explained what just happened. Surprised, the golden dwarf started celebrating with him. This was a great day and it was a great start for the project to come.