Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

“Neeco, are you ready?” Seth asked as he walked into his workshop, where the tailor was already waiting for him. “Do I really have to wear this?” the tailor asked unwillingly. He was clad in a fiery red armor set, visibly uncomfortable wearing the plate armor. This was one of the relic-rated sets from Bulko, the fire resistance set.

The reason why he forced Neeco, who vehemently denied wearing armor, to wear armor today was for his own good. They were going to make another batch of flame thread, but this time Seth intended to go serious. Afraid he might evaporate the tailor, he made him wear the fire defense.

“Yes, it's necessary. We don't want you to go puff, after all.”

Seth didn't want to risk losing the only guy able to make the fabric he needed for the new upgrade. At first, the blacksmith had been intrigued by the thought of remaking the Golden Fleece with the new thread, but he changed his mind after some deliberation.

The Golden Fleece (Concept) was a unique item and one of the few that had experienced a synergy with his Trait. There was no guarantee that this synergy would happen again. Since the golden fleece didn't really fall behind legendary items, he decided to do something else instead.

“Are you ready?” Seth asked as an almost golden flame appeared in his hand. A heat wave washed over Neeco's face and the temperature in the room immediately rose by several degrees. Despite wearing the fire-resistant armor, he started sweating right away.

Concentrating on the ball in his hands, Seth kept pouring his mental power into the Salamander Fire. Although the Salamander Fire was not the strongest flame in his repertoire, it had other qualities he was looking for.

It had been a long time since Seth went all out on wielding his <Fire Manipulation>. The last time was probably during their raid on the Abyss. As one of his strongest powers, he usually kept it secret so he could use it if he was in trouble.

However, his other means had become so strong, that he seldom got the chance to flaunt one of his favorite skills. Nonetheless, he didn’t want to neglect his firepower and Neeco’s reveal of his new skills had given him this new idea.

Now he was giving it his all to concentrate the flame in his hand and slowly shape it to the shape of a thread. Meanwhile, the waves of heat radiating around the blacksmith and the tailor grew so hot, that the tiled floor and stone sealing started glowing red hot.

Boos actually felt the floor under his feet soften, making it clear to him, why Seth had forced him to wear the armor set. Even with the armor on, Neeco felt like he was sitting in an oven, being baked. Despite the Salamander Flame not being the most destructive by nature, when the blacksmith gave it his all, it grew incredibly powerful.

Slowly and carefully, the concentrated thread of fire took shape, glowing like a worm from the center of the sun. The tailor swallowed hard as he activated his skills, attempting to spin the element into a thread for a tailor to use.

Before, Neeco had doubted he would need to use the equipment Seth had given him to create the death thread. After all, this was “just” fire. He had been sure that he had enough experience with fire to deal with it, even if it was a little stronger.

He thought wrong. He felt this task might have been even harder. Unlike the death thread which was a calm, cold, and terrifying power, the fire was full of life and rebellion. The presence of death of dangerous, but the element itself was stagnant and more or less tame. With fire on the other hand, even with Seth keeping it in shape, the tailor felt the resistance to be fixed into a permanent shape, with this much much stronger than with regular flame.

It was terrifying, as the irrational fear of the fire breaking out and swallowing him whole at any moment kept gripping at his mind, as he tried to concentrate on his work. Seth on the other hand didn’t have the time to be indulgent to Boos’ hardships, as he was inadvertently working and making and keeping them as bad as they were. The blacksmith was fully focused on nurturing the Salamander Flame.

The tailor's only hope was that Seth only needed enough thread for a simple piece of clothing, so he wouldn't have to endure as long. Although Seth had not specified to him, what he was planning to make, it was a lot less than he needed for the Garment of Death.

That was right, Seth intended to make a substitute for the clothing he wore below the armor. The Shirt and pants set made of <Sky Silk> was fine and dandy, but he had a different idea. One that would be much to the tailor's liking, a fire suit to wear below the armor.

Kin of Fire, the trait Seth gained when his <Fire Affection> reached the max level was already at the peak of improvement when it came to the cost and cost-efficiency of fire-related skills. Only a legendary item like the Trignis Glove was able to further improve it, regular items had barely any effect, despite their description saying something different.

So why was he creating another fire-based item? The aim was a different one. In the fight with the scene, something he noticed he lacked, was stamina. Fatigue was something that hit any living being, but he had a skill that could help him with that. <Fire Absorption EX> allowed him to absorb flames to regenerate health, some mana, and even some stamina.

The effect on stamina was negligible for normal fire, but at least perceptible when it was the Salamander Flames. If he gave the fire shirt and pants golem ego and they could independently keep creating Salamander Flames with the mana of a great demon, he would actually be able to replenish his stamina even in the middle of a fight, without the need of a potion or food.

As the two craftsmen endured the strain and poured their all into the work, time went by and the heap of thread on the ground slowly grew. At some point, Sivri offered to wind up the string, so it wouldn't get tangled and the two-men project, turned into a two-and-a-half-people project where one created the string, one spun it and the last one created balls of yarn from it.

“I-I think this is enough!” Neeco gasped, at the border of his abilities. His face was red, like a sunburn and he was drenched in sweat. Seth wasn't much better off, as he felt the fatigue slowly taking hold of him, weakening his concentration.

On the other hand, Sivri the golem was good to go, happily furling the string into balls. She had a stack of yarn balls beside her about the height of her knees. Seeing this, Seth nodded. That was probably enough for the fire suit he wanted to make.

“Alright, let's end it here,” he agreed, taking a deep breath. Looking at the clock, Seth saw with surprise that they had been going non-stop for 8 hours. His mental power was almost gone, with barely 10% remaining. In times like this, he really appreciated the soul armament of Tisiphone's Ring which not only increased his mental power by 35% but also his Willpower by 150.

Without it, he might have looked worse than Neeco currently did. The tailor had outright collapsed on the floor, the moment the tension was gone. He was lying on the floor, desperately gasping for air.

Finally having the chance to put his attention on something else, Seth checked out the thread Sivri had diligently rolled up.

<Raging Salamander Yarn

Relic

A yarn spun from the raging flames of the elemental Salamander. Created by Master Boos using peculiar skills and in cooperation with Master Smith.

If magic power is poured into the thread, it will fuel the dormant flames inside.>

Since he was a craftsman of <Sewing> he was now able to use <Eyes of the Maestro> to check every tailor material up to legendary. He was quite happy with the thread. Next, he made a call.

“Seth, are you done?” the wizened voice of Nädel came from the communication orb.

“Yes. Are you already asleep?” the blacksmith asked a little embarrassed, realizing how late in the evening it had gotten.

“What are you saying? I have been eagerly waiting for your call. Bring the yarn over, I will weave it for you.” the old tailor urged.

That's right. Since Neeco was probably out cold for the next couple of days, it was Nädel's turn to show his skills. Although the old tailor had not reached the master tier yet, he managed to raise his skill twice in the past two months. Thanks to the ample supply of high-rated material, Nädel had reached craftsman lv.8 and his weaving skill was possibly better than Neeco's since he had much more experience.

With Nädel taking the baton, it was possible that Seth would get the finished fabric as early as tomorrow. He was already looking forward to it.