Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

---Minas Mar---

Carefully, Seth started cutting the pieces from the warm fabric Nädel had finished just the other day, in the evening. It had really only taken him a day to weave the bale of cloth from the salamander thread.

The blacksmith followed the template he had created using <Blueprint>. For the design, he had actually taken inspiration from the suits Neeco had designed for the Oathguard and some of the members of the Field Teams to wear below the armor.

Of course, this would never reach the ears of the tailor. It mustn't. As one of the prime opponents of the stupid superhero suits, Boos could never know that Seth was working on a one-piece to wear under his armor himself. Even when it was just a piece of secondary equipment.

After all, the new pieces made from <Sky Silk> had pristine effects, that this robe was probably unable to beat. Instead, he would switch between the set of pants and shirt and the suit he was making, depending on the situation.

Previously, the truly useful effects of the <Sky Silk>, which consisted of massive overall strengthening were dependent on the open sky and what kind of weather conditions were given. They were nice to have, but hard to count on.

It was only after Neeco managed to make the effects semi-permanent by mixing it with a thread that charged and supplied solar power, that they became an indispensable asset. They were perfect in cases where Seth decided to physically fight.

This suit on the other hand was meant to further augment his literal fire power. Kin of Fire and the Trignis Gloves already gave him an unbeatable conversion rate of costs and effects. The only metrics that were still restricting him were his resource pool and computational abilities.

As for his resource pools, while the fire magic depended on Mana, his <Pyromancy> was an ability and depended on mental power. Mental Power depended on Willpower, which was already his strongest attribute. However, he actually had a much better cheat to enhance his mana.

This left computational ability. Whether it was bending fire on a huge scale, or massive spells, and especially both of them at the same time posed a huge strain on Seth's concentration. There was no problem if all he intended to do was let loose and generate an all-encompassing sea of fire that would indiscriminately destroy anything in its way.

But that was not always the best way, especially since Seth was actually worried about casualties. Just controlling fire on a massive scale was already hard, differentiating between friend and foe became next to impossible if he went all out.

However, improving both of those was just the further development of his initial goal, which was to further improve his resource regeneration by relying on <Fire Absorption EX> in cooperation with the Salamander Flame.

Once he cut out the template pieces from the fresh fabric, he put the remaining pieces aside, for the other tailors to work with. Seth didn't have a sewing machine. For the <Sewing> skill to take full effect, one had to sew by hand.

Using the fire thread and a needle made from <Olympian Silver> he started moving in a practiced pattern. He had spent the last month learning all kinds of stitching techniques from Nädel until he was able to confidently apply them to actual items. One may think that the pattern of the stitches was not important, but the correct stitches with the right threads could vastly improve the durability of a cloth item.

Tailors couldn't engrave or etch their works to imbue magical properties, so they had to mostly rely on either using special thread or perfect craftsmanship. Of course, there was also <Embroidery>, but this was actually a skill that often necessitated a special class. An embroiderer could create an effect similar to a blacksmith's engravings, by embroidering specific patterns with conductive thread.

But there currently were no embroiderers in Minas Mar and Seth also didn't really have the aspiration to learn yet another specific enchantment skill. All he could do was concentrate and do his best, applying his learned skills. Radiant Forgeright's <Absolute Focus> and <Craftsman's Precision> really came in handy, even if he wasn't forging.

The needle quickly dove in and out of the cloth, connecting the pieces and slowly combining them into two pieces of clothing. A flaming golden two-piece body suit, one for the pants, one for the upper body. He only realized how much time had gone by when he put down the finished pieces.

Still, his eyes shone. So far the effects of the clothing aligned with what he was aiming for. After hesitating for a moment, Seth decided to immediately continue. Since the body was prepared, he now needed to add the soul.

As mentioned, the souls he had chosen for this were the souls of the two generals of Bragmomal, Seth had harvested a while ago. One was a typical fire demon mage specialized in fire, the other was a warrior versed in fire and hand-to-hand combat.

The latter was an avid customer of a skin etcher. A skin etcher was like a demonic tattoo artist, that etched demonic runes into a demon's skin to imbue them with demonic powers, not unlike Seth' etching them on weapons.

Etched directly into the skin, the runes could turn into strong but dangerous innate skills for demons. This guy was so covered in them, that the various demonic stains and seeped deep into his soul, making it just as good as the fire demon's soul for Seth's purposes.

While Nädel made the fabric, Seth had put the two souls through the refinery, so they were mostly massive blank souls with only their affinities and skills concerning fire left. When it came to forging the souls, the blacksmith once again showed great care to replicate the cloth. It had worked with the Garment of Death and some subsequent tries, so he made it a standard procedure.

As for the enchantments, this was the place where he wanted to make up for the computational lack. It was late evening when he sat down to enchant both souls with the generic automaton core circuit he learned from Cormac Payle.

This way the shirt and pants would be able to act independently like the golden fleece, saving him the strain to concentrate on using them. Essentially, it was like getting another two CPUs that could operate fire. While Seth could concentrate on controlling the fire, one of these would be able to make sure that he didn't harm anyone he didn't intend to hit. On the other hand, the mage soul would be able to improve the number of multi-casts he was able to do at once.

Midnight. The soul armaments were finished and engraved. Seth stretched his body and walked for a moment after sitting for hours.

“Are you okay?” Sivri asked a little worried.

“Sure, just a little sore from sitting so long,” Seth answered with a smile.

“At least it was worth it. The shirts look good. I didn't expect you to make such a leap in just a month. The buffs of an ori huma are really great.”

“Well, we paid for it with our world peace. It would better be!” Seth joked sarcastically. In some ways, the apocalypse was a blessing. Although his life was fraught with dangers, it had freed him from his stagnating life.

“Well, then. Time to finish this.”

With that, he sat back down and started infusing the soul armaments. During his grind to raise <Sewing>, he had not neglected to practice the <Soul Infusion> into the fabric. Once in a while, he had used a small soul to infuse into a piece of clothing. This way he kept the experience fresh in his mind and gained more confidence. Slowly, the soul armaments sank into the clothing.

<Ding! You have finished a unique item! > x2

<Ding! A synergy between the item and your trait: Kin of Fire has changed your item.>x2

<Ding! A synergy between the item and your trait: Olympian Myths has changed your item.>x2

Notification rang out, once he submerged the two pieces in the waters of Styx. Surprisingly, a new synergy had snuck among the notifications

<Salamander Skin (Shirt)(Concept)

Unique, Ego

Salamander Skin -Set

Durability: 1500

Phys.-Defense: 450

Mag.-Defense: 750

1. Item regains Durability in Fire

2. Item is immune to Physical damage

3. 35% Ice Resistance

4. Salamander Fire

5. Kagor's Fire Magic

6. Passive Skill: Demon Broadcast

Set Effect: Elemental Synergy

A shirt woven from the flame of the fire elemental, Salamander. Created by Craftsman Smith, using various peculiar means from a material created in cooperation with Master Boos. Do not wear it, if you can't take the heat.

Requirements: Salamander Skin's Acknowledgment, 100% Fire Resistance.>

<Salamander Skin (Pants)(Concept)

Unique, Ego

Salamander Skin -Set

Durability: 1500

Phys.-Defense: 450

Mag.-Defense: 750

1. Item regains Durability in Fire

2. Item is immune to Physical damage

3. 35% Ice Resistance

4. Salamander Fire

5. Ar'eth's 42 Fire Cantrips

6. Passive Skill: Demonic Aura

Set Effect: Elemental Synergy

A shirt woven from the flame of the fire elemental, Salamander. Created by Craftsman Smith, using various peculiar means from a material created in cooperation with Master Boos. Do not wear it, if you can't take the heat.

Requirements: Salamander Skin's Acknowledgment, 100% Fire Resistance.>