Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

After finishing the first complete version of the Armor of Lunacy, Seth couldn't help looking forward to putting one on every mage in the field teams. But not today. Like anyone who had prepared good presents, he was giddy to hand them out. Since everyone had now returned, he could finally do so.

It wasn't just the armor that waited to be worn by Alison. Seth also had the Fiery Nail and the items Sivri had created. While Seth was preoccupied with the Armor of Lunacy, Sivri hat worked hard

on making accessories with the remnants of the legendary and special materials.

It was a shame Hubert McCarthy had not contacted him again since before Minas Mar declared their independence. He didn't know whether McCarthy had a deal with the opposition, was simply careful, or had his own stuff going on. Seth only knew that it was a shame to have lost such a good source of raw material.

Before he knew it he arrived at the door to Alison's laboratory.

"A~lison, are you in?" he sang and knocked at the door.

The person opening the door was hard to recognize. It took a moment before Seth realized it was Alison, but she had washed her face and brushed her hair. The bags under her eyes had also become lighter as if she managed to get a good night's sleep. It had been a long time since he saw her that groomed. Had he ever?

"Oh, Seth? Did you come to bring the armor?" she asked almost excited.

"Jup. And you? Did you wash up for your date with your new armor, or did you finally find someone?"

She blushed but didn't answer. Bullseye.

"Hoho, has spring finally come for Alison?" he teased with a wide smile.

"Stop it." "I won't dig. Congratz. Anyway, here is your new armor. Did you get a new padded shirt from Neeco?" he suddenly asked when Alison equipped a long padded jacket, not unlike a gambeson.

"Yeah, I met him in the cafeteria yesterday, after you guys left and he said it was custom-made for me."

Seth suddenly had a strong suspicion about who Alison's spring was, but he didn't say anything. He gave her the armor pieces and she equipped them one by one. Afterward, Seth made sure once again that they all fit well and that the circuit was connected.

"Seem like everything fits. How are you feeling?" "Great!" she mumbled, staring at her fingers with an eerie smile. The blacksmith suddenly had doubts about whether it was a good idea to give Alison an Armor of Lunacy... It was probably okay.

"Wanna test it?" he asked and two fireballs appeared in his hands.

"Do it," she said without hesitation, a dangerous glint in her eyes. The next moment two fireballs crashed into her armor. Or not. The masses of whirling fire pulled apart into several flaming shreds that flowed across the armor and vanished. Alison did not even feel an impact.

"Was that all?" she suddenly asked provocatively.

Now she was getting cocky. Maybe it was better he taught her a lesson before she became a maniac rearguard that jumped into the path of spells to load up on mana.

"Oh, you want to play with fire?"

This time it wasn't a fireball, but a fire lance. The power of the spell threw Alison back, but it was disassembled, conducted, and absorbed the same way the fireballs were. At the same time, two of the moonstones on the cuirass lit up. The wizard looked at him shocked, the dangerous glint was gone.

"That was 50% power. Don't get too overconfident. Before it becomes legendary, you shouldn't take risks... Even afterward, you shouldn't."

"Thank you, I don't know what got into me. I will keep it in mind."

"Don't worry, I'm glad you like it that much. If you will excuse me, I have more things to hand out."

Seth's next destination was the room of Jess and James. Since they were a couple, they shared a big one. While Seth made the wand for Jess, Sivri had created five pieces. Two were necklaces, one was a bracelet, one was a choker, and the last was a scepter. Two of these were meant for the couple. At his knocking, James wearing casual clothes opened the door.

"Seth? What brings you here?"

"I have some congratulatory gifts for you and Jess since you became chosen."

"Gifts?" Jess immediately appeared over his shoulder in the door frame. "What are doing, come in, come in!" the mage was really giddy all of a sudden.

"Since you are so excited, let's start right away," Blacksmith said and brought out the choker, a necklace, and the Fiery Nail wand.

"Uh, I love it!" Jess exclaimed as she was swinging around her new wand. Of course, the fiery wand was for the fire mage and her eyes twinkled the moment she held it in her hands. It was hard to get her attention for the next item.

The necklace was also for Jess and used the Salamander Core. The golden dwarf had faceted the crimson core, making it look like a drop of blood in sharp contrast with its setting of <Olympian Silver>. Similar to the Fiery Nail, the soul used was a product of churning Dragon newt Soul through the Soul Refinery, leaving Seth with only 50 of them.

With three legendary items, the freshly chosen of a fire goddess may have seemed favored, but it was also compensation because Seth wouldn't be able to customize her Armor of Lunacy. Fire enchantments had the worst compatibility with the moonstones that were a vital part of the armor.

"Then...is that one for me?" James asked hesitating, pointing at the last item, the choker.

The choker was made from the opaque crystal Monique's team had dropped from their earth elemental boss. Sivri had shaped, cut, and faceted the crystal into rectangular cabochons, set in <Olympian Silver>. They were attached to each other at the edges, forming a thick ostentatious choker nobody could ignore.

For the soul, she synthesized warrior souls Seth had stocked up on for other projects, creating a massive soul that was mainly filled with the power of tanks. She did it to fit the crystal's main effect, which was raising defense through various means. This left only three possible recipients, Tekar, James, and Edward. Ultimately the choice fell on James since he also deserved a little something for becoming a chosen, also because Seth thought that the fat choker would fit him.

When he equipped the choker, a wave of gray energy washed over his body. This was the choker's passive skill of <Stone Skin> that passively increased the defense against physical damage and gave his skin a somewhat pale gray hue.

"Wow, it really fits you!" his girlfriend voiced the blacksmith's opinion in surprise.

"Are you sure?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, if you cut your hair a little you will look like a really trendy vampire," Seth added with a chuckle.

"Please don't tease me, Boss," he asked feeling awkward.

"He's right. You would look cool~" Jess teased him.

They talked a little longer, and their talk soon came to the paths they were going to choose. It was the topic the couple had been preoccupied to far. It was almost unfair how many paths were known for combat-oriented classes when compared to crafting classes.

It showed that crafting classes didn't often even get to the point of being eligible for a path. It also meant that the two had a huge variety to choose from. After a while, Seth had to excuse himself. He had more people to visit today.

"Well, I will leave you two now to get used to your new items," he said and left the couple to their own devices. His next destination was Evee's room.