Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Looking at the materials he chose, he found there was not a lot of material, definitely not enough for a full-sized staff. This was no problem. Jess was a pure fire mage and she fully specialized in being in the rearguard. In addition, she was chosen by the goddess of Fire, Lohe, and had a protective synergy with her partner.

Taking all of this into account, there was no need for Jess to have a staff that could also act as a melee weapon. Instead, Seth intended to turn her into a true glass cannon. Instead of a staff, Seth decided to make a wand for her. This way, he also didn't have to add any more lower-rated materials to the product.

Singing a ballad to Xaphan, one of the demons he was most acquainted with at this point, he used the powers of Charon's Obol and <Energy Manipulation 3> to forge the crystal and the toenail. While the crystal turned into a long, translucent needle, the nail turned into the shape cut gem. When he finished the nail looked like an opaque, tear-drop-shaped ruby.

He married the gem-cut toenail into the socket he prepared at the end of the translucent needle and finished the forging ballad and process. The final wand looked like it was directly out of a fairy tale. It was petite, whimsy, and elegant like something a fair godmother was supposed to swing to turn a pumpkin into a carriage. Nobody would expect a deadly barrage of fireballs.

Sitting at his etching table, the demonic bard started etching runes along the handle which tied in with the forging ballad. It was also a verse dedicated to Xaphan, one right up the demon's alley. It roughly translated to:

"Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life," the words of a true poet.

After finishing the etching and neutralizing the acid, Seth went over to the engraving table. He could only sigh when looking at the pristine chisels. The blacksmith had never really thought about it before, but no matter what material he worked on, the chisels never suffered from wear. Not even when he worked on legendary materials.

Before, when the thought came up, he took it as a courtesy of the system, that crafting stations had no wear. Even when he realized and thought about how Forgebrand made them... it only really sank in now the quality-of-life perks he had were because Forgebrand spared to expense. Seth couldn't appraise the chisels as items, so there was no telling what wondrous material his predecessor used.

He used the courtesy of his predecessor to add two typical staff circuits to the tip of the wand. One for mana gathering and the other for mana compression. The latter was one Seth had learned on his quest to collect a few more enchantments from the Auction House.

The version of "Mana Gathering" he was now used was of the level of a complicated engraving befitting a master's skill. "Mana Compression" on the other hand was a very simple but robust circuit, which was why he was able to add it on top of the two other enchantments.

Its effect was nothing pompous or broken, but very sneaky. Doing exactly what the name said, it allowed the user to put more Mana into a spell without increasing its size or rather shrinking their attack to a certain extent. It didn't add to the power or the speed of the spell, but it made wielding it more comfortable and it made it harder for the enemy to estimate the power of the spell.

For the soul, Seth had run the Dragon Newt Souls he collected some time ago through the Soul Refinery. Of the roughly 300 epic-rated souls of medium size, he turned half into an epic-rated massive Dragon Newt soul with a high fire affinity and a talent for endurance and fire magic. It wasn't perfect for a regular wand, but since the toenail was of their ancestor, he was sure the soul would have a great synergy with the material.

After forging the soul into shape, came the soul enchantment. It was one he had kept on the back burner for a long while: Fires of Phlegethon. While Seth's gloves had Phlegethon's Blessing, this enchantment was mainly just borrowing the river of power to imbue attack with it.

The Sigil of Fires of Phlegethon was a flaming ring probably because it was known as the river that coils around the earth and flows into the depths of Tartarus. Soon the soul wand was covered in streams of fire, as the divine enchantment covered every nook and cranny. By inserting it into the wand, he finished another legendary item.

<Ding! You have finished a legendary item. Proficiency gained.>

<Ding! A synergy between power has changed your item.>

<Ding! A synergy between materials has changed your item.>

< Fiery Nail

Legendary

Damage: 50

Mag. Damage: 1750

Durability: 2000 (1330+670)

1. 33% Fire Affection

2.+500% Damage of Fire Magic

3. Cursed Fire of Xaphan

4. Cleansing Flames Phlegethon

5. Improved Durability

6. Mana Compression

7. +60% Mana Cost Reduction

8. Unlocks: Lava Spells: Lava Cannon, Lava Field, Lava Rain

9. Passive Skill: Maltus' Shell

10. Active Skill Maltus' Molt

11. Active Skill: Burning Heavens

A dangerous weapon hidden by the image of a petite wand. Another creation from the skilled hands of Master Smith, the first master blacksmith of Urth and empowered by Master Smith, the first master enchanter of Urth. Anybody with a bare modicum of talent as a mage will be able to accomplish great things with this wand.>

It was like the perfect opposite of the Harbinger of Winter Woes. While both were finely crafted weapons, one was a sword completely focused on physical and ice damage, while the other was a wand focused on magic and fire damage.

Appraising the wand, Seth found options even he did not expect to come out. The biggest was the one right at the top. An option that granted a flat value of Fire Affection. Seth had to max out his skill <Fire Affinity> to gain the skill <Fire Affection> which granted the stat Fire Affection. With 100% Fire Affinity as a prerequisite, it should be plain for anyone to see that this was worth a lot more.

The difference between the stats was as high as having fire affinity and having none. Fire Affinity granted a passive improvement of Fire Resistance and the costs and power of fire-related skills and spells based on the caster's familiarity with the element.

However, Fire Affection did the same and added active improvements by the element itself. The mana cost, the casting speed, cooldowns, and the mental strain were actively reduced as the power of spells would grow stronger without any cost to the caster.

Even just 0.1 % Fire Affection was worth more than 100% Fire Affinity. Simply possessing the wand flatly added 33% to the wielder's status. Not only did it empower the wielder's fire magic, Fire Affection also blocked damage and had the chance to recover power when hit by opposing fire magic.

Cursed Fire of Xaphan and <Burning Skies> were the effects of the two enchantments of Xaphan. One allowed a user to use the demon's fire once per day. It was actually a way to sacrifice something to Xaphan. Once cast it would cover the opponent in a fire that would not stop until the demon was satisfied with his offering. It was a double-edged sword since the user could never know when the demon would be satisfied.

Seth also really like the skill. It would come in very handy on big battlefields.

<Active Skill: Burning Skies No cost, 2h Cooldown,

Can only be used under an open sky.

Sets the sky above the caster a flame for 1h. Range: As far as the caster can see.

Below the burning skies, all fire-related skills are improved by 150%.>

Cleaning Flames of Phlegethon was a little different from what Seth had expected. The flames would judge the target and deal additional damage based on this judgment. The explanation was rather nebulous, so it was on Jess to explore what exactly it meant.

Improved durability had to be the talent for endurance offered by the Draconic souls. The effect improved the wand's rather low Durability by ~50% bringing it up to 2000. Mana Compression had the function of compressing the mana channeled through the wand by 65%.

This meant a fireball of 1m diameter would be less than half a meter wide by the time the spell finished. Or to say it in another way, a spell of the same size could pack 65% more power at an additional mana cost. When taking the Mana Cost Reduction into account, it was a free power-up.

These options were already enough to justify it being called legendary, but the powers of Maltus were added on top. It was quite obvious that the skills with his name came from the crystal and judging by the things the others had told him and what he knew from the appraisal, it was also the origin of the Lava Magic.

Swinging the dainty wand, a thick stream of lava ejected from the tip over a distance of almost 50m across the hangar where Cerberus was working. Here Seth also tested Lava Field and Lava Rain, creating a huge mess. It was a good thing nobody in his workshop was sensitive to high temperatures. Since none of the things Cerberus was working on got dirty, the golem ignored him, too.

It was the first time Seth managed to make an item that directly unlocked the ability to use spells, without having the skill. The Trignis Gloves didn't really count, since they were based on the work of Tored and Nädel.

As for the skills, <Maltus' Shell> allowed the blacksmith to build up a shell of lava that acted as an armor. I stacked with every time he cast Lava or Fire Magic. <Maltus' Molt> on the other hand broke this shell apart and increased his speed, fire attack damage, and added an Aura of Fire. This could work as a good escape skill for Jess, while the shell made up for her being a glass cannon.

The only thing that dampened his mood was how little proficiency he gained even with a legendary item. Even with the multiplier from the Leader Board, he had not even reached 10% proficiency

with all the items he made since he became a master.

With a sigh, he put the Fiery nail aside and leaned back in his chair. It wasn't late yet, but he decided to finish early today. Seth felt a little lonely. Fin and Mina were running dungeons with their new party members, so the blacksmith decided to invite Hoen, Wedan, and the rest of the people in the workshop to finish early, too, and accompany him to food and drinks.

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