Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth had abused all the skill he could muster to create a saint for the System God. Samuel's body which had turned into a hardened puppet body was now adorned with various modifications made of the leftover <Divine Arpegium>

He was taking a break and eating his lunch when he heard the benign ding of the Soul Refinery telling him that the last batch of refined soul parts was ready. Seth had added this function to the refinery and the Golem Forge with the help of Sivri.

The old familiar violent shrieking sound of a microwave beeping gave him a little comfort and reminded him of home. Of course, they had a microwave in their quarters, but with Link and his new teams of chefs constantly working on making high-quality meals from the materials the Oathguard and field teams collected, he did not often get the chance to warm up some good old junk food.

This was why he enjoyed the convenience of having the automatic crafting stations tell him when they were done in a special way. Following the unnerving beeping, Seth came over to the Soul Refinery, which returned his several refined soul parts.

Memories, Abilities, Traits, and some other parts Seth could not identify. Before the apocalypse, he was a normal dude, not a scientist or researcher. He could only compare his fumbling around with parts of the soul, with brain research.

He had some guesses and knew what some of the parts did. He also knew that one needed all the parts that were needed to make a soul at least work correctly. Whether it would function well and be healthy was a different question.

However, like in brain research there were always things he could only speculate about. The topic was simply too complex to know and find out everything about it over the course of barely a year since he started trying to fumble his way through this discipline.

The blacksmith was able to create a soul from the fragments, but it was unlikely it would be like Simon had been. This was the biggest reason; Seth rather protected the lives of everyone he held dear instead of thinking “I can just revive them later!”

Because he couldn’t. He knew it all too well, that he couldn’t. The thing he would create might resemble them, it might even be hard to find the difference, but ultimately it would be different from them. And what was the point of resurrection, if you only got some well-made copy or clone?

Except for divine intervention, like the revival at an Adventurer Guild, or the resurrection spell of priests that had to be cast in a timely manner to work, there was no true resurrection. Even those came at a cost. Most resurrections within the system cost experience, but other spells and means could lead to the loss of attribute points, memories, or even skills.

Thoughts like this always came to his mind, when he started working on the inner machinations of souls. It had not happened often, at all. But these thoughts always came to his mind when the occasion arose.

Relying on the fundamental power of Charon’s Obol to work any material and the energy flow associated with it, Seth started to forge the soul parts and weld them together to the best of his abilities.

After the refinement, the parts had become a lot more cohesive and easier to forge, but it became clear that the resulting soul would be of a high level, based on the difficulty he had working with the parts.

He didn’t know what Samuel’s soul would have originally been like, but it was likely that the soul he was currently forging would be of higher quality. Not just because of the blacksmith’s work, but also because of the state of the soul when it was handed to him.

As a priest, Samuel's soul was originally already steeped in the power of the system god’s blessing. What Seth received back then was closer to a pile of soul fragments, suspended and held together by a bubble of divine power,

In addition to the original blessing, this power was also further integrated into the soul parts during the refining process. Seth avoided calling it Samuel’s soul, but the result would definitely be a saint’s soul, filled with the god’s divine power and providence.

By the time Seth finished, the soul could be said to mirror the body. Most of the parts were what was left of Samuel, but it was all held together and strengthened by the power of the system god. Now that Seth had finished the two parts, he was able to infuse the soul into the vessel and bind them together with the Waters of Styx.

With a besouled vessel without an ego, it was time for the next step, but that one had to wait for another day. Seth was tired and it was late so Seth went to look for Fin and Mina.

"Hey Seth, do you have a moment?" someone called out to him in the hallways. Turning around the Blacksmith found Evan was approaching him. He had not seen the tamer in the last two weeks, he also had not really looked for him.

"...Sure, what can I help you with?" he asked. Since Evan suddenly approached, maybe it was important.

"Can you use these for something?" he asked, holding up several shards of crystalline eggshells.

"My first new generation of dungeon worms hatched this morning. Their rating rose thanks to your items, to the point that these shells seem to be relic-rated," he explained as he handed him the crystals.

Seth remembered, that previously the shells he got from the dungeon worms were "only" epic-rated which was why he handed them to the other blacksmiths to practice with. Relic-rated crystals however were a different thing.

"Thanks, Evan. How are the dungeon worms faring?"

"They are pretty healthy, but the space is a little small. Their nature is to dig tunnels."

"I think you should talk with Mary about this. There might be a project perfect for your needs," Seth suggested, thinking of using the worms for infrastructure.

He said his farewell to Evan and used teleport to arrive at his quarters, to avoid other encounters.

"Mina, Fin, are you in?" "Over here, come join us."

He found the two, wearing sloppy pajamas, playing games on the console and quickly joined them. This had become part of their routine over the past two weeks of lazing around. They gamed until the night before they changed activities to something even more fun.

...

For the next step, Seth had to leave Minas Mar, since he intended to give it his all. This meant Using the Devil’s Wheel Fiddle. Since he didn’t want to bring down his own home, he was returning to the valley where he had tested the fiddle for the first time.

The last part needed the least preparation but was arguably the most volatile. Singing a being into existence came with a lot of variables. It was easiest when the soul had an ego, which this one didn’t. Despite having his tried-and-true method, from creating over 400 Faer, things changed if the parameters changed.

He planned to use the Devil’s Wheel Fiddle, on a soul without an ego, while providing a body as a frame. The process was closer to how he created Asterion than the Faer, and he only did one Asterion.

Copying the procedure from back then Seth first brought the soul into shape to mirror the saint's body he created, before inserting it and binding it to the body. There was no golem ego inside the body or the soul, Seth intended to try and induce the soul to develop an ego using the same magic that would allow it to design its body.

Another part of which he didn’t know whether it would work, but it was the only option he could live with. He didn’t want to imprint some AI onto the soul, possibly suppressing or further distorting what was left of Samuel.

He trusted the Soul Refinery and his work and counted on the soul being able to develop an ego, given the right environment or incentives. Then he laid down the new formation he and Oz came up with, to not just use the soul’s preferences to modify the body, but to also encourage it to develop an ego.

He found a relatively flat piece of rock and carved the formation into its surface using the concentrated spirit flame he sometimes used for welding. With the formation finished as channels of smooth grooves, he was ready for the concert.

Solemly, Seth asked the world:

"From my heart and from my hand~ Why don't people understand- my intentions?"

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