Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

It was a bright day and they could see the sea off in the distance from the terminal of the airport. The ship had arrived this morning and was now ready for departure. Seth wore his fresh traveling clothes and a sparkling clean Fin sat flew around him with a haughty look on her face.

They were about to board the airship as VIP with their ticket to a noble cabin! Even the small Ivicer was excited about flying in the sky. The airship really looked like a zeppelin, but only in form.

The lower half was made of wood and metal while the upper half looked like a glass dome made of steel a glass. When they boarded Seth found out that this was wrong! It was not glass; it was a barrier with several segments. One of the segments opened for them to enter.

The deck of the ship was a wide, open space with all kinds of recreational activities, a restaurant, and a café. There was even a pool! It was like a cruise. The cabins were below deck; their VIP cabin was quite big and lavishly decorated. It was in no way inferior to their hotel room in Oriekot.

Also below deck was a casino and a big dining hall with a stage where music was played during the meal times and parties in the evenings. They could also order food to be brought to their cabin!

This cruise would follow the coastline of the Namia continent and had no stops until they left the desert and the mountain range behind them. Past the mountain, it would turn inland. The biome east of the mountain range was a moderate climate with mixed forests. Most of the rich countries and bigger cities of this continent were located here and the cruise would have many more stops. One of these Stops would be Ora, where they would leave the ship.

This journey meant to be trapped for several weeks on a flying ship with nothing to do but to grind, eat and laze around. It was heaven! Knowing they were among other rich people made the other passengers a lot more friendly and Seth got along well with all the nobles and wealthy merchants. It took a few days of lazing around at the pool, eating good food, and winning some money in the casino to recharge Seth's batteries.

He finally had the motivation to start grinding for real. The items he had bought in Oriekot had long been scanned and just waited to be tested. The smithy was summoned, his mind ready and just as he wanted to start, he heard a happy twitter in his mind. It was the baby Ivicer! The fluffy cocoon had also enjoyed the last few days on the airship. It loved looking down on the desert and enjoying the sun this high up in the sky. They had almost forgotten, that the cocoon was actual still something like an unborn baby!

Now was the moment the little one wanted to hatch! Excitedly Seth ran up to the deck to get Fin who lazing around on the side of the pool on a deckchair and was leisurely eating a sundae!

"it′s happening!"

"what? Weren′t you about start forging?"

"The little Ivicer is about to hatch! Come if you want to watch!"

With that, the two sprinted back to their cabin where the golden cocoon was silently lying on the bed.

~Can I start now? ~ it asked the two via telepathy. It's the ability to talk through the mind had become a lot stronger recently. Their relationship had also seen solid growth and they had become good friends.

They heard the sound of something nibbling and saw a small bulge on the golden cocoon. Bite by bite the small hole in the cocoon opened and started growing.

Seth′s and the fairy′s eyes started sparkling as the Ivicer slowly revealed its appearance to the world. How could something that would become and fearsome creature like Cerno Bolk be this cute as a baby!?

Kyuu~

~ Bow to my might for I have blessed you with my presence! ~

What left the cocoon was a snow-white caterpillar with a round golden head and 3 pairs of big sky-blue eyes! It was about the length of Seth′s forearm. Its fluffy, puffy, chubby, and soft body completely lacked any resemblance to an adult Ivicer that gave one the impression of sharp ceramics!

Kyuuu~!

~ S-Stop looking at me like this! It′s creepy! ~

The whined being stared down by the other two. "Fin first!", she suddenly screamed and jumped at the new-born caterpillar that was still several times bigger than her, giving it a full-body hug!

"No fair!", he said a pulled both of them into his hug. The little Ivicer was too flustered to react, as Seth enjoyed hugging its soft and fluffy body.

Kyu-Kyuu~

~ Stop! Get away from the great me! I′m not a tooy! ~

They spend some time having fun with the new member of their party until it stopped acting haughty with them. The next thing that happened was that Fin used the moment when Seth was careless and kidnapped the caterpillar; running off to the pool with it. Seth didn′t follow them. He had planned to do something before this, so he used this chance to do it.

The very first thing he wanted to was to finally craft was <Charon′s Obol>! But! He could not. The hammer had no fixed material. It was a growth item, but it would start out with the rating of the material it was made of! Seth was so close to the rank up in <Blacksmith>. He was sure he could make <Charon′s Obol> from <Dark Steel> as long as he reached <Blacksmith (Adept)>!

And that was the reason why he started off by making polearms! Why polearms? He would gain lots of experience for less work, that's why. He had not made any polearms before because he had lacked the wood. Now he had 3 stacks in his inventory. Almost 300 ready-made shafts for polearms bought in Zhiqe. Although the wood was common, the <High-quality Steel> would be more than enough to make the results uncommon!

Different kinds of Spears, Halberds, Glaives, War hammers, but the one he liked the most of was the poleaxe. It had a spike, a hammer, and an ax blade. It also gave heaps of experience.

They were all part of the basic blueprints he had been given at the start and he followed the same pattern as before. Every time when he started making a new weapon, he would make one or two prototypes with the help of <Blueprint> and then go over to make a whole lot in free creation. The experience he gained on <Blacksmith (Apprentice) lv.9> for the uncommon weapons he had never made before ranged between 0,5-1%!

Seth spent the next two weeks making all kinds of polearms. He would work all day, except when he went to eat, sleep or have fun with Fin and the little Ivicer. In the end, he had made a little over 150 weapons before finally!

<Ding! Skill: Blacksmith (Apprentice) lv.9 has become Blacksmith (Apprentice) lv.10!>

<Ding! Skill: Blacksmith (Apprentice) lv.10 has become Blacksmith (Adept) lv.1>

Seth felt relieved. The past two weeks had actually been quite relaxed, but Seth was still happy!

He immediately pulled out a bar of <Dark Steel> and put it in the forge. THIS had been the whole reason for the last two weeks. He pulled the glowing hot metal from the forge and put it on the anvil. He swung his hammer and- nothing. The hammer smoothly hit the metal and made a dent into a malleable material! No message that his skill was too low! It had worked!

Now he could finally work with rare material and make <Charon′s Obol> from <Dark Steel>. He had already used the Dimmer Salts to turn the 3 black iron ores into dark steel ingots. His fire manipulation had actually leveled up to lv.9 from this.

It was late today, so he would make the hammer tomorrow. Seth stepped out on the deck and the cool evening air blew through his sweaty clothes. No matter how often he saw it, the scenery was really breathtaking.

The airship was currently nearing the mountain range and the landscape below then had turned from a pure sand desert into a rock desert with many interesting rock formations that threw long and bizarre shadows in the red light of the sunset. And above then on a purplish-blue sky, the stars and moons slowly came into view. He found Fin and the little Ivicer sitting in the café on the deck drinking hot cocoa and sat down at their table.

"Seth! Are you finally done?", Fin asked joyfully.

"Pff, done? My skill finally ranked up. It′s only the start now!", he laughed and ordered hot cocoa, too. They talked until late into the night. The caterpillar had lots of interesting stories to tell!

Seth on the other hand had fun telling the two about TV-shows and game plots as if they were fairy tales.. In moments like these Seth got doubts about ever returning home.