Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

<Quest: The Last Stretch

Congratulation, Player! You have reached lv.95. Now, only a small step is separating you from transcending mortal confines and entering the Path of Legends.

All system restrictions on spoilers are lifted.

You have met the conditions to transcend, as such you receive this quest and the opportunity to prepare for the future. You can now view the list of domains you have unlocked.

As a special right, you are given the opportunity to use your current skill set and create a unique class as your legacy for other players.

Starting at lv.100 you will begin your journey to become a legend. And the system will cease all active assistance.

With best regards, The System God.

Quest Goal: Reach lv.100 and choose your path

Quest Reward: Item Slots, System Upgrade

You cannot refuse this quest.>

Seth stared at the quest window for a long time, while Puffles was massacring the smelly army that filled the wide cavern. The window didn't really tell him anything new. It mostly confirmed what he expected.

There was a new stage past lv.100 and it had to do with becoming a legend. The problem was that the quest description didn't really reveal anything about how it worked. How was he going to "transcend mortal confines"?

Was there a special meaning behind creating a unique class he wouldn't be able to use? And what did it mean when the system ceased all active assistance? Since the reward was item slots and system upgrades, it wouldn't mean that he lost the system rights and status windows he had, right?

On one hand, Seth was interested in what was about to come, on the other he was very frustrated with the current lack of information. Now Seth understood why Leana and Bement had offered him to explain. Even the system told him to prepare, although it didn't tell him how he was supposed to prepare. At least all spoiler restrictions were lifted, now Leana would be able to answer all his questions.

"Oh, right. It mentioned that." he thought, seeing another window button in his status menu called "Domains". He had been so stuck in his thoughts that he forgot that the quest mentioned that, too. Maybe this could tell him what domains were.

Opening the window, he found it showed a neat list of several different titles, some being able to expand with an explanation, others being grayed out and inaccessible. The three at the top of the list that were not grayed out were:

Legendary Blacksmith

Legendary Goldsmith

Architect of Life

The rest of the list was filled with options that were grayed out like:

Legendary Enchanter

Calamity of Fire

Legendary Craftsman

Forger of Legends

Rhyme Caster

Wordsmith

...

Surrounded by explosions of light, heat, and rotten meat, Seth started clicking through the option to maybe find out why so many were shown but grayed out.

<Legendary Blacksmith

All items made using the <Blacksmith> skill will gain a basic bonus based on the level of existence. Relic-rated items will automatically upgrade after completion.

Relic-rated items have a chance to upgrade to legendary before attaining the status of a legend. The chance increases with the level of existence. The domain allows the bearer to use the Power of Existence to artificially improve aspects of the items one made. Can be used to upgrade the rating of items one made.

The improvement will give a bonus to basic stats(Attack, Defense, Durability) and enchantments can be strengthened using the Power of Existence.

Achievements needed to unlock:

1. Blacksmith Master

2. The creation of a legendary item using the <Blacksmith> skill >

Seth had no idea was Level of Existence and Power of Existence were supposed to be, but the Legendary Goldsmith showed exactly the same options as the Legendary Blacksmith, but based on the <Goldsmith> skill. The last of the three was a little different.

<Architect of Life

All your creations such as Golems, Automatons, or artificial Lifeforms receive a bonus to their basic stats. Any creation close to becoming a legend upon creation has a chance to be born as a legend. The chance increases with the Level of Existence. 90% after becoming a legend.

The domain allows the bearer to use Existential Power to further improve specific skills or traits of a creation.

Achievements needed to unlock:

Title: Creator

A creation with the potential to become a Legend>

All three of them had in common that he seemingly achieved the prerequisites to attain them. The logical conclusion was that the ones shown, but grayed out were only partially unlocked. This explained why there were so many. Unfortunately, Seth couldn't see what exactly he was missing to unlock them, he could only guess at best.

For example, the reason why he couldn't choose to be a legendary Enchanter. He bet it was the same as for the other two, to have mastered the skill and created a legendary item with enchantment. The last point was the important one.

Seth had always sued the skill to learn and use enchantments, but the focus of an enchanter as a class was the creation of enchantments. He guessed that one needed to either create a legendary enchantment or create a legendary item only using the enchantment.

This was something he, as a blacksmith, couldn't manage to do. So far most of his legendary items relied on the materials used, which was legit for a blacksmith. But for enchantment, it would need to be legendary, independently from the material used. At least, this was his guess.

In a similar way, he guessed that all the musically based were not unlocked because he was not a master singer, nor was he a master in <Instrument Mastery>. On the other hand, he had a bunch of Titles that had to do with music and could explain why these options appeared.

In some way or the other, the grayed-out options were lacking something to be unlocked. But Seth couldn't check what they were actually lacking, since he couldn't expand those options. Was this maybe what the system meant by preparing?

Maybe there was a way to find out what he was lacking and the system informed him, that he still had the chance to find out and maybe unlock a path he liked better? Because, if he was honest, the current titles were too restrictive for his taste.

On that note, some of them had quite generic names, like just the class with legendary glued in front of it. Maybe these were basic options? If anyone with the achievements could unlock these paths, maybe this was what Leana wanted to talk with him? If these paths were not unique, but fixed routes, Chrona might have information about the paths and achievements needed to unlock!

~I'm done here.~ Puffles informed him proudly.

Seth looked up from his Domain Window to face a field of slaughter. The whole cavern was drenched in rotten blood, ashed and burned bodies all mixing into a disgusting sludge. While he was preoccupied with his own business, the Ivicer and shown no mercy.

As if reading his thoughts, Puffles started posing, presenting himself squeaky clean. With all the disgusting stuff littering the cave floor, the Ivicer had not gotten hit by even a drop of blood. Not to mention that there wasn't a single scratch on his carapace.

<Puffles, the Mighty lv.168>

Looking at Puffles like this, Seth's mouth fell wide open when he used <Theia's Discerning Eyes> and was finally able to see his pet's level. His little, arrogant, baby Ivicer was already closing in on the level Al'Zalsar was when Seth first met her when she was still a Lich.

No wonder he had no problem wiping the floor with that army of undead here. Although Seth was relatively disillusioned when faced with his own options to become a legend and came to believe that the level of a legend was not necessarily equivalent to the individual fighting strength, he didn't doubt for a second that it was the case for individuals like Puffles or Al.

There was no doubt that there were paths that would lead to huge improvements in fighting power. Looking at his own list, something like Calamity of Fire sounded like he could become a menace on a continental level if he stepped on that path.

Architect of Life also had some mean potential, taking into account that it would add to what he was already capable of. What wasn't to Seth's taste about this path, was that he technically became a mob spawner.

There was nothing wrong about being a mob spawner, it could be really powerful. In fact, he already was one. However, if he took the next great step, the blacksmith felt that he would have wanted a path that allowed him to further his own passion.

Even though he had only become a blacksmith for the past three years, his passion for making things was actually burning brightly. Something like Legendary Craftsman, which sounded like it could improve everything he already had sounded more enticing to him. It also reminded him of Hephaestus, who was mainly the god of blacksmiths, but also the god of all craftsmen.

~Seth? Are you alright? Should we rest?~ Puffles said in a surprising moment of care.

~Mom?~

Seeing Puffles' level had thrown Seth back into a stream of thoughts, worrying his companions.

"Oh, no, everything's alright. I just got a quest that made me think about a lot of stuff," he calmed them.

~Let's rest and talk about it.~ Puffles said after a moment. The group walked back into the tunnel, where the stench of the battlefield wasn't so struck, and set up their camp to eat and talk.