Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

On their way out, the staff explained that it was a tradition to burn the body of a priest of the system church in the place where they died. At first, it was merely a practicality, but it had already been a tradition for millennia.

Outside the half-destroyed system church, the crowd had already built a pyre. They had piled up wooden scraps from the surrounding debris and drenched it with gasoline. On top of it was Samuel’s body, now clad in a ceremonial robe. With his hands on his chest, he held onto his staff. He looked almost peaceful, now that the blood was cleaned away and his wound could not be seen.

“It’s hard to believe...”

Mark Baker stepped beside Seth. He had known and worked a lot with Samuel when he still had a leading position in Ypselon. It didn’t quite fit in with his image of the old man, that it was actually possible for him to die.

“You are right, it is hard to believe,” Seth agreed solemnly.

He had not interacted a lot with Samuel since he left the district, but he had a good opinion of the man since they made the deal to sell items in Y-City. It was hard to think that someone who had such an integral NPC feeling like Samuel or Simon, would actually be able to die. But it just showed that reality did not spare the mob characters.

As horrible as it may have been, Seth was glad it was not any of his friends. He felt confirmed in his decision to make everyone in Minas Mar as imbalanced and powerful as possible. There was always someone stronger, and Seth wanted to make sure that person would always be someone from Minas Mar.

Thoughts like this occupied his mind, as he watched one of the priests approach with a magical torch. He stepped toward the pyre to set it aflame. Despite it being set up in a short time, everything had a solemn atmosphere to it.

With a heavy heart, the blacksmith saw the flame climb the Pyre when suddenly-

<Ding! You have been given a new quest.>

< Quest: Saint Creation

Difficulty: Class Quest

You have encountered the death of a head priest Samuel. Watching as the flames swallow his pyre a divine task has been given to you.

Use your mysterious skills and the blessing of the System God to revive Samuel as a new Saint of the System Church.

Requirements:

-Recover Samuel's Body before it is burned on the pyre.

-Repair Samuel's Fragmented Soul

-Revive Samuel using your mysterious means

Rewards:

-Mark of the System God

-You gain Power of Existence 5% easier across the multiverse.

- Additional Rewards depending on the resulting quality of the Saint

Punishment in case of Failure: It will be 15% harder to gain Power of Existence across the Multiverse.>

<The quest “Saint Creation” cannot be refused.>

<You have received the Blessing of the System God.>

< 5 bars of Divine Arpegium have been deposited in your inventory.>

<Samuel's Fragmented Soul has been deposited in your Soul Space>

“What the fuck?” he exclaimed loudly, breaking the solemn atmosphere of the funeral. He was supposed to ruin the funeral and steal Samuel's body to further use it as material and revive him as a creation of his?

Seth actually felt a moral conflict in doing this to a person he knew, after all this kind of revival was NOT a resurrection. Despite the result resembling the original person, there were always things that were lost and broken when a person died.

Missing memories and skills were the smallest thing that could go wrong. The person revived could have a complete shift in personality because specific traits and memories were simply gone, or because of the trauma a soul passively suffered when the body died.

The blacksmith obviously never cared about this when it came to souls he didn't know when they were alive, or didn't care about when they were alive, but doing this to a friend or acquaintance... And Samuel's soul was fragmented to make matters worse...

But he couldn't even refuse the quest, not to mention that he would even get punished if he didn't! He was still struggling to make a decision when it was taken from him, as a bunch of priests jumped forward, just a moment after his exclamation.

They hurriedly doused the fire and tried to bring Samuel's body to safety.

“What is going on?” many of the normal staff and the attending refugees exclaimed in confusion.

“It's a divine revelation! The System God told us to recover Samuel's body, so his agent could grant him the chance to return as a Saint!” one of them exclaimed.

Seth cringed involuntarily. He wasn't even given the chance to use the embarrassment of breaking apart the funeral to not do the quest. “Recover Samuel's Body before it is burned on the pyre.” was ticked off on his quest window, without him even making a move. As if the quest wasn't bad enough, now he was even using the expectations of his people to force Seth into a position where he could hardly refuse.

What even was this situation? A crowd of various ages were holding a limp dead body and looking up at him, with puppy eyes! And he had already been given the materials...

“Please, Agent of the System, please help Father Samuel to return!” One or two of them even went as far as to beg him.

Finally, Seth had to come to terms with his quest and unwillingly take on the body of Samuel, the priests pushed onto him. The funeral had taken a weird turn, with Samuel finding his way into his inventory instead of his grave...

“I want to go home already...” Seth moaned as he hid with the others in a room in the system church. Things had turned really uncomfortable since he had gotten the quest. Despite the system church usually does not seem like a religious bunch, there were a bunch of them who could be called fanatics...

“Me too, I just want to get to my room and lay in my bed...” Lyxiss whined in agreement

“I heard the church sent people to look for the spatial lock, but it could take a while. Maybe we should just travel to Tree Station 10 for now. We could teleport from there,” Mina suggested.

The crux of their problem was that, although the Scene was defeated, their method of locking space was unknown and still active. They couldn't simply teleport themselves, or the survivors out of Y-City.

“That's a good idea. Let's stay a night and then return to the tree station,” Seth agreed calmly.

And that they did. Nothing terrible or untoward happened. No sudden reverse of the situation and the rise of the “actual” demon king. Seth, Mina, Fin, and the others spend the rest of the day and the night in Y-City.

The next day, before they wanted to leave, they talked one last time with Mark Baker. It seemed that the man was back in the saddle. Despite looking like he was close to dying of starvation, he seemed motivated to take care of the people left of Y-City.

“ Since you are up to it, I will ask Mary to contact you. I'm sure we can help you with some stuff,” the blacksmith gave an empty promise. Personally, Seth just wanted to get home and take a vacation. The he had not noticed over the past weeks had caught up with him when things were finally over.

Maybe it was irresponsible to just run away like this, but Seth just wanted to let go and relax. The place where he could do that was only Minas Mar. There was no telling what catastrophe could happen anywhere on Urth, but only at home, he was confident to be safe, no matter what happened.

“Let's go home,” Mina said.

“Yeah, let's go.”

“Finally home!” Fin cheered as they boarded Puffles and quickly left Y-City behind.

---Status in full armor---

Name: Seth Smith

Mark of Ivice

Pledge of Solace

Mark of Mussa'Practish

Mark of the System God

Traits: Olympian Myths, Kin of Fire, Blood of the Inventor, Call of the Maestro, Muscle Armor, Hand of the Technician

Blessing: Hades, Hephaestus, Seth

Title: "Faster than the Thought"

Level: 100

Exp: 0%

Race: Ori Huma

Sex: Male

Age:25

Class: Spirit Blacksmith (Unique)/ Infernal Scald (Unique)

Path: Legendary Forger

Affiliation: System Church, Minas Mar

Health: 1000/1000

Mana: (31160+14000)

Strength:881 (429+410+42)

Dexterity:665(408+225+32)

Agility: 1008 (300 +660+48)

Intelligence: 818(304 +475+39)

Willpower:1112 (384+675+53)

Endurance:743 (318+390+35)

Personality: 364 (157+190+17)

Luck: 218 (143+65+10)

Free AP (Attribute points): 0

Universal AP:8

Free SP (Skill points): 0

Defense:

Physical: 23408 (12455(Base)+ 3150(AVG)+7803(STYX))

Magical: 24689 (15019/Base) + 3670(AVG)+6000(AVG) )

Fire Immunity

100% Weapon Damage Negation

80% Damage Negation

Earth Resistance(65%) (+50% Earth Attribute Negation)

Light Resistance(55%) (immune in full set)

Wind Resistance (15%)

Water Resistance (13%)

Poison Resistance(85%)

Frost Resistance(10%)

Resistance to Mental attacks (130%)

105 % Resistance to Diseases

Resistance to Decay: 40%

Resistance to Death Attribute: 20%

Curse resistance 65%

---Skill Window---

Blacksmith (Master) lv.1

Enchantment(Master) lv.1

Goldsmith(Master) lv.1

Eyes of the Maestro lv.8

Blueprint (Master) lv.6

Advanced Reinforce(Master) lv.5

Energy Circulation (3) lv.1

Crafty Failsafe lv.7

Superior Mining lv.5

Mineral Detection lv.5

Sewing(Adept)lv.1 (35%)

Carpentry(Craftsman) lv.2

Alchemy (Adept) lv.1

Engineer(passive) lv.6

Composer of Fusion (passive) lv.3

Soul Trade lv.4

Soul Infusion lv.8

Spirit Smithy lv.9

Spirit Capture lv.9

Spirit Forging(Master) lv.9

Golem Artisan lv.8

Permit of Hades lv. 1

Orpheus Voice (Passive) lv.8

Channeling (Passive) lv.9

Voice of Seth lv.8

Rune Mastery lv.8

Singing(Craftsman) Lv. 3

Song Writing(Adept) lv.7

Poetry(Apprentice) lv.6

Instrument Mastery(Journeyman) lv.6

Instrument Maker (Craftsman) lv.2

Weapon Mastery (Master) lv.1

Gait of the Lame lv.1

Calm Reaction (Passive) lv.MAX

Fear Resistance (Passive) lv.9

Poison Resistance(Passive)lv.4

Pain Resistance (Passive)lv.1

Earth Magic(Adept) lv.4

Earth Affinity(Passive) lv.6

Pyrokinesis(Ability)lv.MAX

Map lv.5

Observation lv.6

Concealment lv.7

Universal Translation lv.MAX

Demon Language(Mother tongue)lv. 5

Compulsive Precognition(ability)

Lifestyle magic lv.MAX

Master of all Trades(max)(passive)

Flexing (max)

Thrust(max)(passive)

Unfaltering (max)(passive)

Hot Gates (max)(passive)

Acolyte (passive)

Active Skill: Counter Charge

Conjuration (Ability)