Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 800. The Last Stretch

Seth stared at the quest window for a long time, while Puffles was massacring the smelly army that filled the wide cavern. The window didnʼt 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 didnʼt 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 wouldnʼt 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 wouldnʼt 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 didnʼt 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.

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 skill. The last of the three was a little different.

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 couldnʼt see what exactly he was missing to unlock them, he could only guess at best.

For example, the reason why he couldnʼt 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, couldnʼt 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 . 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 couldnʼt check what they were actually lacking, since he couldnʼt 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!

~Iʼm 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 wasnʼt a single scratch on his carapace.

Looking at Puffles like this, Sethʼs mouth fell wide open when he used and was finally able to see his petʼs level. His little, arrogant, baby Ivicer was already closing in on the level AlʼZalsar 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 didnʼt 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 wasnʼt to Sethʼs 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 Pufflesʼ level had thrown Seth back into a stream of thoughts, worrying his companions.

”Oh, no, everythingʼs alright. I just got a quest that made me think about a lot of stuff,” he calmed them.

~Letʼs rest and talk about it.~ Puffles said after a moment. The group walked back into the tunnel, where the stench of the battlefield wasnʼt so struck, and set up their camp to eat and talk.