Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1331: Nädelʼs Work

---Minas Mar, Workshop, 3 days later---

“Yes, if we shape it like this and have it overlap here and here, we should be able to strike the perfect balance between range of movement and flow of energy,” Tored, the dwarven master, explained while gesturing around over their blueprints.

The masters of Minas Mar were still discussing the optimal armor set to be made from the Sky Dragon materials, but the discussion was slowly reaching a conclusion. A knock on the door interrupted their heated conversation. Seth looked up from the blueprints that had all been bent over and went to see who was there.

“Nädel?” Seth asked, surprised, seeing the old tailor standing at the door. The blacksmith had given this old friend the refined hide of the shadow leopard, or what was left of it after Ceres threw it into the volcano. He had not expected to see the tailor this soon.

“Oh, good, itʼs you. This might have gotten a little awkward if it were someone else,” Nädel said with a tired yet happy smile. After a moment, it dawned on Seth. Could it be? Had Nädel already-

“Itʼs finished,” the tailor nodded and whispered, smiling.

“This quickly?” Seth asked incredulously. No wonder he looked so tired. It had not even been a week since Seth made sure Nädel had all the materials needed. He must have worked day and night on Minaʼs new equipment, and that at his age.

“Did it help? Were you able to-” Seth tried to ask for the outcome, but Nädel stopped him from talking with a humble nod. “I want you to see it for yourself,” he interrupted. “Do you have time?” he added the question, despite knowing that the other masters had assembled to work on the plans for the dragon set.

The blacksmith looked back in the workshop, where the others were still agitatedly discussing, even without him. “I guess I have some time,” he mumbled and followed the chuckling Nädel. The two walked over to the tailor workshops, where they sneakily entered Nädelʼs personal workshop.

“...Wow.” Sethʼs breath stopped for a moment when he saw the tailorʼs master piece. Seth had given Nädel the “Black Bird Armor” as a sort of template, as it was a style of armor Mina had taken a great liking to. In essence, it was a full set of light leather armor, a hooded cloak, and a face mask to completely hide the wearerʼs identity.
Although the armor had not been of the best quality, it had already looked great on the armor stand at the shop, however, Nädelʼs work was nothing like that. Nädelʼs work was way better, it was a Magnum Opus! Although the blacksmith had though of this possibility jokingly, but he never really expected for the old tailor to pull it off.

Seth didnʼt even need his to recognize the incredible quality of this piece. Despite just being draped over a tailorʼs dummy, the flowing design and materials like materialized shadow made it look alive, like a stalking predator in the night.

At first glance, he was able to tell that everything was perfectly tailored to Mina. For a moment, he had almost thought that it was her posing in her new armor. This was not just some legendary armor, but tailor-made equipment. It wasnʼt just the holes for her cat ears in the hood, or the gap for her tail in the back.

The black velvet-like leather was tightly embracing the Judy, which had been adjusted so scarily close to Minaʼs measurements, that Seth got suspicious how Nädel did it. Seth was her fiancé, and he may have very well known her body better than she herself, yet he was almost fooled into her standing in the room when he entered.

“My part is finished, but it still needs enchantments. I hoped you could maybe ask Lady AlʼZalsar to give it her blessing, or lend Rùn to me for a few days,” the tailor shared with him, while Seth was still captivated by the items.

“So you finally did it..” Seth mumbled when he finally appraised the set and read the flavor text. The tailor simply smiled, satisfied.

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Nädel had used the hide to create the Shadow Stalker Set, an armor made up of seven set items and with every piece he looked at, he realized how close the powers of the leopard and Minaʼs were. The armor really perfectly augmented the shadow assassin/shadow magician.

Even though the armor was still missing enchantments or a soul, each piece started off with at least four effects, although they slightly differed depending on the item. Three of them were shared among the items, while one depended on the piece of equipment.

For example, the cuirass, the central piece, carried the individual effect called Shadow Hide, which was able to negate all attacks below a certain threshold by diverting them through the shadows. The gloves, on the other hand, offered the wearer the active skill .

allowed the user to actively draw power from the shadows, but that was not the main purpose. It allowed draining mana and stamina from targets that were connected to the user through shadows.

This was an extremely useful spell, especially for Mina, whose favorite strategy was to create a field of Darkness to trap her opponents. Now she would he able to supplement her mana consumption by draining targets within her domain.

Although each individual skill was quite impressive, the shared ones were nothing to scoff at. Of the shared effects, the first two improved the power of shadow attacks one way or the other, but the fourth was special.

The fourth was an effect created by the skills of Nädel as a tailor, similar to the effect of cloth being able to raise its defense by 50% when supplied with mana. held true to what it sounded.

Thanks to the excellent skills and technique of the creator, all incoming attacks are dispersed across the item, lowering the overall incoming damage. The more connected pieces with are worn, the more damage can be dispersed.>

This could have both positive and negative outcomes. Dispersing incoming damage meant putting strain on the items and increasing the pressure across the wearerʼs whole body. If the damage became to great, it could crush the wearer to a pulp, on the other hand, such an attack would be lethal no matter what.

Damage Dispersion was a great match with Shadow Hide, as it meant that most attacks would be negated, as they would be too weak to overcome the effect after being dispersed. It was a great combination.

Although each item already started off with four effects, the true star of the show was the set effects that the armor could grant. This was where the true power behind the Leopardʼs hide was hidden.

Legendary Shadow Stalker Set 1/7

Legendary

Phys. Defense:2100

Mag. Defense: 2350

Durability: 4500

1. +75% Affinity with Darkness

2. +150% Power of Shadow-related Skills and Spells

3. Shadow Hide

4. Damage Dispersion

Set Effect 3/7:

+100% Power in Darkness

30% Affection with Darkness

Set Effect 5/7:

+200% Power in Darkness

50% Affection with Darkness

Active Skill: Shadow Clones

Set Effect 7/7:

Minor Speed of Arachne

+300% Power in Darkness

70% Affection with Darkness

Trait: Shadow Body

The central piece of Master Fädliʼs Magnum Opus. A cuirass fashioned from the hide of a legendary predator. A phenomenal piece of equipment for any practitioner of the dark arts, which will truly blossom in conjunction with the rest of the set.>

Starting with three pieces, the Set effects started increasing the overall power of the user in darkness, but most importantly, directly granted Affection, the higher version of Affinity. This not only meant that stark reduction in mana cost for related skills, but also the ability to draw power from the respective element.

As the number of set items increased, the armor granted two skills and one ability. was pretty self-explanatory based on its name. The skill allowed the creation of doubles, with up to 50% of the originalʼs power.

The trait “Shadow Body” had two effects. First, it lowered almost all elemental damage by 65%, except light. In exchange for lowering all other damage by more than half, it increased damage from Light Elemental attacks by the same 65%. In Sethʼs opinion, this was a great deal, especially if Mina simply wore another item that could protect against light elemental damage.

What made the trait the peak power of the armor was that it also granted the max lv. of , the ability to shape shadows using oneʼs Mental Power. It was in the same vein as , a precursor to Sethʼs .

Nädel had even managed to manifest the power of the Arachne thread when all items were worn. Minor Arachne Speed increased Dexterity by 50, Attack Speed by 20%, and increased Attack Speed Multiplier by 10%.

“I will lend Rùn to you...” He would have asked AlʼZalsar, but she was nowhere to be found. They were about to finish the design of the Sky Dragon Armor, so Rùn would be free. He was looking forward to it.

All this, and it had yet to be enchanted or receive a soul. The potential was ...smashing.