Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth brought the explosive beauty and the sanguine blade wielder to the church where he handed them over to Samuel who took care of the paperwork.

In the meantime, Seth went to collect his party members for a welcome party. It was easy to find Tekar. He was sitting with his daughter together in their room and played Tea party with her. An over 2-meter-tall muscle man holding a tiny teacup was a surreal scene to behold.

"Hello Ruby, Tekar, I brought new friends. Would you join me in a welcome party in the cafeteria?"

The big tank stopped pretending to drink tea in surprise when the little girl jumped up a cheered.

"A real party? Yay!"

And she was gone from the room, on her way to the kitchen.

"I guess, that is a yes." with that Seth also left the room.

The next stop was the witch's kitchen. Originally it was an alchemy room of the church. Everything changed when the two females started locking themself into the room and spending all day long making mysterious experiments.

Sometimes weirdly colored fogs and fumes would escape through the gaps of the door. The door stayed closed even when the sounds of explosions could be heard. It only opened when they left or entered the room.

Now Seth knocked on this immovable door. It opened a tiny gap and Alison with a pair of safety glasses over her regular glasses came into view.

"What?"

"I recruited the rest of our party. Come join us in the cafeteria."

"What is it?" Evee could be heard from the room.

"Seth wants us to join the welcome party for the new party members."

"Oh, cool. We are finishing up soon!"

Evee had decided for them, and Alison could only agree grumpily.

The last of the members was already in position as the gourmet hunter barely left the kitchen since their return. Now he just had to grab the two new members and assemble the party!

Once her vocal cords were lubricated Monique easily fit in with the party. It took some more alcohol later in the evening, but Jonah also soon warmed up to the party. Link brought out rows and rows of food and drinks and it became a great feast.

Over food and drinks and the corresponding hangover, the party bonded. Now, the basic constellation of his party was finished.

Following the terrible hangover of that night was the time of waiting. His materials had still not arrived, and the party still stayed in the church to grind their skills. As Seth had little to do, he spent a lot of time sparring with the new vanguards.

Learning the footwork of the <Lame One's Walk> was actually a lot harder than Seth expected. He knew that he kept growing, but the muscles all over his whole body would hurt from ache afterward.

It was not as fun as it seemed in those novels he read where the protagonist would just train it and become able to teleport around and create after images. He soon reached level 2 and even on this low level he understood the benefits of systematic movements. Seth looked forward to walking several miles in a step, like characters in those novels.

But he did not just train his own footwork and <Weapon mastery>, he also learned a lot about his new vanguards and their fighting style. He had lent them the blooddrinker weapons for sparring.

Monique had originally learned a traditional martial art using the spear. She started with a common warrior class that allowed the usage of several different weapons. Originally, she started with a spear but was forced to change to a sword when it broke. It was hard to get her hands on a good spear later on.

She kept using her martial art even with other weapons which led her class to evolve into one that resembled her fighting style the closest. It was "Turtle Warrior" and not "Turtle Swordsman" because she wanted to keep the option to some when return to the spear.

Her way of fighting was different from most warriors who focused on dealing continuous damage while trading blows. She focused on defense like a turtle shell, but her counters and attacks bite like an alligator turtle.

In between defending she would counter with a terrifying speed precisely aiming for the vitals. In game-terms, she would be specialized in defense and critical damage instead of continuous normal damage. It made Seth think of the black turtle from some of the novels he had read. It was a turtle or tortoise, but it was the one that governed life and death.

Jonah's fighting style as Vampiric Swordman depended on speed and versatility. Although, his skills were severely limited in a sparring match, as many of his abilities power up the more blood flowed. Still, his abilities were quite fascinating.

He was not only a good swordsman, but he could also let the blade fight on its own for a limited time. In this time, he could either fight melee with his claws or cast vampire abilities. And during the whole time, his body and face were covered with a hat and dark cloak.

They were a lot better sparring partners than Tekar and Seth could feel the improvements when fighting with them. They were currently not going on missions, so he used sparring to get to know their skill and styles.

Monique fought steady and tactical which fit a lighter plate armor or scale armor. And her weapon of choice was a spear. Jonah on the other hand was agile and rapid so an armor that didn't impede movement was the best. Something like leather or chainmail, or maybe a mix of both would be fitting. He wished for a long, narrow blade.

Those were no complicated wishes. Seth was not stingy and made Monique a light set of <Mithril> and <Magic Steel> armor, enchanted with the reflection effect of the demonic ballad and overall boosts to her strength, endurance, and agility. It was slightly better than the Dark Knight set but lacked the unique effect.

He put more effort into the spear he made for her. For the spear tip, he used one of the wyvern fangs he had left. Seth used the ballad of decay while forging the fang. With all his skills working together the tooth turned into a pearly white spear tip.

The shaft was forged from by roughly pattern-welding <Dark Steel> and <Magic Steel> giving it a vicious black-grey spiral pattern. He infused the spear with a strong medium-sized soul. For the enchantments, he engraved the complex circuit for piercing and sharpness to enhance the fang's natural properties.

<Fang of Decay

Epic

Damage: 1100 (+150)

Durability: 3100

1. +500% damage on Stab attacks

2.+13% Mana regeneration in Darkness

3.+13% Darkness resistance

4. Wounds will start to decay rapidly –>Damage to vitals is tripled

5.Damage +150

6. +25% Resistance to negative status effects (Mind)

7. 35% chance to cause mental disruption on hit (Effects: Stun/Confusion)

A killing weapon from the hands of Journeyman Seth. Materials and special treatment make this one of the last weapons you wish to be pierced by.>

Another epic item giving him another few percent on his crafting levels.

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