Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The smoke had yet to dissipate when the message came from the medical wing. Batholomew Mathias had just respawned in the sick area, meaning Ibelin Godfrey was the winner of this duel.

Umi lowered her altitude to look for him and announce his victory. With a was of her microphone, a strong gust swept over the arena, revealing that- it was empty! After the shocking revelation, she got another notification from the medical wing.

“I just got the notification, both contestants have now appeared at the medical wing! However, Ibelin Godfrey appeared a full two minutes later, making him the victor of this match. Ibelin Godfrey moves on to the finals!” she called out. The cheers of the audience were mixed, as the fight ended in a double wipeout, with the winner not present in the arena.

Ibelin’s Victory also meant they would get a reprise of a previous match. In the final, Dowloon and Ibelin would meet each other once again on the field of battle. Would the Poison Fairy be able to overcome her previous defeat and ultimately become the Tournament Champion? Would the crusader continue his winning streak?

What intrigued Seth about this was that he had no idea what either of the two would ask of him as their prize. He was no gun smith and Ibelin seemed to have his source for a good firearm, so what would he wish for from a blacksmith? Dowloon used a wide array of weapons, but her main means of attack was her poison.

Neither seemed likely to ask for a weapon, so maybe it would be armor? Or something along the lines of a token, as Nam had asked of him. The half-rotten swordsman had given Seth the parchments containing the schematics of his master, but they were not like a skill book or an enchantment scroll that allowed him to directly learn it.

The blacksmith would need to study them closer, to adapt them to the system skills. He would probably have to ask Grant May, their in-house enchanter, to cooperate with him on this endeavor.

He had already some experience with the methods of artificers from the Voracious Cloud Continent, because of the booklets Yu had given way back when they first met. Alison worked a lot on adapting the recipes to the system and finding fitting ingredients, creating her best potions to date.

Seth had not bothered trying to do the same. Although he had no full understanding of the simple artificer enchantments in the booklet, their description made them out to be not much better than the enchantment he had already known at the time. Back then, he rather concentrated on raising his proficiency, than spending time on research.

However, just a cursory glance at the schematics Nam had given him, convinced Seth that this blueprint was on the level of a legendary enchantment, made up of a mix of engravings and enchantment formations. If Seth succeeded in replicating it in a way that was recognized by the system, it would be a huge addition to his repertoire as a legendary forger.

If Dowloon managed to win her rematch, would she bring him something even more interesting than Nam? Maybe the blueprint for those silver bolts, the Silver Sparrows? Although they were only one-time-use, the one use one got out of them was one hell of a use. If he managed to produce them in numbers, they could be a great trump card for assassin players.

Especially the agent under Cade would profit a lot from such an ace if the production wasn't too costly. However, before he dreamed any further of getting his hands on even more good stuff, they had to see the tournament and the Pythian games, to an end. The final match would herald the grand climax of the day, according to the info they got from their scouts.

Currently, Dowloon and Ibelin were having a 30-minute break in the medical wing to recover for the final. Meanwhile, they had the finalists of the musician contests give another show, enchanting the audience. It was the calm before the storm, literally.

...

----Cavern in the Mountains south of Little Gamma---

Safely hidden in a dark corner, behind a stack of shipping crates, he sat and watched the live feed of the golem eyes. Although the spy golems were great at secretly recording, their ability to transmit the data across wide ranges was deliberately cut short.

The magic signal could have allowed them to be detected, this was why he stayed close by to collect the data and transmit the files once something of importance happened, and it seemed like something was about to happen.

On the floor of the vast cavern teams of cultists were getting busy, running left and right. They prepared the formation and placed materials in specific places of the drawing. The foci of the magic circle. With the final fight around the corner, it seemed like they also became serious.

He watched them on the screen, as the markings carved on the ice filled with blue light. As the light grew brighter, the lines drawn on the floor grew thicker. This was different from the teleportation circles he had seen at Minas Palan or the system church.

In the end, all lines had fused together into a big circle- No, it was a gate like the entrance of some dungeon. A spatial passage had been created in the ice cavern below the glacier and didn't take long before the first people passed through.

Appearing first were cultivators riding on swords and similar devices. They headed straight for the ceiling, destroying it to make space for what followed them. Next were small flying vessels, not dissimilar to airships or space shuttles, and then his jaw dropped.

The ceiling had to go, for what appeared now. Huge flying ships. They had neither sails nor oars, but there were literal ships and barges levitating in the air. They had vivid carvings of vicious beast faces at their bow and devices like cannons lined their flanks. A flying fleet was ascending above the glacier.

Hurriedly, he compiled was he had seen and was about to leave the cave to send the message, when the mother of all ships passed through the gate. A giant dragon-faced bow surfaced from the whirling energy portal, a massive cannon in its maws. It was rising vertically, straight into the sky. It was so big that there was not even a finger's breadth between the edge of the portal and its flanks.

This thing was so big, that it looked like it could have been carved from a crown-scraper tree, so the size of a big containership. Its deck was overflowing with imposing people in bright robes. He could only stare at it until finally, the back was slowing exiting the gate.

But at this point, his eyes were no longer on the ship, but on the man sitting on a throne at the back of the massive flying ship. The agent was terrified by looking at the man. Even at this distance, his aura was like facing a boss double his own level or more. An insurmountable wall, certain death if face directly.

He had to leave and send the message! He had to pry away his eyes! But he could, his gaze was still on the many finely chiseled features, that showed an indiscernible age when the man suddenly turned his head. With leisure, the elder looked to the side. Their eyes had locked! The agent could have sworn that he saw him.

But the terrifying, piercing eyes swept over him like nothing happened. Bathed in cold sweat, he finally regained the power over his legs and left the cavern in a hurry. Whether he saw him or not, he had to contact Minas Mar about this!