Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 86 - 86. Performance Test

Seth had 2 Weeks until the exam and quite a few things to do. As the receptionist had explained, the exam would be a B-Rank quest under the guidance of an experienced examiner. A B-Rank quest could easily take several weeks on its own. He would have to make preparations for his journey and look for a shop to sell his weapons.

He still had a few leftovers, that he did not sell via the auction house yet. He had actually made quite a sum with the uncommon snake weapons selling them for 4-6 gold coins apiece. They had become very popular after he had gotten his hands on a poison enchantment during one of their stops.

There was another thing they had wanted to do for a long time but didn?t get to do during the journey. It was to test the Ivicer's performance in battle. The caterpillar looked like a very cute pet, but it had the skills and memories of an extremely powerful species. It had grown a lot in the last weeks, from a plushy to the size of a hug pillow. Seth planned to enter a low-level dungeon to see what skills the Ivicer could use for now and increase its level for the upcoming exam.

On another note, he could not forget the things he needed himself. There was the need to find a weaver or tailor to make cloth from the Ivicers thread. The little guy had made quite a lot of it in the weeks of their journey He wanted to make padded cloth armor, a gambeson, to wear below his new armor. New armor? Yes. It was a full set of Snake armor.

Seth had used almost 25 snake ribs and some of the juvenile's snake leather to make a lamellar armor and fitting shoulder guards, bracers, and greaves. The lamellar armor was made up of overlapping plates of snake bone held together by strips of leather. The other parts were technically snake leather armor reinforced with bone plates. He lacked the souls to give the armor any great properties but they sported a natural resistance against poison and corrosion. The durability was a lot better after forging them with Charon?s Obol when compared to parts ground into shape.

He had not touched the <Fire Glass> or remaining <Dark Steel> for this armor, because he was still lacking in some areas. His end goal was to make a fireproof armor, after all. He didn?t want to experience the embarrassment of being seen naked after using his fire, again.

There was a small episode where the receptionist lady that had found him after dying in Zhiqes dungeon, could not look him in the eyes for the remaining time of his stay. She would blush furiously and look away, any time they entered the guild.

Anyways. Because of this armor, he felt ok to face an old enemy. Water. It was time he followed the Isekai cliche and entered the sewer dungeon! The Ivicer's attack options were mostly magic, so it would be easy to farm weak monsters like slimes and sewer rats.

Ora a number of dungeons growing in its extensive sewer system. Oras sewer system was also quite peculiar in that it shared the space below the city with some subterranean city districts. As one would expect from a dwarven city, even the part build for the humans had roots that reached deep into the earth.

The Underground was mostly an imitation of the districts above, but with cheaper rents and prices. Below the commercial district, for example, were 3 more layers filled with shops, underground bazaars, and the black market at the deepest level. The underground districts made a smooth transition into the sewer system below the better residential areas.

This came in handy as Seth could cross the commercial district and take a look at the shops the guild receptionist had told him about. Seth should have known it, but the shop owners shamelessly abused their status. It was no secret that many people preferred to dodge the paperwork and costs of an own shop when all they wanted was an invitation to enter the dwarven district. As such, to commission the selling of products they quoted rates that were even worse than simply selling the item to them. Splitting the money 60:40 or even 70:30, just to mention the blacksmith?s name when the item was sold was a joke.

Just because Seth had money, didn?t mean he would ignore getting ripped off. No, especially because he had money, opening a shop seemed more feasible. Another thing Seth was unable to deal with, was the merchant?s arrogance. They dared to act as if they did the people, they ripped off a favor! It was late afternoon when he finished visiting all the shops recommended. None of them were any good. Even those with better rates had this pretentious demeanor Seth just could not stomach.

He shook his head to clear his mind. It was already getting late now and he wanted to give the dungeon a visit. There were many staircases located in the district that led to the underground passages below. Seth just needed to enter the first underground floor of the shopping district and follow the signs.

This underground floor was a lot cleaner and appealing than Seth had thought. Except for the fantasy atmosphere created by the kinds of shops, products, and people of different races filling this subterranean world, it could have been a modern shopping arcade.

The sewer dungeon was separated by a big door covered in iron plates. There were two guards at the door, checking people's adventurer ids. When the door opened Seth could hear the hiss of air as if the door was an air-tight seal. It had to be, because the smell of the sewer that could not the smelled until now, came over him like a wave and hit him like a wall. It this door was not air-tight, the whole place would smell of this. Seth entered before he could change his mind, but he swore that this was the first and last time.

Once the door closed behind him, he summoned the Ivicer from the pet space. A shiver ran through its body and it shook its head around.

Kyurg-Kyuu!

~I will only enter this once! We are not doing this again! ~

They were in tacit agreement, to never enter a sewer again after this was over. The Ivicer crawled in front, as it would be the main firepower during the dungeon dive. When the two fought together, the experience was evenly split between owner and pet, but only if both did damage to the target. Although this was only to test its skills in a safe environment, the Ivicer could also level up a little in this place.

The monsters down here consisted mostly of different kinds of rats, slimes, and other critters eating the trash down here. But one should not underestimate these monsters. The slimes for example were not the nice round blobs who did nothing but bounce around and digest stuff.

They tended to stick to either the ceiling or hide in the water. They would shoot hardened tendrils like spikes out from their body to skewer their prey. And their prey ranged from normal-sized to giant rats that reached Seth up to the knee, like a small dog. He kept his distance from those, as their yellowish teeth were on crotch-level if they stood upright, like a small dog`s...

Other critters down here consisted of big bugs, spiders, and something like a big raccoon. They had patchy hair and were partly bald as if they had mange. With an average level of 7, these were the strongest mobs in the sewers.

The skillset of a young Ivicer consisted mostly of elementary light magic and psychokinesis. As such it waltzed through the dungeon by either shooting low-level rats and critters with pebbles or short bolts of light, like a laser.

Seth followed it with his new main weapon held in his hand ready to step in. It was a spear he made from the piece of <Iron Wood> and the uncommon <Drake Tooth> had he found all the way back in the Ivicer guild branch.

Thanks to Charon?s Obol he was not restricted by the original form of the material anymore, which made it possible to forge the shaft from the piece of wood. The drake tooth shared the penetrative properties expected of the dragon race's teeth and was ideally suited to be a spear tip. The spear was infused with the <Loyal Soul (Rare)> and had gotten a rare rating thanks to this. The enchantment powered by the soul gave the weapon another damage boost.

<Loyal Spear

Rare

Damage: 420

Durability:2300

1. Spear cannot be lost

2. Double the damage on Stab attacks

3. The spear is protective of its owner and will help in defending against attacks

A remarkable weapon made by an aspiring blacksmith. The weapon possesses the will to protect the owner. Not the best-suited property for a weapon. It shows an increased performance thanks to special treatment.

Usage Condition: Seth Smith>

Seth knew what the description meant. The loyal soul would have been more suited for armor, but he had decided on a better weapon at that time. Seth was sure that at some point in the future he would be able to retrieve souls from items.

It was a feeling he had gotten when he experimented with the souls. Before he quenched an item in the water of Styx, he had felt like he could separate the soul from the unfinished item using <Soul Capture>. It was just so hard to level this skill. Seth guessed that the skill leveled up by collecting Souls, but souls had a low drop chance. Normally.

To his surprise, the drop chance of Soul had drastically increased when the Ivicer killed a prey. Instead of being 10% or lower as Seth had experienced it until now, it came close to 30% with the Ivicer killing them.

Maybe it had something to do, with the Ivicer's unique energy? Or because they were a race directly created by a god? He didn?t know, but he happily collected the fruits of this circumstance!