Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

When Seth checked his status, he ignored his reduced HP. He knew that he wasn't very nice to his body, when he was caught in his fascination for forging. It would heal fast, as long as he took a good break.

His Strength and Endurance reached 20 in the last days, but stopped growing there. Was this the cap?

"I guess this is as far as I can go with just training, eh?", Seth mumbled to himself and looked at the free attribute points he had saved up until today.

He was finally at the point, where he had to think about how to distribute them. He also ogled the free skill points, maybe he should decide on those too.

Seth looked at his attributed for some times. As a blacksmith he obviously needed Strength and Dexterity. These grew the fastest when he was forging, so they were the most important.

Followed by Endurance and Willpower. The first was obviously needed when he was supposed to work for hours without end.

The second seemed to have something to do with <Fire Manipulation>, he had no idea why else it would have grown. It made sense that willpower had something to do with mental power, but it was still below 20, so it would have to wait.

Intelligence was similar, it grew slowly on its own, and he had the ring. So, it didn't seem very urgent to raise it.

Agility? It probably wasn't necessary for a blacksmith, but it might come in handy in a fight, so he should not neglect it.

Seth had 50 point to distribute. After deciding on the priority, he put 15 in STR and DEX each, 10 into END and 5 into AGI. Seth saved 5 for WIL once it reached 20 points.

It wasn't like in a game, where the attributes were just numbers. With the sudden jump in power Seth could feel his muscles, not bulge, but tighten as if they became denser. He also felt a lot fitter and healthy, which was probably the effect of endurance.

The effect of dexterity was a lot more subtle. His hand-eye-coordination seemed to have increased. Seth's sense of touch in his hands felt more precise and the movement of his fingers became faster and smoother. He didn't know how else he would describe the effect of DEX.

Next were the skill points. Where should he invest them? Looking at the list of skills, not all of them could be upgraded with skill points. Somewhere locked, he could not increase <Spirit Smithy> for example, even though he had been able to before. Seth realized that some skills could not be leveled up with SP and others might have prerequisite to be leveled up. He would have to keep an eye out for this.

This only left the skills <Blacksmith's Eyes>, <Map>, <Soul Capture><Soul Infusion>, <Blueprints>, <Observation> and <Concealment> for him to improve at the moment. It would never hurt to increase the first one, even though lv.3 cost two SP. <Soul Capture> also seemed like a good choice. It would be a shame if he saw a good material and couldn't collect it! It, too, cost two SP.

Now Seth was down to 5, and he didn't really want to use them up now in case <Soul Smithy> unlocked any time soon. He didn't feel like <Blueprints> was worth two SP right now.

<Map> actually made him curious for its next stage. At the moment he could only see the places he personally mapped out. Anything else was just fog of war. And to top it off, <Map lv.2> only cost him 1 SP!

After increasing its level, Seth immediately opened the map window! What he got was a black and white topographic map of the whole continent!

It showed his position and the position and names of bigger cities like Omega City, or City B where he had come from. It also showed Deltan and Starta because it were places, he had visited. He could also zoom in on the small specks he had traveled himself. It worked like a navigation app on his phone. Seth could zoom in on the map and himself. The places he had been to were colored and high-definition like a satellite image. Anything else became a dark blur when he zoomed in on it.

Seth appreciated these new functionalities, but what was even more interesting was a button that had appeared in the corner. It was called "Auto Map". When he pressed it, it looked like a radar appeared around his position on the map. After one rotation a big circle with a radius of maybe 150 meters had been mapped out at his position and the auto map went on a 1-minute cool down.

Now he could see his building and the neighboring ones as clear as day from a top view! Not only that. It was a real time image! He could see that the flood had almost reached up to the third floor, without having to climb down the elevator shaft!

The water was already halfway up to him! He looked out the window and the rain was still going strong! How long was it going to rain like that!? Would he really have to leave here again?

"Don´t forget, step by step. No use in worrying!", he shook his head and motivated himself.

If he had to leave, he would have to leave, he could not change that. What he could do was clear: Keep grinding!

It was finally time to start making things with steel! He was hyped. The moment he entered the smithy and lifted his hammer he could feel the effect of increased strength even more pronounced! The previously hefty hammer was light as a feather! And his dexterity allowed him to control its movement with utmost precision and ease!

He first tried the same parrying dagger he mastered in the very beginning. His production speed had increased tremendously, and he finished it in a fracture of the time he needed before! Seth easily hit the optimum parameters, too.

It gave him almost 5 %! It was a huge chunk compared to what he had gotten for the things made of medium iron he had done until recently! The quality gap to steel was easily discernible at this point.

Unlike how he had planned it, he now had no unending supply of <Medium-quality Steel>, as he could not leave the building. Seth didn't know how much further the steel could get him, so it was time to decide on the gear he wanted to make for himself. It was really a day of decisions!

Seth chose one of the blueprints that were added after the rank up. It´s was the improved version of a longsword. It had an elegant sleek blade of 90cm length, a handle he could either grab with one or two hands and a simple crossguard. It looked traditional and unassuming. The damage it had with optimal parameters on the other hand was everything but unassuming.

<Superior Longsword

Common-Uncommon

Damage: 70-230

Durability:900

As the culmination of blacksmith knowledge this weapon can transcend material confinement and reach the rank of Uncommon without using uncommon materials, if the workmanship is up to par. >

The following weeks were filled with anguish and failure as Seth not only trained his skill, but worked hard on the gear he planned to wear in the future!

And when the sun finally shined again above Deltan, Seth was ready to greet the new days before him.

<Ding! Title: "Shut-in" gained. "You have stayed indoors for several weeks without interacting with people and didn't feel lonely at all!" Shut-in grants +1 on all stats in closed spaces you stayed in for more than 24h>

Black lines covered his face as the system ruined his moment.