Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1153: The Prize

During the tournament, Seth had taken on two contractual obligations to make items. He promised Nam to create an item to help him, in exchange for his service and the blueprint for said item and the other was the grand prize of the tournament. Of course, the former had to wait until the winner received their prize.

“You want what?” the blacksmith asked again to make sure he didn't mishear.

“I hope you could create a heaven-grade set of robes for me,” the poison fairy repeated herself.

“N-not an armor or weapon or jewelry... but robes?” Seth stuttered. He was known as a master blacksmith, the whole point of the tournament was to make his skills known to the world. Why in the world was she asking for clothes?!

“Wasn't the prize any kind of heaven-grade armament?” Dowloon asked innocently. She blushed a little before she continued talking. it seemed she was aware, that her wish was slightly outside the scope of what was supposed to be the prize.

“ I-It's just.. I have been looking for a really long time to get a set of clothes that won't deteriorate and break down from my skills, especially when I think of the future. I know it's a little much to ask, but heaven-grade robes are what I really need the most. I'm actually on the cusp of breaking through and I'm afraid...” her hands moved nervously with slight embarrassment.

“I'm afraid to be disrobed every time I use my skills, once I break through to the Spirit Severing Realm,” she finally revealed her concerns to the blacksmith. Seth looked at her. He remembered the spam in the chat during her fight with April.

Yep, her sudden disrobing in the middle of a fight was dangerous for all parties involved. Especially her dignity. Seeing the cold poison queen this fragile touched Seth a little, however, it couldn't be done.

“I understand your circumstances. however, I can't make you a legendary- heaven-grade robe as the prize for the tournament,” the blacksmith said with a sigh. For that grade, he needed Neeco Booz and it wasn't the point of the Tournament to advertise their ability to make legendary textiles...

“I-i see, if you can't do it, there is nothing I can do about that. Then maybe a new dagger?” she accepted his refusal, turning even redder now that she had exposed her weakness for nothing.

“I didn't say that we can't do it. I'm just saying we can't do it as the prize for the tournament. It wouldn't be good to publish that we can do that, too. At least at the moment. A dagger, or maybe a set of daggers seems like a good prize to advertise,” the bard clarified the misunderstanding.

Dowloon looked at him with big eyes.

“But you can make me a set of heaven-grade robes? I already made a lot of sketches about what I need and-” She jumped up excited before she quickly railed in her emotions and sat back down. “You probably aren't offering this to me for free, right? We are talking about a heaven-grade armament.

There are sects that will sell out cities to get their hands on one... I have no money or backing to my name. What exactly do you want from me?” she suddenly asked with concern. Although she seemed to imagine all kinds of terrible things, the shocking thing was that she seemed to be ready to do anything.

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Seth had the substantial suspicion, that the fear of going commando in the middle of the battle, was not her biggest reason to look for custom-made legendary robes. Although she had concerns, she really seemed ready to do anything. A beautiful, fair lady, ready to do anything he asked of her...

Plop! He slammed a contract paper on the desk between them.

“Sign this, and I will fashion you in heaven grade from to toe,” the demonic bard offered her soul contract with a bright smile. It was the same conditions he offered Nam. A lesser man may have thought of something more uncouth than forcing her into a 10-year free labor contract as combat personnel, but not Seth.

He wasn't unaware of this option, but he was simply a loyal man... to two women. There was no space for kinky stuff unless Mina or Fin brought it up. Dowloon's value as a combatant far outweighed her worth as a human of the opposite sex.

If he could make a Dowloon that broke through and got her hands on a legendary robe to stay with Minas Mar and protect their people for the next 10 years, it was almost as good as Nam. If he was lucky, she might also share the method to make the Silver Sparrows with him, if she needed more of them.

As for the robe in question, he would need to bring her to Neeco Booz, their master tailor, for a separate conversation later on. Seth’s skill had improved to the point he could appraise legendary cloth items, but he was no master tailor.

Introducing him to the Poison Fairy wouldn’t be a problem once she signed. All the important clauses were already in the contract, so they wouldn’t have to keep many secrets from Dowloon.

While Seth had his own thoughts, Dowloon was carefully reading the contract. Opposite to her earlier excitement, her eyes were slowly wandering across the paper in slow deliberation. This was the great advantage of a soul contract; one didn’t need any special skills to read and understand it. Even an illiterate would be able to read the demonic runes burned on the paper.

“Okay, this seems satisfactory,” she said after a while. She had probably read the whole document twice. Surprisingly, she had no further questions or complaints. The demonic bard almost regretted not putting in any catch. Even just to see how she would react if she found one.

“If you agree, you just have to sign with your blood,” he explained the procedure. Before Seth could offer any utensils, the cultivator had already stabbed her fingertip with a needly a drew several characters in thick lines with her bloodied finger. Once it was signed, the bard made stored it with some fire and smoke.

“Can we talk about the robe now?” she asked with glittering eyes, ready to pull out a bunch of sketches from her cosmos pouch. The blacksmith shook his head.

“I will have to ask our tailor to join that topic. We met to talk about your prize, so let’s talk about the kind of daggers you want.” the blacksmith brought the conversation back to the topic. Dowloown was a lot less enthusiastic all of a sudden, er eyes trailed off into the distance, looking through him, not at him.

“I actually don't have much of a preference for daggers...” Dowloon started off conflicted but suddenly stopped talking. her eyes focused back on him. She didn't look as excited as she was before but she looked moderately happy.

“Could you make me a rope dart instead?” she asked out of nowhere. Seth looked at her perplexed. What was a rope dart? Seth had no problem acknowledging that he didn't know what she was talking about and the Poison Fairy quickly explained it.

It was a niche weapon from the place she originated from. Roughly explained, it was a spike or a blade at the end of a rope or chain. If it wasn't for magic or in her case spiritual energy, this didn't sound like the most useful weapon for combat, to Seth.

However, Dowloon had aptly shown that her fighting style relied a lot on throwing disposable blades or needles at her opponent. Putting a string on that to make them easily retrievable wasn't the craziest idea, since the actually fighting skill already existed.

Since the cultivator finally had an idea about what weapon she wanted from Seth, they spent the next hour ironing out what exactly it was supposed to look like. In the end, it was a blade at the end of a serrated chain, that could also be used as a short dagger.

Concerning the powers it should possess, Dowloon was less vocal. She simply didn't know what was possible and how much the blacksmith was capable of. The only specification she was able to come up with was that it had to resist corrosion from her poison energy.

“Do you already have a way to control the dart?” Seth asked to clarify. Cultivators had their own ways of remote controlling their armament as many of the sword cultivators had proven in previous battles. Dowloon nodded.

“ I possess a heaven-grade manual for fighting with a robe dart but it's a very rare weapon, which is why I never used it until now...” And why she almost forgot that she had it. This manual seemed to be the reason that she had some excitement for her prize.

Seth was okay with that, at least she didn't just say “ Some kind of dagger”. A rope dart was something quite exotic and fresh, which was why he was also motivated to make it.

“Alright then. You will return with us to Delta and stay at the embassy until your prize is ready. There we can also talk about your robes.”