Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

So, what do you do first when you are on vacation in a foreign city?

"" Food!"", Seth and Fin said in sync

What followed was a crusade starting with the street vendors. They did not just eat until they were full. They ate and ate and ate to try every stall they could find. They became a notorious couple of food critics in record time. They had lived the last weeks in a palace. Their palate had gotten used to high-quality cuisine. As such, they showed no mercy when commenting on the food stalls' products.

People even stopped walking to watch them as if they were street performers. Despite eating like black holes and trying tens of different stalls, it barely made even a dent into Seth´s finances. The food at the stalls seldomly cost much more than 20 bronze coins.

After they felt like the body circumference had doubled, they finally stopped. The stalls fought dirty and defeated them with their overwhelming numbers! Fin could not fly anymore and used his pocket to rest in defeat. Seth on the other hand felt like a balloon. He really needed a place to sit down and found an empty bench in a park between the commercial district and the more sophisticated residential area. The weather was nice, the temperature was comfortable and the sound of wind in the trees leaves slowly made him fall asleep. A short nap could not hurt.

"Sir, It´s not permitted for homeless people to sleep in this park.", a rude voice woke him up.

"Home- Homeless?! Do I look like a homeless person?!"

"You are sleeping half-naked on a bench in a park.", the guard standing before him said emotionless.

"What?! Oh no! Who steals clothes from a sleeping person!?", he jumped up and looked around. His necklace, mantle, pants, and shoes were really missing! The guard just merely looked at him askant.

"oh, just you wait!", he equipped his armor and looked at the map. One of the map functions that came after he leveled it up, was seeing his party member's position. They just never needed it, since Fin was beside him most of the time.

Seth ran off, leaving a perplexed guard behind. In his perspective, a random homeless person just jumped up, wore a good set of armor, and ran off into the night. Not the weirdest thing he ever experienced, but still...

When Seth arrived at the position where Fin was supposed to be, he found her sitting on a bloody pulp.

Fin had woken up when the evil kidnapper ran off with the maiden, her, in his clutches. Of course, THIS innocent, young, cute, and fascinating maiden with impeccable charm and manners gave him what anyone stealing a breathtaking and innocent maiden deserves. A good beating until he was close to death's doors, by the said maiden.

Seth was a little baffled as this situation somewhat took the wind out of his sails. He was angry, but the thief already looked, like he would have preferred to die than to stay alive in this situation. Judging by what was left of his face he had been a handsome young man. A shame.

He just awkwardly picked his things up, but when he wanted to search the thief-

"Fin has already taken all his valuables. We should leave now!", she said with a brilliant smile. Hearing her voice made the disfigured thief whimper in fear. Yeah, Seth reminded himself to never anger the little fairy brute.

They left the almost dead thief behind and returned to the inn to wash up and rest for the night.

On the next day, they went off to explore the shopping district. Seth wanted to visit the Arcane Emporium and this Desert Dragon Pavilion and maybe take a look at the market and other shops. Thinking of the characteristic's soul armaments described in the skill description, Seth had an inkling as to what enchantments he wanted to look out for.

The cruise with the airship would take several weeks and he wanted to use the time on the ship effectively! Seth planned to prepare as many enchantments to practice with as he could beforehand.

Their first stop was the Arcane Emporium. This place also had weapons and armor, but less of the kind the blacksmith was interested in. The emporium was more specialized in materials and the devices or equipment made by wizards.

Seth came here to get rid of all the alchemy materials he had no use for, like the snake organs and the bone powder looted from the skeletons in the caves. There were no shops in Zhiqe he could sell them to.

They followed the directions in the booklet and found the Arcane Emporium after wandering around a little. It was a big and imposing building on the main street lined with other expensive shops. Looking around it came as a surprise that the Red Dragon Pavillion was on the other side of the street, directly opposite of the Arcane Emporium! One had a roof with blue shining shingles and was covered with green jade-like ones.

Was there a small rivalry here, maybe? Seth shrugged, at least the way between them was short!

He entered the Emporium and was overwhelmed by the interior. Behind the lavish door spread a wide selling floor. The walls were filled with drawers while the room had many shelves and vitrines showcasing everything from equipment like weapons or jewelry to materials or trophies. This place was in no inferior to the guild when it came to the quality of the interior design.

Everything sparkled with a magical sheen that stopped people from randomly touching the products. And people there were. Even the wide first floor was well visited. Some wealthier-looking customers could be seen climbing the stair to the next floor.

Seth took a look at the equipment but found nothing new. They ranged between a few common and many uncommon items. Most of them were made of <High-quality Steel> and a few were <Dark Iron>. The weapons made of monster parts were interesting, but there was nothing past uncommon. Many weapons had magical effects, but not the kind he could scan. The shop did not display any raw materials. It worked on the basis after knowing what you want and asking for it. The clerk would get it if they had it in stock.

The main reason he came here was Dimmer Salts. It was a mineral that was supposed to resemble salt bit it had a light gray to a black color and was needed to create <Dark Steel>. Seth might be unable to forge rare materials, but he could smelt them! He was sure making rare materials would help his <Fire Affection> to level up!

His time in the library was also not for naught. The library lacked specific literature, but he had found a clue to a material that could solve his little equipment problem. Having his clothes or equipment be damaged or melt when excessively used his <Fire Manipulation> was a real pain. Seth looked for either an enchantment to make things fire-resistant or material that was naturally fire-resistant. Obviously, materials like the leather or scales of dragons came to mind.

Don´t make me laugh. There was no way to get his hand on stuff like that. The next best option if you ignored high-level monsters spending their life in magma, was the rare material called fire glass. It was a kind of volcanic glass and got its name because of its red transparent color like a clear ruby´s. Rumors called it the crystalized blood of fire elementals.

Finally, Seth with Fin sitting on his shoulder stepped towards the long counter manned by many clerks with a professional smile.