Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

In his hand, Seth held two rings that resembled geometrically perfect circles of pure darkness, emanating a mysterious allure. They were simple rings that bore no gem, but each had a row of fine lines that formed a script of demonic runes. They glowed dimly on the black rings when the two were close to each other.

Originally, Seth only wanted to make one for Mina, but he couldn’t help making two when he got a new idea while pondering over the Olympian enchantments fitting her class. It started with researching Nyx and Erebus, the personified night and darkness.

He had been thinking between the two of them when he found that they were actually a couple. Knowing this, gave Seth the idea to try and make two rings as a set, instead of deciding on one of them.

This also necessitated that he found two fitting souls, which was a bit harder to accomplish. Even Tano’Mol didn’t have a huge assortment of massive souls, much less ones of every element. When it came to souls, Seth had to make do with what he had, using the Lover’s Soul and Fragments of the Ethnarch’s soul, he fused them into massive souls.

They had more or less the right attributes and Seth could imagine Mina being able to make good use of .

As for the demonic enchantments…The two Olympian enchantments would be a massive support to Mina’s ability in surprise attacks and shadow magic. However, except for Mina’s weapons, there were little enchantments that directly improved her damage, as most effects of her armor improved her skills and attributes.

Since the Olympian enchantments boosted her abilities to hide, Seth chose demonic enchantment to improve her ability to deal damage. He chose the demons with them being a set in mind. One demon per ring, with a fitting forging ballad and an inscription.

The first pieces he chose were dedicated to Andras, a very powerful and ancient demon known for his brutality and primal rage during combat, but also a manipulator of animosity and aggression, his own and those of others. The ballad and inscription he chose brought out both of these aspects.

A ballad with a brutal rhythm, that supposedly gave the wielder the ability to immerse themselves in their rage to gain greater strength. The catch of this enchantment was, that there was a high possibility to lose oneself in the slaughter. Similarly, the inscription gave one the ability to induce this kind of rage in others, sowing discord among a group and having a target go berserk for a limited time. Of course, this berserk state also had a chance to strengthen the target.

With this in mind, the bard chose the second demon quite carefully. The pieces he decided on were dedicated to Eligos. He was also an ancient demon and adept combatant. However, Eligos specialized in strategy and foreseeing the opponent’s moves.

One demon brought the primal rage, the other a clear and calculating mind in combat. The ballad of Eligos he chose would help to keep a clear mind in battle and predict the enemy’s actions. The inscription was said to be able to protect the wearer against dark influences. With this, he hoped that the two enchantments would have a restraining and empowering effect on each other if both rings were worn.

He had already patted his shoulder for coming up with such an ingenious method, but his jaw dropped, when he found that the changes were much grander than he thought, and not because HE did something impressive.

Legendary

Couple of Darkness Set 1/2

Durability: 5000

1. Dark Magic is 200% more Destructive

2. 80% Cost Reduction for Dark Spells

3. Grants the Trait: Nightwalker

4. +100% Damage in Darkness

5. Active Skill: Primal Rage

6. Active Skill: Blessing of Andras

7. Active Skill:Telekinesis

8. Passive Skill: Curse of the Lover

Set Effect:

Passive Skill: Offspring of Darkness

Active Skill: Nyx

Active Skill: Erebus

Cursed one of a pair of rings created by Master Smith, the first Master Enchanter and Master Goldsmith of Urth, with the help of sinister deities and ferocious demons using mysterious means. Should never be worn without the counterpart.>

Legendary

Couple of Darkness Set 1/2

Durability: 5000

1. Dark Magic is 200% more Destructive

2. 80% Cost Reduction for Dark Spells

3. Grants the Trait: Associate of Darkness

4. +100% Damage in Darkness

5. +150% Power to Curses

6. Active Skill: Shadow Haze

7. Passive Skill: Strategist’s Mentality

8. Passive Skill: Blessing of Eligos

Set Effect:

Passive Skill: Offspring of Darkness

Active Skill: Nyx

Active Skill: Erebus

One of a pair of rings created by Master Smith, the first Master Enchanter and Master Goldsmith of Urth, with the help of sinister deities and ferocious demons using mysterious means.>

The combinations Seth had been so proud of, had fortunately worked out as intended. was the power of Andras. The wearer of the rings would constantly build up rage over the course of a battle.

It would greatly enhance the physical damage in battle, but also slowly overtake the wearer’s mind. A user without the necessary care could end up trapped in this circle of rage, unable to discern friends from foes and attacking anything in sight.

On the other hand, literally, were the and the . The first improved resistance to crowd control, curses, and mental attacks during battle. The latter was not unlike the .

The skill created an overlay that helped with predicting the movements of enemies and inhibited any mental effects from affecting the wearer’s mind during battle. These two passive skills had a restraining effect, virtually canceling out the negative effect of , as all of them were confined to combat.

By keeping a clear mind, the wearer would be able to exit combat at any time, not having to fear the continuous effect of rage.

And then there was the , which was a magic, not unlike a curse, one could cast on others. It had the ability to sow discord and incite rage. Those affected had less growth in strength and a greater likelihood to enter a berserk state.

These effects seemed already very powerful, however, these paled when compared to the effects the divine enchantments offered. Most prominently the Set Effects.

and were intriguing because their skill description seemed to make them out to be the same skill. They would summon a domain of darkness with a radius depending on the user’s affinity with the darkness element.

When Seth tried , it enveloped his whole workshop in twilight. When he looked out at the hallways he found it also in darkness, as were the other workshops close by. Wedan, Hoen, and the others had stuck their heads out in the hallway, wondering what was going on.

It took a full 30 minutes for light to return to the world. Next, he tested and the difference became clear immediately. Where the first was the cool twilight of a clear night, this one was absolute, overbearing darkness like one would experience in a cave deep down in the belly of the earth.

Seth as the current wearer was not affected, but he could still feel that this was a darkness that would weigh heavily on another’s mind. Making them nervous, paranoid, and fearful. The blacksmith could only think that the skills lived up to their name.

Still, he found even more impressive. It was not one skill, but a collection of effects that could randomly be added to the wearer’s attacks. They were all based on the children of Nyx and Erebus, some of which Seth had individual enchantments for.

The skill description named Hypnos, Thanatos, and Geras among others. Their effects were sleep, instant death, and old age. Although the chances of triggering them were low, it was there and it was frightening.

It didn’t end there. Each ring also granted a trait when worn. It was a shame the system was stingy when it came to explanations of traits.

From wearing the rings, Seth could make some conclusions. Associate of Darkness was similar to Kin of Fire, making the wearer a favored one of the elements in question. Otherwise, he doubted the range of the domains would have been so big.

As for the Nightwalker…it was a more abstract effect Seth could not quite grasp. He guessed it had something to do with the night and maybe the skill. It would be up to Mina to find out all the little details.

The only other notable skills were and . was a movement skill that allowed partial intangibility against physical attacks.

The curse was unfortunately not something fit for battle. Instead, it was something that could ruin the other’s life. With a 0,05% chance, it could curse the target with impotence, or saggy tits irrespective of race or sex. Seth couldn’t resist the horrible image of a young spry man cursed with saggy tits. And what about monsters? Would a beast suddenly develop breasts, just for them to become saggy?

He came to secretly call the Ring of Nyx “Al’Zalsar’s Bane” because it was an item that could ruin her life forever.