Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Nobody stopped him, when Seth just waltzed into the head priests office, only to find it empty. It would have been different if he was a normal person, but he was an ori huma that had joined the church, so most people treated him with leniency. After asking around a little, he found Simon in another wing, with the fairies.

"Seth!", the little Fin screamed, when he opened the door. She flew up and started circling Seth like an euphoric fly. Seth greeted her back with a smile and she sat down on his shoulder.

Simon was in dialogue with one of the fairies, when Seth entered. It looked a little older and taller than Fin, t was the one that had talked to him so euphorically the other day. The priest signaled to Seth that he would be done soon so Seth left with Fin still on his shoulder.

"hey Seth! I heard you will be leaving soon, too?", Fin suddenly asked. "Are you also going home?"

"Hmm, no, I′m leaving home.", Seth smiled melancholic. "A little like you guys."

Suddenly Fin pouted, "We are not little! You are just fat! Way too fat! Fat human!", she pounded his chest with her tiny fists. Seth started laughing and the light shadow on his heart vanished again. He caught Fin in his hollow hand and explained the misunderstanding to the huffy fairy.

"Seth? What are you guys doing?", the priest asked looking back and forth between the young man and the pouting fairy on his palm.

"Oh! Nothing.", Seth brushed the matter aside. Fin felt a little embarrassed about being seen quarreling like a little child by Simon and rushed past him, back to the other fairies with a beet-red face. Seth smiled sheepishly at the priests quizzical look.

"I came back to talk to you about something, do you have time now?"

The two went back to Simon's office. Once they were seated and supplied with tea an cookies, Seth asked about his weapon trade.

"You mean to say...that you don′t have "some" weapons, as you mentioned before. But a whole weapons shop worth? Show me.", the old priest asked with a perplexed look.

Seth fidgeted a little awkwardly. After all, it was his fault for keeping secrets and now he had to come back to ask for help.

Mace by mace and sword by saber, the priests face fell in shock until his jaw figuratively hit the ground. Finally a big pile of weapons filled half the office. Seth kept the more unique weapons, like the ones he tested <Soul Infusion> on and the Plumbata.

It took Simon a few minutes to find his speech again. Seth had not thought about how ridiculous the amount of weapons was when he made them. He only realized it, when he tried selling them to Klod.

Simon finally cleared his throat and got his bearing back.

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"I fathom Klod told you to come to me? How much...did he say would this all be worth?"

"7-738gold would be a fair prize he said.", the priest blinked and Seth avoided his gaze abashed.

Simon pondered and started nodding. He took out a small white piece of marble,the size of a shogi piece. He chanted something onto the stone and gave it to Seth,

"here, take this. We don′t have that much money here. This is a promissory stone over 650 gold. The difference will be our margin as a retailer, if that ok with you. You can exchange it for money at any bank in the Chrona Empire. When you put it in your inventory, you can see it′s worth."

Curiously Seth took the small stone. It was smooth and cool to the touch. When he put it in his inventory, it said "Promissory Stone: System Church, 650 Gold".

"Hmm, yeah that is ok. So it′s like a credit card? I thought you can just put your money into the system interface?"

"Oh yes, but it′s inconvenient to handle hundreds of coins, right? Especially in this kind-", he gestured at Seth′s culmination of grinding, "of transaction. I advise you to make an account, when you cash the money in. Transferring money through the system bank makes many things easier."

It was something Simon had not talked about, yet. So Seth kept inquiring. It reminded him of the crystal card-system he knew from some novels. When you had an account with the bank you got a universal promissory stone, which could be used to directly transfer money between accounts and get cash from the bank. It was even more versatile than a credit card! And as all transaction worked through the system, there was no need to be afraid of scams from that side.

This made Seth realize again, that the priest did not tell him everything, even after joining their faction on the surface. He could not expect any thorough guides from this man and needed to explore by himself. Again, Seth had talked for a long time with the priest and night fell soon.

Tomorrow the church would open the Pathworks and he would travel to another world. He laid in bed nervously. His eyes were fixed on the pale starlight falling in through the water above, painting patterns on the town outside. Seth went through things he had to do and his preparations, to make sure he had not forgotten anything.

His inventory was settled and he would get 3 sets of clothes tomorrow.

Also the other half of jewelry he had not melted down,it was in his backpack. Looking for a jeweler to sell them to was also a thing. He had tried to store the whole backpack, but it did not work the same way the first aid kit had worked for some reason. Maybe he could ask the tailor tomorrow?

Last, but not least, he had a huge chunk of money. It should be able to solve most things.

The highest priority was gaining knowledge. To grow his own skill, but also to find out more about the system. There were so many things he had only come to know because he spend some time in Starta.

He had even kept an eye open for a book shop in town, but had not found one. Another thing he planned to do over there.

Amidst his worries and plans, Seth finally fell asleep.

The morning reminded him of the alarm clock he had smashed right when everything started. Or rather, it′s lack of it. Seth had overslept! The nervousness and worries had kept him awake for too long. Now he belatedly rushed out of the church, without any breakfast, to get his clothes in time!

The elder lady gave him a professional smile as he rushed into the shop; his clothes in disarray and hairs in a mess. On the counter were three sets of clean an sturdy traveling clothes in the simple style of the empire. He paid 40 silver for the three sets and almost left in a hurry.

He asked her in a rush about the bag of the first aid kit. She saw he was in a hurry and gave him the short explanation. It worked because the bag was made by a tailor using the systems skills. These bags were not expensive at all and she gave him one as a gift. he shoved his backpack into the bag and was able to store it in his inventory. Now, without any visible baggage, he thanked the tailor lady and ran off.

He still came by Klod′s shop and took the time to say good bye. He even said farewell to the old man from the general store, even so it was just because he was in front of his store as Seth sprinted past him.

Seth′s stamina had tremendously improved thanks to the system, but he was still completely out of breath when he finally reached the church again.

He had another hour before they could open the Pathworks for him, so he used this time to get ready. He ate a small breakfast, followed by a reinvigorating bath. There was another first for him today.

Shaving with a real razor. A knife one, not the electrical ones! Seth was really afraid to cut himself at the start. But the blade actually registered as a miscellaneous item and not a weapon. It′s damage values were too low to cut through his physical defense. Even when he slipped with the knife, it did not cut his skin!

Freshly shaven and clean, wearing a formfitting set of travelers clothes Seth looked quite dapper. He wore a comfortable shirt and dark-brown trousers, plus the high boots given to him by the church. Covering these was a long dark tunic in a brown to wine-red hue, fastened by a broad belt, where he could attach his sword to. On top of this came a hooded cloak made of oilskin against rain. All in all, he looked a lot like the characters in some fantasy movies, or someone from a renaissance festival.

They had a big difference to modern clothes: a very high durability for simple cloth. Where his modern shirts and jackets had somewhere between 5 and 30, these clothes easily broke through 100 points in durability. Seth was sure they would hold up for a long time!

He opened the big and heavy doors of a room he had not been allowed in before. It was the first and only room that looked like a place of worship. The circular room had the size of a gym and the ceiling was a high dome-shape. The walls were covered in all kinds of iconic reliefs and decoration. It was illuminated by a huge number of candles in candlestands.

The floor was completely occupied by a tremendously complex magic circle which consisted of gold-colored inlays in the polished hardwood floor on the rim and black marble towards the center.

Wrapped in his new attire, Seth entered this big room in the center of the church where he saw Simon, the fairies and a bunch of priests already waiting.

Seth would be leaving first, since his destination within the empire was easier to connect to. The priests started chanting and gesturing similar to sorcerers after he arrived and an ink-black portal formed in the air, like a hole in space.

As he wanted to leave, Seth spotted Fin among the fairies. They locked eyes whereupon she avoided hers with a blush. The way they had parted yesterday made the situation a little weird.

Still, Seth walked over to the group of fairies. They had not known each other for long, but Seth had taken quite a liking to the little blabbermouth Fin and wanted to say good bye to her especially, before he left. Fin looked up to him, she could hardly ignore the giant that stepped in front of her nose.

"Good bye, little Fin. ", he could not help but tease her. This made the fairy promptly pout and look away again. There totally was no human in front of her! No!

With a wry smile Seth turned around and nodded to Simon as a fare well. It was time for a new journey!