Before Seth returned to the Aegis, he gave Leana a visit in the morning of the next day. The princess had asked him to come by. She wanted to give an update on the information the seer, Ybsericht, had gleaned from the captured legends.
"So it was a proper big shot..." Seth mumbled as he read the papers Leana had given him. The man who tried to stab them from behind while fighting Natina was called Lord Byron, the cousin of Spatia's current emperor.
His goal was apparently to shame Natina and steal her accomplishments. In the best case, his legends would have gotten rid of Minas Mar and Natina altogether. The place on the other side of the stone gates, which the Guardian Tree occupied, also belonged to Lord Byron's lands.
It was an undeveloped frontier with a sparse population. Perfect for preparing a hidden. Seth had to admit that the plan sounded well prepared. They may have succeeded if it weren't for the Guardian Tree shattering their plans right from the start.
But explanations for what had happened from that side were not the only information they were able to get out of the legends. There were also secret stashes, locations, and general information about Spatia and Lord Byron.
Their general societal structure, Natina's rise after their world was added to the System Worlds, and the empire. All the stuff they would be able to make good use of when infiltrating Spatia for real. But it wasn't the time for that now.
"Let's have Drosi and the others focus on this Byron's lands and see if they can find the territory of the Durnham Family. I still have some interesting stuff I looted from Natina," the blacksmith suggested. Since they had a target now, it was only right to target it.
"I will send them a message. Since we got all the information they had, what are we going to do with the captured legends?" Leana asked.
"Is there a need to do anything about them? Just leave them as fertilizer for the guardian tree. I don't think I'm capable of outright harvesting the soul of a proper legend," the spirit blacksmith said, thinking of the hardship he went through to get his hand on the soul of the gorgon.
"Alright, then on another note, here," she said and put a stack of papers in front of him.
"This is?" the blacksmith asked, ogling the documents with suspicion.
"It's the statements of everyone on the list for Dragon Armor, that they are okay with Cade getting a full set," the princess said with a gleeful smile. She was thoroughly enjoying her little victory. In the past couple of days, the blacksmith was gone, and she had managed to get everyone's agreement.
"Good job, I guess," the Tower master mumbled as he looked through the papers. He didn't know how Leana had managed to persuade everyone to let Cade have Monique's armor allotment, but she did succeed.
"You didn't use any guild funds to bribe them, right?" the blacksmith asked just to make sure. The princess gave him a sardonic grin. " Nope, none of that. Everything was clean business and persuasion," she assured.
"Well, fine, I will talk with Cade about her armor, once I'm done with the Aegis," the blacksmith said, disappointing Leana. He could almost taste her anticipation in the air. She had expected him to be at least a little angered or indignant about her success.
On the contrary, Seth was looking forward to making another Sky Dragon Armor Set; he just didn't want to snub any of his friends. They all deserved a piece of this cake, so he wanted to make sure they were okay with such a big piece suddenly going to someone else.
"If this is all, I will get going," the blacksmith said with a smirk at Leana's disappointment.
"Ah, yes. Thanks," she sent him off half-heartedly.
...
Back in the workshop, it was time to enchant the aegis. As mentioned, the enchantment consisted of the Sigil of Olympian Thunder and the Combat Support Automaton Ego. While the former seemed to be a source of raw power and elemental effects, the latter was the core of the Aegis.
Compared to the automaton egos Seth had learned so far, this sounded like a highly advanced version, and it had to be if he understood the powers of the Aegis correctly. The automaton ego was the force that would create the cohesive force that would hold the aegis together, at least according to the original blueprint.
Seth had an ego soul that could do the same. The soul could also take on the role of the power source instead of the Sigil of Olympian Thunder. This raised an interesting question: What would the aegis be able to do if the burden to carry the base functions was shared with the soul?
He didn't delve deeper into such thoughts, as the engraving of the scales took his utmost concentration. In addition to engraving two complicated enchantments on top of each other, there were 206 singular and 4 plates connected to the shrunken head that needed to be engraved with absolute accuracy to ensure the smooth operation of both.
Any little mistake or slight veering off the projected blueprint could cause problems later on and lower the item's performance. Not just the magical effect, but also the speed of transformation and cohesion of the individual plate. One flawed piece could lower the defense of the armor, or even allow the shield to break apart under a heavy strike.
He spent half a day in total silence. Only the sound of the engraver echoes in the workshop; everyone else was banned from working and potentially disrupting his focus. Once scale after another, the pile on one side shrank while the one on the other grew until he was finally done in the afternoon.
Only when he put the last scale aside did he take a breath, letting go of the tension he had held. The blacksmith judged his work to be adequate. He had done the best he could with his current ability. He heard the notification. The Aegis was actually judged to be finished at this point. He had finished all that was in the blueprint, and the Aegis was evaluated as a special item.
Seth was not done with the Aegis, but the quest was done with him. As the notifications of item and quest completion rang in his ears, the scales started floating in the air. The 210 triangular scales were assembled into the shape of a cloak by invisible hands and held together by magical force. The silver armament had a dark golden hue to it.
The blacksmith didn't appraise it immediately. He slid from the chair and enjoyed the cold stone floor for a while. He was not ready to see how exactly his efforts would be judged. Instead, he checked his status.
He had gained the Medium Blessing of Athena and lost the title that allowed him to use the enchantments and blueprint prematurely. The blessing of Athena gave him an additional 50% physical damage when using a spear and an additional 25% defense when using a shield.
The blessing itself was not that useful to the blacksmith, who usually didn't directly join the fray. At least not in recent times. However, Athena was now also part of his trait "Olympian Myths". His relation with her was judged as moderate, putting her above Apollo, for example, who was listed as weak.
A moderate rating meant there was a good chance to create items related to the goddess of war in the future. He was quite happy with that, as the trait was one of the most interesting and powerful ways to get additional effects on an item.
The bard stayed on the floor for a while. Only when his nerves had calmed, he decide to look.
< Aegis of Athena's Chosen (Imitation)
Special
Regalia of Athena Set 1/11
Phys. Def.: 5000
Mag: Def: 5000
Durability:10000
1. Power of Divine Skills is tripled
2. 35% Damage Negation
3. 40% Damage Reflection
4. Athena's Divine Protection
5. Gorgon Head
6. Transformation
7. Cannot be damaged by mortal means.
8. Mending
Set Effect Regalia of Athena : (Collapsed)
A solid attempt at implementing a divine blueprint by Master Smith, the first Master Blacksmith and Master Enchanter of Urth. Despite lacking some of the proper materials, the divine engineering and special materials shine brightly.
Requirements: Blessing of Athena, Master Smith>