Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

<Lance of Shortinus (Tainted)

Epic (Legendary)

Damage: 700

Mag. Damage: 700

Durability: 450

1. Piercing Damage is multiplied by 0.5

2. +20% Damage against the Divine

3. Increase all attributes by 3

4. Dragon Curse

5. -Broken-

6. -Broken-

The Lance Shortinus once used to strike down a great Deity and become a Legend. The craftsman's name has been lost to time.

Item has been completely corroded by a strong curse and is filled with the dead mana of a Dragon. Whoever takes ownership of the items will be hit by the dragon curse.>

As expected from a dragon, the room was filled with epic, relic, and legendary rated items. In the hoard's prime, the Dragon would have been able to equip a whole party with legendary equipment. Seth's eyes sparkled like diamonds.

It was a shame he could not touch them.

Looking over the room with <Blacksmith's Eyes>. All items were in a similar condition to the lance. No matter what. Weapons, armor, or jewelry, everything was corroded and damaged by the dragon's residue and the curse.

Although not corroded, even the gold and silver coins littered on the ground and in mounts everywhere were cursed with the same curse.

The Dragon Curse Seth knew from fairy tales had the effect that someone that stole from a dragon's hoard would turn into a dragon himself. Obviously, it didn't work this way here. This curse was a kind of corruption in body and mind.

"One will resemble a dragon in greed and form" was what the description said. It did not specify what this corruption was any further, but this was enough for the blacksmith to know that it was not something good.

While he was explaining the results of the appraisal, everyone kept backing away from the treasure, leaving Seth as the one standing the closest.

"No wonder this stuff is still here. Not even the necromancer girl dared to take more than the corpse." Rich mumbled.

"It's a shame we can't take any of this. I guess we came here for nothing." Hubert mumbled.

"Says who? I would have expected more from you as a businessman, Hubert." Seth scolded the dimensional merchant.

"Didn't you yourself mention that all of this is cursed? Who would be crazy enough to mess with a dragon's curse." the hero asked. He couldn't really follow.

"Well, first of all, we have the giant <Mithril> gates. Those aren't cursed. Those are already worth coming here. Then there are many more passages in this tower." Seth explained.

Several tons of <Mithril> was nothing to be looked down upon and they had come past other passages. The kind of treasure something like a dragon's library could hold was hard to imagine. Only thinking of the dragon's treasure was shortsighted.

"Lastly, me. I'm crazy enough. And I take your question as you forfeiting any shares on it."

"F-Fine?" the hero answered huffily.

"How are you going to take it?" the dwarven warrior asked interested.

"It explicitly says that you have to take ownership of the item, to be hit by the curse. What if I do this?" he mused and used <Pyrokinesis> to throw a ball of soul flames at a mountain of coins.

The blacksmith kept fueling the fire as the coins started to quickly liquify. The ware no change in his status or evil curse that hit him. He had destroyed the cursed items with a cleansing fire, the difference was huge. Seth checked the puddle of alloy on the floor.

<Draconic Electrum, Crafting material, Rare,

An alloy of gold and silver mixed with a small residue of a dragon's mana. Has some affinity with dragon magic and mana. Dragons and related species will have a slight interest in items made of this material.>

It had worked. Seth's other idea would have been for golems to take the stuff along. Since the golems did not count as living beings, they couldn't have possessions, right?

"Did it work?" Polter asked the blacksmith interested.

"Yeah, the curse option is gone when the item is destroyed. However, I feel conflicted about destroying legendary items." Seth lamented.

He also couldn't "take possession" of them. It was questionable whether he could use the golems to take or move these items. They counted as items. An item can't own things, right?

"To lift that curse it would probably take a legendary priest. A legendary priest to lift a legendary curse on a legendary item, seems fitting, right?" Polter commented.

Seth nodded. The problem was that they had little understanding of what "legend" even meant. For items, it was clear in the description, that had to be involved in someone's rise to a legend. Not even the <Superior Purification> of his Golden Fleece was able to do anything.

The blacksmith looked over to Yvette. A saintess seemed pretty legendary to him.

"Don't look at me like that. Nothing in my status says "legend". Also, I serve the god of respite. Not exactly specialized in lifting curses." she answered his pending question.

Yeah, it was clear that there was something special about becoming a legend and none of them had done it yet.

"let's just put them off to the side for now and decide later." he finally said.

He had been a little apprehensive about having the golems touch the gold and items, so he had Twinkle and Yvette on standby in case he was suddenly hit by the curse, but nothing of the sort happened. It was as Seth suspected.

The golems moving stuff did not count as "taking possession" of the item.

Seth did not hold back and summoned the furnace of his <Spirit Smithy>. While the golems kept feeding on the gold and silver coins, he concentrated on controlling the furnace. Focussion on the molten liquid, Seth found similar energy he had once seen in <Ancient bronze> and knew from <Celestial Bronze>.

It a was foreign energy clinging to the material, this had to be the dragon mana from the curse. With the destruction of the item, the curse lost its meaning, but the energy stayed attached to the material itself.

Sorting gold and silver coins beforehand, made it easier to make pure bars of <Draconic Gold> and <Draconic Silver>, rare-rated materials with the same description as the Electron alloy. It became Polter's task to keep filling mold with the molten material to make bars.

However, after working so long with the furnace and attaining the trait "Kin of Fire", Seth had gotten the hang of some tricks. Back in the day when he just started off, he would burn off material if he failed. Now he used it to his advantage.

By burning off material, he managed to concentrate the magic in the material. There was some material loss, but Seth did not care about some common gold or silver evaporating. That's how aloof he had become.

<Dragon Gold, Crafting material, Rare,

Gold filled with a dragon's mana. Has a good affinity with dragon magic and mana. Dragons and related species will have increased interest in items made of this material.>

<Dragon Silver, Crafting material, Rare,

Pure Silver filled with a dragon's mana. Has a high affinity for dragon magic and mana. Dragons and related species will have great interest in items made of this material.>

His trick showed a massive improvement in quality, although the rating did not change. It was surprising that the <Dragon Silver> was even better than the <Dragon Gold>.

While Seth and Polter were occupied with the cursed hoard, Hubert had taken the cue and started trying to unlock the other passages. Had Seth known what he was going to do, he might not have lent him a Golmini.

Bravely, the little golem walked ahead, while Hubert had him activate the "less-dangerous" traps on the snaking paths through the corridor.

Although the golem could regenerate and wasn't destroyed, seeing it crushed, burned, sliced, pierced, disintegrated by several kinds of magic, and so on and so forth would have been too cruel even for the blacksmith.

Ellie, the only other person who would have stood up for the right of the cute golem, was also not there to stop these cruel acts. There were only Hubert, Megan, and Caleb who say the golem was no more than a tool.

They watched it waddle into the darkness and followed it to explore the depths of the Dragon Tower.