Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth had 17 small uncommon souls and 302 common small souls. It was enough for experimenting a little. First Seth made an item with a small uncommon soul to see what its effects were after infusion. The effects were similar to that of the medium-sized soul but much weaker, giving 5% resistance to mind-based status effects and a 5% chance to cause the mind disruption effect.

Next, he used 13 common souls to upgrade a small uncommon soul into a medium-sized one. When he made another gauntlet with this soul, he found that the effects could not compare to the one that had originally dropped as a medium-sized soul. The new <Mind Gauntlet> only gave 15% resistance and a 23% chance to trigger the mind disruption.

Seth had a theory, so he tried fusing some of the small uncommon souls into the new <Mind Gauntlet>. He could observe the effect strengthening further with each soul until it even surpassed the previous one after he infused 2 more uncommon souls.

He guessed that just using common souls to bolster uncommon ones would have a limited effect. After some point it might end up just diluting the soul and weakening the effect... but what about the resentful soul in his bow? It had just kept getting stronger, despite him using common souls to bolster it. Or had he been weakening it?

He was brooding over this when he remembered that he had an expert for this with him!

"Diluting a soul? That sounds dumb... You are looking at this a little too simple. All Souls differ and I presume these effects that you can infuse using the souls are the properties inherited from the individuals they once were. There are stronger and weaker beings out there. There is no diluting, it's simply that there is a limit to the properties one soul can have. You can also see that in how your skill rates them. It's still just a soul, despite being rated uncommon. On the other hand, you have stuff like your loyal soul."

Seth understood. Even with all the resources in the world, a simple man would not become an Immortal. But a genius will keep growing the more resources you feed them. Special souls like the resentful or the loyal soul were geniuses. They would just keep powering up, the bigger they became.

As for those that were not geniuses... Seth was sure he was on the right track. Even if they could not become immortals, they could rival them with the strength of numbers. If he just kept fusing together uncommon souls, maybe they would turn into a rare one.

And so, he started fusing together the small uncommon souls. His will wavered after the fifth soul, but he kept going. But the soul had not upgraded, even after he had fused together all 12 souls he had left. At this point, did it still matter?

Seth extracted the small soul from the item and fused it, too. Then he fused the result into the gauntlet with the medium-sized soul he had made. No upgrade. 17 souls. He had just merged 17 uncommon souls into one but there was no visible change...

B-But its potential had to be amazing, right? There was no way, this was not amazing, right? The upper limit had to be extreme, right?

To save his efforts, Seth fell into a frenzy of fusing small common souls into it to power up the item effect.

<Mind Gauntlet

Uncommon

Damage: 230

Phys. Def: 390

Mag. Def: 470

Durability: 1500

1.+45% Resistance to negative status effects (Mind)

3. 55% chance to cause mental disruption on hit (Effects: Stun/Confusion)

4. +775 Mana

A steel gauntlet made by Journeyman Smith and imbued with peculiar effects using special means.>

Considering it was a steel gauntlet, to begin with, its performance had greatly risen after the infusion of almost 60 small souls and the effects of the soul were almost double that of the simple medium-sized one, but... this was simply a waste of resources.

Seth admitted it with tears in his eyes. Considering how many items he could have made by just strengthening the individual souls...The simple man had disappointed him! Even in numbers, they could not compare to a genius.

The genius! Seth's eyes lit up. This was the only way he could cover his losses. The experiment was not over yet. He extracted the soul from the gauntlet and repaired it with 3 more small souls. And then he started infusing medium-sized souls until it became a <Soul(big), Crafting Material, Uncommon>

"Alright, let's see what will happen."

He brought out the <Cursed Bow of Decay>. The resentful soul was still rated uncommon, even after becoming big. Maybe it would make a growth spurt after injecting it with a whole dose of other uncommon souls. Even if it did not, just adding the mind disruption on top of the curse would be terrifying.

When Seth started infusing the soul into the bow it was the first time, he felt a resistance during a soul infusion. He could not simply push the soul in and have them fuse like before. He did not understand the theory of what Al hat told him but if souls were like people, there was probably a rate of compatibility.

That was what it felt like to him. Seth had to be the matchmaker then. He had to bring these two strangers together and make them one.

"Call me Dr. Love, here we go," he mumbled and felt weird to think this way about the souls of a woman and a tentacle monster...He overcame this numb feeling in his stomach, shrugged, and continued. Merging the souls was like solving a puzzle blindfolded. He had to try and mix and see what fit and stuck.

It cost a huge amount of mental energy and Seth could feel the sweat running down his face. His sense of time was long lost. Finally-

<Ding! You have succeeded in fusing two incompatible souls and created a rare soul! <Soul Infusion> has leveled up!>

He succeeded. With great relief, he took a step back and looked at the upgraded bow.

<Mind Decay

Unique

Damage: 650

Durability: 2600

1. Arrow's shot with this bow show great malice and will aim to hit vital points.

2. Inflicted wounds will: Cause terrifying pain, Won't heal naturally but start decaying, Have a high chance of infection and poisoning.

3. 60% Chance to cause mind disruption on hit (Effects: Stun/Confusion/Terror)

5. 10% Chance to cause Mind Decay on hit

6.+450 Mana

A terrifying weapon made by the devious hands of Journeyman Smith. A bow possessed by a malicious will to hurt its benefactor's enemies and torment them. If someone other tries to use this bow they will be hit by the Curse of Decay in body and mind.

Usage Requirements: Seth Smith, 90 Strength>

These were the effects and he had not even come up with what enchantments he wanted to add on top of it. The effect of Mind Decay was literally to slowly have the mind of the target rot away. This was the description when he looked at the system window. He had no idea how far this effect would go, but it sounded quite terrifying. The basic attributes of the bow had also gained a boost. After fusing two big souls, there was also finally some mana left over.

A loud noise echoes through the room. His stomach signaled to him, that it was time for food.

He took a deep breath and stored the bow away before leaving his apartment.

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