Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Well, I found something. There was a good called Kova. It was actually quite prominent across a bunch of worlds a few centuries ago," she explained.

"Was? Not anymore?" the blacksmith asked. He knew a lot of mythology and most of it had gods dying once in a while, but knowing what he knew now, it was hard to believe a god could die while his religion was healthy.

"He was part of the Aasit, a medium-sized Pantheon that has spread across a few worlds," she said and slid him a piece of paper across the table. It was the summary of Kova\'s legend.

"Kova, the great thunderer, who was even louder in bed than among the clouds. He was the most powerful of the Aasit in battle and stood undefeated. His mere laughter could burst his opponent\'s eardrums and none of the other Aasit could harm him. The strongest Aasit couldn\'t put a dent in his body and the trickiest Aasit couldn\'t find a poison that could harm his body..."

"Are you serious?" Seth asked when he read the last part of the myth. Leana just nodded.

"One day, his youngest sister came to him and challenged Kova to a duel of screams. The winner was going to be whoever was louder. The only stipulation was, that they both had to give it their all. Kova was apprehensive since there was no way his sibling could beat him, but the other insisted.

The sibling started and screamed her lungs outs until her throat was sore. The young Aasit screams evoked pity in anything that lived. Then it was Kova\'s turn. After hearing his sister\'s cries, it was even harder for him to keep his promise, but he assured her he would give his best. When Kova\'s voice rose, the earth quaked.

Mountains broke apart and the earth itself split, but he was not done and his voice grew louder and more piercing. At the height of his roar that threatened to destroy the world of gods, Kova himself dissolved into millions of pieces, destroyed by his own voice."

"Why did his sister do that? Was Kova that disliked by his family?" Seth asked unsatisfied by the weird tale.

"What can I say? It is how the story goes, if you want the background you would have to speak with the locals."

…

--Present--

Seth remembered their conversation as he stared at the small chunk of <Essence of Kova>. He had a slight hangover from drinking dwarves under the table, but today he wanted to try processing this special material.

After hearing the god\'s story and original traits from Leana, the blacksmith was quite clear about what he wished to make from it: Strings. It was time for the bard to think about making a personal instrument for himself.

Having a material that was all about toughness and loudness, or volume, seemed perfect to make strings for an instrument. The instrument Seth had in mind was something along the lines of a guitar. He imagined that it would look really cool and sound apocalyptic.

Even though his <Instrument Maker> was only apprentice lv.6, he wouldn\'t stop him from preparing the strings first. He intended to raise <Instrument> maker in a similar way as he did <Carpentry> and <Alchemy>.

The blacksmith was going to splurge a little on the materials. Even if he failed to make a good instrument, he would gain a lot of proficiency by virtue of the materials used. He was sure getting it to the journeyman tier would be enough to make an instrument able to accommodate the special strings.

However, first, he has to see whether he could even work with the feisty material. If he managed to actually make a string from the <Essence of Kova>, there was also the question of whether it was viable for a musical instrument. It wasn\'t like just any tough material was suitable for instrument strings.

The blacksmith\'s hopes were high, but the first big hurdle was actually the material itself. He felt like it was an understatement to call it just tough. Even when Seth brought it to a bright yellow glow and infused as much mana as possible using <Energy Manipulation 3>, it hardly budged when he struck it with Charon\'s Obol.

Even with the hammer\'s power, Radiant Forgeright, Wraithguard, and the improvements of his legendary armor, and the reforged soul armaments, the <Essence of Kova> resisted stubbornly. Only being able to only put in small dents with every strike, forging the materials was excruciatingly slow.

And this was not the end of it. Shaping it on the anvil was only the preparatory work so he could start making it into a wire. If he had already this many problems on the anvil, would the rolling stands be able to able to endure? Would Seth be able to draw the wire through the dies to make it thinner?

Seeing the slow progress, Seth started to think about other uses for the material. Maybe he should turn it into a small cannonball and shoot it at his enemies? Or maybe use it for arrowheads? Just how could a god with a body so tough die?

Suddenly, the hammer halted. Kova disintegrated from his own roar. It was a stupid thought, but if what Leana told him about legends was true, Seth may have had an idea to solve his problem. Testing it was the easy part. Quickly, the bard brought out Oz.

"Who\'s going to fall this time?" the demonic lyre asked motivated.

"Nobody, I need your help to test a theory," he popped the lyre\'s murderous ideas and explained his theory.

"You know, this doesn\'t sound as stupid as you may think. When it comes to those that grew past the limitations, anything becomes possible."

Taking a deep breath strained his skills of <Singing>, <Voice of Seth>, and <Orpheus\' Voice> together with the power of his armor to amplify his voice and started singing musical scales across his whole range. Oz followed suit, accompanying him in the process.

As the workshop turned into a hall filled with echoes of his voice, the blacksmith struck down at the <Essence of Kova> in search of a note that could soften the metal.

That was his idea based on the story Leana told him. If this was the legend of Kova and what the people believed in, then this was also what gave this material its power. If it was Kova\'s voice that defeated the god\'s own toughness, then wouldn\'t there be a way to work the material?

There were different phenomena in the world that gave him the idea. Like glass breaking through resonant frequencies, or sand becoming permeable like liquid hitting the correct resonance. Maybe Kova had gotten soft and broken himself by hitting his own self-resonance for too long? If that was true, maybe Seth could at least soften the material by singing and playing the right note.

Over dozens of tries, Seth not only changed the frequency of his singing but also the volume of his voice in the hope to find the right frequency and force to manipulate the stubborn material. All without knowing whether it would even work.

He kept trying in the dogged pursuit of making strings.