Once I was done with the building upgrades, Mark decided to accompany me down to the Plaza again, as we walked into the Crafting House, where we found Hammer preparing things to start making some armor and weapons.
While he had yet to start working, we used this opportunity to ask him if he knew anything about someone called "Hephaestus" without implying anything like a God.
"Hephaestus, you ask?" Hammer wondered, rubbing his beard. "If my memory works fine, that is the God of all Blacksmiths! Ah… W-Wait, your Aura, Lady Planta. Did you…?!"
"Y-Yeah, I became his successor." I sighed. "I was changing my Subclass and suddenly saw the option available; I ended choosing it right away because. Well, why not?"
"An excellent and incredible choice!" Hammer raised his arms. "So that feeling I had before wasn't just my imagination! Everyone! Lady Planta has become Hephaestus Successor! She has become the successor of our God! I can't believe such a joyful event could ever happen in my second life!"
"H-Hephaestus Successor?!"
"I never thought she would be a blacksmith…"
"Titan does looks more that way, he can even manipulate fire and stuff!"
"Hahaha, no, my Subclass is actually Legendary Totem Sculptor." Mark pointed out.
"Oh, that does sounds some bells."
"Not the Legendary Moonlight Sculptor?"
"Hey, that's another thing entirely…"
"A-Anyways, do you know something about him? After I choose this strange subclass, I acquired a few new Skills, and got a system message saying that I needed to find his inheritance or something." I said while wondering, sitting next to Hammer's table. "Look, this is the messages I got, I took a picture of it."
I showed Hammer a picture of the messages through the System. NPC could see pictures shown by Players, as long as they agreed to look at them to begin with.
[Because you've become Hephaestus' Only Successor, new Quests have been generated across the world. Seek the Blacksmithing God's legacy by finding what he had left behind!]
[New Special Areas known as [Hephaestus' Ancient Forgeries] have been Unsealed. You can find them by navigating through the {World Map}!]
[The weakened {Divine Will of Hephaestus} has yet to fully wake up. Whenever you create new pieces of equipment and weapons, he will gain a part of the leftover energy, until he can fully wake up.]
"I-I see how it is!" He said in surprise. "Hephaestus Ancient Forgeries… That's something all of us Blacksmith believe to have been left as the God's legacies. Well, most of what I know is what I learned from my master."
"I used to be the apprentice of the Luminous Kingdom's most prestigious Blacksmith, Lord Ember. I have no idea if he's alive now, or if he had left some descendants. But I do remember that he always told me tales about Hephaestus, the Blacksmith God that taught humans how to create tools to defend themselves from monsters." Hammer explained.
"The Blacksmith God left behind his legacies, the [Hephaestus' Ancient Forgeries], which were sealed behind."
"Like the message said…" I wondered.
"Yes, however, he told me that Hephaestus was very arrogant and prideful, and because it was impossible for him to find a successor among mortals, he sealed the forgeries and never allowed anybody to enter…" Hammer said. "Now that our world is somehow different than before, and the Demon Kings are back from different timelines, it might also be possible that Hephaestus is now gone forever.
His forgeries and treasures left behind might be the last of his legacies."
"Hey, I've been wondering for a while now but are there other Gods than the main elemental gods?" Wondered Mark, crossing his arms.
"There were, or not? I am not well aware of what's happening right now out there since we died in the past and we've been summoned in this new future." Said Hammer, rubbing his beard. "Maybe many gods died… The reasons? Beats me." The old Mushroom shrugged.
"It says that I could collect the God's divine will fragments…" I said. "Do you think the forgeries have them?"
"Most likely. I don't have many clues, sorry… But I know someone that could have clues." Hammer said. "Lady Planta, if you're going to the Luminous Kingdom with your friends, could you check on an old friend and master of mine? Try to find the Forgery of the Old Blacksmith Ember. I am sure that if you can find him, or his son or grandson, you'll learn more about these forgeries.
After all, he always bragged that he was one of the few with this ancient knowledge, as his family descended from a former member of the Ancient Blacksmith, a special cult created by Hephaestus."
"No way…" I was surprised by all the information I ended getting. "This was more than enough! Thanks a lot, Hammer! You've been of real help!"
I started caressing his huge mushroom cap as the old blacksmith laughed.
"It's nothing, Lady Planta! We live to serve you, our Hero's successor." He laughed.
"Oh, Titan, can you help me make him a gift?" I wondered.
"Huh? Sure, what's on your mind?" Titan wondered.
"Let's do this, and this… and this!" I said.
We quickly started creating a special hammer utilizing melted Fafnir's scales, fused with spirit wood and blazing spirit wood for the handle, further reinforced with Red Dragon Queen's scales, and then Spirits.
The end result was a prototype for a hammer I would eventually make myself, the recipe and process was saved, so I'll gift this one to Hammer, and later I might make one for myself, perhaps improved further.
[You and [Player: Titan] have crafted the [Evil Dragon's Blazing Spirit Forging Hammer (A+ Grade)] x1!]
[Both of you have earned 2.500.000 EXP!]
[The created item's [Recipe] has been registered permanently.]
"Oooh! T-This is for me?! A-Amazing!" Hammer was fascinated. "With this… I could just make anything! Thanks a bunch, milady!"
"I've made some improved hammers for everyone too! So come and take a few too!" I said, quickly sharing what we made with the rest of the crafters.
"Thanks you so much, Lady Planta!"
"A hammer would cost a fortune!"
"Anyways, I'll get going, thanks for the info, Hammer!" I said, waving my hand.
"No problem, milady! Have a safe trip!" Hammer laughed.
[A Brand-New {Special Subclass Quest} has been generated: [Find Clues About Hephaestus' Divine Forgeries]!]
[You've learned that someone named Ember in the Luminous Kingdom possessed the knowledge of Hephaestus Legacy and belonged to an old bloodline of his former apprentices.]
[Now it is your duty to find this person, or anybody related to him, and find any clues that could bring you closer to the place where the Legendary Forgeries could be found!]
[Clear Rewards]: [EXP] [Gold] [New Quest Chain]
[Time Limit]: [7 Days]
[Failure Penalty]: [Lose the possibility of improving your Subclass]
And just as we finished that, a new Quest popped up. I remember hearing that a Player can only have one quest active at a time, but I have two now. Is this a special privilege as a World Boss, or do World Quests don't count because they're special?
Hmmm, well, whatever's the case, I'm quite positive about this! We might end up killing three birds with one stone instead of two now!
…Ugh, that sounded a bit creepy.