thomasdarkrose
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Vol. 7 - Power - Chapter 13
🕑 Added 2020-02-04 15:59:56 +0000 UTCItem Type: Anti-Magic Ancient Lead
Rarity: Legendary
Quality: Excellent
Description: As Ancient Lead becomes more compressed and purified in the heat generated by the core of the world it's mana muffling properties become mana blocking properties. Anti-Magic Ancient Lead retains all the properties of Ancient Lead but further enhanced. Once formed, Anti-Magic Ancient Lead is nearly impossible to manipulate and can only be molded into a useable shape under special circumstances.
After reading the description of the small hunk of lead in his hand, Thomas nearly flipped his lid. Real Fucking Anti-Magic material! The things he could do with this metal were near limitless! He took a deep breath to calm himself down and set the lead on the anvil next to him so he could retrieve the book he used for reference on metals. The pages quickly turned as his eyes scanned the pages for any references to the metal. Page after page was flipped until the entire book had been skimmed through, not a single reference to Anti-Magic-anything. There was nothing, not even an affix for Anti-Magic materials.
Seeing that he couldn't find any references to it, Thomas came to two possible conclusions. The first being the most likely, Anti-Magic materials were war materials and collected by governments to use during wartime so the common folk had zero access to such items and therefore lacked knowledge of them. The second, and less likely, was that no one had seen or heard of Anti-Magic materials and he had just artificially made the first one ever. He was pretty certain that wasn't the case but it was always a possibility.
After returning the book to his inventory, Thomas looked at the nearly useless hunk of Anti-Magic material sitting on the anvil. He couldn't hammer it or Transmute it which made it pretty hard for him to use it for anything at the moment. He collected the rock and tossed it inside of his inventory. Luckily it's Anti-Magic properties didn't prevent such an action.
He crossed his arms over his chest and let out a deep sigh. He was in a real dilemma now. The Ancient Lead could easily be turned into Anti-Magic Ancient Lead which made it just that much more valuable. Was it really a good idea to continue to use it to make the cores of his hammers? He only planned to make a few more and that wouldn't even use up a quarter of his available supply. He also knew it wouldn't be wise to use too much of the Anti-Magic lead in his equipment. After all, it was Anti-All-Magic, even his own. If he wore a full suit of armor with the lead integrated into it he wouldn't be able to cast any spells as his mana would be trapped inside of his body.
After thinking for a while he came up with a couple of ideas. He would continue to use the regular Ancient Lead for the cores of his hammers. They could always be retrieved and repurposed later on when he found a better material to make tools out of. He would also make weapons and armors with small amounts of the Anti-Magic variant that could be used to fight against magical attacks and defenses. A few ideas passed through his mind as he thought of different ways to incorporate the lead into his gear in a way that wouldn't be a detriment to himself.
With a few preliminary plans and a couple of future tests in mind, he returned to his original goal of making more hammers. He already had a heavy sledgehammer, now he needed to make a few smaller tools for finer work. He picked up a piece of Ancient Lead and used his Transmutation to take a smaller piece off of the larger whole. Since the hammer would be smaller he didn't need as much of the lead for the core. His hands flared with mana that slowly reshaped the piece of lead into a rectangular brick with a hole through the center. Aside from the handle, he planned to make the entire thing using his Transmutation.
The process of making a hammer's head was relatively easy and straightforward with the cheat that was Transmutation. After reshaping the lead he made two more cores of a similar size. He planned to make three hammers at once with similarly sized cores. Once the three hammer cores were made he ignited the forge and used his blower to heat it up further. The cores were tossed into the hot coals so that they could be heated up and hardened. If he wanted to reuse them in the future he just needed to dip them in the alchemical bath once again.
After the cores were hardened, he set them on an anvil to cool and selected three pieces of World Tree wood to take over to the grinding. He would kill to have a belt sander right about now. Just another thing he needed to create and install inside of his U.L.T.R.A. when he finally got his hands on it. The grinding wheel spun as he worked on the handles one at a time. There was no need to reinvent the wheel at this juncture so he ground the handles all the same as a standard hammer handle with a swell on it that made it easy to hold. This way he could hammer with either side of the hammer and have a good grip.
Once all three handles were nearly completed, he stopped working on them and returned to the anvil where the hammer cores had been cooling. He checked them and found they were ready for the next step. For the first core, he coated it in a thick layer of Mithril and shaped it into a square-faced cross-peen hammer with no sharp edges. For the second core, he repeated the coating process and made a regular peen hammer. The difference between the two was pretty simple. Both hammers had a triangular wedge on the back and the orientation of that part was different. For the peen hammer, it was vertically aligned while the cross-peen was horizontally aligned. The last hammer was a simple ball-peen hammer where the back facing wedge was replaced with a rounded ball shape instead. All three peen-style hammers had their uses.
With all three hammer heads completed, the next step was to simply put the finishing touches on the handles and install them. He carried them over to the grinding wheel and started with the peen hammer. He would grind the wooden handle, check the fit, and grind some more to adjust until he had a solid fit. This process was repeated for the other two hammers until all three had handles that fit into them perfectly. He used his Metal Magic to cut slots into the tops of all three handles as well as to cut out wedges that could be hammered into them from the scrap wood. Lastly, he used a bit of purified Mithril to make three staples.
The assembly process was simple. The handle was fit into the head, the wedge was hammered into the slot and finally, the staple was hammered in to hold it all together. He quickly and easily completed all three of his hammers within moments of each other.
System Notice: You have created an Epic rarity Blacksmith's Cross-Peen Hammer. Quality: Excellent. You have gained 2,809 Magitech Engineering experience. You have gained 5,618 experience.
System Notice: You have created an Epic rarity Blacksmith's Peen Hammer. Quality: Excellent. You have gained 2,809 Magitech Engineering experience. You have gained 5,618 experience.
System Notice: You have created an Epic rarity Blacksmith's Ball-Peen Hammer. Quality: Excellent. You have gained 2,809 Magitech Engineering experience. You have gained 5,618 experience.
Thomas smiled at the notifications and did a quick check on the hammers. There was nothing special about them and each had a similar description to his sledgehammer. Honestly, it was a little disappointing that they didn't have any bonuses attached to them. Yet at the same time, he didn't want any. These tools were being made to be pure. No enchantments, no embryos, nothing to get between the mana channeled into them and the metal he was bashing. These tools were meant to be used to imbue mana into metal and work it, nothing more.
He ran his fingers over the three completed hammers before swiftly storing them away inside of his inventory. They weren't needed for the time being. The next set of tools he needed to make were tongs. They would be just as heavily used as his hammers during his work so they needed to be well made. He intended to make them from solid purified Mithril. They would be the most expensive tongs in history, for other people.
Tongs were really super simple items that just about any blacksmith worth his salt could make in an hour or less. In the real world, blacksmiths would even go so far as to make a pair of tongs for just one specific job. Thankfully games weren't so tedious and tongs could be used for just about anything. Besides, if he really needed to modify his tongs he could just do so on the fly with his Transmutation ability. For now, his plan was to make two sets of tongs. The first would be a pair of close bits. Close bit tongs had a flat gripping surface suitable for many things. The second pair would be a set of hollow bits. Hollow bit tongs either had a rounded or square bit to grip the edges of items. Just these two would be enough to handle most of his projects.
Making the tongs from the purified Mithril was actually an extremely easy process. Each half of the tong was formed in his hands. Each half had a long straight handle that would be easy to grip and provide good leverage. At the end of the handle, the head was angled down and twisted to form a flat face. The angled part was also flattened with a small hole through it for the pin. Once the two halves of the tongs were aligned and a Mithril pin was installed they were nearly completed. All he had to do was properly shape the head and give it a simple grid pattern that would increase the grip provided by the head.
System Notice: You have created a Rare rarity Blacksmith's Close Bit Tong. Quality: Excellent. You have gained 1,237 Magitech Engineering experience.
System Notice: You have created a Rare rarity Blacksmith's Hollow Bit Tong. Quality: Excellent. You have gained 1,237 Magitech Engineering experience.
Thomas smiled as he read over the notifications. Thanks to his title 'Epic Crafter' and the lower rarity of the tongs he didn't get all that much experience for making the tongs. He didn't have any complaints though. The tongs were quickly and easily made so gaining approximately twenty-five hundred experience for the set wasn't too bad. If he wanted to he could probably grind his Magitech Engineering to quite a high level just by mass-producing the tongs. Honestly though, what would be the point of that? His Magitech Engineering was ranking up just fine as it was. Even if he did get it to a super-high rank what would be the point if he didn't have access to materials for that rank?
With the tongs completed, Thomas tried to think if there were any other permanent tools he wanted to make. Things like chisels, drifts, punches, and hand fullers were all things he could just conjure up with his Metal Magic. He didn't need to take the effort to make them permanent. Using his Metal Magic also had the added benefit of letting him make exactly what he needed for the specific job at hand. After thinking for a bit he couldn't come up with any other tools he needed to always have that couldn't be made on the fly with Metal Magic. Technically he didn't even need hammers or tongs but he made them so that he could channel mana through them.
Thomas stretched before making his way over to where Snowlily had been relaxing. He pulled out a few snacks bought from street vendors the day before and shared them with the little Garou. As she happily munched on a meat skewer, he contemplated on what he should make first. His offensive abilities were still pretty good. He had the Spell Cannon for mid to long-range combat and his Flaming Greatsword for melee combat. His magic was useful in all aspects of combat, offensive and defensive alike. He looked over his clothing and nodded to himself. He should first increase his defense. He might not have gotten hurt much up to this point but he planned to push deep into the dungeon. Monsters in those depths would likely be stronger than him. He had to be prepared to take a few hits.
He thought about what kind of armor he would make. He had more than enough strength to strut around in a suit of full plate mail, especially if it was made of Mithril. He could even make it as flexible as he liked using his knowledge. The thing was, he never liked that particular style. He preferred armor that looked weaker than it actually was so that it could be underestimated. No one thought much of leather armor but when you slotted plates of Origin Steel or purified Mithril inside of it, it became as good as a solid breastplate while looking better.
He looked at his hands and smiled. The new armor would begin with a pair of gauntlets and bracers to protect his hands and forearm. There were also a few tricks he thought of that might make for a nasty surprise for anyone that got close enough. After that, he decided to make a pair of Mithril Toed boots and greaves to protect his feet and shins. Then armor for his thighs and upper arms. A new chest piece using Mithril and some excellent leather he found and lastly, something to protect his head and precious face.
After shoring up his defenses he would plan out some new weapons. He especially wanted to think of a way to incorporate the Anti-Magic Ancient Lead into a weapon. He could already imagine the freaked-out looks on the faces of magic casters as he sliced through their spells. Plans slowly came together in his mind as he decided on the weapons and tools he would create to defeat the monsters and enemies he knew he would have in the near future.
Once he finished his short snack break with Snowlily, he climbs to his feet, dusted his pants off, and put on a determined look. He didn't know exactly how long it would take to make everything he had in mind but he did know that the sooner he started the sooner he would finish.
Comments
Scott
heavy crossbow with anti-magic tip bolts. Or jacketed anti-magic lead bullets.
Cody S.
Thanks!
Lorraine V
and graves to protect -> and greaves to protect
