Thomas examined the expanded shield for a bit before manually closing it. The Mithril spring was pretty powerful and it would take far more effort to close the shield using his Magnetic Magic than using sheer force. After closing the shield up, he removed the gauntlet from his hand and set it back on the worktable. With the majority of the work done all that was left was the finishing touches.

A small piece of Ancient Lead was Transmuted into a disc shape and used to fill in the center of the shield before being turning into Anti-Magic Ancient Lead. More pieces of Black Tar Boa skin were used to create the straps that would hold the bracer section firmly against his arm. Normally he would only use one strap but given the shield built into the gauntlet, he made three straps. The extra straps would provide stability when the shield was deployed.

After the grunt work was done, it was time to get to the final step and finish the gauntlet, enchanting it! For the enchantment, he decided to go all out. A Troll mana crystal was pulled out of his inventory and quickly purified. Instead of going the usual route and crushing the crystal into powder, he channeled his Transmutation ability once more. The crystal quickly began to shift its shape according to his will until it became a perfect gem-like hemisphere. The bottom of the crystal was perfectly flat while the top was domed. Inside the crystal, there were striations that gave a gem-like quality to its look.

He held the mana crystal against the gauntlet over the section that would protect the back of his hand. He moved it around until he found the perfect spot for it to rest. His mana churned and caused the metal near the mana crystal to shift a bit until it was firmly locked into place. The mana crystal would act as a battery to power the enchantment when he wanted it to and save him a bit of mana. Plus, it just looked awesome. Now all that was left was to carve in the enchantment and the gauntlet would be complete.

The large Amalgamated Mana Crystal he made back in the pirate cave was removed from his inventory so he could chip a bit off of it to use for the enchantment. Along with it he also retrieved the mortar, pestle, and Alchemist's Oil. Once he powdered the mana crystal he picked up the Alchemist's Oil and prepared to add it in to finish the mixture for the enchantment. However, he paused and looked at the oil. Everything used to make the gauntlet, minus the leather, was a purified material. Why had he never tried purifying the Alchemist's Oil?

The thing about purification was that it made material into its purest form. When he purified Iron he got pure iron, same for Mithril and other such materials. If he tried to purify an alloy then he would only get one of the materials present in the alloy while the rest were destroyed. That was why he had to purify the iron and the carbon for Origin Steel separately and then combine them together. He'd never rationalized his actions before and had done everything on instinct instead. But now that he was looking at the Alchemist's Oil he wondered if he could purify it. If the Alchemist's Oil was a single ingredient then he could, if it was a concoction with multiple ingredients then he'd ruin it.

He set the oil down and retrieved his book on Alchemy to flip through it. He wanted to know more about the oil after having used it so much. Up until this point, it had just been a simple reagent he needed for the enchanting process. Now that he was getting into higher-end items with so many purified materials it seemed like a waste to use something impure for a part as important as the Enchantment.

After flipping through the Alchemy book for a bit he found the recipe for the Alchemist's Oil. Since it was so readily available at pretty much any Alchemy or Enchanting supply store it obviously didn't require expensive or hard to come by materials. In fact, it only required three of them. The bad news was he didn't have any of them on him. The good news was that just outside of his workshop he had a minion ready to go fetch the things he needed! Thomas quickly opened the door to the shop and poked his head out, "Hey! I need you to run and get me some materials!"

The young man sitting at the end of the hallway perked up immediately and quickly made his way over to Thomas, "What can I get for you?"

"Orc Fat, Neutral Blossom, Dried Ent Root, at least fifty portions of each along with fifty oil bottles."

The young man froze for a moment before giving Thomas a funny look, "You know this is the Blacksmithing section right?"

Thomas just stared at the young man causing him to feel nervous. After a few seconds the young man lifted his hands in an 'I surrender' fashion and made a placating gesture, "Alright alright, I'll go ask my buddy in the Alchemy section and come back with the price for you."

Thomas just nodded and pulled his head back into the smithy. Because the Alchemist's Oil was made of multiple materials, purifying it in its completed form was impossible. However, he could purify the materials needed to make it and make his own rather easily. It was a little more roundabout but it worked just fine. While he waited for the return of the delivery boy he read over the directions for making the Alchemist's Oil to prepare himself for crafting it. Honestly, it was a super easy recipe that any basic Alchemist could create. It'd only take him a few minutes to make a batch at most.

While studying, he heard someone knock on the door. The helper had returned. Once Thomas opened the door the young man was there with a smile, "For the four items you requested, the total comes to three hundred gold."

In response, Thomas retrieved an empty sack and dropped the required money into it before handing it to the young man, "Thanks. The sooner the better."

The young man nodded and took off to purchase the requested supplies. Thomas returned to the room and sat down next to Snowlily to enjoy a short break and a snack with her. Until he finished the first gauntlet he didn't plan on starting the second one. Thankfully, he didn't have any grand plans for that one so it wouldn't take nearly as much time or effort to put it together. He would have no issues finishing it before the day was done.

With food retrieved from his inventory, Snowlily immediately perked up and happily helped herself to the delicious bits that Thomas gave to her. He smiled to himself and stroked her head softly while she ate the food he gave to her. Honestly, he found the time he spent relaxing with Snowlily and eating snacks to be really comforting. He contemplated taking additional breaks just to spend more time with her. Those thoughts had to be brushed to the side though. The gear he planned to make needed to be completed and the dungeon needed to be conquered. He had to get stronger so he could protect the both of them. Luckily, him getting stronger equated to her getting stronger as well. Together they would get stronger so they could protect themselves from any enemies that they would make in the future.

After a few minutes of rest, there was a knock on the door the young man had returned with the materials Thomas had ordered. Once he collected them all into his inventory he got to work making himself some purified Alchemist's Oil. He followed the recipe for making the oil closely but put his own little spin on it. The first step was to extract all the oil from the Orc Fat. Honestly, he never would have guessed that something so gross went into something so quintessential as the Alchemist's Oil.

From the fat, he extracted a somewhat slimy glimmering oil using his Transmutation. He let the drops of oil drip into one of the oil containers. The oil was clear and actually rather clean looking with no heavy scent to it. It was a pleasant surprise considering the source. Once every drop of oil was extracted from the fat it actually managed to fill the majority of the container. No wonder orc meat was so juicy. With all of the oil extracted, he moved onto the next step and purified the oil as much as he could. As the impurities were removed the somewhat cloudy oil slowly transformed into a crystal clear liquid that looked like slightly more viscous water.

After the last wisp of black smoke left the container, Thomas examined the purified orc fat oil with a smile. Sometimes Alchemy was just plain gross, but one couldn't argue with the results. Potions would always and forever be an integral part of RPG games, even if they went under different names in different time periods or settings. After looking over the results, Thomas set the bottle down and retrieved the next ingredient, the Neutral Blossom. The description of this plant listed it as a binding agent. It was used in simple recipes to bind two disparate ingredients together. Normally the Dried Ent Root wouldn't mix or bind with the Orc Fat Oil. The Neutral Blossom fixed that problem.

The Neutral Blossom didn't look all that different from a dandelion flower back in the real world, it even had a pleasant aroma to it. He selected half a dozen of them from his inventory. All of the liquid contained within the flowers needed to be extracted and then mixed into the oil before he could powder the Ent Root and add it in. Since he didn't want to mix impure liquid into the mixture so he pulled a second bottle out of his inventory. The liquid contained in the six flowers was quickly extracted into the bottle before being purified. Like the oil, it became a perfect crystal clear liquid.

Even with extracting all of the liquid from the six flowers he was left with less than a few milliliters, all of which was added to the oil. He used his Transmutation to perfectly mix the two liquids together within one container. There was no reaction as the Neutral Blossom was... well neutral. Once the mixing was completed, he retrieved the Dried Ent Root from his inventory. The Ent Root looked like a scraggly piece of dried vine that could be found just about anywhere. Despite its looks though, it was an integral part of the Alchemist's Oil. Once the Alchemist's Oil was used with Mana Crystal powder the Dried Ent Root would react and cause the oil to dry up while binding the mana crystal powder to the surface of whatever item it was applied to.

For the root, he purified it inside of a bowl he conjured from Metal Magic. Even though it was dried, trace amounts of water still existed inside of it along with the other impurities. His Transmutation took care of all of that and left only the purest form of the Dried Ent Root, which subsequently turned into a fine powder as all forms of structural integrity within the root were removed. With the purification done he held the bowl over the oil bottle and transformed it into a funnel so the powder could be easily added to the mixture. Once every last spec of powder was inside of the bottle, he dismissed his Metal Magic and began the process of mixing the oil once more.

The root powder combined with the oil thanks to the small amount of Neutral Blossom within the oil. As the mixing continued the clear oil took on a slightly brownish color due to the root powder. Yet, the oil remained remarkably clear thanks to the purity of the powder. He continued the mixing process until he could no longer see even a spec of powder within the oil, all of the root powder having dissolved and combined with the oil.

System Notice: You have created a Magic Rarity Alchemist's Oil. Quality: Perfect. You have gained 579 Magitech Engineering Experience.

A brilliant smile blossomed on Thomas's face as he saw the notice. Just the act of purifying the ingredients had upgraded the rarity of the oil from Common to Magic. It wasn't a huge leap but it was definitely something and he could only assume that it would make his enchantments more potent. Without wasting any time he poured some of the freshly made oil into his mortar and mixed it with the crushed mana crystal within.

With everything set it was finally time to get to the enchanting. He'd kind of gone off on a tangent with making his own Alchemist's Oil but he felt the time spent on it was well worth it. The results should be spectacular. He conjured up an engraving tool with his Metal Magic, though this time he spent even more of his mana to make sure it was made out of Mithril. Regular steel wouldn't leave a scratch on the hard surface of the Mithril armor. With a deep breath, he started to slowly and carefully carve thin lines into the top of the metal.

He started by carving a line completely around the Mana Crystal embedded into the armor. He did several passes to carefully lay down a thick line of the enchanting medium. From there, lines branched out and followed the ridges built into the armor. The ridges would help protect the thin lines of the enchantment from damage. His usual pattern of circuitry-like lines was nowhere to be seen as he took a more aesthetically pleasing route this time. The entire time he was carving the enchantment he had a single concept in mind, 'Amplify'.

The goal of the enchantment was to help amplify his own magnetic magic. He didn't want it to simply be capable of expanding and collapsing the Anti-Magic shield, no he wanted it to amplify all of his magnetic magic when he used it through the glove. Even if it only gave a small boost it would still be something useful and give him more of an edge when in combat. He kept this concept firmly in mind as he laid down the lines of mana crystal powder into the gauntlet. The lines covered the back of the gauntlet as he built in additional lines for added protection from damage. Once he finished engraving the last line of the enchantment, he wiped the sweat from his brow and let out a long sigh.

System Notice: Please name your creation.