After breakfast with the whole group, Thomas and Snowlily returned to the workshop. There were just three more pieces of armor that needed to be created to protect himself. Once they were complete he would log out for a bit to post a message on the private forum to see if he could find someone with Holy magic nearby as well as do a little research. He wanted to brush up on a few things before making the replacement for his Peace Maker. The Peace Maker was a good weapon but it couldn't really scale as well as something like the Spell Cannon could. Thinking of the Spell Cannon, he thought he should make some additional shells for that one as well. The last thing he intended to make was a new sword. Once all of that was done he'd dive into the dungeon repeatedly until he had increased all of his attributes to five hundred.

As Thomas got to work setting up the forge, Snowlily got to work relaxing in her favorite spot in the room. All the materials he would need were retrieved from his inventory and organized in the room while the coal inside of the forge was heating up. With everything ready, Thomas selected two Mithril ingots from his inventory and purified them before setting them inside of the forge and using his blower to heat them up. These would be used to create his cuisses or thigh armor. While they were heating he contemplated which element he should use for them. He crossed his arms over his chest and used his foot to power the blower while he thought.

His first thought was to use Gravity magic. If he did he could focus the enchantment on something simple, such as lightening himself. If done right it would make flying a lot easier and could even help when using his Sky Walker Greaves for three-dimensional movement. The problem was, Gravity magic consumed enormous amounts of mana. The last time he'd used Gravity magic he'd run out of mana in seconds. Even though he'd increased his mana pool by a large amount since then, he was still certain he would only last a few additional seconds if he tried to use it again. He suspected that any attempts to use higher tier elements would result in the same effect. Hence why he hadn't tried to use something like Space magic.

Magic had never really been his thing. He was used to more simplified magic systems where you learned specific spells with specific effects versus having free reign over an entire element. It left him feeling a bit out of his depth. Sure, he could recreate classic spells like fireballs and lightning bolts, but what about more utilitarian spells like webs to trap people or buffs to increase their speed? What element would things like illusions fall under? If AoG used the more common schools of magic instead of an elemental system he could definitely come up with a few bright ideas but with the elements, he was finding himself a bit stumped.

Unable to think of anything too helpful before the ingots were ready, he pulled one out and set it on the anvil. There was one idea, though it wasn't something he considered to be overwhelming. Still, it would pair nicely with his pauldrons. He channeled mana though his tools and began to hammer on the ingot to lock the mana particles inside of the metal. He worked quickly and efficiently until the ingot let out a flash of white light to signal it was done. He repeated the same process with the second ingot, intending to use one for each of his thighs. They were an important area to cover, especially near the groin where a major artery was located.

After pounding his chosen element into the second ingot it was time to make the armor. Cuisses armor was just as simple to make as the greaves. Since he didn't plan to do a full wrap-around armor with a hinge all he needed to do was hammer it flat, bend it, and adjust it to fit. A relatively simple process that took him less than an hour for each piece of armor. Once the armor was fully formed and had straps of Black Tar Boa skin, all that was left was the enchantment process. It too was no different from before and used his new stockpile of purified Alchemist's Oil to go with the purified mana crystal powder. The enchantment he chose was very simple and worked perfectly with the element he'd pounded into the Mithril, 'Sound Dampening'.

He chose the Sound element as a companion to the Darkness element of his pauldrons. It shouldn't directly increase his stealth but combining the two should make it exceedingly difficult for him to be found when he was sneaking around. The image he chose for the enchantment was a simple bubble of silence around his body to prevent any noises he might make from leaking into the surroundings and alerting anyone or anything that might be nearby. It wasn't a groundbreaking idea but combined with the additional three hundred ranks in his Stealth skill provided by his pauldrons, he would be even more impossible to find in dim or dark areas.

System Notice: You have created Epic rarity Silent Cuisses. Quality: Excellent. You have gained 3,049 (x2) Magitech Engineering experience. You have gained 6,098 (x2) experience. Armor Type: Silent Cuisses Rarity: Epic Quality: Excellent Description: These cuisses are a simple yet elegant way to protect the user's thigh from attacks. The enchantment engraved onto them can be used to dampen or even silence the wearer to prevent them from making any noise.

+100 Endurance Each (Upper Legs only)

+Decreases audible noise produced by the wearer proportional to the amount of mana infused into the armor. Soulbound: Thomas Darkrose

Thomas wasn't surprised by the slightly lower endurance value of the cuisses. He'd only used a single Mithril ingot for each one. So they were slightly thinner than the greaves since they had to cover a larger area with the same amount of material. This made them slightly worse at protection. Still, each piece of armor he had created so far gave somewhere around one hundred additional Endurance to that section of his body. Once he completed every piece his average endurance anywhere he could be hit should reach around three-hundred and eighty. When he climbed to King class that would be at least six hundred Endurance. That seemed pretty hefty to him.

Just as he was in the middle of purifying some more Mithril ingots to begin working on his new chest armor...

System Notice: You sense a new feeling, a new connection. It is weak... distant... It takes you a moment to understand but when you do you are shocked! Another Nephilim!

+New Racial Ability: Nephilim Connection - All Nephilim can sense each other vaguely. This connection gives a general feeling of direction and distance between all Nephilim. System Notice: The first major event has begun! Worldwide Notice: Welcome to 'Rise of the Demons!'

Demons have become increasingly active recently. They represent a dire threat to the world. All governments have issued a call to arms! The fight against the darkness has begun!

+Players may choose a faction to join.

+Defeat members of the opposing faction to gain Honor.

+Honor can be exchanged for many things including but not limited to Armor, Weapons, and appropriate race changes.

+Penalties for being defeated by members of the opposing faction have been greatly increased.

+Rewards for defeating Players and NPCs of the opposing faction have been created.

+A new minor update has been implemented. Please check the official Age of Gods website for details.

Thomas was shocked speechless by the sudden influx of system notices. It was too much information to take in all at once so he slowly and carefully digested it piece by piece. First, the biggest shocker. Someone else had become a Nephilim! He didn't expect that to happen until he personally turned someone into one using his title ability. The fact that someone else became one was mind-blowing. It taking so long for a second one to appear also showed just how difficult it was to become one. In his case, it was simply a freak accident. With a quick glance at his status, he could see a new ability listed at the bottom of his Innate Abilities.

Nephilim Connection ( - ) // Rank - // -/- Exp

When he focused on it, he could feel a vague sensation. He instinctively felt that the sensation was far away to the northeast. Other than that, he had nothing to go on. He was a little curious about who had become the second Nephilim but there was nothing he could do for the time being. He had his plans and the recent events wouldn't change them one bit!

He turned his focus to the announcement for the 'Rise of the Demons' event. This he found much more interesting. War was always good for his business. With the materials and abilities he had at his disposal he could make an excellent profit off of the fighting. He currently had no plans to pick a side. However, if there were appropriate benefits, he wouldn't mind picking one or the other. They would have to be some excellent mind-boggling benefits though!

He also noted that the event officially began immediately after the notice about another Nephilim coming into existence. This connection obviously couldn't be a coincidence. His best guess was that each side was supposed to be led by a Nephilim, one 'good' and the other 'evil'. Too bad for the developers that he was one of the Nephilim! As for the update, he could check it when he logged out. There was no need for him to rush to log out right now to read it. Since there was no downtime required for the update it should be a relatively minor one. He would wait to check it out. For now, he returned to his work and finished purifying the ingots he would be using to create his chest armor and helmet.

For his chest armor, he decided to stick with the same general design he'd been using up to this point. The base of the armor would be leather but he would have pockets filled with Mithril plates to protect his body. It was similar to combat gear worn by the military decades ago before it was all replaced with more powerful modern military gear. He briefly contemplated making a more modern exo-suit but it would be impossible to make without modern machining tools. Even his Transmutation couldn't make up for the techniques machines could perform. There was also the small issue of the computer technology needed to operate all the micro-servos for the joints. He could make a nifty sword, but creating a computer from scratch as well as programming it? That was way beyond his capabilities.

He dismissed his excessive thoughts and focused on the work at hand. He tossed two Mithril ingots into the flames of the forge and began to heat them up. He already knew what element he wanted to infuse into them, Metal! It wasn't fancy but the chest piece would protect his most vulnerable organs and would be the area most likely to be targeted by attacks. With that being the case he needed to make sure it was the most defensive of all of his armor so that it could keep him alive. The metal element excelled at both offense and defense but in this case, he purely cared about its defensive properties.

He did, briefly, consider the Earth element to make an armor similar to the cuirass he created for the pirates but dismissed it. The extra weight would only slow him down in a fight and turn him into a stationary target. It also went against the theme of stealth and mobility that the rest of his armor possessed. Though, if the system had made it possible to train his attributes the Earth armor would have been perfect for some weight lifting exorcizes.

Once the ingots were hot enough, Thomas started to smash them with his sledgehammer to pound the metal element into them. It was the simplest work but had a profound effect on the results when the items were finished. He was still curious about the ingots he had that already contained elements but he would learn more about them when he started to use them for his weapons. Ingots like that were much better off being used offensively instead of defensively! At least, that's how he felt about them.

After both ingots contained a Metal element embryo, he proceeded to forge weld the two ingots into a single larger ingot. All of the metal was going to be used to create his armor as it needed to protect his front and back. He was especially concerned with protecting his spine. Even though he couldn't be permanently crippled, an attack on his spine had the potential to cause status effects that he didn't feel like dealing with. Temporary paralysis in the middle of a fight was a death sentence. He didn't enjoy the thought of dying, even in a game.

With the two ingots forge welded together, he proceeded to pound them out into a crude sheet. He kept the sheet relatively thick so that it could offer a higher defensive boost. When it was ready, he placed his hands on the sheet of metal and Transmuted it into a perfectly flat one before separating it into multiple pieces in various shapes. Some were meant to protect his pectoral muscles while others would protect his abdomen and spine. The sheet was quickly broken into dozens of pieces and smoothed out so that they could be perfectly fit his body. By the time he was done with all of his armor, it would all be soulbound. If he did pick a side any enemy that killed him would be pissed at the lack of loot drops!