With his conversation with Rockbeard concluded, Thomas made his way back down to the smithy and retrieved his blower from the forge he was using. He couldn't just leave it lying around for someone to examine on the off chance that they might recognize the purity of the mana crystal used to enchant it. Together with Snowlily he left the shop and went out to find a place to enjoy a nice lunch. It took no effort at all to get directions to a decent place to eat and enjoy the meal. Once their lunch was finished they returned to the smithy so Thomas could get back to work. Snowlily just curled up in a corner nearby and dozed or watched him while he worked.

Thomas set his supplies back out and looked over them. His first step was to create some Origin Steel. His Transmutation ability was put to use to purify some iron into heart iron and some coal into heart carbon. The two were then combined to create Origin Steel. He repeated this process ten times to create ten Origin Steel ingots. Fortunately, Origin Steel wasn't known and looked similar to really shiny normal steel and shouldn't attract too much attention. He knew this for a fact because even Rockbeard hadn't recognized that his Peace Maker was made of Origin Steel.

With the ingots ready, he made his way over to the forge and set an ingot into the coals. After the blower was reattached and fed with mana to increase the temperature of the flames. He carefully watched the ingot and when it was glowing orange he plucked it out of the flames with a pair of tongs and brought it to an anvil. The sound of his hammer striking hot metal joined the sound of others doing the same thing inside of the shop. He was so used to the noise of blacksmiths working that it hadn't even really registered to him until he heard his strikes joining the chorus.

He carefully shaped the ingot into a flat bar then set it to the side to air cool for a bit. He tossed a second ingot into the flames and repeated the process. He did so for a total of four ingots creating four similarly shaped Origin Steel bars. When they were ready he placed all four bars on top of each other and used his Transmutation ability to fuse the ends together. Technically he could fuse all of the bars together and reshape them to any shape he desired but that just seemed lazy. There was just something much more satisfying about hammering it out yourself. He only used Transmutation to fuse the ends together because he'd left his crap welding torch back at Hekrin's place.

With the bars fused together at the ends, he set them into the coals and fed mana into the blower to raise the temperature. He watched the flames roar as the bars slowly turned bright orange. Once they were glowing orange he pulled them from the flames and brought them to the anvil where he hammered them. This was just simple good old fashioned forge welding. Every hit of the hammer pushed the bars together forcing them to bind to one another. Once the slowly fusing bar was too cold to work with he placed it back in the forge and heated it back up.

Once it was hot enough, he pulled it back out and used a hot cut tool to cut into the center of the bar. With the cut going most of the way through the bar he flipped it over and hammered it so that be bar bent back on itself. He was not only forge welding the ingots together but was also folding them. He carefully folded the steel and hammered it to weld the two halves together into a whole. For hours he repeated the process of welding and folding the steel bar until it had become a single homogenous mass with a large number of layers.

By the time he got the steel fused together, the sun was already sinking into the horizon. It was time to call it a day. Thomas collected all of his materials and stored them inside of his inventory. He couldn't leave any evidence of the materials that he was using inside of the shop. There was no need to draw attention to himself... any more than he had. With everything packed he made his way out of the smithy and toward the inn he was staying at. Snowlily trotted behind him with her tail wagging. She knew that now that work was done it was time to get dinner!

Because Snowlily was always so patient and just went along with everything he did, Thomas decided to spoil her a bit. When they got to the inn he ordered a small feast for the two of them, heavy on the meat entrees. As they were eating he thought about how she never seemed to want anything and started to feel a little guilty. He knew she was extremely intelligent, probably as intelligent as a human. Yet, he kept treating her like a pet. It was time to stop that. He smiled as Snowlily, "Thinking about it. You helped with guarding the caravan here so I think you should get half of the reward."

Snowlily tilted her head to the side quizzically as he continued, "From now on when we complete requests together or turn in mana crystals for rewards I'll give you half of it. So, as of right now, you have five hundred gold that you can spend on anything you want. If you see something you want just let me know and I'll buy it with your money okay?"

Snowlily's tail immediately began to wag back and forth rapidly as she nodded her head. He reached over the table to pat her soft fur covered head and smiled, "We're supposed to be partners. Sorry for not thinking about this sooner."

She gave a little woof like it was no big deal and went back to eating her dinner. The meal was wonderful and he had excellent company. Once dinner was done they made their way to their room and got ready for sleep. Before heading to sleep, Thomas pulled out a few mana crystals from the orcs and purified them. He couldn't risk doing this in the shop anymore so it would have to become part of his nightly routine. As he was storing the now purified orc mana crystals he spotted the largest mana crystal in his possession. He pulled out the mana crystal he collected from the undead dungeon boss and smiled as he examined it.

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The crystal was almost as black as obsidian but the size was much larger than any of the other crystals he possessed. The darker a crystal was, the more impure it was and the more mass it would lose as he purified it. As it was the crystal was the size of an apple. He closed his eyes and entered a state of Serenity to recover his mana to its peak before he would begin the purification process. After some time passed and he recovered he opened his eyes and looked at the crystal in his hand, "Your turn."

He channeled his mana and used his Transmutation to slowly purify the mana crystal. Small clouds of thick black smoke began to puff out of the mana crystal. Very slowly its color began to lighten going from pitch black to dark purple. Before he could get much further he heard a growl of complaint from next to him. He looked up from his work and noticed that his room was starting to fill with the thick black smoke. Well... calling it smoke was more descriptive than accurate. It didn't cause issues with breathing or even have a scent to it. He pat Snowlily on the head, "Sorry, didn't realize it would be so much."

He climbed off of the bed and opened the window to the room. The cool night air blew in and carried the black smoke out into the night. He leaned against the window sill and breathed in and out slowly savoring the fresh air. He looked up and smiled at the moon glowing brightly in the sky. Snowlily hopped off of the bed and joined him. She rested her front paws on the window sill and stared up at the moon together with him. He glanced at her and then back up to the moon, "It's really beautiful isn't it?"

Snowlily let out a small whine in agreement while nodding her head. together they looked up at the sky in silence for some time. When they grew chilled from the cool night air they both retreated from the window. He left it open for the time being and went back to work purifying the large crystal from the dungeon boss. Slowly smoke came out of the crystal and flowed out of the window into the night air. It took him nearly an hour to purify the crystal and when it was done the crystal was clear as glass and half the size it was previously.

He let out a long sigh and looked at the crystal closely. He paused when he spotted something in the center of the crystal. A small spec of gold was embedded in the very center of it. He'd never seen anything like that before in any of the mana crystals he'd purified. Just to be sure he pulled out the biggest mana crystal from the orcs and looked through it carefully. There was nothing inside of it. He checked a few others just to be sure but the golden spec only existed inside of the bosses mana crystal. Since he had no idea what it meant, he put it away with the others. He would have to pull Rockbeard to the side tomorrow and ask him about it.

With a dozen mana crystals purified along with the boss crystal, he decided to call it a night and curled up in bed to get some sleep.

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The following morning they enjoyed their breakfast together. As they were walking to the smithy, Snowlily bit the fabric of his pants and tugged. He stopped and looked down at her. Snowlily whined and turned to look at a store they were walking past. Thomas looked up and smiled. It was a jewelry store. He could see necklaces and rings on display through the windows. He looked down at Snowlily with a playful smirk on his lips, "I guess no matter what race they are, women love jewelry."

Snowlily growled at him then huffed and walked toward the door of the shop. He laughed and walked over behind her to open the door for her. Together they entered the shop. A kind-looking old woman was standing behind the counter. At the sound of her door chime ringing, she looked up and smiled kindly, "Welcome young man." She gave a knowing smile, "Here to buy an engagement ring for your love?"

Thomas laughed and shook his head, "Not even close." He gestured down to Snowlily, "She wanted to come in here for something."

The old lady looked down at Snowlily and scoffed, "What would a dog want in my store? Is this some kind of stupid joke?"

Thomas shook his head, "No joke at all. If there's something here she wants and can afford she will get it."

Snowlily looked up at Thomas and barked. Then walked over to a displace case that had several different jeweled belts displayed within. Looking at it, Thomas frowned a bit. Did she want a collar? Pets did usually have collars placed on them by their owners but she wasn't a pet by any stretch of the imagination. Still, if it's what she wanted to buy with her own money, who was he to argue?

Snowlily hopped up onto her hind legs and placed her paws on the display case. The old woman fumed at the sight but managed to reign in her temper. If they bought something she would let it go but if they were just here to look she'd give them a piece of her mind! Snowlily looked through the case and spotted a bejeweled belt that she liked. She woofed and pointed at it with her nose. It was made of dark black leather and covered in crystal clear gems that looked like diamonds. Thomas looked at the price tag for it and smiled, "Are you sure?"

Snowlily nodded and woofed an affirmative. Thomas nodded and turned to the old woman while pointing at the belt Snowlily desired, "We'll take that one."

The old woman walked over and looked at the belt. It was priced at 1,200 gold. Thomas knew it was above the amount he'd given Snowlily but it was the first thing she'd ever shown a desire for so he decided to make an exception and buy it for her as a gift. The old woman pulled the belt out of the case and walked back to her sales counter. She looked at Thomas as if she didn't believe he could afford the belt, "That will be 1,200 gold."

Thomas quickly counted out sixty stacks containing twenty gold each on the counter. The old woman watched closely and nodded when all 1,200 gold was set out. Only once every single coin was accounted for did she hand over the belt to him. Together they left the shop without saying anything else. It was clear the old woman had an issue with them and they didn't feel very welcomed in her store. Thomas didn't exactly blame her, no one but him and maybe Lexiana knew exactly how intelligent Snowlily was.

Once they were clear of the store, Snowlily nudged his leg with her head. Thomas knelt down and stroked her head, "Want to wear it already huh? You want it around your neck?"

Snowlily nodded affirmative so he pulled the belt out and carefully looped it around her neck. He adjusted it until there was just enough slack. He thought about trimming the excess but decided against it. She was still growing and growing fast so he would need the excess to make the collar bigger as she got bigger. Once it was strapped on, Snowlily tilted her head up proudly to show off the glittering gems on the collar. She kept her head up in a prideful manner as they made their way to the smithy.