As soon he made the decision, Thomas went to prepare everything. The first step to craft something is the planning and then design.
Since he wanted a battle armor which suited his tastes and had enough durability he had to first search for suitable materials to be used as the base of the armor. Only after both the design and the materials to be used had been decided would he move to the next step.
Thomas could very well find all the material needed straight from the online store, but then he wouldn't be able to judge its quality.
However, in today's age there were almost no way to find all the ores and stones he needed in those common stores. Fortunately, there was a section in the association store only for raw materials such as iron ore, monster bone, and other things that could only be bought by those with an Adept ID and their prices were much more accessible when compared to their battle armors, techniques and armaments.
Among the items he brought were one plasma cutter, one entire set of blacksmithing tools, 30 kg of demonic beast bones, a large variety of materials such as ores, gemstones and some special alloys. Lastly were three pieces of Animanium of the Strength attribute, Vitality Attribute and Intelligence Attribute respectively.
Once he made the order, he opened the System's store as he had to wait for everything to arrive and went looking into the F and E rank stores since it would be the best place to find uncommon and unique materials and it was when he stumbled upon some pretty strange items.
Return Scroll (Mortal Grade 1)
Description: Upon placing a mark in any location, rip the scroll to be immediately transported to the mark. (can't be used to transport a distance higher than 1000 miles (1609km). Can't be used to cross dimensions.)
Price: 90.000
Ten Year Red Crystal Fruit (Unique)
Description: One of the Seven Crystal Fruits originated from the Celestial Crystal Plane that has aged for ten years. It's effect is able to satisfy hunger for a month and a 0,0001% change of bestowing the unique physique, Red Crystal Blood.
Price: 10.000
Three Horned Succubus Jade (Unique)
Description: An mysterious stone filled with runic patterns. Its origins are unknown. Has an the soul of a demon sealed inside.
Restrictions for capture: Fire-type Demons
Currently Captured: Three-Horned Succubus
Special Effect 1: Borrow the powers of the demon (Three-Horned Succubus) sealed on it. (Penalty: Borrowing the power of a succubus may cause Demonization of the body and possible transformation into a female.)
Price: 2.400.000
Azure King's scarf (Unique)
Descriptions: The scarf used by one of the most powerful mortal experts to have lived. This artifact is damaged yet the Azure King's power still dwells on it.
+100 Strength, +5 Dexterity
Special Effect: Azure King's Slash ( Active Skill)
Special Effect 2: Azure Constellation (Tittle)
Price: 12.000.000
Monstonum Fragment (Unique)
Description: A piece of the heart that once provided energy to a medium-sized planar world. Its internal space can store monstrous amounts of energy and be used to power spells and incantations, artifacts as well any objects that require an external energy source.
+10 Affinity with all types of Energy
Special Effect: Once Activated, Provides the user with an unlimited amount of energy. (The excessive use of this effect may cause: Suicide Thoughts, Energy Addiction and insomnia.)
Energy Reserves: ???/???
Requirement: The User's must have high attribute of the energy type.
Price: 2.500.000.000
Unlike most items in the store that had a clear division of class between mortal, special and divine this one had the word "Unique" onto it. As a experienced reader, he immediately understood this word didn't refer to the quality of the item but to the fact it is unique.
This goes for the first item, there was no way in hell he would dare use such item. It was clear to its description and effects this item would only serve to turn him into a succubus in exchange for power which was something he clearly didn't needed.
The second item was way better. 100 of strength! He knew very well it would be crazy if he wore such item, the accumulation of strength points would be give him the physical strength of a peak 3-star Elite Adept.
Even his demon form and Luccas transformation were only within the realms of power of a 1-star Elite Adept.
When Thomas saw the third item, his eyes widened. "Holy shit, what sort of hack is this? Unlimited energy"
Thomas was immediately attracted to the bottom of the list, those unique items were crazy. Their price and effects left him wide-eyed, especially the Monstonum Fragment. This item was certainly the most expensive item in the whole E rank store.
To him, this single item contained endless uses. Not only because of its special effect but because of its energy bank.
If used as a power source, even the biggest energy weapons would become viable for use since their biggest drawback was the astonishing amount of energy it consumed with each shot.
"I will leave it for later, now I must find somewhere safe to use." Thomas closed the store window and gave Katherine a call.
"Senior, I need a place safe to try something. Huh? No, it's because I don't like training in the Association's training ground. Thanks, I will there tomorrow." Thomas ended the call.
Katherine had an warehouse down the city's industrial area she once used to store her training equipment. Now it was empty and she said he could use it for a long as he liked it and even gave him the password to the warehouse.
...
It was around 10 AM of the next day that the metals arrived when a skinny droid came to Thomas' house with a huge crate at the door.
"Mr. Ries, here are everything you ordered. Use your fingerprint to confirm."
After confirming, the delivery droid left and Thomas checked the contents of the package.
After scanning the TQR code on his wrist computer Thomas inserted his digital fingerprint in the screen, then he downloaded the two Anima techniques he brough.
[Compatible skills detected, do you with to learn? Y/N?]
"Yes." After adding the two techniques to his skill list, Adamantine Whirlwind Seal and Adamantine Whirlwind Slash, he stored the other things in his spatial storage and headed to the warehouse.