It took an hour to both explain and then put the magical equivalent to duct tape on the house’s wards. I would have to do a full rework after I signed whatever contact I would soon have to negotiate. That was tomorrow’s worry, today I had work to do.

I set up shop in one of the guest rooms. I opened the pack Kyra had brought me. The objects inside were neatly packaged in individual pieces of white cloth. I pulled each one out and set them on the expensive looking table. I closed my eyes and extended my senses to the objects. Each one had been scrubbed clean of intent. She always was very thorough having saved me hours of prep work.

I put on a pair of safety glasses and set to work. The first thing I’d need was a tool to aid in the making of my temporary tools. I always worked well with metal so I got a tungsten rod, a length of copper wire, and a short measure of iron wire. I pushed my will and mana into each one individually, I always found it easier to control an object my mana imbued in it. I tightly coiled the copper rod and more loosely coiled the iron around them both. I pushed a bit more mana and more intent to unify the pieces of the whole towards what I wanted. That done I got a piece of wood about two feet in length. I looked it over for a moment before I moved my hands to either end. I focused my will and magnetically levitated the tool I had just crafted. The iron was considerably easier to move than the other two metals and when I looped electricity through the copper wire it caused the tungsten to heat. I focused it down and the tip began to glow a soft yellow. I burned runes and symbols into the wood and connected certain ‘scripts’ or segments of runes to others with various functions. It didn’t matter what they were actually used for but what I associated them with, each symbol was one step forward of mental accounting I didn’t have to worry about. For my last step I fed copper wire though the length of the wood.

Next I would need something a bit more defensive in nature. My problem was most shield spells tended to act like kinetic energy in a solid form unless it was something more specialized. It was really unfortunate that I was garbage at manipulating kinetic energy so I would have to stick to what I knew. I found two large iron barbell weights. They were easy to magnetically levitate so I go to work. Running electricity through them until they were hot made the process much easier and I only lost power to resistance. I closed up the hole in the center and shaped it like a wide, shallow bowl. I focused Morse of the mass towards the center and added a few rune scripts to the convex side. I repeated the process for the second weight.

I had forgotten how mentally intensive it was to enchant my own tools, to say nothing of the equivalent exertion of magically running a few miles after years of neglect of my metaphysical fitness. I still had one more work before I could rest. The last object to enchant was the coat in my back. Unlike my other tools this one had a couple of years of my own intent soaked into the fabric. By working directly on my desire that the coat protect me, whether it was from the rain or wind, I could more easily shape the magic and even force more power into it from the start. My first tools had been as much of a warmup as they would be important to the retrieval of my grimoire. I was already winded from my efforts and proceeded before I could talk myself out of it.

As a wizard I had a generally large amount of mana to work with for my spells but the volume of mana absorbed by the coat was staggering. Nearly two years of consistent wear while my body released mana had given me a gift I hadn’t expected. I worked and shaped that mana like the moon worked the tides. I twisted the flow of the magic into circles and runes for my protection. I was very glad to not have to physically work my circles to shape my spells but without the well of power my grimoire added I couldn’t do this to an object not already steeped in power. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I stretched my concentration the the limit to hold the entire spell together. It almost felt like holding my breath to keep the spell from dissipating or exploding. I tied that last of the energy together as it pushed it back into the physical shell of the coat.

The pressure gone, I took a deep breath I had reflexively held. I relaxed as I surveyed my work. Manipulating my personal magnetic field I watched as the iron plates began to levitate, it wasn’t nearly as effortless as it had been but slowly it was coming back. I tested the flow of power through my blasting rod and found it acceptable for channeling general power and a bit better with electricity. I donned the coat and felt the wards flare to life around me. I ran them for a few cycles and found them stable, the loss of power within my calculated expectations. I was nearly ready.

I only needed to be patient for the last thing I needed before I left. I spent long moments waiting in mediation. The mental exercise strange when it had once been second nature now seemed strange. My mind calm and centered I heard a knock at my door.

“Come in.” I called. A young slender woman entered the room. She carried a silver tray to the table before me. She kept her dark eyes down, not daring to make eye contact. I thanked her and she fled with a quick bow. I turned fully to the tray and let the delicious smells of dinner entice my appetite. The continued use of magic had left me ravenous. I tore into the food with wild abandon. No man could work on an empty stomach.