CH182

The days of their small journey passed without much issue. The lantern was doing its job and drawing creatures in as they went, but anything that came their way had been small enough not to pose any real threat to a carriage going through the nearby road, and Thera was able to swiftly deal with them with her earth magic without much issue as they went.

It had just been dull and Ben couldn’t help but continue to reflect on what a waste of time it was for him personally to do this; instead of working to improve his skills or build better tools, he was acting as a tagalong for what was really more Thera’s quest than anything.

Not that he would want to leave her to walk through the woods by herself for a few weeks, there wasn’t a single thing he liked about that prospect, he just wished they’d been given something that could be done a little quicker as they tried to pass the time.

At the very least he had his enchantments to work on, even if he was beginning to have to stretch his creativity a bit to figure out what to put on the items he had. There were only so many things he could do to some knives and brass knuckles that would actually be worthwhile, and if he were to just keep building the same ones over and over again then he’d get less experience overall.

Let’s see, I think I’ve pushed enchantments with the time attribute as much as I can, the only one I haven’t combined it with yet would be space, but what would even be the point of that? Unless… Could I create the enchantment to collapse space instead of expanding it like I would for a bag? A knife that could draw in flesh to it would cause significantly more damage if it stabbed someone, wouldn’t it? Might as well tie in another skill as I do. Maybe sacrilege? Live the ultimate dream of making a god-killing blade? He thought to himself with a chuckle and assumed Myriad must have been busy since the thought didn’t draw any comments.

He took another moment to figure out what to do with the other three weapons in his hands before getting to work, experimenting with what he could do by both blending and weaving his mana as he went, trying to tease out what would be particularly efficient or if he was managing to get any unexpected results as he worked.

Though he believed he hadn’t gotten too lost in his task, doing his best to be aware of his surroundings as they went, he felt Thera give a strong tug on his arm.

“Ben I know you want to get the quest over with but you need to slow down a little, we can’t just rush through it,” She slowly told him, breathing slightly harder than he would have expected for the pace he thought he had been going.

“Huh, sorry I guess I didn’t notice while I was working, I’ll take a little break,” He told her, slipping his tools away since he’d been at it for hours by that point anyway and figured that giving his brain a little rest would help him have an easier time thinking of different enchantment options later on.

They continued on, Ben looking to certain points in the woods as they went each time a sound caught his attention, but since neither of them were seeing anything assumed it must have been the normal sounds of the woods until Thera grabbed him again.

“Seriously, why are you going so fast today?” She wasn’t exactly struggling to keep up, but if anything she was the one that typically needed to wait for him. She knew he was looking forward to getting to Anailia, but didn’t think he would be in such a hurry.

“What are you talking about? This is how I always-” Something clicked in his mind and he acted fast, pulling Thera in close to him as he threw his barrier bracelet to the ground, trapping them both in a space he’d originally designed to fit just one.

Thera readied her staff, assuming Ben must have seen something to react like that but with nothing in her field of view. “What is it? Did you see something?”

“Maybe nothing,” He admitted, though still feeling cautious. “As far as I can tell I’m walking my normal speed and we both know I’m not faster than you. I’m worried something might have been debuffing us.”

“Hmm, you did see unusually swift, but we would be able to feel the difference if we received a speed debuff by ourselves, I didn’t feel sluggish at all. Maybe you were buffed? Are you sure you didn’t feel faster or more energized?”

“No, normal,” He told her, going through possibilities in his head before coming to a conclusion he very much did not like. “When I spoke before, how did I sound? You seemed a bit slow to me.”

“Hmm? I guess you seemed a little fast. Wait, you aren’t thinking time magic, are you?”

“It’s my best guess, my resistance is so much greater than yours that even if we were both hit with it I might end up faster than you,” The barrier had his resistances tied into it on top of the ones he naturally had they would both be barely affected by it at this point, but if he was right then this really was a whole other problem.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“There shouldn’t be any creatures in this area with a strong time affinity though,” Thera said, sounding troubled and he completely understood why. Aside from the fact that creatures with time spells could definitely cause a much greater impact to travelers, it would also potentially signify the progression of a change to the forest they were already looking out for because of the stone ape, and a major one at that.

“For now why don’t we wait here a bit and see if anything feels like coming out.”

Thera agreed easily enough and they waited, watching patiently for anything to come out to attack, Ben struggling to reach into his bag to try and grab a tool in case anything came out as Thera tried to deal with the tightness of the situation, her back pressed against the barrier while her face was stuck in Ben’s chest.

“Might I recommend making this to be slightly larger in the future,” She said after a bit, feeling less on guard and more awkward as anything failed to show up.