CH232 Thera’s Perspective

As Thera slowly opened her eyes, all she could think about was how much she didn’t want to get up. A heat wave had just come to stonewall, with at least another week of it expected, and she was already covered in sweat from it. At least when she was asleep it could be ignored, but the sounds of voices chattering above her that only she could hear made returning to her rest impossible.

“Why would anyone care for the clouds? The particular structure of one of the iron deposits in this land is unique in all of the area. One simply can’t help but want to learn more of it.”

“Your rocks are meaningless. A different voice rebuked. “The air currents pushing a single solitary cloud through the vast expanse of the sky are far more remarkable. What value is there in knowing of the processes that left a rock somewhere a millennia ago compared to understanding the chain of events that altered the fate of that puff of vapour? The water spirits can at least appreciate the beauty of such things with us.”

There were about a dozen spirits of the earth and air affinities flying above her, engaging in a heated yet friendly conversation of matters that pulled their own interest in ways that could never attract hers and was a big part of the reason that she awoke when she did, a fact that quickly caught the attention of those around her as one of the earth spirits floated up to her to address why they were all there above her.

“Greetings Earthkin, we’ve come to beg your assistance,” It said politely enough, an event that had become all the more common since she’d helped the water spirit by the ocean. As word spread among their kind that she was able to help them instantly speed the recovery of their mana after the act or reproduction, waking to many of them floating above her like that had become an almost weekly occurrence, surprising considering that she’d thought spirit reproduction was a far rarer act, but then when they were coming from all over the world to her perhaps it shouldn’t have been such.

In fact, it had been significantly less common before, but given that word among them travelled fast and that they knew the coming danger more than any other race due to almost all of the spirits currently on the world being survivors of their homeworld’s invasion, when rumours began to spread among them that Thera was able to help, many decided to take the risk of weakening themselves to help try and secure the future of their kind.

She was blissfully unaware though, and after counting how many were before her and comparing it to her mana she held out her hand, letting them drift to her one by one as she transferred it over to them. The earth spirits were the easiest to deal with, experiencing no mana loss from the transfer made the process quick and simple. It was for the air spirits things got more costly, the mana loss from transferring it to a spirit she didn’t share an affinity with making the act of providing it to six she didn’t share an affinity with take five times the amount and leaving her with less than half her mana left, something she’d never had to experience until these requests had started coming in.

<SPIRIT EMPOWERING LEVEL INCREASED>

Well, at least things just got a little easier for next time. She thought to herself before she began speaking to them all once she finished. “Alright, all done. If you could spread the word that I’ll need at least a week before I can do anything like this again then that would be helpful.”

Though the fact that she was using so much of her mana now helped to increase both her total level, as well as her regeneration rates in a way they never had before, it would still be a few days before she would be back to full, especially since she still needed to help at the clinic on top of practicing her earth magic in her own time.

Well, maybe I can put earth magic training on hold for now. She couldn’t help but think as she wiped some sweat from her brow. I just want to hide from the sun.

With their requests fulfilled the spirits left, giving their thanks and promising that none would bother her for the next few days, leaving her to finally get up to shower.

Even if she hadn’t seen the appeal when Ben first made it, it became significantly more apparent during any extreme of temperature. Having hot water at her fingertips during a cold season was a blessing, and in the heatwave they were currently experiencing, feeling the cold water flow down her was all the better. She couldn’t help but want to spend the day in there, thinking as she did that she might have been too hasty during the time when she’d told Ben not to do something crazy like try to build an indoor pool, but she had things to do that couldn’t be put off, so with a feeling of regret she got out, off to meet Sonya in the kitchen before facing the day.

She found her sitting at the table, enjoying breakfast as she waited, but more surprising was the fact that Ben was still there preparing food. She was used to him being gone by the time she was up and felt a small, cheerful smile touch her lips as she saw his back working at the counter.

It was something that she’d found happening more and more ever since they’d returned from the guild quest, the things he’d said at the time passing through her head again and again.

You’re more important to me than that.

It wouldn’t feel like home if you weren’t there.

Even when she found herself annoyed or worried for him, those words never went away when she saw him, always threatening to leave her beaming for all to see. Even the small smile she didn’t bother suppressing was easily picked up on by her aunt as she smiled back at her.

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“Morning Thera, don’t you seem to be in an excellent mood so early?”

“Um, I got another level to my spirit empowering so I guess it has me pretty happy,” She explained. It wasn’t exactly a lie, she was happy about it, it just wasn’t the full truth either.

“That’s awesome,” Ben told her as she took a seat, placing a cold fruit salad in front of her. “I guess some more woke you up?”

“Yeah, but as long as it’s only once a week it’s not so bad. Anyway, why are you still here? Don’t you usually leave earlier than this?”

“I’ve got strict orders from Falk not to turn on the forge until the heatwave’s over so I’m mostly going to help with cleaning and customers. Not much point in getting there early if I can’t do anything. It did give me time to make you guys lunch though so grab that when you leave.”

“Having you around really does spoil us Ben,” Her aunt said with a happy sigh. “I’m not sure how we’ll manage if you decide to open your own shop in another town.”

“Ha, well you don’t need to worry about that any time soon. Anyway, I should start heading off now though, I’ll see you both later.”