CH278

“Alright Greed all you have to do is think of something and we’ll see if it works,” Ben told his companion, a metal box strapped to his head in preparation for a little experiment he’d made to keep himself sane.

“Like this?” He asked in a robotic voice, only to change his tone immediately. “Holy crap, this thing actually works? You’re crazy legs, how did you come up with this?”

“Just saw a need and decided to fill it, not that it’s any good in here.”

What Ben had made shared properties with some of his mind control devices, as well as music players he’d made in the past. A small tool that read the user’s mind, speaking the thoughts it contained aloud, even if it did come off as rather metallic as a result. It hadn’t been easy to make by any stretch, but after everything else he’d been doing he needed to stretch his creativity, at least a little bit.

With that experiment done though they got back to what they were normally doing during their imprisonment. Ben training his skills and trying to learn all he could to keep them alive, and Greed either sleeping through what he could, buffing Ben, or practicing his music, at least until he needed a snack.

Ben stopped what he was doing to eat what the trial provided him as well before cutting his hand for the crab as they both had their fill, neither talking during the time. It was a complicated matter for the both of them, but it had to be done to keep them alive.

“Legs, tell me something interesting,” Greed asked after feasting on Ben’s blood.

“What? Where did that come from?”

“It came from my boredom! You might be able to keep yourself entertained staring at a wall and training your skills, but I need a bit more stimulation! Come on, help a guy out!”

Ben thought in silence for a minute before he spoke up. “Well, there’s only one skill it’s impossible to enchant with.”

“…I don’t know why I expected anything else at this point, but fine I’ll bite. What skill?”

“Magic nullification. An extremely good enchanter might be able to create an item to hold its effects for a few hours, but in the end it always decays away and destroys itself, or at least I’ve read. I’d say that’s pretty interesting.”

“I mean, kind of, but come on, you’ve got to have something better than that for me.”

“I don’t know man, I’ll think on it and get back to you later. If you’re looking to be distracted, why not tell me what you’re gonna do when we get out of here.”

“If we get out.”

“When we get out,” Ben told him firmly. “Power of positive thinking; we’re not being defeatists when we need to put our all into this.”

“Fine, in that case, I’m making this ordeal the center of my performance from now on. I’m going to compose a song so incredible that bards across the land will have to sing it as well. Just you wait legs, you’re gonna be a star.”

“Uh, can I decline?”

“Nope. You told me to be optimistic, I can’t be much more than thinking about how rich surviving is going to make me, that’s for sure. How about you? What are your dreams once we see the sun?”

“God, first things first I want a real meal. Even if it’s not killing me, man wasn’t meant to live on bread alone, especially not this crap. Other than that, being reunited with my wonderful forge will be incredible. Honestly, I can’t wait. I’m going to use so many things I can’t in here and make so much junk. Just you watch, I’ve made two ultra-rare items now, I’m going to do my best to flood the market. Oh, and I have a couple more skills to try and awaken too. Well, I really only need to manage it with one, but it’s going to be hard to do it stuck in here. I’ve got to push myself a bit more. Oh, and some payment to collect too. Nobody gets out of it just because they think I’m dead.”

“Wait, go back a bit. You’re close to awakening two more skills?”

“Well, I’ve got two ninth-level ones so I’d say so. Honestly, awakening focus isn’t really important, I don’t even know what it could do for me if it does, but getting connect awakened is essential. If I can do that then I should be able to take my crafting to a whole other level. God, I can only imagine.”

He was starting to drool as he thought about what he’d be able to make if he could enchant with awakened skills. Just being able to do it with ninth-level ones was proving incredible already, but awakened ones would take him to a whole new level. He would even be able to go around adding the magic necessary to make the gates and collect the piles of money that came with such a thing. He knew he’d have to push his limits to make it happen, but the results would be incredible.

“Alright, I already know by this point that you’re ridiculous, what I’m more curious about is if you’re still hanging onto that resolve you had before you got tossed in here, if you catch my meaning.”

“…After all this, I’m sure talking to Thera will be easy.”

“Ha, well you’ll have to let me know how it goes. When you come to claim your show that is, the moment we get out I’m heading for the gate. I don’t think I’m ever coming to Allfaith again after all this.”

“Ha, don’t blame you.”

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