CH346

After an early morning of doing exactly what he’d planned, going to the shop before the sun rose to make something that could act as sunglasses to help keep his migraine down, stopping by the guild after to talk with Ceselee and then waking up Falk to learn that they’d both only grew by three points in their different attributes as well, and finally making a simple breakfast for everyone as he awkwardly explained the level he’d gained in his sleep, along with his intentions to hide away for a week until it started to calm down. Ben then went to his room and spent the rest of the day working on adding enchantments to his three mythril bracelets for practice, not using more than ten of his minds at once to try and keep the pain down and his mood up as the hours passed in relative peace.

He couldn’t deny that it was boring, the very act of not thinking was taking a toll of its own when all he wanted to do was at least dive into his thoughts for whatever bit of stimulation he could get, but he resisted the urge the best he could, or else he risked not only dealing with even more pain, but the experience his various skills might gain.

Definitely not taking another enchanting job till this is all sorted out. I kind of ignored it before when Thera was telling me no mind jobs, but the enchanting branch does give me bonuses to all skills, and it seems like pretty decent ones at the moment too since I’ve gone beyond the master path. Definitely should have considered that when I took it.

Still, it was too late to regret his choice when he was in the middle of it. He had no intention of changing it out when he was so far along and losing the bonuses he’d gained, even if those same bonuses had the potential to lead him into even more pain depending on how they were used. Instead, he changed to trying to think of any solution he might have before being distracted by a gentle knock on the door, Thera doing her best to be as quiet as possible before letting herself in.

“Hey,” She said softly, trying to hide the growing concern she’d been feeling since she’d learned what happened.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Brought you a snack and some water since it doesn’t seem like you’ve eaten. You should have at least a bit before you go to sleep,” She told him as he sat up to take the plate before she slid behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

“If you’re feeling lonely I sure don’t mind the company,” He tried to tease without getting so much as a giggle in response.

“No, I’m feeling like practicing my magic on you to see if I can do anything to help at all. Don’t worry, it will probably be fine.”

“I mean, I wasn’t worried till you said something. Just out of curiosity, what are you trying?”

“I spent the entire day at the clinic using my mana examination to try and look at different species’ brains to try and get a bit of a reference for what’s wrong with yours to the point I even leveled it up. Obviously, it’s not as good as having another human for reference, but aside from the amount of stress your brain is under, I think your skills are altering it too.”

“Oh joy, another thing to worry about,” He said dryly.

“I don’t think it’s actually a concern… well, hopefully not at least. It just seems like your brain is becoming unusually dense compared to pretty much any other race I’ve seen, so rather than treat this like treating strain I’m going to treat it like an injury where your cells need to heal to see if that increases the density and gets you better faster. Of course, this is your brain we’re talking about so I get not wanting to do something like that since messing up would be beyond worrying, but on the other hand, everything I’m seeing is already worrying and I’m ninety percent sure that if I’m wrong then nothing will happen.”

He could see that this was coming from a place of concern and agreed without a fight. “In that case, magic away. Who am I to argue with my primary healer?”

Having agreed he let himself lean back on her as she cast her magic, enjoying her company in a comfortable silence as the time passed until she needed to go.

“Any better?”

“Honestly not sure,” He admitted. “Any change to my brain might not be enough compared to whatever needs to finish happening with my soul.”

“Mmh, well I’ll keep trying for the rest of the week. For now, get some sleep Ben. You probably won’t get another level like that so it’s healer’s orders.”

“Alright, alright, will do. Have a good night.”

He leaned back in bed and closed his eyes, having no desire to sleep after how it had gone the previous night but wanted to risk it anyway as a means of escaping his headache. He felt it coming to him easily too. Spending so much time with so many minds meditating was dull enough to put him in the right headspace for drifting off, with the only thing that stopped him being the voice of his god in his head.

<Ben listen, I know you aren’t going to like what’s going to happen but I’m asking you not to go too far.>

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

What? Was as far as he got to thinking before a new system notification filled his mind.