CH349

Holy crap, what else can I add to my bracelets to pass the time? Maybe I could mix a fire enchantment with an air one so it will spit out flames if I scream through it? No, wait, Sonya would be pissed if I started a fire by mistake. Um, maybe I could set it up so that all three of them would shoot out a ball of dirt or metal that’s passed through them? I mean, I could technically do both so long as I don’t actually test either, and there really is the option of just repeating enchantments at this point, but man I’m so, so bored!

Even if he wasn’t as poor off as he had been when mental expansion first leveled up, he was still far from being in top shape, planning on spending another week cooped up at home rather than face the far too loud world, with the only issue being how unreasonably dull it all was. He had been practicing his enchantments the best he could considering he didn’t have a wide variety of tools to test them on and he’d finished off crates of books in that time, both ones he’d bought in previous trips to Anailia and Allfaith, as well as the ones that had started coming in from the guild that he was getting for free for being a rank one adventurer, but they were only able to distract him for so long before he wanted to do something despite his pounding head.

“Myriad, buddy, tell me there’s an easy solution to this I’m just not seeing,” He muttered.

<Even if it doesn’t seem major just keep on having Thera treating you. It is making a small bit of difference and that’s all going to pile up as the months go by.>

“And I get that, but what I’d really, really like is a quick fix that would let me think without feeling like there’s an ice pick wiggling around in my brain.”

<Well, I actually am seeing what I can do right now by discussing the matter with some other gods, it’s just not going super smoothly since someone thought it would be a good idea to try and put them in their place.>

“Ugh, don’t care, I stand by it.”

<Of course you do.> The cube sighed. <So don’t expect any easy solution to come to you immediately you colossal pain in the butt.>

“Yeah yeah, it’s just a few more months of suffering. I’ll live.”

Though the quality of life leaves something to be desired.

Tired of enchanting and reading, he grabbed a blank piece of paper to begin drawing something, not having any subject in mind but needing the change of pace, when a knock came to his door and Thera poked her head in, moving to sit on the edge of his bed.

“Oh hey, sorry I didn’t hear you guys get home. Didn’t realize it was so late but if you give me a minute I’ll get dinner started.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, I still want you to take it easy for a while so I can bring you a plate later. Actually, there’s something I want to talk about,” She told him, looking unusually serious before she continued. “Alright, so you know how I got a letter from Yuzu this morning? Well, she made me… us an offer. One I personally hope you’ll turn down.”

“Uh, what’s the offer then?”

“She wants us to join them for taking on the earth tower.”

Ben froze as soon as the words left her mouth. The earth tower, one of eleven magic-themed trials, considered to be both bigger and more challenging than the standard trial of a god, though he knew little else on the topic. She didn’t need to ask him to turn it down, he had no interest in even considering it if not for one overwhelming issue.

“So should I take the fact that you’re asking me not to accept instead of saying we shouldn’t accept to be a sign you intend to do it?”

She sat there in silence, her answer being obvious as Ben leaned back and sighed.

“Alright, then I’m going. Do we have to leave immediately, or…?”

“Ben, just because I’m going to do it doesn’t mean you have to,” She told him, trying to be both gentle and firm as she did. “I’m doing it because this will be the best opportunity to level my earth magic I can get before we’re all fighting with our lives on the line and I know you don’t actually want to do this. Have you slept well even once this entire week?”

She asked fully knowing the answer was no. He’d been trying to sleep properly instead of spending each night in his god’s realm like he normally would in an attempt to escape his headache, but he was wracked with the same nightmares he’d been having since he’d escaped the trial, making it only a marginally better experience then dealing with his headache, even if it did leave him spending too much time exhausted from it.

“Thera, how am I supposed to not go with you when I know you’re going to do something like that? Trials are dangerous, how could I possibly be comfortable knowing you were going to go do something like that alone?”

“But I won’t be alone. I’ll have Amy and Yuzu and Jake there. In fact, it’s hard to stress just how much worse off you’ll be compared to everyone else there. It’s an earth magic trial Ben, I don’t think I need to remind you just what magic you lack?”

“I didn’t think Yuzu had it either though?”

“She’s a third tier skill holder, it doesn’t matter that she doesn’t. Her teachers probably just want her getting the reward. Compared to everyone else you’d be at a massive disadvantage.”

“Then why did they even extend me an invite?”

“…”

“Thera?”

“Even if it’s known for being a hard trial, it’s not like it had anywhere near the death rate of the last one you did,” She finally admitted. “When they were looking for people to fill their two empty slots I guess they thought of us because of my power and the fact that you can be resourceful. But that doesn’t matter because you’re in no shape to be doing it right now, mentally or physically. Plus, the rewards you’d personally get aren’t even close to what the rest of us will if we get to the top.”

…Probably not the time to be asking why this trial is going to discriminate against me.

“Okay, but there’s one important thing you’re forgetting,” He said as he gently cupped her face in his hands, bringing her eyes to his. “We’re a team. If things were reversed then you wouldn’t want me doing this without you, would you?”

“…That’s not fair,” She sighed, leaning her head against his. “I’d be a lot happier if you didn’t do it.”

“And I’d be happier if you didn’t either, but if this is something you can’t pass on then it’s something I can’t either.”

“Mmh, you really are impossible.”

“It’s part of my appeal.”

“Your appeal is going to get yourself killed, but okay, fine, I’ll let them know. We do have a month and a half before they plan on challenging it anyway so you need to put your all into being in top shape for it, understood?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good, ‘cause if you get yourself killed in there I’m killing you,” She said as she got up to leave the room. “It will be a while till dinner so get some rest if you can, you still look exhausted.”

As she left, Ben laid back in his bed, closed his eyes, and forced himself into the realm of his god, finding Myriad had company.

“I knew you’d be coming up here so I brought him over for the talk since he’s been wanting to chat with you anyway,” Myriad sighed as he gestured to the god Nare beside him. “So what is it you want to ask first?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He didn’t try to talk his apostle out of it. He knew the boy would stubbornly insist on going since Thera was going to as well, but it was obvious that there were gaps in his knowledge that needed to be filled, all the more clear from his talk with Thera.

“Well, I guess the first question is changing to why you thought it would be best to grab another god for this? Hi again by the way, wasn’t expecting to meet up so soon.”

“Ha, our dear cube came to me in a rush as soon as he caught wind of what you were going to be doing. As for why, I was the primary designer on all of the major tower trials.”

That pulled Ben’s attention like nothing else. Even if he didn’t know much about them, he understood that they were a huge deal as far as the trials of the world went, with the fact that Nare was the lead designer denoting his importance.

“So I take it you’re kind of a big deal as far as crafting gods go?” Ben asked, his eyes shining as he did.

“You could say that,” Nare said smugly as Myriad went to explain.

“You could say he has first mover advantage. Aside from the fact that as a god of both challenge and craft, he’s unusually suited to making trials, he was also one of the first gods to settle this world, being the first of the crafting gods in particular.”