CH391

So this is the tower, huh? Ben thought as he stood before the giant trial, taking it all in.

It was just as large as any of the magic towers, though it had a few key differences to go along with it. Instead of there being a single door for the terrestrial races to enter, there were five, each of which had a different symbol at the front.

A hammer and tongs for smithing, wood and a knife for woodworking and construction, beakers for alchemy, pencils and brushes for the arts, and the final one which had them all. There weren’t doors for every potential crafting type skill, with cooking, stone working, and sewing being notable exceptions, but there were enough considering that those who wanted to take on the trial would get that single tower compared to the magic ones, and they’d have options to choose from beyond being proficient in everything.

Which does make it a little interesting that they have a door specifically for doing a bit of everything. He thought to himself as the god Nare spoke out in his mind.

<Most gods who represent crafting skills cover multiple ones so having a door to let mortals like you in particular shine was a must.> He explained. <Ideally, if we live to get the chance we actually would like to expand to cover those missing disciplines, but we had to choose where we wanted to focus most with the power we had.>

Interesting. And no clues to go with these ones I see?

Unlike the magic doors which all had a little something extra that anyone with a sharp eye could take advantage of, the doors of craftsman’s tower just let the challenger know what sort of path they might face, no hints to warn them of whatever lay within.

<There’s no need for any. The trials of crafting gods don’t typically leave one putting their life on the line. Of course, to make up for that it could be said that completing any floor becomes significantly more difficult in comparison to the magic trials as a result. We actually have fewer challengers getting to the third floor than any other tower.>

Well, isn’t that demotivating. He thought back as he placed his hand on the front, running his fingers over the grooves of each symbol on the door that held them all. The door he would personally challenge if he was going to, as the question of if he should step beyond filled his mind.

He didn’t think he could do it. His items were still square in the middle of ultra-rare, meaning that he still had plenty of room to grow, but on the other hand, he felt himself running out of time with each passing day. If he could somehow get his connect awakened in the next week, that would give him time to rush through the gates, collecting all of the high-leveled skills he could and start trying to put them to use, definitely making things that would be high ultra-rare and maybe even legendary.

It was the sort of thing that could potentially turn the tide of battle, wasn’t it worth the risk?

But on the other other hand, if I try and fail then I’ll lose the opportunity to do it in the future. What if I only make it to the third floor? Worse, what if I don’t get past the first? I’ll have lost out on the chance to awaken my skill when if I just put off challenging it till before the second or third wave I could have much better odds. Is it worth it to ignore it for now to have a better chance later? There’s literally lives on the line, but then doing it when I’m not certain could cost even more in the end.

<Ah, I say there’s no rush.> Nare broke in, interrupting his train of thought. <You can always wait till you’re feeling more confident.>

What’s with you? You were so gung ho about it before I dealt with the earth tower, now that I’m seriously considering it you think I should wait?

<…>

<The difference.> Myriad filled in, in place of Nare’s silence. <Is that now he knows that trials can no longer claim faith from you.>

Wait, what? Really?

<We discovered it during the earth tower.> His god went on. <You sincerely didn’t want to give any faith for it, so you stopped giving it off. Well, your normal amount still went to me so thanks for that, but it left the gods who had to give you their blessing and raised your skill levels at a loss.>

Oh cool, sweet.

<Not sweet!> Nare yelled. <We aren’t collecting faith for no reason you know! We don’t want to be at that much of a loss!>

Oh please, maybe if the blessing you guys would give wasn’t so weak I’d feel a little bad, but I’m sure when you compare losing out to me against all the faith you’ve earned in the past from these trials you guys are still coming out ahead.

<Mmph, sure, but it still doesn’t feel good.> The god grumbled. <Anyway, you’re right in thinking it’s less important for this wave than later ones so I’d wait. With the level of weapons we have combined with the vast number of awakened skill holders, I’m not going to say this wave is going to be easy, far from it honestly, but it’s going to go better than any other in the past. We’ll take losses and even if we beat the third one we’ll still be feeling the side effects of this battle for centuries, but this isn’t where the world falls.>

It was just a little reassuring to hear, so after only another moment Ben took his hand away from the door. He knew he could still raise his skills more, he would get to the point where he could no longer grow on his own before taking the challenge to squeeze whatever bit of potential he could from himself and the gods when the time came.

Okay, this is insane. This is too insane, it really is a super weapon.

Despite being in the great library of craftsman’s tower, Ben had yet to put his eyes on any of the books. Unlike the one found at the magic towers, the floors weren’t divided or restricted so there were piles of things to get his hands on, but in that moment he was sure that he was already holding the most interesting documents by far.

The schematics for Iberu’s superweapon were in his hands and he couldn’t help but go over them again and again. Not just out of a desire to have them memorized in the event something went wrong, but for the pure beauty of them. It was a tool he could understand Falk and other craftsmen wanting to put their hopes into, and he could see his teacher’s touches on it as well.

In fact, he was fairly sure it couldn’t exist without his teacher. Ben may not have been certain what the yeti’s death magic level was, but he was positive it was awakened given that Falk could use it to make legendary items, and that feeling was all but confirmed by just what the weapon was supposed to do.

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It gathered mana from the many, many expensive materials that made it up, condensing it to a single point after passing through all of the enchantments on the machine and fired it off to the invasion point, creating an area that would not only drain the lifeforce of anything unfortunate enough to come through, but kill the very cells that made them up, rotting their muscles and weakening them drastically in the instant they were hit by the effects, making it so they couldn’t rush to escape the area of effect.

It was savage, brutal, and based on what he was reading, seemed to be impossible by all accounts.

Even if it’s the size of a house, the amount of power it would need to get this effect seems like it’s way too much unless the enchantments were third tier, and as much as Falk may want to hide his skills there’s no way I wouldn’t be able to see that. So where’s all the power coming from?