CH486

In the month after finishing the dark tower, the day-to-day lives of both Thera and Ben had returned to their more normal state; at least for the most part.

While Thera was still being treated differently because of the reveals of both her connections and title, it had become so much easier for her to just not care about it. Her charm was gone, and with it a weight she’d been carrying her whole life. Whatever anyone had to say about her was nothing in comparison to the comfort she was able to feel in herself.

As for Ben, his work never ended. While he got to enjoy practicing however he saw fit with the shop still closed while he was waiting for his teacher to finish up his massive project, he was mostly allowed to follow his whims with what he wanted to make, with the keyword being mostly.

Upon his return, Myriad had given him a request on behalf of the gods. He was one of the world’s few awakened craftsmen, and given there was still the second wave of the war coming, that meant something. People needed to be armed, and he was the one to do it.

That wasn’t to say that there weren’t already plenty of weapons and armours to go around. As things stood, everyone who was fighting would be well-supplied. The difference was that anything he could make was of a higher quality than what most would possess, and he was quick enough to get hundreds of items out a day, resulting in thousands of pounds of raw materials being taken in and out of the town at all times to aid in his work.

His homunculi were playing a big part in that too. While staffs, swords, spears, shields, and other weapons of all kinds were being created through their use, to the point that he’d had extra forges made just to make the workflow smoother, it had freed up his true body to cover the enchantments for it all, ensuring that every weapon that left the shop to whatever lands would be getting them came out the doors as upper rare at worst.

Of course, he didn’t let it take up all of his time. He had his quotas, but the moment he reached them he would let his true self drop the task for other things while the homunculi kept up their work, with the other thing in question being to try to make progress on some of his other projects, which resulted in what he was staring at below.

To someone back on his homeworld, they would have taken it to be a toy robot, and Ben supposed they would be right to think that. Looking like a man made of metal and wires but only standing a bit taller than the length of his hand, the thing was getting up and moving around under its own power, letting Ben feel just a hint of success.

Finally some freaking progress on this. Just wait Inux, only a little longer.

He hadn’t forgotten about the talos he’d met what felt like so long ago now. Essentially an ensouled robot, Ben still had his core safely stored on his desk, waiting for the day it would be released and he was doing his best to make it happen. With the state of his mind, he was always working on designs and theory-crafting enchantments, and if the miniature body he had being possessed by a demon’s soul was any indication, he was finally on the right track.

So I was able to solve the sight issue by combining a bunch of mind skills and various sense skills while tying in aspects of clairvoyance and scrying and it looks like it properly has a sense of touch, though that’s a little harder to judge. It looks like creating a fragile barrier around it that breaks and reforms each time anything gets too close is doing its job to convey that bit of sensory information but I might need to re-evaluate further when the time comes. That just leaves the issue of overall quality.

Of the few designs he’d attempted, this was the first to reach lower legendary for all of the power he managed to shove into its small frame without breaking, but that wasn’t good enough. Linux had been a mythic item, even if it felt wrong to describe a person as such, and his body had been made in a way that not even Nare could understand when he’d tried asking. If Ben couldn’t make a design that was at least upper legendary then it was pointless.

Well, I say at least, but as good as I am, I’m not getting to mythic. He thought with a sigh. Even upper legendary might be more than I can do…

Still, he’d made a promise so he wasn’t going to give up, and with that determination in mind, he pulled the soul crystal from the miniature robot’s back before envisioning exactly what he wanted to improve upon and used his mana to bring it into being.

Cool, thought that was going to take another couple hours.

He’d been keeping an eye on his job level so he’d known that it was going to be finished that day, he just hadn’t expected it at that exact moment. He’d been materializing the small bodies instead of building them from scratch for the simple reason that it would be quicker for testing out prototypes that way, but it looked like it had paid off. Or at least it would soon after he went to see Thera.

Though I still think she’s being too worried here.

<I don’t.> His god chimed in, making his presence known. <You’re still going for mind master, right? Look at what’s going on in your head. Nobody in this world’s history who’s ever taken that job has ever had anything like that, if you take it now then I wouldn’t be shocked if you finish it before you get to the clinic and then all of your little plans will be for nothing.>

It’s still a master-ranked job, even if it’s easy it won’t be that easy. But don’t worry, I’m a man of my word. I guess it doesn’t hurt to be a little cautious about this.

It would only put him out a few minutes as he went to the clinic and back so it wasn’t going to be the end of the world, but the part of him that craved efficient leveling made him rush over to get things done.

When he arrived, he found everyone he needed already there, waiting at the front for him. For the sake of more than just himself and Thera reaping the benefits of her master adventurer job, she’d invited her aunt, Aso, Sachel, and Ralia into her party earlier when she’d first taken it, leaving just enough room for himself.

But why’s Sachel and Ralia here? They don’t do any clinic work?

This isn’t going to be exciting.

<We’ll see.>

“Well, don’t I feel like mister popular,” He laughed. “All of you came out for little old me.”

“It made taking bets easier,” Thera teased. “We’re all putting money on how long this takes you to finish so we all have to watch you begin.”

“What? Okay, just for the record, how long do you each think this is going to take?”

“From what Myriad’s said, I was guessing two weeks,” Sachel told him, with Sonya taking a far closer date.

“I’m saying a day so don’t disappoint.”

“I didn’t bet,” Ralia told him, looking at Sonya with discomfort over the ridiculous answer she so confidently gave.

Aso looked the least sure of herself after hearing the others as she gave her number. “I was betting a month and I only went that low because of everyone else. You’re taking a master job, right? What have you done to inspire this sort of confidence in the rest of them?”

“I honestly have no clue. What about you Thera?”

She gave a bright smile at the question. “I’m putting you at sub ten minutes.”

“…Okay, I get you were worried about me taking it before I came here, but you do realize I’m going to be responsible for basically everyone’s experience here, right? I’m pretty sure Sachel has the win in the bag.”

Since the master adventure job was one that combined job pools with all party members, that meant the total amount of experience needed was outrageous, especially considering what the others had. With Sonya still at the early levels of master life mage and Sachel in the same boat for master plant mage, it was only Aso who had a somewhat more normal job as a light mage, with whatever Ralia had being left unknown to him. Accounting for all of that, the total experience for all of them would be huge.

Of course, the only reason we’re doing this at all is because I know my mind is crazy enough that it will be quick, I think they just need to lower expectations a teeny tiny bit here is all.

Still, he felt himself being looked at with curious eyes so he didn’t delay, accepting Thera’s invite when she asked him to join the party before touching his job crystal and taking the one he knew he wanted.