CH552

After some lunch with his friends, he and Thera first stopped by the magic library before going home so he might talk to Verbum to find out about the two mysterious skills he’d gained, only to get the worst news he could.

The other summoned and Killi were both going to be away for an unknown length of time, meaning Ben had no easy means of figuring out what the skills would do, which made up most of his musings when he got back to work in Stonewall, using what little of the day he had left.

Rule bender was the easier of the two to guess at, he was at least able to make theories surrounding it. He’d gained the skill after materializing matter from a universe foreign from the one he now called home, meaning the skill likely had to do with either that or the way space had warped as he’d been doing it. If he was to guess, it might help lower the mana cost of such a thing given how high it had initially been, but he had no plans on putting the skill to the test without seeing as much as he could from Verbum first. The blowback from it had damaged orichalcum, a metal that until that point was known to only be alterable by magic. Any unadvised testing carried far too much risk.

And then there was his other new skill, one he didn’t know where to begin with. Actualization. Since it had come from a new job, there was no specific task he’d done that he could link it to, and the job in question helped even less.

If he’d gained it from a crafting or mind job then he could assume it was a skill related to those areas, but he’d instead gained it from master of all, a broad job that covered everything. The skill could be related to any part of him, from things he did to titles he’d gained or blessings attached to him, it was unpredictable.

Meaning the only thing I have to go off of is its name. Actualization, the act of bringing something into existence. To me at least, that would imply it’s related to all of the materialization I do, but…

Ben materialized a simple book from his mana, not feeling any real difference. It didn’t feel any easier than usual and if the mana cost had dropped at all it was such a small amount at the current level that he couldn’t even notice.

Of course, if it does drop the mana cost for materialization then that will be good for me if it levels I guess, but I really don’t feel a thing. Ugh, that’s just one more thing to figure out in the end, I’ll just toss it on the pile with the others. Just once, it would be nice to get an easy answer.

“Ben, we need to talk,” Thera started as they were lying in bed for the night, about to go to sleep.

“Oh wow, that’s never a good sign.”

“What? Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Just an Earth stereotype about how hearing that from a partner is generally bad news, sorry. What’s up?”

She hesitated for just a moment, making him genuinely worried that there really was some problem until she spoke up.

“Can you just tell me honestly, are you doing okay?”

“Huh? Yeah, I think I’m fine. Do I not seem okay?”

“No, you seem overworked. Well, more so than usual.”

“Ha, Thera, I have my stamina up to nearly two and a half thousand, I think it’s actually impossible for me to get overworked.”

“That would probably be true if you were a normal person, but you never rest Ben. Every waking minute you’re doing something to practice your skills and even your unwaking ones are spent entirely with the gods and I think it’s starting to show. I’ve never seen you forget about your meeting with Quilith and you were way too unenthusiastic about making what could be easily called one of the greatest discoveries of all time today. Usually, you’d be going crazy about it but instead you seemed practically eager to toss the work to someone else. That’s not mentioning that you’re still getting headaches again.”

“But off and on. Plus they’re not like my past migraines so they’re super ignorable.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“That’s not the point.”

“I know it’s not,” He sighed. “And yeah, maybe I’m feeling a little overworked, but there’s no escaping that Thera. I can do a lot so I have to do a lot, that’s all there is to it. I’d rather not face the end of the world thinking that I should have tried a little harder.”

“It just feels like if you don’t take a break then you won’t live to see the end of the invasion, even without getting eaten by something.”

“Ha, then I’m lucky to know a fantastic healer,” He told her, trying his best to seem positive, even if she wasn’t buying it. “Listen, I’m not going to work myself to death. There’s a lot on my plate but I’m going to manage just fine like I always do.”

“I’m not sure how you think anything you’ve gone through in the last few years can count as managing fine.”

“Simple, it’s because I always survive in the end,” He said positively. “And I’ll manage fine here too so don’t worry, okay?”

“Mmh, I’m still going to be keeping an eye on you.”

“Then that just means I’ll be extra fine. Now get some rest, you don’t need to spend the night trying to level your sleep resistance today.”