CH68

With their mental states being stabilized by using the tree as an emotional crutch, Ben and Thera stopped to take stock of their situation. Thera’s staff broke, her previously erratic emotional situation left her with too little control of her magic, and Ben hadn’t been in a proper state of mind to properly reduce the load on it, leaving her with one remaining staff.

As for Ben, his injury wasn’t so great that they couldn’t continue. He’d need to get it treated as soon as they got out, but as long as he kept it clean and didn’t let it get too bad he could have a healer treat it later; at the queen’s expense of course. As for his tools, well he still had fifteen charm bombs in his bag, the issue was his coat and gauntlet. The coat wouldn’t be able to be repaired until they left, but with only the sleeve damaged it actually wasn’t that big of a deal. Sure that arm would have less defensive capabilities, but looking at how things turned out, whatever defenses it was providing as a church weren’t great enough to protect against the trial. On the more positive side, its temperature control worked fine, leaving him cool and refreshed despite it all.

Then there was his gauntlet. With thick gashes cut through the metal, it didn’t look great, but it wasn’t unsalvageable. He wouldn’t be able to repair the metal itself without the proper tools, but the damage to the enchantments could be fixed, even without access to someone with barrier magic. He hadn’t had too much of a chance to do it himself, but he understood the theory of it at least, he just needed to use his mana to reconnect any sections of the enchantment or fill any holes that could be found within it. This could be a little tricky if he were to try it on a random item brought into the shop, but he was working on an enchantment he’d made himself. He knew exactly how everything was supposed to fit together.

He didn’t need to rebuild enough of it that it would affect its overall performance, but there was a different issue. When he had made the tool he’d tested it out rather extensively, and quickly realized that his level of mana alone wouldn’t be enough to make it last for more than a few seconds. He needed to compensate for that, which meant making the gauntlet from a mythril alloy. Aside from the financial hit, he hadn’t realised just how much of a fortune of mythril he’d wasted on his coat and desperately wished he’d saved a thimbles worth, it also meant that by having gashes torn into it he would have to supply more mana and it wouldn’t be able to make it last as long. Originally it would have lasted for a couple minutes, but now he couldn’t be sure.

Of course, it’s not like it was actually super helpful on its first official use anyway. He thought to himself with more mirth than expected. He couldn’t help but feel a little amused by how spectacularly it failed. Sure it was during the trial of a god, he should have expected it to be tough, but when he tested it out before it had been able to take some serious damage. Oh well.

He maintained the connection with the tree and Thera while he worked. He wasn’t sure how soon whatever effects or spell of the trial would come back to him once he disconnected, and he wasn’t about to let that ruin his work. Unfortunately, it was also going to be a slow process. Neither of them knew if any more of those creatures would show up, and if Ben was still the only one who would be able to see them then that meant he needed to be on watch on top of anything else. It was a bit more multitasking than he would have liked, but in the spirit of trying to make sure they both stayed alive he dealt with it.

As he split his focus between trying to spot any incoming monsters and trying to repair his enchantments he felt something scratching at his mind.

Something seems… off. He thought to himself. It was nothing in the environment bothering him, nor did he think it had anything to do with the trial. The source of his confusion came from his own enchantments. He wasn’t sure how to put it, but they seemed more tangible in a way, as if his mana sense had improved. Perhaps it was a sign his enchantment would level up soon, at least he could hope. The other option he could think of was that it was simply how it felt to repair an enchantment, but he couldn’t be sure. He filed it away in his mind to look into more later though, there were more pressing issues at the moment.

He finished up without any major incidents. Either they were getting a reprieve from the monsters or that section of the trial was complete, it was hard to say without venturing further, but with night being close they decided to make camp where they sat instead.

Unfortunately, the prospect of camping created a problem.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“So if I’m the only one who can see these things should I just not sleep tonight?” He didn’t want to rely on the creatures waiting for him to wake up again. The act seemed to be one of intentional cruelty, but since they’d shown they could defeat them he doubted he’d get a repeat of it.

“I’m not sure. If the trial is making it so only one person knows what’s going on then I don’t know how we’re going to last the night.”

Ben looked to the sky in thought for a bit. “Well I did already get some extra sleep and I’m used to staying up pretty late anyway. Maybe I could just stay up for the rest of the night and continue on in the morning?”

“And risk you getting killed from making a mistake in exhaustion? I don’t think so. Do you think you could at least get an hour nap in?”

“Then the risk is both of us dying instead of just me. Fuck I have no clue what to do about this.”