CH782

It was as Ben got up that morning, about to go to Mora’s room to try and entertain the boy, that he froze in place, his normal routine being enough to help give him a sense for his newest skill.

All he’d done was immediately begin his soul production like he normally would as he’d gotten up, continuing it as he’d walked which had been enough to get a reaction when one passed through him. The souls he made would all linger, just for a moment, but that was the first to interact with that strange new spatial sense he’d acquired, feeling the thing he’d made at a level he never had before.

So if my new sense is tuned into souls in a way my soul sight isn’t, I guess that means whatever bit of mana I can spend with the skill is meant to be used on them, right?

It was the best idea he had at least, so creating more within the small bit of space he could feel them he began to try, doing his best to burn his mana with the skill, trying to figure out the way it was supposed to work until he felt it click, and all at once, the souls surrounding him disappeared.

Another result that made him freeze. All of the souls he’d create would vanish in the end but what he’d just done had gone beyond that, forcing them to disappear instead. He didn’t think he’d destroyed them, if he had he would have expected to be able to see something to hint at such a result, leaving him to only guess that he had somehow forced them to move on faster.

“Which isn’t exactly the most immediately useful, but… I guess if I ever run into any troublesome ghosts and don’t have Thera or Falk around it could be handy and it’s not like the mana cost is outrageously high, it won’t hurt me to practice it a bit…”

<CONDEMNATION LEVEL INCREASED>

“…Which I suppose will be incredibly easy, given that this is a soul skill and all.”

Now that he’d finally awakened his soul inclination and even gained a level to it, raising the skill would be easier than any others in that category he’d trained in the past, even if it was just a background task to work on while he focused on the things that actually mattered but with that small discovery made and sorted out, successfully sating his curiosity, he finally knocked on Mora’s door, hearing the young boy reply.

“Come in, Ben.”

A bit more of a greeting that even addressed him by name, Ben couldn’t help but feel like they’d been making some progress with the child, even if some of that very progress seemed to stem from the spirit’s curiosity. The boy could see Ben’s soul after all and had obviously noticed the changes that had grown in it since the night before, as well as instantly taking note of the level he’d only just gained in his newest skill, but any sort of emotional progress was worth taking.

So ignoring the feeling of being examined, Ben instead gave the child a bright smile.

“Morning Mora, how would you feel about doing something a little different today?”

“Different?”

“Thera’s coming with me today so I was thinking of heading to the shop early after making her and Sonya some breakfast. Since that means you’d be coming to the shop as well, I figured I’d see if you’d be interested in coming there too and you could try a few different things before I start on work.”

“…Alright.”

“Perfect, and that means it looks like you get to try your hand at cooking today too then! It’ll be a blast.”

The boy seemed more neutral to it but at least went along with him as they prepared to leave a breakfast for the sleeping two to find before going off to start the day, together walking through the quiet streets of the early morning.