CH98

The morning came and Ben went to the shop for the first time in what felt like ages. He threw open the doors and breathed it all in.

“Oh man, it’s good to be back!”

“You’re being dramatic,” Thera said beside him. Apparently, Falk stopped by the house yesterday and asked her to join for the first day at least for some training his teacher had in mind for him.

“Not even a little! Do you have any idea of how many things I want to make now that my levels gone up so much? God I wish I could take multiple jobs at once, leveling priest so I can improve my connect is fine and all, but I want more bonuses to my enchanting too,” The issue was that he needed both to improve to see how well they would work together as he leveled them up, he couldn’t just pick one or the other.

On the more positive side, it seemed that his enchanting was getting bonuses from his prior crafting skills, but he wanted more and would need to try and speed through the priest job to get them.

At least his past achievements were helping him gain experience. It seemed he got some each time someone converted as a result of his actions, and it looked like praying while wearing the church gave even more experience than just praying regularly since he was essentially acting as the head priest of the church, but it would still be at least a year if he couldn’t think of a few other ways to increase his job level faster.

There was always the option of completing another quest, but his two choices still weren’t great. Myriad had already said he wasn’t getting too many more converts so the idea of getting him 100 was unlikely, and he couldn’t think of what sort of achievement he could reasonably complete, but he’d get his god to give him some examples later that he could look into.

Still, it was an issue for later. For the time being, he wanted to get back into the groove of things at the forge.

“So what do you have for me Falk! Any orders you think I can handle?”

“For now the both of you take a seat, we’ll be working on some different skills of yours today.”

Hearing this Ben couldn’t help but deflate a little. There went his enthusiasm to get back at the forge. Still, Falk was his teacher and he would trust his judgement, so he quickly grabbed a seat in the front of the shop with Thera.

His teacher walked over to them and handed Ben fifteen metal blocks, each about the size of his fist.

“Alright boy, you need to start looking at how that connect skill of yours acts with your enchanting a bit more deeply. For now, try to enchant with all of Thera’s skills and I’ll look at the results after.”

“Um, sure, but I only know five of them and I can’t really tell what skill it is unless I feel them actively using it.”

“Ah, I thought maybe you’d opened up enough to show him your card.” His teacher said, turning to Thera. “Guess it’s no matter, I can always see if Sonya’s willing to share with you later.”

“Is showing me yours not an option?” Ben asked him, but Falk only laughed.

“I like to keep my skills close to the chest, and I can’t see any future where you knowin’ what I got doesn’t make you even more of a pain in the ass. Guess we’ll just have to do something else and I’ll get you to practice at home if Sonya’s up for it.”

“Wait, I don’t really mind,” Thera cut in, to Ben’s surprise.

“You sure? I kind of got the impression you didn’t have any interest in sharing it.”

“Maybe when I first met you, but as long as we’re adventuring together it couldn’t hurt. Besides, with how you tell me every little change to your status I can’t exactly keep mine secret considering you already know all of the interesting bits of it.”

Without any fuss she pulled out her card and handed it to Ben, letting him go over it. There were a few things he was curious about, her title as spirit child and whatever effects it might have on her as a whole, the fact that her earth affinity went above 100, something he didn’t realise was possible, as well as one last thing.

“You have a knowledge skill?” Ben asked, surprised. He couldn’t help it, they were a class of skill that was supposed to be rather hard to get, dependent on the skill holder having enough understanding of a topic while it all somehow clicked into place in not just their head but also their soul. The chances of getting them through practice were supposed to be rather slim, instead usually being unlocked with a job change, but Ben didn’t see anything that could be related to it on her card.

Some people could spend their whole lives dedicated to learning, but still not have the luck to gain it, but if they did the results could be invaluable. To be able to effortlessly use and remember the knowledge attached to the skill, as well as how easy it could be to level up once it was acquired made it quite valuable to have indeed.

Thera for her part seemed indifferent to it though. “I used to occasionally read some of the medical books Sonya keeps around the house when I was bored and happened to acquire it. It doesn’t exactly do anything for me given that if I ever touch someone the results could end up worse than if I did nothing.”

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