Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

No Ben this morning.

Ever since he got back he’d been constantly busy, driven in a way that seemed more frantic than it had in the past that couldn’t help make her worried, with the worst part being that he wasn't telling her everything.

She was sure that something he’d seen on the demon’s world was the cause, driving those feelings in him and pushing him to do more than he already had, it just felt like there was more beyond that he wasn’t letting on which only made her worry more.

Not that I can judge. Even if he’s eased up the amount of work I need to do at any hospital I’m still constantly busy too. Maybe striving for more power really is the right call right now.

She understood why he wanted to break through to the third tier to get it too. With the explosive growth of attributes that would come with it, it really was going to be the quickest path to power if one could only get past that impossible wall, with her own now before her.

As strange as it felt to consider, she was now a proper contender for the third tier as well and it seemed that both Ben and the gods held their hopes over that fact, no matter how impossible getting there in the next year felt. As incredible as it would have been to break through into being a soul mage, she still had no clue how she was supposed to try and manage it so soon, even with her magic affinity giving it bonuses too.

Which really means I need to be trying to raise that too, but… how?

She was trying to use her life magic in more creative ways and to incorporate it into the other affinities she used when she could but there was a reason there were so few in the world who’d been able to cross over the line that divided mortals and gods, it was so hard it wasn’t even something one could really get advice about. Her uncle had spent years and years training and building up experience and she could only assume that Elvat was the same, how was she ever supposed to manage that same level of training in such a short amount of time?

Which means I’m going to be asking advice about it later, great. That just leaves me in the meantime where I’m going to have to get through the day first.

“Do you have to be here?” Skoe asked, feeling the weight of Thera’s gaze from the side.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I’m supervising. Please, don’t mind the implied threat and act however you want.”

“Thera, we really will treat her well while she’s with us,” Sachel told her, with both Ralia and Aso nodding along. As agreed, the girl was going to be joining their party for safety’s sake while Thera wasn’t around but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to see how the first day was going to turn out since she had the spare bit of time.

“Just consider me a small tagalong, I just want to see how you’re all going to manage for now anyway.”

Even if they were just on patrol, they’d be building their group dynamic after all, solidifying the way they’d be working together. All Thera wanted to know was that her friend would be able to handle herself, even if she was being a bit overprotective in the process.

Still, things seemed like they were going fine. They were able to talk while keeping aware of their surroundings as they filled their roles, something that every community on the planet had to be doing then, ensuring there were always people on watch to handle things if they started to go wrong.

Mmh, when I’m done here I really should make quick visits to the surrounding communities to see if they’ve had any issues yet, I’ll do whatever healing I can along the way too and then-

“Princess!” A spirit cried out. “A group of demons is in the area, would you like us to deal with them or would you rather handle them yourself?”

She was about to speak up, caught off guard but thought better of it before she did, moving to talk with her mana instead.

“How many of them are there?”

“Twenty-three.”

“I see. In that case, could you and the others lead them this way for me, we’ll handle them.”

“Understood.”

It wasn’t kind but with that warning what Thera saw more than anything else was an opportunity. One to see how well her friends would be able to handle themselves without her around and did nothing to warn them of the coming group, wanting to see how they’d fair for themselves without getting her assistance.

Of them, it was Ralia who noticed first, feeling the vibrations in the ground as the group approached them and perking up, her look in the distance being enough to alert the other two in her party while Aso picked up on it last, not yet knowing the cues that had become natural for those who’d fought together for so long.

In an instant they were moving, both Skoe and Ralia taking the front while the two mages stood at the back, with the warrior among the holding for his swords while the shifter changed her form, taking on the shape of a giant snake for what was to come, leaving the last two to prepare their spells.

“Ralia, I’ll keep an eye on Aso for this so just focus on the front,” Sachel ordered, letting the others know that she’d cover for their newest member so they could fight to their heart's content. “Thera, do you mind-”

“Oh, don’t mind me,” She told them. “Act like I’m not even here and do your best.”

“...Right.”

That meant they weren’t getting any easy way out of that but she at least trusted that Thera would help if things went wrong, giving her some comfort as she prepared her spells, being judged the entire time.

From the moment the first demon broke through the foliage, Thera was watching, prepared to act if need be but hopeful they’d be able to handle themselves, with Sachel not letting her down.

Being the most powerful member of her party with a magic specialized to take advantage of their environment, she was forcing roots to burst from the ground and ensnaring the demons in her grasp as they tried to attack, locking them in place, even as they fought to tear themselves away, giving room for the others to strike.

While Skoe slashed, Ralia bit into them, sinking in her sharp fangs and tearing away what she could while blood poured into the dirt, the hail of violence quick and brutal while the demons attacked how they could.

Even while held they fought against both their chains and attackers, ripping out plants that bound them to lash out with tooth and claw before being restrained once more, with Aso doing her best to contribute to the fight when it happened.

With fire magic being her best avenue for attack, it was difficult to use in tandem with someone whose spells were susceptible to burning but any time a demon broke free it was fair game, their screams coming out while their flesh burned and while not killing them outright, managed to be enough to distract them to let the frontline fighters manage.

All of it was quick and chaotic but despite everything happening in those first few moments, the demons didn’t end there. Those ones had to either possess true intelligence or else be on the edge of it and with that came a certain ability to react beyond pure instinct, with some at the back using their magic to help them, not by attacking but instead directing it to their own fallen kin, filling them with a false life as the dead moved once more to attack, acting as nothing but puppets but meaning that their numbers wouldn’t go down until those sources of mana were extinguished like anything else, prolonging the battle even more while Thera watched in interest.

It was unlikely the demons had an awakened form of their innate minor soul magic which meant the ones attacking had to have gained proper death magic as well, a difficult task given how closely related the two skills were but not impossible considering her own experience with charm and dark and seeing how they fought close up was an interesting reference for her.

She knew already that life and death were closely related and now that her life magic was at the ninth awakened level, that meant she could take what she saw for inspiration, already feeling ideas forming in her head of areas she could try and grow in.

She still struggled with controlling homunculi through her mana alone and she never even tried to use the duel-affinitied spell that was golem creation but watching that, it occurred to her that any level of corpse control fit into the same category as those other two as well. All of it was filling empty targets with false will and life, a powerful avenue depending on how it was used that made her examine areas of her training she was lacking in herself that could be worth it to try and improve on as she reflected over the limited knowledge she already had.

Hmm, another thing to try and get some advice on.

Even if the chance to do that would have to wait. They were all panting by the end but eventually Sachel’s party killed the last of the demons wielding a death magic, letting the corpses that still held some amount of form collapse back to the ground with the victors going with them, feeling the exhaustion of it all.

“Good, it looks like I’m not going to have to worry about you all together,” Thera said happily, pleased to see there were no major issues. “In that case, I guess I can leave you guys to it.”

“I mean, you could worry a tiny bit,” Aso said, just as tired as the rest. “That sucked.”

“I’m sure it did but now I need to see if there’s any damage to any of the villages they may have passed on the way. I don’t think there’s anything else but make sure you properly report this when you get back.”

They all already knew but Thera was already flying off before they could say it, feeling the weight of whatever work was going to fall on her while she did her rounds.

Late into the evening, Thera opened the door to her uncle's shop, letting herself in and making her way through to one of the mini gates it held, finding Ben and all of his clones hard at work when she did.

“You know, if you’re going to run off before I wake up, you should at least try and be home in the evening,” She teased, drawing his attention away from the things he was making.

“Ah, sorry, I’ve been a bit absorbed. Rough day?”

“You could say that. It didn’t get into town but we had a group of demons attack while I was watching Sachel’s party and then when I went to see some of the areas they had to have come from I found a village almost completely destroyed so it's been a few hours of regrowing limbs and building new houses for them. It’s been rough.”

“Sorry, I’ll come home now and make something for dinner, give me a sec to get these things away.”

“No, it’s fine, I was actually going to ask for your help with a couple other things if you don’t mind?”

“Hit me, what do you need?”

“Pretty much everything you know about life and death magic if I’m supposed to awaken this skill,” She sighed. “With a special focus on homunculi, golems, and empowering corpses too. If I need to spend a week or two in your head, well, I’ll somehow manage to keep my sanity.”

“Okay, I don’t think you needed to add that last bit but give me a second, I can give you another option on top of those lessons too.”

Holding his hands in front of them, he wrinkled his brow in concentration as he tried to materialize, ending with a pile of dust falling through his fingers.

“And that was…?”

“Er, it was supposed to be a handy tool for you to enjoy but it looks like trying to lay down the enchantments while I materialized them was a little too much. Give me a minute, I’m pretty sure I can make this work.”

She watched as more and more dust fell through his fingers as whatever he was trying to do continued to fail until it eventually didn’t, leaving a book to appear in his hands while he raised them up to cheer.

“Middle legendary! This is a good day indeed!”

“And it does?”

“A similar thing to the archive. I’ve actually already donated a bunch of these to the library but the one I just made you is on another scale. Use this and you’ll be able to find information on everything about your various magics I think is useful, from core spells to how they intersect with each other. Use this and you’ll have all of the time in the world to read. Of course, I can still pull your mind into my head if you’d prefer.”

“...Well, I’ll at least test this out first. Thanks Ben.”

Unable to hide her worry, she took the offered book and poured a bit of her mana into it, feeling it work as intended with her mind being dragged in, finding a largely empty space with a chair and a table along with a few hundred books to read.

Since none of it was actually real she questioned the need for a place to sit but intended to take advantage of it anyway as she began scanning the shelves, pulling away books on the relevant topics she’d asked for before sitting down for what was certain to feel like hours and hours of reading.