Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

“Oh, hell yes!”

Looking at his card early in the morning, the first thing he noticed was that he’d finally got what he’d been hoping for in the form of a single job level. It may have taken ages to get compared to how much he’d usually manage in the same timeframe but it validated the strategy he was operating under, confirming that once he got it done, he’d be flying through the rest of his jobs.

Just three more levels. He told himself. Three more levels and I break the job system in its entirety. Okay, when I get back to Stonewall I’m spending even more hours in the shop with my jacket and pushing my soul to the limits to make as many souls as possible to get through this. If I get another level of soul source too then it will get even faster and then… No, worry about that later. First, I need to finish surviving this meeting which means off to Yuzu.

It was early enough in the morning that he scribbled Thera a note telling her he’d meet them in the meeting before heading off, walking through largely empty streets to the gate before passing through beyond to Allfaith, arriving at a familiar doorstep before being let in.

It was one of the house servants who greeted him and led him to a seating area, letting him wait until Jake and Yuzu came out, looking groggy.

“Buddy, what are you doing here this early?” Jake yawned. “Not that it’s not great seeing you but I haven’t been allowed a ton of rest recently so waking up early isn’t great.”

“Sorry, I’m not sure if Yuzu mentioned it to you but long story short, someone tried to murder me a couple times and I want to borrow your mind and soul quickly to get my revenge.”

“What?”

He turned to Yuzu, watching her give a tired nod as Jake shook off some of his sleep to give in.

“Okay, you got it man, do what you need to do. And do you need any help beyond that? I wouldn’t mind tagging along if you need to beat someone up.”

“Thanks but I want to handle this myself, I’ll be real quick about it.”

Forming the connection and strengthening the other’s mind, Ben materialized the handful of stuff he needed before immediately going to alter the shape of the voidstone he now held, working the material to try and speed up its production of condensed spacetime so he’d be able to begin his main project.

“You’re the best, I’ll get out of your hair for now then.”

“Mmh, try not to get murdered.”

“Hold on a moment, I’ll walk back with you,” Yuzu told him. “I need to go that way anyway, I might as well make sure you aren’t attacked when you get back.”

“In that case, I’ll take you up on that.”

Jake went off to get what bits of sleep he could while Yuzu changed, eventually coming back and letting them head off, chatting while Ben worked.

“So, what are you making this time?” She asked as he shaped his enchantments, watching through her mana sense as he constructed and deconstructed them again and again on the powerful material, trying to shape them perfectly for whatever desires he held.

“Oh, you know, this and that,” He evaded. “Probably something super ethical. Maybe even the most ethical enchantment that’s ever existed.”

“Hmm, just tell me if you're going to somehow murder an immortal with that or not.”

“Murder? Absolutely not. I’m a sweet little peace-loving guy. This is just a handy tool for me to put people who don’t share that sentiment into a timeout.”

“...Okay, sure. And are you doing okay? You didn’t seem great yesterday but you look a bit brighter now.”

“I’m probably fine. I talked about some things going on in life with Thera and it helped, even if she wasn’t thrilled about some of it.”

“Mmh, I can see why you’d stress her out. Things really would be a lot easier if you just went home, you know.”

“Maybe, but easier doesn’t necessarily mean better. Now, just one second, I’m going to concentrate for a bit.”

He had the item shaped the way he wanted, looking like an almost perfect sphere with a single flattened side with a rainbow mana crystal heart to power it, leaving him only to confirm the enchanting structure he wanted to apply to it as he went, with his earlier experimentation narrowing down the final selection of skills and configurations he would go for as he got to work putting it together.

To get the effect he wanted, the enchantments needed to be dense and beyond perfect. By any reasonable measure, everything he made could be called perfect by anyone but the crafting gods but he was at a stage where he needed to be redefining what perfection even meant with his work. Enchantments that would make every other person with the skill beyond himself and his teacher froth with envy at the talent behind them were discarded and replaced, being remade again and again until they met his standards while minutes ticked by.

To an outsider observer, it all had to look incredibly fast but when he was creating them as quickly as he could think it became clear the level of care they were each getting, with his mana draining faster than he could get it back despite the normally low cost. He was challenging himself with the thing he wanted to create and as the last enchantment went down his efforts bore fruit.

“See,” He turned to her proudly. “If I took the easy way and didn’t seek revenge, I wouldn’t be able to reap the benefits of it.”

“Mmh, and am I supposed to ignore both your awakening and the last skill you just leveled with the rest of them?”

“I’d appreciate that, yes,” He told her as he admired his latest creation, a happy smile on his face as he did.

Just looking at it, those levels felt deserved, not just for the undeniable skill his eyes were telling him he pulled off but also for the brief bit of system information he got with it. He’d just created his second high-legendary item.

Arguably it could even be considered his first. While his jacket had reached that same stage, that was thanks to the thousands upon thousands of souls he had imprisoned within it essentially forcing up its ranking by virtue of how ridiculous it was. This though was different. It existed purely through regular efforts that had been honed to an outrageous degree, elevating him all the higher with his success.

Admittedly, I still have the benefit of having been able to make it with an enchanting medium that nobody else can currently access but that’s still fine seeing as how I discovered it. Plus, if I’m able to make any more high-legendary items in the future on more normal materials then that’s just another threshold broken and another reason to celebrate.

Considering that he’d created it entirely motivated by his desire to get revenge, perhaps excitement wasn’t the most proper emotion but he couldn’t help it. Not just for the levels or the ranking itself but also what it symbolized. In a way, Ben had just surpassed his teacher.

Before Falk had risen to the level of a soul mage, he’d told Ben that he could regularly create lower legendary items and sometimes middle ones, but never high. By managing such a thing himself, he’d gone beyond the yeti, even if Falk had only grown into another wall for him to aim for.

And so long as I awaken connect and my enchanting properly merges into it… Okay, that’s a future thing to look forward to but for now, I need to plant my little trap.

With that done, he materialized both a piece of paper and a simple light before pressing them to the flat end of his new tool and watched as they disappeared while he and Yuzu walked out front of where the meeting was going to be held, still having plenty of time before it was to start and chatted to pass the time.

By all accounts, that was what it would look like to any outside observer too, just a casual conversation between friends, but that was far from the whole story. While one of his minds focused on Yuzu, living at the normal speeds of reality to talk, the rest were pushing to their limits to take in and process every bit of sensory data he could.

Deep connection was stretched out as far as it could reach, letting him look through the eyes of not only Yuzu but also everyone else who came his way to try and catch any glimpse he could of the other coming in the distance while he prepared for even the slightest hit of a breeze to tell him that air had been displaced behind him, getting both after only a little while of waiting.

He saw Rook round a corner out of the eyes of a passerby and watched as the man realized that neither he nor Yuzu had seen him, with the immortal almost looking giddy as he disappeared, the small puff of air being displaced as he teleported telling Ben he was at his back and letting him do something his harasser never expected. He reacted.

Pushing his body beyond its limits by trying to make it move at the speeds he could think, Ben reached behind him while Rook reached out, completely taking the other off guard as the item he’d made pressed into the immortal’s open hand and activated before any spells could be cast, leaving the muscles in Ben’s limb mangled from the outrageous strain but his back safe, with the man who’d decided to be nothing but a pain to him nowhere to be seen.

“Ben, what the hell was that?”

“Just put him in a time out, it’s fine. Anyway Yuzu, while you’re conveniently here, mind fixing my arm? Not to exaggerate but it kind of hurts.”

“Yeah, that looks like an understatement,” She said as she reached out. “How are you taking it so well when you don’t have pain resistance?”

“What can I say, I may not be resisting the pain but I’m kind of used to it at this level. It really, really sucks but I’m regulating a couple of my minds to deal with it so they’re just screaming in my head while the rest get to focus on day-to-day life.”

“...You really do say concerning things sometimes, you know that?”

“Just gotta accept reality for what it is.”

It wasn’t long before she had him back in peak condition though and he stretched and flexed his arm for good measure, not feeling any lingering damage by the time both Thera and Falk finally arrived.

“My lovely girlfriend and my lovely teacher, perfect timing!” He called out. “Good news and other good news. Rook is sorted out and I also made something new. Falk, come over and give it a look!”

Even from a distance, the yeti’s eyes were telling him the ranking and it only made him quicken his pace as he took the ball from his apprentice’s hand, rolling it around in his own while he looked it over before breaking into a laugh.

“This do what I think?”

“I’d say probably.”

“Well, that’s one way to deal with an immortal, probably the best way too for now, you’ll have to tell me about the details later but for now we should head in.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

Thera stepped in line beside him as the four went in, looking at the thing he held.

“So what did you make this time?”

“I’ll tell you later. I actually have one more thing I’ll need to do with it after the meeting so be prepared then, you’re gonna love it.”

“...Well, if it got him out of our hair then sure.”

While Falk took his seat and the other attendees began streaming in behind him the room quickly filled up, with Abel wildly waving at them from the side and seeming to pay no mind to what bit of decorum the rest of them showed by the time the last two arrived, with Killi dragging Verbum with her as the other tried to fight.

It was clear it was a losing battle though and eventually he gave in to his fate, instead making his way over to Ben, grabbing his shoulders and giving voice to his displeasure.

“I’ve never been so betrayed.”

“Huh, by who?”

“YOU! How could you just leave me with her yesterday, huh? Do you know how scary she is?”

“Wait, Verbum, does that mean you’re more comfortable with me? Ah man, I didn’t know. Does this mean you’re finally accepting me in your heart as your friend?”

“I’m accepting you in my heart as the lesser evil!”

“Close enough. Either way though, I’m sorry man. I got in a bit of a funk and didn’t think about how you’d feel when you woke up, that was inconsiderate of me.”

The genuine apology seemed to catch the other entirely off guard, stunning him for a second and leaving him to mutter before taking his seat.

“Just don’t do it again then.”

“Got it, I’ll bring you something tasty next time I swing by the library to make up for it.”

“And then I suppose we’re just waiting on one,” Killi said as she looked around, preparing to start things for the day before Ben raised his hand.

“Ah, we won’t be. I guess he didn’t tell you but Rook found me yesterday to say how sorry he felt for his actions and that he was going to be gone for a while to self-reflect on the sort of person he is and wants to be. He won’t be at the meeting today.”

Not one person there believed it and more than a few began to speak up at what a ridiculous notion such a thing was but after looking in his eyes for a moment, Killi only nodded.

“Well then, here’s hoping he takes plenty of time to reflect but since that means he’s not here, let's get started with what should have been the main event of yesterday as we welcome two new members of our tier, being the world’s newest soul smith along with the king of growth. Ask questions, get acquainted, and figure out how we can all work together for the good of the world.”