While Fontesh had made out well from what she’d gained from the surgery, acquiring not only a plant inclination but also mana recovery rate enhancement, her daughter had still walked away with more. A level to her own mana recovery rate enhancement and the acquisition of the same magic inclination Thera had was one thing considering that the girl had four different magics to her name that she’d work on raising as much as she could, but Ben couldn’t help but feel nearly indifferent to that in comparison to the final skill the surgery had brought her.
Genuinely cannot believe she walked away with a crafting inclination. God, I am so incredibly jealous.
Still, he hadn’t let it show on his face after she’d gained it or in the days since, instead getting back to work, training Delair and Mora while working on himself at the same time and taking his student’s new growth into account of it. After all, with skills that could help her raise her core abilities, he could easily let himself raise his expectations just a bit, even if what could come with it came with a question.
Hey Myriad, you around?
Got a question concerning my dear little apprentice. She’s just a kid still; what would happen to her if she awakens a skill?
Not what I meant. Awakening affects aging rates. If she awakens anything, would I be dooming her to stretch out her awkward teen years? I’m not certain about how long dryad puberty lasts but I can imagine getting something like another five years added onto it might suck a bit, even if the extra time would be better in the long run.
Okay, sure, but it’s not like there’s not a group that can give a good-enough comparison. After all, some people are born with awakened skills.
… Debating it. I believe there’s a decent chance that by that point, she might have hit a level in one of her magics where I could help forcefully awaken her but to be honest, at least for her first awakening, I think I’d prefer it if she managed to cross that threshold by herself. The fact that she has me teaching her means she’ll absolutely be able to do it, and frankly, I think that would be more meaningful for her in the long run.
Well, yeah, but also look at how far she’s come in the few months I’ve been teaching her. She could get an awakening by herself even in a decade at the latest if I’m not around to help her so long as she keeps up her practice, I don’t need to go into her head to force anything. Plus, if I’m still around after, I could help her with any awakenings after her first one if she wanted me to.
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I don’t think it’s easy, I just have a good view of what my student is capable of. Besides, getting that first one is important. It would show her that she’s capable of it, even without my help. The confidence that she can do it could be just as valuable as actually awakening in my eyes.
He could feel his god leave with the conversation done, leaving Ben alone with his thoughts as he considered just how he was raising her up. With the sort of knowledge she had access to, knowledge that even veteran mages and craftsmen might not have been able to access without someone like Ben there to distill it all into its most valuable components which meant that even if he were to disappear, she’d have no issues reaching the top of any of her skills, with his disappearance meaning that there’d only be the matter of pushing beyond by herself.
But once she does awaken, she should have no problem raising her crafting and enchanting, even if I’m not around, and I’m confident that she’ll be able to awaken both of those by herself. She’ll be fine.
Besides, it wasn’t some foregone conclusion that he wouldn’t be there to help her once she did reach such a level. With how much he’d been managing to grow, he’d have gone as far as to say that he might have had one or two decent percentage points of chance of surviving the end of the war and coming out on top. He wasn’t like when he first met Oaun, he was now that universe's god of sacrilege, possibly its only god of sacrilege while also being the being most powerful in their divine aspect. No natural-born god had a power equivalent to the fifth level of a skill, and no ascended god had grown to such a point either.
And I’m certain I’m getting at least one more level to my sacrilege before the war ends. Likely more too, if I’m being honest, just based on how my authorities grow too. So why do my odds still feel so low that I can barely let myself imagine a future where I’m still in it?
Of course, he knew the answer. His first encounter with the demon’s god had left too big of a mark. He’d felt the difference in power between them and even then couldn’t imagine closing it so easily. That was a deity that received faith from most of the galaxy after all, if the universe had never before seen something like himself then he doubted it had seen something like that either and it was hard to feel that the skill he worked so hard for would be able to beat that unbelievable raw strength.
But that’s just as I am now, he told himself. Focus on the plan. Awaken connect, pray it takes in enchanting, and start enchanting with the third-tier skills of every third tier on the planet to try and make the sort of weapons that could bridge that gap in power. Who knows, I get that awakening, maybe a couple more levels to my sacrilege too and before you know it, I’ll be saying I have a seven percent chance of winning. One in fourteen odds doesn’t sound too bad, right?
At least, he tried to make himself believe that such a thing didn’t sound horrifically bad and forced himself to move past the thought to focus on his work instead. Maybe Hentath had been right, maybe he shouldn’t have been taking the weight of the world on his shoulders and maybe he needed a break, but when the time before the end of the world was measured in months he couldn’t give in so easily. Even if he wasn’t going to abandon his life in the name of practice, the time he invested in it needed to be invested wholeheartedly, leaving the workshop buzzing with his activity that only ended as a knock came to the door.
Already in range to tell who it was and what they wanted, it left Ben to sigh, even as he opened it, finding Onk beyond.
“Ben,” they said brightly, full of cheer. “It’s been a bit. Have you been well?”
“I have, Onk. Lovely to see you, barring the fact that you’re definitely here to ask me to do a quest.”
“You know how it is. Is Thera around?”
“She’s off right now. You want us to go to Ceselee for the details, right? Would it be good if we go in a couple hours? She should be back by then.”
“Of course, I’ll let the guildmaster know.”
“Alright, see you then.”
As they ran off to inform the guildmaster, Ben hung his head back, thinking of what he’d have to do. They wouldn’t have been called unless it was a first or second ranked quest, which meant they would be off for a while, meaning they’d once again have to plan to be away for a few days at least.
Which means when Thera gets back I’ll send Mora off with Delair and after we find out how long we’re going to be gone for, we can talk to Fontesh about watching him. Alright, so long as this quest manages to be interesting enough, then maybe it won’t be a complete waste of time.