As the next day wore on, Ben got all of the tasks he needed to out of the way. Braces were made and he’d found the materials to make the items Quilith requested already in his work area in the morning, so once that was done he started and finished on that.
It wasn’t the most exciting, but he’d managed to improve the design of the gun since he’d first made it, even if he was still terrible at using one. The densely woven enchantments on the weapon made for good experience at least as he pushed himself to get as much power into it as he could, and after making all of the armour to the specifications given he moved on to two different personal projects.
The first being to work on the enchantment he’d been slowly making for the small gloves he’d bought during his dinner with Thera the other day, building it up as he went, but mostly focusing on the other enchantment he had in mind, the one he needed a spherical rainbow mana crystal for, a pocket-sized job crystal.
It had been something in the back of his head ever since he’d had to make one in the dryad village. He would hate to find himself somewhere that he couldn’t conveniently change jobs, making him miss out on all of that experience, meaning that a portable one would be the ideal. The issue was the size and complexity of the enchantment. Unless he wanted to have a typically sized one taking up a bunch of space in his bag, he’d need an excellent quality material to let the enchantment be as small as possible, and of all the crystals in the world, none were of better quality than a rainbow mana crystal.
It took some time, but after a fair bit of work as he stretched both his minds and mana to make both at the same time he was able to complete them. Ben finished the gloves and the crystal, slipping both into his pockets for later and feeling exceptionally pleased that it had worked out so well. All that was left to do was inform the queen that the armours were complete so she could have them sent out.
He left his work area, intending to go right to her but stopping as he saw just what was going on outside.
You’re freaking kidding me. Unicorns, really?
A heavily decorated carriage was sitting by the house, with two unicorns resting after however long their journey had been, as well as a few elven guards and the driver.
He could only assume that their presence had to do with the return of Mercy’s companion, but that left him in the awkward place of not knowing what to do. He could probably walk to the room he’d been given to read for a bit, or he could leave to wander the town, maybe visit Thera as she worked on her life magic with her aunt.
I mean, whatever’s going on is probably happening behind locked doors, if it’s even that important to begin with, but I’d still rather avoid it. That carriage is just a little too fancy for my taste to want to run into its occupants.
His decision made, he went back to his work area to do something he hadn’t had the time for since arriving, reaching into one of the spacial bags and pulling out all of the parts of his disassembled bike, quickly putting the pieces together and riding off through the front gate to enjoy the town a bit, only to be stopped by one of the employees as they came running after him before he could get too far.
“I’m sorry, but the queen requests your presence!'' They called out to him as he weighed in his mind just how much of a bother whatever was going on might be, seriously considering whether he should just keep pedaling and pretend he didn’t hear.
No, it’s probably fine and I’ve gotten plenty of help from Pelenia, I shouldn’t just run off.
Feeling resigned, he allowed himself to be led to a sitting room, finding Pelenia, Mercy, as well as three elves in deep conversation as the succubus who’d led him there bowed her head and made her exit.
He felt the eyes of the elves appraising him which he ignored, instead giving his full attention to Pelenia.
“Hey, so I got those items done for whenever you want to send them out,” He told her, not bothering to question why he was there.
“That’s excellent, thank you for your quick work Ben, but it’s pretty clear that wasn’t why we called for you. As I’m sure you can tell, Mercy’s companion has been returned so we were hoping you could demonstrate the effectiveness of your new tool. I assumed you’d want to see how it worked out as well to see if it needed any adjustments?”
“Oh if that’s all then absolutely! I’d actually want to remake it two or three times to see how well the other enchanters would be able to make it if that’s cool with you?”
“I see no problem with that if you all don’t?”
Mercy easily gave her agreement while the most elegantly dressed of the elves gave a nod of consent. Ben assumed it would be that one that Mercy ate from, but instead another, far plainer one walked up to her, revealing his neck for her to sink her teeth into, which she quickly did after slipping the tool into her mouth.
There wasn’t much change in the elves' expression, in fact if anything he looked slightly disappointed, but he stated the results as he’d experienced them. “I felt none of the effects I’d typically have to fight against. No pleasure from the experience nor force attempting to suppress my thoughts. Given the low amount of dark resistance I have I’m comfortable claiming it worked.”
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The only change from the other elves was a slight widening of their eyes while Mercy looked gripped with emotion. The long-standing trouble her people faced was solved. It would still be hard, but they could likely find more people who’d be willing to let them feed now, giving them the chance to have their fill. The idea that they’d no longer constantly be on the edge of hunger for the safety of the few who did let them eat was enough to bring tears to her eyes, at least until Ben walked up to her to try and put his hand in her mouth.
“Wait, wait what are you doing?” She managed to get out despite her full mouth as she pushed him away.
“I already said I want to remake the enchantment at least one more time so no time like the present. Now stop being a baby, I already had to do this once.”
“Yes, but there was nobody watching that tim-”
Her words were cut off as he slipped a hand into her mouth, connecting to her as he broke down and remade the enchantment, feeling her teeth slice into his flesh again. The fact that it worked while it had a resistance of 80 tied to it, along with the higher levels skills may have shown that he could make it, but what about the other enchanters? That got a bit more difficult when he remade it to more closely match just what he’d expect from them, only putting in a resistance of thirteen and only the first level of the four skills he could put towards it, even if they weren’t quite at the point of being able to enchant with enchantments yet.
Once done he wiped off his hand while politely asking Pelenia to treat him as Mercy wiped her mouth before trying again, sinking her teeth into her elven companion and watching his reaction.
Immediately Ben could tell it wouldn’t be enough. The look in the man's eyes as his blood was sucked took on a level of pleasure that wasn’t there before, even if it was subtle.
“Well, it was far weaker than it would usually be, but I barely needed to resist it. Worse than the one just on it, but an improvement overall.”
“Hmm, and what’s your dark resistance?” Ben asked, getting an unexpected answer.
“Only three, unfortunately.”
“What? So you've been pushing off the effects of enthrallment through willpower alone?”
“Yes, sadly we elves have a naturally low dark resistance, but the vampires are our kin, with few other races willing to help the strongest of us must face the burden.”
Ben gave it some thought. He knew that an enthrallment needed a resistance of up to thirty, meaning that until some of the other enchanters managed to make significant progress with not only their connect, but enchanting as well then they might not be able to make items like that for the vampires.
Wait, but maybe it’s not actually so bad? I mean, most of them can’t use connect to enchant with other skills yet, but at least Valaria’s able to and the rest only needs one more level. There might be a solution here.
“So that probably means that for now I’m the only one who can make the enchantments to completely cover a vampire's enthrallment, but it wouldn’t be great if I was the only one doing it. If anything happens to me then there’s no more. Of course, if the other enchanters made some then they’d only be able to partially block it, maybe leaving it in the ten to twenty range depending on their own dark resistance. If only there was a race with a higher level of resistance and had to naturally be able to put some willpower into not falling under the mental effects of those around them.”
He wasn’t even trying to be subtle with it as he looked to Pelenia, heavily implying that the succubi could offer some help until the enchanters got good enough to cover the full effects of enthrallment, but she in turn was looking not to him or Mercy, but to the well-dressed elf sitting across from her.
“I have no issue with providing the vampire's aid and working to ensure they’re safely fed considering there’s only a few hundred of them, but I’m not able to do it out of the goodness of my heart.”
“And what exactly are you looking for?” The elf asked, his first time speaking since Ben arrived.
“It seems that even with the braces, a few nations are hesitant to allow the races with passive magic into their lands. In exchange for your support in ensuring we receive the same level of free movement the other races take for granted, as well as perhaps sending over a few of your water mages to help during the hot seasons, I’d have no problem with taking in their entire race.”
“The terms are agreeable. Mercy, do you have any issue with those stated?”
She shook her head, looking surprised to be addressed at all before the elf carried on. “Then it’s an agreement. You there, would you be so kind as to bring the item back up to its maximum performance, and then we’ll be on our way.”
He did as he was asked before exchanging their goodbyes.
“I truly can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for my people,” She told him with a bow. “Should you ever find yourself in need, don’t be afraid to ask.”
“Don’t worry about it, it’s been a fun project. Having said that, do you need a bite before you go?” He asked, tapping his neck and getting a small laugh.
“With my companion I’ll be fine. I must say, I’ll miss the flavour though, give me another taste should we ever meet again. And Pelenia, thank you for your hospitality. I’ll be sure to do my best to repay you when I return.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” she told her with a smile, and with that everyone left, leaving Ben and Pelenia alone as she slumped down. “Gods, those sorts of meetings are always so draining.”
“So who were the other two elves anyway? If you could negotiate with them then they must be important.”
“Really only one was, they were the king and his guard,” She explained, dropping a far bigger bombshell than he expected. “Even if the vampires don’t live among them, the elves still value the connection, no matter how complex the relationship may be. Of course, your little plan to get out of making those for every single vampire gave me some favourable conditions from him as well, so it worked out quite well I’d say. Still, I hope you don’t miss the feeling of such an attractive woman running her tongue down your neck too much,” She joked.
“Please, I know how long a vampire lives, on top of the fact that they share the same agelessness as the elves. If Mercy’s their leader then she must be at the youngest three hundred, probably a lot more.”
“Hmm, it is a little bit boring that you know that, but I guess that explains why you gave such little reaction to it. Of course, that can’t be said for my dear daughter,” Pelenia laughed. “She really does become so expressive when you’re around.”
True, Thera didn’t seem thrilled with what she’d walked in on the other day and he hadn’t been able to see her much since.
Looks like it might be time to talk about that.