Eventually, Abrus forced the crowd to disperse, and while Ben got the great spirit to agree to host Greed, with the two of them still having things they needed to discuss, they both decided that was for a later day as he and Thera made their way back to the embassy.

When he looked at her he had so much he wanted to say. He’d just been through a living nightmare, but seeing her was like a dream. He thought his feelings were going to spill out, but what he said ended up being completely different.

“I need to redo the enchantment on your brace.”

“Oh, uh sure, I guess it’s getting late anyway,” She said as she watched the sun sink off in the distance and took his arm in her own, holding it tight as if he might escape otherwise. “Let’s go.”

On the way there and as they made it back they talked while Ben took a seat on her bed, her brace in one hand and her hand in his other as they told each other just what they’d missed. Ben tried to give a simpler explanation on the more extreme parts of his ordeal while at the same time he thought Thera was skimming over plenty herself, with her time alone being chalked up to training in the woods as she waited for him, but he didn’t intend to push. He couldn’t have been happier for her growth while she seemed almost amused by his.

“So not only did you awaken a second skill and get both of them to the first level, but in less than three months you took two non-affinitied magics from the zeroth to the fourth? You really are ridiculous.”

“I mean, when you look at all the job bonuses going to both of them it’s not that shocking, not to mention having a proper blessing mage with me. Being able to practice continually helps a lot.”

“That’s a higher level than some people would get after years of practice, but whatever, I’m not even surprised. I’m just happy mine are all still higher. Well, except my charm but that’s for the best too. Honestly, how embarrassing would it be to have any lower magic levels than you?” She said with a laugh.

“Ha, well you better keep practicing or I’m going to catch up. It might take some time to finish the tank job now that I’m not on the constant verge of dying, but the moment I do I’m taking master craftsman and I can only imagine how good those bonuses are going to be for me.”

“Well, I’ll have to do my best. Any other crazy things happen to your status I should know about?”

“Man, there’s been so many changes I don’t even know.”

He listed everything he could remember, stopping to answer any of her questions as he did while the hours passed by through the night and the morning rays of the sun began to make their way through the window.

Despite how much more mana he had and how fast he now regenerated it, it was still taking him just as long to make the enchantment as any of the past time’s he’d done it.

The reason for that was simple. Despite how much more mana he had access to, given the immense increase to his enchanting as a whole since it awakened, he was now able to make it with an overwhelming level of skill compared to the past, but that meant it was still going to take time. If he would have been content to have it as good as what existed before he was sure he could have finished in at most an hour, but he knew he could do so much better and wanted to see just how that would pay off in the end.

Yes, obviously yes. I just want to get this out of the way before I immediately do something that might ruin our friendship.

We’ll see.

He finished it up as his god spoke into his mind, and even he had to admit that he’d created a thing of beauty with it. Anyone with the mana sense to see the structure of what he’d created would be blown away at the delicate weaves of mana, all but forming a silken tapestry to wrap around what Thera constantly gave off. If he was right, then combining all of the level eight skill rings he’d gotten from her mother, along with dark resistance enhancement and his own resistance enhancement, should have put her effect at a distance to around six and her effect on contact to sixteen after considering how his new skill should interact with it, accounting for how her charm had leveled up since he’d last updated the enchantment. It just came down to actually testing it.

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He got a passometer from one of his bags Thera had in her room and set it up to measure what she gave off, feeling his eyes widen as he double and triple-checked, doing everything he could to make sure he was right before he spoke up.

“Something wrong?” She asked as she watched him react, only for him to quickly shake his head.

“No, just hold it and we’ll see your effect on contact,” He told her as he handed it over, watching three of the ten standing pegs fall.

“So what am I currently at?” She asked, taking her eyes away from the passometer to see the wide grin stretching across Ben’s face.

“On contact, seven. At a distance though, zero. Congrats Thera.”

She felt her own eyes widen at his words, not able to believe what she had heard at first.

“Are… are you sure?”

“As I can be. I triple-checked to make sure I set up the passometer right and that there was nothing keeping them standing. From the looks of it, the greater skill I have to work with is keeping any of your charm from leaking out. Hell, if I level up my enchanting some more, I might not even need to get higher-level skills, though it would still let me improve your brace more so it would be worth it in the long run. You’ll still have to be a bit covered up, but it looks like you won’t need the cloak anymore.”

It was too much to process. She blinked a few times, feeling his hand squeeze hers as she looked at him, her emotions exploding as only two small words came out.

“Thank you.”

Yeah yeah, I know.

“Um, so listen Thera,” He said awkwardly, suddenly feeling a pressure he hadn’t even experienced with his life on the line. “There’s something I want to say, er, tell you… There’s something I want you to know.”

He was stumbling over his words, suddenly feeling like a bundle of nerves as Thera immediately perked up at his tone, her eyes glued to him and filled with expectations.

“I, um, well, I…”

He trailed off as the far too many minds in his head showed him every way saying how he felt could go wrong, keeping the words tight in his throat.

You know, I could just say I like you and if she takes it poorly, play it off as her being an important friend. Yeah, why don’t I do that?

Myriad asked, disappointment in his voice.

Hey, I’ll have you know that cowardice is a very useful survival strategy. I may not even be here now if I wasn’t a bit of a coward.

“Ben, I’ve been thinking,” Thera cut in, fiddling with the necklace he’d made her with her free hand as a golden blush spread across her face. “Um, you know how I don’t want certain things in my future? I mean, I didn’t, but I’ve had plenty of time to think and maybe I actually do…”

Her voice grew smaller and smaller with each word as her face shined in the light of the morning sun and she shrunk in her bed, the cover pulled up to try and hide some of her embarrassed expression.

…Alright, if that wasn’t a sign to say what I want to then I don’t know what is.

“I love you Thera,” He told her gently. “I know you’ve said you aren’t looking for that sort of thing and I get it. You’re one of the most important people in my life and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable saying this and I don’t want it to ruin our friendship, but while I was in there I just couldn’t help but think how much I’d regret never actually saying it. I know I’m the guy that makes your braces and I don’t want you to feel obligated to respond and I don’t want to put you in a weird position, though I guess I already did, but-”

He knew he was rambling, having so much he wanted to say as all of the thoughts in his head struggled to get out, but she stopped him easily, wrapping her arms around him and silencing him with her lips.

In that moment his mind went blank while he kissed her back, enjoying the feeling until she gently parted, resting her forehead against his own.

“I love you too you idiot, so don’t do anything to scare me like that again.”

The words left him over the moon as his heart pounded, but even still he couldn’t stop himself from speaking.

“I mean, are you sure? I know you’re worried about our lifespans and the future-”

“Ben, I’m so, so tired of worrying about the future. I just want to enjoy what I have now… Unless you're worried?” She asked, shooting him a nervous look.

Instead of responding immediately, he kissed her again, feeling so very happy to be alive as he did.