At the day’s end, Ben found himself slumped over a desk, feeling every bit of his defeat.
I can’t believe I couldn’t make a legendary item. Why couldn’t I make a legendary item? I have the skill, I have the technique, and I have so many freaking skill rings to try and make it possible! How freaking big is that gap?
His god meant it too. He didn’t have a doubt in his mind that Ben would one day break the boundary to create a new legendary item, and from there he was bound to flood the world with them in his ongoing quest to create all he could. He and every other god Ben knew had grown aware of this fact, and he knew that there were many other crafting gods keeping an eye on his apostle for that exact same reason. Everyone wanted to see it happen.
Ben for his part was unaware of the level of confidence that others had in the inevitably of the act, so he took his god's words for exactly what they seemed to be; motivation.
Thanks Myriad, and you’re right. I’m not going to let a bit of failure keep me from achieving all of my goals. Hell, this isn’t even failure. I’ve been consistently making high ultra-rare items all day. This is an absolute success, I just aimed a little too high when I still need to practice using my awakened skills more.
Feeling in a better frame of mind, Ben sat up, catching his teacher as he was packing up and preparing to head out for the night.
“Hey Falk, if you don’t have plans then let’s grab a bite, on me. There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“Boy, if there’s something on your mind then we had all day.”
“Yeah, but I needed to see what I was capable of today. Now that that’s done I have time for other things.”
“Ha, I suppose I understand. Fine, some food would do me good and I wouldn’t mind seeing the niece a bit after everything that’s happened.”
“Er, it’s a bit of a private talk I’m aiming for Falk, let’s go to a restaurant instead, come on.”
Before the yeti could ask more, Ben was already dragging him out, forcing them through the streets until they made it to what was a reasonably empty place given the time and took their seats as they waited to order.
It was only as they were left waiting for their food that Falk focused in on him again, wanting to know just what that was all leading up to.
“Falk, I know I don’t say this enough, but I’m thankful for all you’ve done for me,” Ben started. “Even if you didn’t want to at first, you’ve been teaching me diligently these last few years and helped me grow into the craftsman I currently am. I wouldn’t have the skill I currently do without you, and the fact that it’s thanks to you I met Thera is another thing I owe you a lot. You’re someone incredibly important to me.”
He hadn’t known what he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t that. As Ben finished saying his piece, the yeti could only scratch his head, not knowing how to respond, only for Ben to speak up again before he got the chance.
“I’m also grateful to Sonya,” He went on. “She’s been giving me a far nicer place to stay than the inn I started at, she’s treated plenty of my wounds when I’ve needed it and all in all has given me nothing but stability and treated me like family. Between you, her, and Thera, you’re all some of the most important people on the planet to me, so I really want to try and help her be happy, don’t you?”
“What? Of course I do, boy. She’s one of my oldest friends, why wouldn’t I want her to be happy?”
“Then why have you been completely ignoring her feelings?”
His teacher just gave him a confused look, leaving Ben to mutter to himself.
“I know you’re not that dumb.”
“Hey, watch it boy-”
“Are you really going to tell me you don’t know that Sonya is in love with you?”
As the words left his mouth, Falk completely froze, not sure how he was supposed to react to what Ben just said.
“Wait, no, no you can’t be serious,” Ben complained. “Did you really not know? How could you not know?”
“Hold up a minute, it isn’t like that,” Falk said, grasping his head as he did. “I’ll admit, I’ve found myself suspecting as much every now and then, but boy, I’ve known her for years, decades at this point. Sure, I’ve occasionally thought that maybe she felt somethin’ a bit more than platonic, but she’s never brought it up, I’ve just been assuming that I wasn’t reading her well. Hell, what makes you think you’re right about this?”
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“It’s not thinking, I am right. One hundred percent positive. This is an open secret that literally everyone else is aware of and honestly the fact that you really didn’t know has thrown me off a bit,” Ben complained as he reevaluated how he was trying to direct the conversation. “So now that you know, how do you feel about her? Should I assume that since nothing’s happened after all of these years she doesn’t have a chance? Is it just a matter of you two being too physically different, because if that’s the case it’s fine, but you really do need to actually talk with her.”
Ben was sure there were better ways to do this, but he wanted to be blunt about it. This was a one-sided affection that had gone on for years at this point. It was Falk’s choice if he wasn’t interested, that was fine, but Ben genuinely believed that Sonya deserved to hear it for a chance to move on with her life.
She’s too great to be stuck waiting on something if it’s never going to happen.
It was honestly the answer he’d been expecting, but surprisingly, Falk held up his hand to silence him.
“My kind are particularly fussed about appearance so that has nothing to do with it, and it’s not that I’d be against Sonya properly pursuing me. She’s been an excellent friend over the years, I have no complaints about her, it’s just…”
“Just what? Falk, if you would actually be willing to get involved with Sonya then screw this dinner, go tell her.”
“I have a goal, boy. A goal I’m not willing to compromise on for something like romance, even if it’s for someone I care about.”
“Alright then, what goal? I don’t care if it’s already taken you years, we’ll make it happen.”
He’d thought this talk would be about getting Falk to properly face Sonya about her feelings for him to help them be put to rest, but if there was a way that he could get them paid off instead then he didn’t care how hard it would be, he would do all he could for it. Ben had meant what he said, he cared about the two of them, if he could work to make them happy together then he’d do it.
His teacher looked unsure at first, debating with himself long enough for their food to arrive but eventually settled on his choice, and for the first time, Falk took out his card and handed it over to Ben, all options on it displayed for his student’s eyes.
Holy crap.
He tried to keep the excitement from touching his face, even if it was just bubbling beneath the surface. Falk had always been so resistant to letting him know the skills he had, now that he was bearing all, Ben didn’t want him regretting that choice as he let his eyes scan over everything.
There was a lot to take in too. While his teacher lacked in titles, he had as many jobs as Ben currently did, which shouldn’t have been as much of a surprise as it was. He knew that the average person with a human’s lifespan might expect around five to eight jobs, but anyone who could cross the boundary to gain an awakened skill was always bound to have more, and Ben was under the impression that his teacher’s lifespan was longer than a base human's anyway.
More important than that were the skills. As the lifeblood of an enchanter, it made sense he had a lot, with many of them being fairly high in level and complimenting the ones Ben was sure he thought of as his core skills, namely his smithing and magics, but there was still room to be surprised there as well.
That was namely the two awakened skills he held. Ben knew for sure he had one, with his earthen smithing being what made him a contender, but the yeti also had an advanced version of death magic, high death magic, and at the seventh level of that to boot.
He made sure to memorize everything he was seeing, while making a note to get Falk to make him rings for each of his skills for him, before handing it back over.
“Alright, so what does this have to do with your goal then?”
“I’m aiming to become a soul smith.”
It was a name he hadn’t heard before, but he could get at least a bit of it through context.
“So should I assume that’s what it’s called if you awaken your smithing to the third tier with death magic? Or would that be holding both a third-tier smithing along with becoming a soul mage?”
“You got it right the first time,” His teacher told him with a nod. “In the history of this world, there’s only been one, which isn’t surprising since the soul mages have typically been trying to raise people up to create a number of different tier three skill holders to see what would work best. ‘Course, that didn’t exactly go to plan since there was so much less notice for the invasion than anyone hoped, but the one we had changed the world. They’re the reason we have our cards.”
“Wait, really?”
It was something Ben had never stopped to question, but his teacher just nodded. “Drop some blood and it links to your soul. More important though is the fact that when you reach the third tier and enchanting has blended into the skill at some point or another, you’re able to use a very particular, very useful enchanting spell. One that, once powered, lets the user build an enchantment that can keep creating a new enchantment to create a magic factory of sorts, hence how the world keeps a steady supply of cards around.”
Ben took his own card out to look at it after he heard that. It was something he looked at all of the time, and he’d never given much thought to how it worked, but after being told that he couldn’t help but wonder at the simple fact that as far as his eyes could see, there was no enchantment on it at all.
It was something his teacher picked up on and gave a small chuckle as he did. “The enchantment is a pretty delicate thing and it’s stuck in the middle of two plates that are sealed together. It would potentially be pretty hard to read if you had to see the text through the enchantments depending on the power of your mana sense after all.”
“Interesting, interesting,” Ben muttered, thinking about if it would be worth it to crack his open to see what was going on beneath the surface.
“It wouldn’t,” Falk told him, practically reading his mind. “You’ve got plenty of connections boy, don’t destroy your card and just ask Pelenia to get you an example of one before it’s sealed next time you see her.”
“Fine, fine, so this is your goal then? It’s big, and I’m sure it’s ridiculously hard so I get why you aren’t making romance a priority. How long’s it been since your last level?”
“Six years. It’s no easy task boy, but I’m doing my best to chip away at it. Still, it might never happen so I’ll talk with Sonya, she shouldn’t be wasting her life waiting for someone like me.”
“Not so fast,” Ben told him, feeling his eyes gleam. “I’ve seen you work Falk, you’re no slouch. Six years is plenty of time to be on the edge of getting your level which means all that’s left is tipping you over the edge. What’s the best you can make?”
“Ugh, I suppose since I’ve already told you this much it doesn’t matter. I can make a legendary item about two in three times if I’m lucky, and maybe even the middle grade one in fifty. Never high though.”
“Well then, that makes this easy. Hope you’re ready for the next few days Falk because we aren’t sleeping. As soon as we’re done here, we’re going to work on designing something past what’s possible for you. We’re making a super weapon.”