Inside the library, reading through the first floor of the main building in a flash thanks to having so many more clones to use, his main body was focused elsewhere beyond just providing the mana for lifting the swath of books and turning pages, instead focusing on the crystal sheet he held in his hands, making and breaking dense enchantments across it at high speeds.
Not just simple constructs, these enchantments were chosen specifically to give him as much experience as he could get for his current job of summoned enchanter, with the focus of what he kept making and breaking being built on his experience as someone summoned from another world.
Like he’d done in the past, what he was making now were video games, even if there was no video aspect to them as he instead used complex arrangements of mana to recreate games he’d seen or played from his old world as well as making new ones himself, building them each at a level that made him wonder how much anyone else would struggle to replicate them.
Since he was using the enchanting modifier liberally, anyone who wanted to replicate his work would need to be to be an awakened enchanter at the very least and since it was built using his personal system, having access to multiple minds was a must as well, leading to end results that couldn’t be argued against.
He hadn’t actually expected it himself when he’d started out but many of the enchantments he’d constructed were enough to push the simple sheet to the lower end of legendary as he created things better than what could be found on Earth, with what he was creating using light enchantments resulting in photorealistic visuals for anyone that would play along with vast, complex game paths filled with options to choose from and explore.
The sheer scope he was aiming for with everything made it an intense level of work that was constantly threatening to break the crystal it was placed on each time, with his level of skill being the only thing keeping it whole before he’d go on to break down what he’d worked so hard to create, making something new in its place.
It was something he wanted to do his best with, even as he was pouring over thousands of texts, eventually finishing that last floor of the building.
Done that.
And done that too, perfect.
Down to only a week left before the wave was going to start, Ben had wanted to get his next job before he stepped foot onto the battlefield, with what he was going to take already firmly in his mind as he touched his job crystal, seeing the options stretched out before him in his thoughts.
And with no new ones to tempt me, it looks like I’ll be going with the original plan and taking my last major crafting job. Give me destructive craftsman.
Hmm, no levels which kind of sucks, but extraction enhancement huh? I’d thought that was an affinitied skill but I guess there just aren’t enough people with a non-affinitied magic who could make use of it given that I’m probably the only person on the planet who has material manipulation which means the only others who’d be able to pull it off would be the non-affinity mages. Neat, I’ll need to report this later.
Stolen story; please report.
Like most enhancement skills, it was as a passive ability with a rather handy effect for him, not only raising his skill when it came to an aspect of his magic, making him better at extracting one material from another with it, but also helped to lower the mana cost of the act with each level, something he wasn’t going to turn his nose up at, even if he had let him feel a small bit of hope that he’d get something a bit more useful. A level to any of his core skills or maybe even an awakening for one of his ninth-level ones. He had been told in the past that a job change could be enough to prompt it after all, but he’d had yet to see such a thing himself, even with the ridiculous pile of bonuses he had going to everything thanks to his various jobs, titles, and blessings.
Or I’d take an enhancement skill for my materialization. I haven’t heard of anything like that existing but I’m pretty comfortable saying that it should and I deserve it, the only people on this planet who are likely to do it more than me are a couple of the great spirits and I’m pretty sure I technically have more range than any of them, even if I can only put out a lower volume. Just saying, it would be appreciated.
He didn’t know why he was even trying to bargain with the system when he already knew that the skills he gained had more to do with talents and compatibility already forming within his soul but he still dared to hope he’d get something like that one day. After all, if he couldn’t be described as talented or compatible with materialization then nobody could be.
Although admittedly, taking a job called destructive craftsman and hoping that would end up with me getting something that would help with creation is kind of unreasonable. In that sense, extraction enhancement fits a lot better. Basically breaking something into its composite parts.
He materialized a bit of bronze as he thought it before using his mana to rip it into its component copper and tin before remerging it again and repeating the process as a form of practice, feeling done with his enchanting now that his job was complete as he put the crystal into his ring for later.
Content to keep practicing his new skill and with the last floor he needed to read through in the main building complete, Ben took his clones and led them through the main branch one last time, wanting to see if there were any books he’d missed on any of the higher floors, either due to someone else having been reading them when he’d first gone through or else because they’d only just been added without him knowing to take a look, with the short walk leaving him with a couple dozen new books in his head by the time he’d made it to the top, finding a familiar face sitting to the side.
“Hey Verbum,” Ben greeted, with the other man jumping when he saw him.
“Rotten earth, why are there more of you?”
“Because it’s handy for getting my work done. Anyway, how’s it going?”
“Well, like everyone else I’m preparing to die so I’d say not good. So what do you want this time?”
“Me? Nothing, I just figured I’d say hi while I’m here, see how you’re doing is all.”
The answer surprised him given that Ben usually came when he wanted an explanation for something that had appeared on his status, but it let him relax a little, leading to a small question.
“So are you going to be fighting at one of the points?”
“A dozen points. You know Thera’s crazy powerful so I’m tagging along as she goes everywhere to give what help I can. You?”
“Staying here. Killi’s going to be using me for whatever info she can and using it to adjust any plans on the fly. It’s not like I’d be any help fighting anyway.”
“Fair enough, glad you’ll be safe at least. If I live, I'll stop by to say hi later.”
Again Verbum was quiet, slipping into his thoughts until Ben was prepared to go to another building.
“Try and keep safe.”
“You got it buddy, don’t worry, this isn’t going to be the death of Ben no matter how negative I am.”
If only I could actually make myself believe that.
Still, he knew he could be a pessimist as far as the invasion was concerned. He fully believed he was justified in that, but enough people around him were doing their best to hope for the future, he could at least pretend to do the same to keep from making it any worse.
With Verbum giving an appreciative nod, not believing the optimism either but still appreciating it, Ben went off to the next building to read, working away the rest of his day.