“Well, at least I managed to get one more level,” Ben sighed as he let himself collapse to the ground. “Sure freaking cut it close though.”

“What matters is that you got it,” Myriad told him, trying to be positive despite only having a day until the invasion points opened. “So what now?”

“Now? Now I spend the rest of my time pretending I’m not going to die in the next few weeks. That’s not a completely unrealistic expectation, right?”

“Ben, even if you don’t seem to accept it yourself, you are one of the most powerful people on this planet at this point and having such a high level of an awakened magic is only going to help. I’m sure you’ll survive this wave.”

“You’re being optimistic. This is going to be a chaotic battle with an uncountable horde of enemies coming through. It doesn’t matter how powerful anyone is, anything can happen and anything can go wrong. Plus the minor issue that these are going to be the intelligent ones, that creates a lot more room for things to go sideways real fast.”

His god was silent in the face of Ben’s pessimism, leaving the apostle to sign.

“It’s not like I’m giving up so don’t worry. No matter how bad things get I’m not going to just roll over and die. No matter how I’m cut, stabbed, sliced, burned, dismembered or any number of other terrible things, I’ll struggle till the end.”

“You better. I want you living to the end and enjoying your happily ever after.”

“Ha, I’ll do my best. It’s just surviving this one month. And then every other month until the third wave seeing as how the world’s about to be flooded by demons. And then I guess one more month after where we’ll be dealing with the worst of the worst. And then whatever’s left on this planet till the end of time, and that’s really only if we don’t get any more waves because the group optimism about that on this planet is frankly ridiculous. Never mind, I think I just talked myself out of that faint glimmer of hope. It was nice to experience for the second it lasted though, I’ll remember it fondly as I’m bleeding out.”

“And here I was, so hopeful that some optimism had managed to sneak its way into you.”

“What can I say, I’ll just have to enjoy the few hours I have left.”

He actualized when he said it, creating a feast for himself to eat with his god joining in, taking in the new flavours as they talked.

“Then enough worrying on the present, focus on the future. What do you intend to do once this wave ends?”

“That really feels like the sort of thing I should save thinking about for the future.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“What future?” Myriad asked. “Do you think you’re going to have the leeway to consider it any time the wave is going on?”

“Yes? No matter how intense it is, I’m absolutely going to have a few minds free at any given time and I’m still popping up here when I sleep, even if you’re going to be off somewhere else. Why wouldn’t I have time for it?”

“...True.”

He might have been the only person going to the front lines who would have the mental leeway for anything, but the question still made him think and it wasn’t like it would hurt to consider ahead of time.

“I mean, I’m assuming that at least for the first week after, Thera’s going to be busy helping at the clinics and from there she’s probably going to be hunting demons constantly, but as for me, I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll help with anything that gets close enough to Stonewall that might cause problems while she’s away but as for anything else, I mean, what can I even do man? I make things, I’ll keep making things, as simple as that. Who knows, maybe if I keep getting a few levels I’ll be able to make something that could deal some serious damage in the third wave. I’m beginning to make it to middle legendary sometimes now, getting a few high legendary isn’t too unreasonable to hope for.”

“For anyone else it would be.”

“Sucks to be anyone else then.”

His god sighed. “Well, I suppose as far as bare-bones plans go, there’s plenty worse. Just do your best to play to your strengths and I’ll just hope for the best.”

“That’s the spirit.”

----------------------------------------

Waking up after his talk with Myriad, Ben prepared the best breakfast he could while using up the various ingredients filling the place, not wanting them to rot while everyone was away.

Sonya had her own location to go to, serving at a different hospital than Thera since keeping two awakened healers in one place was sure to be nothing but a waste and all of them were going to be leaving early, but for the time they had he at least wanted to make the most of it, faking his positivity as the two slowly woke up and serving a meal to both of them, trying to hide his opinions about the future.

“So, you guys have any plans until we head off later?” He asked them as they ate. All of them would be going to see Pelenia and Abrus for one last meal together before the points opened, just as they had during the first wave, but they had hours until then to spend, with him personally having no plans. Sure, he could have gone to the shop for whatever extra practice he could get, but on the last day, what was the point? Maybe spending the day working would give him some extra experience for his current job, maybe it would even be enough for him to gain another level to any of his core skills, but none of that particularly mattered. The only skill he could train in the shop that would have any use on the battlefield was his magic and he doubted that last day of work would be enough to give him that little extra edge. If it would’ve been enough then he’d get the same after a day or two of actual fighting, no need to sacrifice his last day of peace on it.

“I’ll be going to the clinic for an hour,” Sonya told them. “I’ll clear out whoever’s there and then I’m coming right back. Drari knows I’ll be leaving tomorrow, I’m not going to spend the day working when there’s plenty of staff staying behind.”

“And I’m staying in,” Thera added. “I’ve done all I can for the surrounding communities, this is going to be my last day to rest.”

“Good choice, I’ll be here too so we’ll have to do something entertaining, and it just so happens I’ve got enchantments for a thousand new games in my head.”

“Well then, I guess we can have some fun until dinner,” She told him with a smile. “Just try not to be too bad at the stuff you’ve made.”

“No promises.”