After ten minutes of staring at the second mythic item of that day, Ben finally spoke up.

“I absolutely hate this thing.”

“Ben!” Thera hissed as she elbowed him, far more aware of the priests in the room, even as the one in charge laughed.

“A not uncommon reaction from those who study it, even if most aren’t so honest about their feelings,” The worm-person and a member of Wedrow’s race chuckled. “Unfortunately, with its maker gone and our surviving pantheon not privy to its secrets, we have no idea what it might be or what it's used for. Vovovnata’s final masterpiece eludes us to this day.”

Another one Quilith had told him about, the item in question was a sphere that floated in the air at his eye level, its length going from his torso to his head and was otherwise entirely incomprehensible to him.

His eyes could tell it was a high mythic item but that was it. He couldn’t see any sort of magic or power on it, only perceiving its shape and the red sheen it held, with the answer as to why that was the case apparent at least as he reached his arm out and it passed through without issue. The item was somehow out of phase with the rest of the universe.

Or at least that was his assumption, as much as it annoyed him he didn’t actually know and likely never would unless he somehow grew to a third-tier space mage despite the limitations of his soul to see if he could interact with it on a deeper level.

But why wish for the impossible? Maybe if Jake or Uriel manage to awaken to that tier then I can take advantage of them for a bit for some experiments, but… Ugh, yeah, this is wholly unsatisfying.

Neither his nor Thera’s magic could touch it and if it really was somehow not in line with the standard universe, that might explain why his mana sense wasn’t able to pick anything up from it, even if that left the incomprehensible issue of how his eyes were perceiving anything either, but despite the fact he had to call it his loss as he failed to get anything worthwhile from it, he still had one question.

“So, if it can’t be interacted with in any way then how did you guys manage to get it here? And by here I mean to this planet unless your gods can interact with it in a way mortals can’t.”

“Oh no, they’re as lost as we are and while our surviving pantheon aren’t gods of craft like Vovovnata was, even the crafting gods of this world looked it over without finding a solution either. No, there’s actually a bit of a trick to moving it, though it hasn’t given us any more hints that can help. If you completely enclose it then you can transport it, that’s how we’ve moved it whenever we’ve had the need.”

“...Okay, I guess that explains why it doesn’t vanish into space as the planet moves. It’s less to do with gravity that it is the walls around it?”

“No, it’s not like it floats off when we take it outside either.”

“...Yeah, I really hate this thing. Mind if I try it at least?”

“Be my guest.”

Materializing a thin layer around it, what he’d created didn’t phase through it like the rest, instead just floating there with it, letting Ben push and pull the entire item with ease while using every sense he held to try and find a change, coming up empty in the end. Whatever rules it played by were completely foreign to him and as much as that left him annoyed, it also left him in agreement that whatever it might have been, the mysterious item had to be a masterpiece.

So knowing there was nothing else he’d be able to get from it at that point, he gave his thanks and said his goodbyes as he and Thera left, walking off to their next destination through the gate network.

“Ben, please don’t tell people you hate their sacred artifacts,” Thera sighed. “Just because he agreed, doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been an issue.”

“Ah, yeah, sorry it just slipped out. I’m on my best behaviour though, won’t happen again.”

He did his best to ignore the look of distrust at that statement while they went through to the next gate to another kingdom, heading into the church of the siren’s surviving pantheon and finding a warm welcome as they went, a crowd of priests gathered in wait and bowing the moment they entered.

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“Ah, Myriad’s apostle, it’s a pleasure,” The bird woman said in good cheer. “And Miss Thera, you may not remember me but we met briefly when you were younger. I am Woszan, high priestess of Telenen. Please, follow me.”

Ben could tell Thera had absolutely no memory of the woman and was trying to hide that fact, especially since it was likely the truth. As the second largest group on the planet with an innate charm magic, the two countries had long been allied, as had every race that possessed an unfortunate passive ability. The fact that the sirens could walk around Anailia without needing to be cloaked though meant more than a few would travel there back before the advent of the resistance braces and even there in their homeland he could see the priests of the church wearing them.

He could tell from the high priestess’s thoughts that she knew who he was and the part he’d played in their creation, trumping the fact that she also knew him as the mad apostle and leading to the bright reception while they were led back to a tightly locked door, guards standing by in front of it as they went through to what waited beyond.

The room could be described as largely simple, even if there was no reason for it not to be. Aside from the picture of the god gracing one of the walls, Ben imagined it was likely the dead one who had created the item to begin with, the only other thing was the item itself, painting a familiar picture.

Once more, Ben was looking at a floating sphere, though this one was larger than him as it hovered over the ground and was constantly pulsing with mana, lines of the stuff shooting and swirling across it for all affinities and the non-affinitied as well, catching his interest as he looked, even if that wasn’t his only thought.

Sure hope floating balls isn’t going to be a trend.

It was one he kept to himself though, baring in mind Thera and Myriad’s requests that he try to be polite as he asked the obvious question now that he was faced with one the grey hadn’t told him about. Through his eyes, he could see it was lower mythic and it was named the great puzzle of Eletar, but nothing else.

“So then, what does this do?”

“We don’t know,” Woszan told them honestly. “Eletar died without revealing its purpose to either us or the rest of his pantheon. It is unfortunately one of our great mysteries.”

…Okay, I’ll take as many flying balls as this world wants to offer so long as their purpose being lost to time isn’t also going to be a trend.

It was a feeling that must have slipped through to his face as well, with the high priestess giving a light giggle.

“It may not be known to us but at the same time it’s not like we have no idea either. Eletar was a god of puzzles and pride, we’re sure that this is in essence a challenge from him. The hardest puzzle he could create, waiting all of these years to be opened to see what mysteries it contains. Of course, you’re more than welcome to try it yourself.”

“Can I?”

“Of course, feel free to run your mana through it in different ways to see how it reacts. As far as we can tell we’ve had no success yet but perhaps today will be the day.”

Instantly he had his hands on it, running his mana through it and creating the other types he needed through his rings to try and see how it would react, watching as the mana that danced across the surface warped and changed each time, reacting to what he put in with patterns he couldn’t immediately understand, even as he did his best to categorize them.

Each reaction spawned another reaction to interact with but the biggest issue was that it didn’t all happen in the same place. That puzzle was huge but certain inputs resulted in outputs happening beyond his reach and potentially even beyond his eyes, with him looking to fix that issue at the very least.

“Sorry but could I get you two to stand on different sides of it? I want to try and see a bit more by borrowing your eyes.”

Woszan didn’t ask further questions despite what he expected and both she and Thera moved as he asked, looking at the item with their own mana sense while he interacted with it, even if that still left some struggles.

While Thera’s mana sense had improved dramatically since her various awakening and levels, Woszan’s was far weaker, making him struggle to use her eyes at the level of efficiency he wanted despite it seeming mostly good enough. The mana being produced was powerful enough that it shouldn’t have been difficult but it seemed her ability to perceive the fire affinity was particularly abysmal, weakening that aspect of her sight enough that Ben eventually had the two switch places while repeating inputs to try and understand where it fell short as he tried to make his models, feeling annoyed by the end as he reached his conclusion.

He couldn’t solve it. The second mythic item in a row he couldn’t figure out and the third he’d seen that day so far, it didn’t feel like a great sign for things to come as he slumped over in his defeat, even as he kept mentally going over all of the inputs and outputs, hoping something might click eventually until he inevitably gave up, forced to deal with another mystery he couldn’t solve.

“Alright, looks like your puzzle god wins another day,” He eventually sighed. “Thank you for your time though, it was still interesting to attempt.”

“If you ever feel like giving it another try, you’re more than welcome,” She nodded. “The doors of our church will always be open for the apostle of Myriad.”