His teacher’s hands on his back, Ben felt the Yeti’s spell working, even if a little slow while he gave Falk all of the advice he could based on how the soul mages had done it for him any time in the past as the damage he’d put himself through was eventually undone.

“Oh, you really are the best, you know that Falk? And a lot easier to find. Next time I’m just going straight to your factory or asking Nare to point me to you.”

“There really shouldn’t be a next time.”

“Alas, some things can’t be changed,” Ben shrugged, already getting up and walking over to his jacket to slip it on and began pulling mana into himself all over again, making the number of souls coming into existence around him skyrocket while his teacher sighed.

“No matter what reason you have for doin’ that, it really doesn’t look good.”

“I’m sure, but it seems mostly safe enough. Sure, I can damage my soul a bit but as long as I keep getting it healed there’s probably no harm.”

“That ‘probably’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting,” His teacher muttered, silently looking his student over for a moment before shaking his head. “But if I can’t stop you from doin’ this I should at least try and keep the harm down. Give me a few minutes and one of your mythril bands, I’ll see what I can do.”

Staring at Ben’s soul as he worked, Falk enchanted on the band, building it up and breaking it down a few times, muttering to himself the entire while as he tried to design a spell for it before ending on something the yeti was still less than happy with but had to admit was the best he could currently do as he explained it.

“A bit outside all of the spells I’ve been working on this entire time but I tried to bind the one I just used on you as an enchantment. It’s not going to be great but it should lower your odds of needing to see me or a soul mage again to get fixed up so long as you keep things in moderation.”

“Seriously? Falk, you really are the best. I am way too lucky to have you as a teacher.”

“That would be real sweet boy, if I couldn’t see you pullin’ even more mana into your soul I just worked so hard to fix. Did giving you somethin’ to reduce the constant damage you put yourself through make you think it was okay to work even harder?”

“Yes?”

“...You’re a real unpleasant brat to care about, you know that?”

“It really should only be for a bit, Falk. The more I make, the sooner I finish my current job. If I’m willing to push myself then I can bring things down to just a few more days and never need to worry about doing anything like this again.”

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“And you expect me to think that saving a handful of days is worth it?”

“Was it worth working yourself to death to try and reach the third tier?”

“...Fine, but if you get yourself hurt being stupid again and you can’t get your hands on a soul mage, you come find me. I’ll make the time to patch you up.”

“And that’s exactly why you’re the best. Now, since I’ve caused you a bit of headache, why don’t we trade that in for some pride in your student. Come see what I’ve managed to make.”

He dragged the yeti along to his warehouse before proudly displaying what he’d worked so hard on, his new materializers, going from one to the next to show the entire process of how they’d been created and leaving his teacher to whistle by the end.

“Alright, no matter how much of a pain you might be, boy, I’ll admit you impress. Of course, might not be so impressive to your prospective in-laws given the first one you put together is going to threaten the market they have cornered on magic materials.”

“I’m not looking to mass produce or sell that one,” Ben clarified. “Abrus can already make more than enough for the world’s needs and at this point in the war, increasing the supply isn’t going to make a difference so I don’t care. My only focus is making food.”

It was a response that brought a smile to Falk’s lips. “And I’m sure it’ll be appreciated, You’ll have to let me try the final products.”

“Ha, sure but be warned, it’s probably not going to taste great. For emergencies only and nothing else.”

“Maybe, but enough emergencies happen that they’ll be worthwhile far into the future. When you’re long dead and nobody else can recreate them, these are going to be some prized artifacts for every person or nation that can say they have one, same with your mana bracelets.”

“Ha, I’ve created way too many tens of thousands of them at this point for them to ever really be prized,” Ben told him, materializing one in full to emphasize the point. “I don’t know how far in the future one would need to look for enough of these to go missing or get destroyed for them to become scarce.”

“Ah, but if we win then one day we’ll get there, it’s just a matter of time. Anyway, you up to anything else or heading out now that you’re done that? You could at least squeeze in a few hours of sleep.”

“Eh, I’ll stay and work. I’m not exactly tired and I can talk to the gods about what other things I can try to materialize tomorrow night instead. Now that I can use my coat again I want to take as much advantage of it as I can.”

“Suit yourself, just try not to immediately damage your soul again in the process. Even if I said to come to me, I’d rather not have you banging on my door in the middle of the night.”

“You got it. Have a good night then Falk, I’ll see you when you swing through in the morning.”

“Ah, not tomorrow I’m afraid,” He admitted, sounding sheepish. “I, ah, pulled some strings. Seeing as how you made those bracelets and all and seeing as how every mage on the planet has one, I was able to get a day off myself and Sonya hasn’t had one in a while, and-”

“In that case, stop rambling and get some rest so you can have a nice day with her. Thera’s swinging through in the morning so you don’t have to worry about finding me collapsed on the ground whenever you come back through.”

“Mmh, you really should try to keep that from bein’ possible in the first place but alright. In that case, I’ll see you the next time I’m through.”

“Hopefully I’ll have the next materializer up and running by then so look forward to it.”