Chapter 325

Chapter 325

Despite how good it felt to be home, despite how much he wanted to stay in bed for just a little longer, acting as if there was nothing for him to do, Ben got up earlier than he typically would.

Both Sonya and Thera planned to go to the clinic earlier than normal. Sonya to help out as she always did, while still making time for her practice later in the day, and Thera because she felt bad for being gone so much longer than she’d planned, even if she wasn’t a true member of the clinic specifically so she could disappear for long stretches of time if need be.

Considering all of that, he cleaned up and went to the kitchen, digging around to see what ingredients Sonya had stocked up on while they were gone and decided to make something simple. Pancakes, or at least something close enough that he was comfortable calling them that, along with a fruit syrup to go with it.

All of the ingredients out and gathered, he didn’t need to put much conscious thought into how to use them. He poured out what he thought he needed, mixed the batter he’d made till it felt right and cooked it till it had the perfect combination of a light golden crust on the outside and a delicate fluffy interior and kept them warm under a cloth as he prepped the syrup, taking the juices he thought would go nicely with it and adding a sweetener along with the zest of its rind to enhance the flavour, adding pinches of a variety of spices and tasting as he went until he was sure he had something perfect.

As if to agree with that assessment, the smell of the food pulled the still-tired women to the kitchen, where they took their seats and only came to life as they started eating, digging in with gusto after the first bite.

“Ben, you’re never allowed to leave,” Sonya told him happily, the taste of the meal still on her tongue. “I don’t think I could manage eating my old meals anymore.”

“Hey, your food’s a treat Sonya, it was great getting to dig into it yesterday too.”

“And you can be very good with your words when you want to be,” She said with a laugh. “Alright, I’m just going to clean up quick and then we’ll head off Thera.”

“Sounds good.”

They both watched her leave, the two of them now alone as Thera got up and leaned against him, clearly longing for more sleep but fighting off the urge due to her guilt for leaving the clinic for so long.

“Gonna make it?” Ben asked as he rubbed her head, getting a tired nod.

“I’ll be more awake in a bit. I’m sure the introduction to the rest of the clinic is going to be weird enough honestly.”

“I’m sure it will be fine. If there’s any issues just come hang out at the shop instead.”

“Will do,” She told him, before leaning up and giving him a kiss, the same spell as the night before on her fingertips as she applied it to his back.

“Ahem, if you’d like you could always come later in the day Thera,” Her aunt said, neither of them realizing she’d returned. “Falk doesn’t open the shop for another few hours, right? Plenty of time to enjoy some privacy.”

“Don’t need it aunty,” She said, blushing in the face of Sonya’s teasing and rushing off shortly after, letting Ben make his way to work with a bright smile on his face, even as he worried about the future.

Once he arrived, the first thing he did was lug all of the boxes they’d had in the cart inside. Stonewall was a fairly safe town and he wasn’t too concerned about theft, but he had expensive things in there that he didn’t want lost so quickly.

Once that was done though, he did as he always did when he got there, giving it a quick clean to be in a good condition for when Falk arrived and then used the hours before it opened to make whatever he wanted, in that particular case, an alternative to his cursed ring.

When he’d first made it what felt like so long ago now, his attributes had been significantly lower, to the point that it felt hard to compare. As he currently had it, it was far too weak for him, but trying to just make a new ring wouldn’t be good enough. His mana and vitality had skyrocketed, not to mention his recovery rates for both. A dinky little ring would no longer cut it.

Not only that, but with how high everything he had now was, he actually had the wiggle room to make them far more dangerous than he could have in the past. Before he was always calculating how much of each material to add to keep the drain to both his vitality and his mana as close to their recovery as possible, but as much as that had proven to work, it likely wasn’t giving him all he could get in training his attribute that way. Now if he kept the drain at a reasonable level above what he could regain, he’d still be able to wear it for hours, maybe even days at a time before taking it off to let his values regenerate.

With the decision made, Ben pulled out the moribusial and deathstone he’d gained from the trial, seeing a grim irony in the idea of using something from it in particular to help him grow through the suffering it caused him, and got to work heating both up to bend and shape into two different braces.nôvel binz was the first platform to present this chapter.

After making sure he didn’t use too much, he finished the death stone bracelet by adding a layer of copper to the top of it, just in case anyone ever grabbed his wrist when he wasn’t thinking, and cooled it down before putting it on, instantly feeling his life force draining. As for the moribusial bracelet, he slipped it into his pocket, planning to mostly use that one as he slept, just as he’d previously done for his cursed ring.

Let’s see, for the deathstone one, two days on and half a day off should work out okay, though I might need to occasionally have it off longer to make up for what I’m losing. Either way, not a big deal, but I should keep an eye on my card anyway. Don’t want to get too comfortable and forget it completely. What an insanely stupid way to die that would be.

Falk could tell even as Ben agreed that his apprentice still felt conflicted, so he decided to distract him with the best news he had. The original reason he’d planned on keeping the shop closed for the day was waiting as he went to pull out an unmarked crate from the back, thinking how surprised the boy would be to learn what it contained and opened it up, revealing the bones within.

In the end though, it was he who was shocked when he watched Ben’s eyes light up before he’d been told what they were, as the boy spoke up.

“God bones. That reminds me Falk, what’s it mean to be a contender?”

His teacher didn’t know how to react about either part of what his apprentice had just said. If he’d had to make an assumption, it would be that the boy’s god had told him about them ahead of time and that his niece had mentioned him being called that in Allfaith, but it didn’t lessen the shock.

“I suppose Thera told you I was one, but that’s my business boy. Maybe I’ll let you know in the future.”

“Um, Thera did mention it, but only after Anailia called me one. I was told to ask you about it.”

“What? That’s impossible, even for you boy. Show me your card.”

Ben handed it over, not having any real inhibition about showing it to his teacher. He’d planned on updating Falk about some of the changes to his status anyway and he watched the emotions shift across the yeti’s face as he went through just how many there were before his eyes widened with realization.

“So you’re the one who killed the forbidden gods then.”

“It’s a bit of a long story but yeah.”

Falk groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose as he did. He thought that there might come a day when he needed to have a real talk with Ben about the skills he possessed, but he didn’t expect it to be so soon.

“Alright, catch me up while we work later. As for what it means to be a contender... It means you’re someone with a ninth-level awakened skill, a contender for reaching the third tier. It comes with some benefits, though given you’re a contender to gain a third-tier sacrilege skill I wouldn’t recommend taking any of them. Even if there’d only be a few people in the world who would know about it I could see it easily putting a target on your back. If you ever manage it with a proper skill then we can go into details about how it might help you.”

He was happy to take all of that at face value, if alone for the fact that he’d gotten to learn another detail of his teacher’s status.

“So you have a ninth-level awakened skill?”

“Aye, and that’s all you’re getting from me. Now wipe that grin off your face and let’s get to work. When these bones were sent to me I was told that your god would pass on what sort of weapons they would be used for. We’ve got plenty of time to finish them but I want to get started.”

“Wait, we don’t just get to play with them?”

“Of course not, are you insane? There’s two skeletons here and I was told we both get to use a small piece to experiment with that we can do what we want with if we don’t accidentally destroy them, but otherwise everything is being made with specific people in mind.”

He couldn’t help but deflate a little at that, even if he was sure it would still be plenty fun to work with it all, but there was still one idea he wanted to test, a single one that he was sure the gods wouldn’t be too mad about and had the potential to be exceptionally useful too.

“Okay, give me a minute first. Hey Myriad, you around?”

I am, this is great, but I have an idea I want to test. From everything you’ve told me it shouldn’t damage the bones as a whole but you’ll probably need to check with the other gods for me. Also if it works I want a third.

You know how you told me how the flesh and blood of the creatures could be used for potions to permanently strengthen someone? I think I can make something similar with the bones without any loss for what would be used for weapons.

Not telling. If you or the other gods want to know, I need agreement first.

If I explain how, I lose my ability to bargain. Besides, a third is nothing when you consider that there’s three other skeletons that could be used for this too and it might not actually work. Consider this a payment for the fact that you’ll all be able to use this in the future the next time a god dies.

You’re the best Myriad.