No being a negative Nancy up there. It will probably be fine.
Are running out of options to awaken connect, Ben thought back with finality, trying to put an end to the conversation they’d been having ever since he’d told Myriad exactly how he’d been planning on attempting to awaken connect next. I’m running out of ti, man, and the longer this doesn’t awaken, the more I’m beginning to suspect that this might be like an inclination. A skill completely uninclined to grow to its third tier.
Then I don’t have ti for a normal threshold. Myriad, I almost died. Hell, the only reason we can say I didn’t die is because I’m still down here instead of up there with you. I need more power. And besides, even if I get the awakening I want, I still need to beco proficient in however it awakens in the ti we have left.
The cube told him as those levels ca a few days earlier than he’d originally expected, now that Ben was enjoying the benefits of a soul mage anyti he was near her. He still didn’t know if Mora had been doing anything for him either, he had no intention of asking, but now, she was the more powerful than their young soul spirit; or at least she would be once she got a bit more practice, and that fact was being felt.
A real chain reaction with my authorities this ti too, he noted. Could have done without the level to flavour enhancent though.
I don’t deserve a skill that’s going to make things want to eat more! If I ever awaken it then I’m not sure if Abel will be able to hold herself back the next ti I see her!
His god sighed.
That’s the spirit, Ben grinned, putting on a confident front that his god couldn’t pierce. Deep down, he knew Myriad was right, that what he had planned was both dangerous and insane on a scale that he’d rarely touched on before, but with such limited options, that ant he had to try, and more than that, he had to believe. The foundation he had wasn’t built on sand; it wouldn’t crumble so easily.
Still able to feel his god watching, even if the cube had fallen silent, it let him focus back on his various tasks, so of his hands working tal while others carved wood, while at the sa ti looking after the two training under him and keeping that up until the shop door opened, Thera coming in.
“Hey, I’m not too early, am I?” She asked, seeing everyone still at work, with no cleaning up done for the day yet. “I wasn’t really keeping track of the ti while I was practicing.”
“No, I was just about to call it. Okay, you two, tools down and let’s clean up. When we’re done, Mora, sorry, but could you play with Delair at her place for a little bit? and Thera might just need to do sothing for an hour and then we’ll co pick you up.”
“Okay,” he nodded, with Delair jumping in response.
“Ooh, if you guys are coming to pick him up, then you should stay for dinner.”
“Ha, are you cooking then?”
“I an, you are a better cook than …”
“How sly,” Ben teased, grinning at his student’s blatancy. “Talk to your mom before we get there. If she’s fine with it, then you and I can cook together. Think of it as a little extra lesson.”
“Sure, sounds fun!” she agreed, knowing that even if she was helping, that ant that she and her mom would get to enjoy an exceptional al. “In that case, I’ll take good care of Mora until you’re back. We won’t break anything at all, promise.”
“Sohow that wasn’t reassuring."
“I won’t let her drag into anything that will give Fontesh a headache,” Mora told them, Ben ruffling the boy’s hair when he did.
“That was reassuring. Okay, you two get out of here then. I’ll finish up and we’ll see you in a bit.”
Getting nods, Ben and Thera got to watch as Delair grabbed Mora’s hand and dragged him through the streets back to her new ho, Ben’s magic tidying the shop up in the background while he tried to prepare for what was to co next while Thera looked at him.
“Okay, so what exactly did you need to borrow for, so secretively and everything?”
“Alright, so I’m going to tell you sothing and please don’t be mad.”
“... Ben, I just leveled my stress resistance earlier, don’t do anything that’s going to get another one so soon.”
“Yeah, unfortunately, I can’t promise that. When I awakened my mind and my sacrilege, I promised you that if I was ever going to try anything dangerous again that I would tell you and this is , doing exactly that.”
“...”
“Thera?”
“Give a minute, I’m deciding if I should slap you.”
“If that will make you less mad then please, do.”
“... Ugh, no, you’re doing exactly what I asked you for, it’s fine,” she said, not sounding remotely fine about it. “Even though it’s only been a few days since I thought I saw you die and you’re apparently deciding to do sothing dangerous all over again, it’s fine.”
“For what little it’s worth, I’m only doing this because of what happened then,” Ben tried to explain. “I’m still weak enough that things like that can happen-”
“You’re probably the most powerful person on the planet.”
“Most skilled, sure. Not most powerful. If a contender of all things can co close to taking out, then I need to keep growing, and… we all know how things are going to end, one way or another unless we get a miracle. I’m just trying to find one.”
“... Fine, so what do you need to do?”
“Nothing too crazy. If it seems like I’m dying, keep alive… ah, and cut my hand off, that’s going to be important too.”
“The fact this isn’t even the first ti you’ve told to cut your hand off if sothing goes wrong… okay, yes, I can do that, but it’s not going to co down to that. You just told Mora and Delair we’re seeing them in an hour. If you were lying, I really will hit you.”
“Then I guess I better be okay,” he grinned before taking a seat on the floor below. “In that case, nothing to it but to do it.”
“Wait, Ben, don’t be coy. What are you doing?”
“If everything goes well, awakening connect.”
With those final words and a confident grin, Ben pulled a crystal from one of his many rings before connecting to the imprisoned soul of the outsider it contained, the most alien mind in all of known space touching his own and shattering what it found, leaving not but fragnts in its wake.
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