Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

“And are the circlets absolutely necessary?” Thera asked him, looking like she was willing to do anything else if it meant avoiding putting one on while leaving Ben to think over how he intended to teach them.

“Hmm, I suppose I have something in my back pocket that might help you get a level immediately so I guess you can hold off on using yours until the harder bits of enchanting start. Jake however has no choice.”

“What? You’re letting her off the hook but not me? This is tyranny! This is favouritism!”

“Yes it is, but it’s also inescapable. Now, put yours on or I’m making sure to tell Amy and your teachers you haven’t been working hard enough.”

“...Ugh.”

He slid his on, feeling his mind split before Ben materialized a bucket for him.

“Okay, first things first Jake, dedicate four of those minds to materializing marbles of any substance you can think of. If it feels like you keep doing the same ones I’m going to go in your head and start instructing you on which ones to make instead so do your best to be creative. With your last two and for Thera as well, let’s begin applying the basics of enchanting.”

Despite the fact that they were both holders of non-affinitied magic, a second-tier skill that was by its very nature in essence already an awakened form of enchanting, or at least included those aspects within its broad power, Ben started them off on the absolute beginnings of the branch he wielded, not worrying about finer techniques at all but instead getting them to place down a spell on a knife each, not doing anything fancy but just having them blanket the item with their magics to create the outcome they sought.

Both were simple earth spells out of consideration for Thera given she had less options, designed to help strengthen the items as much as such a simple means of enchanting could accomplish but despite both being new to it, neither showed any issues when it came to such an application. It was the easiest way to enchant that even holders of the zeroth level of the magic could accomplish, for two who were by all accounts masters of their skill in non-affinitied magic, such a spell was nothing.

Still, he had them practice that way a few more times, teaching them to make and break their spells on an item and getting them to try to apply more complex options as well before moving into something slightly more advanced as one by one, he forced them to go through the three core systems he worked with, the weave, ring, and blended.

It was there that troubles popped up, but on a small scale. These were the low to intermediate ways of enchanting and while the latter two were rare to the point that only he himself and the people he’d taught would use them, they, along with the weave system were all means of placing magic upon an item that would be refined with practice, taken further and further in a constant cycle of improvement and it was there both of their individual weaknesses shone.

Thera’s control now that she was the holder of four awakened magics, with two at a high level at that, was incomparable with how she’d been in the past and had gotten to the point that she was officially better than any first-tier mage no matter the level, but in delicate work like that she still showed signs of her past struggles. The enchantments she tried to place were thick and some still broke under her magical weight. Easily fixed after a second or third attempt, but still somewhere she had her problems.

Jake on the other hand, having no issue with his control, suffered from a different one. A lack of self-discipline. While Ben himself could construct enchantments at an unbelievable rate, thanks to both his fundamentally broad understanding of his particular magic tied into both his natural talent and the unnatural speeds he could think, enchanting by its nature was still patient work. One needed to decide the best configurations of mana to place upon an object to obtain the best results once mana was sent through by its wielder to power it, something the other man didn’t seem to have the patience for, leaving the enchantments he placed as messy and less effective for that fact. Again, it was something that could be overcome with practice, it was just a matter of getting it.

But as the time wore on and they slowly improved that day under his guidance, they each slowly got better. Far from masters, it was still their first day ever doing such a thing, but given the power the two could wield their work was already good enough to sell despite that, with the touches of any awakened skill being enough to give an item some value.

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There was still more to teach them both but there were also still days to do it though, no need to rush them, at least not yet, and as the time wore on it wasn’t long until evening had come, once again freeing them all from his lessons.

Yuzu had played her part well, helping him get his levels when her magic was combined with all of the job bonuses he was under but more important than that, she’d helped Delair get hers too, the girl puffing out her chest as her crafting reached its third level and her enchanting reach its second, something plenty impressive for a child as young as her that spoke well of his plans to ensure she got a few more before the wave reached them, with the fact bringing other thoughts to mind as well.

Having Yuzu around to train her is going to help speed things up a lot but I should maybe get Delair to spend tomorrow on training her plant magic. I can teach her plenty about that after all and it would be some good practice, but…

But it wasn’t just the levels that had gone off in the girl’s head and he focused through the clone he was using to congratulate her.

“Excellent work Delair, you’ve grown marvelously,” He said with a clap. “And getting them finished your job as well?”

“It did! I didn’t think I’d get it this soon!”

“Ha, well you’ve been working hard. Now then, have you thought about what you’d take after it?”

Her options would be few but as her teacher it was worth discussing, something he should have done sooner if he’d only thought of it. She had just finished her job as an apprentice craftsman, her second one ever with apprentice mage as her first like any other dryad child and with that done she had four she could choose from, with her options being plant mage, true mage, craftsman, and enchanter, all of them having strengths and weaknesses and all of them equally worthy of consideration.

As he asked though, her face fell, the question unconsidered when she’d thought she’d have had more time to decide for herself while Ben gave a small chuckle at her reaction.

“It’s an important choice but it’s not something you need to worry about too much. You can pick whichever ones you want of course, but would you like to hear my suggestions?”

“Please.”

“Craftsman or true mage. The first probably feels obvious, you’re my apprentice after all, but since it will give you bonuses to both your crafting and enchanting they make for a good choice. True mage on the other hand will give you bonuses to both your plant magic and your enchanting while ignoring your crafting, but as things stand you can’t entirely ignore your magic either when it’s so important to your village and to how you’ll enchant in the future as well. Tied to that, since we have Yuzu here if we switch to training your plant magic while she’s around you might get a level out of it which would give a nice little bump to your job level and since I’ll be able to start teaching you some more advanced enchanting techniques, that should increase your speed with going through that new job as well, although that point is true for either of those options.”

Enchanter wasn’t a bad third choice given that it would give minor bonuses to everything but it would only gain levels through the practice of enchanting skills and from all of the jobs he’d now been through, Ben could honestly say that as nice as any sort of bonus was, minor bonuses really weren’t worth much. Certainly not enough to be a deciding factor in taking that job. No, that would be much better taken once the other two options he’d presented were completed, with plant mage falling farther down to the bottom of the list given that even if it was one she needed to practice, it wasn’t one that was directly tied to her interests.

Still, she gave it some serious thought as he made his points and once it looked like she was ready he took off and handed her his job crystal, saying what she wanted and watching as her eyes lit up.

“I want to take true mage.”

Notifications filled her thoughts as she gave voice to it, bringing another reason to congratulate her once it was done.

“A good choice it looks like Delair, we’ll start working on your plant magic tomorrow so make sure you bring Sachel along too, she can help out.”

“Can do!”

She couldn’t help but beam, with the new job leaving her on top of the world, giving her not only the expected bonuses but also helping her acquire the skill mana recovery rate enhancement. As a member of a naturally magical species, gaining a skill like that wasn’t a surprise but it was a boon nonetheless, giving something else he could force Yuzu to try and help the girl with while she was here along with the small bit of experience gaining a skill gave a new job.

Yep, all in all a good day. Now just to deal with my last bit of it.

He waved the others off, asking Thera to walk Delair home again and promising he’d be back soon, having only one last thing to deal with himself as he stood in front of his many gates. His talk with Nare that night had not been forgotten and he still had experiments to examine.