Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

With the new day came new lessons, as Jake and Thera’s split minds were put to work. Both of them were materializing and both of them were enchanting, with learning both the enchanting modifier he’d found within the archive as well as a few of the mana modifiers discovered within the two great spells he’d been studying being the priority for that day, but on top of it from there, he was now also getting them to learn to bestow, with one in particular feeling free with their complaints.

“Ben, buddy, I know I asked for something different but I meant instead of enchanting, not on top of it!”

“You’ll thank me when you get your level.”

“I really won’t!”

“Okay, you’ll thank me when I take you with me when I challenge craftsmans’ tower later.”

“Wait, what? So you’re doing it in the end?”

“Yeah, and luckily for you, you make it to the list of people it might make sense to bring along so since I’m going to be doing my best to get you another free level after this one, focus a bit before I make something that will make you.”

That small bit of motivation actually managed to get him what he wanted, with Jake showing a renewed level of effort that Ben hoped would last at least the day.

He meant it though, it made sense to bring him. At some point, he was going to have to talk with Nare to figure out just what would count as a crafting skill to figure out who would be best to take but given complete non-affinitied magic could enchant, bestow, and shape materials, he felt certain it would fit the bill.

Of course, when it came to who else would benefit from it, he still wasn’t sure but that was a problem for the future. He still had a completely different tower to manage first and things to make before then, with the focus being on just what Amy would be getting by the end of that day.

Among all of his bodies at work, three were busy creating weapons of all sorts while Amy stood nearby, giving them a few test swings or shots depending on what was made to be sure they felt okay, giving confirmation each time.

“Okay, at this point it’s a little freaky how perfect you can make all of these feel,” She said as she held a sling in her hands. “How are you doing this?”

“It’s called being a master craftsman, I’m just that good and since these all seem to be working it’s time to start handing off some of these to my real body.”

Another Ben came over to where the three were making, dragging certain items to the original where he’d be able to use his magic, adding the enchantments each one needed and whispering to the items before putting them away into a ring, leaving the workspace a constant flow of making and movement with all there was going on within it as the project slowly progressed further.

The goal was to ensure that each item that went into the ring would be ranked as at least lower legendary, a challenge that still managed to be hard enough that a few things needed to be remade after the applied enchantments failed to push them to that level but all in all it was easier than it had any right to be to pull off by that point in his skill. His trifecta of unending crafting, divine enchanting, and deep connection worked in perfect harmony to create masterpieces, with his mind skills only helping him succeed as the hours wore on until before he knew it, everything he’d wanted to store within it was done, leaving only the ring itself to finish.

A goal that, in one way, made for one of the more interesting parts of that project. All of the spatial rings he’d made already had a bit of a mental element to them, letting the user know what they stored but he was trying to build upon that with other skills he held within his status, incorporating aspects of both his crafting and enchanting as well before it was finished, leaving only to test it in the end.

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Feeling a smile touch his lips from the levels, it only grew as he felt the additional effect the ring was supposed to hold work, with the back of his mind filling with not only the physical items the ring contained but with bits of detail for all of them that was being provided by the system thanks to the analysis-like aspects of his crafting skills.

It was a design that had been created to make it even easier for Amy to pull whatever item she’d need to when the time came, with each item having their own particular mark to make pulling the correct one at any given time easier than if it was left to trying to mentally extract the single form she’d be looking for and feeling satisfied with the results he tossed it over to her, watching as she tilted her head at it.

“You know, I’m not sure how I should feel about the fact that I’ve gotten more than a few rings from you by this point and not one from Jake.”

“Well, you’ll keenly notice I make sure any I give you aren’t sized to your ring finger so try to push the point on him if you need to. More important though, my rings are both cooler and more useful than anything he might find you and given how much effort I put into it, do me the favour of trying it out.”

At his prompting she slipped it on, instantly noticing the change from the rings he’d made yesterday with the added feature to it but only scrunched her eyes as she noticed one particular option in the lot, pulling it from the ring to have it seamlessly sit in her grip as she looked over one of the guns he’d put in with the rest.

“Is this a way to get a repeat customer then? Give a gun so I keep coming back to the one guy who can make ammo?”

“Ha, while I may be shrewd in some business dealings, I’m far less so when it comes to friends. Take some shots and see how it feels.”

He materialized a thick, steel target as he said it, applying some quick enchantments to dampen the sound for what was to come before giving her the go-ahead and watching as she took her shot, hitting the center target with ease.

A result she couldn’t deny felt good. She may not have ever held a gun on Earth but she’d gained experience in fighting with all of the other weapons her new world held, it wasn’t hard to figure out.

More than that though, it gave a bit of a feeling of power that using a bow just couldn’t manage. There was no escaping her upbringing, a gun just felt inherently more dangerous, even if magic and augmentations and other skills helped to level the playing field. 𐍂Â𐌽ÖВĚs̩

But as she was left mulling over her thoughts, Ben prompted her to go for another shot, and another from there and so on and so forth, with her not understanding the point at first until she kept going, never once needing to stop and reload.

He was already grinning by the time she stopped again, knowing that he’d surprised her but she still gave him what he wanted.

“Okay, I’ll bite, how am I not running out of ammo?”

“Materializers built into the gun itself and stored in some voidstone,” He explained happily. “A bullet gets spent and a new bullet takes its place. It’s actually an effect you’ll find on any of the other ranged weapons I’ve got in there, with bows that make their own arrows and slings that make their own shots too, plus some javelins and discs and other similar things that will be replaced when thrown, though those were both harder to make work. It basically materializes brand new ones each time you throw one, but if you do too many at once then the mana cost may need a minute to keep up.”

All she could do was blink as he explained, looking at the new ring on her finger and then back to him. “I feel like I can’t actually begin to guess how rich you must be by now.”

“Here’s a hint, all of the weapons in the ring are at least low legendary and the ring itself is high. I could probably buy a small country if I wanted to but what would I even do with something like that? Much better to hoard my wealth until something fun enough comes along.”

“What could possibly come along that you can’t just make for yourself?”

“Eh, assuming I don’t die a tragic demise I’m planning on bothering Zandale to get him to teach me each and every skill that he has that seems interesting and some ingredients are harder to come by than others which raises the price. Plus, I’ve got a few employees and if some of the research I’m having them doing ever needs a cash investment then I’m happy to pay it.”

“And all of that sounds like a fraction of what it would take to buy a country.”

“...Okay, and maybe I just like having it. I’m at a point where I couldn’t spend all of it if I tried; there’s not much to do but either keep it or start giving away my services for free and the latter sure as hell isn’t happening.”

Still, he hadn’t considered it before but there was a very real chance he was the richest of the summoned on the planet by that point and regardless of how it may have sounded, considering how the positions had been reversed when they’d all arrived, he couldn’t help but enjoy that fact a bit.