Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

“Alright, don’t complain Abel but I’m about to start looking in your head.”

“What? Boo, why?”

“Because right now you’re working for me and mind reading is the easiest way to see with absolute certainty if there’s any issues in your work. Now, don’t complain, I’ll make it quick.”

Realistically, he was sure he could have checked her mind the same way he could check the gods, doing it at a speed so fast that it would be unnoticed in her frame of reference, but he still didn’t fully understand how she perceived it and didn’t want to risk some lingering feeling from an otherwise brief exposure giving him away when what he really wanted to know was how she was enjoying her current assigned work, sitting down and continuing to draw like they had that same morning as he stretched out connect from where his true body stood with Foast, bringing her into his range to check.

When he’d looked in her head during her fight at least he’d seen she’d enjoyed it to an extent, though not with the same glee she seemed to get from basic combat, but as far as he was concerned, that was still a good thing. Even if she loved facing off against others and trying to come out on top, he wanted to add a bit of variety to the girl’s life too and he hoped to do just that by helping her gain a few different skills of disciplines he worked in during her time there.

Sure, it would be easy to just insert the knowledge she’d need directly into her head and watch as the skills and levels would come but that wasn’t what he was hoping she’d get out of that. He may have held the ability to give people powerful shortcuts but what he’d hoped was that she might find an interest in the act of learning something herself, and with how high her intelligence was it wasn’t like it would be hard to acquire the skills at least. All of them were basic enough, only needing a serious attempt and a bit of knowledge to acquire compared to other, more challenging skills and she had her first success as she got her art skill, that perking her up as the level rang out for her before looking his way with a wide grin.

“You hear that?”

“I did,” He smiled back, giving a small clap. “Good work, which means it’s a decent time for a small break. It’s been a while since you’ve eaten, right? Come on, head over to my real body and I’ll feed you.”

A statement that only raised her excitement, she walked over to him and Foast, Delair coming too as he pulled out a table and started loading it with plates of pre-prepared meals from his rings, kept hot and fresh from the time within them being nearly at a standstill and watched what others would choose to eat.

He already knew what Delair enjoyed, dryads not being obligated herbivores yet still having their preferences as the heavily plant-based diet she’d grown up on left her choosing much the same, even if she did occasionally want something with a bit of meat added to it from time to time.

Foast managed to surprise him a bit with his choice though, going for a well-balanced plate of different food groups and ingredients, even if the standout flavour was going to be the sweet sauce that covered it, leaving him wondering if the shifter had a sweet tooth as Ben re-examined the memories he’d seen in the other’s head before concluding it was probably so. In the last year of his life at least, as far back as Ben had looked, it appeared Foast had his preferences there that managed to sneak through, even if he otherwise tried to pick healthier options for himself and leaving only the last to go through.

While the scent of all of his meals had left Foast to briefly pause, Abel had completely frozen, her strong senses almost overwhelming her before she reached out with both hands, putting her palms on the foods themselves and leaving empty plates behind as she rearranged her body structure to create mouths to fit within her fists, sucking up the food without the small delay it would take to bring any to her face before moving on to her next plates and repeating the process, Delair watching in open curiosity until the table was emptied, leaving Ben to bring out one new plate for himself that Abel still eyed hungrily.

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“You already had one of these ones, Abel,” He told her. “And I know that even if you can eat mountains of food, you don’t need to consume that much on a biological level.”

“But it was so good,” She said, not bothering to wipe away the drool forming on her lips as she stared at what he had until he gave in and pulled out just one more for her, starting to slide it over but pulling back once she reached out.

“Use a fork and eat it slowly. I don’t care if you eat a lot while you’re here but you’ve gotta savour what I cook, understand?”

“Mmh, okay,” She said, pouting just a bit but brightening up when he handed it over, awkwardly holding a fork to try and eat and showing that either she’d never used one before or else nobody had bothered teaching her, leaving him to put his own food down and walk to her side, gently changing how she held it.

“Here, just like this,” He told her. “Eating’ll go a lot smoother this way.”

“It would go smoothest if I kept up how I was doing it before,” She shot back, even if she followed what he’d said as she scooped food into her mouth. “But whatever, I guess. This is so good. You made this?”

“Ha, it is and I did. I’m surprised though, I thought you wouldn’t be so big on anything that wouldn’t grow your attributes.”

“I mean, yeah, it doesn’t taste like it’s strong so there’s room for improvement but all of the other flavours are there and I can already tell you what you could add to it to complete it.”

“I’m not topping it with my blood.”

“Just a little bit? Just to round out the dish?”

“I’ll give you some more when Thera passes back through and if you really want to try it on some food you can do it then.”

“I can’t tell if you’re good at handling her or if she’s got a handle on you,” Foast muttered. “Since when’s this little weirdo so agreeable?”

“Hey, screw you, I’m always agreeable,” She yelled back, pointing her fork his way. “Not my problem you can’t see it!”

He looked like he had a response on the tip of his tongue but held it back, sighing instead. “Whatever. Ben, thank you for the meal, a surprising highlight of commissioning you. If this is the treatment then I’m going to need to hire you again in the future, regardless of how this turns out.”

“Ha, I’m glad you liked it, I’ll make sure to keep it up while you guys are here but now that that’s done, back to work. Delair, now that you’ve learned them, make sure you try to incorporate both of your new magics into your work to train them, the goal is to always be using them in some way during your work as a way to train and grow them. Foast, we’ll be keeping up lessons for you but you’ve already learned a lot today so if you need a break just let me know, and Abel, now that you’ve gotten your zeroth level of art I’m having you learn some woodworking.”

“What? But I was just getting the hang of drawing!”

“Yes, you’re doing excellently and we’ll have you doing a bit more tomorrow too but art is a decent foundation for woodworking and I get the feeling you’re going to like that one.”

“Why?”

“You get to use a knife.”

“Seriously? Why didn’t you say so, let’s start already!”

Yep, there’s that violent desire.

He was sure she’d get at least a bit of a kick out of smithing as well with how hammering was involved but with how things looked, that would be a tomorrow goal. Training her in woodworking would have the added benefit of giving him another excuse to peek in her head to see which of the meals she liked the most and what flavours resonated strongest with her in the event he needed to use food as either encouragement or a reward but all of that was tasks to work on at the side. He’d been hired for two things only and it wasn’t trying to help the shifter with his more neglected skills, nor was it trying to broaden Abel’s experiences in the world. With his clones still working in the background it was almost time to start assembling and enchanting the two prototype armours he needed to build to see if they’d be worthy of the third tiers who would use them.