“Myriad do you seriously not have any idea what it might be?”

“How do you destroy an entire planet without any technology?”

Ben let out a sigh. “He says he doesn’t know Abrus, are you sure you’ve never heard of it?”

“I could easily have encountered it in my life, just not by that name, or it could be as Globolgork said yesterday about names being translated to match equivalents. Perhaps there simply isn’t something similar enough that it would be called that name, or maybe its makeup is different enough that even if it does the same thing it wouldn’t be recognised as such.”

“God what a pain.” Ben said dejectedly. “Looks like that’s one dream down the drain, and today was going so well too.” As he sat down and stared at the tube in front of him someone took a seat to his side.

“What’s the matter?” Thera asked as she looked at what he and her father were staring at.

“Oh hey, since we finished up with all the braces I thought I would try and get your dad to help me with something since he was here watching anyway, but it looks like it was a bust.”

“You already finished?” Penelias surprised voice came from behind him before moving to her husband's side. “I had 40 people waiting for you, from what Sonya said I thought it would take you a couple days.”

It seemed she wasn’t even going to try and hide that she had given him an unreasonable amount of work, but it didn’t much matter to Ben. “They all had significantly less mana than Sonya so it wasn’t too hard, plus my skill leveled up from being in contact with all of those different minds so it got a little faster too.” He had the chance to interact with 25 succubi and incubi, as well as around 15 members of a variety of other races with passive magics in the city. It really showed him the importance of practicing in a variety of ways instead of just interacting with the same people over and over again.

“You got a level up? Lucky.” Thera said with a small hint of envy. He knew she struggled getting her own skills up, at least when it came to her magics, but he wasn’t going to be keeping any secrets when it came to his skills around her if they were going to be working together, who knew what could be necessary to save their lives when they were hunting one day, which was why he also included his other bit of good news.

“Actually I also got a new skill called hidden mind. It looks like trying to keep my thoughts and feelings from leaking into 40 people paid off.” The name seemed self-explanatory enough, it was a skill that hid his mind from others. He had just been trying to keep any of his lingering feelings from bothering anyone he dealt with today, but it looked like it worked out for him. Not that he was sure how many skills had mind-reading aspects to them like his own, but it didn’t hurt to have at least.

“So now when you practice you’ll be able to hear my thoughts but I won’t be able to hear yours? That’s not fair.” She told him with a pout.

“It’s not that different yet, here.” He grabbed her hand and connected with her. Since his level went up again it no longer felt like mutterings from her, instead right away he could tell she was embarrassed about having her hand held in front of her parents after the scene they made yesterday, and he let go. “How was that from your perspective?”

She gave him a complicated look for a moment before answering. “Your thoughts were definitely more clear than before you leveled up, but it still mostly felt mumbled. I could, however, pick up on the fact that you had a pretty good idea what I was thinking.”

He tried to laugh it off. “Ha well, it is part of the package after all. I’m sure with some practice you could get the skill as well. Besides, since my connect leveled up we should redo your brace later to see how much it affects it. At least since I got this it should make it a bit easier for you to sleep.”

“Hmm fine. So what were you talking to Myriad about then?”

“Myriad?” Pelenia asked, looking around. She had certainly heard Ben say the name, but there was nobody else there.

It was Abrus who answered for her. “It seems our girl’s found herself an apostle.”

“For a ridiculously minor god.” Ben clarified.

You know it’s true and I don’t want them to think I’m trying to tempt away their daughter with a powerful god.

Penelia gave him an appraising look for a moment before continuing. “Alright then, so what was the combined knowledge of an otherworld, a great spirit, and a god hoping to achieve?”

It was here Ben deflated, losing all the energy he had from talking about his other successes of the day. “Trying to figure out what saltpeter is.”

“Um, can you elaborate please?” She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but trying to figure out what sounded like a spice could be was not it.

“I was trying to make a weapon from my world.” He elaborated. “Something called a gun. I figured I would try and construct one in the simplest form I could think of and basically just make a metal tube, some ball bearings, and an explosive powder. The issue is the powder. From what I remember it was historically made of sulphur, I think charcoal, and saltpeter. The big issue is that none of us know what saltpeter is, or even if it exists in this universe at all.”

“And you decided to make a weapon in my backyard?” The queen asked with a raised eyebrow. She didn’t seem mad, just curious about what led to this turn of events.

Ben only shrugged. “I wasn’t exactly keeping it a secret since I was getting your husband's help. I just figured while I had an earth spirit available who was willing to lend some aid I would see how hard it could be, I wasn’t expecting this to be the roadblock I would come across, I figured I would just be spending a few months trying to figure out what ratios I needed to make it work.”

“But why make this at all?” Thera asked him. “There are plenty of weapons you could already make, right? Or you could just buy something, like a sword or a bow.”

“I’m trying to cut out as much of the learning curve I can. As far as I can tell both of those things need practice, not to mention I think my strength and agility attributes are a bit low, or at least low enough that I don’t want to bet my life on them. I’m sure guns have some learning curve, but they seem lighter and more straightforward, plus when they were introduced in my world swords seemed to be tossed to the wayside. Of course since my world doesn’t have magic or skills I guess it’s a bit hard to compare.”

“So you’re giving up?” Thera asked him.

“Not sure what else I can do. I don’t have much interest in being a fighter anyway, I just figured it would be good for a bit of extra protection in case things ever look bad while we’re out.”

“Not so fast.” Pelenia spoke up. “Thera dear, you said you were planning on showing Ben around the city, yes? Since he’s done so early why not take him out now and visit the crafting guild after. It’s a real branch unlike what you’d have in Stonewall, which means there's going to be a proper guild library. You may be able to find some info there.”

“Really, that's great!” Ben almost cheered, life returning to his face. He grabbed Theras hand and started to drag her along. “Let’s go right away, we have hours of sunlight left after all.”

“Fine fine, no need to pull. I guess we’ll be back for dinner later mom.”

“Of course, you both have fun now.” She watched them go off with a smile, the whole time the gears in her mind turned as plans were formed and changed.