He’d put off creating Thera’s new staff for long enough. His crafting level was far higher than he’d initially planned for it to be and with them about to embark on a long trek to hunt anything they could find along the way, a good quality staff was a must. It was with all of that in mind that he finally sat her down in front of him and pulled out a sharp pair of scissors.

“Are you sure you can do this?” She asked, sounding nervous as she did. “We can always wait until we get to Anailia so my mom can do it.”

“I mean, it’s your hair. If you’d prefer that then we can wait.”

“Mmh…” She had a brief but intense internal debate trying to decide what was more important, the chance for a good staff or the chance for a bad haircut, and though it was close her desire to have a staff that wouldn’t break won out in the end. “Alright, go ahead. It’s not like anyone will see it if you mess up anyway.”

“I’m not going to mess up so don’t worry,” He told her, trying to calm her down. “At the very least I’m confident that I won’t do anything that would make you look terrible, if it needs a little bit of fixing up after then your mom can manage.”

As he said that he started running his fingers through her hair, looking at the way it naturally wanted to fall along her head as he tried to figure out where would be the best way to cut it as he did, before taking the plunge and making the first snip. After he did that the rest became far easier as he treated it like any other project and let himself get lost in it.

It didn’t take long before he was done, having cut it to be just above her shoulders, he looked it over carefully and was personally quite happy with how it turned out. Everything was even and he hadn’t left her with a bald spot, so he was sure she’d be satisfied, and feeling like getting a little creative he started to style it a bit next.

“Aren’t you done?”

“I’m just doing a quick braid, it will look nice, don’t worry.”

The kind he was putting in her hair, a half-up crown braid was quick and easy enough, and once he was finished and had everything in place he grabbed a mirror to show off the result.

“So what do you think?” He asked, feeling pretty good about it.

“It’s nice. I don’t really do anything like this since I’m always in my cloak, but I like it. How do you even know how to do this sort of thing?”

“When I was a kid I liked to braid bracelets and stuff, and since I was pretty good at it my mom thought it would be fun to teach me how to do her hair so I learned a few different ones. It’s easy enough, I can show you how sometime if you want?”

“Mmm, I’ll think about it. It’s not something I can see myself doing honestly, but it might be nice to learn.”

“Well, I guess I can always just do it for you instead if you ever want to fancy up a bit, just let me know. Anyway, with that done I guess I’ll head out to work on your staff so swing by the shop in the morning.”

“Ben, it’s late, the rest of the town has already shut down for the day,” She told him incredulously. “I can wait till tomorrow to get it and you need to actually sleep more than a couple of hours a night.”

He could see she wasn’t going to back down on forcing him to take care of himself and with a bit of hesitation, he gave in.

It is kind of important that I get this right the first time, getting a bit of extra sleep won’t hurt.

He woke up in the morning, ready to make a simple breakfast for Thera and Sonya to enjoy when they got up, only to find Thera already awake. It seemed the exciting prospect of a better staff had made it hard to stay asleep, so with more energy than she knew what to do with she decided to go watch him make it.

He didn’t mind the company, it being a nice alternative to the few hours he’d typically spend alone so early in the morning as they went to the shop and he got started. He’d been planning this for a while and an idea was firmly developed in his head.

Unlike the majority of the staves he’d made her, this one wouldn’t be metal in its nature, at least not to the extent it normally was. Instead, he would be taking advantage of the wood he’d received from the dryads, shaping one of the two remaining branches he’d received into a more proper shape, cutting and sanding away the rougher, more natural look of the wood to create something smoother and more pleasant to handle. While it didn’t look overly impressive for the time being though, that wouldn’t be true when it was done.

With the basic shape formed he carefully drilled a thin hole through its core, stretching from the bottom to almost the tip of the staff, stopping just before he’d get through the top. At the head of the staff he carefully inserted a variety of thin yet sturdy pins, creating minuscule holes he planned to put to use later, and with the most delicate parts of the woodworking complete, moved on to cutting channels up the length of the staff, creating an intersecting quadruple-helix as he went to be filled in after.

Finally, the time came to use the golden hair, possibly the toughest material to determine the proper way to work with. From earlier tests he confirmed the properties that seemed apparent to him. When removed from her head, it still acted as one would expect hair would, minus the fact that it could be melted down to turn into regular gold. Since he couldn’t determine if doing so would destroy the properties he’d wanted to preserve, that meant working it in an almost unaltered state, and that was exactly what he did.

With all but a few strands he twisted them, before binding them to a sturdy silver wire and sliding it within the core of the staff, getting it exactly where he wanted it to be as he moved on to the next part, carefully sliding the few remaining hairs into the pinholes he’d created, letting the strands meet the central core before he secured them the best he could before moving to the forge to heat up three different metals, one of which he’d be needing shortly.

To properly take advantage of it though, he needed to apply an earthen enchantment to what he currently had, blending it with water mana to more successfully achieve the effect he wanted.

Once that was done the metal was ready, and he had to quickly make a separate tool to keep things from getting too dangerous. Getting a thin plate of metal, he quickly shaped it so it could act as a funnel and wrapped it around the bottom of the staff before securing it upright and carefully taking a crucible of molten silver, pouring it into the core to ensure everything was secured in place while providing power to the enchantments at the same time, the effect of which was to increase the speed the liquid metal would run as it made its way down until he saw it begin to dribble out of the end of the staff and he removed his enchantments.

He looked it over from there. The wood hadn’t been too damaged by the entire process, though if the quality of dryad wood weren’t so great he would have had to find a different means to secure it. At worst it had gotten a mild char on the interior, nothing more.

Satisfied the hardest part was complete he moved on to the remaining two metals, moribusial and iron, and finding both at the right temperature to work, began blending the two together, carefully running his mana through the super-heated mix as he did so. His goal wasn’t as simple as the usual outward release of any of the mana it sucked, he was aiming to direct it at a right angle.

When he was sure it was as good as he could make it and fearing mana exhaustion, he took it away, cutting it into strips and shaping it while it was still hot to get it perfect, before fitting each piece into the channels he’d cut along the length of the staff and securing them in place.

Carefully looking it over, he couldn’t have been more pleased. The dark wood complimented the rosy metal wrapped around it and let the golden flecks at the top shine. For the finishing touches, he wrapped some leather cords around where he knew Thera would be gripping it so she wouldn’t feel any effect of having her mana drained, regardless of how insignificant that would be for her, followed up with a complex arrangement of his highest possible resistances throughout the entire thing and he could finally say it was complete.

Thera didn’t notice Ben’s eyes light up with the notification, it seemed her own were glued to the staff he’d made, but in the hours since he started on it Falk had shown up, and he was a bit more observant of his pupil.

“Got some good news I take it boy? Don’t tell me your skills leveled up again after only a few months since the last time?”

“Nope, finished my job. Speaking of, mind if I take a few hours off to change it and test this out with Thera?”

She turned to her uncle, even with her face covered it was clear she was filled with hope and expectations, and he waved them off. “Sure, there’s not too much to do today anyway since we’re both so close to heading off so enjoy. Come back and let me know how it works out.”

Myriad told him as he walked to the job room with Thera in tow.

What? I didn’t even do anything for once.

And you’re mad about that, why?

Myriad I like you, but if you’re saying I don’t put in effort then we’re throwing hands when I get to sleep.

Actually, no? How common is it?

Come on, that can’t be right. Sure, it’s a lot of work and effort, but I’m managing fine. What did they say when you told them about how awesome I am then?

What? You did tell them about how great your beloved apostle is, didn’t you?

Man, why not? I’m over here working my butt off, I want the praise. Maybe a new title too depending on what they have to say.

…Okay, ignoring the opinion you have of your incredibly dear and devoted apostle who’s working to get you a church made in town, I guess that does sound like a pain in the ass. Hate to be on Falk's side about this, but I have no interest in being a teacher when I’m still growing myself.

Sure, he’d put the offer out to Delair and her mother when he’d left, but what were actually the chances of him needing to do such a thing by the time she was old enough to make up her mind about what she’d want to do with her life? Odds were best she’d work on tending to their forest like the rest of her village.

Shaking off their talk, he got to the guild and entered the job room, placing his hand on the crystal and letting the options fill his mind.

AVAILABLE JOBS

Trap user Tree tamer Craftsman- alchemy path Craftsman- artistic path Craftsman- blacksmith path Craftsman- cooking path Craftsman- stonecrafts path Craftsman- sewing path Heretic Holy craftsman Kin Tank Mathematician Fractured mind user Magic weapon maker

Hmm, so only one new one it looks like.

Both mathematician and fractured mind user had appeared after completing the mind user job, and while the second one sounded appealing as one he might be able to finish in a few months the same way he had completed the first one in a matter of weeks, he left it to the side for the time being as he considered his options, the task becoming much easier with the appearance of the new job.

As much as it was a shame that he wasn’t a level seven enchanter yet to get access to the one he really wanted, it looked like the benefits of taking magic item maker previously had just reared its head, giving him a new avenue to focus on his crafting and enchanting.

Name: Ben Heph

Race: Human

Titles: Apostle of Myriad, The Forgotten One, Miracle Maker, Skill learner

Jobs: Magic weapon maker (lv 1)

Previous Jobs: Apprentice craftsman, Craftsman, Priest, Enchanter, Mind user, Magic item maker

Attributes:

Vitality: 183 Vitality recovery rate: 2/hr Mana: 120 Mana recovery rate: 7/min Strength: 186 Agility: 85 Stamina: 689 Intelligence: 379

Affinities:

Light: 3 Life: 2 Fire: 4 Water: 3 Air: 4 Earth: 2 Death: 3 Dark: 1 Space: 4 Time: 5

Resistances:

Light: 68 Life: 72 Fire: 75 Water: 69 Air: 66 Earth: 81 Death: 78 Dark: 85 Space: 63 Time: 61

Blessed skills:

Crafting lv7 Enchanting lv6 Focus lv6

Passive skills:

World speak+ Tolerance lv2 Sacrilege lv3 Complex mind lv3 Bind Partial demonic body Defense enhancement lv1 Parallel thought lv1 Ambidexterity

Active skills:

Dismantling lv3 Stealth lv1 Connect lv6 Hidden mind lv4 Calculate lv3 Knife wielder lv0 Hammer wielder lv0 Meditation lv1 Cycling lv0

Blessings

Myriads Blessing Anailias Blessing

Trials

Trial of Anailia and Tolona

So the bonuses are the same for magic item maker, huh?

He’d suspected as much, but it was still a turn of events he was quite pleased with. Even if it was his only one, enchanting did qualify as a magic skill, and since it also fell under crafting as well he harbored a small, secret hope that it meant it was drawing dual bonuses from the single job. It wasn’t something he could be certain about without finding someone with an awakened analysis skill, but even if he was wrong it didn’t matter too much, any job that let him get bonuses to it was a benefit. All that mattered was how he would work through the experience for it, especially when he had a few weeks he’d be stuck in the woods, without a forge to make weapons for the job experience.

If only I could bring the entire forge to the woods. He thought to himself before an idea struck him. Wait, maybe I don’t need to? I’ll have to do some testing to see what nets me job experience.

“Are you all done?” Thera asked, seeing he’d finished with both the crystal and his card.

“Yep, you’re looking at a magic weapon maker now.”

“In that case, come on, I want to try this out.”

Her excitement was palpable and he couldn’t help but muse that if it did work the drop in his staff production might end up as a loss to his current job experience as they headed out into the training grounds.