“Well, that’s interesting.”

“What?” Pelenia asked as she looked down at the brace on her arm. She didn’t need one, having the sixth level in charm like her sister did as well, but she was helping Ben test something.

“Having dark resistance enhancement lowered the amount of resistance a person would need to handle your charm by four per level. If it’s playing by the same rules as how the magic resistance tied to the other skills I’ve used has then it probably brought what a person would need to resist Thera’s down by two points total,” The math didn’t quite work when he looked at the results he’d gotten, but he didn’t want to spend the days of making and remaking Thera’s enchantment to try and learn specifically how each skill affected things. He was close enough to work with, and unless determining the exact values would give him a better chance of success then it was just a waste of time when he could assume that the various skills he was using worked out to a few decimal points short of what he thought.

“Isn’t that incredible? As soon as more of our enchanters get your god’s skill to the second level then they’ll be able to make even more powerful versions of the brace even if some of their resistances are lacking.”

“Yeah it’s great, and if other nations can find people with the resistance enhancement skills they need then this will be quite the boon, but for now it comes down to how it will work out for Thera. Let’s see, if I get the first three skills I was using at level nine then at the very best I might get her effect at a distance down to four, though let's say six to account for the variance I’m seeing just to be on the safe side. From there I can assume that dark resistance enhancement would be able to bring it down from one per level then if I was able to find that at the ninth level as well then I’d be able to potentially bring it down to negative three. Well I guess actually just zero because it’s not going to cause a repulsion effect by hitting the negatives so whatever. Let’s see, that would mean our effect on contact would be left at seven, which isn’t terrible but still not ideal. It also leaves the issue of Thera’s charm level increasing. If she gets it up to five then she’d be back up to five at a distance and fifteen on contact meaning I need to find one more skill that might work to help future proof her brace.”

Pelenia gave him a gentle smile and patted his cheek after he finished his rambling. “I’m glad to hear you're working so hard for Thera, but there’s one other issue with what you’d planned. While I’m sure I’ll eventually be able to find you ninth-level holders of the first three skills if I take the time to contact the country’s various allied nations, I’m almost certain you won’t find anyone with a higher dark resistance enhancement than the one I’ve gotten. Resistance enhancements are rare skills after all, they come as a result of facing a magic multiple times and surviving, as well as having a naturally good resistance as it is.”

“Wait, so could I get it?”

“Perhaps. It couldn’t be said you don’t have the right constitution for the skill, but there's no guarantee you’d manage to get it, even if you keep throwing yourself into situations where you’d be afflicted with dark magic. Besides, it would do no good if you got yourself killed when we need you to make Thera’s brace.”

“Don’t worry, that was really more of an idle curiosity. As an actual idea, I was thinking I could offer the bear-person a monetary reward for each time they level up their skill, with the amount growing each level.”

“A decent idea, but with a similar issue. If he dies then we lose the resource, we can’t just let him go out to fight dark affinitied creatures in the hopes he’ll take enough damage to level up.”

“I think I have a way around that too if you don’t mind sparing a bit… well maybe a lot of mythril.”

“What are you thinking?”

“Make a variety of jackets like mine. I’ll enchant them with as many dark spells as I can to constantly afflict the wearer, with the strength of the spells increasing with each jacket. It won’t exactly be pleasant to wear, but I’m pretty sure it will get the job done.”

She drummed her fingers across her seat as she gave it some thought. “Alright, it might be a bit of a tough sell but so long as we financially compensate them appropriately then I’m sure I’ll be able to convince them. As for the jackets, well I’ll have seven sent your way tomorrow in his size so apply whatever you think would be powerful enough without causing too much harm.”

With that done he turned to leave as the queen gave him some parting words.

“And Ben, thank you for trying so hard.”

“Of course,” He said with a smile and a nod as he went to work on his next tasks.

He still had hours left in the day after making all of the braces he’d planned to as well as completing the weapons he’d promised for the first group of soldiers, though he was expecting more, and thought he would go back to the work area he’d been given to start preparing more as a way of getting some of the job experience he desired while he was still in the country. At least that had been his plan, but it had been thrown awry by the scene taking place before him.

Abrus had come back acting as if he hadn’t even been gone, and he was in the middle of engaging in a fight with Lux’s lover Writ as Thera, Glob, and his teacher Furela watched to the side.

Even calling it a fight wasn’t really accurate. Writ was doing his best to land a single hit on the great earth spirit but managed to just barely miss each time while having to desperately dodge the few attacks Abrus threw back. Ben was certain that he wasn’t even trying too hard. With the amount of power he was sure to have tied with the control that came with being at the pinnacle of his skill, he was certain to be going easy as he occasionally ripped blades of earth from the ground, sharpened to the point that it would be able to split a hair and as large as a person was tall.

More than anything it looked like one person was fighting for their very life as the other was having a casual day out, and finding the spectacle entertaining he took a seat beside his friend.

“So what’s going on here?”

“I guess Writ is doing his best to awaken his unarmed combat skill with my father’s help, though I question how handy this experience is when he can’t land an attack. They’ve been at it for almost an hour.”

It showed. The satyr was clearly feeling exhausted as he went down before their eyes, almost being struck by an earthen blade before Abrus stopped his attack, millimeters from the other man's face.

“Hey, you came a little bit close there, don’t you think?” Writ called out, cheerful despite what he was saying.

“You could never be in any real danger fighting me. This isn’t even a workout if I’m not going up against at least an army, though the one here doesn’t seem to like playing with me much,” He said back with a shrug, before turning to call out to the onlookers. “What did you all think? Ready to go next?”

“Can you go a bit easier than that? It would be nice to get a win eventually you know!” Glob called out, long used to numerous losses whenever he and Karly fought against Abrus for practice.

“No can do, if I go any easier you just might win, now come on, no need to dally.”

With Thera and Glob's turn beginning, Writ switched places with them and took their seat, leaving Ben to make small talk.

“That was really cool, I can’t imagine going up against Abrus like that.”

“Ha, well it’s not so bad when you know he’s not actually going to kill you, though he’s quite the beast. Are you giving him a go after?”

“Ha no way, I’m a craftsman, no fighting skills to my name. Well, that’s not strictly true but they’re level zero and I only worked to get them to help improve my crafting even more.”

“Still no reason not to, facing an insurmountable mountain like that can be a good experience for personal growth and Abrus won’t actually do you any harm.”

He was about to tell him that he’d already faced far more mountains than he ever wanted to again, but was stopped as the other two began their battle.

The strategy of using life magic to cause havoc to the target's body wasn’t viable for Abrus and Thera hadn’t practiced with her dark magic enough to be able to cause any harm to her father, leaving her with only the earth magic she favoured. It should have been detrimental in the fight, her father having a level of power and control to simply stop Thera’s attacks from happening, but instead he opted to leave each spell she fired alone, choosing to just move to avoid it as they were shot off, much the same way he’d dogged Writ’s punches and kicks.

Defense was left entirely to Glob, making him focus on building barriers between them to block each of Abrus’s attacks and leaving Ben to wonder while the small alien didn’t simply leave a barrier up at all times. He had an awakened version of the skill after all, he was sure to have a mana pool that would allow for that as well as the potential to leave it selectively permeable, making it so Thera’s attacks could leave without anything else getting in, but he’d been wrong.

He watched as Thera directed a giant earth saw at her father, hearing it tear through the air as it did, only for him to simply step out of its way, firing his own back at her without missing a beat. As Glob threw up his barrier between the spell and Thera though it easily tore through, alerting Ben to the fact that he’s been putting his all into reinforcing his barriers to keep just such an event from happening, and he couldn’t hold on any longer.

Abrus’s earthen saw stopped just short of his daughter's neck before he let it crumble to dust to the ground, but despite how quick their fight had been the great spirit couldn’t have been more thrilled.

“Thera, you’ve improved so much in such a short time, that was exceptional!”

“And still not enough to land a hit on you,” She told her dad with a sigh.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, even those with awakened skills and decades of combat experience would struggle against me, this is just for your own growth. Anyway, Glob probably needs to take some time to recover a bit of mana but shall we go again?”

“Abrus, give your daughter a break and let her friend have a turn!” Writ called out and brought all eyes on Ben.