Unlike the last time when he was trying to get somewhere without prior arrangements, this time Ben decided to do things properly. He went to the home of Amy, Jake, and Yuzu, told the guards at the gate who he was and why he was there, and waited patiently as that information was passed along.

“So you okay?” He asked Thera as he watched her fidget beside him, his hands busy making a circular tool he’d need later through his magic skills.

“Um, yeah. Things might just be a little awkward is all,” She admitted. “They had a little funeral for you and I didn’t exactly take it well.”

He rubbed her back and tried to ease her mind. “I’m sure it will be fine. In fact, if they think about anything other than how good it is to see me alive then I’m having issues with them too.”

She was going to speak, her worries not dying so easily, but before she could get a word out a hole in space opened up beside them, with Jake jumping out, tackling Ben with a hug.

“Haha man oh man is it good to see you in one piece,” He cheered as Amy and Yuzu both came out as well. “We all thought you were a goner. Ha, well not Thera, she tore into us for that-” He stopped as he noticed her beside him, not wearing her cloak, her face plain to see. “And should we be wearing those amulets you gave us now?”

“Ben managed to get my charm under control. I still can’t touch people but you’re all safe as is,” She said awkwardly, only for Yuzu to jump in her arms, bringing her into a hug. “Hey, what did I just-”

Before she could finish the soul mage was already smugly pointing to the amulet around her neck, thrown on as soon as she learned Thera was outside and getting her hug begrudgingly accepted for the trouble.

“We honestly didn’t believe it when we heard the news,” Amy told him, a big smile spread on her face as well. “And by the time we knew it was true, well, you know what happened so we couldn’t find you, but it’s great that you stopped by. Come on in.”

“Yeah, take the VIP entrance,” Jake laughed, leading them all through the hole in space he’d made into their living room.

From the way Yuzu was clinging to Thera, whispering in her ear since Ben was right there it was clear that her previous worries seemed unfounded and Jake called for a round of snacks and drinks to be brought as they took a seat.

Before anything else, Ben threw what he’d been making to Yuzu, surprising her as she caught it and making her whisper in Thera’s ear.

“Um, she wants to know what it is?” She passed along as Ben explained what he’d made.

“You were fine with me reading your thoughts before so this does the same, basically combining dark and sound spells to project them. Makes things a little easier than having to go through someone else right?”

He watched her eyes light up as she put the circlet on her head, words immediately pouring out. “Testing, hello? What, it really works? This is so cool you’re the best! Things are going to be so convenient with this, I love magic!”

All of it was rapidly said and all of it was spoken in a robotic metallic voice, not at all matching the image of the girl in front of them, but he didn’t care enough to try to give it a nicer sound than he’d been able to when he tested a prototype with Greed in the trial. To be frank, he thought it was funnier this way.

“And as awesome as that was, tell us everything man! I gotta know what you went through,” Jake asked, his eyes glimmering as he anticipated the story he’d hear.

“Okay, but it’s not the funnest experience…” Ben began, capturing everyone's attention as he explained what he’d been through, the only part he left out being the mythic artifact he’d gained for the experience.

By the end, two of them were wearing deeply troubled expressions, with only Jake still seeming thrilled.

“So freaking cool! Man, so you awakened another skill and now you're one of two people to ever get that blessing? Jealo-”

Amy cut him off with a swift flick to the head, the strength she’d gained upon arriving in the world making it a powerful blow. “Don’t be jealous about someone’s life and death ordeal! I’m sorry about this idiot Ben, I hope all that wasn’t too traumatic.”

“I mean, on one hand I’m probably going to have nightmares about this for the rest of my life, but on the other this is really just what I expect from the world at this point, I think I’m growing numb to a lot of it.”

“That doesn’t sound good either,” Yuzu pointed out, but Ben just laughed.

“Well, you guys aren’t exactly going to be in a great situation yourself in a year, are you? Since I get out of being on the front lines we can call this the universe making up for that. But speaking of, as much as I came to see you before things got too busy and you wouldn’t have the time, I’m here for another reason as well. We do have a payment to settle after all.”

At that Amy pulled a face. “I don’t suppose it could wait, could it? Things are pretty busy for them all right now.”

“And I’m sure it will be for a while. Look, if I could wait I would, but I didn’t ask for this for no reason, I did because it will allow me to advance in my own projects, one of which is specifically to save a person's life. How long would I have to wait? Months? After the first stage of the invasion when one of them could be dead? I get that now’s not a good time, but with the way the world’s looking, it might not be a good time for a while.”

“You’re right man, you’re right,” Jake agreed. “Amy’s already getting a ton of use out of her new weapon so give me a few, I’ll find my teachers.”

With that he vanished, leaving them to enjoy the snacks provided while they waited.

“So, how is this meeting going to help you save a life?” Amy asked, curious about what projects he had that were so important.

“Long story short, I met a robot with a soul and need to make him a new body eventually. It’s a bit of a challenge.”

She looked at him, trying to gauge if he was being serious and just shook her head in the end. “I think you might be having the weirdest experience of any human in this world.”

“There’s no way that’s true,” He rebuked. “I can’t even begin to imagine what sort of nightmare training the rest of you go through.”

She was about to tell him that their training almost exclusively relied on sparing, with the occasional outing with supervisors to ensure they all stayed alive, but Jake returned before she could get the words out, the archmage Uliel and non-affinitied mage Vasta in tow.

“Did this genuinely have to be right now?” Uliel asked him, looking exhausted. “I’m sure you can imagine how busy we’ve become.”

“Why hello to you too Uliel, yes I’m glad to see you as well after two and a half months of almost dying,” He said sarcastically. “Anyway, I’m not going to say that it’s not my problem, but this is the agreed payment for my work. Speaking of, there should be one more person for me to talk to as well, shouldn’t there?”

He was of course talking about the world’s original soul mage whom he had yet to meet, and Jake just nodded as he opened another hole in space for them. “We’re going to have to go to them, they can’t come to us. Come on.”

Everyone followed as they ended up somewhere new, a brightly lit marble room with windows showing it was partly within the ocean that Allfaith sat on, with a large clear pool in the middle connected to the outside, its occupant making it clear why they had to go to him.

Within the pool was a merman of sorts, Ben wasn’t clear on the exact species. The clear water showed a fish-like lower half while the upper body was somewhat more human with its head and arms, only with the addition of fins and gills, as well as grey-black scales covering them.

So the original soul mage was purely aquatic I guess. The more terrestrial species must have been pretty happy to get one of their own with what’s coming to them.

His head poking through the water to keep his gills submerged, he gave them all a broad grin, revealing razor-like teeth as he did while he happily greeted them.

“So which of these two do I owe a consultation? Either way, it’s a pleasure, it lets me have a little break from the chaos down below.”

“That would be me,” Ben said with a raise of his hand. “Nice to meet you, the name’s Ben.”

“I’m still sorry about this Elvat,” Amy told him. “You have to spend a day on this for my selfishness.”

“Again, it’s no trouble. I’m actually curious about what this boy could want to do that he’d felt the need to use three of the best mages on the planet. Yuzu and Jake, since you’re both here too you should listen in and feel free to contribute. Now more than ever it’s important to apply what you can from your studies.”

While he gave that advice thinking that whatever the topic might be could be valuable to the two of them, the three older mages didn’t think too much of it, nor did they expect they’d actually be there too long answering Ben’s questions. Perhaps half a day at most depending on how much of an explanation he needed to understand whatever topics he wanted to learn up on, but none of them expected anything too complicated, right up until he pulled out a stack of paper from his bag and opened his mouth.

“Right, let’s get on it. So my particular area of research is based on how to seal a soul in an item while still being able to interact with it. Honestly, I think I’m almost there so I really just need some help refining the idea, but the basics of how I’ll accomplish it are pretty steeped in an enchanting system based on the principles of ritual magic me and my god worked to develop. Of course, it’s also taking advantage of both the more traditional weave system most enchanters use, and I recently incorporated the aspects of the ring system I figured out while in the trial to help strengthen and stabilize it. Either way, if you all aren’t confident enough with enchanting to comment on that then don’t worry, we can discuss the idea through the framework of constructing it as a traditional spell and I can convert it from there, but flip through my notes and let’s get started.”