So this is the tower, huh? Ben thought as he stood before the giant trial, taking it all in.

It was just as large as any of the magic towers, though it had a few key differences to go along with it. Instead of there being a single door for the terrestrial races to enter, there were five, each of which had a different symbol at the front.

A hammer and tongs for smithing, wood and a knife for woodworking and construction, beakers for alchemy, pencils and brushes for the arts, and the final one which had them all. There weren’t doors for every potential crafting type skill, with cooking, stone working, and sewing being notable exceptions, but there were enough considering that those who wanted to take on the trial would get that single tower compared to the magic ones, and they’d have options to choose from beyond being proficient in everything.

Which does make it a little interesting that they have a door specifically for doing a bit of everything. He thought to himself as the god Nare spoke out in his mind.

He explained.

Interesting. And no clues to go with these ones I see?

Unlike the magic doors which all had a little something extra that anyone with a sharp eye could take advantage of, the doors of craftsman’s tower just let the challenger know what sort of path they might face, no hints to warn them of whatever lay within.

Well, isn’t that demotivating. He thought back as he placed his hand on the front, running his fingers over the grooves of each symbol on the door that held them all. The door he would personally challenge if he was going to, as the question of if he should step beyond filled his mind.

He didn’t think he could do it. His items were still square in the middle of ultra-rare, meaning that he still had plenty of room to grow, but on the other hand, he felt himself running out of time with each passing day. If he could somehow get his connect awakened in the next week, that would give him time to rush through the gates, collecting all of the high-leveled skills he could and start trying to put them to use, definitely making things that would be high ultra-rare and maybe even legendary.

It was the sort of thing that could potentially turn the tide of battle, wasn’t it worth the risk?

But on the other other hand, if I try and fail then I’ll lose the opportunity to do it in the future. What if I only make it to the third floor? Worse, what if I don’t get past the first? I’ll have lost out on the chance to awaken my skill when if I just put off challenging it till before the second or third wave I could have much better odds. Is it worth it to ignore it for now to have a better chance later? There’s literally lives on the line, but then doing it when I’m not certain could cost even more in the end.

Nare broke in, interrupting his train of thought.

What’s with you? You were so gung ho about it before I dealt with the earth tower, now that I’m seriously considering it you think I should wait?

Myriad filled in, in place of Nare’s silence.

Wait, what? Really?

His god went on.

Oh cool, sweet.

Nare yelled.

Oh please, maybe if the blessing you guys would give wasn’t so weak I’d feel a little bad, but I’m sure when you compare losing out to me against all the faith you’ve earned in the past from these trials you guys are still coming out ahead.

The god grumbled.

It was just a little reassuring to hear, so after only another moment Ben took his hand away from the door. He knew he could still raise his skills more, he would get to the point where he could no longer grow on his own before taking the challenge to squeeze whatever bit of potential he could from himself and the gods when the time came.

Okay, this is insane. This is too insane, it really is a super weapon.

Despite being in the great library of craftsman’s tower, Ben had yet to put his eyes on any of the books. Unlike the one found at the magic towers, the floors weren’t divided or restricted so there were piles of things to get his hands on, but in that moment he was sure that he was already holding the most interesting documents by far.

The schematics for Iberu’s superweapon were in his hands and he couldn’t help but go over them again and again. Not just out of a desire to have them memorized in the event something went wrong, but for the pure beauty of them. It was a tool he could understand Falk and other craftsmen wanting to put their hopes into, and he could see his teacher’s touches on it as well.

In fact, he was fairly sure it couldn’t exist without his teacher. Ben may not have been certain what the yeti’s death magic level was, but he was positive it was awakened given that Falk could use it to make legendary items, and that feeling was all but confirmed by just what the weapon was supposed to do.

It gathered mana from the many, many expensive materials that made it up, condensing it to a single point after passing through all of the enchantments on the machine and fired it off to the invasion point, creating an area that would not only drain the lifeforce of anything unfortunate enough to come through, but kill the very cells that made them up, rotting their muscles and weakening them drastically in the instant they were hit by the effects, making it so they couldn’t rush to escape the area of effect.

It was savage, brutal, and based on what he was reading, seemed to be impossible by all accounts.

Even if it’s the size of a house, the amount of power it would need to get this effect seems like it’s way too much unless the enchantments were third tier, and as much as Falk may want to hide his skills there’s no way I wouldn’t be able to see that. So where’s all the power coming from?

He did the math for what he was seeing again and again in his head, making sure he wasn’t missing something obvious, something that would answer exactly where this supply of power was coming from, only to keep coming up blank.

Yep, that seals it. All of this is helping but it’s not enough, meaning that at least part of it is coming from one of these.

Not everything was revealed in the blueprint. While it was fairly generous with the information it provided on how the structure was made and worked, a couple parts were left annoyingly blank. Presumably, information that needed to be kept secret, perhaps even one of those secrets his god kept warning him about that mortals shouldn’t know.

It was all sorts of aggravating too. He didn’t like the feeling of knowledge being kept from him, least of all when it came to such interesting topics, and he had no way of unraveling the mystery with the information on hand.

Let’s see, if I had to guess I’d say this sphere at its core is what’s doing the heavy lifting here, but it’s only the size of a basketball. That seems way too small but with how the enchantments are set up it’s the only thing that makes sense. So in that case, how would I fit all of that extra power in there? I guess if an awakened space mage enchanted it they could expand the interior with a positively insane level of depth and then just fill it to the brim with rainbow mana crystals. That would have the benefit of not having to leave them all outside and exposed to danger, but there’s some issues that would make that difficult too. So what else could it be? I guess if I look at one of my own interests, souls are shockingly good at storing mana, aren’t they? Hell, Thera alone has five hundred thousand and the great spirits each have a million. Hypothetically, if something like an animal’s soul could be captured and somehow forcefully expanded to hold more power, if it could be extracted after couldn’t something like this be done? Hmm, I doubt that’s what it is but I should maybe look into that idea a bit myself, it’s not bad.

His god would be screaming if he’d heard the thought Ben had just decided had some interesting potential, but all of the ones he interacted with were busy with their own work, leaving him no one to talk to as he kept fiddling with other potential options that might allow for the level of power he was seeing, only to fail to find anything that seemed too viable. He would have spent far more time on that very question too if it weren’t for the sounds of someone coming to the desk he sat at, knocking on it politely to get his attention as he tore his eyes away from what he was reading to find the man standing before him.

At first, he took the man smiling down at him to be an elf, though on closer inspection that wasn’t quite right. He’d seen a few before, his previous caretaker Lehie being the main one to come to mind, and while the similarities were close there were some distinct differences too. The person before him had sharper features and shorter ears, though still long by human standards. Long enough that if he’d seen them on Lehie when he’d arrived on the world then he would have reacted in the same way.

Beyond that though was a feeling of power that pricked at his mana sense, with all of the clues pointing to one species he was aware of.

High elf.

One of the elven offshoots brought about by the meddling of a long-dead evil god, the biggest differences beyond the superficial changes to their appearance was their higher capacity for mana and a couple centuries extra to the standard elves’ already long lifespans. All that left was what he wanted with him.

“Ah, pardon me, I hope I’m not bothering you,” He said, still wearing a pleasant smile. “Would you happen to be Ben? Iberu told me you’d be expecting me.”

“Oh, yes of course, it’s nice to meet you…”

“Naloth,” He said, shaking Ben’s hand in greeting. “And it’s a pleasure to meet you as well. Especially since you wrote this.”

What he pulled out was a copy of the book Ben had written on ritual magic, properly bound beyond the loose sheets that he’d submitted when he sent them off with Falk yet looking well-read despite how recently he must have gotten his hands on it, speaking to the volume he valued the subject.

“Right, I was told you had an interest in it so I’d be happy to chat if you want, but I should probably let you know up front that it’s not my area of expertise. I apply it to my enchanting but I’ve only been a part of a single ritual.”

“Ha, I’d say you have more experience with it than nearly every other mage on the planet,” He said warmly. “It’s considered something of a lost art as a result of the power gained from the system, but I can’t help but look at that as pure foolishness. To let such a powerful tool fade away simply because a different source of power showed up, all of our ancestors should have been working to continue to refine it together with the system, not abandoning one for the other!”

His impassioned speech drew looks around him that he was quick to apologize for as soon as he noticed, before switching to a quieter tone more becoming of a library.

“Ahem, pardon me. But anyway, it’s been my area of study for a while, so I’m sure you can imagine my surprise when Iberu mentioned he’d met someone who seemed to casually apply the principles of it to enchanting of all things. That’s not to mention the book you wrote up for his request, I don’t think surprise could begin to cover how I felt reading something that blew everything I already knew of rituals out of the water.”

“Ha, well thanks. I wish I could take credit, but my god's original race apparently specialized in its use to a greater extent than any other one on the planet. I only know so much because I have him.”

“Good resources are wonderful but don’t sell yourself short. And you said you actually participated in a ritual? If I may ask, what was it you did?”

“Ah, so my own part in it was actually pretty small, don’t let me talk myself up. I have a skill that lets me link minds with people. I used it to link up two awakened life mages and a very powerful earth mage to create a shell for a ruby crab who was born without one. Because of the nature of how they develop theirs, they couldn’t just get a standard life mage to help, so we needed to convert ruby into a living form first before it could be done.”

“Fascinating,” Naloth said, his eyes alight with the talk. “And it just goes to show the potential of the magic. I would never have guessed it could be used in such a way.”

“It can be convenient if you work to figure out how to apply it,” Ben agreed. “It’s that figuring out bit that’s the hardest. Speaking of, should I assume you were seeking me out because you have a particular ritual in mind?”

“Ah, I suppose it’s obvious, isn’t it?” He said with a laugh. “Yes, I do in fact have a goal. Tell me, since you’re also an enchanter, are you at all knowledgeable about gate structure?”

Knowledgeable was putting it mildly. Ben had read up on the subject enough that he was even sure he could reduce the mana cost of any gate so long as he could enchant with awakened skills, he was just waiting for the day it was possible.

Instead of saying all of that though, he simply nodded as Naloth’s grin widened.

“A well-studied man, I respect that deeply. If you already have some knowledge on the matter then that should make things easier. You understand that reality is layered. There’s where we find ourselves, the one the gate network connects to, the infinite hells and the realm of gods to name a few, but there are certainly more to go along with it. I’m simply interested in understanding what other layers there might be, as well as what use they might have, and to achieve that I plan on using ritual magic as my main tool. If you have the time I’d love to shoot ideas back and forth for a bit. Even if nothing comes of it, a bit of brainstorming can lead to paths one might never expect.”

“I have the time so brainstorm away,” Ben told him, wearing a wide smile of his own. The topic was not only interesting, it was one he typically didn’t indulge too deeply in, along with having potential towards his goal of understanding the summoning spell given that at least a part of it meant reaching past the boundary of reality itself. If he had someone who seemed just as passionate on the topic he’d be a fool to turn them away.