“So how’s it look doc?”

“Well, it looks like we were right,” Helori told him as she pulled her arms out of his chest. “You’re definitely thinking with your soul. There’s a few other differences that are pretty pronounced too, but nothing you wouldn’t expect an awakened skill holder to have to one extent or another so it’s nothing worrying. All in all, I’d say you’re fine, there’s no strain.”

“Love to hear that.”

He was getting checked just to be on the safe side, but he hadn’t been worried. He really did feel fine compared to previous months of agony, so even if there had been an issue he probably wouldn’t have cared if it wasn’t causing any obvious suffering to himself.

“Just try not to discover any more disruptive skill combinations,” She sighed. “Now that we’re aware it’s even possible, we actually need to keep an eye out for these sorts of things.”

“Ah, you went thousands of years without it being a problem until this point, I’d say it’s not a major concern, though I would be curious about what else could cause it. Maybe if a person got too many skills that buff themselves? Or the right combination of enhancement skills? Hmm, maybe if I have some spare time I’ll go through my books and see if anything seems like it would do it.”

“Please don’t,” Myriad begged. “I can already tell that you’d want to test to see if you’re right.”

“I mean, not on myself at least, but don’t worry, with all I have to do I don’t think I’ll ever actually have spare time again. Are we all set for the gate construction?”

“We’ll have everyone there tomorrow for you and an awakened skill holder will either meet you in the cities you’re building gates if there’s one there, or else some more will be sent to meet you after you’re done.”

“Sweet.”

He’d been a little surprised that things had gone so smoothly. Even if he’d expected to get his way in the end, he’d been prepared for far more pushback that never came. If his god was to be believed, it seemed that none of them up there had even argued his request.

“Lucky you, you now have an ability far too useful for any god to want to fight you in a case like this, especially since you really weren’t asking for much,” Helori said as she walked away from him before jumping up to perch herself atop of Myriad. “Of course, as a trade-off, if word gets out among the mortals then even more are going to try and recruit you. The gods won’t spill the beans about your skill, but they’ll be readying their pitches for it if it comes out naturally.”

“Mmh, I’ve already had a couple ask me about recruiting you to their nations,” Myriad sighed. “Ignoring the sacrilege, your build is becoming pretty incredible all things considered. Just the fact that you can materialize a huge range of matter is enough to pile on your value.”

“Ah shucks guys, you’re going to make me blush. And while we’re on the topic, miss goddess of magic and knowledge, any advice to give on materializing in general? The more I can cut down on the mana cost, the better off I am so I’ll take anything you can give.”

“There’s not much to advise you on,” She shrugged. “You’ve already got the hang of it as far as I can tell, the only way you’re lowering the cost more is by learning more about the materials you want to create or by raising your skill level. Of course, being able to materialize at all is basically cheating when it comes to leveling your skills. I’m not sure how it will apply to a non-affinitied one, but it’s excellent experience considering how challenging it is, and the more you can make the better.”

“Interesting, so my path for leveling it is going to involve increasing my total knowledge on materials as a whole and putting it into practice. That’s doable then. I’m already solid for making pretty much any raw element, which means from here I need to focus on making compounds and the structural aspects of how a material is set up. This is easy, I’ll have another level out of this before you know it.”

Neither of them were doubting that. Even ignoring all he’d done in the battle, what he’d shown in the last few days as he experimented with his limits made it obvious enough he was going to put his all into the skill, and it was already reflected in his job experience.

And then other than that I just need to focus on every other thing that’s taking up my spare time. I need a skill that would let me move as if there were more hours in the day instead of just thinking like there is.

With the growth of connect, he was going to be significantly farther when it came to rebuilding Inux’s body than he had been in the past. That just left him with his ever-mind-numbing summoning spell to work through.

And if I combine my mind skills with Thera pouring her mana into me, I should be able to at least do the enchanting part of testing each section faster, it’s just examining every spell effect from there.

…Which means it will still take me thousands of hours, not even counting when I’ll need to start combining blocks which will only add more thousands of hours of work to it. Jesus, okay, I definitely need to think of a better option. And I need to start trying to solve easier problems in life.

When they woke up in the morning, Ben made a quick breakfast before he and Thera headed to the gate to go back to Allfaith, finding the crowd they were waiting for off to the side as Steph ran over, hugging them both.

“Will didn’t want to come for the adventure?” He asked after greeting his friend, getting a shake of her head as he did.

“He’s stuck training today, he’s really trying to get a level to his combat skills before the next wave.”

“As he should be,” Her teacher, Wedrow said. “Both of you growing is important, I believe you’ve both seen that first hand now.”

Steph fell silent, remembering what had ended as only one day of combat and ultimately how powerless she’d felt as Ben cleared his throat.

“And it’s nice to see you again too Wedrow. Now, I’m all good if you want to get started.”

He nearly reached out to touch the giant worm but stopped himself, trying to break the force of habit as he instead stretched out his connect to take everything he needed from both him, and the six others around who had the other magics he lacked, placing each one on one of the many rings that covered his fingers as he held out his hand to admire them all, smiling brightly as he did.

“Oh yeah, check me out with a new, overwhelming level of power. I'm definitely going to let this go to my head.”

He ignored his god's comment as he imagined all he might be able to do with what he now had, only keeping all of his minds from wandering enough that he stepped through the portal Wedrow opened as the four of them got on their way to their first destination.