Thera hated the feeling of eyes on her. It was a feeling she would get in full force every time she was out in town ever since her titles and family connections had been outed that she couldn’t escape and it was just so exhausting. Knowing people were afraid of her when she hadn’t even done anything.

In the past, it had been easier. She’d just pushed everyone away and been happy with it.

…Well, not happy, but at peace. She’d come to terms with the fact that she wasn’t getting a normal life. Sure, her small desire for one was one of the bigger motivators for moving out to Stonewall but that had come crashing down rather quickly after running into Roan. Completely crushing that dream had its own little sense of peace though. She’d been able to accept that no matter what she did, she’d never get that sort of life.

But then things started to change. She’d made a real friend and slowly made others, become a member of the community through her work at the clinic in a way she’d never managed by being an adventurer despite the passion she held for the role and in general felt her life moving forward to let her be her own person. To feel such a sudden backpedal, it couldn't help but get to her.

She knew a big part of those feelings were still tied to her charm. She was dealing with it, even if it still ate at her, but the fact that it was so very on her mind at the same time someone had come and given the entire town the impression that he was under her effects, it only made things worse as opinions on her were just further complicated.

On top of the reactions to her magic, people were in awe of her title and fearful of her family connections, afraid she’d wield them against any who’d spoken out against her in the past, as if she wouldn’t have already done that if she’d so desired.

She slapped her cheeks, trying to break herself of the sudden funk.

It will get better, I’m not going to dwell on it. She told herself for the unknowable time. Just meet up with Aso and head out, then I don’t need to think about it.

Of course, the meeting place wasn’t going to make that simple for her as she stood in front of the doors to the adventurers guild, fully expecting the place to fall silent the moment she was seen the way it had every time she’d been in there since getting back.

Just deal with it. It will get better.

I’m not getting any better.

The complaint had nothing to do with the town, nor people’s reactions to her, but entirely a matter of her own skill as crystals of mana filled the forest while she watched out for Aso during her hunt. She wanted to get her levels for it as fast as possible, but it felt like she’d stalled.

Of course, that was ridiculous. It had been a matter of weeks since she’d gained her last level, even less since she’d taken the job. The only reason she was feeling like that was because everything else was leaving her feeling impatient. She had the mana to power through those early levels, it just kept coming back to her control.

“Thera, I don’t think you should demolish the forest,” Aso said, snapping her out of her thoughts to focus on the trees she’d downed in her frustration. “Although maybe doing a few to make a trail further in could be good?”

“Ahem, sorry, I got a little distracted.”

“Still not feeling great?”

“I’m fine,” She lied. “I just really want to get a couple more levels to my mana crystallization so I can focus on my barrier magic next and then go back to the ones that really matter to me.”

“The ones that really matter,” Aso tisked playfully. “Have some sympathy on those of us with only two magics, with all of the new ones you came back with, people would think you’re aiming to become a non-affinitied mage.”

“...”

“No way, are you really?” She asked, her eyes lighting up in the silence Thera left. “I mean, it makes sense with everything you have, but that’s super cool! Why haven’t you brought it up before?”

“It’s just not a major goal,” She shrugged. “Having the extra flexibility would be cool, but I’d mostly be using it to empower my earth and life magics since those are the ones that are most important to me.”

Of course, just how much she’d be able to empower both made it more than worth all of the effort. She’d woven telekinesis into her use of earth magic enough in the past to see just how much more powerful it could get to know that it would do wonders for her in the short term if she achieved it, and given that Ben had been able to help two others awaken to the magic it was basically a guarantee. Even if her heritage and ridiculously high affinity were both finally paying off to help her level her earth magic despite how high she already had it, there was no guarantee she’d never hit a wall, not to mention how much work she had to put into her life magic in comparison to let it keep up. She wanted to get the skill before the next wave to let her do even more.

“I think being the second one on the planet would be pretty dang cool too.”

“I’d be the fifth actually.”

“No way, I guess everyone is working hard right now, huh?”

She didn’t mention Jake, nor the two Ben had helped awaken. Information was always going to spread at an uneven rate and they were pretty far from the gate but the last thing she wanted to do was reveal any more connections, even if it was to a friend.

Besides, she wasn’t wrong. The world as a whole was full of people pushing themselves harder, she just needed to keep up with it too, so she remade her mana constructs and got back to work testing their limits for whatever bit of growth it would give her.

“Sorry I’m back so late,” Ben called out as he got home for the day, with dinner already done for both Thera and her aunt. “Things got a bit hectic.”

“It’s alright, we left you a plate at the table,” Her aunt told him warmly, but he ignored it for the time to join them in the living room, taking a seat beside Thera.

“So what had you so busy today?” She asked him, seeing the focused look in his eyes and wondered if he’d already managed to make another legendary item, only for a different topic to come up.

“I’ll tell you in a bit. First though, do you mind if I read your mind?”

“What? Why?”

“Because You look down and I want an honest answer about how you’re feeling.”

“Then no.”

“Which is an answer unto itself,” He said with a nod that left her feeling like she’d just been played, only to have it stripped away by what came next. “Thera, let's challenge the dark tower.”

“...”

She knew where this was coming from but it still left her speechless for a second. She’d considered that awakening her dark magic might help with her charm so this was obviously a potential solution, she just hadn’t expected it to come up so suddenly. But it was rash. There was no reason for them to put their lives on the line just because she was feeling bad.

“Ben, it’s not worth it,” She told him. “I just had a bit of a bad day, I know I’m not exactly the best at hiding how I’m feeling but I am getting better with this in general. I’d rather not see you taken apart or turned to stone or bleeding out of places people aren’t meant to bleed because of me.”

“I feel like all of that had to do with concerns about me.”

“Obviously, who was it that got the most injured in the last two towers?”

“You know what, that’s actually good,” He grinned. “That means you’re confident you can handle it.”

…I mean, that’s a bit of a stretch, it’s just a lot easier to worry about you first.

She didn’t know if she would be confident about doing such a thing, but she did know that she’d handled both previous towers rather well which did provide its own small sense of ease. Of course, comparing doing the dark tower to the last two wasn’t exactly the same either.

“Ben, I had my awakened magics for the last two towers, I don’t for this one. Considering how much I did for the other ones, I don’t think I need to tell you how bad it would be for us if I couldn’t handle things, do I?”

“You’re not wrong, but there’s two things you need to consider,” He began before materializing and handing over a few pages. “One, compared to the life tower, I was able to find out a lot more. I’m ninety percent sure I found out what every one of the first three floors contains and I’m really liking our odds for getting at least one of the last two as well.”

“How did you even get this?” She muttered as she flipped through the pages, finding detailed notes on over a dozen different potential floors

“By abusing my skills and money. More important though is the second thing. You don’t need to carry us because I’ve already gotten someone with an even more powerful dark magic to join the team. I have so much determination to make sure we kick this trial’s ass that nothing will stop us if you’re willing to give it a try. So what do you say?”

That’s not fair.

She could see how confident he was, how much work he must have been putting into making sure this was something they could come out on top of and how much he wanted to help her. How could she say no? His confidence was infectious and it made her want to take the risk.

“Okay, I’ll try it. When do we head out?”

“Tomorrow. Sleep well cause this is going to be a big day.”