Chapter 169

“So what now?” Thera asked. “Going to rush to the guild and place your patent? I think the guild master will be there for another hour or two.”While he could have any of the staff deal with his patents as long as they weren’t so potentially world-changing like the braces were, Falk had advised him to deal directly with Ceselee for anything he made from his homeworld when he went to get one for the projector he’d made. While he wasn’t trying to keep his race a secret, it was undoubtable that word might go around if he explained the type he needed to file to one of the regular counter staff, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with the potential consequences of the entire town knowing. As the guild leader, as well as an acquaintance of both Falk and Sonya, he could trust her to keep everything confidential.

“Nah, I have an idea I need to work on in the shop so I’ll probably be home a bit late. The leftovers from yesterday should be plenty tasty cold if Sonya isn’t back to heat them up.”

“Sounds good, but try not to be too late, you promised to teach me a new card game, and I don’t want you sneaking in while I’m asleep to work on my brace.”

“What do you take me for? I’ll be back before you’re in bed, don’t worry.”

With that, they parted ways for the time being as he went back into the shop.

“Thera’s not joining you boy?” His teacher asked as he came back in alone. “I figured she’d be interested, given what you’re making and all.”

“I didn’t mention it, figured it might be a bit of a surprise for when I got home seeing as how I don’t know if it will work anyway.”

“Don’t be so negative, the idea has some merit. Having said that, it would probably go better if she was here to actually measure everything.”

“Hey, with how much I work on her enchantment I can easily make something that will fit her arm perfectly, no need to worry about that.”

“Mmh, I guess you do have a decent eye. Let me know if you need a hand,” The yeti told him before returning to his own work.

Now alone, Ben spread the materials he’d be using across the table as he looked at some designs he’d sketched and ideas he’d jotted down. He had one goal he was going to dedicate the next few hours to, making Thera a new brace.

The idea had come to him out of nowhere, but when it did he couldn’t deny the logic to it. A tool with an enchantment on it needed to be appropriate for the enchantment, or else it would be meaningless. While partial enchantments could let the enchanter skirt this basic rule by taking the attributes of a skill instead of trying to work with it in its totality, an enchanter couldn’t just slap a sword wielder skill on a shield and expect any real benefit. In much the same way, the question had occurred to Ben, was the brace he’d first made her truly appropriate for the enchantment?

He’d first made her brace when he was only level three, and now at level six he could see all sorts of ways he could improve on it. He now had access to significantly better materials, and as much as he hated to admit it, it probably wasn’t even as good as he could have made it at the third level either. Not to say he’d neglected his work or hadn’t done the best he could, but he’d rushed. He had wanted to see if his enchantment would work so badly that he was sure the tool he’d made hadn’t reached its full potential, a mistake he fully intended to rectify.

With all of that in mind he got to work. Unlike last time, when he’d made an alloy with copper and mythril to help stretch out his materials, this time he would be getting as close to pure mythril as he could manage, adding only a few certain monster bones they had on hand in the shop to increase the overall strength and durability of the metal as he went. Still, that meant going from fifty percent mythril from the old brace to over ninety percent in the new one, he had high hopes.

He put an unreasonable level of care into doing everything as perfectly as he could, grinding the bones to the perfect consistency, getting them finer than the dust along untouched shelves before sprinkling it across the heated mythril, the temperature of the metal being just enough for him to work it to ensure the least damage to the bone powder he’d produced before the long process of folding and hammering, always making sure to keep the metal at the right temperature while ensuring it all thoroughly blended together.

From there he began shaping it, slowly making it take the form he wanted it to have. The last one he’d made her was lovely, even if he became more and more aware of its flaws with every level up, so he wanted this one to be even more so. Unlike a staff that Thera would destroy after a handful of uses if he wasn’t there to fix the sacrificial enchantments on it, this was something she would be wearing for the rest of her life, or at least until she got to a level where she had her charm magic under control. He wanted this to be something she enjoyed wearing, being both aesthetic and comfortable.

With that goal set, he’d casually probed her with questions since he’d had the thought, trying to get the best idea he could of what she’d like. While there were plenty of options he’d come up with, there were two he stuck to since he was able to tie them together thematically in a way he thought would look visually pleasing.

The first and most surprising came when he got to thinking about just what sort of books she’d read. While most of the ones she read for fun were largely myths and historical fictions in nature, when she’d described the plots to him or flipped through any himself, he was a little surprised to find that many of them had a strong romance aspect considering her own feelings on the topic. Of course, a lack of interest in real life didn’t necessarily translate to no interest in fiction, and given that she worshiped a goddess of love and seduction it didn’t seem too surprising. Which brought the second interest of hers, her faith. Defying his expectations, she actually prayed less than him despite arguably being more devoted, but she would still do it regularly, and all the more since she’d completed her quest.

With both of those things in mind, how he’d decorate her brace was clear. He’d gotten five rainbow mana crystals, using them instead of the white ones for this brace, and ever so carefully cut them each to the shape of the flower they’d taken from her god’s trial, thereby capturing themes of her faith, history, and romance.

He couldn’t help but pat himself on the back for that idea, he was sure he’d elegantly nailed the symbolism he was hoping for and took extra care to make sure the shape of each crystal was perfect as he went. He had to get the shape as close to that of the flower as he could since he didn’t have its distinct colouration, and he had no plans of covering the mana crystal’s unique rainbow shine.

Once that was done and each one was perfect, he went onto the final and easiest part, if only by virtue of the fact that he’d prepared it ahead of time. He needed to properly set the mana crystals into the brace to let the future enchantment take advantage of their power, meaning he would need to not only add a channel of moribusial to the edges of each crystal, but cover the section where both parts met the band with more mythril to secure it, and he fully intended to build upon the visual theme he’d already created with the flower.

Knowing in advance he would be trying this, as soon as he had a design in mind he started shaping strips of mythril into carefully carved snakes. Specifically to match the shape of Thera’s god, Anailia.

He carefully wrapped each one around the crystals and finally he was done. He took a moment to admire his work, knowing in his heart that at his current level there was no possible way to make it better.

“MOTHER FUCKER!”