Chapter 444

Each day the line got shorter as he and the two soul mages worked on the task they’d taken, artificially pushing people beyond the limits of their skills to bring them to greater heights than the majority would ever reach alone.The first twenty, the plant mages, had been the hardest by far. The need to force each of them to make a seed had pushed his minds each time as well as their own, each of them feeling the weight of his thoughts merging into their heads, but when that was done things became so much smoother, routine even, at least for him. Knowing the structure of any element, air, or water was so much easier in comparison it was almost boring.

Far from boring though was seeing the various people their work had drawn. Along with the terrestrial races he was more used to seeing, there were also all of those who made their homes in the oceans, coming up through the same watery pool Elvat was using to be awakened as both groups alternated who would come in and who out, each person barely getting the time to give their thanks before being rushed along for the next to come through.

He wasn’t going to not take advantage of the situation with all of the work he was putting in after all. He had his deal with the gods which meant that everyone after the plant mages was being accompanied by an awakened skill holder and he’d made sure to take whatever he could from all of them, increasing his arsenal for his goal of creating something legendary, but if anyone awakened to any novel form of magic or a unique bonus skill he made sure to claim it too, along with anything else that might exist within their status.

“Please tell me you’re almost done,” Jake begged, getting a flick to his head for looking away from his lessons. “I’m so extremely bored and I can’t escape if I’m stuck here.”

“If we have to be here then so do you,” Vasta told him coldly. “And if you keep trying to escape from your lessons then I’m going to start tying you to a chair and leaving you there till you actually prove you’ve learned something.”

“Besides, weren’t you out late partying all night?” Amy asked, shaking her head.

“Socializing! And so were you!”

“Yes, but the difference is that I’m diligently practicing,” She told him, swinging her weapon as its form shifted in her hand, forcing her movements to go with it for each change. “Besides, I needed to make sure you didn’t say or do anything that might embarrass Yuzu, and I personally think I did an excellent job if I do say so myself.”

The young soul mage beamed as she thought about the prior night while Ben couldn’t help but acknowledge at least a little tact from the gods. Each day of awakenings was being scheduled by some higher power, and whichever one had done it had arranged each group of summoned to meet on the same day, giving many a chance to see people they hadn’t gotten to in years.

“We’ll be done today, don’t worry,” One of his homunculi spoke as they were drawing, each of the four sketching out the scene around them and filling books in their speed. “If you haven’t noticed, we’ve been missing one group in particular.”

Humans. Specifically them and the grey. Unlike other groups that may have been missing people if there wasn’t anyone for Ben to try and forcefully level, all of them were being told to come for Ben to copy their skills, thanks to both his deal with the gods, as well as his one with Quilith.

“It will be nice to see everyone again for a bit,” Amy smiled. “It’s really just you, Steph, and Will we’re keeping up with, it will be cool to see how the rest are doing.”

“You’re absolutely right Amy, we need to throw a party!” Jake yelled, already invested in the idea as Vasta grumbled but let him have the moment, knowing how long it had been since he’d seen the people he’d died with. “We’ve got plenty of space for it at our place. We get some music going, have Ben on cooking duty, then we can enjoy some mingling and we’re golden!”

“Why am I on cooking duty!” He yelled back. “I’m human too!”

“But you’re also the best cook we know,” He was told brightly. “And the only one I know who’s bothered to figure out how to replicate any classic Earth cooking so having you is vital. I’ll buy the ingredients, it will be great.”

“Okay, fine, whatever. How many do you think I’ll be cooking for?”

There may have only been twenty humans, but he was obviously bringing Thera and Jake was sure to bring Yuzu, he wasn’t going to discount the possibility of anyone else bringing friends or companions too.

“If I had to guess, I’d say sixty,” Amy told him, looking apologetic in the face of his shocked expression. “If it’s anything like Yuzu’s group, a lot of people are going to have a guard or two with them.”

“Why would you guys need guards?” He asked, imagining how much work that was going to be, as well as thinking about cooking on such a greater scale than normal. “Who’s going to hurt any of you?”

“We’re resources,” She said with a shrug. “It’s better safe than sorry.”

He wasn’t sure he bought that, imagining at least part of it was to try and keep any of their precious awakened skill holders from feeling whimful and deciding to leave for another nation, but he didn’t say any of that, instead thinking of everything he’d need as he made one of his homunculi write down a list before tearing it out to toss to Jake.

“Here’s everything I’ll need then. I can at least make a few pizzas and pasta.”

“You wrote ‘stove’ on here. Plus a bunch of other utensils.”

“Yeah, because if someone is making me cook for sixty, one isn’t going to cut it. Honestly, I’d say buy two or three. You should have the money for that, right?”

“I mean, yeah, but-”

“Great, then better get on it,” Ben told him, waving a hand his way. “You have people who do your shopping, right? Just get one of them to handle it.”

“Alright fine, in that case, gotta see if anyone is lined up there already and spread the good word. I’ll be back in a few,” He called out as he started to get up to run away, only being kept from that by his teacher’s powerful grip.

“Now wait just one minute,” Vasta told him. “Isn’t there something you’re forgetting?”

“Um, no?”

“We put it off until the last day to give you a sliver of a chance so see if Ben can help raise your magic at all before you leave, damn it.”

He was all but pushed into Ben’s arms, looking like he was faced with another chore he had no choice but to accept. “Fine, fine, come on Ben, lay it on me.”

“Alright, but no complaining after.”

After the few days of constant working on it, Ben had grown strangely used to disassembling his minds as he moved to wrap them around and through Jake’s, feeling him try not to resist against the foreignness of it as he gave them over, the other man's brain power increasing and filling with the same thing the dryads had. The instructions for materializing a seed.

Since Jake had archmagic, it wouldn’t make sense to have him materialize something that only fell into one category, so that was what he ended with. The complexity of it should have been more than enough to get the job done, but it fell against one heavy wall that made it so even as Ben was feeling it work, the seed forming from pure mana, he couldn’t hear a single notification going off in his head.

Jake tried to keep from looking disappointed, even if it was clear in his mind, but there wasn’t much getting away from it. The level of his archmagic was already higher than anyone would expect from conquering half of the magic towers, the act of materializing just wasn’t enough to push it over to the limit again, at least not so soon after his last level.

“Oh well,” He sighed. “Maybe if I get the hang of it on my own. Of course, by then I’ll have already beaten a few other towers so still probably not.”

“Hey, it’s not like we’re done,” Ben told him, grabbing him before he could go and gesturing at himself as he explained. “It’s not like you don’t have anything else to work with. Try again with your plain mana and we'll see how this works out.”

Ben already knew Jake was only at the first level of that particular skill. Even if it was already awakened, that left plenty of room to grow and Ben was going to force him to get the most out of it, no matter how hard it might be.

He forced him to sit down again as Elvat and Yuzu kept up their spells while Ben felt him try and fail. It was clear Jake was naturally leaning towards using his affinitied mana for it, and even if that made perfect sense, he couldn’t allow it, so he carefully poked and prodded, whispering in his friend’s mind as he guided him towards the correct path, even as Jake’s body wanted to reject it. He felt the man concentrate on his thoughts, pushing away the wrong options as mana was lost in his failures, even as he got closer. His non-affinitied mana snapped into place and a seed was created, with a notification going off in his mind, singing his success.

Hearing it left Jake beaming, a smile stretched across his cheeks as he patted Ben’s back.

“My guy, you really are the best! Vasta, I got a level! That deserves at least one day of a break, doesn’t it?”

“Fine, you can relax tomorrow, but that doesn't mean you can go too wild tonight, you hear?”

“Loud and clear! Okay, I’m off to see whatever other humans are around so make sure you finish up quick Ben! I’ll have those stoves set up for you the moment you’re done!”

“It feels like my work is being rewarded with more work,” He said offhand, going unheard as the other man ran off. “Oh well, just a bit more and then I’m free to focus on some other things.”

“Ahem,” A voice said from his side, pulling his eye as both Uliel and Vasta tried to look casual despite their obvious desire, leaving him to sigh.

“Yeah yeah, I guess I can see if things will work out for the two of you now so let’s get it over already so I can move on to the rest.”