Chapter 73

As they walked Ben tried to gauge the changes the skill had made to his mind, or maybe it would be correct to say the changes to his mind that resulted in the skill. He wasn’t really sure and at the current time the distinction didn’t matter.Right off the bat, his focus seemed significantly better compared to what it was before, but he couldn’t be sure how much of that came from his level up in its particular skill and his intelligence increase. He was fairly confident the new skill was contributing though. Other than that the most obvious change was he seemed to be able to think about more at once. He was fairly sure he had read once that a person is typically capable of keeping three or four thoughts going at the same time, unless he was mistaken he was managing about six casual ones, but when he focused he could manage two dedicated streams of consciousness, one to pay attention to the trial around him and the other to keep up with what he was doing, examining the changes to his own mind.

The second, slightly less noticeable change, was that he seemed more aware of the environment around him. Instead of being confined to taking a narrow or a broad view of things, he thought he was managing both to an extent. If he had to describe it he would compare it to looking at a painting. Instead of alternating between taking it in as a whole versus admiring the brushstrokes, it was like it had improved his ability to see both, even when he only intended to do one. It was far from perfect, but presumably as he leveled it the ability would improve.

That just left two questions. How to level the ability, and should he? If he had to make an assumption, the act of leveling the skill would probably be accomplished by pushing his mind and trying to make it think multiple things at once on a frequent basis. At least that's what he would assume he would need to do to improve a skill that seemed to increase the number of thoughts a person could carry, but he would see if his god could shed any light on the matter once he was out of the trial.

As for the second question, well that felt a bit more complicated. No other skill had altered him to such an extreme level before. Sure his crafting seemed to give him some innate knowledge on how to improve, but that felt more like a buildup of the things he’d already learned solidifying themselves in his mind. World speak+ was probably the closest to truly mind-altering. It did download an entire language into his head, essentially creating a new framework to view the world through. But it didn’t delete the previous one either, it just added to his existing knowledge.

This was different. A skill had just changed the way he would forever perceive the world in a noticeable way, and would continue to alter his mind more and more if he chose to level it up. A part of it felt horrifying. When he had been under the impression that he would go back to how he normally was when he left the trial he wanted to get as much of the experience as he could while he could. But now that this was his normal state of mind he didn’t know how to react.

But on the other hand, the one he knew he would ultimately listen to, he was aware of how useful the skill would be, especially if he leveled it up more. Multiple lines of thought inspecting his work, catching mistakes, and being able to develop new ideas. It was tantalizing, the growth this skill might help him achieve. Irresistible really, and when he thought about trying to utilize it with his new application of connect and enchantment, his mouth watered. Being able to enchant with other people's skills was incredible enough to him, but if he was able to dedicate what was essentially two full minds to the task on top of his increased intelligence attribute, well he was willing to bet he would be able to bring the time it took to do it down significantly.

Thera nudged him while they walked and managed to come across as curious, even with her face hidden, so he told her what was occupying his thoughts, while at the same time rolling ideas around his head. After explaining his worries she shared her opinions on the matter.

“I see where you’re coming from, I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard of a skill altering a person's mind quite like that before. But at the same time I’ve never paid much attention to mind skills. I know meditation and that’s really it. Of course with the vast number that exist and the system itself creating new ones when it feels justified or whatever criteria it needs happen there could be plenty that are just on the rare side of things.”

He let out a sigh. Another thing he wanted to look into given the chance. It probably wouldn’t be good to get too many skills that had such a drastic change on a person. Even if the system couldn’t do anything that would directly harm the people it acted on, he didn’t want to learn firsthand just how drastically it was capable of changing them.

“So when you said you know meditation did you mean you’re aware of it, or…” He let the obvious question hang. At this point he still wasn’t aware of any of her skills aside from her charm and earth magic. He didn’t want to pry, and he was pretty sure she didn’t really care about any of her other ones anyway, but he couldn’t help but be a little curious about it.

“I have it.” She told him, not seeming to mind at all. “When I was younger I thought getting a skill that would help with my mental focus would improve my magics control, but it didn’t make any noticeable difference, even after raising its level a couple times. It did improve my dancing though so I guess that was a positive while I would do it.”

“I honestly can’t imagine how the two would be connected.” When he thought of meditating, his mind went to old wise monks, not dancing young women, but Thera was quick to correct him on his assumption.

“The ability to keep your head clear while performing can be super useful. You stop worrying about the people watching you or overthinking what you need to do and instead just act. At least I found it useful.”

“You performed on stage?” He asked, completing his thought aloud.

“Is that really so surprising? I did tell you I had trained to be a dancer.”

“I guess I just never put two and two together. What was that like? Must have been cool.”

She thought for a moment before answering. “Nerve-wracking? Isolating too I guess.” She could see the question forming in his eyes so she explained before he needed to ask. “Even with my cloak on, the first few rows of seats would always be empty with the exception of my family and any servants my mother convinced to go. Any succubi was typically torn between the desire to rub elbows with my family and the fear that I might inflict them with my charm as easily as they could to any other race.”

“What? But your cloak works fine, that’s ridiculous.”

“But not surprising,” She responded. “A lot of people are typically afraid of races with passive magics, and apparently when I was born the vast majority of succubi around me were immediately taken in. Word got around. Of course it is pretty hypocritical that so many of them also want to be able to visit other nations without having to deal with one of these things.” She said with a humph.

The conversation forced Ben to remember that even though he’d been teasing her for being something of a princess, his friend's life had been by no means easy, and he promised himself he would renew his efforts to improve his skills so he could make a better enchantment for her brace. He would get it down to a level where she wouldn’t need to wear a cloak everywhere she went, no matter how long he needed to grind his enchanting and connect skills. It also meant that no matter what tantalizing options might be available next time, he would be selecting enchanter as his next job, though who knew how long that would take.

As he considered all of this, a far-off sound seemed to drift to his ear.

“Help!”