Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

“Okay, first things first, gotta see what the damage is,” He sighed as he got up, reaching for both his pants and the card that sat waiting in his pocket to tell him exactly how far he was from his goal.

He was already fearing the worst too, the gods had made it clear that they expected third-tier jobs to be significantly easier for them to level compared to how much they’d invested in him, if he looked at his card and saw that he’d only received a couple of levels for it then he was going to be sick.

Holding a breath, doing his best to calm himself for a second before facing the inevitable, he forced himself to activate it and look at the top before nearly collapsing in relief.

Level ninety-four currently, thank fucking god. That means I only need five levels to finish, which is… Still not good. I don’t actually think it’s possible for me to get even that in a reasonable time frame but it's nowhere near as insurmountable as completing my entire freaking job. It’s actually at a point that I’m willing to believe it’s possible to finish in my lifetime, the only question now is how to bring that down from ‘in my lifetime’ to the next couple of months.

Okay, I’ll think about it while I work but for the time being, it’s time to make stuff.

It had been too long since he’d last felt the warmth of the forge and with nearly glee he passed through his gate, returning home after far too long away to all of the wonders it contained.

Just being there eased his spirits and let him focus on the same thing he’d been devoting himself to since his return, making himself stronger.

With the first means of doing so being a correction to a past mistake as Ben first and foremost went to his voidstone, the goal being clear as he got started on shaping and enchanting it, all for the purpose of making more spatial rings.

It was the first day of the second wave that he’d been cursing himself for cheaping out on himself by not making more, he was going to correct that mistake with all he had as he got to work on producing them, ending with another nineteen, all while he promised himself that he’d take advantage of Jake’s skills to make more of the wondrous material the next chance he got.

Now having two for each finger, there was an immediate desire to slip them on but he held himself back to first deal with another problem, one just as pressing as the prior lack of equipment but taking the same form. His enchanted rings.

He always made sure to keep his magic ones on him at all times and grabbed the others as needed but already he couldn’t help but view that as a mistake in hindsight, one that had drastically lowered his options when trying to make it out of the cell that had held him.

He needed access to his full ring library at all times, and while there was the option of copying it all to put into one of his spatial rings, he wanted something with more immediate availability for whenever the task called for it or even just his casual practice. He wanted to enjoy the benefits of every skill he’d collected at all times, with the idea of how he’d make that possible already firmly in his head.

Making a tiny bead only a millimeter across, Ben enchanted on it with his highest level of sacrilege and felt it easily hold under the magic strain thanks to his high level of skill, proving that he’d be able to bring his vision to life with ease as he began, making thousands more of those same beads before binding them all together into new rings and enchanting on them one by one.

In general, the circumference of his rings were approximately six centimeters depending on the finger and by making the band a single one wide, that meant he’d be able to get six hundred skills on it to access at all times, with less for his pinkies but plenty more for his thumbs to make up for it. In that way, he ensured he’d be able to access six thousand different skills at all times.

And even still he tried to be cautious about it. Every ring got a copy of the archmagic he got from Jake and the non-affinity magic he got from Vasta, and beyond that he made copies of each ring.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Twenty copies of each to be specific, one set to sit inside each of his new spatial rings. Maybe it was overkill, perhaps it was even paranoid, but it ensured that unless both his hands were blown clean off, he’d still be able to enchant to his full ability.

…Just in case I somehow lose both my arms, I think I’ll make a couple anklets too. Can never be too careful.

Undeniably having crossed over to the realm of paranoia now, Ben finished and turned his attention elsewhere, namely his jacket.

The gods had made a convincing point that if he wanted to stand any chance when facing off against Oaun, he needed to keep his soul firmly in his body which meant he couldn’t access the practically infinite reserve of mana he’d created for himself when the time came.

What that meant to him was that he couldn’t spend the next year turning the powerful item into a crutch to be used, but at the same time, he couldn’t just abandon it either. Not just for the power it contained, but for the ways it would let him grow as well. With all of that mana, Ben could practice any of his magics far faster and more efficiently to powerlevel through them and it offered another benefit too.

When he’d checked his card during his mad rush through the job system, he’d found his mana to be higher than expected. A lot higher, to the point where it was far above what he thought it should’ve been, even if he hadn’t just spent the last month killing his growth rates in that skill, with the answer as to why feeling apparent.

Soul expansion, the skill he’d gained after shoving tens of millions of points of mana through himself, was clearly acting to make the amount he could hold bigger and growing the volume with each level instead of the usual change which was a slow march through days and weeks of practice to expand his pool. When he wanted more power, not using such an incredible shortcut when it had fallen directly in his lap was madness, which led him to making a compromise with himself.

He needed his jacket to grow but he couldn’t let himself rely on it. That meant that, no matter how much he wanted it, he would be leaving it in the shop from that moment forth. Any problems he faced outside of it would be strictly for him to deal with under his own power while any practice he’d do within was fair game.

He already knew in his heart and soul that that managed to be a decision he’d be certain to regret but he needed to stick by it. Using a tool to raise his own strength was one thing, using it to substitute his strength was another entirely. Even if Oaun wouldn’t be able to interfere with his soul if it stretched out his body, there was more than a chance he’d be able to do something to the souls he created, it just wasn’t worth the risk.

But like I said, while I’m in here it gets a free pass, so…

Instantly he was swarmed by movement as he materialized souls and substances, holding it all in the air as he worked on his extraction enhancement without sparing the materials themselves a glance, solely feeling them through his sense skill as the question of what to do next popped into his head.

He still had plenty of day left and doing that was not only training his relevant skills but two of his inclinations as well, leaving only the third to get some more experience too.

And given the way I got a level for it before, it looks like I can raise it by thinking or planning. Oh, what the hell, while I’m doing this I can devote a few minds to brainstorming how to get some more experience to my sacrilege, that seems like it will do the job.

With that settled, only two final things remained to pass the time. The first was working on his arms; he already wore a couple metal mythril bands on them to practice his enchanting on but he upped the number to ten on each arm quickly enough, letting him move onto the last.

With nineteen new spatial rings, they all needed to be filled and he was happy to spend the day doing it, making materials and potions and items of all sorts in the hopes that he’d be able to finally have enough on him at any given time that he wouldn’t have to worry about his untimely demise, all while the hours went on and a string of notifications slowly went through his head.

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