Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

"Alright, Abel, you're learning to forge today and Delair, you're in charge of teaching her."

"Really?" Delair asked, perking right up at the thought of having her own student while Abel shrunk back.

"What? Come on, Ben. Don't make me learn from a kid, just force some knowledge in my head like you did yesterday."

"Nope, sorry Abel but this counts as work, as promised. Delair needs some experience teaching so she's going to do her best to explain and guide you through it all until you get the skill."

"But-"

"Are you unhappy with the armour you got?"

"No, but-"

"Abel," He said, trying to sound polite but firm as he spoke to her. "You asked me to make you something even though you couldn't afford it and I did because we're friends but you agreed to work for me while you're here and this is a really easy way to do it. Delair might be younger than you and she might not be stronger than you either, but she's a hard worker and an excellent craftsman. This is an experience I'd like you both to get so I would really appreciate it if you'd do your best here. I know it can feel embarrassing at times to learn from someone younger than you but Delair's skilled and if you listen and work hard, you'll definitely see results."

"Mmh, okay, fine but I'm not forgetting this! You still haven't fought me at all, if I'm going to do my best then we need to play later!"

"I'll make sure we spar once before you have to leave, don't worry about that. If you do your best here then I'll do my best there."

"You better," She said, beaming as he reached out and ruffled her hair before focusing on his student.

"And Delair, you need to do your best too, alright kiddo? As you can see, Abel's a bit apprehensive so prove her wrong by taking this seriously and showing off just how good at smithing you are."

"Got it, Ben!"

"Good," He smiled, patting her head too before sending them both off, leaving him to turn to his own project for the day, getting to see the shifter rubbing his eyes. "And I take it you didn't sleep well again?"

"Mmh, when this war is done I'll employ a dark mage to keep me in a dreamless sleep but for now I don't have the luxury."

"Alright, well maybe you could have a different luxury. Give me a few minutes before I start trying to put together my idea for your armour."

From the storage room flew out tools and ingredients, all carried by his power as he started preparing what he had, the shifter watching on in mild curiosity.

"What's this then?"

"Sleeping potions, I'm preparing you a few as a small bonus."

"Mmh, I appreciate the thought but not much of that works on me."

"Yeah, I can imagine there's plenty about your biology that would make it complicated. Your skill affects how poisons act on you?"

"At this point, there aren't many that can even harm me, let alone weaker medical effects."

"Maybe nothing so casually over the counter but I can probably make a couple things that will at least keep you asleep, although that's going to come with the side effect of not letting you wake up from your nightmares if you're willing to have to deal with that?"

"I already have to deal with them, exhaustion or not. If you think you can at least leave me feeling rested in the morning then I don't care about how horrid the night itself ends up."

"Okay, cool, in that case, I just need to ask a couple questions first while I get things started. For one, how does your body work?"

"You know, I've had more than a few lovers ask me that same thing," The shifter said coyly, leaving Ben to roll his eyes.

"I'm sure but that's not the point. Unlike Abel, you're able to change your total mass. How are you doing it? Is it all still there and part of you, even when you're at your smallest?"

"Ah, that. In short, yes it is always a part of me, just put away. As for how, well, shapeshifting always had its inconveniences with one being a tendency to lose the things I was either wearing or carrying but luckily, I had a decent affinity for space, even if that didn't translate to much of a talent for the magic itself. I only managed a couple levels of it and never anything as complex as teleportation but creating a separate space to hold my things was doable and when my beastform reached the third tier that application began to apply to my flesh as well. It doesn't seem to be something others can access but I can feel it, the rest of myself tucked away for when it's needed, even if it doesn't seem like it."

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"Okay, then a different reason other potions might not have worked for you is that your doses and concentrations were going to be wrong," Ben muttered. "Which means I might genuinely need to make something strong enough that would put a leviathan to sleep if that's going to be around your upper limits of mass. Okay, to be on the safe side, I'm going to make this as non-toxic as possible at the same time but if anything goes wrong, well, we've got some good healers only a gate away. We'll make it work."

"This instantly sounds far more worrying."

"Yeah, well trying to adjust medicine is hard enough even within a single species, let alone on a world like this or for someone with a skill like yours so next time you see an apothecary of any sort, make sure you appreciate all of the effort they need to put into it. As for if you should be worried though, there's always some risk but genuinely, don't. Not to come off too strong but I'm a genius, the biggest risk is that it will do nothing because I'm going to be playing it too safe."

"Mmh, I suppose I can't deny the brilliance of the holder of a third-tier mind skill," The shifter chuckled before going quiet for a bit as Ben worked, only speaking again after a few minutes. "You mind if I ask you a question too?"

"Shoot."

"You're good at handling Abel."

"I'd like to think it's more that I'm good at getting along with her, but that wasn't a question."

"No, I suppose it wasn't," He sighed. "I myself am less so."

"Something you wanted to talk about then?"

"Mmh, you know, despite my proclivities, I'm really not too great with children," The shifter said. "It gets some judgement but don't get me wrong, even if I'm something of an absent father I make sure any I have and their mothers as well are all taken care of and I do try to visit occasionally to give some guidance. Those born from me have no other shifters that match their natures so I will make the time to give what help and pointers I can."

"Well, we have one other beastform holder in town and I can say from her perspective, a part of the problem is your desire to create so many new lineages beyond what already existed."

"Ha, which is a fair criticism but I can't deny myself. I love my skill, Ben. I think the world is richer for having those who hold it and I think it will only grow richer still for new varieties of species to add to their original numbers but that isn't really the point. Let's see, I think when I saw you at the meeting, you seemed close with Verbum and Yuzu, correct?"

"You are."

"And when they both made their way to the world and the power they held was discovered, they were both given guardians instead of employment. Verbum getting Killi since not only were their third-tier skills comparable but he even came directly with a second-tier version of her skill, and Yuzu got Elvat to the extent she could, given the differences in the environments they lived, but also the two powerful mages training her lover. All of the summoned were paired with third tiers who could match them."

"Meaning Abel, as someone with some shapeshifting powers, ended up with you," Ben finished, watching as Foast nodded.

It wasn't a complete surprise, even if he hadn't looked so far back in that man's mind to see when it was happening and had skipped that part when he'd plundered Abel's thoughts for the mysteries of her home reality, the idea that the other summoned third tiers were paired with native ones tracked with the ones he knew, he just had never stopped to consider who it might make sense to pair Abel with if she were to get anyone.

"I did not do a good job for the short time we were together," He sighed, a tinge of regret in his voice. "She was difficult and to be blunt, she was strange and uncomfortable to be around. How could anyone who seemed so willing to try and sink their teeth into another be anything but? Not even I try to claim the souls of any sapients but she herself is far less picky in those she bites into."

"Yeah, if you don't have practice with people wanting to eat you then I can see how that might be difficult."

"...I'll refrain, I think, from asking if your own acceptance of her comes from some practice in that regard. Anyway, for whatever issues she had, I know I wasn't much better. Even now, I find my temper can be short with her in the few times we interact and I've never gotten the hang of actually figuring out how to work with her but… Despite all of that, she's still just a child. Well, it's been a few years so maybe young adult now but you know what she's like, you know what I mean."

"She's young, I get it. You're worried about her?"

"Mmh, even if it was only for a few months, she was in my care. No matter how impossible it is in a world like this, I suppose I would like to know that she's doing well."

"Well, from my perspective at least, I'd say she seems to be happy."

"Sure, but she's a lot happier around people who aren't scared of her."

"..."

Ben couldn't deny that, it was one of the things at the heart of his current worries about Abel too but more and more, he had to accept that there was little that anyone could do. She needed to be able to socialize which meant finding people she could socialize with but that meant finding people who weren't going to be scared of her for either her skills or the more violent parts of her nature.

Well, maybe I can give her Yuzu's address and force them to spend time together. Or I could give her Nati's address and force them to hang out? Or I could see if I could teach her enough to get full library access so she could go find Verbum whenever she wants?

"Well, when she's around, I'm happy enough to spend some time with her," Ben eventually said. "Thera seems to be fine with her too and it looks like things aren't going so bad with her and my apprentice."

He looked to the side where Abel was pulling a chunk of hot iron from the forge under his student's guidance, listening to her as she spoke before striking the block with a hammer and immediately overestimating her power as in one move it was flattened into a thin foil.

"...Not going too bad with my apprentice," He clarified. "And even if we're all busy dealing with the war ourselves too, when we can make the time I think it is a good time."

"Yes, I suppose that as things stand, that really is the most I can hope for her."

"It's the most anyone can hope but hey, if we win in the end, well, then everyone can think about where to go from there."

If they won then even if the world would still be left with a demon problem that would need to be dealt with, life would get easier too. He wouldn't need to be so obsessed with getting stronger and working constantly and everyone else on the planet would get just a bit of breathing room too, something that they could all only hope would grow back into the peace they all missed.

Then I could see all of my friends a lot more. He thought with a sigh. Just gotta hope.