Side Story- A different believer, part 3

“Myriad, I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon,” Valaria said as she awoke in her god’s realm and kneeled before the cube floating above her.

“Please, stand already. I just thought I would check how your first day with the skill treated you. What were your thoughts on it?”

“It seems interesting. When I tried practicing with a friend I thought I might barely be able to feel their ambient mana, so hopefully if I get it to the first level I’ll be able to begin making resistance braces immediately.”

“That’s excellent to hear! My apostle discovered how to make resistance braces when his skill was at the second level, and that he could enchant with the skills of others at the third, but there’s no proof that it can’t be done until those stages. Of course, he has a few other skills that might make it easier as well, so don’t feel discouraged if it takes you longer.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, but… I don’t suppose you could provide any guidance on the best ways to level it, would you?”

“Feeling rushed?”

“A bit. I want to help my fellow countrymen of course, and it would give my people a chance to see a bit more of the world, but besides that…”

“It’s alright, go on.”

“I met with a friend of mine, a singer. She’s a bit worried about if she’ll be loud enough for a larger audience, I thought I might be able to help make an enchantment for her that would let her voice carry farther if I could get access to a sound mage and use their magic.”

“I respect the devotion to your friend, but a regular air mage should be able to make something that could manage, couldn’t they?”

“She shook her head. “Bronte has an incredibly low level of mana. Anything more than the charm she exudes could leave her mana exhausted, which means that not only would a small amount of mythril be needed to maintain the enchantment, but it would also need to be specialized, otherwise the mana cost would be too high even just to activate it.”

Even if magic materials were abundant in the city thanks to the queen's union with the great earth spirit, that didn’t mean they were easy to buy. Large amounts were exported, and those that weren’t typically went to infrastructure or military use to prepare for the coming war, with only small quantities making it to the public. Not to mention that if she couldn’t find an item made with enough mythril to attach a sound spell to, she'd have to commission one from a proper smith. While she knew a few at least since she’d taken contracts to enchant items they’d produced for a portion of the sales price in the past, none of them worked with mythril, and the few that did were all well respected in the city with long wait times for personal orders. That wasn’t even considering trying to find a person with sound magic she could use to try and put something together. She just wanted to help her friend for all she’d done for her, but it wouldn’t be easy.

Myriad thought it over before he answered. “Well for two of the five levels my apostle gained since getting the skill he managed through a variety of near-death situations, one he gained in a way I can’t go into details on but had just as good of a chance to permanently destroy his brain as it did to leveling up the skill, one he gained after enchanting with hundreds of another person's skills which is a path currently not available to you, and the last he got through connecting with a variety of people and races. I don’t suppose I need to tell you which option I recommend?”

He didn’t, she wasn’t looking to die just to help a friend out, especially when she doubted Bronte would even entertain the notion either. It was a performance, no need to put her life on the line to help her friend. Her god’s rant did leave her with a question though.

“Is you’re apostle, um…” She didn’t know how to politely ask her god about her apostle’s mental health, but Myriad was able to pick up on her thoughts easily enough.

“He might be insane, I’m not positive. If you ever get the chance to meet him, judge for yourself.” The answer only left her more concerned, but her god quickly brushed past the topic. “Anyway, I’m a big fan of my believers living long and healthy lives, so consider focusing on practicing with as many people as you can for now, before moving on to trying to use it to enchant with as many skills as possible when you’re able to. You should be able to request that your government finds you as many different people to practice with as you can to try and gain the first level, and hopefully that speeds you up.”

“Thank you Myriad, I’ll put in the request first thing in the morning.” She was all ready to move on from that, having gotten what she needed, to just chatting a bit with her god before he went off to fulfill his other duties, but he had one more thing to spring on her.

“Excellent, and one final thing. I’d like to offer you a quest if you’d be interested in taking it.”

“...Myriad, it’s not that I’m not grateful, and I’m not sure if it’s my place to say considering how much I’ve already received from you, but there is such a thing as being too generous.”

She’d already received both a blessing and a skill from her god when the reason she’d converted had nothing to do with faith. Her nation needed enchanters with the skill, and she’d agreed at the behest of Anailia, the idea of taking a quest after all of that filled her with guilt.

Myriad though saw things differently. “I’ve already told you, I don’t have any issue with why I’ve gained the believers I have, so there’s nothing for you to worry about. Besides, of everyone who’s chosen to give me their faith at the request of their nation, you’re the first I’m offering this to. I feel confident in the quality of your character, and you’ve shown that no matter the reason for believing in me, you’ll fulfill your role well. This is merely a way to give you an opportunity to gain a few job levels slightly faster, there’s no obligation and it’s not even a guarantee you’ll be able to complete it, but I think it would be worth your while.”

The offer lingered in her mind. Even if she was hesitant because she didn't think she deserved the chance, who was she to doubt her god's choice? If he thought she was worthy of it and there was nothing but benefits to taking it then why not?

“Alright, if you really think I’m worthy then I’ll happily accept.”

<RECEIVED QUEST- GLORY TO GOD>

“Excellent,” The cube cheered, joy colouring his voice. “The quest will reward you with five job levels if you manage to complete it and all you need to do is complete a significant enough achievement in my name. Try not to overthink it and do your best, I have the utmost faith in you.”

“Alright, no pressure,” She said as she panicked on the inside. How in the world was she going to manage to do anything that could be an achievement for her god?

---

They chatted for a little longer after that until she woke up she spent some time training with all of her new plants before she reported to her government to pass on how Myriad recommended to train, and as soon as they heard it they immediately went to work trying to arrange as many people for her as possible.

She knew they’d want to be fast, but she thought it would be to the point that she’d be expected to return the next day, not that she’d be put into a lavish room to wait as they tried to gather as many people and races as they could so she could start immediately.

Low ranked employees were sent to her one after the other every ten or fifteen minutes to practice with as embassies were contacted through the city to see if any other races would be willing to send their people over, agreements being made left and right for cross-species cooperation on the matter. Almost every race with a passive magic had convinced at least a couple enchanters to convert for the good of the whole, and if the god who created the skill recommended that they practice with a variety of people and races then they all had a motivation to help each other ensure that Myriad’s believers grew as quickly as they could in their use of the skill. It was for the good of them all.

Perhaps naively, Valaria hadn’t been expecting such an intense reaction. The nation had seemed happy just to provide resources at first and letting the enchanters figure out how to grow it themselves, it was a new skill after all, and those could be notoriously difficult to train, but being given a direction they could focus on meant that they could put all of their efforts into getting her and any others to the first level as fast as possible.

With arrangements made far faster than one would expect from government bureaucracy, soon enough she was loaded with resistance amulets and seeing the low ranked employees of a variety of races, connecting with each for a bit before moving onto the next, making up her entire day before she got to go home for the night.

Laying in bed, she felt mentally drained as she looked over the day. Interacting with all of those people and minds was more than she’d expected by a longshot, and while she dreaded the idea of having to do it until she’d level up, she couldn’t deny that it would make the process quick and they’d been willing to agree to at least one of the requests she’d brought to them when she realised how busy she was going to be. The only issue was whether or not she’d be able to handle it.

---

<CONNECT LEVEL INCREASED>

“Augh,” She moaned as the notification went off in her head. A month and a half of doing nothing but training her connect had been draining in ways she couldn’t have begun to imagine. She had no issues with practicing her skills, but usually there was variety and breaks, not so when it was for her nation.

Worst still was she couldn’t even complain. She had gained a substantial amount of wealth in exchange for converting, and she truly did want to help her people. Gaining the first level would have been an intensely glorious moment for her if it hadn’t happened just as she was supposed to be finishing for the day and was ready to go home to sleep.

Now that she’d done it she had to stop her current partner, an incubus who had the nerve to be uncomfortable when he only had to put up with it for a quarter-hour compared to her multiple days of work, and force him to connect with her once more to see if the aspect of the skill they were after was something they could take advantage of at its first level.

The connection made, she closed her eyes and focused, trying to look past the now much sharper emotions the man was feeling to experience something deeper, the mana that surrounded him.

Each time she’d connected with someone she searched for the feeling, and each time she’d failed, at least until now. A thin layer of mana radiating from the man's body was just barely clear to her, and he was shocked experiencing firsthand as her emotions changed from exhaustion to overwhelming excitement. She’d succeeded, she’d be able to start making braces for her friends and family, not to mention the thousands of people that would undoubtedly be sent her way by the nation.

…Well, when I think of it like that I may have actually made more work for myself, but it doesn’t matter. More importantly, what else can I feel…

She knew what she was hoping for at least and she explored every aspect of the incubi, his soul all but bare to her she knew what she wanted to find, but no luck. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t feel his skills.

It was disheartening. She’d known it was a longshot but had dared to hope it would be possible this early on anyway. Even if it took until the third level to do like her god’s apostle had managed, that was already incredible as far as skills went. Such an ability at such a low level could be called too good to be true for an enchanter, it just meant that for the time being though, she wouldn’t be able to help her friend.

She sighed and let the incubus go, before reporting her results to the succubus currently in charge.

“I’ve managed to get my skill to the first level. It also looks like I’m able to feel the ambient mana of the people I connect with now.”

“That’s fantastic! If you’re able, we’ll get people here immediately so you can start applying enchantments!”

“I absolutely am not able,” She said, looking at the other woman like she was insane. “I’ve just been practicing the skill for the last ten hours, are you trying to get me to an early grave now that I can do what the nation needs of me?”

“Ah, sorry you’re right, it’s late. Will you be ready to start tomorrow though?”

“That should be no problem, but I can’t guarantee that just because I can feel their mana I’ll be able to make the enchantment without leveling up connect again,” She said, leading into a request. “There should have been a specific brace made for me to give to a friend, I’ll test it with them tonight and report the results in the morning.”

She knew the nation’s craftsmen had been put to work creating an uncountable number of them to have the enchantment put on them as soon as possible, all she’d done was make a request for a slightly more expensive version to be made when it became apparent just how much work was going to fall on her.

The other succubus rushed off to find it for her, leaving Valaria with a few minutes of solitude she could use to relax and feel satisfied with her success.

---

Bronte had just finished dinner when she heard a persistent knocking on her door, opening it to find her friend beyond.

“Val, I wasn’t expecting you! Please, come in.”

“Thanks, hopefully I won’t be staying long, I just have something to give you, and I guess I kind of need to do it for practice anyway.”

“Haha, more practice? Isn’t the government running you ragged already?”

“Well depending on how this goes things might ease up a bit. Or maybe it will get worse until the other enchanters level up connect. Either way, put this on.”

She handed the siren a plain metal armband, slightly silver in colour.

“Is this what I think it is?”

“Not yet, I need to actually build the enchantment for it first.”

“That’s very sweet Val, but you know I can’t use this,” The combination of an incredibly low mana pool with a passive magic was considerably unfortunate, the majority of it being tied up in the charm that was always leaving her body meant that all of the enchanted items she owned needed to be tied to a mana crystal to power it, creating an unpleasantly expensive lifestyle as a result.

“I wouldn’t bring you something you couldn’t use. I got them to make this for you since they were working me to the bone. It’s a mythril alloy, it should be able to power the enchantment by itself,” She didn’t want to mention what they’d declined to make her, a mythril necklace to try and tie a sound spell into, calling it irrelevant to the nation’s goals, Not that it mattered though seeing as how she still couldn’t feel a person's skills anyway.

Bronte didn’t notice the hint of disappointment flash across Valaria’s face though, she was too busy pulling the other woman into a hug.

“You’re too good to me Val, that really is too much!”

“Well, let’s see if it actually works first before you get too happy. I don’t know for sure if this will work before I get it to the second level, and who knows how long that will take.”

They both sat down as Valaria connected with her friend, placing a hand on the brace as she did. From there she patiently took her time, constructing her enchantment to wrap around her friend's mana and letting a smile form on her face as she felt herself succeed.

Authors note

Hey everyone, it's turnip here with some things to say about stuff. First off, please don't  expect too many future side story chapters to be this long, I sure wasn't planning this one stretching on like it did. Second, an extra chapter's coming friday so something to look forward to. Third and finally I should have the next poll up in the next week. There will be a bit of a unique option for it so I hope you all vote to get your opinions heard and please read the blurb at the top for a proper explanation. With all of that said hope you all enjoy the rest of your week and have a good weekend!