probablyaturnip

CH609

“Looks good,” Ben said as he examined the set of carefully forged carving knives, patting Delair’s head as he did. “Do you think you’ll be able to use them comfortably?”

“I will, I made them for me after all.”

“Ha, good answer. In that case, put them to use and let's see how you handle them.”

He handed her a piece of soft wood to work, watching as she slowly shaped it into the form of a simple yet lovely flower, one he recognized from her home village bef...

CH608

After letting Delair see his clones the following day and continuing her training while watching her through them, his main body sat a little to the side, focusing instead on the new material he had to work with, the voidstone he had created with Jake.

It had already developed the condensate around it, the fabric of reality thickening in the material’s presence and waiting to be experimented on, or at least, more than it already had been. He still had the researchers' various results ...

CH607

After a far too depressing night with the gods, spent trying to ignore the constant feeling of impending doom that every piece of information about the oncoming invasion filled him with, Ben got up for the day, preparing not only his regular meals for Thera and Sonya, but packing some to bring for Delair, Fontesh, Sachel, and Ralia too, the first two as a treat and the latters both because he did feel slightly bad about dropping guests on them, even if they didn’t seem to mind, as well as b...

CH606

Unlike his last time awakening people, that time only took him a day as he breezed through the crowd, helping Delair as he did.

Thanks to having two soul mages around to help lower her leveling difficulty, he was able to get her higher in both her enchanting and her plant magic as the hours wore on, aiding the process himself by merging just a single strand of his thoughts into her head to boost her thought speed by a bit while at the same time helping to replenish her mana as gently as...

CH605

“Ben!” A young voice called out as a child ran in, jumping at him in her excitement while he caught her in surprise.

“Delair? What are you doing here?”

It was a question he knew the answer to as soon as he asked it. His previous deal with Jagal still stood, he’d be awakening the dryads who reached the eighth level of the magic without asking for any payment in return and Hentath already knew he was the one doing the awakenings. Though it had caught him off guard at first...

CH604

<Alright, are you ready to head out then?>

“Yep, don’t worry about it.”

<And you’ll be on your best behaviour?>

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

<I don’t know but you make me worry.>

“Well, as long as nobody pulls any crap then you shouldn’t expect any problems. I have already been paid after all.”

With the day to awaken what few mages had managed to get to the eighth levels of their magics finally there, he already knew he’d b...

CH603

Once that plan was made, Ben first used the beginning of the day to focus on his more regular tasks. Just because the gods were going to be reducing his load in the next couple days didn’t mean he could slack on his orders and he devoted as much effort as he ever would to getting each weapon produced to the best of his ability, informing the gods of his plans as he worked.

It was only once he was done with his quotas that he went to find Thera and dragged her along, through the mini-g...

CH602

With his jacket finished and beyond his expectations, along with a couple new levels to go with it, Ben took some time to look at the rest of his equipment as well.

Of the things he would regularly wear, he had all of his rings which there was no real way to improve on given that they were just there for the convenience of his enchanting and connect. Likewise were his three mythril bands that were ever-wrapped around his arm to be enchanted on at all times, letting him practice and grow...

CH601

As Ben sat in the living room late at night, staring at his jacket with intense eyes, Myriad spoke up in his head.

<Bad news for you, unfortunately.>

“Oh yeah?”

<The amount of work you’re going to be sent is going to drop significantly after next week. Given the quality and speed that your teacher’s factory is going to be spitting out once it's up and running then that’s going to be the priority. We’ll still be sending you work, but it will be the equiva...

CH600

“So, what did you need me for today?” Thera asked as Ben and his clones were swarming her, moving her arms and legs and eyeing measurements as they did.

“Getting you outfitted. Now that the rest of the day’s work is done, you’re my main project for the time being.”

“Okay, why though?”

“Better safe than sorry,” He shrugged. “I don’t exactly want you needing something while we’re at the invasion points and not having it, hence getting as much of that ...

CH599

The long night of cuts and blood had paid off, leaving Ben with even more clones than he’d hoped for, with Thera making him ten new ones that were just about equal to the four he’d gotten from the great life spirit, all ready to be used and making the matter of how he’d do so into nothing more than a question of space at that point.

If Ben fully reached out with his deep connection, he’d be situated in the center of a circle that he’d be able to reach out in roughly six meters...

CH598

“Why are we trying this again Ben?” Thera sighed. “You do remember how well this turned out last time, right?”

“I mean, yeah, but practice makes perfect. It will be good for your training and just as importantly, handy to me if you succeed.”

“And what exactly am I doing here?” Ceselee asked, the guild master having been invited over to Sonya’s home after she was done with her work for the day and was left standing in the backyard, staring at the two, along with t...

CH597

With the morning came the new day, one that Ben decided wouldn’t be spent on things outside of his control, instead devoting it to chores he knew he needed to get out of the way for the upcoming wave.

Really, there was a pile of them, but he let Thera talk him into one in particular before moving on to the rest. Practicing.

Ben was going to be going between various invasion points with her and he didn’t intend to just be a tag-along, that meant he needed to be prepared to figh...

CH596

“Hey hey, how was the day?” Thera greeted him brightly when he returned, seeming to be positively vibrating with excitement on her own part.

“From the looks of it, nowhere near as good as yours. What’s the good news?”

“I made some progress on the little project Uliel and Vasta gave me.”

With her having gone to sleep early the other day and Ben having left early that morning, she’d never gotten the chance to tell him about the progress she’d made for her mag...

CH595

Slipping off early the next day, Ben’s first stop was to his research center, expecting to be alone when he got there but getting the surprise of seeing someone else so early in the morning.

“Kufno, what the heck are you doing here this hour?”

“Ah Ben,” His employee greeted. “I’ve just been organizing some of our records, if I’d known you were going to be showing up today I would have tried to get them touched up days ago.”

“You really don’t need to wor...

CH594 Gods and Chaos

When Ben finally left for the day, the three were left to themselves in Myriad’s realm where they were free to talk without prying ears, each of them having things to say and feeling about what just happened, with Myriad making his own clear by finally letting himself crash down before he started to complain.

“You know, obviously I was worried when he got that stupid thing, but when days and weeks passed without anything happening I thought we were in the clear… No, that’s not r...

CH593

Even though it wasn’t too late by the time Ben got home, he still found Thera asleep when he arrived, no doubt still tired from trying to raise that one skill, along with her more personal practice she’d done throughout the day.

It didn’t seem like she had any intention of waking up either so he did his best not to disturb her, and with it looking like Sonya was going to be spending the night with his teacher, he prepared himself a simpler meal than he normally would before turnin...

CH592 Thera's Perspective

Thera was still exhausted after breakfast, an hour of sleep simply didn’t cut it, but she did her best to put her new level of sleep resistance to use as she fought through it, telling herself it was just more training for the skill as a whole and with a flood of spirits still around her, she gave them as much of her mana as she could as she went through town and to the deep woods beyond to train for a bit in peace.

After her spirit empowering had changed to mana empowering, she hadn�...

CH591

When the day ended, Ben shoved crates and crates of weapons through his personal gate to Anailia to let them handle their transport and distribution while at the same time making room for all that was sure to be sent over the next day before he gathered everything he needed to and went off to his god’s church, ready to make an idea a reality.

And to start that, he made a necklace when he arrived, using his magic to shape and blend the various materials he had as needed to end with som...

March Poll March Poll

Hey all, and god, what a year it's been, huh?

Writing that was originally meant to allude to what a hectic month it's been but I realized as I typed it that it's officially only a couple days till I've been writing chaotic craftsman for three years! God, that's wild, time moves way too quickly when you aren't watching but thank you all for sharing this journey with me (and letting me afford food and rent while I do it too) you guys are the best! It still feels like just yesterday I sta...

Side Story: The soulsmith Falk

Falk’s work was never finished.

Back before he’d transcended the level of a mortal, back when he’d only worried about completing his goal and hadn’t given much thought to just what rising to the third tier would even mean for him, he'd thought that would be it. That if he ever achieved what he wanted he could enjoy the pure satisfaction that came from such things with no concerns about what that would mean next.

Of course, that wasn't entirely his fault. When he’d been y...

CH590

After a night of talking with Myriad, passing the time the best he could while further refining his idea to put into practice later, Ben got up for the day, heading to the living room first instead of the kitchen like he normally would and finding Thera awake and hard at work, even if she looked like she wanted to be anything but.

With the living room swarmed with spirits, it was obvious she’d spent a long night both giving them her mana as well as working on her spirit comprehension,...

CH589

In Myriad’s realm, books of all sorts were swarming around Ben, flying under the power of his actualization as he took them all in, reading the history and records of his god’s race to pass the time while his minds focused on different problems, with a solution finally snapping into place after months of thinking.

<ACTUALIZATION LEVEL INCREASED>

<KNOWLEDGE LEVEL INCREASED>

Got it.

The thought wasn’t referring to his ninth level of ...

CH588

After his outburst at the gods which had at least helped with some of his building stress, Ben and Thera spent another hour with the group around them, healing their wounds and slowly siphoning off their mana to top up Thera even a little faster so they could do one of the last things they’d need to before finally going home to get some rest.

Only when he was confident they weren’t about to exhaust Thera a second time did the two fly off, asking the group to wait for their return si...

CH587

The walk back felt long compared to his mad rush there, all the more so for the new wounds he carried with him as he forced his body on while he slowly made his way back to the group looking after Thera, finding them to be in the same place he left them.

“Is it done?” The leader of the lot asked Ben as he arrived. “Is it over?”

“As over as it’s going to be,” He shrugged, trying to ignore the pain the small act caused in him. “We’re going to be having a ghost prob...

CH586

<Ben, is everything alright?> Helori hesitantly asked. She could tell his mind had changed again, and by a significant extent too, but even with the absolute jumbled mess going on in his head she could still make out a barrage of swearing taking place in over three-quarters of his available thoughts, even if he was trying to keep it from touching his face.

“Oh, you know, just unhappy about how things turned out. Someone trying to murder me again and with my own weapons to boot, ...

CH585

“Ather, you absolute bitch! What the hell are you doing?”

“Reclaiming my honour!” He yelled, throwing another spear and making it scream through the air as Ben did his best to dodge, but not well enough. He felt the bite of the blade slice through the side of his arm as it sailed past, just adding to the injuries that filled his body.

“Honour my ass! Can’t you see some slightly more pressing things going on right now?” Ben yelled back as the demigod pulled another sp...

CH584

Already able to tell this was going to take a while, Ben picked up Thera before giving an accusatory order to the heavens.

“Explain. And I guess point me in whatever stupid direction I need to go.”

<Head north, it will take a while but you’ll be able to drop Thera off with a group that’s working to help deal with the ghosts while you handle the rest.>

“Again Myriad, please explain why the fuck I’m dealing with the rest of it? Give it to me straight, am I th...

CH583

When Ben had created the matter of his home reality, it had reacted explosively upon meeting the universe, bursting outward and warping space itself in a way that had even damaged the orichalcum armour he’d been wearing to protect himself, but the beast they’d just slain wasn’t made of the sort of stuff that would naturally be found in either his current world or his last. It was instead a third type he hadn’t previously encountered, and without a soul to dominate it, it was left to r...

CH582

In both his current universe and his last, Ben had heard space described in a few similar ways. An endless expanse, a deep void, eternity itself, but all of those were wrong. When the monster opened a hole in the universe itself, Ben got front-row seats to the true meaning of forever in the form of the primordial chaos searing itself into his mind as he bore witness to something nothing born of a universe should. That mad realm of constantly shifting rules in a plane between realities where a...