Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

Thera was seething as they went through the streets of Anailia to pick up the cart they’d left at the church before finally going on their way home, to the point that anyone else walking around them took a wide berth. With her anger came a feeling of pressure as her mana came off her without any intent, all of it moving without any conscious thought from her just from how much it had grown. Awakening two skills had put her halfway to what a great spirit had, but what she’d had to deal with to get there had kept it from being the happy experience she thought it would be.

Ben could see all of this and took her hand, pulling her to the side to wrap his arms around her.

“Wait, Ben we’re in public,” She started, her anger briefly dropping from the surprise as the heat in her head moved to her cheeks.

“It’s fine, everyone has something better to do than watching us hug in the street. It looks like there’s a cafe up ahead. Want to grab a bite before we start heading back home? Maybe talk things out before you decide to pour all of that emotion into speed while moving the cart?”

She could help but let out a small laugh at Ben’s touch of fear coming out and gave in. She didn’t want to focus on her anger, but if she didn’t do something it wouldn’t be going away any time soon.

They got their food and took seats outside, watching people pass as they munched away, Ben waiting for her to say something.

“I just can’t believe… You know what, scratch that. I can completely believe she’d pull something like that, I just wasn’t expecting it. No matter how it turned out, I’m not going near that psycho again unless I’m ever strong enough to put her in the ground.”

“Well, I know it’s probably not the easiest but why don’t you tell me about just what good came with it? From the way that light blinded me for a bit, it seems like your changes are going to be a pretty big deal.”

“Mmh, well don’t expect it again anytime soon. I managed to knock off both earth and life magic with that last spell.”

“Wait, really? That’s awesome! So what did you end up picking for your quest then?”

“...”

It had completely slipped her mind. She’d been so angry when the notifications had been going off that she’d completely forgotten about it, even after they’d left.

“I have no idea what to pick since I managed to awaken my first choice anyway,” She muttered as she pulled out her card, trying to decide quickly.

“Wait, we don’t need to pick these things immediately? In that case, why not leave it and level up something a couple times then try again for that easy awakening?”

“Ben, if you leave a quest like this then the next skill that levels up will just get a level on top of it if you try to wait too long. How do you not know this?”

“‘Cause I’m a cute little otherworlder that’s never worried about the logistics of quests before, but good to know, I guess I won’t be trying to scam Myriad then.”

“You shouldn’t be trying to scam your god to begin with,” She told him, and based on his reaction was positive his god was saying the same thing. “Anyway, with a reward like this, the worst option would be if I somehow gained a random passive skill in the meantime and it shot it up to level one. What do you think I should do?”

She handed him her card and watched him read it over, with no real reaction coming from him for her attributes since he could do the math and easily knew how they’d ended up, though she did notice him mouthing the names of her awakened skills.

“Did you level up your telekinesis during all of that?”

“I did. A couple other skills too.”

“Okay, this is obviously your choice, but in your position I think I’d choose one of three options. Either your telekinesis since it just went up and in theory would be the hardest to raise again, your dark magic since you’d be able to raise its level without having to worry about your charm going up with it, or you could do your charm.”

As he said it he saw the look in her eyes and raised his hands, wanting to explain. “You just gained a level to it not too long ago so with your brace your effect at a distance is negative one, gaining another level would put you at an effect of one, but you still wouldn’t need to wear the cloak with that. Resistances are just as fundamental to the soul as affinities are, there’s no such thing as a person with a resistance of zero so it would be fine, and it would get you a lot closer to the sixth level where you should be able to suppress your charm yourself.”

She understood what he was saying, in fact she agreed when she heard it. In principle, it was an excellent choice, there was just one problem. She hated her charm. The very thought of intentionally raising it felt revolting to her, even if she knew that it would help her in the long run. Even if she knew from experience it had its uses, she just couldn’t make herself do it.

That left her with the other two options, both of which were good points. Telekinesis was a non-affinitied magic, already difficult to raise to greater heights. She’d had a lot of luck with it recently, but who was to say it would keep up? Then there was her dark magic, one that had proven itself incredibly useful, especially during the time that Ben had been lost in the trial, but when she didn’t need to use it and wasn’t having it act as an outlet for her emotions, it felt hard to make herself train as well, with the ever-present knowledge that it could raise her charm.

In the end, thinking of it that way did make things easier. She knew her dark magic was useful but she had an aversion to training it too much, while her telekinesis may have been harder to work on in principle, but it was one she could practice happily without a second thought.

“I’ll take a level to my dark magic.”

“Cool, and with that done I couldn’t help but notice one more thing on your card that needs to change,” He told her as he pulled out his personal job crystal and handed it over. It was as good of a distraction as anything, and she couldn’t deny some level of excitement at seeing the options she knew would be there now that she’d calmed down a bit, even if she hated just how it had happened.

AVAILABLE JOBS

Oh yeah, now that I’m at the first level of staff wielder I guess I’ve got the job for it. My list still feels pretty small though with how much time I’ve got, if I ever run out I’ll actually need to look for skills that would give me jobs. Here’s hoping after this one the system gives me plenty of options.

“I choose master earth mage.”

In a lush valley far from Ben and Thera, a number of spirits gathered. They weren’t the great spirits but the common ones, members of all eight affinities that existed on the world meeting to talk about things beyond the magics they belonged to, they had gone to talk about the earthkin, trying to understand exactly what she was to them.

Even for a mortal, that might have been a challenge as it would mean defining just what a great spirit was to a regular one, though they themselves typically didn’t view it as such an issue. The great spirits were the great spirits, that was enough for them and something they understood on a fundamental level, a structure of their race as a whole they normally never questioned, at least until recently.

They’d always know that Thera had a deep connection with the great earth spirit, potentially deeper than any other earth spirit shared with him, or at the very least different, and while they had all become aware of the connection upon Thera’s birth, none of them had shared more than a passing curiosity before going back to their own interests, at least until she’d show just what she could offer them.

As mana-based lifeforms, the way they used it was fundamentally different from mortals, with the great spirits reaching heights they never could, but despite all of that, none of them could do what she had started to. None of them could share mana with the others to help replenish their stock.

It sounded like such a simple thing, but since she’d revealed the skill to them it had fundamentally changed the way they lived on the world. Previously, producing new spirits had been a rare act for the potential dangers that it had for them, but no longer. Spirits could be born in numbers without having to worry about running out of mana and lives in the process, and they’d had to start organising themselves to ensure each group had a fair turn at it, but with that growth in interaction came the question that was now on all of their minds.

“It’s the familial connection of mortals,”One of the life spirits explained as the others that matched its affinity, as well as the death spirits, gave their agreement to the ones less aware of these things. “She’s called that because that’s what she is, a kin of the earthen one.”

“But the earthen one is not mortal.” A fire spirit argued. “How could he have mortal kin?”

“Another structure of this world’s system. We’ve each had it bound to us too, who knows? We might be able to produce kin with them as well.”

A round of disinterest went up among them at the thought as a death spirit brought them back on track.

“That is what she is to them, but what is she to us?”

Muttering and questions came up until they were forced to come to a conclusion. They’d never figure out what Thera was to them unless they were able to define what Abrus was in mortal terms.

“Is the earthen one our god?” One asked, feeling unsure as they did. The world they came from had no gods like a normal life-bearing planet, nor did they feel like they needed any, same as any mana-based race. They had been aware of the concept even all the way back on their homeworld as the occasional void god passed by their star with their race in curiosity, surprised to see a world teeming with such unique life and no god around who uplifted them, and they’d become more familiar with the concept as a whole since arriving at this one.

The many gods of this world had been openly curious when they’d arrived, and even tried to see what their potential was, though without much luck. Their mana wouldn’t grow, even after receiving a blessing from one of them, and no matter how many centuries passed, none of their magics awakened to something greater, even with the help of the system. They could gain other skills if they so desired and had the potential to try and train and raise them up to greater heights, but for the vast majority of them, they simply lacked interest. They’d rather do as they always had, indulge in their affinity as they drifted through the world.

To the question, it quickly fell to disagreement. The earthen one was not their god, none of the great spirits were. They were better than any god, with them in the world, able to act immediately if need be and not constantly worrying about spending their power. A god needed mortals to get their faith, a great spirit just needed to be part of the universe to use its mana.

“If not a god, then what?What could be the right way to address all that the earthen one is?”

“Perhaps a leader?”

“A leader?”

“A leader?”

The word was tossed around amongst them. It felt closer than a god, but just calling him a leader was far from capturing his glory until one of the death spirits spoke up, thinking of the many funerals it had seen and what sort of mortal received anything remotely close to what a great spirit would be worthy of.

“What about a king?”

“A king?”

“A king?”

The word went up amongst them as they thought it over, seeing how it felt. Someone who wasn’t just the greatest of leaders, or at least should be to have the title, but a ruler as well. But did the great spirits rule them? That was harder to say. It felt more like they acted to guide and protect, but if any of them were to give an order, it would be shocking if a spirit would ever feel compelled to disobey.

“If it’s the closest we can get to capturing all that a great one is through the limited thoughts of mortals then so be it. If the great ones are our kings in their eyes, that still doesn’t explain what the earthkin is to us.”

“The great one’s progeny is female,” A life spirit explained.“If we are to measure by mortal standards then she would be our princess.”

Princess. They rolled the word around, seeing how it fit and finding it to be surprisingly good, even if not quite right in the same way it was wrong to call Abrus their king. Perhaps in the past they wouldn’t bother following her orders if she had given any, or at least not followed them on her own merit, but whenever she spoke to any she was kind, and now she was spending tens of thousands of mana each week to help make up what they’d lost. If she needed help they would give it freely, if she was in danger many of them would happily lay down their long lives for her sake. The title had grown to fit all too well.

“Then she is our earthen princess,” One of the earth spirits said happily, all but claiming her as their own as the other ones buzzed about around it.

“She is just as competent at life magic, she could just as easily be our life princess,” A life spirit argued, feeling the desire to claim her as well as the dark spirits brought forth a very powerful counterpoint.

“Dark magic comes more naturally to her than anything else,” It argued, having no idea how much the person in question would dislike that assessment. “It’s radiated from her body in a never-ending stream since the day she began. Surely if anything, she would be our dark princess.”

“Does it make sense for the kin of the great earthen one to be anything other than the earthen princess?” An earth spirit argued back. “She has been the earthkin to us for so long, to act like that is not her root is ridiculous.”

It was as these three groups were fighting that the other five affinities stepped up. They all knew Thera didn’t have access to their affinities, a fact that made it harder for her to give them mana, but she did anyway and they loved her all the more for it.

“She helps all of us equally, is it not right we all give her the proper respect for the act?” An air spirit asked, breaking up the argument between the ones that shared her affinity. “She has shown she deserves respect from all spirits regardless of their magic, she can be princess to all of us.”

The others that lacked the affinities she possessed were quick to agree to the statement, and eventually the rest gave in. She worked for all of them, she was their princess. With that settled the discussion ended, each spirit going off to their separate ways, spreading the word as they went.

Name: Thera Oress

Race: Succubus/Spirit Hybrid

Titles: Spirit Child, Madman’s lover

Jobs: Master earth mage (lv0)

Previous Jobs: Beginner Dancer, Dancer, Apprentice mage, Earth mage, True mage, High earth mage, Spirit mage, Life mage, High life mage, Telekinetic mage, Adventurer, High telekinetic mage, High spirit mage

Attributes:

Affinities:

Resistances:

Blessed skills:

Passive skills:

Active skills:

Blessings:

Trials:

Looking at her card after taking the job, it was easier to ignore what had gotten her there and just enjoy the moment. She was now a master earth mage, a job that seemed so far out of her reach even only a few years ago, but now it felt like it had happened in a flash.

Beyond that, just ignoring her outrageous mana pool, all of her other attributes had gone far beyond what a typical mortal might have, meaning she could comfortably put most people to shame with the power she felt flowing through her, even if they had skills and jobs geared towards training those areas. Her strength alone, lowest of all of her values, could now give her a fighting chance against some lower-rank adventurers who had it as their focus.

She was also curious about how her awakened magics would compare against others. They had clearly changed in a way that reflected her heritage, but she had no clue how they’d compare against someone who just had them listed as the high versions of the magic, and the fact that her life magic hadn’t moved to the passive part of her status meant she still wasn’t able to use it the way a spirit would, at least if her aunt was to be believed.

Still, once the stress of everything that they’d gone through managed to leave her, she thought she’d have quite a good time exploring it and was eager to see what other changes the future had in store for her now, right until the system answered.

“Everything okay Thera?” Ben asked her, instantly seeing the change in her eyes that she tried to brush off.

“Yeah, it’s just all a lot to take in,” She told him as a completely different thought went through her head.

Gods above, why did I just get this title? She wondered in horror, feeling a sudden understanding for anytime Ben complained about a change to his status, all the while swearing to herself that she would put off telling him about it for as long as possible. He had way too much fun teasing me when he found out about mom, I’ll hear about this for weeks if he ever finds out.

Having no clue how she was supposed to begin reacting to the sudden and unexpected title, she tried to keep from thinking too much about it, instead focusing on getting to the cart and finally returning to Stonewall after many long months away.