As the weeks passed Ben fell comfortably into his new routine. From working on his enchanting and connect throughout the week, as well as taking more time to improve his alchemy and some of the tools he’d been designing for his hunts on the weekends, he’d made sure every minute of his time was filled.
It had only taken him a few days to get the zeroth level of calculate since he’d been practicing, having plenty of knowledge of math after taking it for years in school and being able to spend all day solving problems thanks to his extra mind made it rather easy, and he was lightly working on getting the next level for it too. Though it was dull work, it helped keep his thoughts busy most of the time as he did other tasks that were less thought intensive.
Most exciting of all though, tonight should be the night. As long as the grey, Quilith, kept his word he should be able to expect a visit sometime later to start submitting some of the questions he’d thought to ask, and Ben had many. One of the worst things about coming to a new world was not having access to the internet at all times, it was hard to realize just how much he’d taken for granted being able to use the total of human knowledge at any given time.
Of course, it was always possible he wouldn’t show. Their race as a whole had pretty much instantly gained the world's goodwill the moment they revealed themselves, his little threats that started it all would have pretty much no effect on public opinion, even with his god on his side. If that did end up happening it wasn’t the biggest deal, his biggest concern of trying to help the planet he was stuck on had been fulfilled. Worst to worst he could travel to one of the bigger craftsman guilds to see if they had any info, though in a few cases he seriously doubted it. Failing that it all came down to trial and error.
“What are you making?” Thera asked as she peered over his shoulder, pulling him from his thoughts and back to his work at hand.
“Lifeblood potion, or at least something like it. I had to make a substitution for one ingredient but Falk thinks it will be fine so I’m not concerned.”
“Isn’t that the one that will corrode your blood if you make it wrong?” She asked with concern, having taken his suggestion to read through Falk’s alchemy books as well and getting to the first level in her knowledge skill.
“Yeah but as long as I make it right it will replace any lost vitality and can start stitching together flesh at a significantly enhanced rate. Considering how often things try to bite chunks out of me I want one on hand just in case.”
He was happy that even without acquiring life magic yet, Thera had started to gain more knowledge on how to treat wounds, but he wanted all assurance he could get in case of emergency.
“I’m mostly just concerned you’re already making modifications to a dangerous potion that you haven’t even made the correct way before.”
“Falk’s watching, it’ll probably be fine.”
Thera made a clear and pointed look to the other end of the shop where Falk was busy with his own work, very much not watching Ben make it.
“Well, he’ll give it a look later.”
“Maybe he’s hoping to get out of any more training for any future apprentices.” She told him with a laugh.
“Haha,” He responded dryly. “Weren’t you supposed to be studying or practicing magic or something?”
At that she sat down and flopped against him. “We don’t all have your endless stamina. I needed a day off to do nothing. Gods, I can only wonder how you don’t have a permanent migraine from trying to keep your brain busy every day.”
“And night,” He said. “Don’t forget I hang out in Myriad's realm to do some reading.”
“You’re actually insane.”
“I just like being busy, and ever since I got complex mind it's been harder to keep my brain occupied. It can be surprisingly hard to find ways to keep two separate minds engaged.” Even if it was a little boring, it actually made it pretty nice to have calculation now that he could practice it in his downtime, or at least as something to do with his other mind when he only needed one like in conversation, though if he ever got more as it leveled he’d have to think of other things he could do with it.
Still, that was a problem for another time. No matter how busy he kept his thoughts he didn’t really feel like he was pushing it to the extent he would get another level out of it, at least not soon.
He had thought of a couple ways to change that beyond what already seemed to work, putting himself in so much danger he needed to push beyond his limits to live, but it might be a while before he got the chance to try it out.
Probably for the best if I’m already struggling to keep myself entertained this way. He thought with some mirth. What stopped him from learning calculation before was how boring it had sounded, and now he was training it for lack of anything better to do. Sure he could try and think of new ideas for things to make, but in that regard he was limited by only having one body. He couldn’t make everything, and he could only improve things in a significant way once he had seen how they worked after his first attempt.
An example being the potion he’d just finished. When he noticed that it was possible to get all but one of the ingredients for it from the area, he’d immediately started considering alternatives in his spare time and thought he’d figured one out based on the plants similar characteristics and properties, but he couldn’t be sure it would actually work or where he could improve until he tried it out. At least his teacher seemed to agree with his reasoning, but they wouldn’t know for sure until it was tested.
He walked it over to Falk with Thera in tow and grabbed his teacher's attention before handing it over. Falk looked in the glass and swirled it as he spoke aloud.
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“Colour looks good at least, and the thickness is about right. From what I can tell nothing distasteful’s been produced, all it comes down to is what you can’t see, its actual medical effect. I’m fairly sure it will be safe, but it’ll need to be tested out. Feeling brave boy?”
“If you don’t see anything wrong with it I should stand by my work, shouldn’t I?”
“Good answer,” His teacher said with a grin as he handed Ben a knife. “In that case make a nick and try it out.”
“Wait uncle that seems crazy he can’t just-”
Thera had tried to argue the idea off but stopped as Ben dragged the knife across his arm, creating a small cut, and immediately poured a few drops of his potion onto it.
“BEN! Are you crazy?” She yelled at him.
“I’ll probably be fine,” He told her, trying to calm her down. “The whole blood corrosion is only really a problem if it’s consumed orally or if you’re somewhere you can’t get treated by a healer. If I feel anything wrong I’ll wipe it off and go see Sonya.”
“Why do I even care?” She said aloud, mostly asking herself, though Ben answered anyway.
“Because you’re a wonderful fiancée,” He told her, trying to be funny. “But it feels fine so far, I’m pretty sure things are supposed to start burning immediately if something’s wrong. It does kind of itch though.”
“That still sounds bad. Couldn’t you have done this at the clinic to be safe?”
Ben didn't have an answer for that and looked to his teacher for help, who was making a distinct effort not to look at his niece.
It was clear that Thera was exasperated. “Can you please at least go to the clinic next time you want to test something like that? I’d rather not watch you poison yourself.”
“Ha, will do,” He said awkwardly, completely seeing her point. “But the good news is the itching seems fine, it looks like a result of my body just rapidly healing.”
It was slow, but Ben could clearly see a scab starting to form over his cut and couldn’t help but marvel that he’d made something that pharmaceutical companies from his world would salivate at. It may have been a fairly complicated potion to make with plenty of room for error, but the fact that not only could it do that, but he was capable of making it left Ben overjoyed. The presence of mana in the world having not just an effect on its residents but the properties of all life, and meant that with enough training anyone could throw a potion like it together.
He wished he could just stick to potions given how effective they could be and his resistance to healing magics, but they did tend to have their side effects one couldn’t avoid, and too much of them at one time would typically be disastrous. Still, now that he could make them he was going to keep a few around for his hunts from now on, on top of a basic first aid kit he made sure to buy after having carelessly forgotten one on the trial.
“It looks good,” Falk told his apprentice as he watched the wound close on Ben's arm. “It looks like it’s a bit slower than it would be if it was made correctly but that doesn’t matter much as long as it doesn’t affect the overall performance. I’ll have Ceselee send out a letter to one of the main guild branches later to see if this is already a known substitute and they can start their own testing to see what races it’s compatible with or poisonous to. Since it’s just a modification to a recipe anyone can use there’s no patent, but a small reward is offered for discovering new ways to make common medicines so you might get some luck.”
“Oh sweet!”
“What happened to you being stressed getting all that money for your braces that has you already wanting more?” Thera asked when she saw his excitement.
“Hey now, it was just crazy getting all of that at once. Trust me, if I’m paid appropriately for my work then I’m happy.”
It wasn’t like he would be getting anything close to what he’d made while he was making the braces anyway, and even though that money would last him for many years if he didn’t buy anything too crazy for it, there was never any harm in getting a little more.
As he, Falk, and Thera stopped to chat before he moved on to his next task he heard the shop door open behind his back, and a familiar voice call out.
“‘Scuse me, Looking for Ben if he’s here?”