Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

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-gate to Anailia and from there past the main gate network to Nare’s main city, off to see the many magic materials that Ben had helped to bring into existence.

“And while I’m here I suppose I should see those three,” He muttered, not really wanting to visit Nati, Xilly, and Zallith but feeling a sense of responsibility. “I can take an hour or two when we’re done to judge their work and try to squeeze another level of connect out of them.”

Nare chimed in.

“What? It’s been months, they need to chill.”

“Alright, it’s your grandkid so if you’re sure, just no regretting it later.”

The god had led the two of them through the streets to a large yet nondescript building, with an older woman already waiting outside, giving them both a smile and a bow before reaching out a hand for Ben to take.

“Welcome, apostle of Myriad. I am Rench, Nare’s oracle. I’ve heard plenty about you.”

“Nothing but good things I’m sure.”

“Ha, as far as Nare is concerned which is all that matters. I’m very sorry about the reception Zallith gave you when you had the chance to meet him, I hope I can act as a better bit of company for your brief time here.”

“Well, I have high expectations. Lead the way.”

When they were taken inside, what they passed were numerous busy halls, with what caught Ben’s eyes the most being the many grey among them, not any of the summoned though, but instead projections from across the veil of reality, just like he was used to with his meetings with Quilith.

Just as they drew his eyes though, he drew theirs as well, with the many they passed turning to glance his way before continuing on to talk with their compatriots about their work and research.

I guess it makes sense, I know they talk and help with more people than just me, I just wasn’t expecting to see them here of all places.

It didn’t seem unusual for any of the workers though, all of them acting as if that was the norm so he didn’t question it. After all, it seemed like the sort of thing that was sure to capture their curiosity as well and who was to say what discoveries were going to come with it all as time went on? It was the sort of thing that deserves eyes from numerous worlds.

Still, it was something he resolved to talk to Quilith about when their next meeting came around to get some opinions from the grey’s perspective as they continued on through, ending up at a shelf of written records as Rench spoke up.

“I believe this is what you’d be interested in first and foremost, but afterwards I can guide you around to any particular materials of interest if you’d so desire.”

“Sounds good, give me just a couple of minutes.”

With those words, Ben held forth his hand, pulling books and notes from the shelf and letting the pages flutter through the air as he took them all in, reading months of research in a matter of moments as the oracle watched on, not used to the display the way Thera was who simply waited for him to finish up as he processed everything.

Interesting.

Of everything there, the researchers were confident they knew about half of the effects present, with some of them seeming to be repeated across different materials while others were wholly unique.

It seemed as though every affinity had its own version of mythril and mana crystal tied to its element, knocking away two of the five that each affinity would get, with other research having its discoveries and holes.

The great air spirit appeared to have been thorough in looking after each of the more gaseous elements, discovering and recording all of their properties, both magical and mundane, even if they’d be difficult for Ben to personally make use of, but there were other things too.

That reality’s version of mercury seemed to be changed by the fire affinity, resulting in a substance that would neither heat up nor cool down regardless of the temperature around them, creating something that would act as a constant in a way that Ben was already imagining uses for and a non-affinitied element that seemed to increase in density when exposed to mana without increasing mass.

Really, there’s a lot to go through here and now that I know all of the material properties at least it will be easier on my mana for whenever I want to materialize the non-affinitied ones. Plus anytime I shove my brain into someone else’s so they can materialize it too which is really just going to be Thera and Jake. Oh, what the heck, Falk too. With his level of skill, I can get his help replenishing my deathstone. This does leave a few questions though.

“So why haven’t you guys named any of these?” Ben asked as he flipped through one of the books, with every one being listed with both the original element and the affinity that changed them but nothing else, while still having a clear spot for a real name.

The question got him a smile though, with Rench looking at him kindly. “We were told that as the discoverer of all of this, you’d be receiving the naming rights.”

“What, really?”

“Really. We wouldn’t be here if not for your work, it’s best you be rewarded for it.”

It was unexpected but he wasn’t going to turn it down, especially when Rench seemed to be eagerly anticipating whatever he’d choose, so he pulled out twenty books and quickly added new names to each cover.

“Earth mythril, earth crystal, fire mythril, fire crystal, death mythril, death crystal…” He went on till each of the twenty was done, much to the disappointment of not only the two with him but also the listening gods.

Myriad sighed.

“What?”

It was Nare who answered, sounding underwhelmed.

“Accurate? Descriptive? Exactly what each one of these things is and conveys as much without making anyone look it up later? Not named freaking moribusial of all things?”

“It’s objectively not.”

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“Ugh, fine. I’ll take some time to consider what to call the rest. Except the mercury. That’s getting called temperate mercury and there’s nothing you guys can do to stop me.”

There was resignation in the voices of the gods in his head but he didn’t really care, he honestly would have been fine if they had just wanted to call each one the element plus the affinity that had altered them. It would be descriptive enough to get the job done as far as he was concerned but since it seemed he was alone in that assessment he resolved to think of some more names for the few properly studied ones later as they instead moved to look around the facility, off to see the few examples that had caught Ben’s eye in his reading, starting with one that seemed to have grown a new, secondary substance in the time since it had been created.

Situated atop a small pedestal, covered by a glass case in a room with only a few others working, Ben eyed the mysterious substance he remembered creating with the aid of Jake.

One of the space-affinitied ones, the original metal had become a pitch black after being altered by the mana, with the new substance growing on it being a translucent white, with no explanation for what it was. It was obvious enough that the effect of the first was that it produced the second, but that didn’t tell them more than that.

And they already determined that the new substance couldn’t be affected by earth magic which means it's my time to give it a go.

With his curiosity already raised to a new level, Ben walked over and revealed the material while others in the room watched before he used his unaffinitied power to rip away a piece, only for that act to make it instantly start dissolving, with the area he pulled it from already growing back as one of the grey in the room spoke up.

“We do have a recent theory about that which hasn’t yet made it into the books, though it will be hard to confirm.”

“Alright, you’ve got my curiosity, what is it?”

“If we’re right, condensed spacetime. We’ve only just confirmed that space mages can pull it away too with the same end result, though we’ve been told the act feels unusual since they aren’t used to having their power bend and shape solids like that.”

“Interesting. And you’ve confirmed it’s safe to touch?”

“As much as we’ve been able to, yes.”

Hearing those words, Ben picked it up and began trying to enchant on it, feeling them all go down as he kept placing more, waiting for it to break under the magical weight in a way that never came. The material didn’t collapse, instead just reaching a point where he couldn’t apply more.

“Oh, oh now this is really interesting. I’m going to need to think on how I want to play with you. And also force Jake to make more when I get the chance. A little bead is not enough.”

“Ben, don’t talk to the materials like that when other people are around,” Thera told him. “You’re going to make a weird impression.”

“Okay, I’ll save the sweet talk for when I’m alone with some later. In that case, to the next room.”

There was more to see after all and beyond the ones that had already been fully studied and understood, they had Ben’s curiosity. As interesting as the new forms of mythril and mana crystal were, it had already been shown that they were better for enchantments of their own affinity while being worse for everything else, meaning Ben would be sticking to the original stuff for his work unless anything significantly more specific came up.

Even if this does answer one question I didn’t care enough to ask. The star of the ghoul homeworld gives off death mana, it must be largely made of death mythril. Of course, how that happened is a different question entirely but that is so not my problem.

As they moved from room to room, Ben gave his two cents on the materials that were either only partially understood or not at all, mentioning tests he’d personally undertake or studies he’d want to indulge in in order to get them done, until one particular one caught his eye in a way he couldn’t understand, holding his attention in a manner that made him wonder if he was being affected by it in some way.

“Has anyone mentioned a mind effect from this one?” He asked the room, getting negatives all around.

“Maybe the difference in your mind is letting you feel some subtlety of it,” Thera offered. “Even if it usually helps you ignore these things, you do have more to feel it with than the average person.”

“Hmm, you’re not wrong but I’m not so sure that’s it. I just can’t put my finger on it. Which means it’s time to put my finger on it, no negative effects seen from touching it, right?”

“None,” One of the researchers offered, which was good enough for Ben as he took away the covering and briefly placed his finger on it, instantly getting screams across his thoughts for the act.

With the voices of three gods calling that out, Ben not only took his hand away but jumped back closer to Thera, ready to have her heal him given whatever was so bad as the rest of the room tensed up after that sudden and violent reaction, none of them having heard the gods the way he had.

As the seconds ticked by though with seemingly nothing out of the ordinary, Ben looked up, wanting an explanation.

“What gives?”

Myriad sighed, already knowing his apostle was going to get far too much excitement from that.

That statement alone made Ben’s eyes light up as a flash of inspiration hit him, making him name it then and there.

“Faithstone.”

Nare said.

“How much are we talking anyway?”

It’s non-affinitied, I could totally make more.

Myriad asked him.

“...Fine, for now at least I’ll hold off, although this is something that should be looked at a bit more.”

“Okay, okay, no need to rush me. I’m going.”

That fun discovery was enough to keep him motivated for the rest he was seeing after all, even with less fun discoveries to be made along the way until they came to the very end, not just the final material being studied, but the finally he’d been able to create.

It was the non-affinitied one that had taken an overwhelming level of mana, along with being the one with the fewest research notes to be had, with none of them able to prompt any change in the substance no matter what they’d do.

But that’s interesting in and of itself.

Feeling his attention captured yet again, Ben started asking questions, curious about their testing methods and observations that may have not made it into the notes as he picked their brains and tried to manipulate the material himself, ultimately coming to his own conclusion on the matter as he handled the small grain that had been produced.

“I think this might be the opposite of orichalcum,” He mused, with Rench asking the obvious question to that.

“What do you mean, the opposite?”

“Orichalcum is impervious to all physical damage while being susceptible to magical. It would need some testing to see if I’m right, but at the very least it seems like it’s not affected by magic in any way. Earth mages can’t move or shape it, fire mages can’t melt it, space mages can’t warp it without tearing a hole in space to drop it through and it doesn’t seem like anything else is going to have a ton of effect either. Not even non-affinity magic seems to work, or at least the branch I use. So from there, the obvious thing to do is to see if it will melt in a normal fire if it’s hot enough or if it will warp under enough force. God, if I’m right then this could have all sorts of fun uses. This could revolutionize…”

War.

He didn’t know what its limits would be. Would it be able to tear through magical barriers like they weren’t even there? Be stuck inside victims without the aid of magic to help remove it from anybody it was inflicted on, creating a need for actual surgery in the world, and more from there? Ben could only imagine the horrors that could be committed if he was correct and the material saw widespread use, with the only benefit being that it couldn’t. Abrus couldn’t manipulate it to any extent and given the way the great earth spirit had described things, that meant he likely wouldn’t be able to create it either and if that was the case then making any vast quantity of the stuff would take more work than most would be able to pull off, especially when one considered the insane mana cost that would come with materializing it. Really, with all that one needed to know to make it, he was the only person currently on the world who could pull it off and that was only after stealing an outrageous volume of mana to make it happen.

But it’s only going to get cheaper.

Ben’s magic was only going to improve and his knowledge of that particular material was only going to grow. As he learned it would only get easier for him to create something like that, leaving only the question of what he would use it for if he got to that point.

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