Ben woke up early and immediately read through the list of skills before heading off to Falk’s shop. He was a little discouraged having gone through it. When Myriad had said he might have access to a quarter of skills it looked like he was being optimistic. Ben did the math after reading through it all, he could only take advantage of one in six. Interestingly, while it seemed like he could learn Zandale’s four main skills, they and a variety of others would take upwards of half a year to gain, making it so he would only take the time to teach them if either the person looking to learn them had over ten skills for Zandale to learn, or paid an outrageous fortune to make it worth his time, on top of traveling with the apostle for all of his business.

Other than that, it seemed like Zandale was suited to the light, water, air and fire affinities, and as a result had multiple skills that required decent compatibility to get. What’s more, they had a few non-affinitied magics, but because of his low mana level it wasn’t something he could get, no matter how much he wanted to.

As always, my own magic remains out of my grasp. He thought sadly, and the other options weren’t much better.

There were a few mind skills he could learn since he had more than enough intelligence, but none of them stood out to him compared to the ones he already had, and he was pretty sure if he really wanted them he could gain them himself with only a little effort. As for combat skills, they frankly didn’t interest him. He already got the two that could help with his crafting and he already established he didn’t like to fight like that, so why would he waste an opportunity to learn them?

There were other ones that seemed like they might be convenient in his day-to-day life, but really it came down to not wanting to waste this opportunity on something he could do without or could get himself.

Thankfully there was one that stood out to him. A single skill that shined bright in his mind that not only could he take based on his affinities, but also desperately wanted given how the world had seemed to want to treat him so far, and as soon as Zandale got into the shop he intended to ask for it.

Until then however, Ben had a different task. As he was leaving for the day yesterday, Falk mentioned to him he wanted him to come up with the items that Wedrow had requested for his friends after getting the chance to see them fight, and that if he was confident enough he could make them himself, though Falk would have to approve of them, and he jumped at the chance.

Given the things he’d already gone through, he could only imagine how bad things must have been for Will and Steph, and since they didn’t mention anything like that in their letters he had to assume it was too hard to talk about.

Stay strong guys, your favourite craftsman is here to keep you safe.

His god chimed in.

I mean sure, they’re being properly paid for it, but they're being trained to be a powerful fighting force. If I could just keep wandering into situations worse than what they’re being set out to do, wouldn’t this universe be too unjust and cruel?

He took his god's silence as agreement and got to work, pulling out the items he was going to use to make a weapon for Will from his spacial bag. At first he’d thought of making a pair of brass knuckles since his friend focused on hand to hand combat, but with what he was going to use for materials, the chances of Will getting himself killed from handling them wrong was too high, which meant he’d have to go for a gauntlet instead.

Ordinarily, he wouldn’t make something like a gauntlet to be a weapon since they could be weighty and difficult to attack with, but given Will’s strength stat they should work like a charm and he began planning it out.

The first thing to do was make a sketch of all the smaller pieces he’d need. A gauntlet would need to be made up of multiple smaller plates to allow for some finger dexterity, while not so many that it would be hard to fix if anything happened. Like many things, proper balance was key.

With that done, the next task would be melting down two different metals to make sheets he could cut and work into the shapes he needed, though there was some risk on his part so he needed to take extra care. After all, he would be using two of the ones he got from Thera’s parents, some of the moribusial that could suck out the mana of a creature that touched it, and the deathstone that would absorb vitality.

He carefully broke off chunks to get the quantities he needed, while taking care to make sure no slivers made their way onto any nearby table or the ground. While moribusial was safe until he processed it, deathstone was immediately dangerous and couldn’t be touched with his bare hands. Should a large sliver of it get stuck under a person's skin, if they possessed a low enough vitality regeneration rate, there was a very real possibility they would slowly die, or at the very least be stuck in a state of perpetual sickness.

Once that was done he got both placed in a mold in the forge and began to blast the heat, working on the next step as he waited for them to melt down.

Going into the storage room, he found an already prepared plate of steel and some premade chainmail that he intended to repurpose. Ordinarily he’d use leather to make the interior of a gauntlet like that, but Will was a lightning user, he wanted the energy of his attack to properly transfer without having to have to worry about it being weakened by something non-conductive, So he got to work making links within it so it would fit his friend’s hands, only using a bit of leather when he felt that the chainmail would be too inflexible. His friend's comfort didn’t need to be considered at least. Since he had the skill tough skin, the metal rubbing against it couldn't do any harm.

Once that was done he pulled out the two metals which had melted down and let the deathstone cool while he processed the moribusial to activate its mana sucking effects, holding his own hand above it as close as he could without actually touching the molten material and releasing his mana. It was all it would take to make the material align in a way that would allow its properties to shine, but he had to hold it there for a while and the heat stung his flesh.

He made a mental note to ask Sonya to heal him when he got home and dealt with it until the metal cooled enough to handle, the processing being complete.

That done he cut out the shapes he would need from the two magic materials, as well as the ordinary steel and got to work forge welding the safe steel to the backs of the more dangerous plates to protect his friend’s hands before he got to work shaping each piece.

Once that was done he was left with a thing of beauty. Two gauntlets where the hands and palms were covered in moribusial and deathstone plates, making any punch, choke, or slap exceptionally devastating for the enemy, and once he got Falk to put on the finishing touches it would be devastating. The parts that covered the arms were safe only by necessity. Will would require some part he could safely hold to pull them on and off, but it wasn’t a significant sacrifice.

“Oh hell yeah! Level six crafting baby!” He cheered, thinking he was still alone.

“Congratulations,” Zandale said, fixing him of that assumption. “You must have made a particularly fine work.”

He turned to him embarrassed and found Falk there too. “Ahem, sorry about that, I was a little excited.”

“Don’t worry about that boy, let’s see what pushed you over the edge,” His teacher asked him, curiosity plain on his face.

Ben placed them down so Falk could have a look, but made sure to give a proper warning. “Just don’t grab them by the hands, it won’t be a pleasant experience.”

“Aye, I can see that,” He said with a low whistle. “These are downright savage, I approve. Also you made it to mid-rare.”

“Oh heck yes!” He thought he’d be getting to low-rare considering the materials he’d used, but getting to mid-rare was even better. It was a shame he didn’t have a crafting job for it, but his skill itself would still get some good experience from it.

“So these were for your friend I take it? They’d be good to send as is, but were you going to attach any enchantments to it?”

“I was actually hoping I could get you to do that, I was thinking you could add the strongest drain spell you could to the deathstone pieces to enhance its effects and attach it so it would draw its power from any mana the moribusial sucked out of his victims, as well as applying harden and any other spells you think would enhance the longevity of the items.”

“Hmm, well I don’t mind, but you’ve already done such good work, you sure you want me to finish it? Especially with your fancy new rings and everything.”

“My friend is going to be using these to protect himself, I’d much rather have you handle the enchantments since you’ll be able to do it so much better than me at my current level.” He had also been harboring the suspicion for a while now that some of Falk's skill levels were higher than he’d been told. If he was wrong it wouldn’t make a difference, but if he was right the gauntlets would get a significant boost, and there was no harm in taking that chance.

Falk couldn’t see the thoughts in the back of Ben's mind, but he accepted. “Alright, no harm for me since I’m the one who was commissioned anyway, but what about the item for the girl who was here, got anything in mind for that?”

“Yeah actually, but I’ll need to do things backwards for that,” He said, pulling the second last material he’d brought from his spacial bag. “I was thinking I’d do something similar to the mythril I’d used for my jacket, but make a cloak instead and cover it with resistances to keep her safe. The only thing is, I can’t work this myself.”

The material in question was orichalcum, a metal with such intense physical resistance that Ben had no actual way to work the metal himself. It would have to be done by magic, and even with his rings, trying it with his level of mana would take far too long, meaning he had to leave it to someone else, as disappointing as that was.

Falk gave out a low whistle. “ I’ll have to make it an alloy with something else to give it the flexibility you’re looking for, but even then, combining that level of physical resistance with your magic resistances, it’s gonna be quite the final product.”

“Hey, nothing but the best for my friends.”