“Um, sweetheart? Why is he so depressed? He’s the one that asked for this.”

“I have no idea,” Thera answered her father as they both stared at Ben on his hands and knees in front of what he’d asked Abrus to make for them after their victory, seemingly dealing with a deep internal struggle. “Ben, why does a metal cart have you so upset?”

“It’s not the cart, it’s what the cart represents,” He said as he pulled himself together. “Namely how pointless it was to spend all of that time making a bike.”

He realised it when Thera had thrown them both around during their guild promotion quest. Her control of her magic was now great enough that they could use something like this to get around, a cart with a couple of seats in the front and plenty of room in the back for storage, able to be driven through her magic so long as it was made of metal.

He explained it all and watched as her eyes lit up before getting on, completely ignoring his depression about the bike, and with staff in hand moving it forward and directing it as she went.

“Okay, this is the best idea you’ve ever had,” She told him excitedly as she got off, seeing that it would work as well as he seemed to think.

“It’s hard to express just how many better and more important ideas I’ve had than this, but I’m glad you’re happy with it at least. Since moving it comes down to your own power it shouldn’t need to stop so long as you're awake, and it won’t be limited to the speed and needs of animals. Honestly, I’m hopeful it can cut the time going from the gate to stonewall down to around two days, but I guess we’ll see.”

“Then let’s get going, I want to try this out!” She laughed, eager to see how things would go with it.

With everything they needed to do basically done they said their goodbyes to her family, Thera placing special emphasis on saying goodbye to her baby cousin before she put on her cloak and they went on their way off to collect all of the books Ben had ordered.

“This is insane. You’re insane. How are you going to ever read all of these?” Thera asked as she watched him pile crates of books into the back of the cart, suddenly understanding why he’d asked for so much space when something smaller would have been more convenient for them.

“They’re mostly for reference if I ever need them, but I’m also going to work on getting the speed reading skill at some point. Combining it with my other skills should make reading a book a day a breeze.”

“You know, one day your brain is going to blow up if you keep gaining mind skills, and while everyone’s mourning you not a single person is going to be surprised.”

“With how Myriad keeps telling me nothing the system does is harmful I’m pretty sure I’ll get away without any damage.”

“Fine, then your mind is going to keep warping and changing until it's unrecognizable. No damage, just the weirdest thing in existence.”

“Myriad, want to refute that?”

“Fuck.”

“Told you,” She said as she laughed, getting all the context she needed from his reply before they started making their way through the city towards the gate.

He had to admit, a part of him would miss the city. Anailia was a nice place and there was plenty to do to keep himself occupied there, and even if they could drive Thera nuts he liked her family's company too. It was a place he wanted to make sure he visited again when he got the chance, though it couldn’t counter the pleasures of home.

It was only as he was taking his last looks around as they slowly made their way to the gate that something caught his eye, a light in a side alley that he initially paid no mind to, but as they drifted further and further away it continued to pick at his thoughts, until his eyes opened wide and he called for her to stop as he ran back.

He hadn’t seen a light, not really. Though it seemed similar, it was something that would only catch his eye, with nobody else seeming to notice or care. The reason was simple too, they just couldn’t see it. It would be invisible to anyone unless they managed to have a good mana sense that was specialized towards enchantments.

He wasn’t sure if he was right at first, but the moment he found himself at the mouth of the alley he was salivating. Whatever was there wasn’t just a heavily enchanted item, it was one with some much magic placed on it he could see it from down the street. There was only one possibility that sprang to mind, but he didn’t dare give voice to the thought, nonetheless feeling confident as he approached.

A mythic item.

The only other thing he’d seen that had been as impressive was the enchantments on Anailia’s trial, but this was different. Well, he didn’t actually know what it was, most of it being covered by an old cloth, but it was far smaller meaning it was even harder to make, at least in a way that could exist outside of the realm of gods.

A part of him worried about whoever left it there, that they might come back as he was looking it over and not take too kindly to having something so rare and extremely expensive examined so casually, but he couldn’t resist himself as he pulled the cloth away to get a better look.

Excitement turned to confusion though as he tried to understand just what he was seeing. Before him was a mountain of a man. He’d have been eight or nine feet tall when not curled up into a ball, with flesh that Ben was almost certain was made of bronze, but that was far from the most significant thing about the man. Ben had gotten to see plenty of races since coming to the world after all, and seeing someone who seemed to be made of metal wasn’t too shocking given his connection to both Thera and Abrus.

No, what left him struggling to understand just what he was seeing was the dense quantity of slowly fraying enchantments covering every inch of the man's flesh and breaking down before his very eyes.

As he came back to consciousness after drifting in and out for days, the elderly being found himself somewhere different from the back alley he’d collapsed in. He was lying in a bed in a large room and knew that someone must have found him, but as he opened his eyes and looked around, the people he was seeing weren’t succubi.

“Are you sure there’s nothing you can do for him Lux?” He saw a young man ask a creature that seemed to be made of light, only to get a shake of her head in reply.

“I’m sorry Ben, but this is really more your specialty than mine. He’s not alive.”

“What do you mean he’s not alive? He has bodily functions. He has a soul! I wouldn’t be able to connect to him otherwise and I can definitely feel the skills attached to it.”

“I can’t speak for that, but if it is the case then the body is just a vessel for it, basically a golem, though I couldn’t say what it’s made of. We could try to get Abrus to have a look, but I don’t think much of it would be affected by an earth affinity.”

“Mmh, from what I can tell the structure of the body breaking down is less of a problem than the enchantments collapsing so if you can’t do anything I doubt he could either. I don’t know how old he is, but it’s been a long time since he's had proper maintenance.”

It was at that he finally spoke up, making them aware he was conscious and immediately pulling their eyes to him. “Where am I?”

“You’re in Anailia, in the residence of the queen,” The boy, Ben if what the light creature said was correct, told him. It was an answer that should have lightened his heart, but he knew things had progressed too far. Still, for the sake of those he loved he had to address the reason he’d come.

“That’s good news then,” He said, trying to nod but failing. “I’d come to beg the help of the master enchanter who’s rumoured to be staying here.”

As the two standing above him shared an uneasy look, he couldn’t help but feel justified in not letting himself get his hopes up.