No matter how long he looked at it, it was hard to truly accept. Apprentice mage was there, clear as day for him to take if he wanted to, he was just struggling to understand why. He knew that in theory he could learn a non-affinitied magic, and now that his mana wasn’t so horribly low the option felt more and more possible, but he would have thought he’d need to put in months or years of training, at least if he didn’t plan on paying for Zandale’s services, but that left him with only two options. Either unending crafting was considered a magic version of the crafting skill somehow, or else his new one was more interesting than he ever could have hoped.

Just how exactly does it let me use materials?

He wanted to dive in immediately but first looked over all of his options again, trying to see them with fresh eyes.

AVAILABLE JOBS

Trap user Craftsman- alchemy path Craftsman- artistic path Craftsman- blacksmith path Craftsman- cooking path Craftsman- stonecrafts path Craftsman- sewing path Heretic Holy craftsman Kin Tank Mathematician Adventurer Cursed item maker Scholar Master craftsman Apprentice mage

Okay, so master craftsman is the objectively correct choice. There really isn’t any other job I particularly want at the moment and it would help me with the path I’m on. It would probably get me closer to awakening my enchanting as well, not to mention the fact that the bonuses on a master branch of a job are miles above any of the lower ones. Hell, if material user really is a magic skill that came from awakening my crafting then it already has tons of bonuses from my other crafting jobs too. It might even be double-dipping from my magic item and magic weapon maker bonuses. Leveling it should be easy, really the only reason to take the apprentice mage job would be to unlock the higher-tier mage jobs after it. It’s fine, I don’t need it.

…But on the other hand, completing it and then true mage after would give me bonuses to enchanting too, even if they aren’t as good, and the job should be quick enough, right?

In the end, he didn’t even know why he was trying to justify it to himself. He wanted to take it, so he would take it.

“I’ll take apprentice mage.”

Name: Ben Heph

Race: Human

Titles: Apostle of Myriad, The Forgotten One, Miracle Maker, Skill Learner, Enemy of Eneth

Jobs: Apprentice mage (lv 0)

Previous Jobs: Apprentice craftsman, Craftsman, Priest, Enchanter, Mind user, Magic item maker, Magic weapon maker, High enchanter, Fractured mind user, Tree tamer, High craftsman

Attributes:

Vitality: 321 Vitality recovery rate: 5/hr Mana: 245 Mana recovery rate: 15/min Strength: 344 Agility: 129 Stamina: 1133 Intelligence: 999

Affinities:

Light: 3 Life: 2 Fire: 4 Water: 3 Air: 4 Earth: 2 Death: 3 Dark: 1 Space: 4 Time: 5

Resistances:

Light: 68 Life: 72 Fire: 75 Water: 69 Air: 66 Earth: 81 Death: 78 Dark: 85 Space: 63 Time: 61

Blessed skills:

Unending crafting lv0* Enchanting lv9 Focus lv9

Passive skills:

World speak+ Tolerance lv6 Sacrilege lv6 Complex mind lv6 Bind Partial demonic body Defense enhancement lv2 Parallel thought lv4 Absorption resistance lv1 Enchanting knowledge lv6 Plant knowledge lv4

Active skills:

Stealth lv1 Connect lv9 Hidden mind lv7 Calculate lv4 Meditation lv3 Cycling lv0 Marksmanship lv0 Speed reading lv3 Material user lv0

Blessings:

Myriad’s Blessing Anailia’s Blessing Helori’s Blessing

Trials:

Trial of Anailia and Tolona

With his new job selected, he looked up to his friends, still trying to process the fact that he had managed to gain that option at all, but before he could say a word his teacher was forcing a knife into his hands.

“Put the best enchantment on that you can, now,” Falk told him and without questioning it Ben did as he was asked, using his magic rings as well as the bracelets still on his arms to quickly whip up an enchantment that would be comparable to the one on his main knife in its nature, only having to be slightly weaker than it could have been because he didn’t know how the knife he was holding had been made, meaning he’d be risking breaking it if it went too hard.

He tried to hand it back when he was done, curious as to where this was leading, but Falk just pushed it back to him.

“Break it down and make a new enchantment. Keep doing it, you’ll know when to stop.”

“Alright, but why?” He asked, already doing as he was told even if he didn’t know the reason.

“Trust me, you’ll figure it out soon enough,” His teacher told him with a laugh, none of the others seeming to understand why either.

It was only on the third time of building and breaking the enchantment that it became clear to him.

“What, how?” He asked in confusion. He knew there were quick ways to level jobs if one thought hard and did their best, but finishing one in minutes so easily was far beyond his wildest dreams. The only time he’d thought he had a chance to do something like that was when he’d been going against the leviathan, and that was only because of the quirks of the adventurer job.

“Boy, you know enchanting is a magic skill, and let me tell you, I would bet good money on the chances you’re the first person in the history of the system to have a level nine magic skill without taking the apprentice mage job. That sort of thing just doesn’t happen. The magic you can put onto items is so far above the zeroth to second level a person would typically take it at, I’m half surprised you didn’t complete it after the first enchantment.”

Well, I guess that means I have another choice to make.

The moment he stuck his hand into his pocket, two new options appeared in his mind, true mage and material mage. Without the hesitation of the first time he picked true mage, with the exact same bonuses ringing out in his mind as the last one.

“Well, I guess that just means it’s time for me to figure out how this works,” He said gleefully, about to dig through his leftover materials. It was in the name, so the magic had to do something to them, right? But before he could do anything, Falk had his hand on his collar holding him back.

“Nope. You aren’t experimenting with a magic we don’t know anything about when you’re going to have to be on stage to find out where you placed in an hour. The last thing I want to do is have to carry you up there while you’re mana exhausted and accept on your behalf. You can stop by the different guilds and libraries in the city tomorrow and I’ll go through a few different gates to see if I can find any information on your skill, but for the time being just relax today. Better to take your time to learn it right.”

“Alright alright, fine,” He said as he escaped his teacher's grasp. He knew as well as anyone that the mana cost of non-affinitied magics was significantly higher than the affinitied varieties, even when ignoring the mana reduction that having a high affinity gave a person. Even if the amount he had access to was now a very reasonable 245, he wasn’t interested in accidentally going too hard too fast while figuring out the learning curve either, excitement was just making him impatient.

This is fine, I can last until tomorrow. Worst to worst if we can’t find anything on it I’ll just pop through the gate to Anailia and see if Lux will buff my mana and regen for a couple days while I experiment. I’m the king of patience, I can handle this.

I can’t freaking handle this.

It wasn’t the questioning as his item was presented to be judged, that was obvious enough to happen given how hard it was to believe he’d managed to awaken his skill in the middle of the competition. With so many witnesses though, including other competitors willing to speak on his behalf, that was cleared up quickly enough.

Nor did he have any issue with the judging process. It was interesting getting to see what each table had made, with them all being thoroughly impressive in their own way. He wanted to inspect each item in detail if he could and do whatever it took to take their technique and make it his own, at least for whatever bits appealed to him.

With each one getting its time in the spotlight, he couldn’t help but be impressed by what he saw, especially with the second and third-place items. The team of ant people and Hecatoncheir had produced a stunning cloak that managed to be as light and soft as any fabric yet having the defensive capabilities of any armour, and the cyclops had gone beyond his wildest hopes after he’d first seen that one of them was a bestower, making a sword with two effects built into the very material it was made from. Fire magic to keep it constantly red hot, and dark magic to cause madness in anything stabbed by it, plus a variety of enchantments on top of it. His skills let him see that both had made it to upper rare, and as far as Ben was concerned they were beautiful.

No, what he was struggling to deal with was the fact that he had to listen to the one handing out his prize. Olop, the same person that hadn’t spared him a glance as he’d come to talk to his teacher at the beginning of the competition was now spending far too long singing his praise in front of the audience, when as far as he was concerned he had much better things to do.

“-And in a historic first, not only made an item that broke into ultra-rare during the contest, but was able to awaken one of their skills in the middle of it too!” the strange bird-centaur man boomed across the crowd for all to hear. “For such a magnificent feat, the standard prize just doesn’t feel adequate, does it everyone? That’s why, as the head of allfaith’s economic development, I’m pleased to award you the position of our proud city's head smith! Let’s all give it up for the craftsman Ben!”

As the cheers went up, Olop couldn’t have been more pleased. He’d wanted Falk for the rumours that he was an awakened smith without any affiliation, and whether that was true or not no longer mattered. The young man before him would be better in every way. Not so stubborn, malleable to his will in the face of authority, how could he resist such a rewarding position when he was still so young? With the pay and power to match, he’d have more than he could ever hope for so long as he kept giving Olop what he wanted, and as Falk's apprentice there was a decent chance he could use the connection to bring the stubborn yeti into his side eventually anyway. Everything was about to go better than he could have ever hoped.

At least that was what he thought until the cheers died down and Ben spoke up in a voice loud enough for all to hear.

“Pass, just give me my prize money so I can go back to the street Falk found me off of.”

He hadn’t forgotten what the other man had said when they first met and he was willing to hold a grudge, not to mention the fact that he didn’t want the job in general. If his teacher thought the guy was a creep then Ben would believe him, and if he was going to tie himself to any city or nation, Anailia would be his first choice.

The crowd was almost completely silenced by his blunt assertion, save for the howling laughter of a single yeti as Ben could only watch the veins of Olop’s neck look like they were building enough pressure to burst, not that he cared. He took out his card and gave it a little shake in front of the other man, who after a few moments, doing his best to suffer the indignation, transferred over the prize money and medal, bringing the event to a close.