As the two notifications went off in his head, Ben let out a slow, drawn-out breath as he felt the change to his mind, the entire forest he was connected to reacting to the feeling as well.

There was pain of course, but not nearly as much as there had been when his minds had last split or when he’d gained a level to mental expansion so shortly after. What he currently felt wasn’t a full-blown migraine, instead just being a headache, with the pain he was experiencing being comparable to what he’d dealt with a little over a month before his last one had disappeared. It was going to be annoying to deal with, but he would live as it eventually went away.

Other than that though was the feeling of the shape of his mind changing with the two levels. Like the last time he’d gotten a level of mental expansion, he felt the strands of thought in his head fray, but now even more so with the effects of parallel thought added to it.

It was to the point where they’d gone from just a little short of a typical human mind to perhaps the peak of what one would normally achieve, everything in his head being strengthened with the skills as the very way he would think changed to accommodate the new level of mental power.

But that’s fine because this is just my mind now and I should be safe from any more level-ups. I couldn’t even begin to guess how any of those skills would awaken.

Hey, don’t go wishing that evil on me.

No need to rub it in. He grumbled back. The fact his connect hadn’t awakened after a solid month of training with the woods was nothing but a disappointment. Since the forest’s interconnected mind just felt so big he’d thought he’d had a chance by going at it but as each day passed the odds of success had felt worse and worse. Adding to the fact that he’d leveled the two skills he didn’t want to on his very last day of trying and it all combined to reflect his level of luck in the world.

Who knows though, maybe this will be the blessing in disguise that lets me finally get a level of pain resistance?

“You okay Ben?” Delair asked him, pulling him from his thoughts and back to her as she finished up carving a branch, only to see the pained look on his face.

“Ah, I’m fine so don’t worry,” He told her, ruffling her hair as he did. “Just had a small headache come over me is all. It looks good by the way. You’ve been an excellent student to teach over the last month so make sure you keep practicing everything, okay?”

“Mhm.”

She knew he was leaving that day as well as anyone, but as much as she wanted to ignore it she couldn’t keep it from her head.

“Do you really have to go?”

“I do. Sorry kiddo but I’ve got some responsibilities to take care of.”

“Mmh, but everyone’s been a lot happier with you here,” She muttered, resting her head on his arm as they sat. “All the adults keep worrying, but while you’ve been here they’ve been too focused on getting your help than to worry.”

“Ha, well I’ve also helped about as much as I can.”

He’d redone plenty of enchantments in the town again while he was around, having a whole new level of skill to do what he could since the last time he’d been there and more than a few of them had been happy to take advantage of that, meaning plenty of his time not in the woods had gone towards that as well. Not that he minded, it let him show Delair a bit more about enchanting as a result, but it had been one of many things that kept his visit busy.

Still, he understood what she was saying. Same as anywhere, people were worried, and despite how they might try to keep their concerns to themselves to not stress out their children over something that couldn’t be changed, kids were perceptive too. He didn’t know how much Delair and the other children in the village really understood what was happening, but he was sure she wasn’t clueless as he tried to figure out if there was any conceivable way to give her any sort of peace.

It wasn’t an easy topic, there really wasn’t much that could be said to make things okay. How were you supposed to encourage someone when in a period of years, they and everyone they knew could be dead? How was anyone supposed to discuss that with a child? The most he could really do was just try and be encouraging as he stood up, lifting her up to sit on his shoulders as he walked them both back to the village.

Myriad, how do you reassure a kid about the end of the world?

Gee, thanks.

Anything he could think to say felt like it would be a lie, and given that he wasn’t sure how much Delair was aware of about the world's fate, saying too much could only make things worse, leaving him little in the way of options to reassure her, so instead he didn’t, opting for a different branch of conversation in the hopes of distracting her.

“You know, when I’m worried about something, I personally like to take my mind off things. What do you think might help ease yours a bit?”

“If you stay.”

“I’m sorry Delair, but I can’t. I need to go off and play my little part in helping your village get back their peace of mind. I’d honestly be much happier staying too, but I know too many people off to help with things to be able to do that.”

“Mmh.”

“Tell you what, have you decided on what job you’ll take after apprentice mage?”

“I don’t know, everyone else in the village is going to be taking plant mage but I don’t want to focus on that.”

“So it’s going to be true mage or apprentice craftsman?”

“I guess.”

“Well then, my young apprentice-to-be, I’ll make sure to send you some supplies that you can use to train for both jobs, okay? I’ll send off enough tools and materials and books that if you change your mind your mom is going to go insane about how cluttered I’ve made your home. And anything else you want to. Come on, there must be something you’d like?”

It was bribery, plain and simple, but it was working. Delair was quiet as she thought, her mind pouring over everything and coming to a single option.

“You need to send more games for everyone. Even grandma’s liking them.”

“Ha, sure, will do.”

“And they need to be even better than the ones you’ve already brought,” She went on. “The best you can make.”

“I’ll have you know that I only do my best with everything I make, but sure, I have some ideas for more so make sure you watch your mail, I’ll have them out in a few weeks for you.”

“Okay, good.”

Even if it wasn’t as good as it would have been to just have him stay, it was an option that the village as a whole could use to distract themselves so she would take it, even if it wasn’t what she really wanted.

Resting her head atop his own as he carried her back, she couldn’t help but mutter one final thing. “And you need to promise to come back.”

“You got it, I promise.”