Chapter 1147 Thera’s Perspective

The question of which new magic she would pick was on her mind the entire way to the guild and, as she went, she had no one else to discuss it with. While it would have been nice to pick Ben’s brain on it or talk about it with another friend, she wasn’t so patient, and if she let any of the spirits around her give their input, then she felt liable to start a civil war among them that would demand the great spirits’ attention to solve. No, it needed to be her choice, and with only six to pick from, she just needed to think it over.

Combined affinities were out for the fact that she expected the pure ones to be easier to handle, having the greatest breadth of literature available. Perhaps in the future, once she had mastered them all, she would ask Ben to spend some time designing some of the combined affinities to attach to her soul to let her focus on them next, but that really was a matter for the next few years or decades.

Which meant her choices became air, water, fire, space, time, or light, and she at least knew which options were last. Air wasn’t exactly the most visual magic and, as such, felt less interesting to her, and with all of the time she spent focused on healing, she really didn’t want to immediately start doing it again, just from another perspective, even with a power over illusions and different types of buffs in the mix.

Time’s not really super visual either, but it has some interesting effects at least, and space is handier at higher levels so if I am going to struggle to raise it then that might end up being a risky pick. Let’s bring it down to fire or water then.

Her thoughts turned towards her cousin, Insia, and for a moment wanted to choose fire for any excitement it might bring the small fairy to have a matching affinity, but if she was being honest with herself, she knew that was a bad choice as well. The point of that test was to confirm her control; at least, that was the justification she’d given herself, and if it was still lacking at the first tier, then doing something like that couldn’t have been a bigger mistake. Even if she was sure it wouldn’t happen, any risk that her first spell could burn the city down around her wasn’t one worth taking, so instead, she decided on the safer option of water.

It was an impressive enough looking magic to satisfy her; it didn’t seem like it had the risk of increasing her workload if she gained the zeroth level and, so long as she didn’t attempt anything too outrageous, its destructive potential was low, at least as far as accidents went. She knew well that water mages could use their power with horrific intent, and given she had a bracelet with Ben’s authorities on it, using that magic in such a manner meant it would likely be quite easy to level, especially with all of the other growth factors she held. It was the right choice, meaning she just needed to feel her water mana and shape a spell to seal it.

But later, she told herself, standing in front of the guild. In case I do mess up, I really don’t want to have to deal with the reaction of soaking everyone in here.

Having waited a bit, already eager to leave so she could justify her attempt at a new spell, she finally made it to the front of the line, already with card in hand and speaking before the guild attendant could look at it.

“I was hoping you might have some tasks available for my rank. If you could pull out any options you have, I’m looking for something I can finish in a day, but I’m fast at traveling, so don’t let distance be a deciding factor.”

“In that case, let’s see here…” they started, taking her card and leaving only a slight pause when they saw her rank, having seen at least a couple other top adventurers in their time working the guild, given they were at the main branch. “In that case, if you would have a seat at one of the side tables, I’ll get someone to come by and go over options with you as quickly as we can.”

“Thank you,” she nodded, feeling the eyes of some of the other adventurers wondering who she was to get such treatment while she made herself comfortable before, only a few minutes later, another guild employee joined her with a pile of files in hand.

“Thank you for waiting. Thera Oress, correct?”

“That’s me.”

“Perfect. Then, before I go over our options, I’d just like to confirm. Your file lists you as working with another first rank, Ben Heph, or occasionally the second rank, Sachel, along with her party. Will either of them be joining you today?”

“No, just me.”

“Alright, then in that case, we have a few options you could pursue, based on what it seems you’ve managed before. If you’re willing to go a bit longer than what you could do today, there’s always quests for demon hunting and tracking, especially at your tier-”

“I’m not currently, thank you,” she told her. While she wasn’t against it in theory, and was well aware of just how useful she could be on those fronts, the entire planet was working on such things. Even if she likely could have finished that day, regardless of what the guild employee before her thought, spending that time tracking just wouldn’t have been productive when there were thousands of other groups being sent to do the exact same thing.

“I see. In that case, since you specialize in healing and earth magic, there’s always requests for life mages going around to help fill the slack at different hospitals-”

“I already do plenty of hospital work. I’ve actually been told to do less because I lower the odds of other healers leveling or awakening by doing too much.”

“Mmm, a difficult issue. Well, in that case, there are plenty of towns and cities that are looking to have defensive walls built, and given that we received rather satisfied words from the places you’d helped the last time you were specifically requested for it, you’d be doing us a favour by taking some of it on. At this point, all of the priority locations are protected, but there are many secondary locations that would appreciate the added safety.”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll take that.”

“Wonderful, which just leaves which locations to have you visit.”

Given the speed that she and Ben had finished a similar task the last time they’d been requested for it and given that she was the earth mage of their small party, there was little doubt that she’d be able to finish more than one, leaving only the question of just how much more the guild could expect.

“Do you have a map?”

“Just a moment,” the guild worker told her, walking away and coming back with one to spread out across the table, pointing out twenty-two locations when she did. “Those are all the spots that haven’t had their own walls built yet. While there are obviously other locations that would like to have one for whatever defense it would lend, these have either high enough populations or other strategic value to make them worth protecting.”

Four were around gate cities and another ten were at least close to the gate network, making the choice easy as she committed the spots to memory.

“This works. In that case, unless you need me to give you a firm answer now, I’ll go do as many as I can and, if I can make the time, I’ll go out and do some more tomorrow as well.”

“If you’d be willing, then that would be wonderful. In that case, please just report to the guild branch at each location before getting to work, and they can help you with the specifics of it.”

Nodding, Thera left with that. It might not have been the most exciting of work, but it was training for her earth magic. If it might lower the odds of awakening, then she could go all out.

While Thera didn’t have parallel thought, her mental expansion gave her the leeway to multitask while she worked, and she used it to great effect.

She did her quest of course, barging into the guild of her first location and got the one in charge to outline for her exactly where around the city she’d be building, but that was simple. Even if she devoted herself to building a strong and sturdy wall, materializing what she needed to reinforce it while getting the rest from the surrounding ground, she still had enough leeway to consider other things, and more than enough mana too, all while she began trying to put together a new spell.

An all too simple one, considering her level. Using her non-affinitied magic, she materialized a simple cup of water, and with her new water affinity, she wanted to pull it into a ball in the air, applying the affinity to her mana to cast.

In principle, it couldn’t have been more simple compared to so much else she could do, and her head had been filled with the knowledge on how to do exactly that, leaving only the matter of applying it so, with her mana sense and her soul sight working in tandem, she watched herself as she assembled her spell.

Earth, dark, and life, all of her first spells in those affinities had been seared into her mind, with none of them as easy as water had been the second she tried. Barely even requiring any will on her part, in just a second the liquid pulled away from the cup to casually float in front of her face, while a notification went off in her head.

<ACQUIRED SKILL WATER MAGIC LEVEL 0>

“Wow, okay, this really did a better job of showing me how much my control has improved overall than anything else,” she told herself as that tiny volume of water danced between her fingers as she moved it, freezing and thawing it with a thought. Already, it felt like she had more control at the first level than she’d had even at the ninth for any of her other magics, adding a layer of excitement to the new power she hadn’t been prepared for. “With this much control over my mana and all of my other growth factors… I bet I could get pretty far in this if I wanted to…”

The temptation was already there to push it to the second tier, she was sure she could do it by the next wave and maybe even have time to do the same for another affinity too, but she forced herself to hold back. She could justify a bit of practice, but anything more than that was liable to get in the way of the other skills she really did need to work on.

But at least for today…

Even if she was building defensive walls for different settlements, it wasn’t such a hard activity that she couldn’t juggle two tasks and having a new magic was exciting to her, she could at least let herself have the one day to work on it and, with the first city done, she did exactly that, flying to the next and the next until she had five locations completed, letting her stretch out in satisfaction at the last one.

<WATER MAGIC LEVEL INCREASED>

And a level to finish it off, she smiled. Alright, it’s getting late so that should be enough, so-

A sight she felt more than saw in the distance, Thera noticed something in her soul magic she hadn’t before, trying to pull her attention that made her frown. It was like a prickling at the back of her neck, distracting her as she turned towards it.

The opposite direction of the gate city she needed to make her way back to to get home, for just a moment, she thought about ignoring it before flying out instead. It was her first time feeling her soul magic in such a way; for good or ill, she could stand to be a few minutes later getting back.

Ultimately not even needing that long in the end. It may not have been teleportation, but when she flew, Thera was fast, and it took only a few seconds to come within range to see what her soul had felt all along.

Ghosts.

Seven of them, all moving together in a controlled group, all acting as if they had a destination in mind, making Thera hesitate. Normally, ghosts were harmless, but even from where she stood, she could tell that they’d come from people instead of simple animals, which meant they had almost certainly come from one of the times a portal to hell had been opened.

When a ghost existed for long enough, having regained some of its awareness with time, she knew they could be dangerous and instantly her soul magic began to move to force them to pass on, rather than let them cause any troubles on the world, but at the very last moment, she stopped herself. That hadn’t been the first time she’d seen such things moving with purpose across the planet, but during the last time, she and Ben had had bigger concerns to deal with. At that moment, though? She could at least try to look into it.

None of them noticed as she got closer, too focused on flying to wherever they were off to with a single-minded determination, bringing them within reach for a skill she’d barely used since she’d acquired it. Stretching out her soul, she reached for the ghosts around her with soul connection, letting her peer into their dead minds to find a call going out to all of them.

Something was pulling the dead of the world, same as the last group of ghosts she and Ben had found, and it sent a shiver running down her spine at what that meant. From what little they were thinking, she could tell that they’d been moving for days by that point, completely enthralled, and with whatever was luring them still nowhere in sight, that spoke of its potential power. To her, it seemed clear enough that it was a demon, but however it was calling them seemed to surpass what a simple contender could do. While she knew too little to be certain, instantly she was left to worry that there was another among them that had reached the third tier.

Okay, this is way above what I should be figuring out myself, which means… Anailia Anailia Anailia, I could really use some guidance, please! Thera called up to the heavens above, employing Ben’s strategy of both using the full force of her new, powerful mind, while also being willing to be annoying about it to get the attention she wanted, both to great effect.

<It’s not like you to call me like that, Thera.> Her goddess chuckled inside her head. <Just what might you need from… ah, I see.>

As the goddess looked down, Anailia saw not only Thera, but the dead she was keeping up with, letting her look into the minds of those disembodied souls and see the same thing Thera had, leaving a frown on her voice before Thera went on.

What should I do? Should I follow them while you gather more people to see wherever this is going to lead?

<... No. Thank you, Thera, but we don’t know how much longer they’ll be going for. I can’t take you away from your family for potentially days. I’ll let the other gods know and will keep an eye on them while making arrangements for another group of mortals to follow them from a distance.>

Are you sure? If this is another third tier-

<Then it’s one we should be collecting information on first before acting, lest things go in a worse direction than they have to. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Thera, but now that you have, go home and get some rest. I suspect that once we figure out what’s going on here, we’ll be calling on you again soon enough.>