Chapter 549
After spending the rest of the night talking with Quilith while figuring out what most of the known magic materials were initially made of, Bens typical schedule for the coming day was changed completely by the implication of what hed found.
He knew that the universe he was in had ninety naturally occurring elements with a few hypothetical more that could have briefly existed in the hearts of stars or formed during their deaths, meaning there were potentially that many possible magic materials out there to be discovered if he could only create them.
It was exciting, engaging, and more than a bit dread-inducing. Even if he succeeded in creating them, theyd have to all be thoroughly tested to confirm their effects, lest he accidentally create some sort of super-deathstone that was going to absorb the vitality of all life around it. That meant hed need to set up an entirely new research institution to study them all unless he wanted to be spending years of his life going through them one by one.
Just thinking about that killed some of the magic of it for him but he did his best to ignore the crushing feeling of his workload increasing. This was too important to ignore so after thinking of the best way to do it safely, he and Thera went to her family after breakfast, his girlfriend too curious about such a potentially major discovery to not want to see where it would lead with him.
After going through the mini-gate to her old room, they needed to find the key to making sure Ben didnt accidentally kill himself, finding Abrus training with Karly and Glob outside.
The two haggard summoned looked grateful that at least one of the three great spirits beating them down had decided to take a break thanks to their presence as he walked over, giving a cheerful wave.
Thera, Ben, what brings the two of you here today? Looking to buy a bit more?
Not quite. Im looking to kill a lot of birds with one stone so I kind of need your help Abrus, do you have some time? I can almost guarantee its going to help make Anailia significantly richer.
Why dont you give me the details first and then we can discuss it.
Okay, so you know how only nine kinds of magic materials exist?
Better than anyone, yes.
Im going to try and change that, but seeing as how I dont know what any new ones I manage to create will do I kind of want you around to make sure I dont accidentally kill myself or anyone else. On the positive side, Im assuming that once they exist, youll be able to make most of them yourself so its a win all around.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience
The great spirit gave off an air of shock upon hearing that, not knowing how to react other than to look around before focusing back on Ben.
Alright, well if youre going to try something like that I suppose wed best move to a different location.
With the explanation given, Abrus grabbed the two of them and flew them through the gate, taking them deep into the untamed lands until he found a clearing, far from other people.
This should probably be safe enough, The spirit said with a nod before focusing on Ben who was laying on the ground.
Just give me a second to catch my breath, He told them, grabbing his heart and waiting for it to calm down. I thought Thera got her need for speed from her moms side since Sonya enjoys it too, but I guess its an entire family sort of thing, huh?
I think you might just be unusually bad with this sort of thing, She teased him, only for Ben to strongly deny it.
No, think of every person youve ever transported anywhere. Other than your aunt and Ceselee, the rest of us end up feeling pretty mortal by the end of it.
Youll get used to it one day.
I can only hope.
It was only after a few more seconds of collecting himself that he got up, prepared to do what he had come there for. Abrus waved Thera to stand back while he stood before Bens outstretched hand, right where he intended to materialize whatever matter he could.
When he materialized the gasses, he did so by creating them at the same time he created a container to hold them, forcing them to exist under a far higher level of pressure than would be found on the world as he made his new attempts, with Abrus collecting them too, even if he couldnt analyze them himself.
Ben kept on pushing through with options till he was finished with the ten pure gasses that could be found in nature, continuing on with his progress till there was only a single element left to test.
To his boredom though, it ended on a low note, not becoming anything new or exciting and leaving a total of thirty-nine elements that possessed a non-affinitied counterpart, meaning there were fifty-one that hed have to figure out how to test for non-affinitied options. Worse than that though was what he didnt get, a notification telling him hed completed his job.
Hed gained a positively insane level of experience for it, ending at level seventy, but that still meant he had the hardest bit left to gain as he tried to think of how he could finish it then and there, rather than having to spend however many days or weeks it would take to get through it while using far too much time for practice.
He felt the very idea weighing on him as he asked himself what he could possibly do.
I suppose I could try to make some of the less stable elements that may or may not be able to exist and then see if I can create magic counterparts for any of them too, but whos to say how much Id need to do for that to work? The jobs material creator, if I really want to be sure to finish it, I should probably get a little more hypothetical
Oh, Im not going to like this.
As soon as he had the idea, he was sure it would be enough, even if the outcome was going to be rough. There were a few options he could think of to try and make, but only one that really stood out. The matter of his original universe. Thanks to his knowledge skill he remembered everything hed ever learned about how it was set up and the grey had taught him even more during some of his lessons as they compared known structures across the multiverse. There was only really a single problem with making it. It wasnt something that could properly exist within the laws of physics he currently existed in. As soon as he made any, it was going to explode.
He really didnt want to, but he knew that finishing his current job was important and heaved a long sigh before speaking up.
Abrus, Im about to do something crazy so can you please do me a favour and make me a full suit of armour to slip into?
After Ben explained just what he was doing while trying to downplay the potential danger, the great spirit fulfilled his request, creating not just an armour, but one made of orichalcum for Ben to enchant as heavily as he could, placing every bit of defensive magic he was able to onto it to keep him well.
He wasnt too worried, the goal was to essentially make just a few atoms of it, but he was doing his best to go above and beyond with it to convince the two with him that he would be safe and with both of them standing back he gave his attempt.
What he was aiming for was the simplest choice of all. His original realitys version of hydrogen. It was as simple as it got and he put all of his minds to looking at all of it, from its characteristics and physical structure to every property he knew of, spending all of his mana and feeling nothing happen.
Well, that was a little underwhelming.
He wasnt sure what went wrong. As far as he could see, there was no reason it shouldnt have worked, leaving him with only one guess he could test out. That the issue was a lack of mana.
He knew magic materials had a higher mana cost than the more typical matter of the universe, perhaps the cost grew even higher for things that simply shouldnt exist within it?
To his luck, that would be easy enough to test for sure. With the one failure, Ben walked over to Thera, getting her to overfill his soul with her mana as he ignored the sense of pain and moved away before trying again.
This time he felt a change unlike the first as thousands of points of mana were burned. He wasnt just making something, he was seeing space itself warp under his power as those few hydrogen atoms came into being, far too late for Ben to realize that something was going wrong.
The universe itself was warping under the strain of their creation and the second they stopped existing, when they exploded into pure energy yet at a volume that should have been ignorable after properly preparing, the universe pushed back with a force of its own.
With a boom, Ben felt himself being thrown back, leaving the vast clearing and smacking into a tree, his armour dented into him despite the innate properties of what made it up and turning the outstretched hand hed materialized through into a mess, with both his fingers and arm completely broken.
A small part of him tried to consider himself lucky that he still had fingers at all after whatever that had been but that was drowned out by a far larger feeling going within him as he muttered to himself through the pain.
God, I really need a vacation.
