Ben got up early the next day, far beyond when he needed to to make breakfast, to have some time to himself, with his soul stretched out around him to watch the rest of Stonewall dream, giving some peace to a few nightmares he witnessed as he observed one other change in himself.

It seemed Mora could no longer block him if Ben didn’t allow it, feeling the barrier the boy had put up, with the impression it gave being one more of tissue than the wall it had been, but Ben left it be. If Mora wanted his privacy, then he could have it, as simple as that, and with a stretch, he let himself get dressed, off to see the other resident of his home awake at such an hour.

“Hey there, Dewdrop,” Ben whispered, the scrungle that he could still only personally see as a cat lounged comfortably on the couch as Ben joined, the outsider only moved from its spot to sit on his lap. “Didn’t sleep well?”

It shook its head, conveying its feeling through movement and thought, with its sleep having ended naturally, leaving it well rested, yet already interested in another nap. Of all of the things that its new body allowed for, more than any sensory organ foreign to its original form, the ability to rest was proving the most pleasant, leaving Ben to chuckle.

“Alright, well, keep relaxing then. I can start getting breakfast ready for everyone and- What? You don’t want me to?”

The intent was well conveyed. While the couch was a bit comfier, Ben’s lap was warm, and the couch couldn’t pet it the way he could. He needed to stay.

“Mmh, well, I guess I can make that work,” he gave in, stretching out his soul to let him see the kitchen while at the same time, using his magic to begin cooking that day from afar, with the attempt leading to the discovery of another change in him.

Normally, the farther one tried to cast a spell from them, the higher the mana cost would be, but with over fifty thousand points, he really didn’t need to be conservative in most cases. Despite that, though, when he cast his spells to begin pulling out fruits and dicing them up, the cost was the same as casting them directly in front of him. Ben could now cast his magic from wherever his soul could reach, and with his range having passed two kilometers, the potential applications felt endless.

Okay, yeah, now this is the appropriate level of power for a third tier. And yet, at the same time, doesn’t seem like it was the aspect that the skill was named for. Sure, I can use this aspect for crafting thanks to my magics, but there doesn’t seem to be a reason to think that a fire magic paired with this skill wouldn’t be able to conjure up some flames. If this is just a side benefit, then I’m absolutely going to take it, but I really need to spend some more time figuring out what part of this is going to be a crafting skill.

That was ultimately the main goal of the day, but one he’d work on when he got to the shop. With discoveries left to be made, it lent a small bit of excitement over what might still be to come, but as he cooked breakfast while sitting on the couch, he contented himself to explore what powers he knew he had. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

With Fredrick by the window, his houseplant waiting for the early rays of the sun, Ben connected to it as well, engaging in the bit of conversation he’d normally make with it when it was in his range, while also knowing that now he’d be able to keep it up for far longer through the day, that knowledge letting its smaller emotions flash with joy, while at the same too, Ben carefully pruned it to make sure it would grow well, as well as plucked some of the berries from its branches to pull over as a snack, sharing some with Dewdrop when it watched him eat with jealousy.

With the increased power of his soul sight, it did lead to the interesting ability to see the affinities and resistances of even Fredrick, leading to the depressing realization that even a berry bush technically had a higher aptitude for magic than himself, lacking only the necessary intelligence to display the light or air magic it was hypothetically proficient in, with the realization that such a thing was going to apply to all plants and animals in the world too. Every life that came from nature had a soul, only homunculi seemed denied them, which meant that every life held some sort of potential within it and it briefly left Ben to wonder if there was a way to use it, a way to teach every forest of the world some magic that could be put to the defense of the planet before the next wave came, before he dismissed it out of hand. Even if he could, Ben could only predict disaster from such a thing, no matter how curious it might have been.

That wasn’t where his attention ended, though. He was everywhere, omnipresent within his range, and as stretched out as he was, he couldn’t help but want to use it, to really apply himself with it, so he did in the most polite way he could. All around him, Ben cleaned.

Not just in that house, in all of the houses in the neighbourhood, Ben could see every speck of dirt and dust, and with his power, he gently swept it all up, depositing it into either garbage cans or taking it outside through cracks under doors, leaving the town just that little bit cleaner and giving him a small feeling of satisfaction for the work until he realized something else. Everywhere within his reach, he could now practice the skill he wanted to raise the most. Every enchantment he felt within his range, he stripped down and improved, practicing different configurations again and again and again.

Holy crap, I’m really starting to feel like a god.

At least within the range of his soul, when paired with the other skills he’d worked on and developed, Ben now felt like he had absolute dominion. He could see, hear, and feel everything; he could hear every person’s thoughts, and he could rebuild the area as he saw fit. What was that, if not a limited form of the absolute godhood it seemed the deities of the world possessed during the heights of their power? The more he discovered how soulcraft paired with his other skills, the more he felt like he could do anything, with only one annoying caveat.

He still planned on facing the universe’s most powerful soul god, which meant that, when the time came, he still wouldn’t be able to let his soul leave the safe confines of his body. Even with his awakening to perfect soul protection, it was still going to be among his greatest weaknesses against a being with absolute power over such a thing.

But that’s okay, because in the meantime, this just became one of my greatest tools for training my enchanting. I could already do it like nobody else before; now I’m just going to be even better.

<SOUL ENHANCEMENT LEVEL INCREASED>