“I took Mora over to Fontesh’s early so she could watch him for the day,” he explained. “Didn’t want Delair wasting her time coming over if I’m going to be messing with your head.”
“You figured it out then?” she asked as she perked up, excited to hear the results. His testing had run late enough that she’d been asleep by the time he’d gotten home but the fact that he was already making plans to do it spoke of good news, even if he raised a hand to try and get her to temper her expectations.
“I figured it out, with a few caveats. The first is that we’re not doing this without both Lux and Grace present, but I’ve already made arrangements to have them free. This is going to damage your physical brain, but they should be able to mitigate it. The second is that if I feel we need to stop then we’re stopping, no question. For legal and ethical reasons, I’ve only been able to test this on demons, but while I’m comfortable with the results I’ve gotten there, their brain structure is different from yours and they’re adaptable in a way most other species aren’t. This is going to have to be done in two stages and if I judge the first stage is too rough on you then we’re quitting there. Considering that the first stage is giving you a regular spirit’s mental structure, there still should be benefits to be found when it comes to using your magics but it obviously won’t be as good as using a great spirit’s.”
“Alright, that all sounds fine. I trust you.”
“Kind of wish you didn’t right now, but whatever. From there, I’ll give my warnings. This is going to hurt, like, a lot. For the demons, I’ve gotten the first stage down to such a level that it should only feel like a severe headache, unless of course the differences between yours and a demon's brain is too great. The second though… calling it a migraine would be underselling it. You don’t like seeing me bleed out of my face but it looks like you’re finally going to get a taste of what that’s like.”
Worrying to hear.
She’d been a healer long enough by that point that it was easy and comfortable to qualify anything that caused some facial bleeding as bad, but she didn’t flinch. She knew Ben was ready to try to offer her an out, but she didn’t want it. She wanted to grab any shot at getting stronger she could and this felt like the best idea she’d come up with, with her lack of reaction making Ben sigh.
“Finally,” Ben went on. “We need to clarify what you want from this.”
“Do we? I think I was pretty clear.”
“I’m kind of hoping you just chose your words poorly. You said you wanted to get alien thought structure for the great spirits of the world but looking at your magics and what awakenings your trying to get, you only need life, death, and soul if you’re hoping those will help you awaken your life magic, as well as earth and dark for the benefits that would come to the other two. When you can’t use other magics, adding anything else just doesn’t make too much sense.”
“It’s not like knowledge of one magic can’t help with the application of others,” she pointed out. “I get what you’re saying, but if I’m doing this, I’d regret discovering that it would have helped me get them all after the fact.”
“Maybe, but there’s other points to consider that I would personally view as drawbacks. The big one being the difference in senses. You have some aligned to your current affinities, so I don’t expect any drawbacks from giving you at least three of the five I specifically mentioned, but for any you don’t have, you will end up with the feeling that something’s missing. Like you should be able to detect water or light or electricity or fungus in a way you just can’t. I’m not going to pretend it’s debilitating, it’s manageable, but it’s also annoying and something you’d need to learn to live with, all for very little in the way of benefits and greater risks. This would all be safer for you if I just focused on your core magics instead of trying to squeeze everything into your head like that.”
“Alright, then there’s an option to split the difference. You seem confident I’ll be fine when it comes to giving me all of the spirits mental structures, even if you’re not sure if I’ll be able to continue from there, so after that, you can judge if you should stop there, continue on with all of the great spirits, or just those select spirits.”
“It’s a pretty narrow window where the third option could exist, but fine,” he sighed. “In that case, come on. Let’s go get this insane idea over with for now.”
Getting to her family home, Ben took her card while she was instantly laid down in a small area set up in the yard, with her aunt Lux, the new blessing spirit Grace, and even her father out there waiting, the last looking the most nervous of all of them.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Dad? What are you here for?”
“Oh, just heard about what was going to happen and wanted to make sure I’m around if anything goes wrong.”
“Considering who else is available, I kind of just think you’d get in the way.”
“She’s right,” Lux chimed in, seeming far more comfortable. “What are you going to do, throw some stones if she needs help?”
“Can I not just want to be here when my daughter has decided to do something ridiculous?” he asked back. “I’m allowed to be worried. Why, if her mother had heard about this then I don’t know how she’d react.”
“Mom did once drive me to take on Anailia’s trial, you do remember that, right?”
“Well, yes, but she was still worried about you and-”
“And I’m also worried and want to get this over with,” Ben cut in. “But the longer we put this off, the longer we all have to stay worried, so let’s get started. Thera, try to relax. Lux and Grace, as soon as I start modifying Thera’s thought structure, I’m going into both of your heads to speed up how you perceive time so you can immediately begin healing her when I tell you to. Is everyone ready?”
With nods coming from all around, Thera did as she was told and made herself comfortable, laying back and not thinking about if she’d made a terrible mistake as two very quick changes came over her, a sudden yet small headache that had disappeared as soon as she noticed it, as well as a notification going off in her thoughts, different than the ones she’d expected.
With essentially all of her pain gone, only a little lingering in a way reminiscent of getting her soul modified before, Thera looked up and experienced the world.
What Ben had warned her about was there, the feeling of the absence of certain senses she would never hold but those were ignorable enough, fading into the background of her mind in a way that made her wonder if the nature of Ben’s own thoughts left the feeling more present. They were nothing compared to her own affinities senses, heightening the feeling of earth, dark, and life around her and letting her appreciate them in ways she never had before, adding a feeling of naturalness to what had been learned skills before she spoke up to the people around her, voicing her thoughts.
“That didn’t seem as bad as you made me think it would be.”
“Because it wasn’t,” Ben admitted, his eyebrows scrunched as he looked between her and her card. “You handled the first modification better than any of the demons did, which I’ll admit was always a possibility given your heritage, but it's the other outcome that seems bigger. Spirit thought structure instead of alien thought structure like all of my test subjects got. Is that a change also related to your heritage? I can feel you thinking about how ignorable the absent senses are, and while you might be right about it being a difference between your and my mind, the change in the skill might be giving you an easier time with it.”
“Which means…?” she led, knowing where things had to have been going and wanted him to accept it.
“Which means, it’s probably safe enough that I can try the second one,” he groaned. “Okay, everyone ready then, we’ve got one more to go. Thera, just be prepared. Even if the last one went smoothly, this time will still be rougher on you.”
“It’ll be fine. Let’s just finish this up.”
The results of the first part had left her confident. She was half spirit, even if she hadn’t inherited the traits, those were a part of her nature. The first part had gone smoothly enough, she just needed to get through the second and then from there, pray it would be enough to substantially lower her difficulty when it came to crossing that last threshold, even if she was fully unprepared for when the change actually arrived.
She couldn’t tell if she blacked out briefly as the world exploded in pain, every cursory thought echoing through her head bringing with it a new migraine that left her in a state where she couldn’t even question if her request had just left her with some sort of permanent damage until all at once, the feeling was gone. Lux and Grace had both filled their roles, repairing whatever damage had just happened in her head, while Ben for his part just looked relieved.
“Okay, it looks like you didn’t have that as bad as my test subjects either then. Good, that really went as well as I could have hoped and now I can stop wanting to vomit everywhere.”
That wasn’t as bad as the demons had it?
It felt like a particularly horrifying thought considering what it felt like she’d just gone through and she was forced to remember that any scale of pain Ben measured could only be put against how he himself judged it when he weighed risks and rewards but that didn’t matter in the end. Not only was she done, she’d gotten her very first skill transition and levels to go with it, telling her that even if she couldn’t yet be sure if it would help her reach the third tier, she’d be getting something for the experience.
I can already feel how it’s affected my senses, now I guess I just need to try out my magic.