“Not in front of my eyes, please,” Thera asked the spirits around her, the density of them becoming a distraction as she did her best to use her newfound free time, taking hunting quests in the untamed lands.

Since Ben had a gate that connected directly to a well-used guild, it made the most sense and allowed her to find the sort of work that a place like Stonewall wouldn’t offer. While her home was concerned with granting quests taking place in the immediate area, anywhere on the gate network could have anything, including information on demon herds in need of clearing out, giving her a useful task she could do on any of the many days she now didn’t need to bother with hospital work, with her services being immediately desirable.

Usually, if something was deep enough out then unless there was a space mage to help, the chances of finishing on the same day were typically nonexistent. Anything close enough to the gate to be killed the same day would typically be found and dealt with, unless of course a swarm had caught them by surprise, but even if she herself couldn’t teleport, she was less limited by distance than others.

She could fly under her own power which meant she could move as fast as she could think and with the aid of Ben’s circlets, that could be very fast indeed, to the point that she’d begun to need to keep a barrier up around her to prevent the feeling of the air and any bugs that might have been in it from turning the journey into a nightmare. With the strength of her mana and her magic, it felt like the entire world was in her reach and made sure that, no matter where she was asked to go, she’d always be home by dinner.

Not that hunts were always successful, but that was to be expected. A swarm would move after all, and the demons’ hungry and destructive nature tended to mean that by the time a report made its way back to the guild, as often as not they were long gone, sometimes able to be tracked and sometimes not.

But it looks like this is going to be one of those easier times, Thera told herself. At least in the sense that I’m not going to be spending hours searching for them.

While she had found the group only a little ways off from where she’d been told to expect it, it seemed that the initial reports had severely underestimated the size of them. What had been reported as only one hundred was at least double that, the invading monsters having cleared a section of land of any life, no animals or plants to be seen, leaving only dirt in their base as they fought amongst themselves in what seemed to be their downtime.

So potentially not the most driven group, she thought as she observed them, hearing one loudly swear out in worldspeak as its arm was ripped off by another in a way that still left her uncomfortable. She knew they were technically people, the system qualified them as such and they were undeniably sapient, but hearing them use language still felt fundamentally wrong, even if a few words being tossed out by them was a common enough occurrence by that point, with only a spirit by her ear breaking her from her thoughts.

“Princess, shall we assist?”

“No. At least not yet,

” Thera said back with her mana, lest any of those monsters on the ground below overheard her. She was still wrapped in her barrier so there was no chance of any smells leaking out, and while there was always the risk of being spotted, she was high enough up that it wouldn’t be an immediate worry. No need to risk giving herself away with a careless word. “If I end up needing help, I’ll ask you all when the time comes.”

After all, she had plenty of options to choose from for how to dispatch them, even when there were so many, and she started with one that matched her goals. She took her life magic and twisted it into death.

Two magics with the same endpoint, she was officially at what could be called the final stage of life magic, anything further venturing into the territory of souls and, since both Ben and the gods seemed to want her to achieve such a thing, she still needed to practice it.

Practice she’d done to death for the more traditional spells. She couldn’t think of many injuries she hadn’t healed, and she’d treated plenty of illnesses by that point as well, leaving only to focus on a more underutilized aspect of her training as she reversed it, using the death spells shoved into her brain and applied life mana to them, casting them down below and watched as most of the demons perished before they could understand that anything was wrong. Her power was simply too great, and in a surprise attack like that, it was hard to defy.

She could see the handful of survivors looking around, trying to understand what had happened, but only one looked up before the rest met their end. What death spells couldn’t accomplish, earth could, and she got to stare down from above as the ground swallowed them up, crushing them into paste and leaving no question of their defeat as notifications echoed in her head.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

SPIRITUAL MANA ENHANCEMENT LEVEL INCREASED

EARTH INCLINATION LEVEL INCREASED

INTELLIGENCE ENHANCEMENT LEVEL INCREASED

MANA EMPOWERING LEVEL INCREASED

A good result, both of her effort and the benefits she had. She still didn’t know how much Ben’s authority bracelet was doing, but despite the names of them, she was finding herself more and more happy to take it, but there was one other too, flying around her at all times. The soul spirits, hidden among all of the others.

When she’d asked them to support the healers they saw, both to ease Mora’s mind and to help the planet as a whole, it had left her admitting to herself that it would be for the best if she took any help she could get from them as well. She didn’t know if Mora had been using his magic on her and she wouldn’t have asked him to, but the soul spirits? It felt far more harmless of a favour.

Not that I know if even that will ever be enough to actually get there, she groaned to herself. Ugh, Ben makes awakening look so easy.

At the very least, using life magic as death while hunting across the world meant it was almost certainly allowing the skill to get the effects of one, if not both, of the authorities placed on her and with Ben making sure to keep them updated, she was getting the best effects she could. Short of having another soul mage by her side to help train her, it was the best anyone could get, leaving everything else up to her, along with the ever-present question of if reaching the third tier in the months they had left was even possible.

Walking back to report on the quest and head home for the day, Thera stopped just for a moment to sit down, wanting to rest. While using magic didn’t drain her and she hadn’t done much in the way that could be called exercise, using a circlet to speed up her thoughts was always going to be a pain. One she very much doubted she’d completely get used to and left her wanting to rest her eyes in real time at the closest bench she could find, feeling herself relax for just a moment before opening them again somewhere else, her goddess sitting before her.

“Anailia!” she said, louder than intended out of surprise as she moved to a hasty bow, the goddess before her giving a simple chuckle at the reaction.

“Child, it’s lovely to see you. How have you been since we last spoke?”

“I’ve been… mostly well. Anailia, it’s wonderful to see you again as well.”

“Oh, and why just mostly?” her goddess asked with a knowing smile, having watched enough of Thera’s life and heard of plenty more to give a good enough idea, even Thera herself tried to keep it simple.

“Just stress, I suppose.”

An answer that earned her a chuckle, the goddess unable to hide her amusement. “For whatever part of that comes from your lover’s talent in making other, more foolish gods view him as a nuisance, I’ll tell you not to worry too much. The young apostle has my favour. I won’t allow any other gods to harm him, no matter how he chooses to grow. He’s done too much for the world by this point to have to put up with that.”

“Thank you,” Thera said, hearing those words from the one she gave her faith lending more than its share of relief for a topic she’d been doing her best to deal with. Even if things seemed fine, she knew all too well that Ben didn’t view gods as a force above him and, as a result, was seen in a worse light for that fact by many, even before his many questionable skills were considered. “In that case, I really am fine. I’m doing my best to live up to the expectations on me, and I’m trying to make you proud.”

“Sweet girl, I’m always proud, and when it comes to expectations, try not to worry too much. I know there’s been talks of the hope that you’d reach the third tier in the past, but there’s plenty we hold those hopes for. If you can’t do it in the time left then there’s no shame.”

“But I still need to try,” Thera sighed. “I wonder how much easier it might be if I were part life spirit instead. My life affinity is pretty low and has to be coming entirely from my mom’s side, if its value were over a hundred instead then maybe I’d already be there.”

“Perhaps,” Anailia admitted. “But then, there’s no reason to dwell on such thoughts. You are you, perfect as you are, and who knows? If you do cross that final threshold yourself then you can start working on seeing how much easier getting your earth magic to the same level might be.”

“Ha, I think having one unrealistic goal is enough for now. But is there a reason for the visit? Is there something I can do for you?”

“I suppose you could think of it that way, yes. Thera, are you aware that of all of my children, none currently have an awakened charm?”

“Um, no, I wasn’t.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that fact, I’m well aware that on this world it’s viewed as a curse for how it’s limited everyone's options for dealing with the wider planet, but it does have its uses, even if others have some complicated feelings on it. Uses I’d like to teach you.”

“I’m sorry, what do you mean?”

“Just because it’s become a part of your dark magic doesn’t mean it no longer exists. You have your control and you’re awakened for it, so, Thera, let me teach you how to use that innate power.”