The next couple months were busy. Ben's lessons were mostly split between blacksmithing and alchemy, with a bit of enchantment added here and there, while his free time was divided between reading from Falk's books, practicing some of the hobbies he already had like drawing and sculpting, as well as occasionally hunting and dismantling some beasts in a nearby woods to use for his training or to sell to Falk for the materials.

As he was working at his forge, finishing up a staff enhanced with blood elk bone, a notification sprang up.

<CRAFTING LEVEL INCREASED>

His mind was suddenly clearer and his thoughts felt sharper, he looked at the staff he had just finished and could suddenly tell where he had gone wrong and how it could be improved upon, but that didn’t matter right now. It was his first level up since he was at the church and he couldn’t contain his excitement.

He ran out to tell the only acquaintance he had in the town about his good news.

“Hey Falk! Guess wha-” He stopped short when he saw his teacher was busy interacting with one of the regulars. “Sorry I’ll come back in a bit.”

“Hold up Brat I was just going to grab you. You’ve seen Thera before, havencha?”

Ben looked at the customer. It was hard to make out any details about them, they were a little shorter than himself and wearing a hooded robe and gave off a bit of an unapproachable vibe but they were definitely a frequent shopper here. The only distinguishing feature he could really see was a paper white hand grasping a new staff, which they would come in almost weekly to get. “We’ve never been properly introduced before, but I know they’re your favourite customer. Nice to meet you, I’m Ben.” Ben had never paid them much mind beyond wondering how they afforded to replace their equipment so much. He offered them his hand but not even giving it a second look they turned away from him and back to Falk.

“What's this about uncle?”

Uncle? His favourite customer is his niece and he didn’t tell his wonderful student about this? What a no-good teacher.

<It’s not like you’ve made any effort to learn much about him outside what he has to teach you.>

No being right right now Myriad I’m being upset she ignored my super friendly greeting.

“What this is about is that I’ve gotten a job I can’t turn down so I won’t be able to make you any staves for a while. For the next couple months I’ll be leaving it to my apprentice.”

“What? Okay sure, I guess making a staff a week won’t hurt.”

“The staves I make can last a week.” He stressed. “You’ll be making one or two a day.”

“Jesus Christ! What do you do with them?” He asked Thera. He had made a few staves already and was told they should be fine to sell, how could they only last a day?

“That's not my name, and I’m an adventurer, equipment breaks.” she said with an air of dismissal.

“Thera has more mana and less control than a staff can handle, they shatter after a week.”

“Uncle! He doesn’t need to know that.”

“He will if he’s going to be adventuring with you.”

“What!” Both Ben and Thera yelled in tandem.

“Falk, I'm not an adventurer, I'm a craftsman. If I’m trying to make her a good quality staff a day when am I going to have time to practice other things if I also have to adventure with her?”

“And why should I have to work with someone who even you think is a pain in the ass uncle?”

“Wait what? What terrible things are you saying about your wonderful apprentice behind my back?”

“Well first off I’m usually saying it right in front of you, you're just too absorbed in your work to notice. As for why you should do it Ben, I won’t be charging you for any supplies you take to make her staves. She gets them for free but I’ll still give you the regular pay you would be getting for her work so it’s a good deal for you. As for you young lady, I know you haven’t been partying with anyone recently and you know that isn’t part of the deal. Party with my apprentice and I won’t be telling your parents.”

“...Fine.” She unhappily agreed.

“Not fine. Falk I’m all well and good for making the staves but like I said I’m no adventurer, you know I don’t have a single useful skill. Why should I put myself at risk?”

“Boy don’t act like I don’t know that you hunt something once or twice a week, I’m the bastard you’ve been selling your catches to.”

“Sure trapping things is fine but hunting with a proper adventurer is completely different. I won't be able to keep up.”

<Are you sure? I don’t think you would be too bad.> Myriad asked

If this girl has so much raw power that she keeps blowing up staves then yeah I should be fine. I just want to see how much more I can get from my dear teacher.

Falk for his part seemed to have caught on quick to what Ben was doing. “Alright what do you want Brat?”

No point beating around the bush then. “Two things. Use of the workshop when you’re done for the day so I can stay late and practice, as well as the rights to use whatever scraps are left from making her staves.”

“The workshop I can do, but how do I know you aren’t going to use a small piece of something and take the rest of it as scrap?”

“Alright let's define it then. Any leftovers the size of my fist or smaller are mine for the taking, and I won’t use materials specifically to get the leftovers. Sounds good?”

“I’ll agree if it’s items we have in steady supply, I can’t very well be giving away any of the rarer materials willy nilly.”

“Deal.”

“Alright I can’t imagine what you're going to use some small scraps for, but don’t make too much of a mess with them. And since I’m leaving her safety in your hands make sure you improve your skills.”

“That's what I originally came in here to tell you actually! My crafting leveled up!” Now that he thought about it, he leveled up while making a staff, and he’d been made to make quite a lot recently. Falk must have been planning this for a while.

“While on the topic.” His new partner interrupted. “What skills do you have? Anything that will be useful while hunting?”

“Nothing too flashy, just got low levels in crafting, enchanting, focus, stealth, and dismantling.”

“...You really don’t have much at all. Uncle how exactly am I supposed to party with him?”

“He’s clever, you’ll be fine. Why not let him know your skills and you can meet here tomorrow to start taking a few quests.”

She turned back to Ben and although he couldn’t grasp any expressions because of her cloaked figure he got the distinct feeling she was unhappy. “All you need to know is I have earth magic, nothing else is relevant. I’ll be here an hour after sunrise. Don't be late.”

With all said and done she quickly left the shop, not having anything left to discuss.

Ben turned to Falk, looking at him expectantly.

“What?”

“You never told me your favourite customer was your niece. Or that you had a niece in town for that matter.”

“Well first that's because it's none of your business, but she calls me that because I’m a long-time family friend. Me and her parents go way back.”

“Okay then, and will you still be around or is this job going to be taking you away? I’m hoping you’ll still be able to give my work a look over, even if you don’t have time to instruct me.”

“I’ll be around most of the time, may have to disappear for a few weeks towards the end of the project but you should be pretty competent in your skills by then. For now show me what you’ve made.”

At his instruction Ben ran back to his forge to grab the staff he had just finished and brought it back to Falk for an evaluation.

He looked it over for a minute before giving his opinion. “Turned out pretty well. It's upper common.”

Ben threw his hands in the air and gave a cheer. Ever since he had learned how to incorporate alchemy into his blacksmithing his works had gone from being consistently lower common with the occasional middle if he was extra lucky to getting mostly middle common with the occasion upper, and every upper was worth celebrating since it meant they could sell for a higher price.

“Don’t be too happy brat. There are a lot of areas you could still improve on, and the jump from upper common to lower uncommon is still a big one.”

“Yeah I know, but I can already see how I can improve the next time. I didn’t mix in the bone paste thoroughly enough for one, so there's probably some inconsistency in the rod, and I shouldn't have heated it as much either when I was forging it. That must have damaged the structure of the material in some small ways.”

“Well it's at least good that your eyes have improved some with your level at least, now go home and sleep, this should be good enough for her to use tomorrow.”

With a wag of his finger Ben told him off. “Nope, I’ll be here for a bit later.”

“And what exactly do you mean by that?”

“Did you already forget? I get use of the workshop when we close for the day.”

“You meant immediately?”

“No time like the present. Besides, I want to see how having level two in crafting changes things”

Falk let out a long sigh and walked to the counter before coming back, throwing a key at Ben. “Here, don’t lose it and lock up when you’re done.”

With that Falk walked off and Ben went to the storage room, looking at everything there that he previously couldn’t touch.

“Oh yeah, this is going to be fun.”