<ACQUIRED SKILL ABSORPTION RESISTANCE LEVEL 0>

What does that even mean? Ben thought groggily as he came to consciousness.

<If I had to bet, I’d say your body’s begun adapting to your cursed ring.>

Absorption resistance huh, yeah I guess that tracks since I’m having my mana and vitality drained each night. But wait, that means… Damn it, I need to remake my ring!

He was getting such good results from wearing it that even if it made getting to sleep a little hard sometimes he wouldn’t give it up, despite the fact that he probably needed to remake it soon anyway since both of his regeneration rates had increased. It was a shame though, he thought he could have put it off a bit longer but it looked like that was no longer an option. 

“Huh, I don’t have any magic materials with me, maybe I could talk Abrus into making some moribusial for it at least. Let’s see, since he can’t make deathstone I could probably just tie the drain spell to the ring, it’s not like the mana being pulled from me is being used for anything anyway.”

He muttered to himself as he got up, trying to figure out exactly how to alter it to account for the changes in his status. Since Thera seemed to have left already he went to find the great spirit, only to run into Pelenia instead.

“Oh hey, is Abrus around?”

“What, not dad?” She asked with a smile as he shrugged in return.

“Thera doesn’t seem to like that too much so I figured I’d hold off a little until things calmed down.”

“Well, we sorted things out with Lux so that shouldn’t be a worry anymore. As for my husband, he’ll be gone for a day or two as he has words with the other spirits. In the meantime, come along with me, I have a few people waiting for you.”

He did as she asked and followed her to a waiting room housing four individuals, two incubi, a fishman dressed in what seemed like a reverse wetsuit to let him walk on land, and one that Ben couldn’t be certain of their race, only being able to see that they resembled a bear with unusually human-like hands.

The queen pointed them out one by one, listing skills as they did. “Armor enhancement level six, shield enhancement level six, defense enhancement level five, and finally dark resistance enhancement level one.”

“Dark resistance enhancement?” He asked as he looked to the bear person with curiosity. It was a skill he’d never heard of before, but couldn’t help but feel potential in as soon as the queen announced it.

“Since I got your request I did some looking into any skills with potential as well and came up with this, a skill that amplifies the effects of a person's fixed resistance. Of course, this was the highest level I could find it at since resistance enhancements are an extremely rare class of skills, and who’s to say if it will even do anything, but it couldn’t hurt.”

“No, this is fantastic, thank you!”

“Ha, how could I do anything less when you’re trying so hard for my daughter. I’ve got the books you’d requested as well so feel free to give them a look through when you’re done. I had left them in the room you’re supposed to be using but if you want them moved to Thera’s…”

“My own room will be fine, thanks.”

“A boring answer but alright. Here I was thinking things had gotten a little interesting since you stayed with her last night,” Pelenia complained, sounding disappointed. “Anyway, the various officials who are looking to get resistance amulets made will be arriving tomorrow in the morning and I’ve arranged the afternoon for you to focus on crafting armor and weapons for them, so feel free to use the rest of today however you wish when you’re done here.”

“Sounds good, do you think you could have a day cleared in a week or so for me to meet up with Myriad’s believers in the nation as well?”

“That should be no problem, I’m sure it would be useful to get them to talk to you about any further discoveries you’ve made for the bands as well.”

“Awesome thanks.”

With all of that out of the way he got to work, going from one person to the next and copying their skills onto rings to use later. Since he could only enchant with other enchantments that were a level below his skill level, he wouldn’t be able to make full use of his new level six rings until he managed to raise his enchanting again, but for the time being it was a significant boost compared to what he currently had.

He was also intensely curious about just how much improvement he would get out of dark resistance enhancement but knew it would have to wait until later into the night to remake Thera’s enchantment to view its effects.

Once that was done he asked one of the staff if they could tell him where to find Karly. He figured it would be good to make some time to greet the only other human in the nation, but sadly it seemed that both she and her teacher Funa had gone out to travel again, visiting some of the distant friends she had in the world.

With that plan over before it began he went to the room he had used during his first time in the nation, taking a look at the few books on skills the queen had gotten him before leaving her home and making his way to his favourite place, the craftsman's guild.

It had felt so long since he’d been there last and he immediately wanted to go through the available archive, searching for anything that seemed like it could be interesting as he did, but he restrained himself, knowing he needed to talk to one of the staff members at the counter instead.

After exchanging pleasantries, Ben cut to the heart of the matter for him. “I don’t suppose I’m able to buy copies of the books you have here, am I?”

“In general, yes that’s possible. For some of the more popular books, we have copies on hand that can be purchased immediately, but for others we may need up to a week to have copies made. If you let me know which one’s you’re looking to get I can find out if we have them on hand and give you a price.”

“Awesome, I’ll need to figure out which one’s I’m looking to get but I’ll be back.”

He still had the list he’d made from his first time in the nation, when he’d only planned on reading them a bit more deeply, but with how much wealth he’d managed to accumulate there was no reason he couldn’t take them home with him. The only thing was going through the shelves again now that his skills and knowledge had increased so much, making sure there was nothing he’d either overvalued or missed the first time.

It took a few long hours of flipping through books, stopping occasionally if anything caught his eye, but he was finally able to return to the counter, list in hand.

The friendly smile of the staff member briefly slipped, but they brought it back as they asked for confirmation. “Just to be sure, you’re looking for copies of almost two hundred books?”

“I am.”

“Alright, I apologize but the length of time it will take will have to be extended past what I’d initially said. We’ll need about two weeks for a purchase of this size as well as the pay up front,” They brought up the amount owed and Ben happily transferred the funds, looking forward to being able to have more resources to flip through while back home, the number of which would only grow as he asked a final question.

“I don’t suppose you could point me towards any places that I might be able to buy some books on both magic and other skills as well? Maybe jobs too.”

“All of that should be available at the mages guild. It’s just down the street on the right, you shouldn’t miss it.”

“Wonderful, thanks.”

With that, his next destination was determined.