probablyaturnip

CH936

Added 2025-09-12 14:42:12 +0000 UTC

In the few days since finishing helping the third tiers, Ben allowed his regular goals to change somewhat in the face of what was to come, his mass soul modification event only two days away from then with the attributes he had going to determine how much he’d be able to help anyone else the world over grown once he modified their souls.

With the gods playing their paltry role, Phixth got him his meager payment for what he’d done in saving both Foast and potentially the planet as his mana recovery rate was increased by two hundred points, even if that didn’t feel like enough. Every point he could squeeze out of himself would ultimately help everyone else, leading him to see just what more he could gain for himself as he went.

Training mana was easy, he just needed to make souls for his teacher’s job without relying on his coat, and vitality was just as much so for his deathstone band. Intelligence grew by itself by that point and was the one attribute he held that he could honestly say that the average person wouldn’t need as much as he could give, leaving only the more physical ones to remain.

With weights attached to his limbs, he used some of his mana to push against them to increase their resistance on his muscles given the sheer amount of power his body now held and even resorted to using the treadmill he’d made to train Jake’s stamina too, hating every second of it as he felt himself sweat, even if it was paying off for him in the end with his points slowly ticking up under the benefit of his effort and all of the growth factors he held.

And all of that’s training my stamina too, but oh my god, I can’t wait to get this stupid crap done.

None of it felt like great uses of his time, but he’d only been doing it for a few days and he would be doing it for only a little longer still, no matter how it made him feel. Once he was modifying souls, he wouldn’t need to put up with any sort of activity like that again and could go back to focus entirely on training his skills, even if there was still some dissatisfaction on that front as well.

He still had yet to get his third level of sacrilege and beyond that, felt no closer to awakening anything else. No matter what he did to the god strapped to his arm, it wasn’t pushing him past any of his mortal limits even with millennia passing in his head, all telling him that he was reaching a point that he already knew he was going to hit. He needed a change.

So I’ll politely borrow and or kidnap Yuzu later to give me a hand, but until then…

He glanced at Delair, hard at work by his side of one of his clones and Mora with her, his student having convinced the young boy to join her for some lessons from time to time for the company he offered and let them work together, even if one of them was clearly getting more out of it. He didn’t get the impression that Mora had shared the little ways he was helping her but the friendship of a soul spirit was no insignificant thing and, combined with Ben’s lessons, was almost certainly what led her to getting levels to both material user and destruction once more despite the recentness of her last ones and left a new job notification going off in her head.

Well, good enough time for a small break as any, he told himself as he stopped the treadmill and walked over, trying to look cheerful and positive and not at all as exhausted as the exercise had made him feel.

“Good work there, Kiddo. Looks like it’s time for your next job.”

With how quickly she was starting to finish her own, instead of tossing her his crystal he quickly materialized her one of her own, making a necklace, with the clasp holding the gem possessing a tree motif, that filled her mind with options as soon as she took it, lighting up her face for how many there were now that her current job was done and her path jobs were unlocked.

Meaning as well that everything she had now was fairly specialized, the path jobs meant to gain experience from specific aspects of the crafting skill and her current mage jobs, being plant, material, and destruction, all being aimed at those particular magics.

Really, her broadest job was only barely more so than the rest, with enchanter giving some level of experience to all skills, even if what anything other than enchanting would receive was going to be insignificant.

“So then,” he asked her. “What’s it going to be this time?”

He watched her brow crinkle in thought, trying to decide that very same question for herself before making her choice and getting the expected notification for it.

“I want to take enchanter.”

The statement bringing the expected notifications, Delair was nearly jumping for joy with what came with them. Enchanting knowledge at its ninth level.

A skill Ben had once held himself before it had been merged into his general knowledge skill, the fact that she’d gained such a thing wasn’t exactly unexpected given the way he would use his own powers to make her learn unnatural volumes of information but the fact that she’d gained the skill just short of awakening was certainly a sign that he might have overdone his teaching by just a tad, with all of that information now strengthened by her skill as well as his own.

So not exactly a huge change unless she were to awaken it, but considering awakening skills like that means applying knowledge, I can confidently say she’s not close enough to that point yet. Still, it should make some decent bragging for her if it ever comes up and if she ends up getting any more knowledge skills in the future, then we could look at the prospect of trying to get her to awaken to a general knowledge skill like me. Alright, something to keep an eye on as she progresses.

Still, even if it wasn’t something that was going to change her much beyond how his teachings already had, it was something she clearly expected to be grand enough to be celebrated and he didn’t want to disappoint, driving him to lift her up and spin around in good cheer.

“Fantastic work, Delair! Your efforts really are paying off, huh?”

“Ah, I’m doing my best.”

“And succeeded. This should help you level your enchanting faster in the future too, given the way knowledge works, so this is great. We'll have a few more ninth-leveled skills in you before you know it.”

A statement that left her almost bashful as Ben put her back down, leaving Mora’s eyes on her in curiosity while he spoke.

“Jobs seem interesting.”

“They’re pretty handy,” Ben laughed, all of the ones on himself able to draw Mora’s eye as well. “You curious about them?”

“It doesn’t matter, I can’t get anything from them that a mortal can.”

“Mmh, that’s probably true, but that’s no reason not to try taking one anyway if you want. Why not give it a try?”

He knew that the boy was correct, spirits weren’t growing creatures so the act itself might have been meaningless, but that didn’t have to be entirely related. Despite Ben’s own fairly growth obsessed nature, it didn’t need to be the reason behind taking a job and, offering a new crystal to the boy, he watched as Mora hesitantly took it.

“Well?” Delair asked, looking interested as well while Mora tilted his head, more in curiosity at how he was interacting with the system itself rather than the options it held for him.

“I can choose between great soul spirit or beginner puppeteer.”

“No kidding?” Ben grinned. “I’ve got one of those options too. Probably can’t guess which one though.”

He knew not all jobs were related to the skills one held and could instead have a variety of variables, with his slayer job coming from the titles he held and both judge and trap user having come from his actions but even then he hadn’t been expecting the boy to have more than just the first, if only because of how young he was.

But I guess he’s doing the exact thing that got me that job option. Neat, makes me wonder what some of the other great spirits could potentially choose from if only they cared enough about it to take them. Also makes me wonder if we could get Mora any jobs related to art, or smithing, or cooking if we just practice them enough.

Really, it brought endless curiosity to his head that he ultimately had little to do with. While he couldn’t help but wonder if there might be slightly more potential hidden away in the spirits than could immediately be seen, if there was, then that was something to look into further in the future. Instead, he gave the boy his attention, watching as he made his choice.

“I guess I’ll go for great soul spirit then.”

Mora’s attention shifted even if nothing else came of it. The boy still seemed largely satisfied for at least trying it, leaving Ben to ruffle his hair.

“You’re gonna have a long life ahead of you, kiddo, even if it’s not going to grant you skills or levels, it’s okay to just look at working through different jobs as something to do. Nothing wrong with just passing the time.”

“The way it’s interacting with my soul is interesting at least. It’s something I can explore a bit.”

“Well, in that case, as this world’s foremost researcher in souls, let me know if you ever find anything interesting about it, alright buddy?”

“Alright, I will.”