CH903

“And another hundred done,” Ben muttered as more tiles of mana crystal were ensouled, making up the majority of his work for that day.

He’d started off by creating more rainbow mana crystal materializers, wanting to have more of the tools at the ready to keep up with his demand for all he’d needed to make. Not just wanting to create holders for souls designed to give faith to both Myriad and Helori, but himself as well. He was going to be a god one day after all, it would be better for him in the long run if he had some access to the power immediately rather than needing to win over believers and build up a church of his own.

With the result of that work being that one of his rings was nearly filled. With all of the power he held and his thought structure letting him improve his materializers, he wasn’t short in crystal in the end and connecting to the countless souls they held to teach them who to worship and how was even easier, taking only a fraction of his thoughts amidst the constant flow of creation that took place. 

Which means from here, it’s tiling Myriad’s churches, Helori’s church when I go out to help her, and then either storing mine away or building a church for myself early and then filling it up but… Yeah, I’ll just store mine for now.

With how much he’d made meaning the first two goals wouldn’t be hard. He already had enough for Helori and as for his own god, he’d at least be able to get one branch covered that day and could likely get the Stonewall branch done too so long as it didn’t get too late. He’d still need to work on the Allfaith location in the future but despite it being the biggest one by far, he was confident it wouldn’t be too much work.

And with the day just about over, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get started.

“Abel, you mind walking Delair home?” He asked her through one of his clones, doing his best to guide as she and Delair finished up on making a sword together, barely getting a glance for his request.

“Can’t she do it herself?”

“Sure, but I’m more comfortable knowing there’s someone I can trust going with her,” Ben said, instantly brightening the girl for the display of faith. “She’s my apprentice so she’s my responsibility but I know I can count on you to look out for her.”

“You got it!”

“Ooh, in that case, stay to play a bit,” Delair told her. “You can wait with me till Ben picks you up!”

“I don’t need anyone to pick me up.”

“That’s what he and Thera do for Mora.”

“But unlike you two, I’m a respectable adult,” She said smugly, Delair politely not commenting and instead looking back at Ben while he held in his laughter.

“Abel, if you want to stay with Delair for a bit then feel free. I won’t be home for a few hours but Thera and Mora should both be back in maybe one so just come over whenever you’re done.”

“I could beat you in some games while you’re here.”

“You aren’t beating me in anything, short stuff. Just try and I’ll happily show you why I’m the best!”

“Have fun now,” Ben said as he waved the two off, watching Abel completely lose to Delair’s teasing as they went and leaving him to wait at the shop while the believers slowly made their way over.

With the demidemons looking like they had a secret, the news of Ben’s ascension was as exciting as it could be for a group that barely had the proper context to understand it while both Sachel and Toltho joined his side.

“It seems congratulations are in order,” Toltho laughed. “Never would I have suspected such a thing to even be possible yet here you stand before me. Would it be proper form to offer you a prayer?”

“Please don’t, I’m not actually a god yet so I can’t use the faith. More importantly, you think you guys will be able to actually keep it a secret?”

He hadn’t asked Myriad to place a covenant on them about it like he had to hide their race, such a thing would definitely be going too far but he still didn’t want word going around town to cause more chaos in their lives, with the other doing his best to reassure him.

“We’re good with our secrets, I don’t believe we’ll slip up but to be safe, we’ve made sure to keep the details for the children slimmer so there’d be less for them to say.”

“But does it even matter?” Sachel asked him. “Enough people in town already think you might be a god.”

“Yeah, but for unrelated reasons. I just don’t want to deal with the fallout of having it confirmed, too many expectations for my taste.”

“I feel like you already have a lot of expectations placed on you.”

“Which is why I don’t want more. Now come on,” He addressed the rest of them. “Everyone, put on one of these amulets I’m handing out and don’t you dare take them off until we get back and let’s go.”

Making sure they’d all be able to resist the charm that flooded Anailia, he took them all through the gate to his warehouse and led them all from there, taking the few hundred with him through the streets and drawing eyes for the unusually large crowd of non-succubi as they made their way to their destination, ending up at that city’s church of Myriad where even more waited.

It was his first time properly making his way there and it seemed the queen hadn’t skimped on the production costs she’d provided despite just how few believers his god had had when it was first built. While not as grand as Anailia’s church or even the communal church in that land, it was large enough to fit nearly a thousand people thanks to a second row of seats in the ceiling, even if things were going to be tight.

He’d been expecting around four hundred there, a number that would have covered all of the demidemons, along with those who’d been compelled to join for the braces Myriad’s gift skill could help create and a few more on top, but the number was more than double as he counted heads, finding just over nine hundred.

And even if it looks like Cheele managed to convert a few more crabs and… Two vampires in the crowd too, who must have converted out of gratitude that they don’t have to starve anymore, there’s a lot more variety than I’d been expecting.

With some obviously missing too. There was no sign of Tenth, the friend he’d escaped the demon’s world with, nor was he seeing many others of the group he’d brought with him that he knew had converted but he had arranged that meeting on extremely short notice. It was obvious enough that people would be missing, either too far away or having other things going on that they couldn’t skip.

<Well, as much as I’m loath to admit it, you’ve done a rather good job with marketing.> His god told him. <My apostle, who saved lives with the free enchantments he gave out before the first wave and has been saving more ever since with every item he’s placed my name on. You’ve gotten me quite the following.>

Does this mean if I do end up murdering someone in the future, you’ll forgive me?

<I’m trying to have a moment here, don’t immediately ruin it.>

Ha, sorry. I’ll admit, seeing all of this feels good. I wasn’t expecting so many.

<It just means your work has been paying off. Considering how valuable some of your tools will continue to be even off in the distant future, I’m comfortable saying that so long as they exist, I’ll still have converts.>

Well then, I’ll have to do my best not to scare any of these ones off.

He heard his god groan in his head as he went to the front where Valaria waited, giving the priestess a friendly nod as she and Sachel took his sides, letting him address the crowd while doing his best to project an air of confidence to everyone there.

“Hello all, some of you know me and some I’m only now having the pleasure to see for the first time but I am Ben, the apostle of Myriad and the world’s newest third tier, the eldritch mind holder.”

Immediate applause from the watching crowd as many stared on in rapture, the news that they all lived in a time when their faith had birthed a new god something that few would ever get to enjoy and fewer still would get to see in person but there he was, the one who’d led the majority of them all to converting before them and looking divine in contrast to the problems the world around them faced as he went on.

“Without Myriad, I never could have gotten so far. I owe our shared god more than I’d ever be willing to say to his face but no matter how far any one of us gets, it’s important to remember that he loves us all. A fact that I think he consistently proves. How many other gods keep so in touch with their believers? He may be a deity but I think what really makes him great is the fact that he’s a friend as well.”

<Aw, Ben, you’re actually going to make me cry.>

“And as pleased as he was with my ascension,” Ben went on. “What really matters isn’t the power but what it means. For a god who loves his believers so dearly, my growth means my safety. Because that’s what power is in a world like this, safety from the harms that might come your way and while this may be a call for all of you to do your best to get whatever levels you can in the time you have for whatever benefits might come from it, it’s also something more than that. It’s a way for me to pay him back. He may have his own ways of making you all stronger, giving out his skills and blessings, but I have methods too and I’m going to make sure everyone here gets to benefit from it, so for now, sit back, close your eyes, and try to relax. So long as you’re willing to take the growth I can give, I’ll make sure you can all get the most from it you can.”

He moved away from the podium as he said it, walking to the center of the room and floating up just a little above the ground as he stretched out his soul, making sure he pulled every believer into his mind while he looked at the skills they held, giving them all the information they needed to grow them while at the same time getting them to train, putting their connect against different arrangements of his mind to train them and explaining to them all, one on one exactly why he was doing it. Any one of them could quit at any time but he was a third-tier. When he spoke to them about the value of effort and trying despite what a struggle it would be, they made sure to listen as that group training went on.

Not even the other core members were free from it, with Valaria happy to participate since she saw it as a chance to raise her already awakened skill even higher, getting plenty of levels to her mental expansion as a side benefit while it progressed, while Sachel dealt with it to see if anything would come. Her plant magic had absorbed connect after all, leaving her with a unique variant named deep plant magic and while she was leveling it unusually well already, there was no denying that practicing that one aspect of her skill could potentially help her get a few more.

Depending on how well it works, I could even try raising both Sachel and Valaria to contenders as well. He thought while his true self got to work, staying in the center of it all to make sure everyone stayed in his range by lifting rows of seated people into the air while he pulled out soul tiles from his ring to cover the floors before he’d move on to the walls and ceiling.

If I keep giving Valaria different arrangements of my mind at greater and greater complexities then she’ll definitely get there. It looks like it might already be possible to awaken her mental expansion too but we’ll make that a project for another day. Let’s see, looks like Sachel is in fact getting some benefits too so even if it’s going to take some time, it should be possible but… Well, if it’s something they want then it’s something I can slowly help the two chip away at and I guess I’ll see how the rest of them are going to feel about it too.

People would start quitting after they’d gained a level or two, they always would in the end but he couldn’t help but hope that he’d find a few more who’d be willing to stick with it till they got to the ninth. He’d meant what he’d said, more power meant more safety and there wasn’t much more power to be had than to be left on the edge of awakening. When it would come time to start modifying souls too, anyone who he could push beyond the threshold would be there to claim the biggest benefits.

Welp, let’s just see how this goes first.