CH885

With the sounds of work filling the space, both his clones and Delair doing their various tasks, the real Ben sat and watched as Foast spent

With the sounds of work filling the space, both his clones and Delair doing their various tasks, the real Ben sat and watched as Foast spent his magic, casting and filling the room with his power as balls of water flew around while the man rubbed his head, not in the exhaustion he was still feeling but for the migraine that was forming in it as more and more information was forced inside of him, only being free of that particular skill as he got his level.

“Ugh, done,” The shifter sighed, not even having the energy to give Ben a dirty look for all he was being put through. “Your skill is horrific.”

“Excuse you, my skill is useful. Do you think it gets better for anyone than just having raw information inserted into your head of such quality that you can instantly level with only a bit of practice? Look at how many you’ve already gotten and even if I haven’t been a third tier long enough to confirm it, I’m willing to bet that this is going to drop your leveling difficulty for all of those skills in general too.”

“Mmh, how long has it been since you reached the tier anyway?”

“A few days. Anyway, on to the next. You’re improving your fire magic now so be careful, once that’s done, your magics are covered and we’ll move back to leveling some of your more physical skills.”

Given the long list the shifter held, he was the perfect experimental material to test to see if there were any limits to Ben’s new and improved way of teaching, finding few. There were a handful of skills that he didn’t seem to be able to help Foast level despite the knowledge he held but they were uncommon and the fact that he didn’t share Ben’s personal weakness meant that the options the other held were broad.

The man before him held a soul more reminiscent of Myriad’s than anyone else’s he’d seen in the world due to the nature of its skill but because of that, redundancy unseen in any normal one abounded. No matter how different they could be, every soul had similar parts and Foast had access to them all, with one section more relevant than the rest.

Affinities. The one thing Ben lacked in entirely and static for everyone else, Foast alone in the world had the chance to improve. Everything he killed became a part of his own and if a creature had higher values of one then he’d originally held, those new ones would in essence take over, not replacing what his original soul was built upon but providing a new option to pull from, leaving Ben to shake his head.

Between this and that immortal asshole, it’s pretty clear that not all third-tier skills are created equal.

It meant that every affinity of magic and any affinitied skills were open to the shifter, if there was anything he’d lacked in then he only needed to kill a creature with an innate magic of the type he wanted to both get its power and the ability to use it but because of how easily he could grow it seemed he hadn’t invested too much time in training in any skill he didn’t particularly care about. While he had plenty to choose from, he lacked the knowledge and experience to best utilize significant swaths of his options, something Ben had decided to change.

Just a shame he didn’t train his magics at least a little bit after he acquired them. Six levels of water and air after my help and seventh of earth, if he was only a bit higher then I could have awakened him for all three.

Still, there were months to go before the next wave and as one of the more important fighters, there was no doubt he’d continue to be sent off, slaughtering demons and turning their skills into his own. So long as he added a bit of practice into the mix too, Ben was sure the man could reach the eighth for those three for all of the benefits that he could add for getting to that level.

Which is great but-

He watched as the flames around Foast sputtered out once the level rang out in the other’s head, the shifter yawning and briefly closing his eyes before Ben could give him a new skill to work on, with every moment of peace feeling precious.

But maybe I should try to talk to him about this.

“You okay?” He asked, not forcing him to learn anything more, at least in that moment, while the other just waved his hand.

“Ah, don’t mind me, just tired. Haven’t been sleeping well.”

“How long haven’t you been sleeping well?”

It was a question that left Foast to crack open an eye. “The gods mentioned something about that to you too, did they?”

“Would they need to? It seems easy enough to notice.”

“It’s fine.”

“Endless fighting’s wearing on you,” Ben told him, knowing the answer even if he tried to phrase it as a question. “Nightmares?”

“Watch it, boy. I appreciate the help but I’m not going to sit here and listen to this.”

“Why not? I get them too. Constantly.”

“Pfff, you’re not a fighter, what do you have to traumatize you so badly?”

“Unless you weren’t paying attention in the meeting where Yuzu outed me, I’m one of the summoned, what do you think would give me nightmares? As far as my family’s concerned, I’m dead, I’ve been dragged to this stupid doomed planet and dealt with all sorts of bullshit on the way. I’ve killed people and people have tried to kill me too. Hell, I’m willing to bet you’ve heard Greed’s song about his time in the dead god’s trial, I was the guy stuck with him.”

“That was you?”

“Unfortunately. My point is, I get it and even if I can’t help, it wouldn’t hurt to find someone who can.”

“...So how do you deal with it?” Foast asked him, calming down a bit while Ben gave out a small laugh.

“Probably in the least healthy way I can. I don’t actually sleep anymore, since I’m an apostle I just spend every night up with my god instead but you, you’re important. I’m sure you could get all of the best help in the world if you wanted to and I’m sure the gods could help you arrange it.”

“...No, no I can’t,” He sighed. “I’m aware I have a reputation, I’m not shy in my love of women and the fact that I enjoy being able to create entirely new beastform lineages thanks to the nature of my soul is something that’s looked on with complicated feelings by many, even those outside of my race but I’m also a third tier, a god. One of only a handful living on the planet and as one of the fighters, that makes me something more in this doomed war we’re stuck in. You might be too young or too new to your own awakening to properly understand this but I’m a symbol, Ben. I am someone who fights and fights and no matter what other feelings people might hold, they look up to that. If word were to get out that all of this fighting and death was weighing on me to such an extreme… There’s enough things dragging people down, we don’t need one more.”

“Then talk to me.”

“You?”

“Sure, I’m a third tier now, same as you and I even just told you about some of my own issues. I won’t be able to say anything to help but maybe just getting it off your chest will make things better, at least a little bit. Better than keeping it all inside.”

At first, he didn’t think the other would say anything as he stood there but after a moment and without a word he walked off to grab a seat, bringing it back and lowering himself as he got his thoughts in order, only waiting for Ben to do the same before he spoke.

“Every night, I dream of demons and invaders,” He said. “Both from my perspective and theirs, seeing them kill and seeing me kill them and dying by my own hands and… I’ve heard the sorrow is something that becomes easier to deal with with time but I haven’t found that to be true of myself. Monsters though they are, I feel a price for each one I kill, Ben. Even as they destroy the world around them, even when I walk into ravaged towns and see them eating what remaining corpses they hold, I don’t believe it’s going to get better. I… Mmh, I don’t like thinking like this but with all of that and all of the things I’ve seen while trying to fill my role in protecting this world, I no longer have the hope I once did before all of this started. I don’t believe we have a chance.”

Ben was going to try to respond, to say something that, even if it wouldn’t make things better, might at least give just a bit of encouragement, but the shifter held up a hand before he could.

“Don’t,” He said. “Thank you for giving me the chance to unload my feelings a bit and give voice to some of my doubts but there’s nothing that can be said to fix them. So long as you can keep my feelings here to yourself, that’s more than I could ask.”

“Alright, I can do that.”

“Thank you. Now, regardless of how I feel, there's no denying that this brutal way of teaching you have is helping me improve tremendously and I’d be a fool not to accept a resource like this as it sits before me so let’s continue. I’ll keep my complaints to a minimum.”

“Alright them, since you already seem to have a headache from it we’ll take it slow but for as long as you’re here, I’ll make sure you learn all you can.”