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The realm went quiet as soon as she’d said it, all of them taking it in and working through the implications of just what that meant, with Ben being the one to break it.

“Woo!” He yelled out, shattering the atmosphere between the two gods. “Oh, hell yeah, look at me go!”

“Ben, please,” Myriad sighed, already imagining how the other gods of the world would react when the news spread. “When word gets out about this it’s going to be a brand new complicated thing to deal with.”

“Excuse you, defying the natural order is absolutely something to get excited about!”

“Defying or defiling?” The cube muttered while Ben instead turned his focus to the goddess in his midst.

“Let’s go with deifying and Helori, ignore him, he’s being a real hater about my very cool achievement. Now, what does this mean for me?”

“It means a whole new boost to your attributes and likely one to skills that align with the trickle of divinity now held in your blood and soul,” She told him, not removing her hands. “But trickle is certainly the right word here. It’s less than what I’d expect from a proper demigod, closer to Nare’s granddaughter, although she by all accounts was born with a surprising amount considering she’s second generation.”

“And it will give me help getting to the third tier, right?”

“That depends, are you looking at getting to the third tier for any of your skills that fall under Quox’s categories?”

“Growth or gain? I mean, not exactly but if I get the chance I’m not going to say no to anything like that reaching the third tier.”

“But nothing you currently care about qualifies.”

“Okay, a slight damper on the news but I’m still going to take any attribute bonuses I can get! Plus, other good news! This means we can mass-produce demigods!”

Myriad crashed to the ground as he said it but Ben was already imagining. There was no reason that the process couldn’t be repeated again and again for all of the stronger fighters of the world or even just anyone who wanted it, permanently altering the landscape for god and mortal alike and leaving the cube to look at Helori for any hope it might be a one-time thing, only for her to shake her head.

“It’s repeatable, it just might be a bit more unpleasant for anyone else than what Ben went through. It seems like his sacrilege suppressed some of the divinity until it became a part of him and his defiler skill may have played a part as well, plus there’s the issue that the soul crystals are housing demon souls as well as god so that might have helped smooth things too considering the other body skill he has, but there’s no reason this can’t be done again. We have to call a meeting about this and then we’ll have to get in contact with the great life spirit as well, she’d be the best for running this in a way that would be both fast and safe for everyone.”

“Ugh, Ben, you bastard, things are already busy enough, how are you creating more work?”

“By doing me part to save this doomed planet?”

“Seriously, stop always calling it that.”

“The real question is what souls to use for it,” Helori spoke, bringing the conversation back on track. “Of all the forbidden gods, which would be the best to take advantage of? Should we try to align each one to the people they’d suit best or just use a single one and just accept giving out the same divine bloodline for everyone? We also need to keep producing potions with them so it’s not like we can just take them all either.”

“Sounds like a lot to think about, let me know how it turns out,” He laughed, already letting the news get to his head. A demigod, and with Ather dead and Nati not really counted despite sharing some blood with Nare, he was the third one living on the planet while also the only current terrestrial one. Maybe not for much longer but still, it felt good. A whole new accomplishment to his name to be proud of, a whole new success, and a whole new bit of growth to benefit from for every level attached to it while his mind went back to something Helori had said earlier. “But wait, if I already qualify, what will I be if I level the skill?”

“Well, like I said, you’re currently below average. A few levels and you’ll probably meet average. A few more and you’ll exceed it. At least that’s my guess.”

“And if I awaken it?”

She fell silent for a moment, thinking it over before shaking her head. “I don’t know Ben, what would happen if you awaken your demon body skill either? Will you become even more of the things you’re hybridized with? Will you become a demon in proper and some sort of living god? This is an unknown area to a shocking degree. You’re already technically a demigod but a normal demigod can’t strengthen the divine aspect of themself and while I suppose we can’t actually say for sure that you will either, considering that it’s a leveled skill I can’t imagine what else might change as it grows, to the point that we’re actually going to have to do some testing on it to see whatever we can learn, even if all of us here can agree to start offering the surgery to any who want it. It’s going to be a hectic time figuring all of this out the best we can when we don't even know if there’s going to be any sort of long-term effects to this.”

“Okay, fair, but we’re not operating on a long-term timescale. Not to sound too careless but if there is an issue with doing it that won’t appear until sometime after the third wave, does it matter? This sounds like easy growth so far and it’s a lot less horrific than the way Vividus is already modifying people.”

“Mmh,  well, I suppose that's hard to deny but still, the mass creation of demigods,” She muttered, trailing off while Myriad took over.

“Something we already tried and failed. Even if the results are going to be a bit different, I suppose we can’t really deny that this is what we were looking for, but… This, all of the awakening you’ve helped with, your divine potions, the modifications you're planning on placing on people's souls when you grow a bit more, and then your mana and buff bracelets on top of all of that. If we win, the landscape of the world is going to be severely changed. The average level of power across the planet for any mortal is going to be leagues higher than any time in the past. There’s going to be far-reaching consequences that will be felt for centuries to come.”

“Which would mean we’re all alive still to feel it,” Ben pointed out. “I know there’s no putting a genie back in the bottle but would you really rather I didn’t help discover all of that?”

“No, no I wouldn’t,” His god sighed. “Ignore me, I think the two of us are just feeling the weight of change but if there’s problems that have to be faced down the line because of this then so be it, it’s the role of gods to help solve those problems. The old days when any of us could rule our own worlds and stop what we saw fit to stop are gone.”

“For what it’s worth, from what I’ve seen of my own world and what I know the grey have seen in the wider galaxy, it really does seem for the better.”

“Maybe it is,” Myriad told him with a tired chuckle. “But it still leaves its growing pains all of these millenia later, but that’s enough for now I think. Ben, we’ve checked what we wanted to, is there anything else you need while you’re up here before we go to call for what’s sure to be another long, exhausting meeting?”

“Uh, just a small thing when you get the time but if you could have Amy sent my way as soon as you can? With her clones too? I want to get her whatever crafting practice I can with her skills to bump the odds of her getting that level for it too.”

“Alright, we will but if that’s all we’ll be on our way, don’t expect to be hearing from me for a few hours at least.”

“Gotcha, good luck.”

He went back down with that and with plenty of day left slid on his coat, getting to work. With the way Mora tried to secretly repair his soul he was feeling a lot better, more than enough to get back to claiming all of the experience he could with what day was left while the gods dealt with just what it meant to be a mortal in their changing world.

<SOUL RESILIENCE LEVEL INCREASED>

<MAX LEVEL OF THE BENEFICIARY JOB ACHIEVED>