CH793

“Let’s see, I guess Sonya might be out, she has her work and this would be a little last minute to spring it on her but what about your parents?” Ben suggested. “That way Lux and Funa will both be around too, they’ll probably be able to look after him pretty well, all things considered.”

“I’d rather not use them as our first choice. He’s never met them before and I have no clue how they’re going to react to the birth of a whole new type of spirit and I know they need to meet eventually but I really want to talk to them first and then actually be there for when everyone meets just in case I need to clear the air like I did when they met Insia and as far as introductions go, leaving him with them for a couple days is going to be a lot. Plus, they all have work that keeps them busy too and since my mom is going to be busy trying to run the country, that only leaves the staff, Writ, and Ogilt to actually look after him.”

“Okay, is there anyone you’re thinking of then?”

“Ugh, I don’t know. I don’t want to leave him with anyone he hasn’t met before but he really hasn’t met that many people, has he? I mean, it’s not the best choice but there really isn’t a reason aunty couldn’t bring him with her to the hospitals she’s been working at like I’ve been but she’s already so exhausted all of the time but… I don’t know.”

“Okay, give me a second. Another option, another option,” He looked over at the boy as he muttered it, finding his answer right beside him. “Got it, someone he knows that he can be around. It won’t exactly be the one looking after him but that should be fine, she owes me a favour anyway. Okay, now's a decent time to finish things today anyway so let’s go tell our babysitter she’s got the job.”

---

“Oh, Ben, Thera, what do I owe the pleasure?” Fontesh asked as the four of them walked through the gate to her living room. “Delair’s been behaving I hope?”

“She’s doing great, couldn’t be prouder of her progress so far but I’m sure she’s caught you up on all of that and it’s not why we’re here anyway. Long story short, after tomorrow, me and Thera are going to be away for a few days so lessons are going to be canceled until we’re back, we just have one little hitch. We need a babysitter. You briefly met Mora?”

“I did, hello again,” She said, smiling at the boy. “Delair’s been telling me a lot about you.”

Mora didn’t respond to that, only quietly standing to the side in a way Ben chose to view as shyness, letting him go on. “So anyway, you up for the job? Plus maybe again another week or two from now?”

“Of course, I owe you that much at least. Feel free to drop him off whenever’s convenient.”

“Fantastic, appreciate it Fontesh, in that case, we’ll see you later and Delair, we’ll have your last lesson before the break tomorrow too but while we’re away make sure you’re training your plant magic until we’re back, you should be close to a level and that little boost will be great for your job progress.”

“And if anything happens to us, you can get Sachel to go to my family,” Thera added. “They should be able to help from there.”

“Hmm? Alright, um, how likely is something to happen?”

“Ah, you know how it is,” Ben shrugged. “We haven’t died in a tower trial yet but there’s a first for everything.”

“Wait, you’re taking on a… No, I guess that makes sense. In that case, please try to be safe.”

“Always try.”

---

In the days since they’d taken him in, the two had thought they’d been making slow but steady progress with Mora. The boy had been talking a little more with each one that passed and seemed at least to be trying to interact a bit, even if it was still limited, but on the walk home that day he was completely silent in a way that left both Ben and Thera to quietly look at each other until one broke down and broached the topic.

“Mora, is everything okay?” Thera asked him. “You seem a little withdrawn. If there’s a problem, we can talk about it.”

“...”

It seemed at first as though the boy was going to keep quiet from there, regressing to his first day with them before ultimately speaking up. “Are you getting rid of me too?”

“What, sweetheart, no! Is that what you thought was happening?”

“Wasn’t it?”

“Me and Ben are just going to be away for a couple of days, that’s all. We don’t want to leave you on your own and since you already know Delair, we just wanted to leave you with her and her mother while we’re gone so we know you’ll have someone to spend time with but that’s all that’s happening. We’ll definitely be back.”

“Then what were you saying about getting other people to help if something happens?”

“That’s…”

She trailed off, looking to Ben for help and he took over, trying to figure out the best way to describe a situation where they’d be putting themselves in danger to a child and ultimately going with honesty.

“What we’re going to be doing isn’t the safest, Mora. Anything can happen so there’s always going to be some risk involved but the two of us fully intend to make it home and when we do, we’ll come pick you up from Fontesh and all of us will go home together. We’ve done this sort of thing a few times before so try not to worry though and focus on having fun while you’re there. The entire dryad village is nice…”

…I had to work my ass off for them to accept me…

No, it will be fine, Mora’s a kid, they won’t be so standoffish with him and Fontesh and Delair will help keep things smooth, it’ll be fine.

“Ahem, you’ll be able to have some fun with them and spend some time seeing a new place, it will be great so try not to worry, okay?”

He held out a hand as he asked it and after looking at it for a moment the young spirit took it. “Okay.”

“Great, now let’s head home. Gotta rest well for what’s ahead.”

---

“Uuugh, Beeeen, I’m so bad at being a guardian,” Thera complained into his chest as they lied down. “Uuugh, of course he’d think that’s what was happening. Gods above, I’m so bad at this.”

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself, I didn’t think about it either and I’m the one with thousands of minds to consider these things.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t really get a choice about taking him in. I decided this, I can’t be making these stupid mistakes.”

“We’re both going to make mistakes, that’s just life. What matters is proving what we said. I don’t think we can stop him from feeling insecure about us leaving, we just have to show him we were telling him the truth by coming back.”

“Okay, yeah, you’re right, but… Uugh.”

“There there, we’ll make this work and we’ll figure it all out.”

He gently rubbed her back, trying to help her relax while he did his best to manage his own bit of stress about how that talk had gone until her breathing slowed, telling him she was asleep and leaving him alone to deal with his other tasks for the night.

While a few of his minds were still on Mora and however they might continue to try and help the boy warm up to them, it couldn’t be his only focus. Growing his strength in whatever ways he could was always of value and with that bit of time he had he intended to attempt it by claiming a new awakening.

Myriad Myriad Myriad, you around?

<Hmm? I am but are you not just coming up for the night?>

I will in a bit, just going to attempt to send a snack your way first.

<...What is that supposed to mean?>

You’ll know when you get it so just try and be on the lookout for when it arrives.

With warning given, Ben’s focus turned to the souls he was creating and his newest active skill, the condemnation he’d been using ever since he’d acquired it, and tried his best to expand its function.

Ogilt had said it was a skill to push souls down but why was that the only direction he could push them? With the bit of sense that had come with it, Ben could feel all of the space around him and he already knew the direction of a different layer of reality, he just needed to combine the power with the path to see if such a thing could be achieved and he began spending his mana to make it happen.

With no word from Myriad and no notifications in his head to go along with it, he had no choice but to assume his first attempt ended in failure but that wasn’t one to stop him. With a mana pool now above seven thousand, creating and condemning souls was easy even without his coat to aid him, even as he poured more and more power into trying to get it to work, only stopping when he got a reaction.

<Ben, did you just… Did you just force a soul into my realm?>

So it worked, huh? But it wasn’t enough to awaken this stupid skill? Lame, that was my only real idea for it.

<Okay, well first of all, what the hell did you mean you were sending me a snack! I DON’T EAT SOULS BEN!>

Debatable, you take them in and they become a part of you, that sounds a lot like eating to me.

<I seriously need you to not go around giving me such bad press.>

Excuse you, have you seen how many of my incredible and valuable items I’ve slapped your name on? I’m one hundred percent of your good press by this point, no matter how much more devote Sachel and Valaria are, there’s no way they can compare to my pure marketing power.

<It’s still rude!>

Okay, okay, fine. But did you or did you not absorb it or whatever?

<NO!>

Why not?

<Why would I?>

To see what would happen if you take in a soul made by your corest of core believers? And how that might affect an artificial being like you?

<...Fine, send up another then.>

You got it.

Having succeeded once, doing it again still felt easier even without an awakening to go along with it as Ben paid more attention to the subtle difference in how the space around him felt when sending them up instead of down, with Myriad’s reaction being a reward.

<...I suppose it could be helpful if you sent enough.> His god admitted begrudgingly. <There’s no obvious harm and while I’ve told you before that absorbing my believers' souls won’t change who I am, there’s a couple potential exceptions that could change that, no matter how rare. Getting these would future-proof me against them.>

Okay, exceptions such as?

<If I ever get another full planet of believers and they all die at once. I wouldn’t expect to be radically altered by it but it would be enough to change me a bit. Taking in souls without any experiences though, ones that wouldn’t add their memories and life to my own would in essence allow me to encroach on them, making them more of myself. The more of me that there is, the less I can be shaken if I receive an influx of millions or billions.>

A bit optimistic to think you’ll get there buddy. Or maybe it's a bit pessimistic to think you’ll get there and then lose them all again.

<And yet, it never hurts to be prepared.>

Alright then, I’ll start condemning them your way, the mana cost is only a little higher so it’s not the end of the world but is there anything else you can do with them? Not that maintaining your sense of self isn’t grand and all but I’m going to be honest, I was kind of hoping for a little more.

<Mmh, well, it’s not like there isn’t but I’ll tell you when you're older.>

What, why? Just tell me now!

<No can do. It’s god stuff and just as importantly, I can already tell you’re going to be annoying about it.>

…I swear to god, when I reach the third tier I’m pulling every one of those secrets from you whether you like it or not.

<Then I’ll be awaiting that day.>