CH780

<Everyone’s been gathered for a while now, are you coming or not?>

Yeah, I guess this is as good a time as any to end this part of the day.

It had long grown dark and Sachel had already stopped by to walk Delair home but with his god’s prompting he finally released Jake from the prison that was his mind, the other man collapsing to the ground after being given back control of his body.

“Oh god, why does everything ache so much?” He asked as he laid there, showing no inclination to open his eyes until Amy answered.

“Ben’s been exercising you through all of this, which, well, seeing as it’s been an entire day he’s been having you run was bound to-”

She was cut off midway through. Welling what little strength he had, Jake jumped up, grabbing both her and Yuzu in his arms.

“Girls! Oh god, I’ve missed you both so much! I love you, please never let me go through that again!”

“...Ben, didn’t you tell us he was going to be fine?” Amy asked him while patting her boyfriend’s back, looking at the other through narrowed eyes while Ben shrugged in return.

“He is fine, just look at him. I mean, yeah, he missed you guys but I’d like to point out I tried to get him to say goodbye at the very beginning and there’s been no mental damage. Trust me, I’ve got a building full of people in stasis who I’m trying to figure out how to help after they’ve been prisoners for millennia, all Jake is feeling is a bit of withdrawal from not having the two of you.”

“Man, I’m pretty sure I just spent years in your head!” Jake yelled back. “How do you know I haven’t gone insane?”

“Because I live every day like that thousands of times over thanks to how I think. You’re my friend and I’m not a monster, if there was anything to be worried about then I would have let you go.”

“Ben, you have ‘monster’ as two of your titles,” Yuzu pointed out, still in Jack’s grip while Ben waved the comment away.

“I think we’ve already spoken about bringing up my status but more importantly, that’s entirely irrelevant. Now, before we go to finish our last task of the day, let’s see how well you can apply some of those lessons. Jake, make me a ball of copper.”

Ben already knew that everything he’d taught had been absorbed, he could feel it in the other’s mind, permanently fixed there thanks to the effects of the knowledge skill that had been applied to him, all that mattered was if he could use the information and Jake didn’t disappoint as he spent his mana to materialize a small ball of copper at his request and continued on with the other requests that followed.

From lead to carbon to ice to a glass jar filled with oil, Ben had made sure to include the chemistry of the world among his lessons and Jake was using all of the information to materialize his mana, giving shape to the forms he now knew in his thoughts. Still not at the level of skill Ben himself could but certainly to a point where he likely had both Uliel and Vasta beat, leaving Amy to re-evaluate the process that had led to that outcome.

“Okay, never mind, I’m convinced. Whatever you did was worth it.”

“Amy, please! Who’s side are you on?”

“Considering it looks like he turned you into one of the best materializers on the planet in less than a single day, Ben’s. Do you really not appreciate what an accomplishment that is for you?”

“Except I’m going to be dreaming about those lessons for the rest of my life!”

“I’m ninety percent sure you won’t,” Ben chimed in. “But if you do then trust me, there’s plenty worse you could be dreaming about. It’s why I’ve given up on actually sleeping.”

“...Ben, you seriously need to talk to a therapist or something,” Amy said, finding that comment more concerning than Jake’s overreaction. She could tell from just a few minutes of talking with him that her boyfriend really was fine but too often when Ben opened his mouth, some sort of deep-rooted trauma seemed to slip out.

Trauma which he for his part just shrugged away. “Hey, not actually sleeping gives me time for other things so it’s really a win-win. Anyway though, seeing as how I haven’t actually gone and destroyed any minds today, is everyone ready?”

“Oh god man, ready for what?” Jake asked him. “Please tell me you don’t have more for me after this.”

“I mean, you are still with me until I manage to squeeze that level out of you but don’t worry, it will be nothing like today. I finished my job so I need to take some new ones with Amy and Yuzu and whoever else the gods want me helping this round. Safe to assume you still haven’t gotten any new options?”

“Nothing at the second tier.”

“Alright, well if you do in the future make sure you let someone know so you can benefit from whatever new bit of help I can manage but until then, let’s get this over with.”

He led them all back to the magic towers’ guild where a crowd had already formed, with the guild master waiting for him.

“Just this way apostle Ben, over here is your first party. And are the two women the ones who will be joining later down the line?”

“Wherever the gods saw fit to put them, yeah.”

“Alright, right this way then, I’ll show you both to your positions for this.”

Separated from there, Ben walked over to the group he’d be starting with first, ignoring the looks of awe and reverence he was getting that stemmed from what they’d been told about him and what rumours had spread after his first round of jobs with that guild, instead cutting to the chase by asking them to invite him into their party before touching his crystal to look over his options.

AVAILABLE JOBS

• Trap user

• Craftsman- alchemy path

• Craftsman- artistic path

• Craftsman- blacksmith path

• Craftsman- cooking path

• Craftsman- stonecrafts path

• Craftsman- sewing path

• Mathematician

• High tank

• High marksman

• High destruction mage

• Beginner puppeteer

• Holy adversary

• Title master

• Multiversal material mage

• Outsider 

• Body user

• Slayer

• Judge

• Assassin

• Cycler

• Beginner dancer

• Entrée

• King of intelligence

• Soul creator

• Beneficiary

• God defiling gardener

• Expert

• Master actualizer

• Inclination master

No new ones then.

A part of him had been hoping for some more options, be they connect or crafting or enchanting jobs. While those master paths had all already given him plenty to choose from after he’d completed them, there was always the chance he’d gain some more within those fields later as he did things but as it stood it seemed he had no luck on that front, meaning he was going to have to branch out a bit, with the only question being what three to take that time.

There were plenty he was curious about enough that the chance to take them was in itself nice to have, not having many other options that he would consider being relevant enough to his goals to focus on, but if his quest was for power then there was one choice that still stood out above the rest.

Outsider. A job named for beings beyond the veil of reality itself, creatures that lived between worlds and brought their own rules into whatever universe they could make their way into. Among all he had left, he still considered it to be the best potential option among everything he still had to be a third-tier job. When the main goal was to get what growth he could, it was an obvious choice.

But one he didn’t take. Not then at least. He trusted his gut that it would be powerful but even if it ended up as only a second-tier job, there were risks to it he simply didn’t want to face so soon. It still hadn’t been long since the system had briefly broken his mind when taking a job had helped awaken his alien thought structure and the idea of taking outsider couldn’t help but make him fear something worse. He had his witness blessing which he still didn’t completely understand and he could still feel the chaos he’d seen when reality had cracked scratching at the walls of his thoughts at all times. Just because thinking about it didn’t leave him vomiting anymore didn’t mean it wasn’t still there.

And maybe taking that job would help him with that. Maybe it would give him some bit of relief that was currently missing from his life but it could just as easily make it worse.

But it’s one I’m going to have to take eventually, just… Not now.

After all, even if he believed it would be a powerful job there was no actual proof. Why not take a few others first and get what strength from them he could, especially when he had so many interesting ones to choose from?

And since I’m not taking outsider and growth is the name of the game right now, let’s make this easy. I’ll take inclination master.

He had a clear hope as he named that one, that it would give him skills along the lines of crafting or enchanting inclination considering his natural talent in them and how much he practiced, and if he really dared to dream, maybe even something akin to connect or sacrilege inclination to bring the goal of awakening those skills just a little closer, but that wasn’t what he got as the notifications rang out in his mind.

<ACQUIRED JOB- INCLINATION MASTER LV0>

<ALL INCLINATION SKILLS WILL RECEIVE A MASSIVE GROWTH BONUS>

<EVIL AFFINITY LEVEL INCREASED>

<DESTRUCTION AFFINITY LEVEL INCREASED>

<ACQUIRED SKILL DEFENSE INCLINATION LEVEL 0>

<BLOOD REGENERATION LEVEL INCREASED>

“...You’re fucking kidding me.”

“Um, apostle?” One of the party asked as he spoke, getting waved away for their efforts.

“Ignore me, just got a kind of bad pull for the first one.”

But come on, defense inclination of all things? Seriously?

Sure, by that point he had quite a few defensive skills but none of them were even awakened. The fact that the system had seen fit to give him a talent in them of all things felt like a slap in the face compared to what he’d been hoping for, and that wasn’t even considering that he’d get no additional attribute bonuses from that job, one of the main thing he wanted by taking so many of them. It was his first time ending up empty on that front which felt like a poor sign as far as taking his unknown jobs went, even if he forced himself to acknowledge it wasn’t all bad.

The fact that I’m getting massive bonuses instead of major ones to all of my inclination skills is huge and give than soul inclination likely gives bonuses to connect, my soul skills, and my mind skills, and evil inclination probably gives bonuses to my sacrilege, being able to grow both so much more easily is an objectively good thing. Just gotta look at the positives here and take a nice, calming breath before I move on to the next one.

He started materializing souls and went through adventure groups from there until he got the notification informing him he was done with that job, telling himself he’d leave it behind him and he went to claim his next one.

With inclination master not yielding any advanced variants when he touched his crystal, showing him it was in the same sterile category as both master adventure and master of destiny, not that he considered that to be a particularly bad thing. As handy as more massive bonuses on his inclination skills could potentially be, they weren’t what he was looking for, especially when they didn’t give him any attribute bonuses to go with them.

Which meant deciding on his second choice of the night, looking over options to make his pick as he questioned how to grow. It was obvious to pick something that sounded like it could be useful at least, entrée sure wasn’t making the cut, but if he had nothing to grow any of his core skills with then maybe the system giving him defense enhancement was on the right track, he should aim to grow some of his secondary ones.

After all, he really would have been thrilled to awaken any of his defensive skills if he got the chance, his few combat ones too. They may not have been the goal but the benefits that would come if they awakened along the way would have been huge, so with that in mind, he picked a job with a name that sounded like it just might fit.

Give me slayer.

<ACQUIRED JOB- SLAYER LV0>

<MAJOR BONUSES GRANTED TO IMPROVING MANA, MANA REGENERATION RATE, STRENGTH, AGILITY, AND STAMINA>

<ALL COMBAT SKILLS WILL RECEIVE A MAJOR GROWTH BONUS>

<ACQUIRED TITLE- DEMON SLAYER>

<ACQUIRED TITLE- WORLD SLAYER>

…Myriad, are you around? I have questions.

…Of course you’re not.

“Hey, just out of curiosity, I don’t suppose any of you have ever heard of a job granting titles before, have you?”

The others in the party looked among themselves in confusion which was enough of an answer and was already what he’d expected anyway. In all of his reading, he’d become aware of thousands of known jobs and not once had he ever read anything about a person getting a title from taking one, leaving it as a question he was going to need to bother the gods about later as he instead focused on finishing it, letting him move from that party to the next where Amy was waiting and then on from there as she took a new job herself and moved through the rest of the group, letting her work through another by the time he arrived at the last where Yuzu waited.

“Ben, you’re really giving a bit of an ominous energy here,” She said, sensing something in his mood while he just groaned.

“I just have strange, complicated feelings about my last two jobs but it’s fine. I’m pretty sure they’ll both be handy in the long run to have. Now that just leaves the last one and however long it’s going to take me to finish.”

Yuzu wasn’t going to have anywhere near the level of experience Elvat had meaning it would take longer but given she’d also be with him for the next few days, he didn’t mind treating his soul a bit rougher than he’d originally planned, especially not when it might help him speed through a level or two of both soul expansion and resilience, but with how his first two choices turned out it did have him second guessing what he was considering for his final choice of that run.

Why not take something a bit more certain like master actualizer? Or even multiversal material mage? That one was sure to give bonuses to his material manipulation at least and with how high it was, if he managed to awaken the two skills he wanted to get to the third tier then it wasn’t unreasonable to hope he could spend whatever extra time he had left trying to awaken that one too.

…Okay, maybe wanting three third-tier skills before the next wave instead of two is a little unreasonable to hope, seeing as nobody’s gotten more than two before.

Still, it would be a perfectly viable option, but despite how he felt about some of the results he’d received so far, one thing he couldn’t deny was that they were interesting, at least to him, and when he didn’t think it would be that long to finish Yuzu if he really worked his soul a bit, why not indulge that interest just a little more? After all, there was one job he held that he’d been curious about ever since it had appeared on his list of options and he had just been given the perfect chance to take it.

Oh, what the hell, why not? It might even be something incredible. Give me judge.

<ACQUIRED JOB- JUDGE LV0>

<MAJOR BONUSES GRANTED TO IMPROVING VITALITY, VITALITY RECOVERY RATE, MANA, AND MANA RECOVERY RATE>

<ALL JUDGMENT SKILLS WILL RECEIVE A MAJOR GROWTH BONUS>

<ACQUIRED SKILL CONDEMNATION LEVEL 0>

Name: Ben Heph

Race: Human

Titles: Apostle of Myriad, The Forgotten One, Miracle Maker, Skill learner, Enemy of Eneth, Trial Defier, Trial Breaker, Godslayer, Monster, Madman, God killer, Threat, The mad apostle, Destined holder of Connect, God of Destruction, Creator of Life, Awakener, Maniac, Brutal Blacksmith, Defier of Gods, Title Holder, Enemy of Olensia, Great Teacher, Student of Helori, Myriad’s Monster, Outsider slayer, Demigod slayer, Transgressor, Destined holder of Mental symbiosis, Destined holder of Alien thought structure, Destined holder of Soul production, Job Holder, Destined holder of Actualization, Enemy of Duna, Demon Slayer, World Slayer

Jobs: Judge (lv 0)

Previous Jobs: Apprentice craftsman, Craftsman, Priest, Enchanter, Mind user, Magic item maker, Magic weapon maker, High enchanter, Fractured mind user, Tree tamer, High craftsman, Apprentice mage, True mage, Tank, Heretic, Adventurer, Divine heretic, Kin, Master craftsman, Master enchanter, Scholar, Connected enchanter, Infernal craftsman, Marksman, Destruction mage, Material mage, High material mage, Profane enchanter, Master material mage, Impious creator, Mind master, Master adventurer, Otherworldly craftsman, Material creator, Master of all, Ritual enchanter, Holy craftsman, Cursed item maker, Actualizer, Summoned enchanter, Destructive craftsman, Soul mage, Freak mind user, Unholy thinker, Polymath, Alien mind, Soul user, Soul master, Evil soul user, Soul defiling gardener, High actualizer, World killer, Connect master, Abysmal connecter, Master of destiny, Hive brain, Divine enchanter, Inclination master, Slayer

Attributes:

• Vitality: 2856

• Vitality recovery rate: 68/hr

• Mana: 6425

• Mana recovery rate: 532/min

• Strength: 2314

• Agility: 625

• Stamina: 5015

• Intelligence: 20432

Affinities:

• Light: 3

• Life: 2

• Fire: 4

• Water: 3

• Air: 4

• Earth: 2

• Death: 3

• Dark: 1

• Space: 4

• Time: 5

Resistances:

• Light: 68

• Life: 72

• Fire: 75

• Water: 69

• Air: 66

• Earth: 81

• Death: 78

• Dark: 85

• Space: 63

• Time: 61

Blessed skills:

• Unending crafting lv8*

• Divine enchanting lv8*

• Unnatural mind lv9*
  

Passive skills: 

• King of sacrilege lv9*

• Bind

• Integrated demonic body lv9

• Defense enhancement lv9

• Absorption resistance lv9

• Knowledge lv9*

• All affinity resistance enhancement lv9

• Unnatural inspiration lv6*

• Bite enhancement lv7

• Piercing resistance lv9

• Artisan’s touch

• Unnatural intelligence enhancement lv3*

• Reconstructed alien thought structure*

• Blood regeneration lv5 

• Extraction enhancement lv9

• Soul affinity lv2*

• Modifier compatibility

• Material sense lv9

• Flavour enhancement lv2

• Ill intent lv4*

• Balance enhancement lv4

• Soul expansion lv7

• Defiler of ambrosia

• Destruction affinity lv5*

• Evil affinity lv5*

• Soul resilience lv4

• Defense inclination lv0

Active skills: 

• Stealth lv2

• Deep connection lv8*

• Cycling lv2

• Marksmanship lv9

• Material manipulation lv8*

• Swimming lv2

• Dance lv1

• Unnatural thought speed lv9*

• Hive mind lv6*

• Rule bender lv1

• Aim lv9

• Esoteric actualization lv4*

• Soul source lv4*

• Lucid dreaming

• Condemnation lv0

Blessings:

• Myriad’s Blessing

• Anailia’s Blessing

• Helori’s Blessing

• Galwax’s Blessing

• Elvat’s mana regeneration Blessing

• Eneth’s Blessing

• Earth Pantheon’s Blessing

• Life Pantheon’s Blessing

• Dark Pantheon’s Blessing

• Olensia’s Blessing

• Nare’s Blessing

• Yuzu’s mana regeneration Blessing

• Witness of Chaos

• Oaun’s Blessing

• Phixth’s Blessing

• Passive Pantheon’s Blessing

• Duna’s Blessing

• Jagal’s Blessing

Trials:

• Trial of Anailia and Tolona

• Trial of the Dead God

• Earth Tower

• Life Tower

• Dark Tower

A new skill and more second-tier bonuses, just like he’d hoped, but what wasn’t reflected in it was the change it brought in him. Subtly, he had gained a small new sense that was almost akin to how the space spirits perceived the world as he began to feel what could have only been almost a half-foot of the fabric of reality around him, leaving him to question just what his new, unknown skill would allow him to do.