After a fun day of seeing a variety of places in the city that Thera wanted to visit and explore, Ben closed his eyes for the night, only to open them and find himself in his god’s realm.
There was nothing strange about that in itself. He spent a fair bit of time most nights in Myriad’s realm after all, either discussing the day, the faith, things he was trying to learn or enchantments he wanted to figure out, or else just chatting. For however they both could act at times, the two of them were quite fond of each other, even if one caused the other far more stress than anyone would expect.
What was strange however was finding two others there as he arrived. Neither of them were Sachel, the only other person with a position in his god's faith. Instead, he saw some sort of starfish person, though Ben was sure that wasn’t what he actually was. Standing as tall as him with a bright blue colour, the man would have looked perfectly in place lying along a beach somewhere instead of propped up on two limbs and it only took a second to realise that it was the same one preaching on the street he’d passed earlier in the day.
More significant than him though was the woman beside him that his mind was screaming was a god. While his sacrilege was busy drawing parts of his attention to different points of her, it was his tolerance skill that he thought gave him the best sense of her. This was only the third god he’d met in person after all, and as a skill that left him with a better time dealing with the divinity she gave off, it let him do a simple estimate of her strength. While his own god didn’t even register, she felt similar to Jagal, the goddess of the dryads, meaning the one before him now must have had comparatively few believers, at least when measured against one like Anailia whose divinity eclipsed her while in her avatar instead of right in front of him, yet still far more than Myriad could hope for.
Even more interesting though was that whoever she was, she was the most human looking of any goddess he’d encountered yet, to the point that she could have been mistaken for a particularly beautiful member of his own race if it weren’t for the clear crystal horns jutting out of her head, light and mana swirling within them in a rainbow of chaos as she looked over to him in blatant discomfort.
“Falling stars Myriad, what is wrong with your apostle?”
“Man, rude. We literally just met, come on,” He complained, getting glares from both strangers as his god sighed.
“I did warn you that my apostle has a variety of mind skills that make his thoughts feel complicated Helori. Ben, I’m sorry to spring this on you but would you mind using hidden mind on all but one? For anyone not used to it, it can feel a little loud.”
He did as he was asked, a small thought in the back of his head thinking he’d feel grateful if the stranger before him ignored most of what went on in his minds anyway as he looked to his god. “So what’s up, I’ve never seen you entertain guests before?”
“An impertinent one, isn’t he?” Helori asked, tilting her head at him and looking like he was something to examine before focusing in on his god. “But he’s right, let's get to the point. Myriad, I want to issue you a challenge. I’ve grown interested in the skill you’ve been giving your believers and want one of my own to have access to it so here’s my proposal. On the line will be both a blessing and a skill to the winner’s apostle. The contest will be to see which of them will be able to gather the most faith over the next week, not including any that comes from old believers. Do you agree to these terms?”
Before his god could speak up, Ben did, excited at the prospect before him and wanting to hear more “I wouldn’t be able to do a full week because I’m here for the crafting competition, but would five days work?”
Helori turned her eyes from his floating god and directed them to him instead, seeing that Ben would be the more agreeable of the two and not letting Myriad get a word in either. “That's acceptable, the deadline I gave was for Xizle to prepare for the birth of his young anyway so having it draw sooner is of no issue.”
“And the skill?”
“I am a goddess of magic and knowledge. I’ve heard rumours that despite the fact that you’re an enchanter, you haven’t cultivated a proper magic skill of your own to use it with, instead relying on getting around it thanks to the one from your god. Should you win, I’ll help you change that. After all, a magic can be useful in ways an enchantment won’t.”
He didn’t even have to think about the offer. Even though what he could do thanks to having both connect and enchanting was arguably infinitely better for his work than what having a single magic skill would be, that didn’t change the fact that he wanted one. He’d spent over two years now being denied one of the coolest aspects of the world he was now forced to live in, if winning this challenge could change that then he would absolutely make sure he did.
“Ben-” Myriad said in a hurry, trying to discuss things with his apostle, only to be cut off as he did.
“We’ll do it,” He told the goddess before him confidently, hearing a system notification ringing out in his head as he did.
As the words rang out for all to hear, Helori broke out into a thin smile. “Well well, I didn’t know the system would accept the apostle’s agreement without the gods, but then I guess no apostle has ever agreed to something like this without caring for their god's opinion. I must thank you for letting me learn something interesting,” She said before disappearing along with her apostle, leaving Myriad to crash to the ground in response to Ben's rash decision as more notifications rang out in his mind
“You really are the worst apostle, you know that? How are you so bad that you just revealed an unknown, horrifying aspect of the system? I’m almost certain nobody else knew you could agree to that without me either!”
“Er, honestly my bad,” Ben told his god sheepishly as he ignored the notifications going off in his head. “I didn’t mean to go all in, it was just… she found my weak point Myriad, you know I want a magic skill.”
“For all the good it would do you,” The cube said with a sigh. “Despite being a god of knowledge, she clearly didn’t do her research enough. Of course, she would always get tunnel vision when she set herself on something. Either way, she’s a goddess of affinitied magics Ben. her homeworld never developed any non-affinitied ones so she isn’t compatible enough with them to give you one.”
“What?” He yelled out, feeling outraged. “Freaking scammer! Are you sure she can’t give me an affinitied one if I win then? I know I can’t exactly get one myself, but a goddess of magic has to be able to do something, right?”
“Maybe if she was in her prime as she was before her world fell, it would be possible to alter a soul to grant it a higher affinity, but affinities and resistances are the foundation upon which souls are built Ben, if she doesn’t have the strength to increase yours then there’s no way for your soul to accept a magic like that. Your values are just too low.”
It was depressing, feeling a glimmer of hope he might get his own magic skill, only to have it crushed moments later, but he did his best to push the feeling aside to focus on the reality of the situation.
“Alright, in that case what will she do if I win?”
“Honestly a good question. Since she put out the challenge, if she can’t even give out the reward she promised she’s going to be in a pretty bad place, we would be able to ask for pretty much anything. That doesn’t matter though ‘cause we won’t win,” His god groaned. “Do you think she would have put the challenge out if she didn’t think she would win? The point of this challenge is to earn faith, that means believers. They aren’t exactly easy to get, she probably has a handful right on the edge that she’s planning on tipping over the scales to earn as much faith as she could.”
“Well, let's put a pin in that for now, I don’t think we’re as bad off as you seem to think, I just need to organize some ideas. In the meantime, tell me a bit about her. Do you guys have some history or something or is she always like that?”
“Ugh, she’s not a fan to say the least,” His god explained. “When I first got to this world we actually got along quite well, she shows a completely different side of herself to those she likes, and as a goddess of knowledge a love of learning runs strong in her. It was only when she learned that I destroyed my homeworld that she turned so cold to me. Of course, she’s probably not lying about having an interest in my skill, it’s drawn the eyes of a few crafting gods too after seeing how it’s used, but if I had to bet she put out the challenge to be petty. It was easy enough to ignore me when I didn’t have any believers, but now that I have a few she might just want to cause some issues. Which very much will happen when she wins by the way. Do you have any idea how much harder it is to give a skill to someone that doesn’t give you their faith if they don't do a trial for you? I’m going to be in the red Ben, I haven’t had enough believers long enough to have that much faith to spare, not when I’m also making sure all of mine get both a blessing and a skill!”
“Your generosity is one of your better points Myriad,” Ben told him, trying to be encouraging as he thought through how he wanted to play things. Even if they were in a bad starting position, there was still plenty of room to win as long as he did things right. He was sure she wasn’t powerful enough to have herds of people eager to join her, it had to only be a handful. “For now, why don’t you refresh my memory a bit. What quest options do I currently have?”
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Myriad could see the wheels spinning in his apostle’s head as he tried to figure out not only a way to win, but a way to get the most out of it as he could, and since they were already in it whether he liked it or not he answered Ben’s question.
“As always there’s the chance to complete an achievement in my name for five job levels, which would probably be your bet. Winning a contest against a significantly more powerful god than me would be an achievement after all, though the fact that it would have to be spread to other gods at the very least could make things a bit awkward up here after.”
“How much more powerful are we talking?”
“Since she has around ten thousand believers, significantly more so than I am but nowhere near someone like Anailia. Anyway, other than that there’s the option of getting me an additional hundred believers for twenty job levels, which as nice as that would be isn’t something you’ll be able to pull off in five days unless you save a major city or something, establish a holy land for me for ninety-nine job levels, or lead at least three of my believers while accomplishing a great goal, which would be rewarded with a skill level to one that’s three or lower, as well as three job levels to each of my believers who participates.”
Ben sat in silence as he thought about what he’d heard as his god carefully listened to the thoughts in his mind. Now that he had ten in there, it was noisy enough that Myriad could miss something if he wasn’t paying attention and only focused on the thoughts specifically directed to him.
Even worse than that though was that despite not being conscious of it, his apostle had slowly become quite good at not letting thoughts come to the front of his mind where Myriad could read them, instead making choices in his subconscious that wasn’t so easily seen, and where the effects of his numerous mind skills were harder to gauge.
It was as Myriad felt his worries grow, with no concrete plans formed in the part of his apostle’s head that was easily seen yet a feeling of confidence filling the boy that Ben spoke up.
“I’ll take getting a hundred new believers for twenty job levels. Do me a favour and wake me up after.”
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As Ben’s eyes snapped open he didn’t waste a second as he sprung from his bed and rushed to his coat, grabbing the job crystal from its pocket to let the options fill his mind.
AVAILABLE JOBS
* Trap user
* Tree tamer
* Craftsman- alchemy path
* Craftsman- artistic path
* Craftsman- blacksmith path
* Craftsman- cooking path
* Craftsman- stonecrafts path
* Craftsman- sewing path
* Heretic
* Holy craftsman
* Kin
* Tank
* Mathematician
* Adventurer
* Cursed item maker
* High craftsman
No new ones, perfect.
Originally he’d been planning on taking high craftsman when he finished fractured mind user, finally getting to the second highest of the standard crafting jobs, but with how the timing worked out, the challenge changed things and he was going to have to select something radically different.
Well, hopefully it won’t be too bad. He thought to himself. I read up enough on all of my options so all that’s left to do is see if it will be as easy to cheese this one as I think.
He’d try to develop plans on how to efficiently make it through any job he might be lucky enough to get, and for a couple of them he thought he had some unusually quick ways to level them to reap their benefits, not that he planned on taking them if he didn’t need to. If he was wrong that would mean either having to slog through something he didn’t want, or just as bad, change it without completing it, an act that wouldn’t let him keep whatever bonuses he got with it as well as severely reduce the likelihood of his next job leveling a skill or granting a new one upon receiving it. Even if those weren’t guaranteed to happen, the benefits that came if it did were too big to just throw away.
And even if I’m wrong and it doesn’t work out, I just need to devote myself to some quests to get through it, there’s got to be an achievement or two in this world just waiting for me if I look a bit.
Having talked himself into one he normally never would have picked, he called out his option, letting enough context for what he had planned accidentally slip into his mind to cause his watching god no end of despair.
“I’ll take tree tamer.”
Name: Ben Heph
Race: Human
Titles: Apostle of Myriad, The Forgotten One, Miracle Maker, Skill learner, Enemy of Eneth
Jobs: Tree tamer (lv 2)
Previous Jobs: Apprentice craftsman, Craftsman, Priest, Enchanter, Mind user, Magic item maker, Magic weapon maker, High enchanter, Fractured mind user
Attributes:
* Vitality: 212
* Vitality recovery rate: 3/hr
* Mana: 161
* Mana recovery rate: 9/min
* Strength: 227
* Agility: 86
* Stamina: 753
* Intelligence: 662
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:
* Crafting lv9
* Enchanting lv8
* Focus lv8
Passive skills:
* World speak+
* Tolerance lv4
* Sacrilege lv5
* Complex mind lv5
* Bind
* Partial demonic body
* Defense enhancement lv2
* Parallel thought lv3
* Ambidexterity
* Absorption resistance lv1
* Enchanting knowledge lv5
* Plant knowledge lv2
Active skills:
* Dismantling lv5
* Stealth lv1
* Connect lv8
* Hidden mind lv6
* Calculate lv4
* Knife wielder lv0
* Hammer wielder lv0
* Meditation lv2
* Cycling lv0
* Marksmanship lv0
* Speed reading lv3
Blessings:
* Myriad’s Blessing
* Anailia’s Blessing
Trials:
* Trial of Anailia and Tolona
Alright, I think that’s my first bonus to my vitality so nice. A new knowledge skill too which sounds like it will be handy, though between that and connect I only have two skills that seem like they would count towards my job experience if I level them which doesn’t leave me in the best spot, especially considering I don’t have the main skill people are supposed to have when taking it. If things don’t work out I might be in a little trouble, but oh well.
Hey, it’s like they say, the devil’s in the details. It’s how we’re going to win this too so don’t stress too much. First things first, I’m going to have to do a lot of work and buy some very expensive materials, not to mention find a forge to use. Since it’s still dark out here but we’re conveniently close to a gate, what time is it in Anailia?