As Ben went to sleep for the night he did so with a headache. There were just over two hundred living members of the village, and from checking their skills he couldn’t help but think there was little of immediate value. They all had their blessed skills of course, but without the cards to tell them what they were, none of them had even known they existed, meaning except for the magics, they were almost all at the zeroth level. People had ones oriented to hunting and gathering, but not much else that could be used to help them improve their quality of life.
And that’s not even considering the magics either. He thought as a notification rang out in his mind.
Yes, always allow. He thought as he opened his eyes to the familiar empty space to face the floating cube, feeling the new effects that came with king of sacrilege as he looked at him. Areas he was sure would be weak points were obvious to his eyes, even if he instinctively knew that while in his god’s realm they wouldn’t be able to be exploited.
He shook his head, trying to filter out the effect as he did while he updated Myriad. “So I don’t know if it’s good news or bad news, but about a tenth of your new believers have minor soul magic as a blessed skill, with the rest having either life or death. It also looks like the gods kept the existence of space magic from them, probably to keep any from running off too. Oh, and as long as they all accept you, which I’m pretty sure most are going to do, it looks like you’ll have a believer other than me with an awakened skill now. Toltho managed to awaken his stealth to invisibility, which is extra impressive when you factor in the fact that he’s never taken a job or received a blessing, basically playing without any advantages other than the base system. He must be a one-in-a-billion genius at it, when things calm down I should ask him some tips on it since I’ve only ever gotten the one level,” He told the cube who’d been collapsed on the ground since he’d arrived. “How were things on your end?”
“Well, there was a debate on whether or not you should even be allowed to exist with a nearly third-tier sacrilege skill. Lucky for you, enough gods like you enough that we were able to keep anything from happening, but please try and be a little more reasonable at least until the first wave comes and the other gods have bigger things to worry about.”
“Wait, what? That feels like an extreme reaction. How many gods wanted me dead?”
“A tenth were for it with forty percent being neutral, and that’s because none of them want a god of sacrilege to be born. Well, except for Eneth who I think just has a grudge against you, not that I can say I blame him.”
“Interesting, interesting,” He said, all the while thinking on how much more dangerous and expensive the next statue would be after this one went down. Given the damage it did and the price it cost to replace, he expected it to take a while longer this time, but he knew it would happen eventually. “And just for a reference, who were the ones that explicitly wanted me killed off?”
“Irrelevant. Focus on the fact that every god with a race that has a passive magic voted for your survival along with plenty of others. Anyway, how else did the day go?”
“There wasn’t much else that happened. I spent basically the entire day talking to them mostly one on one, telling them all of their skills and levels while helping them decide their jobs. They have a lot to learn but Thera’s going to handle explaining the wider world to them while I try and get a few to the zeroth level of some different crafting disciplines. They have basically nothing on that front so I want to work on giving them the tools to start building better lives for themselves when I’m not around, though I need to work on housing and at least an introduction to agriculture too. Actually, scratch that, Sachel and her party owe me a favour and I’m cashing it in, tell her they’re coming to take over as soon as they can. How’s her spell unification coming along?”
“She’s been working hard and is an excellent mage, she should be able to manage the equivalent of fifth-level plant spells.”
“Sweet, so she can come and get them set on that front. What else, they’ll need their own job crystal and enough cards for everyone here, plus more for anyone who’s born to take ‘cause it might be a while before they can be introduced to the wider world. Books and tools too, I’ll give you a list to pass on to her later of titles she can take from me to bring here, it will at least give them a reference to grow from. God, am I missing anything else?”
“Gotta say, it’s nice to see you working so hard for this.”
“I decided to help so I’m at least going to get them set up. Speaking of, is there anything I need to do in particular that will really solidify this holy land? Gotta throw some holy water around like with the church?”
“No, I just need a large concentration of believers in an area that no other god controls so this is fine. Actually, your work just introducing them to jobs is already bearing fruit. There were plenty of them ready to fully convert after meeting me, but I don’t think they understood that I’m not directly connected to the job system, when a few of them got skills and levels when they took their first one I instantly received faith from them.”
“Excellent, but on the opposite side of things, how safe would you say we are? Admittedly, sleeping here does have me a little nervous since they did watch me killing their old gods. Any chance of someone coming for revenge?”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“I’ve been keeping an eye out and while things might change eventually, I’d say you’re fine for now. Most of them are more worried about interacting with each other than dealing with any bad blood with you given what happened between them, and the four priests other than Toltho are basically having mental breakdowns.”
“Oh joy, so I should also work on trying to mend the community as well as making sure those four don’t off themselves. Or maybe I could delegate some tasks to Toltho? He seems like he might try to work on the community himself actually so that’s a plus but I’ll try and see what I can do. In the meantime though, I’ve got plenty of time to fill till I need to wake up, mind bringing up the summoning spell again for me?”
“I do have to also use this time to talk to all of these people you know.”
“It’s cool, they’ve already met me and I’ll be quiet.”
His god couldn’t help but sigh. “Ben, you’re taking on too much again, and considering that some of your goals are at best borderline impossible, I'd really like to advise you against burning yourself out trying to do anything with that spell. It can't be learned, at least not in any realistic time frame.”
“I’m doing it for my own interest, it’s fine,” He said as he waved Myriad off. “You might as well just leave it up if it doesn’t cost you anything too. Give me something to think about while I’m here.”
“What you should be thinking about is Thera. You’ve just entered a romantic relationship with the woman who holds your affection and almost immediately you're putting her in a position where she has to help you as you work with converting a newly discovered sapient race. Not the most romantic of you.”
“You aren’t wrong, I owe her one hell of a date for putting up with this, but it’s not exactly something I can deal with in my sleep. Anyway, do your work and if you need anything from me let me know, I’m just going to focus on this for a while.”
----------------------------------------
It was just before the sun rose that Ben woke up, having ended the night in his god’s realm inspecting that overwhelming spell and chatting with the people along with Myriad that he found Thera as he always did when they had to sleep in close quarters, using him as a pillow.
Didn’t she go to sleep at the other end of this tent? It’s not exactly huge, but she sure can cover her distance.
Not that he minded. He gently wrapped an arm around her, not expecting any response as he did but getting one anyway.
“Mmh, you’re up early,” She muttered.
“So are you. Does that mean you actually meant to use me like a pillow for once?”
“Ugh, no, I just didn’t bother moving away when I woke up. I didn’t sleep super well and you’re surprisingly comfortable.”
“Well, feel free to relax a bit. We don’t need to get up for another hour or so I think. Also, I love you.”
“Ha, you better, but what brought it up?”
“I mean, it's just nice to say, but I’ve also been a little hectic since I got out of the trial. Just feel bad you’re being dragged into all of this.”
“Well then, you can make it up to me when we’re done here cause gods above I’m going to have to deal with one change you're responsible for for the rest of my life. Make sure you put your best into it.”
“Something on your status?” He asked, feeling all sorts of discomfort as he did. He knew that something had happened with it and they hadn’t had time to talk about it before they’d gone to sleep, both too exhausted from the day before.
“I don’t even want to think about it.”
“Come on, I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours. Actually, it would be easier to just get you to read my card later, I’m not sure I remember all of the changes. It was a lot.”
“...I guess I’m going to end up telling you eventually. Charm, telekinesis, dark magic, and spirit empowering all leveled up, plus I’m now a high spirit mage. On top of that… A title.”
She fell silent at that, the embarrassment of what it was killing her inside as Ben tried to leave her more comfortable by sharing his new ones as well.
“Well, if it’s just one then that’s not too bad, I ended up with five that might get me attacked on the street again. You’re cuddled up with a godslayer, madman, monster, god killer, and threat. Are you worse off than all of that?”
“Maybe. Also, two of those are basically the exact same.”
“Ha, that was my first thought too. I guess different gods must have reacted different ways to what happened. Still, titles are helpful, right? I’m sure whatever you got will have its benefits.”
“Maybe, but I can’t begin to imagine what the benefit would be,” She heaved a long sigh as she worked up her will to say it, trying to force the embarrassing thing out of her like she was ripping off a bandage. “It’s madman’s lover.”
Don’t laugh don’t laugh don’t laugh don’t laugh-
“I can feel you trying not to laugh Ben and just be aware I’m willing to swallow us both in the earth so nobody ever finds out about this. It would let me die with a little dignity at least.”
“Sorry, sorry, but it’s not so bad and I’m sure it will have its advantages eventually.”
“Sure, but will those advantages make up for having that title stuck to my soul in a thousand years?” She groaned. “I might have to explain how I got this stupid thing one day to someone whose great great great grandparents haven’t even been born yet. When we get back to Stonewall you’re taking me on the best date of my life to make up for this.”
“A pretty low bar considering that on our first official date the invasion points appeared,” He chuckled.
“You’re right, you have to plan the best day of my life then. I want romance and the best food you can make. Also, we’re dancing.”
“Kind of sounds like you’re planning the date for us.”
“I’m just giving you some well-advised suggestions,” She said sweetly, her embarrassment from the title fading as they spoke. “It’s entirely on you to decide if you’re going to take them, plus you have to do other things for us too.”
“Ha, okay sounds good to me. Hopefully, I’ll have someone here to replace me in a couple weeks, a month tops, after that we’ll head right back to Stonewall.”
“Well, not right back,” She said, stopping him. “There’s a small detour we need to make. It might take a day or so.”
“Of course, what do you have in mind?”
“Secret,” She said, placing a finger to his lips. “I put up with your surprises, you have to put up with mine.”