The notification asking to bring him up went off in his head and Ben let it take him after getting comfortable, closing his eyes and opening them again to find himself around what seemed like a large round table, hundreds of figures there taking a range of forms, all of them looking right at him, various levels of judgment clear in their gazes.
On either side of him, he had the two gods he was closest to, both Myriad and Helori, and he pushed his mind speed skills to ensure he’d be in a decent headspace for whatever was to come. He didn’t doubt that it would be a pain in the ass, but he was going to ensure he got everything he could out of it. If they wanted him to work then they were going to have to pay.
“So,” He began, happy to take the lead as he put on his best customer service smile. “I hear you’re all looking to hire me?”
“We are at least here to talk,” One told him, looking like a golem and acting as the representative for the rest in the hopes that it would make things go a little more smoothly. The mortal stood out clear in their minds as they all remembered just how their last interaction had gone and they weren’t interested in a repeat. “For now, why don’t you tell us exactly how much you’re looking to be paid for your work and we can move on from there.”
“Ah, of course, but let’s switch things up a bit first. How many people would I be helping? The world is pretty vast so I’m sure there’s more than a few I’d be trying to awaken. Of course, any of Jagal’s worshippers are getting a free pass since I already made a deal with her, it’s just the rest of your people we’re looking at.”
“While Jagal’s believers number twenty, we believe that there are approximately one and a half thousand other mages on the world who might benefit from your services,” The golemmous god explained to him.
The number made it extremely clear what sort of position he was in to negotiate. The gods had burned so much effort and faith only a few years ago to reach across realities just to get two hundred new awakened skill holders, and now here they were, asking him to personally make over a thousand more. Sure, the majority wouldn’t be ending with multiple awakened skills, nor attributes quite as high as what the majority of the summoned were blessed with, but it was still enough to permanently change the landscape of the world.
Wow, more than I thought. Especially for Jagal, I guess it makes sense since all of her believers tend to focus on constantly training to grow and protect their forests, but still.
“Alright, sounds like a fair amount of work, but nothing I’m not willing to take on. All it leaves is the matter of payment like you said then.”
He watched as various gods seemed to sigh, feeling that things were actually going smoothly and knowing that he was about to strip that from them. He expected to be negotiated down by a significant amount, but he wanted to start high enough that by the time it got to what he was really after it would be harder for any of them to argue.
“So I’m sure it’s not going to be a shock to any of you, but I’m already fabulously wealthy,” He began, watching as a hint of suspicion came into the eyes of the god leading the discussion.
“We are aware.”
After all, it was their last encounter that had helped make him all of the more so, none of them were going to forget it.
“So I don’t really need more money at this point,” He went on, ignoring the looks as those around were reminded of how things had gone when he’d made the potions. “I want something else to make it worth both my time and all I’ve gone through to get to the point where this is possible. Pay me in blessings.”
The table erupted into chaos at his words, which was no less than he expected. Blessings were exceptionally handy, helping a person raise both their attributes and levels easier without the limits or work that taking a job would. It was basically free growth so long as one was willing to do the bare minimum. Of course, Ben would be happy to do far more than that, but he knew the chances of him walking away with even a single blessing were slim. All this was was a road to getting what he really wanted.
He waited for things to calm down, his various minds killing time by pulling apart all of the various voices to see what they were saying, with most of them being firmly negative. Blessings were given as rewards from gods, they weren’t things for mortals to be demanding, no matter the circumstances.
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He couldn’t help but feel some of their words pick at him, but he elected to be calm. He was going to be a good, reasonable little apostle and then go back to focusing on his own work the moment all of that was done, he’d just need to be relaxed, reasonable, and patient.
“We are not entertaining this thought! This stupid mortal is lucky he’s allowed to continue existing given the way he acts and that can surely change!”
…Well, that was a real nice second of resolving to be a reasonable person, but I don’t think I’m going to allow my very existence to be threatened without a word.
Those around him felt his sacrilege leaking out of him, the same eerie presence that did nothing yet spoke volumes as he silently rested his arm on the table, pointing at the god who had said that amongst all of the others until things called down enough for him to be heard.
“You, what’s your name?” He asked the being he was all but staring into, someone that looked like a wolf made out of rope and getting a swift answer.
“I don’t know how that’s at all relevant to this.”
Why does there always have to be one guy who wants to be unreasonable? At least it looks like Eneth didn’t bother showing up, I can only imagine how things would be going if he had.
“You’re right, it’s not. I’m just going to make it clear to you all, I won’t be helping to awaken any of ropey’s believers. Since you’re no longer a part of the discussion you might as well leave.”
The god's fibrous jaw hung open, looking shocked and outraged and completely at a loss to be spoken to like that, all while the golem-like god who’d initially been leading things went to take back control.
“Alright, why don’t we all just quiet down and try to be reasonable with each other. Apostle Ben, I believe you can see why your request would raise some tensions.”
Huh, they actually have someone who knows how to be chill to lead things. Cool. Still gotta make things clear.
“I’d say I’m being perfectly reasonable when you consider my history with the lot of you. I know we haven’t always been on the best of terms, what with all of you bringing me to the world and forgetting me when I wasn’t immediately useful, some of you having people in your faiths that would actively harm me, your gross neglect in the barest amount of checking who runs the cultural center of religion getting me tossed into the dead god’s trial, some of you wanting to toss me into hell just because I have a few skill levels you don’t like, and then who can forget having the gall to let your people try and pull me into your nations despite that, but let’s ignore that and focus on the here and now. Despite all of that, I came here to negotiate the sale of my services, but I’m under no obligation to help anyone who threatens my existence. If he has any believers who want to convert away from him then after we get all of this sorted out I’ll help them like any other, but other than that, too bad, so sad, better luck next time.”
“This isn’t about trading services,” a different goddess said, looking mostly tired, as if she’d been waiting for things to turn sour the entire time, while still trying to be reasonable. “This is for the good of the planet, can you not just help because it’s right? That is all we’re asking of you despite our differing positions. Giving you what you want would cost us faith, but it costs you nothing.”
“Well, it’s cute that you think my time is worth nothing,” He said dryly before giving a long sigh. “And as for any different positions, let’s make one thing clear. Our relationship isn’t between god and believer, it's between a service provider and customer. I have what you all want so you all need to provide proper compensation for it. Like any transaction, there’s room to negotiate, in fact, I was fully expecting to until you all decided to act like assholes instead, however if any of you insist on acting unreasonably then I have no obligation to spend my time on you. I get that we’re worried about the end of the world, but I’m a craftsman first and foremost. I do work, I get paid, it’s as simple as that.”
He could already see some wanting to argue and put up a hand to silence them at the same time as the god who was supposed to be leading the negotiation before going on.
“Listen, the reason we’re having issues is because when you look at me you’re seeing someone below you. I know you all manage to work together to an extent, so the problem is that even if you love your mortals, you can’t see them as people worth sharing a relationship of equals with. I don’t care how you treat the rest of them, but for me that changes here and now. I am not less than any of you, and if you insist on acting like it then this will go nowhere. So do you want to negotiate what my services are worth, or shall I just leave?”
Another eruption of conversation that seemed like it would go nowhere, Ben gave up, forcing his mind out of the realm he found himself in and back down below as he sat up, rubbing his head before focusing on everyone around him. There were obvious questioning looks wondering what exactly had just happened and he was about to give the highlights when a new notification rang out in his mind.
Allow.
The last time he’d left a meeting being held by so many gods his mind had flooded with notifications, but this time it ended with just one. He couldn’t deny his curiosity and got to enjoy the feeling of it being rewarded as the golem-like god spoke in his head.