Once the two returned and a new party was made, that meant he’d finally, genuinely be able to finish up their mass awakening as he touched his job crystal, taking the last job he was sure he’d be able to speed through for them all, one he’d been curious about ever since he’d first gained it but never had any reason to take until them, with any normal ways of gaining experience sure to be far too long to make it worthwhile compared to what he was now able to pull off.

“Give me soul defiling gardener.”

…So there’s a lot to comment on there. That’s my first time hearing about defilement as a class of skill, haven’t read about it in any book either. Probably going to keep that to myself.

Major bonuses too. Glad I didn’t end up taking it earlier, I was totally expecting standard bonuses so I’m happy to chalk that up to a pleasant surprise, but as for the skill…

“Strange,” He muttered as the name kept ringing in his ears, drawing a questioning look from those around him, with Thera outright asking.

“What is it this time?”

It didn’t seem to be anything bad, certainly not on the level of the awakening that had left him convulsing on the floor, but it was undeniable that he looked unusually confused as he answered.

“The skill I just got with the job, it has an english… well, technically greek… probably? I’m not certain. Sorry, what I’m getting at is it has a word from Earth in the name. Ambrosia.”

“That pretty much guarantees you’re the first to get it then. What does it mean?”

“Food of the gods, the idea is that it's what the gods in greek mythology and possibly a few others would eat, except that doesn’t apply here because the gods of this world don’t need to eat and when they do it’s either through wearing a believer or recreating it in their realms so what does that…”

He trailed off as a possibility dawned on him, threatening to make a grin sketch across his face at the very thought as he covered his mouth to try and keep it down. It was something he was going to need to test to be sure, but if he was right…

Then it looks like the system might be willing to be a little cheeky with its naming sense.

“Ben?” Thera asked him, wondering where he’d been going with the thought as he waved it away.

“Just going to have to test later, I have a couple of ideas but worst to worst if it doesn’t pan out then I’ll go bother Verbum to see if he can help me figure it out. For the time being, let’s finish up here and then I can move on to my next project.”

Not caring to check how many souls it would take like he had the last time, Ben made all he could in one go to get it done, ending with the expected notification echoing in his head.

Huh, a title for finishing my fiftieth job? Sure, I’ll take it.

What mattered was that he was now well and truly done. He wasn’t certain enough of anything else to assume that he’d be able to speed through them the way he just had, especially not while helping to carry anyone else with him, meaning it all came down to what he wanted he’d take for himself next, with that being a matter of what he thought he could accomplish.

Touching his necklace once more he scanned through the job options, finding a surprising amount of new ones with three there for future consideration.

Both beneficiary and god defiling gardener had to be related to his last job, with the second being the most obvious of the two. He was still using the souls of gods to grow fruits for potions, he wasn’t going to argue that he was defiling them in any way, even if he didn’t have a firm guess yet as to what beneficiary might involve.

The last on the list was just as curious to him. Expert, a job he was willing to bet was related to his newest title or his accomplishment of having completed so many jobs but again had few to no guesses on what it would benefit, leaving it as something that was far from an immediate concern.

No, when it came to the jobs he was going to pick, it instead became a question of how much he believed in himself.

With the help of the soul mages, there was something he fully intended to try out but whether he succeeded or failed would mean the difference between finishing another job instantly or else being stuck with one that honestly wasn’t useful to him for potentially weeks, a depressing option when he was already trying to get as much strength for himself as he could.

It wasn’t even a calculated risk, it was a gamble that had the potential to be a setback. Not an insurmountable one but still one nonetheless.

So I guess that just leaves the question of how lucky do I feel?

That very question made him almost select something completely different out of reflex but he took a breath and stopped himself. He had an idea he wanted to test and even if it didn’t work, the attribute bonuses would still be handy. If he was right, he didn’t want to miss out on enjoying the benefits. He may not have believed in his luck but he believed in himself, whether he succeeded or not was only limited by what was possible and the efforts he put in, so without giving himself any more time to hesitate he made his choice.

“Give me high actualizer”

“Okay, with that done, Steph, would you do me a favour and open a portal to the city's gate from here and Yuzu and Elvat, would you refresh whatever spell you have on me that helps lower the difficulty of awakening? It’s time to see just how good of a day this is going to be.”

----------------------------------------

“Why exactly am I getting an audience for this?” Ben asked as he entered the gate network, feeling the eyes of his various friends who came along with him through the portal Steph had created.

“We have to come this way anyway,” Will shrugged. “Might as well see if you’re going to do something neat.”

“Same here,” Sachel agreed. “Besides, you’re trying to awaken something, who wouldn’t want to see how that turns out?”

“Which reminds me, both of you keep mum about the fact that I already awakened two skills today, I don’t need that going around town.”

She and Ralia nodded, neither wanting to be on his bad side about something like that while Thera gave her own answer.

“I’d rather not go off to a hospital, only to find you getting dragged to me if this somehow goes wrong again.”

“It probably won’t, I’m pretty sure it’s only mind skills that cause me irreparable harm, this is… Hmm, okay, so maybe it’s technically kind of sort of a mind skill, but only in the vaguest way. I’m like ninety-two percent sure this will be fine.”

“Then I’ll stick around in case you end up with that last eight.”

“Okay, suit yourself. And I guess you guys are just curious too?”

While Amy tried to play it off a bit more casually, Jake and Yuzu’s enthusiastic nods left no room for doubt that they’d all come along just to see how things would turn out and ultimately it didn’t matter to him who wanted to watch. Either he’d succeed in the end or he wouldn’t, all he could do was try as he prepared to put into practice an idea he’d had back in his imprisonment as a way to pass the time while he looked around the strange space he now stood in.

He’d long grown used to the gate network despite how unusual it could seem to any casual observer. With no distinction between ground and sky, it left him questioning what he was even standing on as he walked through it, as well as wondering about some of the finer details of the layered reality he now called home.

That was exactly what he was standing in after all, a slightly higher layer of reality, one that bore a striking resemblance to another even farther up as he understood it, the very realm he spent most of his nights that let him practice his strange skill to begin with. In every appearance beyond the number of gates and bodies, it felt like standing in the realm the gods called their own.

Similar but not the same, Ben didn’t know how far the comparison stretched but was more than prepared to try and find out when putting his skill to the test, all to see if it would play by the same rules as that higher level of reality, letting him shape it as he saw fit, and to do that he attempted the same thing that had let him discover the function of the skill to begin with, trying to indulge in a craving.

What he wanted was nothing much, just a piece of white chocolate, something he couldn’t get on that world as he visualized everything he could about it. The taste, texture, colour and smell. How it would melt in his mouth and how it felt to bite through as a part of him couldn’t help but become aware of how close the way he actualized was to the way he materialized while he kept going, remembering more and more properties he wanted to experience again as his soul began to gently ache, not with the pain of it being damaged or overstuffed but instead the sort of strain a normal person might get from thinking a little too hard for too long, the sort of headache one would experience from an exhausting studying session only taking place in the core of his being instead of his brain as he put every mind he had towards the task, using his thoughts to bend reality to his will and feeling as it clicked, ending with a small piece of chocolate falling into his hands and notifications filling his head.

“Oh, my guy, now that is weird,” Jake laughed as he watched Ben pop the piece of chocolate in his mouth. “How did you even do that? I didn’t feel you using any mana or anything.”

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“I didn’t, I actualized it, not materialized.”

“Meaning?”

“I thought it into being, a bit less restrictive than having to create something that actually exists. Here, one second.”

Now that he’d awakened the skill, repeating the same feat was instantly easier, letting him make more chocolate for the rest of them to enjoy, even while Amy regarded hers with suspicion.

“Is this even safe to eat?”

“Maybe? One sec,” He immediately made more and threw it through an open gate, watching as it ceased to exist as it passed the boundary. “Yep, safe. Probably at least. since I don’t know the molecular structure there’s no chance of your body successfully breaking it down to incorporate actualized molecules into your cells so I don’t think there’ll be any problems once you leave.”

Although that’s totally something I should test out. I could absolutely actualize a seed to that level of molecular detail, if I got a herbivorous insect and put it in a time-enchanted box along with some actualized water too I’d be able to see what would happen if it was digested and then brought out. Could I make a construct that way that would house a soul?

Something for him to consider later. It seemed what he’d done had only drawn more questions. A few of them at least had already known he could do something like that in his god’s realm but that was different. He was now able to make that work in an area that regular mortals could access.

“It’s like magic,” Jake laughed while Amy shook her head.

“You know you’re literally an archmage, right?”

“No, I mean like real magic, or you know, Earth’s idea of magic, something unexplainable and full of mystique. Not the stuff we’ve got here that I keep being forced to read about. Or maybe psychic powers. He said he thought it into being, that kind of fits the bill, right?”

Ben wanted to laugh at their back and forth but when he thought about it he couldn’t really disagree. He was forcing his mind onto reality. It hadn’t felt strange to him when he was doing it up with the gods but now that he was doing it with regular people it made him question more of the subtler functions of the universe he didn’t currently know about, along with how much more there could be to learn. Even in all of his talks with the grey, they hadn’t told him anything about what they suspected the physics of that universe operated on to suggest that such a thing was possible.

But since I didn’t level up rule bender either I have to assume that I’m not going against the rules of the universe at all by doing this, which really does just imply that all I’ve done is stumble onto something pretty unusual is all. And something I’m absolutely going to have to experiment with when I’m done, but for now, one more thing to finish up.

His gamble had paid off and he’d finished the job, just like he’d hoped, meaning all that was left was to pick what he’d be taking next of the rest of his jobs which was sure to be measured in the span of weeks instead of the hours he’d just passed through, a disappointing prospect after all of the rapid growth he’d just gained but one he couldn’t avoid as he touched his crystal again for the last time that day, looking through all of the options to make his choice.

His awakening had just gained him master actualizer as an option and as tempting as it was for the sole fact that it was almost sure to have a sacrilege-aligned job attached to it like so many of his other advanced paths, he held off. Unless he found another way to speed through the job then he wasn’t interested no matter how useful those bonuses could have been, leaving him to think among the rest.

Originally, the choice had been clear. Awakening deep connection was his goal, he should obviously have been taking master connecter, but after finishing all of those jobs and an earlier talk with Elvat he couldn’t help but feel his choice shift. Connect seemed to function as a hybrid mind/soul/enchanting type skill and over the course of that day he’d taken eight jobs that were likely all giving it bonuses to one extent or another. Sure, taking one more job would only help him in the end but there was something else to consider too. Something he’d learned well during his imprisonment and understood all the more after the soul mage explained it to him. Third-tier jobs were powerful.

Equivalent to a tower blessing on the aspects they enhanced, that was something he couldn’t deny himself when one of his goals was to grow stronger to help ensure his own survival and became especially important when attached to his worries for the future. With less than a year until the next wave now, the earlier he got better bonuses, the more time he’d have to grow under them, all that left was a question of if any of his available options even met the qualification of being equivalent to the soul mage he’d just finished.

Of the thirty-four jobs he could choose from, there were eighteen he was fairly sure nobody else had gotten before and of those, there were eleven he thought either had slight potential to fill his needs or else didn’t know enough about to guess one way or another.

Everything he knew about outsiders told him they were incredibly powerful, up to and including his encounter with one where he’d discovered firsthand that it held a third-tier skill, did that mean the job would give him third-tier bonuses? What about multiversal material mage? The name alone suggested that one had the ability to access information about the greater multiverse and the unique forms of matter to be found within, why wouldn’t that be a contender for a powerful job as well?

Then there was the enigmatic judge he still didn’t understand why he’d gained access to along with one he’d only just acquired in the form of god defiling gardener. With the word ‘god’ in its very name, it suggested that it would grant power appropriate for the role, there was no reason to discount it without being sure.

Really, he could create arguments for most of his unusual jobs about how they could go either way, but across his whole list, there was only one he was sure of. One singular job he believed in his heart would be at the level he was hoping for and that if he was wrong then there was no chance of any of them he could choose having the sort of bonuses he so desperately wanted.

Across the whole of the list, there was only the one option he believed would give him the sort of bonuses he was looking for to get the most growth he could with the time he had and without a second longer he thought it out, not daring to speak it with so many others around passing through the gates to hear and question just what he could be talking about.

I choose world killer.

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

Jobs: World killer (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

Attributes:

* Vitality: 1566

* Vitality recovery rate: 37/hr

* Mana: 2069

* Mana recovery rate: 172/min

* Strength: 1278

* Agility: 345

* Stamina: 2831

* Intelligence: 10366

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 lv7*

* Divine enchanting lv7*

* 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 lv8

* Unnatural inspiration lv1*

* Bite enhancement lv4

* Piercing resistance lv7

* Artisan’s touch

* Unnatural intelligence enhancement lv0*

* Reconstructed alien thought structure*

* Blood regeneration lv2

* Extraction enhancement lv7

* Soul inclination lv9

* Modifier compatibility

* Material sense lv6

* Flavour enhancement lv0

* Ill will lv4

* Balance enhancement lv2

* Soul expansion lv1

* Defiler of ambrosia

* Destruction inclination lv0

* Evil inclination lv0

Active skills:

* Stealth lv2

* Deep connection lv7*

* Cycling lv2

* Marksmanship lv9

* Material manipulation lv8*

* Swimming lv2

* Dance lv1

* Unnatural thought speed lv9*

* Hive mind lv1*

* Rule bender lv1

* Aim lv6

* Esoteric actualization lv0*

* Soul source lv0*

* Lucid dreaming

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

Trials:

* Trial of Anailia and Tolona

* Trial of the Dead God

* Earth Tower

* Life Tower

* Dark Tower

…Holy shit.