CH1133

“Alright, that seems as good a time as any to wrap up for the day,” Killi said as evening began to fall. “Everyone, come back here tomorrow morning, and hopefully, we’ll be able to finish things without having to run into a third day.”

“Uh, Killi?” Ben said, raising his hand to get her attention. “Not to sound forgotten about or anything, but we didn’t really talk about any of my skills today after I gave you all my rundown.”

“Ben, you’re five third-tiers in and of yourself. If we considered you today, we wouldn’t have had time to consider anyone else. You can expect to take up the bulk of tomorrow, and if we have to extend this meeting to a third day, you can expect to be the reason why.”

Mmh, my bad.

He could see that from just his introduction that day, everyone around him was still left considering the skills he held, and it weighed enough of their various minds to be a distraction, and while they were sure to spend the night thinking about how they might all work together, he had distractions of his own.

Ben had been able to make a few useful items during that meeting, but still nothing mythic. It was likely the closest he’d ever come, given the tools at his disposal, but in the end, it still hadn’t been enough.

From an enhancement to his buff bracelets which not only added a magic buff to the user but also the souls the item contained to add an even greater empowering effect when those were used, to a different bracelet that would provide a constant and substantial growth bonus to all attributes to a person that seemed to sit between an advanced second-tier job and a third tier one. Empowering people was easy enough, and there were weapons to be made too.

While it had caught the eyes of anyone with soul sight in the room, he’d extended the reach of his own to materialize and enchant outside the bounds of the meeting hall for some of the more dangerous attempts as he experimented with Regnal’s total collapse, those tests yielding interesting results as well. It didn’t have the potential to make anything like a black hole or degenerate matter, but collapsing any volume of material resulted in a dangerous level of heat, and when the skill was released, that collapsed matter generally wanted to explode outward with extreme force, with the only problem being that any item he made using that skill was single use as it would be destroyed too.

Throughout all of his testing, though, he’d run into a different problem. Skill variety. As enjoyable as it was to have access to so many different third-tier skills, too many of them either were or were related to soul magic, too many of them were skills he himself already had in either a slightly weaker, or even a superior form, and of what was left, there were skills he simply couldn’t figure out how to use.

As much as he would have loved to figure out a way to put Verbum’s akashic records onto some glasses to let him access the skill at all times, or a way to apply Abel’s multiversal self monster production enslavement to create a warped army at will, both seemed like dead ends. No matter what he did, he couldn’t come up with a way to utilize their effects, which essentially cut down his number of options by two unless he was able to make a major breakthrough by the time their meeting ended.

Whatever, he sighed, accepting that the rest of the night would be spent theorycrafting in the hopes he might come up with something better. I’ll work on it, and I’ll come up with more options. I didn’t use Rook at all today since I’d put him away, but I’m sure I can at least incorporate his absolute defense in something. The only issue is making a grand enough design with what I’ve got to make some progress. Seriously, even if I don’t make it to mythic, there’s no reason I can’t get an awakening with something high legendary; I just need reality to cut me some slack.

But with that day's meeting brought to an end, there was nothing else for him to do. The rest of them stood up to start filing out, leaving Ben to look around him.

“So, anyone want dinner? I can whip something up quick.”

“Me!” Abel jumped. “And while you’re at it-”

“Yes, I’ll let you have some blood as long as you promise not to go for more after your first cup. With the way things have changed since I saw you last, I’m sure you’ll be getting plenty from it.”

“I’m well-fed recently, I just need a taste.”

“Mmh, I’m holding you to that. Anyone else?”

“Thank you, but I’ll have to pass,” Killi sighed. “My work doesn’t get to end quite yet.”

“And this was an unexpected day for me; I just want to lie down for a bit,” Valaria told him, sounding apologetic, while Tress nodded in agreement. While Valaria had the additional stress of suddenly awakening, the day had felt long for both of them, and the two each just wanted to rest before the following one.

“Sorry, boy, but this is the closest thing I’ve had to a day off in ages,” his teacher said for much the same reason. “I’m going to sleep, and if anyone wakes me, they’re gettin’ thrown through a wall.”

“Okay, duly noted,” Ben nodded. “In that case, Yuzu, Foast, and Verbum?”

“Yeah, I’ll join,” Yuzu nodded.

“And Verbs will come too!” Abel said, making sure to grab the other man before he could escape, completely powerless to fight her off, with Killi showing no inclination of helping him avoid any socialization.

“And I believe I’ll pass as well,” Foast chuckled. “The young don’t need an old man like me hovering around while you all get together.”

“You don’t need to worry about that sort of thing, Foast,” Ben said. “It’s been a bit; I’d love the chance to catch up with you.”

“Ah, well, I’ll make sure to give you some time tomorrow then,” he said, with a quick peek in his mind revealing that the shifter wanted to enjoy the small break from Abel’s chaos since the opportunity had presented itself. “But, like I’d said, I’m not as young as I used to be. Your teacher and Valaria are right, a little lie down would do me well.”

“Alright then, suit yourself.”

With everyone having their plans, the rest of them left, Ben and his group picking a spot along the coast where he could set up a picnic bench and a grill for them all before he began cooking, letting them talk while he worked on getting them fed.

“Ugh, that was exhausting," Yuzu said, leaning on Thera’s shoulder for her own rest. “Ben, if we ever have a meeting together again, do me a favour and don’t decide to murder someone in it.”

“Did you all miss the part where he was clearly trying to kill me first? The fact that I let him live in the end is more than the guy deserves.”

“So, what are you going to do with him then?” Thera asked, having no doubt that Rook’s survival had less to do with the morality of carrying out his revenge and more to do with extracting as much value from the other as he could, seeing Ben smile at the question.

“Even if he’s partway through one, he has two third-tier jobs so he’s an experience sink I can use for the rest of the world, and as long as I’m keeping him, I can experiment with his skills. Heck, he’ll even make a pretty handy shield if the need ever comes up.”

“And exactly how long do you plan on keeping him for?” Yuzu asked, seeing Ben shrug in response.

“Don’t know. To be blunt, he either has to die in a pretty permanent way, or be imprisoned forever, given his crimes. If I let him go, then he’s just going to go around murdering people again, so going with my first option of just getting Ogilt to drop him into a star might be the best choice after I’m done with him, but we’ll see. It’s not something I need to decide any time soon; I can ask around for advice.”

“You’re psychotic,” Verbum groaned. “First, everything you’ve done to your soul, and now this.”

“Man, everyone’s taking the fact that I got a bit of revenge on an immortal psycho who’s literally tried to kill me so harshly. If you’re all so against it then I’ll let him go now-”

“I take it back, I’m not that torn up about it,” Verbum said while Yuzu nodded. Even if they hadn’t enjoyed the sight of Ben beating a man to a bloody pulp and then choking him to within an inch of his life, that didn’t mean either of them thought he should be free. He was a criminal that the world had never been equipped to deal with, and he was also far more trouble than he was worth as far as third tiers went. “If something like this happens again, maybe you can just skip the part where you leave the floor covered in blood and bits of bone and just put him away immediately, huh?”

“It’s not like it stayed a mess for long.”

“He was surprisingly tasty,” Abel nodded, having cleaned up the splatter Ben had left with her tongue. “First time eating something like that. If you do kill him off later, you mind if I get the rest?”

“Yeah, fine by me,” Ben agreed, to the discomfort of Yuzu and Verbum both. “Back to your other point, there’s nothing wrong with my soul. I have more blessed skills now, but that’s it. It’s not like I didn’t give you more when I passed through the magic towers before, too. Which reminds me: Yuzu, you, Jake, and Amy were all out when I passed through Allfaith. Decide what new blessed skills you want and tell the other two to think about it as well for the next time I see them. Place a special emphasis on Jake making sure to make a good choice.”

“I can do that,” she nodded.

“And that wasn’t what I was talking about,” Verbum went on. “You grew your death resistance.”

“What? No way, Verbum, you actually noticed?” Ben laughed, seeing Yuzu instantly reappraising his soul for the change she’d missed. “I always knew we were besties. Look at how much attention you pay to me. Not even my girlfriend noticed without being told.”

“You have too much going on in your soul at this point; it would be weirder if I could notice every difference immediately,” Thera told him. “Especially in a section I normally gloss over.”

“Ha, well, when it comes to discussing ways I can help the other third tiers, that’s going to be one I go over tomorrow. I actually have a far better method too that I’ll go over then as well. Look forward to it.”

“I think I’ll actually just stress out about it, thanks,” Verbum said, already anticipating just what sort of day it would be once Ben was the star of it.

“Well, enough of all of that boring stuff,” Abel told them. “We’ve got something more important to worry about. Namely, I’m thirsty.”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember, but let me finish cooking first,” Ben told her, making her wait a bit longer for his blood before he began plating up and handing meals out to everyone, feeling Abel hungrily watch him the entire time while he ate before, in the end, he gave in. Materializing both a cup and a knife, he cut himself and collected the blood, getting Thera to heal him when he was done.

“You know, considering just how hard it is for anyone other than me to heal you, you really shouldn’t be so accommodating about things like this,” Thera sighed as she spent what seemed like far too much mana to close such a simple injury. “I don’t need you doing something like this when I’m not around and bleeding out.”

“Don’t worry, I’m only willing to be this generous because I know I can count on you.”

“And I’m being super patient, so pretty please,” Abel said, throwing over her card so Ben could see the changes that came with the drink, not knowing that he could now see a person’s attributes through their souls, while she took the cup and downed it, the results making his stomach sink.

I swear to god, if she tries to eat me after finding out how much her attributes just grew by-

“Holy crap, I feel great!” Abel cheered. “How much did I just get from you?”

“Promise you aren’t going to take a bite out of me if I tell you?”

“I mean, I’m going to find out eventually anyway…”

“Mmh, yeah, no. Thera, we need to go. I actually might not be safe here.”

“Oh, fine, I promise!” Abel told him. “So, what is it?”

“... Three hundred to everything but your intelligence and your weeping. Intelligence was over a thousand, and your weeping was six hundred.”

More than a ten-times multiplier to everything compared to the last time he’d given her the same amount of blood, but then, Ben had grown significantly since then. He’d gone from two third-tier skills to five, and all but his soulcraft was above the zeroth level. Add in the fact that his authorities were blessed skills, along with all of the other growth he’d gotten, and it was clear that he’d become a significantly more potent meal for someone like Abel who could be strengthened by the things she would eat.

Even just hearing that, her empty eye sockets widened, and she leaned just a little closer, the news already making her want more.

“No,” Ben told her. “I need my blood to live.”

“Not all of it, though. Come on. The higher I raise my weeping, the sooner I can use it to awaken my weeping enhancement, and then I’ll never need to ask for blood from you again.”

“I specifically made a deal with the gods to get you a constant supply of powerful corpses. I know how much more powerful you’ve gotten since then. You can manage by yourself.”

Her attributes had gone up from the thirty thousands to just below a million in the months since they’d seen each other last, even if her weeping was admittedly falling behind the rest. It was a simple fact that not much in the world seemed good for raising it. Taking advantage of the leftover divine corpses that Vividus would produce may have propelled her to being the most powerful individual in the world as far as attributes went, but the fact that Ben could still provide a significant boost to the one she cared about most could have only been a miracle in her eyes.

“Sure, but I don’t want to,” she complained. “Please? I feel like I’m really close to having enough tears to force an awakening. Just a little more.”

“... How close are we talking?”

“Ben, you can’t be serious,” Thera sighed.

“What can I say? I’m curious.”

“I’m on track to get it right before the next wave starts if the gods keep getting me fed. You could bring it down to just another couple of weeks if you’re willing to be a little generous. Come on, I’ll owe you one.”

Ben looked at her through narrowed eyes before shaking his head. “Fine, but on two conditions. First, even if you want to, we aren’t sparing later. I need a break.”

“Boring but fine. What else?”

“I need to be around when you awaken it.”

Arguably for her benefit too, his presence would allow it to become a blessed skill, the awakening not only granting her blessed soul expansion considering that she already had five, but also meaning she would get a bonus skill for it, and considering it would be the awakening of a skill that impacted an attribute that couldn’t be found in the rest of the world, it was fair to say that he was curious about whatever it would yield.

“Deal!” Abel was quick to agree. “In that case, let’s get started!”

With two soul mages by his side, it wasn’t hard to keep himself comfortable so, while Abel kept pounding back glasses and Verbum watched on in horror, the group of them kept talking about how things had been for them as the hours passed by.

“It is genuinely worrying how willing you are to be eaten if you think the results are going to be interesting,” Thera told him in bed once they’d retired for the night. “Seriously, if she’s getting Vividus’s leftovers, that means she must be getting a few hundred corpses a day, right? Are you really making that much of a difference?”

“It looks like a cup of blood from me is giving more than an entire body that a forbidden god was forced into,” Ben shrugged. “And what can I say? It really is interesting. Since I’ll be able to help her get a bonus skill to go with that awakening, I just want to know what it’s going to be. I guess the odds are pretty good that it ends up being a different attribute enhancement, but if it ends up being another weeping skill, then it would be interesting to see its effects. I wonder if I could convince her to take a small trip to hell with me so I could get a better idea about how her weeping and her corpse fragment work in the first place.”

“Ben, I really shouldn’t have to say this, but don’t go back to hell for stupid reasons. I thought I was going to have a heart attack the first time.”

“Ha, but now I know how to get out. Don’t worry, if I ever do again, I’ll make sure to let you know beforehand.”

“So incredibly stressful. Plus, talking Abel into going to hell with you is being a bad influence on her as well.”

“Hey now, I’m a great influence on everyone. I’m doing pretty good with Mora and Delair, aren’t I?”

“Mmh, they’re both young. Still plenty of years before we really get to see the sort of impact your antics are having on them.”