Chapter 1122

Smelling food cooking as he returned, the sun only just rising in Stonewall as he got there, Ben got to see Mora platting up breakfast for the two others at the table, Sonya back from her own work for the day, and both her and Thera each looked embarrassed that the child among them had been able to not only get up first, but had taken it upon himself to make a meal for everyone, leaving Ben to laugh and brought all eyes on him, with immediate results.

Mora dropped the plate he was carrying in his shock but, before it could fall, Ben caught it with his magic, setting it in front of Sonya, the only one who couldn’t see souls among them, while she was left wondering why Thera and Mora were both staring his way so intensely.

Before she could speak up though, Mora was at his side, showing just how high the boy’s speed was, even within the flesh he chose to wear, and immediately started poking at Ben, looking like he was fighting his desire to give up on his commitment to live in the flesh he’d made.

“You guys can use your words, you know?” Ben laughed as he ruffled the boy’s hair. “I worked pretty hard figuring this out. Let me brag a little.”

“I don’t even know what to ask,” Thera said. “You gave yourself more blessed skills?”

“What?” Sonya yelled the second she was given context, rewarded by seeing Ben laugh more.

“I turned some skills I already had into blessed skills, yeah, which means once more, I’m showing my use to the world. I just finished talking to the gods about it because I’m going to probably have to start doing it to everyone. Speaking of, Thera, Sonya, think about which ones you’d both like to have turned into blessed skills. I can comfortably give you up to a total of five when we include the ones you already have.”

“You have seven,” Mora astutely pointed out, getting a wide smile as his reward.

“And I’m admittedly slightly uncomfortable because of it, but I have a whole bunch of skills that make it way more manageable for me than anyone else, along with a new skill transition that means if I can put up with a bit of discomfort for a little bit, I should be able to give myself even more blessed skills in the future. It’s basically just practice, nothing to worry about, kiddo.”

Thera looked unsure of the answer but just shook her head in the end, knowing that if he thought it was safe, then there was nothing she could do about it and instead quickly came to an answer.

“That means I get three, right? In that case, I’ll go for my soul magic, my mana empowering, and my magic affinity.”

“All excellent choices. In that case, bear with me; there’s one thing I’ll need to do first.”

He quickly went through all of her skills, converting them into blessed skills and back in a way that left her head flooded with notifications before leaving the three she asked for, gaining a level to her non-affinitied magic and her soul inclination in the process.

“Some skills seem to be strengthened a bit by becoming blessed, even if they turn back,” Ben explained, answering the look she was giving him.

“Alright, that’s fine, but… if you can unbless a skill, should I change one of them to my earth affinity?” She asked, more to herself than him, as she considered what would be the best choice. Her soul magic was obviously important to empower; it could help every living being on the world, and her magic affinity would not only reduce the mana cost of all of her spells, it would make them easier to level. Her mana empowering through was different. It could give the spirits around her more mana than they could normally wield, and it could let them safely increase their numbers in a way they normally couldn’t, but while she cared for her paternal race and wanted them to thrive, was that a better use of her skills than her earth affinity, when that could help increase her chances of reaching the third tier in that magic? The next wave drew ever closer, and she didn’t feel like she was getting there. Would it have been better to prioritize that?

“Don’t think too hard on it,” Ben told her. “Just do what you want. If you ever change your mind, I can switch things up for you. Heck, if either of the powerful soul magic users here can figure out how to speed up the way my own soul’s adapting to these changes, then maybe we can even get a sixth on, so that you wouldn’t need to suffer through it for too long.”

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“I can’t even begin to guess how to help your soul deal with this,” Thera told him. “Mora?”

“I might be able to figure out something eventually?” he said, sounding doubtful as he questioned himself. “If I see how Ben’s soul is healing, then maybe I can figure something out.”

“Well, neither of you should stress on it; it was just a thought. I’ll be fine, my soul will adapt, and if Thera wants a change, then I’ll change things for her. Now, Sonya, any ideas for yourself?”

“Mmh, my life magic, unarmed combat, and my mana recovery rate enhancement, then please.”

“Coming up.”

He quickly reorganized her soul, but with that he was done, letting him eat with the others before moving on with the day, to await what answer the gods would give him.

“Alright, Delair, what skills do you want converted to blessed ones?” Ben asked his student when the day started, having given her a small rundown on the newly discovered aspect of his power that left her buzzing with excitement.

“Crafting, enchanting, material user, and crafting inclination, please!” She asked, having previously been somewhat unfortunate as to have only held a single blessed skill in the form of the plant magic that all of the dryads possessed, only for her fortunes to flip as Ben first ran through the rest of her skills for what boost they would get, with temporarily converting her magic inclination to a blessed skill and permanently making her crafting inclination one coming with levels by the time her soul had been rearranged.

The boost that those two abilities gave her other skills was enough for her to immediately grow, pushing her crafting and enchanting to their ninth levels and her plant magic, material user, and destruction to their eighth, leaving her to jump with joy before turning to Mora to brag, all while Ben appraised her from the side.

She’s officially at the point where I could help her awaken her magics then, huh? And also at a point where she’ll be able to see the skills on my soul when I practice connect with her, thanks to that level to her enchanting. Mmm, gonna have to have a nice, complicated talk with her about not judging or spreading anything she sees there, then.

But what she might be able to see of his skills was less meaningful than what he’d be able to do for hers. He could force an awakening with her plant magic and material user by helping her materialize, but he’d already decided he wanted her to get her first awakening by herself. As his student, he wanted her to be aware that she could do such things, even without him around to hold her hand, but explaining as much to her would be for sometime in the future. For the moment, she was excited, having reached a level of skill that almost none her age could have hoped to manage themselves, and he didn’t want to take that from her, letting her enjoy the feeling while he considered the future, only to be interrupted as he did.

<Ben, a moment of your time.>

Hmm? Phixth? Don’t hear from you often.

<I’ve been asked to address a concern with you.> The god said, sounding exhausted. <We’re ready to agree to your request, but can you at least verify that, while you’re doing this, you won’t convert away all of the coward gods’ believers? If you’re going to do that, then they have no interest in paying you to weaken their faiths while you travel.>

Mmh, a reasonable enough consideration, I guess. Fine. While I’m modifying skills, I won’t convert people to Myriad. When I’m not modifying skills remains as fair game though.

<Your position’s clear enough; nobody is going to try to restrict you. In that case, we have a deal. Start whenever’s convenient for you and we’ll aim to get you your non-affinitied magic inclination as soon as possible.>

<ACQUIRED SKILL MAGIC INCLINATION LEVEL 0>

Fantastic. Thanks, Phixth. I’ll get started today and we can arrange things beyond what I can currently do later.

With the first skill received though, it was time to put it to work as Ben began, enchanting on the bands along his arms, materializing matter and souls, and warping reality itself as well, putting all of his magic to use as notifications filled his head.

<MAGIC INCLINATION LEVEL INCREASED>

<MAGIC INCLINATION LEVEL INCREASED>

<MAGIC INCLINATION LEVEL INCREASED>

<MAGIC INCLINATION LEVEL INCREASED>

<MAGIC INCLINATION LEVEL INCREASED>

<MAGIC INCLINATION LEVEL INCREASED>

<MAGIC INCLINATION LEVEL INCREASED>

<MAGIC INCLINATION LEVEL INCREASED>

<MAGIC INCLINATION LEVEL INCREASED>

It took only seconds to hit the ninth level, Ben’s combination of skill, mana, and speed casting made it a simple matter but, once he did, he stopped, a grin spread across his face as a new idea came to mind. He’d learned plenty of ways to manipulate the nature of his soul, but it was only then that he had the chance to test one more way of exploiting his own, filling him with excitement and hope that his idea would work.