Chapter 129

“Ben!” Onk yelled out as he got into the adventurers guild and quickly ran over to him. “Are you alright to be up? The rumour was going around you were barely hanging onto life.”“I’m all good,” he told her reassuringly. “But what rumours, I don’t think one injured guy is that important?”

“There were dozens of healers rushing into town to treat you, of course there would be rumours about it!” She yelled, before asking in a far quieter voice. “Speaking of, you aren’t a secret noble or something are you? Everyone in the guild has been placing bets trying to figure out why so many nations mobilized some healers to treat you.”

“Man, people are really starved for entertainment here, huh? Anyway no, I just have a fairly important friend out of town that was able to get me help when things were looking bad,” It was technically the truth. He counted Myriad amongst his friends, and he wasn’t exactly in town.

“It must be a good friend to manage that.”

“An excellent one, and I’m all better now so no more gambling on if I’d live or die or whatever you all were doing.”

“Oh, neither the guild leader nor I would allow something like that, it’s a little too barbaric. All gambling began and ended on how you were able to get treatment so if it's nothing private I’ll pass on what you told me and nobody should bother you.”

“Works for me.”

“Excellent! And with that out of the way, what can I do for you? I know it’s not my place to say but I don’t think you should be taking any quests when you just got out of the clinic.”

“Nothing like that. I’m just here to use the job change room.”

“Hmm?” She said, tilting her head. If she had a face he was sure there would be a confused look on it. “Weren’t you just here for that not too long ago?”

“What can I say, it’s been an eventful few months,” He told her, not mentioning that he’d already changed it once since then.

“Alright, well you know where it is. Make sure you rest up before coming back for any new requests, okay?”

“Of course Onk, I could use a break,” He said, waving her off as he made his way to the job change room.

When he got there he placed his hand on the crystal and let the options fill his mind.

AVAILABLE JOBS

EnchanterTrap userTree tamerCraftsman- alchemy pathCraftsman- artistic pathCraftsman- blacksmith pathCraftsman- cooking pathCraftsman- stonecrafts pathCraftsman- sewing pathHereticMind userHoly craftsmanKin

It was exciting to see three new and potentially interesting jobs, though he was a little surprised there was nothing related to his new hammer and knife wielder skills and assumed those jobs could only be unlocked once they leveled up once or twice. As curious as he was for the other ones though, it didn’t matter. He knew what he was picking and made his choice.

Name: Ben Heph

Race: Human

Titles: Apostle of Myriad, The Forgotten One, Miracle Maker

Jobs: Enchanter (lv 0)

Previous Jobs: Apprentice craftsman, Craftsman, Priest

Attributes:

Vitality: 165Vitality recovery rate: 1/hrMana: 89Mana recovery rate: 6/minStrength: 151Agility: 84Stamina: 644Intelligence: 326

Affinities:

Light: 3Life: 2Fire: 4Water: 3Air: 4Earth: 2Death: 3Dark: 1Space: 4Time: 5

Resistances:

Light: 68Life: 72Fire: 75Water: 69Air: 66Earth: 81Death: 78Dark: 85Space: 63Time: 61

Blessed skills:

Crafting lv5Enchanting lv4Focus lv4

Passive skills:

World speak+Tolerance lv1Sacrilege lv3Complex mind lv2BindPartial demonic body

Active skills:

Dismantling lv2Stealth lv1Connect lv5Hidden mind lv1Calculate lv0Knife wielder lv0Hammer wielder lv0

Blessings

Myriads BlessingAnailias Blessing

Trials

Trial of Anailia and Tolona

As exciting as it was to hear that all of his skills would receive a minor bonus, from what he’d read it was so insignificant that it shouldn’t be a deciding factor when taking the job, but for someone who wanted it it was nice indeed. As enchanting was a magic that made use of all skills, it made sense that they should all grow some as well to properly make use of the skill, and Ben was grateful for it, eagerly looking over his card after taking it and feeling pretty good about his growth, at least until he saw something that raised some concern in him.

Under his passive skills was a new one he’d never heard an announcement of before, presumably because it happened while he was unconscious. Partial demonic body. The skill didn’t have a level which meant he probably couldn’t improve it, and as far as he was concerned that was for the best. While he didn’t have an issue with demon organs being used to save his life, he didn’t expect any changes to occur. He doubted its inclusion on his status simply meant he had demon organs in him now, but he’d been told time and time again that nothing the system did was negative for its users, so at the very least he would assume it was fine for the time being and just leave the option hidden on his card.

As he got home from the guild the atmosphere of the house felt tense as soon as he walked in and he made his way to the kitchen where three people were sitting in an uncomfortable silence.

Thera and Sonya were expected at least, even if their mood was not, but the third was a surprise that put him on guard. Thera’s aunt Vividus, the great life spirit, was sitting at the table with them, much to Ben’s shock, and the tense silence that filled the room made a lot more sense.

“It appears your pet has made it through the day,” She said as he arrived, and not knowing what to do he tried to crack a joke,

“Demoted from fiancé to pet huh, harsh.”

Nobody laughed and he felt the awkwardness of the room increase.

“I’m just here to inspect your body and then I’ll take my leave. Take off your shirt and let's get started.”

He looked to Sonya who gave him a nod and did as he was told, taking off his shirt and having a seat as the spirit at first placed its hands on his chest, but then began sinking its entire arms into his body.

“Visually nothing appears wrong and the organs themselves are functioning fine, having properly integrated with the rest of you. Has anything seemed off to you today?”

He hesitated to bring it up for a moment, but even if Thera didn’t like her, she might be able to shed some light on his new skill.

“My body feels fine, better than usual in fact, but I checked my card earlier and I had a new passive skill called partial demonic body.”

“Level zero or no level?” She asked, voice suddenly filled with interest.

“No level.”

“Is your race still listed as the same on your card?”

“Yes, why? Can it change?”

She ignored his question and focused on the skill. “You should be fine. Technically you’re currently akin to a chimera, but you haven’t changed in any meaningful way, especially if your race hasn’t changed. Your new organs are superior in almost every way to a standard hominid’s, but the biggest change you’ll see as far as I can determine from their function is you’ll heal slightly faster, have an improved immune system as a whole, and likely will become a bit more resistant to poisons.”

So far he was hearing only positives. Any improvement to healing was especially great given how often he was injured, and even though his body was already designed to handle a certain amount of illness and food-born poisons by the gods that built it, an increase could only be worth it, though it did leave him curious.

“Will there really be that much difference for poison resistance? I killed a bunch of demons by poisoning them before.” Admittedly the spikes and hammer contributed a fair bit too, but the poison didn’t do nothing.

“There’s a world of difference between what you’d get from a standard demon to one that had awakened into a true invader,” She told him, revealing that she was aware of the connection between the two groups. “Even if they were close, it would be like comparing a ninth-level skill to a zeroth-level awakened one. The organs themselves seem to feed on a small amount of mana which is why they must be listed as a passive skill, but I doubt you’ll see any other effects than what I described.”

“Alright, if you’re sure then thanks for looking me over.”

“I’m always happy to view an interesting specimen. Should anything unusual happen, have my niece take you to the life valley if it seems related.”

Her task done, she quickly left the house, thanking Sonya for her hospitality and telling Thera to visit her if she trained her life magic up to level six.

As soon as it was just the three of them the two women breathed a sigh of relief.

“Finally,” Thera said happily.

“She can be a bit much,” Sonya agreed.

“So why was she even here?” Ben asked. “Neither of you seem like a fan.”

“Remember that air spirit I asked to bring a life spirit to town? Well apparently because of my connection to my father, that meant getting the great life spirit,” she groaned. “Though I guess it was for the best, she was the one that ultimately saved you.”

“Wait, really?” It made sense when he thought about it, he’d just been too surprised to consider it when he saw her, and everyone in town had only mentioned healers coming, nobody said anything about a great spirit.

“She only arrived today,” Sonya explained. “Which is lucky for you. We were all estimating that it would take at least two more months for your body to properly start adapting to your new organs, and that was if you lived at all. She was able to finish the process in a single day.”

“Damn, I guess I’ll have to thank her next time I see her.”

“Don’t bother,” Thera told him. “You heard her right? You were just a curious specimen to her. She might not have done anything at all if she didn’t find it interesting.”

Thankfully the overall mood of the house began to lift as she left and they were able to enjoy dinner in peace. Ben wasn’t sure how they kept him fed and alive all that time he wasn’t conscious, and he was pretty sure he didn’t want to know given that aside from the presence of magic, overall medical knowledge seemed worse than his previous world. Still, the fact that it had been so long made the food all the tastier, and he enjoyed it with the conversation and company until he needed to go to bed.

As he got himself comfy, fluffing his pillow and laying back while preparing to flip through the book of skills he got from Zandale, he heard his door open and watched Thera walk in.

“Nightcrawling Thera? But we aren’t even married yet,” He joked, pulling his blanket over his chest. He was expecting some sort of reaction but got nothing, instead she just sat at the edge of his bed. “Something wrong?”

“I wanted to talk about it earlier, but I couldn’t find the right time,” She started awkwardly, sounding unsure of herself as she spoke. “About what you said before everything happened. I think you’re right, I’ll start looking for a new party to adventure with.”

She’d thought long and hard about it as he’d been on the brink of death for the last two weeks and knew that if he woke up she’d have to do this. He had been right after all, he was a craftsman, he shouldn’t be hunting dangerous monsters like that and she shouldn’t be forcing him into it, even if she didn’t think she could be comfortable with another party. They would still be friends, it just meant he wouldn’t be putting his life on the line. It had taken a lot of determination to tell him even though it wasn’t what she wanted, so of course he had to be stubborn and contrarian.

“Vetoed,” He told her, making an x with his arms. “Sorry, but I’m going to keep partying with you.”

“What? This whole thing was your idea!”

“Yeah, and it was a dumb idea. I only said it cause I thought I was holding you back, and maybe I am, but I don’t want to stop adventuring with you.”

“You could get hurt again, hell you might actually die next time!”

“Then I’ll work so that doesn’t happen. Besides, you were kidnapped last time and I don’t want you dying when I’m not around either.”

“Has anyone ever told you you’re impossible?” She said. It had taken a lot of determination to do this, and now here he was, just completely refusing her. The fact that she was so happy about it was irrelevant.

“It’s part of my appeal,” He told her with a smile. “I wouldn’t mind taking a week off after what we just went through, but other than that you aren’t getting rid of me so easily.”

“Pretty sure you just had a couple of weeks off,” She said, smiling back.

“Bah, unconscious time doesn’t count, I need some real mental recuperation.”

“Alright sounds good. Anyway, I should probably leave before aunt Sonya notices and gets any weird ideas. Sleep well Ben.”

“You too Thera.”