Chapter 130

“Ben, it's so good to have you back!” Myriad yelled as he woke up in his god’s realm.“Good to be back, I escape death yet again.”

“Well stop walking into situations where you have to! Thera literally just gave you an out and you turned it away!”

“Hey now, do you really want to spend our first meeting in weeks complaining about something you know I won’t change my mind on?”

Myriad sighed, the sparkle he had when Ben first got there dulling with his attitude. “No, I don’t know what else I would expect now honestly. I haven’t heard any other gods talking about what a handful their humans are, heck I haven’t heard about any of the other summoned getting in as much trouble as you do!”

“Ah, that can’t be right. The rest of them are out prepping to fight for the fate of the world while I’m just a humble craftsman. You probably just don’t hear about any of their near-death experiences because it comes with the territory of being a hero.”

He understood Ben's train of thought, but Myriad wasn’t buying it. Still, there was no point focusing on the matter when there was so much else to discuss. “Well first off, I noticed you went to the job change room, but since you didn’t call for me I take it you took enchanter as expected?”

“I did, though since you brought it up I did get three new ones I wouldn’t mind an explanation on. Holy craftsman, mind user, and kin.”

“Hmm, well I can tell you right away I’ve never heard of kin, but the other two are simple enough. Mind user grants bonuses to all mind type skills and provides major bonuses to the intelligence attribute, of course, given the fact that you don't seem to have any issue with raising your mind skills even without a related job, it might be less of a priority overall. On the other hand that also means that if you did take it you could likely expect an even greater increase to your various skills, so it would probably be worth it eventually. As for holy craftsman, you would have unlocked it by having taken the craftsman and priest jobs. The skills you get bonuses for would be the same as the ones for both jobs, and as a side bonus it would make it easier for you to make job change crystals."

"Wait hold on, I can make those?"

"Of course, where else would they come from?"

"I kind of just assumed the gods made them or something."

"If that was the case they'd be significantly more rare. It's a specific type of enchanting spell that has to be bound within a spherical crystalline structure, but as long as you have the ability to make the spell, a skill to shape the crystal, and a strong connection with a god then there's no issue with making them, though selling them is frowned upon so it's not something you could profit off of."

"Doesn't matter, teach me how later. If it needs a special enchanting spell to make then it might give me some decent job experience."

"I will when I have time. Things have gotten rather hectic up here while you've been unconscious."

"Why, what's been happening?"

"You probably wouldn't know this, but in the distant past there was a group that raised up demons and worshiped them as gods. Given the size of the horde you encountered, we're worried that that's happening again."

"Sounds bad."

"That's an understatement. This close to the war having enemies within could be disastrous. Imagine our efforts being sabotaged before the war even begins, or a horde of demons coming to attack our armies hours before the gates are expected to open. Even worse, in the last few weeks we've been searching for them we haven't found any evidence at all."

"Well, maybe you're wrong then. Maybe it was just poor luck and the group managed to get that big by its own efforts."

"Maybe, but we can't take that chance. After all, if a group had been managing to do something like this in secret for so long, they'd have to be good at hiding, it's just discouraging."

"Hmm, so I'm hearing it would be a bad time to bring up the passive skill I got from my little demon organ transplant?"

"Oh infinite hells, what is it?"

"Partial demonic body."

Myriad let out a long, pained sigh. "Just keep that one hidden on your card too, alright?"

"Already doing it."

“Good. On a related note, I noticed you met with Zandale."

"Yes! Honestly, I can't thank you enough for setting up a meeting like that. Hopefully, they’ll have an option that will mesh well with my current skill set.”

“Just pick whatever you think is best, but try not to get your hopes up. There are plenty of skills you won’t be able to acquire even with their help because of your affinities and attributes.”

“Hey now, my attributes aren’t that bad anymore.”

“Not bad but not good either. You’ve mostly been raising the ones that were already above average when you got to this world. I’ll admit it's good you were able to raise up your strength since coming here, but all you did was raise it from below average to the high end of what an average person might have. Combined with your terrible affinities and you may be able to learn a quarter of the skills Zandale has available.”

“Uhg,” The crushing reality of his god's words was inescapable, but he wouldn’t let it get to him. A quarter of the available skills would still be dozens of options at least, maybe even over a hundred, and while the other apostle was here he could take advantage of their presence and his skill to create a library he could enchant from, heck he’d already started earlier when they were training connect together. He’d need Falk to identify the skills for him since he couldn’t determine them by feel alone, but his arsenal of abilities to enchant wish was about to explode, a fact that made him salivate as he thought of the possibilities.

“Well it’s good you have a decent mentality about it at least. One more thing before you wake up, you completed your quest, let's get you another one.”

“Wait really? I was a little curious about how I finished the priest job so fast,” He had been under the impression he’d have to get Wedrow to spread around the fact that the apostle of Myriad had helped save them and kill a horde of demons, and since he hadn’t been able to do that since he was unconscious he couldn’t make that request.

“The gods watching knew you’re my apostle. Having gained their approval for your acts as my representative in the world successfully completed it. Of course, the main reason for finishing your job has to do with just how many demons you killed, but let's get to the heart of the matter. Like previously, you could complete an achievement for five job levels or grow my faith to an additional hundred believers for twenty, but you have a couple other options now as well. If you take charge and lead my believers to achieve a great goal then I’ll raise one of your skills up by one level, provided it’s no more than level three already, and each of the believers will get a bonus of three job levels. Alternatively, if you succeed in an act that earns me a large amount of faith from a sufficient amount of non-believers, then I’ll raise a skill level up by one, so long as it’s currently level two or lower.”

“I’m into the new options, but they already feel a little vague. How many believers would I need to lead for the first option, and how many people would need to give you faith for the second?”

“A minimum of three would work for the first, though there's no maximum. Of course, the more people involved, the greater the achievement would need to be. As for the second, at minimum you’d need around fifty people.”

“Hmm, well the rewards are good for the work at least, though I wish you could give me something as nice as Anailia gave Thera.”

“Anailia is one of the more powerful gods in the world by virtue of just how many of her race she was able to save. There’s no way I’d be able to give something on par with what she could.”

“Lame but okay. I’ll think about it for now, but I’ll leave it until I can find anything worthwhile, alright?”

“Sounds good, it’s better you take something you can accomplish. The stronger you get, the better it is for me after all.”