CH306

Ben opened his eyes, the five soul-sealing crystals in his hand as well as his knife as he looked around. Thera was leaning beside him as she read to mentally escape every revelation that had been forced on her that day, trying to gain a better understanding of how to use her magics in tandem instead of thinking on the fate of the world, while the gods were still talking to the sky, discussing all that had happened.

You know, I think soul crystals has a nicer ring to it than soul-sealing crystals, don’t you?

<Is that really important now?>

Not particularly, I just hadn’t thought of a proper name for them yet. Might as well get it out of the way.

“Are you ready for your attempt?” Anailia asked as soon as she noticed he was up. She was only one of a handful of gods that didn’t doubt him, but as with the others she had no issue with what he’d be attempting. In fact, she found herself heavily anticipating it.

“Mostly. For now, do you think you could wake all of them up but weaken them so they can’t make any rash moves?” He asked, nodding his head to the still sleeping people before he continued with an afterthought. “Ah, maybe not the children though, they don’t really need to see this.”

Anailia nodded and as she was doing that, Ben turned to Thera. “Hey, willing to trust me a bit?” He asked, giving his most winning smile as she looked exhausted at just the thought of what he’d be doing. He hadn’t given the full details, but what he had alone was enough to be outrageous.

“Well, I was always likely to get a level or two of sacrilege spending so much time with you, now that we’re dating I guess I can handle shouldering a bit of your madness and the consequences.”

“Hey, it will be fine, don’t worry. More than fine even… But admittedly you may get a couple levels of it. But also it’s harmless so don’t worry.”

“Harmless unless someone finds out and attacks you on the street,” She pointed out.

“That happened once and it was mostly because of my status as a whole. Anyway, you still need to take a new job right? Do me a favour and take adventurer.”

That little request was enough to let her see where he was going and she immediately felt a lot less hesitant in the face of the potential benefits. She took the offered job crystal and made her choice, handing it back for Ben to make his.

 

AVAILABLE JOBS

• Trap user
• Craftsman- alchemy path
• Craftsman- artistic path
• Craftsman- blacksmith path
• Craftsman- cooking path
• Craftsman- stonecrafts path
• Craftsman- sewing path
• Heretic
• Holy craftsman
• Kin
• Mathematician
• Adventurer
• Cursed item maker
• Scholar
• Master craftsman
• Material mage
• Master enchanter
• Destruction mage
• High tank

 

As all the options filled his mind, he couldn’t help but let out a low whistle.

I sure have come a long way from only having one.

<Yes, you have so many wonderful choices and you insist on going with the worst of them all!>

I want to be stronger, Myriad. I don’t ever want to be in a position like the trial again.

<Huuh, I know. It’s the only reason I’m not fighting you on this so just do it already.>

“Alright, I take heretic.”

 

<ACQUIRED JOB- HERETIC LV0>

<MINOR BONUSES GRANTED TO IMPROVING ALL ATTRIBUTES>

<ALL SKILLS USED AGAINST THE GODS WILL RECEIVE A MINOR GROWTH BONUS>

 

He could have selected it silently in his head but he didn’t see the point, having fully assumed that the gods were already looking into his thoughts as he was taking it with no idea just how much of a struggle that was quickly becoming to do to him without the practice Myriad had. Anailia was left mildly amused by the choice while the other two gods just seemed shocked as they muttered together.

“You don’t think that’s enough to-”

“Of course not, he didn’t even get a level of it. How high could he possibly be to actually be able to kill something with a god in it? I’m sure Anailia will deal with it when he fails.”

Oh, ye of little faith.

Ben asked Thera to invite him into her party, the main perk of the adventurer job that it resulted in their job pools being merged, and held his knife in his hand as he walked up to the first of the sleeping demons housing a god while looked out into the crowd of its old believers before them, all of them now awake, but unable to move, unable to help if a misplaced sense of loyalty compelled them too as Anailia called out.

“By now you’ve all heard the situation,” She told them in a voice filled to the brim with compassion, none of the anger she felt for their gods directed at them. “We don’t blame you for existing, no being chooses their birth, but it’s undeniable that the consequences that the forbidden gods have brought are immeasurable, with the countless other gods who share this world finding them lacking in any trait that would spare them. As such, the apostle of Myriad, the god who will act as your new caretaker as you all come to understand this world, will carry out their sentence, and you’ll see just how weak and unworthy these beings truly are.”

With that she lifted the magic that kept the forbidden gods asleep, speaking to Ben in a quiet voice before they were completely roused from their enforced slumber.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this? Killing is… well it can be difficult. If you don’t think you can just signal me and we’ll make it look good.”

“Thanks Anailia, but honestly, for whatever it might say about me I don’t think I’ll have any issues.”

His god seemed convinced that the acts of violence he had caused in the past without feeling anything was a reflection of how he handled it as a whole, and while he’d never considered it before, hearing it said made him want to deny it outright. He had a sense of right and wrong and he tried hard enough to help others. He’d be sad if anyone he cared about was hurt or died, but none of that applied to the beings before him. They may have very well doomed the world with the choice they’d made, they were far from guiltless like the race they’d created. Even if they were fully sapient, he couldn’t help but easily look past the fact that they were essentially people and only focus on just what he’d gain from this.

I can’t help but wonder if I was always like this or if being on this world’s changed me… No, you know what, it doesn’t matter. Either way, it doesn’t change things right now.

He shook the thought from his head, just in time for the gods trapped within the demons to come to their senses, screaming as they did.

“What are you worthless fools doing? Attack them!” One screamed at their believers in a voice the priests could tell belonged to the god Iflud, as the others had their own things to say, with only one addressing Anailia herself.

“What right do you have to judge us!” Quox spat. “You with so many believers, you with so much faith to spare! Do you have any idea what it’s like to feel yourself starve each day with a feast before your eyes?”

“Of course not, no god that risked themselves to save their people would,” She said dismissively, not caring in the slightest what they had to say but still feeling spiteful as she did. “Of course, I do know of a lovely little god who’s dealt with that, a friendly cube who’s actually guiltless that will make a wonderful guardian of the race you created.”

“What, you’re giving them to that freak!”

“Hey, watch who you’re calling a freaking asshole!” Ben yelled back, thinking of starting with him for what he’d said about Myriad but deciding to save him till the end instead as he held the knife.

“Pff, you think I’m going to be afraid of this little farce?” Quox asked. “As much as gods can be killed, there needs to be far more strength than coming from you boy. All of you up there think you have us? Just you wait, I’ll-”

He stopped his tirade mid-sentence from the shock as he saw Ben plunge his knife into the neck of the demon Iflud had been forced into, the effects of the sacrilege enchantment doing its job with the soul crystal glowing in response as his mind exploded with notifications.

 

<MAX LEVEL OF THE HERETIC JOB ACHIEVED>

<TOLERANCE LEVEL INCREASED>

<SACRILEGE LEVEL INCREASED>

<SACRILEGE HAS COMBINED WITH TOLERANCE LV7 TO AWAKEN TO KING OF SACRILEGE>

<KING OF SACRILEGE LEVEL INCREASED>

<KING OF SACRILEGE LEVEL INCREASED>

<ACQUIRED TITLE- GODSLAYER>

<ACQUIRED TITLE- MONSTER>

<ACQUIRED TITLE- MADMAN>

<ACQUIRED TITLE- GOD KILLER>

<ACQUIRED TITLE- THREAT>

<KING OF SACRILEGE LEVEL INCREASED>

<THE GOD MYRIAD WANTS PERMISSION TO VIEW YOUR THOUGHTS AND SPEAK IN YOUR MIND. ALLOW?>

<THE GOD ANAILIA WANTS PERMISSION TO VIEW YOUR THOUGHTS AND SPEAK IN YOUR MIND. ALLOW?>

<THE GOD HELORI WANTS PERMISSION TO VIEW YOUR THOUGHTS AND SPEAK IN YOUR MIND. ALLOW?>

<THE GOD BAPHEL WANTS PERMISSION TO VIEW YOUR THOUGHTS. ALLOW?>

<THE GOD SLARETH WANTS PERMISSION TO VIEW YOUR THOUGHTS. ALLOW?>

<THE GOD QUOX WANTS PERMISSION TO VIEW YOUR THOUGHTS. ALLOW?>

<THE GOD HARO WANTS PERMISSION TO VIEW YOUR THOUGHTS. ALLOW?>

…

 

…Okay, this is a lot to take in.

The system notifications simply didn’t stop as the names of gods who apparently wanted to see what was going on in his head kept increasing with no silence to come, but he pushed that to the side for the time being. The fact that he was hearing that new notification made him think that with whatever change awakening sacrilege had brought, it had given him just a little more privacy.

I genuinely don’t know where to start with all this. Five new titles is crazy as it is, but two of them are definitely the same, just worded slightly different. As for the skill, I honestly would have been shocked if I didn’t awaken it. If killing a god didn’t work then nothing would, but getting so many levels and still having four gods to go, it just might be possible…

He tried to keep himself from looking happy, really from giving any sort of expression as he tried to deal with all of the new notifications in one fell swoop, hoping that answering in his head would work as he did.

Uh, grant permission to Myriad, Anailia, and Helori. Deny everyone else.

All at once the notifications stopped, only for the sounds of three gods screaming in his mind to take its place.

<What happened?>

<How were we blocked?>

<What just changed?>

Ahem, is this not a normal thing if you awaken sacrilege? He thought sheepishly, with Myriad screaming in his head.

<I don’t know! Nobody does ‘cause nobody’s awakened it before! Ben, what happened? We heard you getting up to your ninth level and then you fell silent. Hell, you’re still silent for all the other gods watching this!>

Well, after sacrilege changed to king of sacrilege I started getting a lot of system notifications asking if I wanted to allow different gods to look into my mind and I just denied everyone but you three.

<Falling stars, the system’s interacting with him on a deeper level.> Helori muttered in his mind. <But how deep? How extensive are the changes? Is it just this one, making it comparable to your crafting and enchanting changes at the ninth level, or is it something more extensive? We’ll have to investigate this more…> She trailed off as Myriad had his own things to say.

<Of course it’s called king of sacrilege, of fucking course it is.> His god complained, already feeling regretful that he’d agreed to this so easily. <How is it that you’re acknowledged by the system as being the king of that while at the same time as having divine enchanting? Hell, even the ‘unending’ prefix that got added to your crafting denotes it as something significantly different from just being high. Infinite hells and now the cat’s out of the bag for just how high you’ve gotten your sacrilege too.>

It was only Anailia who seemed calm once she understood what had happened, placing a hand on his arm and speaking to him with the voice of the believer she was using.

“Ben, I believe it’s best you get back to it. We can worry about the rest later.”

“But Anailia-” Baphel started, being shut down instantly with her icy glare.

“We agreed to this, don’t tell me you intend to retract your word because you didn’t believe he actually could?”

He backed off in an instant, as did the god beside him while Ben did his best not to stare at the gods and people around him once they’d gained his attention. The notifications were one thing, but looking around it could be seen that how he could see the world had changed too, the bodies inhabited by gods clearly distinguishable from Thera and the group watching, but even they seemed to have something in them that he could only assume was the faith they gave off.

But that’s something to think more on later. He thought quietly as he changed the soul crystal in his knife for an empty one and walked over to Thera, catching the complicated expression on her face as he did.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“Um, did you get a couple levels?” He asked awkwardly, suddenly really hoping he hadn’t got his girlfriend stuck with something like that, though she just shook her head.

“Something else. I’ll tell you later, it’s… well, I’ll tell you later.”

“Alright, well for now you should take a job that you want but think would be hard to complete, better to get it out of the way while you can.”

“Hmm, sure in that case it will be high telekinetic mage.”

With her job selected, Thera handed the crystal back to Ben as he went to choose adventurer, only to pause as he noticed the new option down on the bottom of the list.

Hey Myriad, do you think I’d be able to complete the divine heretic job after killing one or two of these guys, or would it take a lot more?

<What? That’s not a job! Or at least it wasn’t until your sacrilege awoke. Oh infinite hells Ben, why do you need to stress me out like this?>

What I’m hearing is take it after adventurer, got it.

 

<ACQUIRED JOB- ADVENTURER LV0>

<MINOR BONUSES GRANTED TO IMPROVING ALL ATTRIBUTES>

<ALL SKILLS WILL RECEIVE A MINOR GROWTH BONUS>

<HEALING ENHANCEMENT LEVEL INCREASED>

 

Name: Ben Heph