CH358

Ben couldn’t help but flop around as he was shaken in Yuzu’s powerful grasp, the attributes of a person who came to the world with a tier three skill even greater than anything his classmates had been lucky enough to arrive with as he ignored both her shock and the confused reactions of those who came with her in favour of asking a question.

“Good seeing you too Yuzu, so you can just talk to me now, huh?”

The tool he’d made her to let her project her thoughts was nowhere to be seen, but she’d still been comfortable enough yelling at him that it didn’t seem to be an issue, but it had been such a short time since he’d made it that it was a little disappointing if it already wasn’t going to see any use anymore.

“I got married and that’s not what’s important! How did all of this happen?” She asked as she gestured up and down him. “It’s only been a few months!”

“A productive few months! Also, it’s rude to comment on someone’s soul like this, give me a break.”

“Um, could we maybe get context?” Amy asked as she and the others caught up, with Thera having already figured out what had provoked such a reaction.

“I’d tell you now, but I’d rather not risk getting attacked in the street again,” Ben said, casting a small look to Uliel as she brushed it off.

“Don’t hold a grudge, I apologized, didn’t I?”

“To be clear, no you actually didn’t.”

“But moving on Ben, your outfit just keeps getting wilder and wilder,” Jake told him, changing the subject as he looked him up and down.

It wasn’t an unreasonable statement. When they’d last seen him he did have his jacket, the first church of Myriad, as well as fingers covered in rings, but to that he’d added the glove he’d made while stuck in the dead god’s trial as a medium to help guide his mana, along with arms covered in bracelets, both the moribusial and deathstone ones to train his attributes, but also the three mythril bands with mana batteries shoved into them as a way to constantly train his enchanting.

“Hey, I’ll have you know that all of this is super useful for my long-term goal of not dying. Hell, if you’re willing to have your attributes drained I can make you a moribusial and deathstone band or ring depending on what you can handle, they’re basically cheat codes for passive growth if you can deal with a bit of discomfort.”

“Hard pass,” Amy told him, answering for Jake before he could agree to something that she was sure would lead to a future where he died in the dumbest way possible. “But how do coloured contacts keep you from dying then?”

“Coloured contacts?” He asked back, taking a moment to figure out what she was even talking about. “Oh, right. This is just my eyes, long story short one of the skills changed the colour so I’ve got these lovely violets now.”

He’d grown so used to the change he didn’t even think about it most of the time, though it did admittedly still catch his attention whenever he saw his reflection, but hearing that, Jake was enthralled.

“Wait, there’s a skill to change your eye colour? Aww man that’s so freaking cool! I mean, it would be even cooler looking if it was just one, but still, I like it, it has impact. How do I pull it off?”

“Another explanation that would get me attacked in the street.”

“Well, we booked a private room for dinner so let’s go already,” Yuzu told them all, rushing them along out of a desire to get any sort of answer on just how his status had changed so drastically.

Once they were seated around a table, plates of food brought before them away from the prying eyes of other guests, everyone but Thera was looking at him curiously as they started eating. They all knew it had to be something big to get such a reaction from the young soul mage and it was hard to deny their curiosity on the topic as Ben decided to open up with a bombshell.

“So I’m a contender now.”

A fork fell from Vasta’s hand as Uliel sat with her jaw hanging open, unable to believe what he’d just said as the other three with them sat there confused.

“Yuzu, is that true?” Uliel asked, unable to take her eyes off of Ben.

“Um, I’m not sure, what’s a contender?”

“Uh, oh right, I guess the term isn’t used too widely outside of certain spheres and you haven’t been brought to any of the meetings yet,” Uliel said, still thrown off by the abruptness of the statement but explaining for the others. “A contender is a person who holds a second-tier skill at the ninth level.”

“Oh, yeah that’s true,” The soul mage confirmed with a nod, Amy and Jake both dealing with their shock off to the side while Vasta picked up on something else.

“Wait Yuzu, does the fact that you couldn’t get that through context mean there’s even more?”

At that she stayed silent, looking at Ben as she remembered how clear it had been made in the past that she shouldn’t reveal his status without his consent as he sighed.

“Listen, I don’t mind telling you all, but that means being cool about a lot of things that might make anyone a little more prone to violence attacking me so hear out the full story first and do me a favour and don’t pass it along.”

From there, Ben explained what he’d gone through in the deep woods, how his skills had grown and changed, along with the jobs he’d finished and the titles he’d acquired, with only Jake bleeding enthusiasm as the rest were too stunned to speak.

“Ah man, so you’re the reason we got those potions before! My guy, you’re the best. I’ve been bursting with power ever since, it was like the power up from arriving all over again.”

He flexed to add to the point, but it reminded Ben of something as he reached into his bag, pulling out bottles for each of them.

“Right, on a similar note of things that can help you that none of you are allowed to talk about, here, I have one each.”

He handed them over as again everyone but Jake viewed the bottles suspiciously considering everything they’d heard, while he alone was content to open it up and start drinking.

“Oh that’s real nice, what is it?”

“Think of it like the god potions you’d already had, just to a far weaker scale. It’s a permanent enhancement potion, but it will only bump your stats by three each.”

In the time since he’d first made it, he’d determined through a bit of experimentation that a person could consume about one a month to see its effect, with any other one consumed in the first two weeks after doing nothing. While not the most incredible result in the world, it still worked out to around thirty free points to every attribute a year, meaning consuming them was a must.

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Hearing that, along with some small assurances from Thera that it seemed safe so far, both Amy and Yuzu began to drink, with only the two older mages still showing their doubt.

“That’s impossible,” The archmage said as Vasta was quick to agree.