CH407

It was early the next morning that they both headed out, the air thick with spirits around them as they went. Thera had taken the time to fill him in on just what had happened with her and the spirits in greater detail the night before as they made their way through the gate to meet someone for the first time in years. The apostle of Ooro, the skill master Zandale.

Ben had been looking forward to it from the moment that Thera told him. He’d liked his fellow apostle well enough when they’d first met so it would be nice to catch up, but just as important was the chance for him to make even more skill rings, with Ben materializing as many as he could through the night to make up for the fact that he didn’t have too many blank ones on him left after all of the enchanting he’d done at the tower.

That wasn’t enough for him either though. As they made their way through Allfaith he kept deep connection up all around him, leaving him at the center of a four-meter circle as his powerful new mental structure quickly examined everyone who went within his range, letting him see if there were any worthwhile skills to grab, or even better, any awakened skills.

<RAPID THOUGHT SPEED LEVEL INCREASED>

It might be a bit much to hope for, but so long as I keep this up I’m sure I’ll find someone eventually. Plus I have that old deal with Quilith so I should be getting skills from every grey on the planet too. Just gotta arrange a time to meet.

He’d only gained two new first tier ones during their walk through the city but that was fine, he already knew this was going to be a habit for him and his library would slowly grow, getting a bit of immediate growth to go with it as the two of them reached their meeting point and went in, finding Zandale and four others, presumably his apprentices.

Ben let his minds scroll through the sheer volume of skills they all possessed, the four strangers having lower levels of the same teacher, borrower, learner, and lender skills that made Zandale so sought after, but many different ones from each other too. They clearly had different affinities and f he had to guess from the look of things, he would have assumed that they must have all gone off on their own ways to gather and learn skills, only occasionally meeting up to share the ones they could if they couldn’t find any strangers to practice with, but that was even better news for him as he discreetly began copying them onto skill rings, materializing even more into his pocket at the same time as the tentacled apostle greeted them.

“Thera, isn’t it lovely to see you again,” He began politely before turning to Ben. “And well well, if it isn’t the mad apostle himself.”

“Uh, how many people are calling me that?”

“Probably everyone who saw what you did,” He said with a laugh. “But don’t worry, Ooro explained the conflict between the two of you and I don’t intend to hold it against you, it truly is nice to see you both again.”

So every apostle, oracle, and head priest probably knows what happened huh? That does feel like it might get complicated in the future.

<Of course they know, you invited all of them up there before you spat on him! Did you think they were all just going to forget that?>

He ignored his god, letting Thera talk as she gave the other apostle a deep bow. “Zandale, I’m sorry I dragged you into this, it was the only thing I could think of to keep the spirits from abandoning the world.”

“Ah, there’s nothing to apologize for. My plans may have had to change because of this but I’d rather we not lose that sort of fighting force and it’s not like this is going to keep me from training my skills, so shall we begin?”

They only had one dark resistance amulet with them so they handed it to each of the five there before one by one they touched Thera’s hand, all of them copying her skill.

None of Zandale’s apprentices were of the same species, but each of them reacted the same way after getting the skill, looking into the air around them.

“So those are spirits,” One muttered, surprising Thera as they did.

“Wait, you can see them now?”

“Of course, should we not be able to?” Another asked.

“Um, I don’t actually know. I always could so I didn’t realize it was a part of the skill. I guess this works out easier for everyone though.”

Originally, she’d expected that each mage who ended up getting the skill was going to have to just sit down and use it for a set hour each day as the spirits assigned themselves to different ones, or else only the awakened magic holders who should have naturally been able to see them thanks to their mana sense would be taking the role. If that wasn’t the case then that meant there’d be no risk of anyone losing their time or mana if nobody showed up.

With that they all began their practice to gain the skill, Thera explaining everything she knew about it to give them the best odds of success as Ben stayed at the side. While he couldn’t see the spirits the way they all could, he could still see something thanks to king of sacrilege pointing out the faith within them, as well as picking up any that were in range of his connect as a question came to his mind.

Wait, but spirits don’t have gods so why would I be seeing them giving off faith? Maybe I’m wrong and that’s not what I’m seeing? Or maybe I’m seeing faith in general and it doesn’t need to be going to anything divine? They have faith in Thera, right? And presumably the great spirits, too.

Still, it made him curious and he wanted another look, so he tried something, letting himself experience the senses of all of the typical mortals in the room, as well as a spirit of each affinity as he felt his minds reel despite the power behind it.

When he’d looked through Thera’s eyes the night before, he’d learned she hadn’t experienced the world in the exact way he had, but the difference was subtle. That wasn’t true of everyone else, especially Zandale and the spirits.

His fellow apostle lacked eyes, but his tentacles seemed to have a level of photosensitivity, and combined with what seemed like echolocation, it let the man perceive the world around him in a way totally foreign to Ben’s brain. Beyond that though was how the spirits viewed the world, all of them lacking any normal sensory organ as they each instead perceived mana at a level of detail he didn’t think a mortal could replicate, as well as a natural perception of their particular affinity as he felt water vapour through the air from one, the ground beneath them from another, where light was striking and so much more.

The author’s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

It was as interesting as it was overwhelming, so for the time being he broke off the various connections and stuck to looking through Thera’s eyes, seeing the spirits around as she did as thousands of small points of mana.

Beautiful.

It gave the world a feeling of magic that he thought he’d long gotten used to, even if seeing them like that did leave him stabbed with guilt. They were alive, they were innocent people, and no matter if he didn’t know what he was doing, he’d killed so many of them. This wasn’t just an animal to be hunted or an asshole he didn’t like, despite wanting to he couldn’t just brush away his wrongdoing, no matter what anyone said.

Don’t think about it.