CH435

So how are things looking up there? Ben asked as he continued to pat Sachel’s head, waiting for her to calm down.

<Chaotic. The majority didn’t even bother paying attention because they expected a failure. Now that you’ve succeeded they’re all watching and the implication of what else your success here means is spreading.>

Excellent.

It was an implication that Ben had been aware of from the start. If it was possible to forcibly awaken a plant mage by helping them materialize a seed, then it should be possible to help awaken anyone with a physical magic, with what that could mean for the world as a whole obvious to any god or mortal who gave it any thought.

<They’re already talking about sending over their earth, water, and air mages to you, it’s just a matter of working out the logistics of it all.>

Well first, they’re forgetting one, and second, they don’t think I’m working for free, do they? I owe Jagal and will be awakening her plant mages, that’s it.

<Ugh, I will be bringing up that fact after things calm down a bit. More important, what are we missing?>

There were a few other combined branches that they could do too, but Ben’s focus was elsewhere as he let his eyes flicker to Vasta.

Non-affinitied. The best way to awaken it is by using four branches together for a spell, right? The fact that I was able to do it with my own means it should be possible, and there’s gotta be at least a couple people on the world who’re close to it no matter how hard it is, right?

<Fair, I can only imagine bringing that up causing even more chaos but I’ll spread the word.>

You’re the best. When everyone calms down a bit, bring me up and we can discuss payment.

<What, you’re going to negotiate yourself?>

I’m not exactly thrilled with how things have gone when I’m not around you know. Someone up there is going to try to screw me over and I want to be there to call them out on it.

Myriad fell silent, no doubt stressing at the idea of Ben going up to talk to the gods given how things had ended the last time, as the apostle focused on the next thing he needed to do beyond that.

“You good now?” He asked, looking down at Sachel as she looked away awkwardly, rubbing her eyes.

“Um, yeah, sorry about that.”

He could see that she was trying to get herself under control, the feelings that had just swept her away still simmering beneath the surface as her hands tightly clenched the seed she had created, not wanting to lose it.

With his own power, he quickly materialized a lidded jar she could put it in, handing it over so it wouldn’t be lost as he went to pat her head one last time.

“Don’t be, I get this was an emotional moment but why not take time to properly thank the others that helped, miss oracle, ‘cause I need to talk to Valaria for a minute or two.”

“Oh, of course.”

She immediately tried to figure out if she should focus on the soul mages or the other two believers of her faith first as Ben looked to Valaria, nodding his head to the side to step away to chat.

“So you got your job levels then?” He asked her, already knowing the answer from hearing it in her head.

“I did, thank you very much for the opportunity.”

“Bah, it’s nothing less than you deserve,” He said as friendly as he could, all while trying to figure out how he wanted to trick her into taking the role of high priestess. “Myriad is lucky to have a believer acting as devoted as you.”

“Your praise is really too much, I’m not doing anything in particular that deserves it.”

“Nonsense. I’ve been told that you’ve been acting as a central figure for many of the believers and that’s obvious enough given that the two you chose to bring along weren’t succubi.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Ah, I just chat with the few I see in the church, it really isn’t anything so great.”

She stubbornly insisted on deflecting any compliment coming her way, displaying a level of humility that he wanted no part of. “Valaria, you really shouldn’t sell yourself so short. Why do you not want to accept that you’re well thought of by both our god and the other believers of our faith?”

“It’s all very flattering, it really is, I just don’t think I’ve done anything to deserve this level of praise, I’m only doing what I should.”

Got her. Myriad, you standing at the ready with the title?