CH651

In the morning, Ben found the spatial bag he’d brought to the wave beside him, with Thera having grabbed it from the hospital she’d been working at after it had been left there upon his kidnapping, sending a small jolt of fear through him as he rushed through is, pushing aside food and potions he’d prepared for the month to find what he’d been worried about.

Still there. He sighed in relief as he moved the archive to his ring instead. It had been something he’d brought along to give himself a bit more mental leeway if he’d needed it thanks to the powerful time effect placed on it but if it had ended up missing at his return then he would have forever been the idiot who’d lost a mythic item, not a title he wanted to earn for himself.

He hadn’t even thought about it until seeing the bag but now that it was in his hands he was already breathing just a little easier, letting him move on to the first part of the day.

You free for a moment, Myriad?

<After you just took up my entire night?>

Oh, so you are then, perfect. This will be quick anyway, I just want to finally get an answer to this.

He pulled out the strange cube he’d found in his cell as he thought it, wanting to finally know what it was for, only to suddenly become very aware of something he hadn’t been able to notice during all of his time sharing a room with it.

This thing has divinity in it?

With all of the power that Oaun had been flooding the world with, Ben hadn’t been able to feel the few drops of the stuff within that one item at the time but now it seemed so obvious, with his god having his own surprise.

<So that’s what they took, hmm? But how? No, it was built to survive essentially anything, I suppose the idea that it withstood the destruction of my planet isn’t unreasonable but that they managed to find it…>

With it being?

<A prototype. Specifically, my prototype. What you’re looking at is the earliest design for the tool that would eventually become the god Myriad.>

Wait, seriously?

<Mhm, though it’s an early, early design. You know I was originally made to act as an artificial afterlife for my people to hold their souls but that there is a little different, with its purpose being solely to hold memories. Really, I never expected to ever see it again, it feels a little strange to look at after all of this time.>

Huh, neat, so does it actually have any stored? How do I access them?

<Unfortunately, you don’t. Like I said, it was a prototype, it broke far too soon to be of any real use so there’s nothing to be gotten from it. It’s interesting though, certainly worth putting in one of my churches to display.>

Seems like kind of a waste. If it doesn’t work can you at least do anything with the bit of divinity still inside of it?

<I wonder? While I remember being the god who did it, I’m no longer that god after merging with the other divinity of my world along with all of my people. Technically, it’s not really even strictly my power anymore but if that was enough for the demons to find the connection through you and me then it can’t be too different… Hmm, I should be able to do that much and there’s really no reason to let it go to waste. As interesting as it is as a curiosity of my past, this at least isn’t something I’m sentimental about. Ben, if you were to choose an attribute to grow, which one would you want?>

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Mana regeneration, every time.

<Alright, one second.>