CH652

“Er, Ben? My guy, what exactly are you doing to my wife?” Jake asked as his eyes glanced between him and the fabric Yuzu was already untying.

“Trying to keep all of my little secrets from being shouted to the world is all, which I personally don’t think is too unreasonable. Even if there’s not many people around, there’s enough that things might become a pain for me if she just screams it out like that, willy-nilly.”

“Mmh, sorry,” Yuzu told him once freed. “I guess this can wait, but I want answers. You, you’re… Ugh, how!”

“All things in due time, but for now, you mind helping with my very sore, very stretched-out soul?”

That request forced her to look at him deeper than the surface-level system information and past all of the souls around him, making her gasp as she did before rushing over.

“How did you even do this?”

“It’s a long story. If we head to somewhere marginally more private then I’ll fill you in.”

Seeming to have no patience when it came to getting the answer she wanted, Yuzu practically dragged him and Thera along, healing Ben the best she could as she did while Jake and Amy followed along with anticipation and confusion, both wondering what could have gotten such a big response from the young soul mage and not getting an answer until they arrived at Elvat’s home, with the merman’s head poking above the water locking into Ben the way Yuzu’s had as he looked like he wanted to shake him the way his apprentice was so prone to while they both shouted out questions.

“What are you doing?”

“Ben, how the hell are you a soul mage?

“Wait, he’s a soul mage?” Elvat asked, looking beyond the souls Ben was creating to the deeper information within his status. “How? No, it’s either because of soul production or soul expansion from the looks of it, but those are both tier-one skills, how does that make sense, but… Soul production. That’s what’s letting you create all of the souls around you. Gods above, it’s like you gained a third-tier skill at the first tier, no wonder you got that job, are you materializing them?”

“Good eye, I am.”

“I can’t believe something like that is possible…”

“Um, would it be possible for the rest of us to get clued in?” Jake asked as he and Amy both looked equally lost. “What the heck is going on to get you guys like this? And Ben’s a soul mage?”

“Ah, well I’ve had a hell of a month so if our wonderful Elvat and Yuzu would both be willing to help heal my poor, tortured soul I’d be happy to give the full story.”

Just as his student had, Elvat looked closer at Ben after he’d said that, seeing the injuries that lied within.

“Goodness, how did you… No, just come here so we can start healing you and give the explanation as we do.”

It was obvious everything the two soul mages were seeing in him had caught them off guard but they did their best to heal him as he once more explained all that he’d been through in the last month, ending the story quickly enough given how many times he’d already been forced to repeat it, with reactions not changing much by the end.

“Wait, so how many souls have you created since you got that skill?” Yuzu asked him.

“Rough estimate? About three hundred million,” He told them, rolling his shoulders and feeling significantly better after that round of healing and repair. “I was doing it constantly without rest and was always pulling more and more mana into me to do it. It kept me busy.”

“I feel like there’s some horrifying theological implications to that,” Amy muttered and was otherwise ignored while Elvat spoke up, sounding thoughtful.

“Well, that would explain how you managed to get through the job so fast. After having it for years, I’m not even halfway myself. I can’t deny a bit of jealousy when you’re going to be done in, oh, from the looks of it, a few minutes.”

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“Wait, you’re that far from finishing it?”

“Ha, Ben, I don’t believe you properly understand just how big of a deal the jobs unlocked with third-tier skills are so think of it this way, if you average it out, each level you gained had to have taken you roughly three million souls to acquire.”

“…Well when you put it that way, yeah, it’s a lot.”

“It’s the price of acquiring something that is the equivalent of a tower blessing for the aspects it raises.”

“Wait, is that how good massive bonuses are?”

“It is, with the cost to finish it reflected in that price. Seeing firsthand how much you acquired after taking it, can you really disagree?”

He couldn’t. All of the levels and skills he’d gotten just by taking the job were undeniable, knowing that it was all equivalent to what he’d gotten from completing a tower only made it more so and left him to re-evaluate just how he wanted to approach his future job options from there, feeling plans shifting in his head as he went on with their talk.