CH657

Seeing the gods that night, the first thing Ben noticed was how obviously different they all looked in his eyes after one of his many awakenings. Not just seeing them like a normal mortal or witnessing them under his sacrilege, he could now see the core of their beings, their souls amongst everything else.

Okay, this might take a bit to get used to till I figure out how to suppress the effect.

There was a clear difference to be observed between what any of them held when compared against a standard mortal’s. They were even different from the holders of any third-tier skill he’d managed to see, showing him that the change that came with a proper ascendance to godhood went deeper than he could have guessed. Neither Helori’s nor Nare’s bore any resemblance to each other which left him wanting to examine them both in detail, but neither compared to his actual god before him.

A composite being made up of the collective souls of his race, when Ben looked at his god, what he saw was a nearly solid, shifting mass of essence, leaving him with no idea where it began or ended.

It was almost like looking at Ralia’s soul a billion times over, only beyond it in ways he couldn’t explain. He felt divinity coming from every part of it, meaning the entire structure was affected by the original gods that had merged into it as well, leaving him practically wanting to dissect what he was seeing for any hint there might be as to its function.

“Uh, Ben?” Myriad asked. “I’m a little uncomfortable with how you’re staring at me right now.”

“Oh, don’t mind it, I was just wondering how you work.”

“I like hearing that even less.”

“It’s fine. Anyway friends, update time! I completed ten jobs, awakened four skills while gaining and leveling a bunch more, was very briefly driven insane by the system, am now a quadruple contender instead of just some lame boring triple one, and also have a question for you all.”

“Wait, what was that about being driven insane by the system?”

“Not important, I got better. Anyway, on the topic of skills and such, has anyone ever managed to get past the third tier?”

“I think your goals are becoming a little too grand,” Helori told him with a thin smile. “But no, the very idea is nonsense and as much as you don’t pay attention to these sorts of things, if someone had managed to get that level of power then you’d know about it. A being like that would stand above every other god on the planet. Hell, they wouldn’t even be a god at that point. Of the various mortals who have managed to achieve a third-tier skill, only two have managed to pull off getting a single level to it beyond that and one of them was a soul mage.”

“Why?” Nare asked him. “I’m sorry Ben but if that’s the strategy you’ve come to for somehow dealing with the demon god then it would be best to give up now. I won’t go so far as to say it’s impossible despite how I feel on the idea but even if there is a sliver of potential to reach that point, it’s not the sort of thing you’d manage before the next year. Honestly, if anyone had a chance of doing it then I’d bet on your lover. The ability to grow tied with a lifespan that could hypothetically stretch out thousands of years is a potent combination. If she lives long enough then she’d be my only bet on who could have any hope to manage such a thing, even if I’d still put the odds against her.”

“Okay, and that’s interesting but I wasn’t asking because I’m going to try to get there. If I’m going to be spending the next year doing my best to just awaken two skills then there’s no way I’m somehow going even further beyond that.”

“Okay, then why?”

“Just curious,” He evaded. “But anyway, now that I have you guys and all, there’s something I want to talk about.”

“Like how the system apparently drove you insane?” His god tried once more, being bushed off again.

“Myriad, that was so five hours ago, I need you to focus here. What are the odds I could get a meeting with the gods? Or at least the core players who show up when they want to have a nice, civilized discussion with me?”

“…Why?”

“Because I finally know how I want to be rewarded for saving this whole stupid world a few months ago and want to get the discussion over with sooner than later.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

It looked like he’d forced a headache on all of them with those words but they at least remained composed while Myriad turned to the other two.

“I’m sorry, but could I ask you to go try and see who’s available while I try and pull just how unreasonable this is going to be from my apostle?”