CH658

When Nare and Helori returned, they brought along six others, all gods Ben recognized as those who’d been selected in the past to help deal with him, all of them looking equally tired and annoyed to be called there as one spoke up.

“Is this really the time for you to be concerned about getting a payout?”

“We’ve been over this. I do work, I get paid, that’s how I operate.”

“You’re asking us to waste our strength on-”

“Someone who managed to already save the world once, yes, I’m aware. You should all feel honoured as gods to be able to show your fairness and grace by granting me a small boon. Really, I’m doing you all a favour here. This way you all get to look nice and just, it really conveys the image that the gods reward those who deserve it.”

All of them were wondering just how small of a boon Ben was going to ask for, with Phixth being the one to cut to the heart of that question.

“And then how exactly do you want to be rewarded for your help dealing with the outsider, apostle Ben?”

“Straight to the point, that’s what I like about you. Now, obviously I’m deserving of blessings from every god on this planet and for you guys to push me into the third tier. The world wouldn’t even be around if not for me and it sounds like plenty of you would have died if I didn’t manage to seal it after killing it so you all personally own me too-”

“Out of the question,” A different god cut in. “I don’t intend to deny what you’re saying, I’d even support it if we manage to fend off the demons in the end, but as things are right now it can’t be justified.”

Ben hadn’t actually expected to hear it would be supported at all in any circumstance, leaving him to give the one that spoke a positive evaluation in his eyes before he went on.

“And I understand that, which is why I’m asking this instead. The gods of this world will instead all grant me the experience to finish my current job, do that for me and I’ll call us square.”

“…Would that really be enough?” Phixth asked, with the others around seeming to share the same sentiment. They all had trouble believing he’d be satisfied with the completion of a job, so he did his best to clarify without overshowing his hand.

“The one I’m currently on is honestly pretty difficult for me,” He admitted. “It gives good bonuses but I don’t exactly feel the most compatible with it, you know? Still, I want to get it out of the way so I can move on to something I’m more suited to. This seemed like the perfect way to make that happen.”

When he put it that way, it made enough sense to them. They all had heard that he’d taken the soul mage job after gaining the ability to materialize souls but aside from that one aspect, it didn’t seem like one he was particularly suited to. While his new skill was sure to be one that would grant incredible experience to it, who was to say how long it would still take, even under constant use? Even optimistically, they’d assume a few years, making his desire to move onto something that suited him more as a craftsman make sense as they quietly spoke among themselves.

“We’ll agree to this,” Phixth said with a nod. “Wait just a bit and we’ll gather the others, the cost is going to be great enough that we’re still going to want to divide it up amongst ourselves.”

“No worries, that works out perfectly for me too, wouldn’t want any one person to overexert themselves. Look forward to seeing you all soon.”

He waved them off as the gods vanished from the realm, leaving only the last three to stare at him with Helori speaking up.

“You already finished soul mage.”

“Did I say I didn’t?” He asked innocently, with the goddess giving him a shake of her head at the response.

“Then what could you have possibly taken for your newest one that you’d want to spend your reward on like this? Don’t tell me you had another third-tier job?”

“Eh, something like that. For now, I wouldn’t worry about it, I have a different favour to ask.”

“What exactly is that?”

“Can someone grab me Anailia?”

“Ben, why exactly am I here?” Thera asked him after having been pulled from her brief sleep to be assaulted by the divinity swarming her.

“You’ll see in a bit, just trust me here.”

“I hate hearing that.”

“It will be great.”

He shot her his most winning look which she only regarded in suspicion as all at once the realm filled, with the only thing protecting Thera from the feeling of it being her goddess wrapped around her.

More crowded than any time Ben had seen Myriad’s home in the past, it was filled with gods of all sorts, none of them exactly looking pleased to be there but all of them forced into it by obligation. Some may not have liked it but Ben had saved the world, they couldn’t simply forgo rewarding him for that achievement, especially not with the connections he had to spread word of that fact if they tried.

“Alright,” He called out cheerfully. “Thanks for coming out everyone, I’m sure you all have things to do so I won’t keep you. No wasting time on small talk and hit me! I’ve even got my mind open so you’ll all be able to hear when I’m done since I’m just polite like that.”

His greeting going largely ignored, nonetheless they still did what he’d asked and he felt their power flowing into him from it as the divine created the experience his job needed to let him move through his levels and kept giving it as the seconds of transfer turned into minutes, all of them moving from their initial mixture of annoyance and indifference to confusion when they didn’t receive any indication that his job had yet finished before going even farther, with one voice eventually calling out to break the silence.

“How is this not done? I’m at ten times what I expected to give!”

The shout brought the sounds of agreement with it from many others, all while Ben tried to play innocent.

“Maybe you guys just underestimated how much it would take, you’re not going to quit on me, are you? Not when I literally helped save the planet? When literally the only thing I asked for out of consideration to you all was that you help me finish this one job so I can try to be more useful by taking more?”

The comment bought him a few more minutes as they each tried to finish it for him, but by the fifteenth minute they’d reached their breaking point, able to take no more.

“Enough!” A different god called out. “Who said he was just trying to finish being a soul mage? The amount this has taken is impossible!”

More calls rose from there as the flow of divinity into him stopped completely, leaving him in a bind. Looking at the crowd, he didn’t actually think he’d be able to convince them to help him through more no matter what he’d done and while he’d been prepared to casually mention how the more powerful people in his life, the third-tier skill holders he was friends with who’d one day be joining their ranks and Pelenia and Greed who’d both be able to spread word far and wide that the gods weren’t willing to pay off the smallest of requests even after saving the world, would all view their cheapness poorly, it would likely interfere with the other way he’d planned on taking advantage of them.

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That left the massive issue of how he’d get the rest of his experience but he filed that way as a future problem, one he’d be left thinking on until he was freed from its current confines as he moved to put things back to his benefit as he sadly shook his head.

“Well, if it’s too hard for you all then I understand,” He said sadly. “I didn’t think it would be so bad but if it’s really to the point that it’s going to get in the way of how you’ll all be able to contribute to the rest of the war then I wouldn’t want that. You guys have done enough, I’ll figure out the rest myself somehow or other.”

Phixth looked ready to sigh in relief at the fact he seemed to be being reasonable. None of them understood why it had taken so much from them but while plenty wanted answers, there was going to be no easy way to get them.

“Thank you for your understanding, apostle Ben. You have my sincere apology that we weren’t able to satisfy your request.”