CH704

“You doing okay Ben?”

“It’s impossible to overstate my disappointment. How did the gods let two of the world’s small supply of mythic items remain mysteries for all of these years? It kind of feels like it could have been, I don’t know, not a priority but at least somewhere on the list of things worth figuring out. What if they’re something useful? I swear to god, if any of the other ones that are left are some forgotten mysteries too then I’m going to go insane.”

“Well, at least we’re almost done.”

“That’s actually another entire issue in and of itself.”

He knew that there weren’t many mythic items in the world, at least not things that were truly items. While the trials of the world’s various gods may have technically counted, when it came to things that could be held in one’s hands or at least kept in a room the number was only ten; nine when one accepted that Inux was never going to get a new body that existed at the same scale as his last one.

It was something he hadn’t been aware of before their outing to see them all either but it did put in perspective how lucky he was to have his hands on the archive, creating a small reason for him to hold off on any destructive urges the next time he felt angry at Galwax for something.

But despite that low total, it wasn’t like the ones currently on the planet were the only ones to ever exist either, with it really being a matter of the gods who had made such things not necessarily having had the chance to save them. Who could guess how many wondrous items had been lost or destroyed with their planet’s conquests, not to mention the idea that any might have fallen into the demons’ hands.

All of it culminated into what was becoming a slightly disappointing day, at least so far, but he tried to keep positive as they went to their second last destination out by a coast.

Unlike with the ones they’d already gone to see, when it came to the items of the aquatic races it wasn’t so easy for them, given their need for air and all, resulting in the few that group had being brought to them and leaving the two to wait for them to arrive.

Nor was it long. After only a few minutes of enjoying the breeze and the sea air, they began to notice ripples in the water, the forms of hundreds sitting just beneath its surface while dozens more came out, members of semi-aquatic races being sent to act as guards while Ben got his look, with four of them coming out and holding the items with care and reverence, showing each one the respect they’d give the gods who made them.

“Apostle Ben,” One in the lead spoke, a being with the common octopus body plan with the specific species unknown to him. “I understand that this is a reward for your work but I hope you understand we’d like to make this quick. Taking these items so far from their homes and where they can do the most good has made more than a few nervous.”

“Of course, I have no interest in holding you up so long as I can examine them and ask a few questions. It’s just the four?”

“It is,” He waved a tentacle at the first, bringing forth an item that by all accounts looked like a simple pole if not for the dense magics placed on it. “This one in particular we’d prefer you didn’t run your mana through though, for all of our sakes.”

“Okay, why? Is it a weapon?” He asked as he carefully took it, looking it over and memorizing the structure of it to the best of his abilities while trying to push his material sense to see if he could find anything deeper to it, all while the octopus shook his head.

“The opposite. This was a tool originally made to aid in farming. As I understand it, the world this item was made for had a type of fish that was particularly suited to act as livestock with the only issue with them being how slow they would reproduce. This item brings a multi-year incubation period down to a matter of days, though there are some issues with it due to the fact that its effect extends to any animals.”

“Gotcha, I can see how that could potentially cause some havoc if any sort of pest got within range.”

“Well, yes, there’s that too but it’s not exactly the main concern.”

“Then what is?”

“This is a pre-system artifact. In this case, animal just means any form of life that wasn’t the creator’s original race. Any will feel its effects and most aren’t interested in so casually having their fertility and gestation rates enhanced so severely.”

“…Okay, well I’ve seen all I need to so you’re free to take that one back and far away for now, thank you.”

An interesting item and he wasn’t going to fault the god who made it for that oversight when there was no way they could have reasonably predicted the turn their race’s fate was going to take but he got the distinct impression that no matter how good its uses had to be for feeding the aquatic part of the world, it was making the people around him more uncomfortable than anything else they had and he couldn’t deny that he didn’t want something like that going off in his hands either.

Thera had also backed up with that explanation and only came back once it was gone, looking far more comfortable once it was out of sight, even if she asked a question of her own.

“And what exactly is its range?”

“About a few hundred meters in all directions.”

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“And how long does its effect last?”

“It varies by species but in general a couple days, but don’t worry, you’d be able to feel if you were under its effects.”

“Mmh.”

Still looking far more concerned than she had been a few minutes ago, with that one gone they moved on to the next, carrying over the second item.