CH780

<Everyone’s been gathered for a while now, are you coming or not?>

Yeah, I guess this is as good a time as any to end this part of the day.

It had long grown dark and Sachel had already stopped by to walk Delair home but with his god’s prompting he finally released Jake from the prison that was his mind, the other man collapsing to the ground after being given back control of his body.

“Oh god, why does everything ache so much?” He asked as he laid there, showing no inclination to open his eyes until Amy answered.

“Ben’s been exercising you through all of this, which, well, seeing as it’s been an entire day he’s been having you run was bound to-”

She was cut off midway through. Welling what little strength he had, Jake jumped up, grabbing both her and Yuzu in his arms.

“Girls! Oh god, I’ve missed you both so much! I love you, please never let me go through that again!”

“…Ben, didn’t you tell us he was going to be fine?” Amy asked him while patting her boyfriend’s back, looking at the other through narrowed eyes while Ben shrugged in return.

“He is fine, just look at him. I mean, yeah, he missed you guys but I’d like to point out I tried to get him to say goodbye at the very beginning and there’s been no mental damage. Trust me, I’ve got a building full of people in stasis who I’m trying to figure out how to help after they’ve been prisoners for millennia, all Jake is feeling is a bit of withdrawal from not having the two of you.”

“Man, I’m pretty sure I just spent years in your head!” Jake yelled back. “How do you know I haven’t gone insane?”

“Because I live every day like that thousands of times over thanks to how I think. You’re my friend and I’m not a monster, if there was anything to be worried about then I would have let you go.”

“Ben, you have ‘monster’ as two of your titles,” Yuzu pointed out, still in Jack’s grip while Ben waved the comment away.

“I think we’ve already spoken about bringing up my status but more importantly, that’s entirely irrelevant. Now, before we go to finish our last task of the day, let’s see how well you can apply some of those lessons. Jake, make me a ball of copper.”

Ben already knew that everything he’d taught had been absorbed, he could feel it in the other’s mind, permanently fixed there thanks to the effects of the knowledge skill that had been applied to him, all that mattered was if he could use the information and Jake didn’t disappoint as he spent his mana to materialize a small ball of copper at his request and continued on with the other requests that followed.

From lead to carbon to ice to a glass jar filled with oil, Ben had made sure to include the chemistry of the world among his lessons and Jake was using all of the information to materialize his mana, giving shape to the forms he now knew in his thoughts. Still not at the level of skill Ben himself could but certainly to a point where he likely had both Uliel and Vasta beat, leaving Amy to re-evaluate the process that had led to that outcome.

“Okay, never mind, I’m convinced. Whatever you did was worth it.”

“Amy, please! Who’s side are you on?”

“Considering it looks like he turned you into one of the best materializers on the planet in less than a single day, Ben’s. Do you really not appreciate what an accomplishment that is for you?”

“Except I’m going to be dreaming about those lessons for the rest of my life!”

“I’m ninety percent sure you won’t,” Ben chimed in. “But if you do then trust me, there’s plenty worse you could be dreaming about. It’s why I’ve given up on actually sleeping.”

“…Ben, you seriously need to talk to a therapist or something,” Amy said, finding that comment more concerning than Jake’s overreaction. She could tell from just a few minutes of talking with him that her boyfriend really was fine but too often when Ben opened his mouth, some sort of deep-rooted trauma seemed to slip out.

Trauma which he for his part just shrugged away. “Hey, not actually sleeping gives me time for other things so it’s really a win-win. Anyway though, seeing as how I haven’t actually gone and destroyed any minds today, is everyone ready?”

“Oh god man, ready for what?” Jake asked him. “Please tell me you don’t have more for me after this.”

“I mean, you are still with me until I manage to squeeze that level out of you but don’t worry, it will be nothing like today. I finished my job so I need to take some new ones with Amy and Yuzu and whoever else the gods want me helping this round. Safe to assume you still haven’t gotten any new options?”

“Nothing at the second tier.”

“Alright, well if you do in the future make sure you let someone know so you can benefit from whatever new bit of help I can manage but until then, let’s get this over with.”

He led them all back to the magic towers’ guild where a crowd had already formed, with the guild master waiting for him.

“Just this way apostle Ben, over here is your first party. And are the two women the ones who will be joining later down the line?”

“Wherever the gods saw fit to put them, yeah.”

“Alright, right this way then, I’ll show you both to your positions for this.”

Separated from there, Ben walked over to the group he’d be starting with first, ignoring the looks of awe and reverence he was getting that stemmed from what they’d been told about him and what rumours had spread after his first round of jobs with that guild, instead cutting to the chase by asking them to invite him into their party before touching his crystal to look over his options.

AVAILABLE JOBS

Trap user
Craftsman- alchemy path
Craftsman- artistic path
Craftsman- blacksmith path
Craftsman- cooking path
Craftsman- stonecrafts path
Craftsman- sewing path
Mathematician
High tank
High marksman
High destruction mage
Beginner puppeteer
Holy adversary
Title master
Multiversal material mage
Outsider
Body user
Slayer
Judge
Assassin
Cycler
Beginner dancer
Entrée
King of intelligence
Soul creator
Beneficiary
God defiling gardener
Expert
Master actualizer
Inclination master

No new ones then.

A part of him had been hoping for some more options, be they connect or crafting or enchanting jobs. While those master paths had all already given him plenty to choose from after he’d completed them, there was always the chance he’d gain some more within those fields later as he did things but as it stood it seemed he had no luck on that front, meaning he was going to have to branch out a bit, with the only question being what three to take that time.

There were plenty he was curious about enough that the chance to take them was in itself nice to have, not having many other options that he would consider being relevant enough to his goals to focus on, but if his quest was for power then there was one choice that still stood out above the rest.

Outsider. A job named for beings beyond the veil of reality itself, creatures that lived between worlds and brought their own rules into whatever universe they could make their way into. Among all he had left, he still considered it to be the best potential option among everything he still had to be a third-tier job. When the main goal was to get what growth he could, it was an obvious choice.

But one he didn’t take. Not then at least. He trusted his gut that it would be powerful but even if it ended up as only a second-tier job, there were risks to it he simply didn’t want to face so soon. It still hadn’t been long since the system had briefly broken his mind when taking a job had helped awaken his alien thought structure and the idea of taking outsider couldn’t help but make him fear something worse. He had his witness blessing which he still didn’t completely understand and he could still feel the chaos he’d seen when reality had cracked scratching at the walls of his thoughts at all times. Just because thinking about it didn’t leave him vomiting anymore didn’t mean it wasn’t still there.

And maybe taking that job would help him with that. Maybe it would give him some bit of relief that was currently missing from his life but it could just as easily make it worse.

But it’s one I’m going to have to take eventually, just… Not now.

After all, even if he believed it would be a powerful job there was no actual proof. Why not take a few others first and get what strength from them he could, especially when he had so many interesting ones to choose from?

And since I’m not taking outsider and growth is the name of the game right now, let’s make this easy. I’ll take inclination master.

He had a clear hope as he named that one, that it would give him skills along the lines of crafting or enchanting inclination considering his natural talent in them and how much he practiced, and if he really dared to dream, maybe even something akin to connect or sacrilege inclination to bring the goal of awakening those skills just a little closer, but that wasn’t what he got as the notifications rang out in his mind.