CH877

With Thera leaving to give a bit of help at the hospital for what time remained in the day, Ben turned to Delair and Mora once he needed to leave himself, grabbing both their attention away from their cleaning.

“Alright, I’m going to need to step out for a bit so Delair, head on home for the day. Mora, you okay to walk her back and I’ll come pick you up later?”

“I will.”

“Thanks kiddo, hopefully I won’t be too long but both of you keep safe on your way.”

“We will,” Delair called back, already tugging Mora along in excitement and curiosity at how the rest of her village was going to react to the boy’s sudden change, letting a small smile creep onto Ben’s face despite the stress of the day as he was left alone, the only thing left to do being to pass through the gate to all who waited beyond.

With the guild on the other side being even busier than usual, not that that was the most shocking considering he was helping twice the number of people finish their jobs and many of the parties he’d be working with would only be with him for whatever remaining levels they had before he’d need to move onto the next to help. It wasn’t like every member of every party would show up when only the one with the adventurer’s job was needed but while he could see a few individuals there without whoever they were linked to, plenty more seemed to want to be present, either for the conveniently available job crystal the guild held or else to see him personally, the one going around and seeming to be blessing the world with experience.

Well, whatever anyone else wants to do is their business. More important is that it looks like both third tiers decided to come in person this time.

One of whom looked far different than the last time Ben had seen him. On his previous encounter with the true shifter, the third tier had been purely aquatic, having both fins and gills but that was no longer so. While he was displaying some more aggressive traits, sharp claws and fangs along with a thick, protective layer of skin and muscle, as if he was trying to be prepared for a fight then and there, his appearance was entirely adapted to the surface, looking right at home.

And as for the other…

She hadn’t appeared to have noticed him yet, too locked on to the person whose party it seemed she’d joined, being oblivious to how badly they looked like they’d wanted to leave her intense yet eyeless gaze, was Abel, the arrangement of all the parties telling him she would be the last he’d be helping.

Which does leave the question of why her next? There’s a few other native third tiers who should have way better odds of either getting an advanced third-tier job or maybe even a level but I guess it could be as simple as they weren’t planning on trying to do anything back to back like this and she happened to be free. Eh, whatever, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just get to work.

With his first group waiting he went over and joined it, accepting the invitation of the party leader at the same time he touched his job crystal, the first time he’d let himself since finishing his last to avoid temptation and letting him see all of the new options as they flooded his mind.

AVAILABLE JOBS

Trap user
Craftsman- alchemy path
Craftsman- artistic path
Craftsman- blacksmith path
Craftsman- cooking path
Craftsman- stonecrafts path
Craftsman- sewing path
Mathematician
High marksman
High destruction mage
Beginner puppeteer
Outsider
Assassin
Cycler
Beginner dancer
Entrée
Soul creator
God defiling gardener
Master actualizer
Body master
Master tank
Eldritch mind user
King of mana
King of stamina
Mind breaker
Primordial heretic
Intelligence embodiment
King of vitality
Therapist

Just when I was starting to make a dent in it they give me ten more. He thought to himself, feeling a grin stretch across his face as he did for all of the new ones he’d gained.

A few of which he’d either known or suspected he’d gain access to. The three new king jobs were no shock given how straightforward the rules of unlocking them were and both body master and master tank had each been heavily suspected for the awakenings he’d claimed at the end of craftsmans’ tower.

Intelligence embodiment had been suspected too based on Thera’s jobs but less certain, Ben hadn’t known for sure how high the threshold for it was going to be but given king and queen jobs required ten thousand points of an attribute, he was willing to guess one hundred thousand was one of the more likely answers, leaving only four others to look over.

He’d of course known that he’d be gaining jobs for his third-tier skills, with eldritch mind user and primordial heretic standing out instantly for all of the curiosity each held. Given the long line of sacrilege jobs he’d taken to that point, he had no doubt that the bonuses it would give would be incredible, even if he could assume little in the way of any potential levels and skills but as for the other, it itself presented a rather unfortunate problem. He didn’t believe he’d be able to speed through it, at least not to the scale he would for others.

A mind user had been a vital part of every party he’d been a part of for the experience his thought structure could create based on that job’s requirements but the one he’d unlocked had to be specialized for his mind, making it far harder to cheat in the end if it were one he was going to take.

Of course, hard but not significantly. Before, I’d been avoiding the job soul creator because making souls had been my main experience producer for doing this and with that job specialized for it, it wasn’t going to get much either but now, I could use a mind user to finish it almost instantly for the bonuses and hopefully levels it would give to soul source and any growth to that would make finishing however hard eldritch mind is going to be so much easier. Plus, with all of the mana I now have I was already going to be way, way faster at it anyway and even if that didn’t work for some reason, well, I’ve still got my heretic strat. There’s a lot of ways to make it work, just maybe not this time.

While it did seem like it would give him some connect bonuses too since it was thoroughly a mind job, it wasn’t going to be the priority for that day, being left to wait for perhaps the next.

And seeing the last two… I’m going to bet they’re related.

Mind breaker was obvious, drawn for the bonus skill awakening his mind had left him and therapist was almost certainly tied to his use of it. While the results hadn’t been as good as he’d wanted, he had been directly using the skill to try and help his fellow prisoners break free of the damage their long confinement had inflicted upon them, making for a tempting option for the future should he ever want to try and improve the results he’d already gotten.

But with the options I’ve currently got… Oh, what the heck, I’d been planning on taking master actualizer in this run anyway, I might as well clear out all of my master jobs in general. Give me body master.

…Fucking flavour enhancement.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw both Abel and the true shifter perking up when he gained that particular level, whatever had changed in him enough for their sharp senses to both notice any improvement in scent that might also translate to taste with at least the less cannibalistic of the two having the decency to look embarrassed at what had prompted the reaction instead of blatantly hungry, a fact that he hoped the girl wasn’t going to be too aggressive about by the time he got to her.

Ugh, I guess I can give her some blood if she asks, I can’t help but be a little curious about how I’m going to affect her attributes now that I’m a double third tier and have my divine body skill too but… God, where’s my survival instinct? Why am I so willing to enable someone who wants to get a bite out of me?

No matter how far his curiosity had gotten him in life, the fact he knew he was willing to pour someone a glass of his own blood to see how it had changed really emphasized the drawbacks of having too much but he did his best to ignore that as he went through different parties, moving on to the next group as the completion notification went off in his head, touching his crystal once more and see what new options had been left from finishing the one master job, regarding them with interest but still ignoring them for what he’d claim next.

Master tank.

Alright, slowly but surely becoming harder to kill, big fan of that so let’s see what’s next.

He worked his way through parties from there, helping them finish one by one while he gained his own experience before finishing his job and arriving at the midpoint of that run where the true shifter Foast gave him a tired look that slowly gained some energy as it turned into a grin.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“The soulsmith’s boy, right? So you’re the one doing all of this?”

“Yeah, I’ve always had a talent for gaining experience.”

“Ha, if you’re really going to finish the job I’ve been stuck on for decades in a day then calling it a simple talent isn’t going to cut it. If Rook ever reappears, I wonder if he’ll at least feel a bit embarrassed about causing a scene over you before?”

“Doesn’t matter, the deal with the gods for my work is that he doesn’t get my services.”

“Ha, another reason for him to regret then, I can’t imagine how long he’s been stuck on his job but it might measure in the centuries. That ass has always been a lazy one, at least as long as I’ve known him.”

“Well, who knows, maybe being away from everything for a while will be good for him,” Ben shrugged, his thoughts briefly turning to the immortal he’d trapped in an item and dropped to the bottom of the ocean before deciding that he ultimately didn’t care. “For now though, let’s see if I really can get you done as fast as I’m hoping, I can already feel Abel’s eyes burrowing into me while she waits for her turn.”

“It looks more like she wants a bite of you than she cares about finishing her job.”

“…Yeah, yeah I can see that.”

Hungry or not though, she’d have to wait. Ben had his own thoughts on what he was seeing from the shifter, that third tier having grown considerably since Ben had last seen him but while he was curious, it didn’t really matter in the face of what was coming next. This was the big test for him, one he’d thought of shortly after his awakenings and only needed to be confirmed, with all of the tools he’d need for it in hand. All that was to see if he’d really generate as much experience as he was expecting and with that he made his choice, speaking it out clearly within the confines of his mind where no nosy god could overhear.

Give me primordial heretic.