CH931

Leaving the two of them from there, Ben left the church of Foast’s goddess where the man was being cared for to make his way back to that city’s gate, feeling the comforting expression he’d tried to wear for his fellow third tier slip away as he did.

One third-tier down.

And one of the combat-oriented ones at that. While some might have been inclined to see it as akin to a change back to the status quo of the world before Ben’s recent awakening to that level, he knew that was far from the truth. He himself was not meaningfully a fighter, the powers he’d gained would pose no replacement for the shifter’s role and no matter what good would come of the other acting as a healer from there on out, Ben doubted it would be enough to replace what Foast would have been able to accomplish in the third wave, leaving the entire planet worse for what had happened.

It’s fine though, there’s months left before the next wave for Yuzu or Elvat to awaken another third-tier or two and with how much Thera is being worked, it’s not an impossible dream that she’d awaken her life magic as well and as for me… well, I’ll just keep going.

The odds of everything he was trying to reassure himself with felt too low and left him pinching his brow by the end as he went. Even if more were awakened, any new third-tier wouldn’t have the decades of experience behind them that Foast did. They’d be too fresh in their skills.

“It’s just not enough,” he muttered to himself.

Every benefit they found felt like it would end up being balanced by a different loss. For every strength they’d gained, the fact that there were other demon contenders on the world was a big strike against whatever hope he could let himself feel. Myriad may have told him that a couple of other ones had been killed by that point but the three he himself had met had all been nightmares and with no knowledge of how many might have still been hiding away on the planet, it could potentially only get worse.

Myriad mentioned before about entire villages going missing too, and I doubt that had anything to do with the one Foast was taken over by. I’ll have to ask if that one was ever found or if it was more than one, or-

<Ben.>

Oh, hey Myriad, perfect timing. You told me before that there was a suspected demon contender clearing out villages without leaving a trace. Were they ever found?

<No, but that’s not what I’m looking for you for. Do me a favour and come up here for a bit.>

“Yeah, can do,” he said as he directed a part of himself to that higher realm, finding two others there that weren’t among the expected crew, even if he still tried to politely greet them. “Phixth and Velmet, what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’ve come to thank you for your work in this matter, Ben,” the stone god told him. “For all that’s going to come of this, well, how you managed to wrap it up was a better outcome than many here could have hoped for.”

“You mean the part where I one hundred percent managed to save the world from disaster and likely saved plenty of you lot too, given that killing him would have meant some godhood where he then could have tried eating all of you up here? You guys were all watching, right? Probably heard what he said about eating the world and its gods?”

“Yes, your work in the matter is deeply appreciated, by some more than others.”

Phixth glanced at Velmet as he said it, the goddess already bowing her head. “Thank you for saving Foast and the risks you’d had to take to do it rather than just sealing his soul away. I won’t forget this.”

“Mmh, a guy willing to work so hard for the world deserves to be saved, there was no other option.”

“I agree, but I’m aware plenty of others wouldn’t have seen the same,” she told him, lifting her head and focusing back on his eyes. “He’s a believer I cherish. All I want for him is to get the chance to rest and that’s only possible thanks to you. I’m not the sort of ingrate who won’t reward someone for their work.”

<ACQUIRED VELMET’S BLESSING>

“Since Abel and your lover both helped as well, they’ve both been rewarded too,” the goddess went on. “Consider this my sincerity but with that done, I’ll be on my way. Until the next time, be well.”

She vanished before he could respond, the thoughts in her head telling him she wanted to go back to watching over Foast and he wasn’t going to try to stop her, instead focusing on the two still in the realm.

“Damn, that was super nice of her. Who’d have thunk, a god trying to properly reward me for my hard work and she even knew the right way of going about it too. And all because I saved one of her believers, nothing else. Wow, I sure do wish I’d done something worth being rewarded by the other gods. Maybe having saved the world for a second time would do it but oh, who am I kidding, what’s the odds of any one guy saving the world twice?”

“Very subtle,” Myriad muttered, even if both gods had expected as much.

“I’m not going to deny your work should be rewarded, Ben,” Phixth sighed. “And I’m even willing to discuss it, if you’d at least hear me out.”

“I’m all ears.”

“If you’re willing to take something small for now as a reward from us for what you’ve accomplished, when the war ends, if things go in our favour and whatever invaders are left on the planet are in a manageable state that isn’t going to threaten to destabilize the world then when that time comes, I will argue on your behalf for something you’ve mentioned wanting before. I will do my best to get you the blessings of the world’s gods.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Their full blessings?” Ben asked, his eyes lighting up, even if Phixth tried to lower his expectations.

“That’s the argument I’ll make but given how I’m sure others will fight it in the end, it’s a lot more likely that it will be knocked down to what any one would put into a tower blessing. Still, there’s many of us on this planet, what you’d get would easily be worth ten tower blessings and I will do my best to rally the others to get you more than that.”

“Mmh, admittedly not actually bad, even if putting it off till after things get better is currently useless to me. Tell you what, I’ll take that deal but given the fact I might be dead even if we win, I want that blessing passed on to my next of kin in the event I’m not around to take it. Either split it evenly between Thera and Delair, give it to one of them entirely if the other dies too, and if they’ve both died then split the blessing evenly between whatever remaining humans are on the planet. And if they’re all dead too, then Myriad can choose who in my life that’s still alive can benefit from it, deal?”

“That’s acceptable and given if you die and join me up here in arguing for it, I’m sure you’ll be able to make quite the compelling case,” Phixth told him, wearing a thin smile at the thought of how the others would react to the new god of sacrilege arguing for proper payment with them, ignorant to Ben’s worries that his death might not end with his godhood for what he planned to do. “And then what reward would you like for the time being?”

“In a few days I’m modifying the souls of everyone on the planet who wants me to and that still depends on what attributes I have for myself, so at least try to raise my mana regen by a couple hundred more points. You were all cheap enough the last time because, not to put too fine of a point on it, I’m literally about to change the world in a significant way.”

“Very well, I will talk to the others and see about getting you properly compensated soon.”

“Cool, and as for one more minor thing… Myriad, would you say this guy’s cool?”

“I’m sorry?” Phixth asked, not understanding the question while the cube focused in on Ben.

“Why, what are you thinking?”

“I’m considering giving him a small heads-up about something.”