CH947

“Finished!” Ben cheered as he let himself lay back on the ground once everyone who could be awakened was in Elvat’s residence, leaving the world with new awakened mages of all sorts, including giving the planet an aquatic archmage in the process. “Kind of, sort of, maybe finished!”

In a few days, he’d need to go back to a few places he’d only hit at the end to see if any awakenings would be possible for a few remaining individuals but otherwise he was done, freed from those endlessly boring days of work to get back to his life.

“Please be a bit more definitive about this, man,” Jake complained. “This was terrible and I never want to participate in anything like this again.”

“Well first of all, at least you guys got breaks because for me, it was ten straight days of the most mind-numbingly boring work I could have been doing, and second, I know I can safely modify a soul twice so, assuming nobody decides to kill me,” Ben pointedly yelled up at the heavens above. “I will be able to repeat the process.”

“Is that even a good idea?” Yuzu asked him. “The beastform holders are born with altered souls. Are these modifications going to be passed down?”

“Didn’t do any breeding tests, so I don’t know, and while that could potentially be-”

“Catastrophic,” Amy helpfully cut in, being ignored by Ben when she did.

“Bad, it couldn’t exactly be worse than everyone on the planet being murdered and eaten. Much like so many people being turned into demigods, we’re going to chalk it up as a future problem and worry about the rest later. For now, if you guys want it, then it’s your turn.”

While his physical attributes weren’t given a chance to grow in the past few days, his intelligence, mana, and vitality all had, meaning his friends there would be getting the best he had to offer, and none of them turned him down. Whatever reservations they might have held about potential long-term consequences, they couldn’t help but agree. Better to be alive to worry about them then, and with all of them ready, he reached out with his mana and materialized through their souls, getting the expected groans as he did.

“Oh my god, I don’t even know what words to use to describe this,” Jake complained as he tried to nurse his everything.

“Ha, yeah, that’s soul pain for you. You get used to it.”

“You really shouldn’t,” Yuzu commented, focusing on trying to treat Thera since herself and the other two would be able to enjoy the benefits of her magic when they were done. “How often would you say your soul hurts?”

“At this point? Basically every day. Considering you had mine healed up by day three of all of that, this last week is probably the longest I’ve gone without it being sore in ages.”

“… It’s no wonder your soul looks like that.”

“A little offensive. I’ll have you know a bunch of the changes to my soul have nothing to do with the way I have to constantly stretch it out.”

“I think the only word I can use to describe yours is calloused.”

“Weird choice, not a fan. Anyway, ignoring the indescribable pain you’re all going through, how do you all feel?”

“I don’t think ignoring it is an option,” Amy chimed in, going through the same as the rest of them. “This takes how long to heal?”

“Without a soul mage by your side? Seems like up to a couple weeks. You, who conveniently have Yuzu and souls that don’t actively resist affinitied mana? I’d be shocked if it takes you more than a few hours. Now, actually answer the question.”

“Ugh, my head feels obnoxiously clear. It’s like it’s letting me experience everything else I’m going through in high definition.”

“That would be the extra thirteen thousand points to intelligence you just got. Anything else?”

“Everything feels different,” Thera answered. “If it weren’t for how much I want to curl up and wait for the feeling to pass, I’d say I feel good enough to do anything. Especially my mana, it feels like I can actively feel how much I’m absorbing.”

“Huh, you actually might be able to. Considering the size of your pool in particular, your recovery rate has always been surprisingly low, and with how much you’ve been using while carrying us around, it’s probably easier to tell how much it’s recovering.”

That particular change in Thera would have brought the amount of time she’d need to refill her pool from empty from thirty hours to just below nineteen, a substantial difference which would likely only show its true value when the next wave arrived. As slow as her regeneration might have been, that was only when compared against her total mana, something that was a distinct challenge to use up, only having happened once before.

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“But for now, I’m happy to call this finally done! This may have been days of our lives that we’re never getting back, but it’s finished!”