CH949

“That was long and terrible, and if anyone up here is still mad about the whole ‘evil god’ thing then I’m going to start living up to the name.”

“Why, hello to you too, Ben,” Myriad greeted him as he and Helori looked up from their work. “What has you so unhappy this time?”

“Oh, you know, the same things I was complaining about before. I did so much work and was paid a pittance for it, so if anyone is still unhappy with my existence despite the monumental achievement of what I’ve done, I’m going to be a touch displeased.”

“There’s always going to be people unhappy with your existence, Ben,” Helori told him, shaking her head.

“Then here I am, a touch displeased. Any chance you’ll give me specific names so I can take it up with them?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Lame. In that case, how are things looking otherwise? Any problems popping up worldwide?”

“Nothing unexpected. The sudden boost in strength is leading people to break things a bit more often than normal as they get used to the change and similar effects resulting from other attributes too but in general, everyone in the world who participated is enjoying their new level of power and those who chose not to are regretting it.”

“Well, anyone regretting it can join when I get to my second round of soul modification in however many months.”

“Mmh, it’s possible we’ll feel a fair bit differently about it by then,” Helori pointed out. “Even if not skill-wise, everyone that joined is going to have the attributes worthy of a second tier. While our armies and adventurers are already putting that power to work for the planet, what any common man might do with it is an entire other worry.”

“It’s not like that wasn’t always going to be a problem,” Ben countered. “People are always going to abuse the power they get-”

“Case in point, you,” Myriad made sure to get in.

“Not enough to deserve to be called out over it. Either way, yeah, this will undoubtedly be used for crime, but it will also be used to let people protect themselves. Sometimes you’ve just gotta balance risk and reward. On a marginally different note though, any word on if you guys want me helping anyone else with their jobs because I just finished mine and will happily start a new one if there’s no takers.”

“There’s always going to be takers,” his god told him. “Still, it took you a while this time, huh?”

“Considering the fact that I was being flown around for days without my coat along with a need to manage my mana for the way I was modifying souls, there was no avoiding it. Still, this is going to be great because I’d bet I’ve got three new options. Seems like third-tier skills always give a job, which means I should have two there, plus I should have gotten king of strength in the mix now too. Oh, and since getting three awakened inclinations unlocked me the job inclination master, I wonder if getting three authorities would give me an extra third tier job too? Inclination god has a pretty good ring to it, don’t you think? Bonuses to my defensive and multiversal inclination, maybe finally score me those connect and crafting inclinations I crave too.”

“And all at the low, low cost of figuring out how to get another inclination to the third tier,” Myriad pointed out. “Considering that by your own admission, it took the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of years for you to do it for the other two and that you have no shortcut for your soul affinity, I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

“Mmh, maybe whenever I materialize soul one trillion, it’ll push it over the edge. That’s coming up, it could happen.”

“The very notion that you’re nearing your trillionth soul is theologically horrifying. It’s enough to make me worry that you really are going to somehow draw the eye of some greater god of the multiverse.”

“If there is someone like that and they haven’t blinked at the quintillions of lives the demons have slaughtered, then I think I’m fine. Unless there’s some sort of system to detect souls that finds more are leaving reality then there should be then I’d go unnoticed but honestly, even if there is anyone like that, I’ll make sure to give them a few choice words before I’m smited.”

“Ugh, you would too.”

“So, anything else then?” Ben asked them. “Any stupid new problem or new fuss being raised up there that’s going to end with me having to argue for my existence again?”

“The last one wasn’t really about you arguing for your existence so much as it was trying to settle some of the other gods’ fears and worries,” Helori pointed out.

“Yeah, and I notice that when I make gods afraid and worried, the go-to solution is wanting me dead.”

“There’s nothing, so don’t worry so much,” Myriad told him.

“I feel like worrying about the fact that the beings who technically rule the world want me dead is both a normal and appropriate response to my life.”

“And yet, currently not important. Since you’ve finally got that job done, I’ll let Phixth know. He should have people on standby for you so we can get your next ones started now if you’re ready for them.”

“Yeah, sure then, let’s get this over with.”

On the same pier as the last time, Ben looked at everyone he was with, examining their souls for the changes they held.

Each person had a modified soul, and he remembered all of them, the nature of his mind making it easy despite the millions he’d assisted, and it allowed him to see what growth they’d gotten since then too. Either as a result of the sort of the knowledge he’d given then, the training and practice they’d been able to pull off thanks to their newly grown attributes, or the few hours they’d been under the effects of his authorities, all of them seemed to have leveled since then, leaving Ben satisfied to witness that some had continued to benefit from his help and left him to re-apply the effects of his authorities to them before they began, in the hopes that it would lend results for whatever new jobs they would take when he was done with them before getting to the task at hand.

AVAILABLE JOBS

Craftsman- alchemy path
Craftsman- artistic path
Craftsman- blacksmith path
Craftsman- cooking path
Craftsman- stonecrafts path
Craftsman- sewing path
Mathematician
Beginner puppeteer
Cycler
Entrée
Dancer
Trap master
Destruction god
King of strength
Evil god

God, how long has it been since my job list has looked so short and manageable? He wondered to himself. So many complicated feelings here. It’s nice that I’ve gotten so many done, but I just want more. For now, three great new options, so let’s kick things off with trap master to see what that gets me.

Fantastic, and that yielded me… only one advanced variant, the sacrilege aligned one. Fine, whatever, I’ll take it. Give me immoral trap user.

He couldn’t deny the bit of disappointment in his heart that the master job had only left him with a single new option but it was still major bonuses to all of his attributes, something that always felt good to get in the end as he moved past it to make his next choice. King of strength.

And now I just need agility to finish off all of the king jobs, not that that’s anywhere close to happening. Unless I get some massive and unexpected growth in those areas, even a few more third-tier awakenings won’t get me there. Oh well, I’m helping six groups total, so since I have one more before I get to my big ones, let’s mix things up by taking cycler, just for funsies.

Yeah, should have seen those agility bonuses coming. No new job after it either from the looks of things, but whatever, now I can get to the ones that matter.

Yeah, I’m sure a lot of people up there feel the same. Anyway, I’m taking evil god.

<… Wow, I absolutely hated that.>

Not gonna lie, my feelings are a bit mixed too. As cool as it is getting more divine bonuses, the fact I’m not getting any attribute bonuses for this hurts more than a little. On the plus side, since destruction god is likely going to be the same, what do you think the odds are that it will push my material manipulation to the third tier? It is going to be under my world killer bonuses too after all, plus everything else I’ve got going to it. I think there’s a chance.

<Ben, if you get a new third-tier skill after just revealing the last two you’d gotten then you’re going to cause a panic up here.>

Well, considering my goal is to reach the third tier once more anyway before the next wave starts, it feels pretty safe to say I’m going to cause a panic regardless. Still, it or my connect won’t awaken into anything morally objectionable, probably, maybe, so there should be nothing to complain about, right?

Yeah, but it took forever, it’s probably fine.

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