Chapter 1743 – Prophetic

Alright, Beyn was annoying as heck when he was just a Priest. Then he started leading pilgrimages, which weren’t all that distinguishable from crusades, if we’re being honest. I wasn’t a fan of that, especially since they were done in my name, and last time I checked I was just a shiny, awesome ant-monster and not a god, but fine, whatever floats your boat.

Then he turned himself into a kind of ambassador guy, moving out in the world, helping with diplomacy and preaching his weird beliefs all over the Dungeon. Did I like that? No. Did it keep Beyn away from me? Yes. We all have to make sacrifices.

More recently he’s returned to being a front-line preacher, working with his Priests and helping to embed them in the mixed force battalions being deployed in the fifth. Once Solant found out about that aura buff, she was never going into battle without it, I suppose.

And now this one-armed bandit is trying to tell me he’s a prophet?! Specifically, my prophet?!

I don’t like this one bit.

“How in the name of heck are you my prophet? I don’t think that’s a title you can just bestow on yourself. I sure as heck didn’t give it to you!”

Throwing himself into the dirt at my feet with rather more vigor than necessary, Beyn prostrates before me.

“GREAT ONE, IT IS NOT A TITLE I BESTOW UPON MYSELF, BUT THE CLASS GRANTED UNTO ME BY THE SYSTEM!”

What.

“What exactly is this Class called? And keep it down, for goodness’ sake.”

I have to clean my antennae. The pheromones are so absurdly thick in the air. One of the downsides of pheromonal communication is that he can still shout even with his face mashed into the floor. And I do mean mashed. That looks painful.

“Prophet of the Colony, Great One.”

Oh… no. Is Gandalf pulling some kind of prank on me? This is the last thing I wanted. This is only going to take this idiot’s delusions and blow them all out of proportion. It’s bad enough the nonsense he spreads all over the place, now he’ll be able to do it with even more authority. When other people find out about it, who knows how they’re going to react.

Maybe there’s some way to save this.

“What does your new Class allow you to do? Any clues from the System prompts?”

Hopefully it’s nothing special. If the Class has a fancy name, but doesn’t do anything all that impressive, I might be able to limit the damage.

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“W-well… it says the… connection that blossoms between us will be strengthened.”

It might sound as if he’s hesitant, but I can tell he’s just trembling from excitement. This man in front of me couldn’t possibly be happier. He’s overwhelmed with joy, brimming with zealous glee, filled with righteous light. The fact he’s this happy about it doesn’t bode well for me.

Now, as to what he said, I’m even less of a fan.

Our connection will be made stronger? What connection?!

Wait… please tell me…

I send my consciousness diving into the Nave. Beyn has had a seat in there for a long time, I’ve even used it to speak with him… once… maybe twice. Now, I zone in on his seat, except he’s not on a seat.

No, he is now on a plinth. A plinth. And his ghostly outline is no longer the same as everyone else’s, but glowing golden. That cannot be good.

[Beyn, can you hear me?] I reach out to him through the Nave.

[YES, GREAT ONE! I CAN!]