yeah, i guess this is as good a time as any to end this part of the day.

    it had long grown dark and sachel had already stopped by to walk delair home but with his god’s prompting he finally released jake from the prison that was his mind, the other man collapsing to the ground after being given back control of his body.

    “oh god, why does everything ache so much?” he asked as he laid there, showing no inclination to open his eyes until amy answered.

    “ben’s been exercising you through all of this, which, well, seeing as it’s been an entire day he’s been having you run was bound to-”

    she was cut off midway through. welling what little strength he had, jake jumped up, grabbing both her and yuzu in his arms.

    “girls! oh god, i’ve missed you both so much! i love you, please never let me go through that again!”

    “...ben, didn’t you tell us he was going to be fine?” amy asked him while patting her boyfriend’s back, looking at the other through narrowed eyes while ben shrugged in return.

    “he is fine, just look at him. i mean, yeah, he missed you guys but i’d like to point out i tried to get him to say goodbye at the very beginning and there’s been no mental damage. trust me, i’ve got a building full of people in stasis who i’m trying to figure out how to help after they’ve been prisoners for millennia, all jake is feeling is a bit of withdrawal from not having the two of you.”

    “man, i’m pretty sure i just spent years in your head!” jake yelled back. “how do you know i haven’t gone insane?”

    “because i live every day like that thousands of times over thanks to how i think. you’re my friend and i’m not a monster, if there was anything to be worried about then i would have let you go.”

    “ben, you have ‘monster’ as two of your titles,” yuzu pointed out, still in jack’s grip while ben waved the comment away.

    “i think we’ve already spoken about bringing up my status but more importantly, that’s entirely irrelevant. now, before we go to finish our last task of the day, let’s see how well you can apply some of those lessons. jake, make me a ball of copper.”

    ben already knew that everything he’d taught had been absorbed, he could feel it in the other’s mind, permanently fixed there thanks to the effects of the knowledge skill that had been applied to him, all that mattered was if he could use the information and jake didn’t disappoint as he spent his mana to materialize a small ball of copper at his request and continued on with the other requests that followed.

    from lead to carbon to ice to a glass jar filled with oil, ben had made sure to include the chemistry of the world among his lessons and jake was using all of the information to materialize his mana, giving shape to the forms he now knew in his thoughts. still not at the level of skill ben himself could but certainly to a point where he likely had both uliel and vasta beat, leaving amy to re-evaluate the process that had led to that outcome.

    “okay, never mind, i’m convinced. whatever you did was worth it.”

    “amy, please! who’s side are you on?”

    “considering it looks like he turned you into one of the best materializers on the planet in less than a single day, ben’s. do you really not appreciate what an accomplishment that is for you?”

    “except i’m going to be dreaming about those lessons for the rest of my life!”

    “i’m ninety percent sure you won’t,” ben chimed in. “but if you do then trust me, there’s plenty worse you could be dreaming about. it’s why i’ve given up on actually sleeping.”

    “...ben, you seriously need to talk to a therapist or something,” amy said, finding that comment more concerning than jake’s overreaction. she could tell from just a few minutes of talking with him that her boyfriend really was fine but too often when ben opened his mouth, some sort of deep-rooted trauma seemed to slip out.

    trauma which he for his part just shrugged away. “hey, not actually sleeping gives me time for other things so it’s really a win-win. anyway though, seeing as how i haven’t actually gone and destroyed any minds today, is everyone ready?”

    “oh god man, ready for what?” jake asked him. “please tell me you don’t have more for me after this.”

    “i mean, you are still with me until i manage to squeeze that level out of you but don’t worry, it will be nothing like today. i finished my job so i need to take some new ones with amy and yuzu and whoever else the gods want me helping this round. safe to assume you still haven’t gotten any new options?”

    “nothing at the second tier.”

    “alright, well if you do in the future make sure you let someone know so you can benefit from whatever new bit of help i can manage but until then, let’s get this over with.”

    he led them all back to the magic towers’ guild where a crowd had already formed, with the guild master waiting for him.

    trap usercraftsman- alchemy pathcraftsman- artistic pathcraftsman- blacksmith pathcraftsman- cooking pathcraftsman- stonecrafts pathcraftsman- sewing pathmathematicianhigh tankhigh marksmanhigh destruction magebeginner puppeteerholy adversarytitle mastermultiversal material mageoutsider body userslayerjudgeassassincyclerbeginner dancerentre?eking of intelligencesoul creatorbeneficiarygod defiling gardenerexpertmaster actualizerinclination master

    give me slayer.

    ...myriad, are you around? i have questions.

    ...of course you’re not.

    “hey, just out of curiosity, i don’t suppose any of you have ever heard of a job granting titles before, have you?”

    the others in the party looked among themselves in confusion which was enough of an answer and was already what he’d expected anyway. in all of his reading, he’d become aware of thousands of known jobs and not once had he ever read anything about a person getting a title from taking one, leaving it as a question he was going to need to bother the gods about later as he instead focused on finishing it, letting him move from that party to the next where amy was waiting and then on from there as she took a new job herself and moved through the rest of the group, letting her work through another by the time he arrived at the last where yuzu waited.

    “ben, you’re really giving a bit of an ominous energy here,” she said, sensing something in his mood while he just groaned.

    “i just have strange, complicated feelings about my last two jobs but it’s fine. i’m pretty sure they’ll both be handy in the long run to have. now that just leaves the last one and however long it’s going to take me to finish.”

    yuzu wasn’t going to have anywhere near the level of experience elvat had meaning it would take longer but given she’d also be with him for the next few days, he didn’t mind treating his soul a bit rougher than he’d originally planned, especially not when it might help him speed through a level or two of both soul expansion and resilience, but with how his first two choices turned out it did have him second guessing what he was considering for his final choice of that run.

    why not take something a bit more certain like master actualizer? or even multiversal material mage? that one was sure to give bonuses to his material manipulation at least and with how high it was, if he managed to awaken the two skills he wanted to get to the third tier then it wasn’t unreasonable to hope he could spend whatever extra time he had left trying to awaken that one too.

    ...okay, maybe wanting three third-tier skills before the next wave instead of two is a little unreasonable to hope, seeing as nobody’s gotten more than two before.

    still, it would be a perfectly viable option, but despite how he felt about some of the results he’d received so far, one thing he couldn’t deny was that they were interesting, at least to him, and when he didn’t think it would be that long to finish yuzu if he really worked his soul a bit, why not indulge that interest just a little more? after all, there was one job he held that he’d been curious about ever since it had appeared on his list of options and he had just been given the perfect chance to take it.

    oh, what the hell, why not? it might even be something incredible. give me judge.

    name: ben heph

    race: human

    titles: apostle of myriad, the forgotten one, miracle maker, skill learner, enemy of eneth, trial defier, trial breaker, godslayer, monster, madman, god killer, threat, the mad apostle, destined holder of connect, god of destruction, creator of life, awakener, maniac, brutal blacksmith, defier of gods, title holder, enemy of olensia, great teacher, student of helori, myriad’s monster, outsider slayer, demigod slayer, transgressor, destined holder of mental symbiosis, destined holder of alien thought structure, destined holder of soul production, job holder, destined holder of actualization, enemy of duna, demon slayer, world slayer

    jobs: judge (lv 0)

    previous jobs: apprentice craftsman, craftsman, priest, enchanter, mind user, magic item maker, magic weapon maker, high enchanter, fractured mind user, tree tamer, high craftsman, apprentice mage, true mage, tank, heretic, adventurer, divine heretic, kin, master craftsman, master enchanter, scholar, connected enchanter, infernal craftsman, marksman, destruction mage, material mage, high material mage, profane enchanter, master material mage, impious creator, mind master, master adventurer, otherworldly craftsman, material creator, master of all, ritual enchanter, holy craftsman, cursed item maker, actualizer, summoned enchanter, destructive craftsman, soul mage, freak mind user, unholy thinker, polymath, alien mind, soul user, soul master, evil soul user, soul defiling gardener, high actualizer, world killer, connect master, abysmal connecter, master of destiny, hive brain, divine enchanter, inclination master, slayer

    attributes:

    vitality: 2856vitality recovery rate: 68/hrmana: 6425mana recovery rate: 532/minstrength: 2314agility: 625stamina: 5015intelligence: 20432

    affinities:

    light: 3life: 2fire: 4water: 3air: 4earth: 2death: 3dark: 1space: 4time: 5

    resistances:

    light: 68life: 72fire: 75water: 69air: 66earth: 81death: 78dark: 85space: 63time: 61

    blessed skills:

    unending crafting lv8*divine enchanting lv8*unnatural mind lv9*

    passive skills:

    king of sacrilege lv9*bindintegrated demonic body lv9defense enhancement lv9absorption resistance lv9knowledge lv9*all affinity resistance enhancement lv9unnatural inspiration lv6*bite enhancement lv7piercing resistance lv9artisan’s touchunnatural intelligence enhancement lv3*reconstructed alien thought structure*blood regeneration lv5 extraction enhancement lv9soul affinity lv2*modifier compatibilitymaterial sense lv9flavour enhancement lv2ill intent lv4*balance enhancement lv4soul expansion lv7defiler of ambrosiadestruction affinity lv5*evil affinity lv5*soul resilience lv4defense inclination lv0

    active skills:

    stealth lv2deep connection lv8*cycling lv2marksmanship lv9material manipulation lv8*swimming lv2dance lv1unnatural thought speed lv9*hive mind lv6*rule bender lv1aim lv9esoteric actualization lv4*soul source lv4*lucid dreamingcondemnation lv0

    blessings:

    myriad’s blessinganailia’s blessinghelori’s blessinggalwax’s blessingelvat’s mana regeneration blessingeneth’s blessingearth pantheon’s blessinglife pantheon’s blessingdark pantheon’s blessingolensia’s blessingnare’s blessingyuzu’s mana regeneration blessingwitness of chaosoaun’s blessingphixth’s blessingpassive pantheon’s blessingduna’s blessingjagal’s blessing

    trials:

    trial of anailia and tolonatrial of the dead godearth towerlife towerdark tower

    a new skill and more second-tier bonuses, just like he’d hoped, but what wasn’t reflected in it was the change it brought in him. subtly, he had gained a small new sense that was almost akin to how the space spirits perceived the world as he began to feel what could have only been almost a half-foot of the fabric of reality around him, leaving him to question just what his new, unknown skill would allow him to do.