“Hmm, what’s wrong?” Thera asked as she and Mora came through the gate, finding Delair clear in her moping, even if she didn’t let it distract her from her work while Ben explained.

“Abel was called off so she’s disappointed she doesn’t have someone to work with now,” He said, getting to see a small frown flash across Mora’s face as well, even while Thera nodded in understanding.

“Something urgent then if she didn’t even get time to say goodbye?”

“Apparently something to do with Foast, not sure what though.”

That answer succeeded in making her frown too, the same implication obvious to her that was to him. If it was a problem bad enough to demand a second third tier then it could be no simple thing but she kept that thought to herself, instead walking over to the younger girl and rubbed her back, trying to give what comfort she could.

“It’s alright, I’m sure she’ll come by again.”

“Yeah, but who knows how long that’ll be? She was fun to have around, Abel was so expressive.”

An answer that threatened to make a laugh break out across his face, his student no doubt thinking of how Abel would react to both being taught by a younger girl as well as frequently losing to her when they played together too but he did his best to keep his amusement to himself, not wanting to make light of his student’s sadness as Delair went on.

“Besides, working with someone else was fun.”

“If it will cheer you up then I can stay occasionally,” Mora told her, lighting her up in an instant, even as he switched to look at both Thera and Ben. “If that’s alright?”

“Of course it is, sweetheart,” Thera said. “I’m sure it will be a lot more fun than just watching me work all day.”

“I still want to do that too. I like trying to help the healers.”

“Well, anytime you want to stay with us for the day then you’re welcome to,” Ben told him, not getting to say more as Delair instantly took over and latched onto the boy’s arm.

“So you’ll come tomorrow then?”

“That should be fine.”

“Great, I’ll show you all the things I’ve been learning!”

“Ha, we’ll look forward to having you with us,” Ben told him. “But with that sorted, I should start cleaning up. You guys want to walk Delair home?”

“We can do that,” Thera told him, leaning in to kiss his cheek as she did. “Just don’t take too long, okay?”

“I’ll be right behind you.”

The three of them left after he said it, Delair excitedly talking to Mora about the day to come, her previous poor mood forgotten while Ben swept the floor, tidying just a bit with the end of the day as a way of finishing things.

He knew he could make it faster with his magic, normally he didn’t just to make sure he built up the habit of cleaning up in his student but it made for a peaceful way of ending things, giving him the chance to go over everything in a slightly different way, even if a different thought was left stuck in his head.

What could have happened on Foast’s quest?

Abel hadn’t exactly sounded urgent when she’d left but it had also been clear she hadn’t been given a real explanation either, leaving endless options for whatever the problem might have been. Was it just an issue with tracking that they needed another third tier for or was whatever contender he was facing more than the shifter could handle?

But if it’s more than he could handle then that might imply the thing’s awakened to the third tier as well since coming to the world. He thought with a sigh. And if that’s the case, well, I’ll ask Myriad about it later tonight but until then-

EVIL GOD OF SACRILEGE LEVEL INCREASED

The grin on his lips was as instantaneous as the effects, the sacrilege he was constantly leaking for what privacy it would give strengthened for the level while at the same time its range expanded too, his efforts finally bearing fruit.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Just over a week had been all it had taken to get him his newest level after his last, with the prior only taking two days after his awakening. He may have been impatient for every single moment of it but that mattered less than the result. A new threshold had been broken and in a time that would do nothing but panic the gods of the world once they knew, he’d reached the highest level of any skill that any mortal had ever claimed.

“And if the growth rate keeps up then I can maybe expect my next level around, what? Maybe as little as another few weeks from now? No, I can’t just assume a specific growth rate with so many other factors. It’s still impossible for me to narrow down on what’s going to be the most efficient method of getting sacrilege from Quox and it’s too soon to determine if erasing his memories and starting fresh had any effect or not. On the more positive side, if I take a new sacrilege-aligned job then it should help a bit but who’s to say how much when I’m now officially deeper into the third tier than anyone else has ever gotten before? If the timing is around what I’m expecting, I should get that level just after I start modifying souls but… Well, if I haven’t gotten another awakening as it gets closer then I’ll have to do something that might get some attention. Until then…”

His new level meant new things to test and with the repairs on Quox’s mind still fresh enough, he had plenty of leeway to do exactly that as he finished cleaning and made his way home, the validation of his efforts leaving him abuzz.

“Myriad Myriad Myriad, I’ve got good news for me and bad news for you,” Ben sang out when he arrived that night, instantly drawing the cube’s attention.

“I don’t want it. The day’s been hectic enough as is.”

“Hm? Why? Is it something to do with why Abel was sent off to help Foast?”

“Oh, was she dragged into things? I suppose that makes sense given her power and tracking abilities. I’ll have to look into whether anyone else was being sent with her.”

“Okay, but what happened?”

“The shifter went missing. He’s normally good at keeping contact with either his handlers or his god but there’s been no response for a few days now and given that he’s, well, a rather important resource, discovering what happened to him is a rather high priority.”

“Along with the implication that anything powerful enough to kill him is going to be a nightmare for the world as a whole.”

“Well, yes but as of the current moment we at least know he’s alive, otherwise he’d be up here with us. Not that that’s much better, mind you, given it means that he might be being kept in some way that’s keeping him from communicating, a result far worse than if he’d died.”

“Fair, anything powerful enough to hold him is going to be a nightmare. Well, keep me up to date if anything changes. I liked the guy well enough, it’d be a shame if anything happened to him.”

“It would be a shame for this whole planet,” Myriad groaned. “But yes, I’ll let you know. For now, what bad news do you have for me already?”

“Oh, it’s only bad news for your lot up here, don’t worry.”

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about.”

“I leveled evil god of sacrilege again,” He said with a bright grin, ignoring the last statement. “You’re looking at the world’s first holder of a second-leveled third-tier skill.”

“...”

“Myriad?”

“You know, I’d been trying to prepare to hear that as best as I could yet it still managed to horrify me. I don’t think I want to see what’ll become of you when you die and ascend.”

“It’ll be great. On a completely unrelated note though, if I decided I wanted to deal with Eneth and Olensia, once and for all, would it be better to do so as a mortal or a god?”

“Neither is a good option. Surely you understand that.”

“Mmh, I don’t know,” He teased. “I think if I do it while I’m still mortal, it’s going to technically be your problem instead of mine.”

“No, it will be both of our problems. Try and I’m disowning you.”

“You don’t have it in you, you love me too much.”

“Some days you make even liking you a stretch.”

“Ha, whatever you say. Anyway, don’t worry, I wouldn’t actually do anything unless I was confident I had more power than anyone up there could possibly try to fight against.”

“How could you tell me not to worry and then make such an incredibly worrying statement?”

“Eh, I know it’s too soon to judge since at this point I can’t even say for sure if I can expect consistent growth but it took three and a half times as much time to get to the second level as it did the first. If that keeps up then my third level will come a bit short of a month and my fourth would in three and a half months, with no time before the next wave to get a fifth and I mean, sure, that would be incredible but it’s not quite ‘make myself an enemy of all of the gods of this world’ incredible. Of course, I could be wrong and it could be a lot faster and even if it’s not, I’ve got some hope about potential methods for increasing the growth rate that I’d just need to figure out a way to pull off but… Yeah, I’d say don’t stress for now.”

“That entire little ramble did nothing but increase my stress level.”

“Mmh, you really should talk to someone about that. Is there a god of therapy on this world you could bother? It’s not good to keep all of your issues locked inside.”

“No, my problem is one specific issue standing in front of me,” He sighed. “I don’t even know if I want to hear if you end up getting another level.”

“I mean, if you don’t want it I don’t have to bring it up.”

“No, you have to bring it up.”

The only thing that would be worse than knowing would be not knowing until some other god decided to make it the cube’s problem but with it, he tried to look on the bright side. As horrific as it may have been, his apostle was instantly safer for that level from any deity who might have wanted to cause him harm, even if the way the boy talked continued to make it more than clear that any misgivings went both ways.