Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

Helori’s speech went smoothly, no new disaster there to justify either Ben or Abel’s presence but had a clear effect on all of her faithful who’d come to hear it. The crowd hung on her every word, just being in the presence of a goddess was a reward the vast majority of people thought they’d never get to enjoy and while there wasn’t much to be said beyond the need for people the world over to continue doing their best, coming from a deity it was enough, with Ben’s presence adding to those words.

Though not revealing himself or Abel as third tiers, he filled the role he was paid for, examining the souls of everyone who’d entered his range and giving them the applicable knowledge to help them grow and with some getting levels mid-speech, it only upped the atmosphere by the time it came to an end.

But that wasn’t what he cared about. Even though she wanted to resist, Ben was able to get a few more tests done on his sacrilege before she could escape back up to her realm, leading to one important discovery. Not only could he force a god out of a body they’d descended upon, he could trap them there as well.

With the implication being huge. He could be the one to decide how he’d approach any god if it came to it, able to choose for himself if facing someone in the mortal realm or a divine one was more beneficial to him in terms of conflict. Sure, it didn’t seem like he’d be able to force a god down from their realm to inhabit a body but that was a minor issue. From Ben’s own encounter with him, tied to the single time the grey had witnessed the deity, it seemed that the demon god Oaun preferred to inhabit flesh and if Ben was to kill him, that’s where they’d meet.

Meaning if it seemed most beneficial, he could either drive the god to his realm and take the fight there or else prevent that deity from escaping in the same way. He didn’t know for sure what would be better, one of the only ways he knew to kill a god was to do it while they were in a mortal but he’d need to experiment and plan for whatever the best method would be before it came to it.

But still, this is a nice little bump in my victory odds. With my current sacrilege level and assuming I get my connect awakened, I’d even go so far as to say I’ve got a 1.1% chance of winning!

…And I’ve depressed myself again. Okay, I’ll recalculate my odds as I level my sacrilege some more. Who knows, maybe by the time the third wave rolls around, I’ll be at a whopping five percent.

“Ben, this is psychotic,” Thera groaned in their backyard as they stood around, Abel laughing out at her reaction.

“No, it’s a meal!”

“It’s an experiment,” He clarified as he finished rigging up one of his clones, a tube going down its throat to constantly dispense a nutritional sludge while he added a choker to its neck. “And essentially harmless. Just a little practice for you, potentially a whole lot of strength for Abel, and some satisfied curiosity for me. Now, is everyone ready?”

“Yes!”

“Fine,” His girlfriend sighed, grateful that her aunt was around to distract Mora from the coming scene as Ben removed the divine crystal from his armband and slipped it into the choker, getting to watch as the clone body shifted and warped at the beastform skill was applied, taking characteristics of both the god and demon souls within to warp his copied flesh but showing no signs of consciousness, Ben still working on removing enough memories and experiences from its soul to allow it to be so.

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And immediately getting its arm ripped off for that fact, Abel tearing through skin, muscle, and bone before scarfing the torn limb down while Thera worked on enhancing the body’s digestive rate before healing it, beginning the process of regrowing that lost appendage, spending her mana to force the food it was being made to eat to become flesh while Ben for his part stared at Abel’s card, looking for the results of that test and letting out a low whistle when he got them.

“Across the board, your attributes just grew by about three hundred and thirty points. Jesus, that’s actually insane.”

The arm she’d just eaten had to have massed out to around six of the cups of blood he’d usually give her, meaning that based on the regular volumes he’d give it as the equivalent of getting fifty-five points to everything six times over. Worse than how Helori’s blood had grown the girl yet still incomparable to anything else as Ben briefly wondered if the difference between the two gods was from Helori having access to faith the other didn’t, Ben’s torture somehow degrading Quox’s soul, or else just some fundamental difference in the two beings. Quox had been a god of growth and gain after all, an even stat upgrade with no specialties compared to Helori almost made sense until one remembered that despite increasing intelligence, mana, and mana recovery by so much, she also upgraded all other attributes by fifty points as well.

But that wasn’t the only change on the card, with another Ben had warned the girl about, getting complete indifference when he did for the surprisingly only single level of sacrilege she’d gained after ripping off what had in essence been a god’s arm at the time.

Which makes no sense because when I made a coat into Myriad’s first church I got two levels of it so what’s the difference there? Inherent talent? Maybe the fact that I’m an apostle makes every bit of sacrilege I could do just inherently worse too? Or maybe the state Quox is in leaves him barely qualified as a god at this point which would contribute to why my experience gain has just been so slow. I’ll need to work even harder at erasing his memories of everything I’ve put him through then.

Still, it was a result that left Abel practically dancing with glee, ripping off the clone’s arm once more after Thera was done regrowing it and taking the other side for good measure, scarfing both done while his girlfriend glanced at him from the side.

“So, how long are we going to do this for?”

“Forever please!” Abel chimed in, expectations clear in her eyes while Ben shook his head.

“If you’re feeling patient enough and Abel keeps taking both arms then twenty more times sound okay to you? Forty limbs should work out to all of her stats other than her regeneration rates passing thirty thousand. Most importantly, her weeping. Doing this makes her more powerful and making her more powerful is better for the planet, right?”

“It also means she’s going to crush you the next time you two fight.”

“That’s fine, I don’t need to win against her.”

“And I could be even more powerful if you guys just made me a few dozen of these a day forever,” Abel said sweetly, instantly being crushed.

“Nope, sorry but this is still time-consuming. Me and Thera both have better things to do than feed you like this constantly.”

“Better than trying to save the planet? Make me strong enough and I’ll do it single-handedly.”

“If you’re good then I’ll talk to the gods to make sure you keep getting some god limbs to snack on, okay? I think I can guarantee a pretty constant supply while making it not my responsibility.”

“Really!”

“Really really. But only if you’re good. Gotta make sure you behave for the rest of the time you’re with us and just as importantly, you can’t complain when we finish for the day, okay?”

“Okay!”

An answer that left her looking like a kid on christmas, it wasn’t like it was going to be too hard to set up, only needing to approach the gods about it later and while he thought about that he ignored the teasing look on Thera’s face, knowing she had a comment on the tip of her tongue that she mercifully kept back from saying in front of Abel herself.