Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

“Damn, my eyes really are different,” Ben muttered, the comment from Thera making him slip away to a mirror to look at what change they held. Largely, the change was minor, less than what had even come from his original skill transition. He still had his lovely violets, looking the same as any demon in that regard, but it seemed that was the same area that race’s other bit of distinct pigmentation decided to slip through as well, leaving a thin, blood red ring that matched the colour of their scales circling his outer iris.

With that change being enough to make him want to look himself over a bit more closely, he took off his shirt and found nothing else different, on the outside at least, bringing only the question of what there might have been on a less surface level, leaving him to ask a favour when he joined the other two again.

“Mind letting me borrow your eyes for a bit?” he asked, getting a nod and connecting to Thera, able to see as she went over all of the changes marked in his soul and felt the conflict she was having about his awakening. He hadn’t reached his goal with it which meant he wasn’t going to be as inclined to sacrifice himself for the world, but he was close. Perhaps even close enough that he’d still find it worth it. A worry he’d correct in her later though, with him wanting to see something deeper, utilizing the life sense and mana examination that had merged into her soul magic as he examined his body structure, captured by the change.

With the best he could describe it as his body looked like it was going to move towards a change in density of all things. His bones, muscles, and other tissues were all seeming to be trying to grow stronger, what that meant being more power and less injuries to him, at least in theory, but besides that, there was nothing worrying. No hint that any scales were forming beneath his skin, just waiting to burst free, nothing to indicate that he’d gained any of the demons’ strange adaptability that could have his body subtly changing to suit the climates he found himself in, nor the major changes they would see in their offspring. He was still human enough, as far as he was concerned, with the demonic aspect that had been strengthening him that whole time simply reaching its peak.

So I shouldn’t need to worry about being turned into some monstrous hybrid, that’s good, he sighed to himself, the fear only having come back at all given that he’d experienced any change, no matter how minor. Still, I guess I’ll keep an eye on my condition for a while, just in case.

With that done, though, both Thera and Mora clearly had questions about the change he’d gone through, and Ben gave them answers, at least, partially. He kept things vague about how exactly he’d raised the skill, not caring if Thera knew but wanted to keep the main detail of it from Mora, simply because he couldn’t guess how the boy would react. He was the great soul spirit, yet what Ben had done to make his own growth possible was a transgression against whatever sanctity a soul was due like no other. The child might not have minded much, he didn’t care about all of the souls Ben would create and he didn’t flinch at the injuries he saw others receive, but the boy was also a pacifist of sorts and both Ben and Thera preferred it that way. He didn’t want Mora having to think about where such an act fell when it came to his own morality, nor did he want him seeing if he was capable of the same thing.

And I don’t want him to be upset with me, Ben admitted to himself, with that potentially being the greatest concern. He could justify it all he wanted, but even in his own heart, Ben felt like what he did was wrong. He fully expected it to hurt if his child called him out on as much, so instead he left it be, more than happy to let his cowardice have that little win.

“-So I failed,” he finished, tired just thinking about it. “The skill I worked so hard for didn’t grow in the way I wanted, and now I need to try and awaken enchanting too. Probably, that is. One second, still one more thing to test.”

Flashing out his soul, he connected to Thera and touched her soul, fully expecting his enchanting to fail yet felt his eyes grow wide as he fully grasped her soul magic, taking the skill and transferred it to his rings without problem, and for just a second, it felt like the sense of defeat he had about the whole experience vanished. He hadn’t gotten the awakening he’d wanted, but he’d still gotten the result, and he continued to believe that for entire fractions of a second before he tried to use that newly copied skill to enchant an item, the power degrading under his touch.

… I can use it to copy the full skill directly from souls, but I can’t use what I copy to make new items, he groaned, the defeat he felt at not getting his desired awakening coming back in full force. Uugh, okay, it sucks, but I can work with this. The next time I encounter any third tiers, I can at least preemptively get their skills on rings and from there, if I do awaken enchanting in the future, I won’t need to run around, hunting them down. This is… adequate.

“So your distance has improved by more than a hundred times, and you can see and hear everything in that area now?” Thera said, the scale of it feeling unbelievable. “Just… wow. I can’t imagine what that must be like.”

“Yeah, if I didn’t have eldritch mind, I’m not sure if I’d be able to get the full use out of this ability.”

“And you barely gave me any time to get used to the horrifying scale you were already creating souls at before this. At this point, it really feels like the sort of thing that should have some consequences.”

“God, I hope not. If anything ever tries to come and ask for an explanation, what am I supposed to say? Sorry, didn’t think it mattered, and it was a bit of good practice? Hell, it is good practice. If anything tried to make me stop, I’d actually be in some trouble because there’s no way I could do anything else to train my mana this efficiently at this point.”

“Don’t worry, I’m okay with it,” Mora said, the one in the room that perhaps had the most say in the right way to use souls, even if Thera was now the one between them with the most power over them, with Ben giving the child a grin for the seal of acceptance.

“Thanks, kiddo. You’re the only authority on the topic I need. But other than that…”

“You’re going to be spending the next few days looking for more ways to use it?” Thera guessed.

“Well, yeah, but I’ll be doing that in the background; you won’t even notice. No, what I was actually thinking about was that I need to take my job for this. Whatever I got should be third tier, I’m not waiting for the gods to set anything up before I start getting these bonuses. Considering they haven’t called on me for any of the jobs I specifically saved for them to use, I don’t want them dawdling and wasting my time.”

“If you get a job for it,” Thera pointed out. “It grew from a skill that already gave you soul mage as an option, and it’s clearly a soul job. Who’s to say you haven’t just gotten everything you were going to early?”

“Don’t speak that sort of evil to me, if I don’t have something I’m going to cry,” Ben told her, taking the crystal from his neck and grasping it tight in his hand, praying she’d be wrong as his options came to his mind.

AVAILABLE JOBS

Craftsman- alchemy pathCraftsman- artistic pathCraftsman- blacksmith pathCraftsman- cooking pathCraftsman- stonecrafts pathCraftsman- sewing pathMathematicianBeginner puppeteerEntréeDancerSoulcrafterDivine apostle of Myriad

A sight that made him grin. “Good news. Not just one new job, it’s two.”

Which means that I’m going to need a bit more setup. Oh, Myriad Myriad Myriad, your divine apostle has some great news for you.

He thought up to the heavens in the most obnoxious, singsong voice he could, but got no response, leaving him to shrug and accept he’d have to inform the god later. The most likely case was that there was a meeting going on about him in that very moment, surely some gods above throwing a fit about both his level of strength and that new, specific power he held, but at that point, it was just the cost of growing stronger and he resolved to bring it up later, instead focusing on what he had.

Soulcrafter was both obvious and expected. A job plainly tied to his newest skill, and the one he’d be taking first, but that didn’t take away from the curiosity he felt at the option below it and just what it could mean.

Divine apostle of Myriad. Obviously, Ben had his guesses about why that had spawned. He’d just reached the third tier for a skill his god had personally designed, meaning that Ben would one day be a proper god of it. If none of his other awakenings while acting as an apostle had unlocked such a job for him, then he had no choice but to assume that was the reason, but just what could it ultimately mean?

Given that divine was in the name, it seemed likely that meant it was third tier, and it seemed certain that it would give bonuses to soulcraft too, but what else might it cover? With the way Ben dedicated so many of his creations to his god and used them to spread Myriad’s name, was there a chance that it would give bonuses to anything he used to fulfill his apostley duties? Would it give bonuses to his crafting, his material manipulation, and most important of all, his enchanting? It didn’t seem like an unreasonable hope, one that left him tempted to take it then and there, but there was too little he didn’t know. Better to go with the safe bet for the time and move on to that next. After all, it would at most be only a few days. No reason to risk it when it was still possible that a job like that would give him worse bonuses, and with that bit of consideration done, he thought out his choice.

Soulcrafter.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Name: Ben Heph

Race: Demonic 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 God 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 God of Mental Symbiosis, Destined God of Alien Thought Structure, Destined God of Soul Production, Job Holder, Destined Holder of Actualization, Enemy of Duna, Demon Slayer, World Slayer, Demigod of Growth and Gain, First Human God, First of the Faith, Record Breaker, Psychopath, City Builder, Destined Holder of Multiversal Inclination

Jobs: Soulcrafter (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, Judge, Holy adversary, Title master, Beneficiary, Divine kin, Multiversal material mage, Expert, Body user, High tank, King of intelligence, Body master, Master tank, Primordial heretic, God defiling gardener, Master actualizer, Outsider, High marksman, Fallen actualizer, King of mana, King of stamina, King of vitality, Intelligence embodiment, Soul creator, Mind breaker, Total self, Degenerate body user, Demonic body user, Divine body user, Foul tank, Resistant tank, High destruction mage, Mortal realm actualizer, Beginner dancer, Assassin, Therapist, Trap user, Eldritch mind user, Trap master, Immoral trap user, King of strength, Cycler, Evil god, Destruction god

Attributes:

Vitality: 20151Vitality recovery rate: 1112/hrMana: 52299Mana recovery rate: 6032/minStrength: 15779Agility: 6046Stamina: 32942Intelligence: 451,784Affinities:

Light: 3Life: 2Fire: 4Water: 3Air: 4Earth: 2Death: 3Dark: 1Space: 4Time: 5Resistances:

Light: 68Life: 72Fire: 75Water: 69Air: 66Earth: 81Death: 78Dark: 85Space: 63Time: 61

Blessed skills:

Unending crafting lv9*Divine enchanting lv9*Eldritch mind lv2**

Passive skills:

Evil god of sacrilege lv6**Divine defense enhancement lv1*Perfect absorption resistance lv1*Extreme affinitied resistance enhancement lv0*Bite enhancement lv9Piercing resistance lv9Artisan’s soul*Unnatural intelligence enhancement lv9*Blood regeneration lv9 Unending extraction enhancement lv8*Soul affinity lv9*Tier two modifier compatibility*Deep material sense lv7*Flavour enhancement lv7Balance enhancement lv8Soul expansion lv9Defiler of ambrosiaDestruction authority lv5**Evil authority lv5**Defense inclination lv9Vitality enhancement lv9Vitality recovery rate enhancement lv9Integrated divine body lv9Mythril bloodUnnatural mana enhancement lv0*Strength enhancement lv8Stamina enhancement lv9Bludgeoning resistance lv4Agility enhancement lv2Flesh regeneration lv5Fracture resistance lv5Unnatural mortal realm actualization enhancement lv9*Multiversal affinity lv0*Alien sense lv9Eternal soul protection lv0*Destructive touchEvil touchSoul enhancement lv1Active skills:

Stealth lv2Soulcraft lv0**Cycling lv4Marksmanship lv9Material manipulation lv9*Swimming lv3Dance lv3Rule bender lv1Aim lv9Esoteric actualization lv9*Condemnation lv9Realm access lv9Blessings:

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 BlessingChild of ChaosOaun’s BlessingPhixth’s BlessingPassive Pantheon’s BlessingDuna’s BlessingJagal’s BlessingNon-Affinitied Pantheon’s BlessingCrafting Pantheon’s BlessingVelmet’s BlessingTrials:

Trial of Anailia and TolonaTrial of the Dead GodEarth TowerLife TowerDark TowerNon-Affinitied TowerCraftsmans’ Tower

No new skills and only a single level despite taking a third-tier job? Man, I really have wrung every drop of unused potential out of my soul by this point, haven’t I?

He’d been raising his skills so quickly that most of the ones that might have applied to that job were either at the first or second tier limits, and with how much had merged into soulcraft, that had dropped his options further, but it still left him to sigh as he wondered if taking the other one would have been better instead. At the very least, his bonuses were good, and even if he wasn’t specifically working on them, taking that job would get him closer to awakening a few more skills, so despite a lack of immediate results to go with it, Ben squashed his disappointment. All of the power he’d accumulated in part stemmed from his dedication to acquiring different growth factors; those same benefits would continue to help him in the time he had left.

With that done, though, he spoke with them both a little more until it was time to make dinner, both of them deciding to help as they prepared a meal together as a family, an unexpected notification came in the middle of it.

Oh, hell yeah, now that’s what I’m talking about, Ben thought with a grin. Looks like someone up there’s had something nice to say about me-

… Nevermind, looks like I’m going to have some choice words to share tonight.