Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

No title calling me Myriad’s divine apostle? No upgrade to my original apostle title either? Not even something real zany like another race change to give my god a heart attack? Lame.

And that took longer than expected.

Even if it had been less than a minute, with how many souls Ben could create at all times, that meant his newest job’s experience cost had been enormous, though he supposed the notifications it had given him might have explained why.

Even if he had plenty of sacrilege jobs that did it, growing all of his attributes would always be significant, and that wasn’t even considering the growth to skills.

Just what did he have that would qualify as a divine skill? Every third-tier ability he had would make sense, and he certainly expected them to count, but what beyond that? Would his aptly named divine enchanting get those same bonuses? Considering that it was the skill he most wanted to grow, he certainly hoped, but what about less obvious ones? Actualization, realm access, condemnation, all three were often pointed out to him as being traditionally powers exclusive to the gods, did that make them fall under the moniker of a divine skill? And going even more broadly than that, was there a chance that other skills he was a contender for might apply, being a single step away from their own divinity?

Ultimately, he couldn’t know for sure without making another trip out to Verbum, but whatever the answer was, he’d be more than happy to take it. Even if it was a job that only applied to his third tier skills, as the holder of five such things, three of them he was continuing to grow, any extra bonuses at such a level were a blessing that he was looking forward to exploiting.

I can already feel it’s dropped how long it will take me to raise my sacrilege and authorities again, and there’s more I can do to boost those odds. I’ll have to make a small trip soon to change out my crystal, it looks like.

With that, though, he was done, smiling happily to the gathered parties before turning to his partner.

“Back home then?”

“Mmh, you go ahead,” Thera told him. “The fact that I should be close to finishing mine means that I want to get some more practice in.”

“Alright, in that case, I’ll see you in a bit.”

Sharing a kiss, the two parted as Ben went through the guild back to the shop, satisfied that at least something had gone right among everything else. No matter what lingering disappointment he felt about his awakening, two third-tier jobs from one skill was exceptional luck, all the more so considering how powerful both had been.

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Just the fact that I got four attribute bonuses on soulcrafter was great, but massive bonuses for all of my attributes from divine apostle is just incredible. And I got a new skill too! Even if it’s just one. Man, it would be nice if I were still getting a few more levels though; an awakening maybe too. I just wanna pass some of these walls I’ve been stuck at.

Okay, doesn’t actually matter. I’ve got a new skill with a cool name; I should try to figure out what it does myself, and failing that, make a quick trip out to Verbum. I guess that would be killing two birds with one stone; it would let me find out what I have getting divine bonuses, but-

Myriad cut him off.

“Okay, what’s up?” Ben asked, in his god’s realm the moment the request was made. “You guys up here have more work for me that’s so bad you need to tell me in person?”

“No, something significant happened and, due to the timing, I can only believe you’re directly involved somehow.”

“I’ve been on my best behaviour recently. I’m almost certainly, probably, maybe innocent of whatever I’m being accused of here.”

“... It’s a good thing, although in the future, could you be a little more certain about your innocence?”

“If other people are accusing me then I can be. In that case, what do you think I’m involved in?”

“Something that happened to the rest of my believers. As soon as you took your new job-”

“Divine apostle of Myriad,” Ben cut in helpfully, wanting to hear his god say it in the continued hope that it might yield him a fun title, with Myriad still not budging.

“... Yes, that one. When you took it, every one of my believers finished their jobs.”

“What?”

The instant Myriad told him that, Ben was connected to his god, seeing recent memories of prayers from his various believers, Myriad’s his own quick investigation finding that the rest had completed their jobs suddenly and without explanation either, with two even getting multiple done. Sachel and Valaria both had personal job crystals, and both of them had been quick enough in making their new choice to realize that something was afoot, letting them rapidly select more after, with the outcome being huge. With the demis’ Ben had helped awaken connect for, that meant many of them had been able to finish master jobs in one go, and even those who hadn’t done as well under Ben’s mental training, many of them had king or queen jobs thanks to the attributes they’d gotten after having their souls modified, and all of them had now been able to move onto something new, getting levels and attributes for all of the power that came with such things, leaving Ben’s thoughts a blur.

“It’s either because of the nature of the job itself, or it’s because of the skill I got when I took it,” Ben muttered. “Some jobs do have strange outlier perks, like expert giving me a permanent boost to all job experience, or the adventurer job letting you combine experience pools, so the thought that this one merged my experience pool with every other believer of Myriad for it isn’t completely unreasonable, but if it wasn’t the job that did it but instead the skill, that means this won’t be a one-time thing and that I’ll be able to do this again for a way bigger group than just whoever I can squeeze into a party. It would also go to explain why it took me a minute to finish this one; I was completing the jobs of hundreds of people, plenty with second-tier options too. Which means I need to experiment and I need to test to confirm if it’s the skill or not, and from there, if there’s any way I can control it at all. I don’t mind helping so many people get experience, but I need to learn the mechanism behind it and if any variables can be changed and… Myriad, I’m going to need your help to set up some tests.”

“Should I be concerned at all?”

“Are you kidding? If this is repeatable, then we’re cementing your position as the god with the most powerful believers on the planet. You should be excited. First things first, I’m going to need you to grab Helori and Nare for me. Ask Nare to find a free adventurer with tight lips that I can form a party with, and we’ll sort out the rest of the plan when they get here. Let’s see, while you’re doing that, I guess I’ll need to make sure there’s enough job crystals for the rest of your believers and run around delivering them… delivering some of them and getting Sachel and others to help deliver the rest. Okay, looks like the rest of the day’s going to be a busy one for me, and I’ll have to expect a full one tomorrow too.”