Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

The last church in ruins before her, Thera stopped where she was and stared at the ring in her hand as the citizens of the land she found herself in fled without her notice, deeper thoughts taking place in her mind.

She’d gathered all of the core believers of those gods without issue; none of them could ever stand against the swarm of spirits following her will, but it left the question in her thoughts. Just what was she going to do with them?

She could kill them all in that moment; it wouldn’t be hard and, since she’d already petrified them, they wouldn’t even feel a thing. A far more merciful death than what her boyfriend might have been subjected to, but still she held back, resisting her desire for blood for no reason other than that she believed Ben was still alive.

He had to be; he’d survived so much worse. So what if he’d been thrown into a lower plane? She just needed to wait for him to return; there was no need to act rashly.

A thought that would have earned her no end of comments if Anailia hadn’t been firmly keeping her blocked from the rest of the divine, as if the devastation she’d just led the charge of couldn’t be called beyond rash already, but she didn’t see it like that. It felt more like blowing off steam than anything else, knowing that, if she got the chance, she’d do much worse.

After all, no matter how long she’d live for, she would still die eventually, and she’d be more than happy to foster the love of the spirits until then, devoting herself to growing their population even more than she had been to give her the faith base she would need when she eventually ascended. More believers meant more power for a god, and if Ben really was trapped away for good, then she’d kill any up there who’d caused that with joy.

And then maybe if I got to that point, I’d be able to break him out…

Hell was in essence a prison dimension after all, even if it were a natural part of the universe. As it was, she couldn’t just open the way, and even if she could, she had no set way to find him. All such a thing would accomplish would be to flood the world with damned souls.

But then, if things took a big enough turn for the worse in the third wave, maybe that wouldn’t have been so bad. If it seemed like they were going to lose anyway, something that was still the more likely result than not, then if anything, releasing all of those souls on the demons could be a last hurrah, and if Ben would be able to properly ascend after then at least he could either fight or escape.

The second option preferred, she told herself, putting her head in her hands while trying to deal with everything she was feeling. She believed Ben was still alive; she just had to try to prepare herself for the worst, but even that was taking its toll. How much longer would she wait to see if he’d come back before she wouldn’t be able to deal with it any longer? When he’d been taken to the demon world, it had taken him a month to escape, and when he’d been trapped in the dead god’s trial, it had taken him multiple. How long would she have to wait that time too until she’d have to accept that he might be stuck there?

The answer was two more seconds. The instant she felt bind form between them once more, she shot up, light returning to her eyes and all other thoughts gone as she felt the direction the skill pointed her to and spoke to the spirits around her.

“Is there anything notable that way?” she asked, pointing towards where she felt Ben as one space spirit answered.

“It’s close to your home.”

He must be near Stonewall then.

“Alright,” she nodded. “In that case, please help me get back to the gate network. I need to make it back as fast as I can.”

After all, just because he was out of hell didn’t mean he was unharmed, and given how challenging he could be to treat, she needed to be there to do it.

Passing through the gates she needed to get home, she could already tell he wasn’t there when she left her uncle’s shop and flew in the direction bind was pointing, hoping that he was at least close and that her return home hadn’t been due to a simple coincidence as she went. How far from there could he possibly be?

Never mind, looks like he’s fine, Thera sighed in relief as the notifications went off in her head. She may not have understood the name attached to the blessing, but the fact she’d gained one implied fairly clearly that Ben was busy bullying the gods and had decided to help her as a result too, letting her breathe a bit easier. Still, they actually tried to kill him this time. I can’t imagine what he must be putting them through.

Getting to hear the notifications, though, she let herself slow just a bit, no longer needing that panicked, hectic flight that had been propelling her as she went on, coming to a stop when a new set of announcements went off in her thoughts.

“Maybe I don’t want to imagine what he’s doing up there,” Thera muttered to herself now that a second, new pantheon blessing had just bound itself to her soul. “And defeated and coward gods? What’s that supposed to be about?”

At the very least, she’d never been aware of gods like that, and thinking about who might have fallen into what groups could only have felt heretical, considering that, technically, every god of that world was a deity who’d run away from their home planet’s invasion.

But, speaking of heretical… she trailed off, her hand on her job crystal the second she’d thought it. With everything else, she’d been too distracted, but Ben had finished her previous job that day.

And her boyfriend was an undeniable influence on her. His own lack of faith and reverence may have somewhat warped her own perception of the divine, but the fact that any gods would try to kill him had done irreparable harm. She loved Anailia, her goddess treated her with nothing but warmth and kindness whenever they’d meet, but as for any others, she found herself wanting to be far more on guard against them, leading to the simple choice of what to take next.

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Name: Thera Oress

Race: Succubus/Spirit Hybrid

Titles: Spirit Child, Madman’s lover, Spirit princess, Saintess, Destined holder of Spirit Empowering, Outsider slayer, Friend of Elementals, City Builder, First Spirit Goddess, First of the Faith

Jobs: Heretic (lv0)

Previous Jobs: Beginner Dancer, Dancer, Apprentice mage, Earth mage, True mage, High earth mage, Spirit mage, Life mage, High life mage, Telekinetic mage, Adventurer, High telekinetic mage, High spirit mage, Master earth mage, Earth princess, Master life mage, Life princess, Saintess, Crystallization mage, Master adventurer, Queen of mana, Mana embodiment, Dark mage, High dark mage, Master dark mage, Dark princess, War mage, Annihilation mage, Homunculus creator, Chimera maker, Non-affinity mage, Construct mage, Professional dancer, Healer, Master spirit mage, Spirit embodiment, Empathy mage, High empathy mage, Barrier mage, High barrier mage, High crystallization mage, Master of all, Soul mage, Great spirit, Mana goddess

Attribute:

Vitality: 8830Vitality recovery rate: 226/hrMana: 2,089,621Mana recovery rate: 1871/minStrength: 3207Agility: 3799Stamina: 5881Intelligence: 33002

Affinities:

Light: 4Life: 22Fire: 11Water: 14Air: 12Earth: 103Death: 3Dark: 43Space: 2Time: 1

Resistances:

Light: 5Life: 9Fire: 11Water: 16Air: 12Earth: 35Death: 13Dark: 42Space: 7Time: 8

Blessed skills:

Spiritual earth magic lv9*Spiritual dark magic lv9*

Passive skills:

World speak+Coordination lv9BindSpiritual mana enhancement lv6*Spiritual earth sense lv1*Dark sight lv8Magic affinity lv9*Sacrilege lv9Sleep resistance lv7Dark sense lv9Earth affinity lv3*Stress resistance lv5Intelligence enhancement lv5Great spirit thought structureIntegrated divine body lv4Vision enhancement lv4Soul goddess magic lv0**Spiritual healing enhancement lv1*Soul knowledge lv9Spatial awareness lv1Crafting inclination lv1Active skills:

Calculate lv8Dance lv7String instrument lv7Woodwind instrument lv6Cleaning lv5Staff wielder lv4Meditation lv6Speed reading lv9Overwhelming non-affinity magic lv7*Mana empowering lv9*Cooking lv4Spirit comprehension lv9Connect lv0Blessings:

Anailia’s BlessingElvat’s life magic BlessingQuox’s BlessingEneth’s BlessingEarth Pantheon’s BlessingLife Pantheon’s BlessingDark Pantheon’s BlessingYuzu’s mana regeneration BlessingNon-Affinitied Pantheon’s BlessingCrafting Pantheon’s BlessingVelmet’s BlessingSoul Pantheon’s BlessingBen’s BlessingForbidden Pantheon’s Great BlessingDefeated Pantheon’s Great BlessingCoward Pantheon’s BlessingTrials:

Trial of Anailia and TolonaEarth TowerLife TowerDark TowerNon-Affinitied TowerCraftsmans’ Tower

With all of the levels she’d just gained, it was no surprise that heretic didn’t yield her any more, but she wasn’t going to complain. With everything she’d done that day, she’d pushed that skill to its ninth level, and if that would help her awaken it in the future, then she was finally in a position where she’d be happy to take it.

Leaving only what’s sure to be the awkward position of Mora seeing all of these new levels. Ugh, what am I going to tell him if he asks what happened?

She felt right in not letting him know that Ben might have been in danger at the time. Lacking information herself, she hadn’t wanted to panic him, but all of her sacrilege levels were one bit of growth she didn’t think she’d have an easy time explaining away.

… I’ll just hope he doesn’t ask about it, and if he does, I can leave it brief and tell him some gods were misbehaving so I needed to set them in line. That’s probably fine, right?

Any deeper explanation would have likely been more detrimental to the child’s development than anything else, and she already felt like she was struggling to be as good of a guardian as she could have, but all of that was the perils of raising a child. If he did ask, she’d just give the best answer she could and would pray he wouldn’t delve in too much deeper.

While those smaller worries filled her though, she soon got the distraction from them she’d been waiting for. As she flew, she felt the position of bind start to move until, finally, it was coming from below her.

Instantly she dropped, headfirst and arms outstretched, and saw as Ben felt the same thing, looking up at her as he caught her in his arms, spinning her around as he did.

“Miss me?” he grinned, looking annoyingly pleased despite how that day had gone before she pressed her lips against his own, smothering him as she did.

“Always,” she told him when she finally pulled away, trying to be light and casual and not give away just how worried she’d been. “I hear the gods finally decided to toss you into hell. It’s been a long time coming if you ask me.”

“And I hear you decided to get revenge on my behalf,” he laughed back. “And earned some very fun sacrilege levels while you were at it.”

“What can I say? You’re a bad influence on me.”

“Myriad specifically said something about you cursing the earth my would-be killers had built on.”

“I just needed to work out some stress is all,” she told him innocently. “Unfortunately, I happen to be deeply in love with an idiot that everyone is constantly trying to murder.”

“There should be a fair bit less of that from now on. I think I had a nice, productive conversation with the gods. Really gave them my two cents, let them know how deeply it hurt me emotionally when some of them decided the world was better off without me on it.”

“Okay, and I’m sure that’s one of the strange new blessings I got. What about the other?”

“Ah, I was also deeply hurt when I found out that plenty of other gods up there were trying to let the first group off the hook. I’ll have you know, I’m a very sensitive soul.”

“I see. And the naming sense behind your newly awakened soul enhancement?”

“The system’s naming sense, and it’s also bullying me,” he said dramatically. “But, unfortunately, unlike the gods, it’s not something a bit of peaceful conversation can solve.”

“Peaceful? Right, I’m sure. So then, what was hell like? Before someone else decides to send you back there?”

“Funny you should say that, because it was more useful to me than I’d thought. I really will need to plan another trip sometime, but come on. I’ll catch you up on the way home.”

Not letting go as they went, the two of them continued on, talking the entire way back to town.

They’d found Mora already asleep when they got back, the travelling he’d done that day having taken its toll and, not wanting to disturb his rest, left him to spend the night with Fontesh and Delair, to pick him up in the morning instead, giving Thera and Ben just a bit of privacy after the day they’d had and ended with her beginning to go to sleep in his arms, her tail tightly wrapped around him to keep Ben from escaping.

Really, she thought she would have been able to pass out immediately the moment she let herself rest, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of her head. A sense that she was forgetting something that was hard to ignore, even if she couldn’t remember what.

Mmh, doesn’t matter. If it’s important, then I’ll remember it tomorrow, she told herself. We’re home, Ben’s safe, there’s nothing else…

“Oh, damn it!” she yelled, shooting up in bed while Ben looked up beside her. “I still have like a hundred people trapped in my ring!”

“Was wondering when you were going to remember that,” Ben chuckled beside her, getting a light elbow for the comment.

“If you remembered, then you should have told me. Ugh, now we have to-”

“Worry about it tomorrow,” he finished for her. “I don’t particularly care about these guys missing out on a day, do you?”

“... Yeah, you’re right, this is a tomorrow problem.”

Even if Ben’s escape and survival meant they’d be spared a far worse fate, she didn’t need to rush to deal with it either and, with that little mystery solved, she was finally able to rest, peacefully drifting off to sleep.