Chapter 655

Chapter 655

Once the two returned and a new party was made, that meant he’d finally, genuinely be able to finish up their mass awakening as he touched his job crystal, taking the last job he was sure he’d be able to speed through for them all, one he’d been curious about ever since he’d first gained it but never had any reason to take until them, with any normal ways of gaining experience sure to be far too long to make it worthwhile compared to what he was now able to pull off.

“Give me soul defiling gardener.”

...So there’s a lot to comment on there. That’s my first time hearing about defilement as a class of skill, haven’t read about it in any book either. Probably going to keep that to myself.

Major bonuses too. Glad I didn’t end up taking it earlier, I was totally expecting standard bonuses so I’m happy to chalk that up to a pleasant surprise, but as for the skill...

“Strange,” He muttered as the name kept ringing in his ears, drawing a questioning look from those around him, with Thera outright asking.

“What is it this time?”

It didn’t seem to be anything bad, certainly not on the level of the awakening that had left him convulsing on the floor, but it was undeniable that he looked unusually confused as he answered.

“The skill I just got with the job, it has an english... well, technically greek... probably? I’m not certain. Sorry, what I’m getting at is it has a word from Earth in the name. Ambrosia.”

“That pretty much guarantees you’re the first to get it then. What does it mean?”

“Food of the gods, the idea is that it's what the gods in greek mythology and possibly a few others would eat, except that doesn’t apply here because the gods of this world don’t need to eat and when they do it’s either through wearing a believer or recreating it in their realms so what does that...”

He trailed off as a possibility dawned on him, threatening to make a grin sketch across his face at the very thought as he covered his mouth to try and keep it down. It was something he was going to need to test to be sure, but if he was right...

Then it looks like the system might be willing to be a little cheeky with its naming sense.

“Ben?” Thera asked him, wondering where he’d been going with the thought as he waved it away.

“Just going to have to test later, I have a couple of ideas but worst to worst if it doesn’t pan out then I’ll go bother Verbum to see if he can help me figure it out. For the time being, let’s finish up here and then I can move on to my next project.”

Not caring to check how many souls it would take like he had the last time, Ben made all he could in one go to get it done, ending with the expected notification echoing in his head.

Huh, a title for finishing my fiftieth job? Sure, I’ll take it.

What mattered was that he was now well and truly done. He wasn’t certain enough of anything else to assume that he’d be able to speed through them the way he just had, especially not while helping to carry anyone else with him, meaning it all came down to what he wanted he’d take for himself next, with that being a matter of what he thought he could accomplish.

Touching his necklace once more he scanned through the job options, finding a surprising amount of new ones with three there for future consideration.

Both beneficiary and god defiling gardener had to be related to his last job, with the second being the most obvious of the two. He was still using the souls of gods to grow fruits for potions, he wasn’t going to argue that he was defiling them in any way, even if he didn’t have a firm guess yet as to what beneficiary might involve.

The last on the list was just as curious to him. Expert, a job he was willing to bet was related to his newest title or his accomplishment of having completed so many jobs but again had few to no guesses on what it would benefit, leaving it as something that was far from an immediate concern.

No, when it came to the jobs he was going to pick, it instead became a question of how much he believed in himself.

With the help of the soul mages, there was something he fully intended to try out but whether he succeeded or failed would mean the difference between finishing another job instantly or else being stuck with one that honestly wasn’t useful to him for potentially weeks, a depressing option when he was already trying to get as much strength for himself as he could.

It wasn’t even a calculated risk, it was a gamble that had the potential to be a setback. Not an insurmountable one but still one nonetheless.

So I guess that just leaves the question of how lucky do I feel?

That very question made him almost select something completely different out of reflex but he took a breath and stopped himself. He had an idea he wanted to test and even if it didn’t work, the attribute bonuses would still be handy. If he was right, he didn’t want to miss out on enjoying the benefits. He may not have believed in his luck but he believed in himself, whether he succeeded or not was only limited by what was possible and the efforts he put in, so without giving himself any more time to hesitate he made his choice.

“Give me high actualizer”

“Okay, with that done, Steph, would you do me a favour and open a portal to the city's gate from here and Yuzu and Elvat, would you refresh whatever spell you have on me that helps lower the difficulty of awakening? It’s time to see just how good of a day this is going to be.”

“Why exactly am I getting an audience for this?” Ben asked as he entered the gate network, feeling the eyes of his various friends who came along with him through the portal Steph had created.

But since I didn’t level up rule bender either I have to assume that I’m not going against the rules of the universe at all by doing this, which really does just imply that all I’ve done is stumble onto something pretty unusual is all. And something I’m absolutely going to have to experiment with when I’m done, but for now, one more thing to finish up.

His gamble had paid off and he’d finished the job, just like he’d hoped, meaning all that was left was to pick what he’d be taking next of the rest of his jobs which was sure to be measured in the span of weeks instead of the hours he’d just passed through, a disappointing prospect after all of the rapid growth he’d just gained but one he couldn’t avoid as he touched his crystal again for the last time that day, looking through all of the options to make his choice.

His awakening had just gained him master actualizer as an option and as tempting as it was for the sole fact that it was almost sure to have a sacrilege-aligned job attached to it like so many of his other advanced paths, he held off. Unless he found another way to speed through the job then he wasn’t interested no matter how useful those bonuses could have been, leaving him to think among the rest.

Originally, the choice had been clear. Awakening deep connection was his goal, he should obviously have been taking master connecter, but after finishing all of those jobs and an earlier talk with Elvat he couldn’t help but feel his choice shift. Connect seemed to function as a hybrid mind/soul/enchanting type skill and over the course of that day he’d taken eight jobs that were likely all giving it bonuses to one extent or another. Sure, taking one more job would only help him in the end but there was something else to consider too. Something he’d learned well during his imprisonment and understood all the more after the soul mage explained it to him. Third-tier jobs were powerful.

Equivalent to a tower blessing on the aspects they enhanced, that was something he couldn’t deny himself when one of his goals was to grow stronger to help ensure his own survival and became especially important when attached to his worries for the future. With less than a year until the next wave now, the earlier he got better bonuses, the more time he’d have to grow under them, all that left was a question of if any of his available options even met the qualification of being equivalent to the soul mage he’d just finished.

Of the thirty-four jobs he could choose from, there were eighteen he was fairly sure nobody else had gotten before and of those, there were eleven he thought either had slight potential to fill his needs or else didn’t know enough about to guess one way or another.

Everything he knew about outsiders told him they were incredibly powerful, up to and including his encounter with one where he’d discovered firsthand that it held a third-tier skill, did that mean the job would give him third-tier bonuses? What about multiversal material mage? The name alone suggested that one had the ability to access information about the greater multiverse and the unique forms of matter to be found within, why wouldn’t that be a contender for a powerful job as well?

Then there was the enigmatic judge he still didn’t understand why he’d gained access to along with one he’d only just acquired in the form of god defiling gardener. With the word ‘god’ in its very name, it suggested that it would grant power appropriate for the role, there was no reason to discount it without being sure.

Really, he could create arguments for most of his unusual jobs about how they could go either way, but across his whole list, there was only one he was sure of. One singular job he believed in his heart would be at the level he was hoping for and that if he was wrong then there was no chance of any of them he could choose having the sort of bonuses he so desperately wanted.

Across the whole of the list, there was only the one option he believed would give him the sort of bonuses he was looking for to get the most growth he could with the time he had and without a second longer he thought it out, not daring to speak it with so many others around passing through the gates to hear and question just what he could be talking about.

I choose world killer.

Name: Ben Heph

Race: 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 holder 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 holder of Mental symbiosis, Destined holder of Alien thought structure, Destined holder of Soul production, Job Holder, Destined holder of Actualization

Jobs: World killer (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

Attributes:

Vitality: 1566Vitality recovery rate: 37/hrMana: 2069Mana recovery rate: 172/minStrength: 1278Agility: 345Stamina: 2831Intelligence: 10366

Affinities:

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

Resistances:

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

Blessed skills:

Unending crafting lv7*Divine enchanting lv7*Unnatural mind lv9*

Passive skills:

King of sacrilege lv9*BindIntegrated demonic body lv9Defense enhancement lv9Absorption resistance lv9Knowledge lv9*All affinity resistance enhancement lv8Unnatural inspiration lv1*Bite enhancement lv4Piercing resistance lv7Artisan’s touchUnnatural intelligence enhancement lv0*Reconstructed alien thought structure*Blood regeneration lv2Extraction enhancement lv7Soul inclination lv9Modifier compatibilityMaterial sense lv6Flavour enhancement lv0Ill will lv4Balance enhancement lv2Soul expansion lv1Defiler of ambrosiaDestruction inclination lv0Evil inclination lv0

Active skills:

Stealth lv2Deep connection lv7*Cycling lv2Marksmanship lv9Material manipulation lv8*Swimming lv2Dance lv1Unnatural thought speed lv9*Hive mind lv1*Rule bender lv1Aim lv6Esoteric actualization lv0*Soul source lv0*Lucid dreaming

Blessings:

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 BlessingWitness of ChaosOaun’s Blessing

Trials:

Trial of Anailia and TolonaTrial of the Dead GodEarth TowerLife TowerDark Tower

...Holy shit.