Hey, so I’ve got a small question for you. Ben thought to the heavens as he stood in the street, wanting the distraction while he waited.

<Alright, what is it this time?> Myriad asked him. <And why are you in Allfaith right now?>

Not important. So here’s the thing, Mora took a job today, just for fun but it got me thinking, what sort of jobs do gods get? You’re part of the system, and you can’t tell me none of you have ever gotten curious enough to dip down and touch a job crystal, so are there any interesting results for it?

<Oh, that. Well, you’re right enough about the other gods getting curious when they discovered they were integrated into the system, but we don’t get options when we try.>

Seriously? Not even any lame ones entirely tied to whatever the god’s domain is? 

<Nope, we may have it bound to us, but it gives us nothing else, almost like it’s rejecting doing anything more than the demands of its design.>

Mmh, I guess if someone turned me into a tool, I wouldn’t be inclined to give them much help either. Still, pretty lame. Not even the ascended gods buck that trend?

<Nope.>

Hmm, equal parts interesting and disappointing. Kind of sad to hear I won’t be able to keep up with doing it when I get up there, might have to see if I can either find a workaround or else somehow bargain with the system into letting me keep getting them. Me and it both probably hold a semi-comparable hatred for the gods of the world, I’m sure we could come to an understanding.

<It’s not a conscious being deciding to hate gods.>

And yet, I’m still willing to try if it comes down to it. If I could keep taking jobs into godhood, then who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to make sure I come out ahead of the rest of you.

<You have two levels to evil god of sacrilege already, how much more ahead are you looking for?>

Just enough that all of the gods of the world couldn’t stop me if I decided I wanted to do something. You know, very normal ambitions.

<Psychopath.>

Stop trying to give me titles like that. If it sticks, I’m gonna stop putting your name on things.

<Yeah, yeah, so again, why are you trying to kill some time in Allfaith? Last time I saw you, you were running on your little machine.>

Treadmill, and… okay, so the point of that was to try and squeeze a bit more into my attributes before I get to awakening. This is a similar attempt.

<…You’re getting a soul mage for something, aren’t you?>

Ding ding ding, we have a winner! But can you guess why?

<No, and I don’t want to. Nothing good comes from you playing coy. Although I do want to mention that even if you block the other gods, someone up here is going to catch her thinking about the things going on in your status when you’re not around to block her.>

You seriously think I haven’t thought of that? I’m already working on it. In fact, there they are right now.

He could see Thera with Yuzu in the distance, letting him wave at them both as they made their way over, even if the soul mage looked mildly uncomfortable as she came.

“Hey Yuzu, you kind of look like you’re struggling there.”

“The fact that you sent Thera out to me specifically to tell me you need a hand and that I can’t use my soul sight on you while I do it tells me that there’s something going on in your soul worth seeing, of course I’m struggling. So, what is it exactly you need?”

“I’m looking for you to cast a few powerful spells on me. Hopefully, it will just be a few hours of your time, so if you wouldn’t mind coming along?”

“Fine, where are we going?”

“First stop, we need to see Thera’s mom. I need to get directions.”

The brief visit to Pelenia gave him the directions they needed as Thera flew them all out beyond the city’s limits, into the surrounding farmland where many of the succubi’s crops would be grown until eventually, the more normal plants any of them would expect to see took on a change. No longer passing through fields of vegetables and grains, they found themselves standing before an expanse of strange fruit trees, stretching out beyond what any of their eyes could see while displaying plainly magical effects.

One chilled the environment around it, to a point that Ben could feel the temperature drop from where he was standing as they got closer, while another gave off a subtle light in its leaves. Compared to those two, the third looked almost plain, with that variety only taking on a strange, chitinous look that didn’t exactly leave its fruits appealing, but none of that mattered. What did was the fact that what he was seeing was the result of three of his remaining god crystals, their effects warping the forms they were forced in.

Though it looked like a vast grove of trees, in reality there were only three, each stalk connected by a root system underground to make sure everything remained connected to the trapped gods souls, allowing the various workers walking the area to harvest what was being forcibly grown to produce more of the divine potions strengthening the world.

With one of those workers having noticed him. Not any of the succubi or incubi out harvest fruit but one with a more important role with a dryad calling out to him, a misunderstanding already there.

“Bloom!” The woman yelled out happily, her eyes locked onto him with the name bringing three more dryadic heads popping out of the woods as all four rushed over, taking on a more confused look as they got closer and their excitement faded. “Wait, are you-”

“I’m not,” Ben was quick to correct, watching as their looks turned instead to polite disappointment. “He just modelled his form after me, which is why we share a resemblance. I’m Ben. I believe I helped you all awaken your magics.”

“Oh, hello again,” the one speaking said in a far more collected way as all of them politely lowered their heads, even if they gave off a small air of disappointment. “Apologies for the mistake, we’re still deeply grateful for the help you gave us.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve just come to look at the trees here a bit under the authority of Queen Pelenia, but I’ll stay out of everyone’s way. If our presence is interfering with anyone’s work here, just let us know and we’ll try to work it out.”

“Alright, should you need anything, then you can get any worker around to find us.”

The dryads walked back to the trees to continue their work, leaving the three of them to stand in a silence that Ben was the first to break.

“So, how long do you think till Bloom’s got a few children?”

“I think I don’t want to think about my uncle having a harem of women around him,” Thera said, putting her head in her hands. “He’s only existed for what, a month?”

“He’s existed for a whole lot longer than that.”

“You know what I mean. Maybe they just enjoy his company.”

“Thera, I don’t have to be a mind reader to see what was going on there.”

“Ugh, then remind me when we go back that we need to get Mom or Dad or Aunt Lux to give him a talk about mortal relationships.”

“And how babies are made.”

“… I regret joining for this. How many dryads are working these fields and how many of them want to sleep with my uncle?”

“Not sure, but it’s kind of neat, isn’t it? Insia is the only half spirit that was born from a spirit and a holder of an innate fire magic, it would be kind of interesting to see if any children born would have a more powerful plant magic like she did or if she’s a special case since she’s a hybrid with another mana based species. And other than that, dryads are a unisex race. I know that when they reproduce with a different species on the planet instead of with their trees then there’s the potential to produce male offspring but since spirits don’t actually possess genders no matter how they choose to present themselves to the world, does that mean that dryad spirit hybrids could only be female? And-”

“And,” Thera forcefully cut him off. “Enough researcher ramblings about whatever’s going to happen if my uncle sleeps with them.”

“Okay, I’m done. I suppose I’ll get my answers eventually, anyway.”

“Don’t want to think about it. Just do whatever insane thing you came here to do, and we can all be on our way after.”

“Alright, got it. Yuzu, I’m going to need a few spells on me. Ones that reduce my leveling and awakening thresholds and ones that increase what I’d get from awakening, pretty please.”

He could see surprise in both of their eyes, neither having known exactly what he’d intended going out there but with the request to lower his awakening threshold of all things, both of them and his watching god thought they knew where he was going with that.

<So, since connecting to other gods didn’t push you over the edge before, you’re hoping that you’ll have better odds of awakening connect if you use a soul mage while you do it.> Myriad said in his head. <Trying to get another level to your sacrilege too while you’re at it?>

Mmh, you’re partly right, and it’s not like I’d say no to this somehow awakening connect for me, but unfortunately, that’s not the goal. How many times do I have to explain to you? In my head, time is relative.

<Not the goal? But even with Yuzu’s spells, at this point your attributes aren’t going to grow from a second tier awakening, so… oh. Oh no.>

Oh yes, he thought back as a grin stretched across his face and, before his god could stop him, he reached out to connect to one of the trees, touching the god’s soul it held within.

Huddled in on himself in a way that didn’t allow the god to realize the change in his environment, Haro’s withdrawal gave Ben the room to examine him.

Holding a form similar to a giant fly, Ben gently probed the mind of the forbidden god before him, finding its domains of power to be insects, decay, and opulence and seeing in its mind the history where it had abandoned its lost world. 

Unlike Quox, the god before him wasn’t filled with murderous spite but instead panic, a desire to live and continue to live that drove it beyond anything else, be it its duty to its believers or the safety of the world that took it in, leading to its place in the plot to create the demidemons and in that action empowered the demon race for that mistake. It was a god ruled by its fears and had helped doom the world for them.

“But still,” Ben said aloud. “You’d think that a god of decay would understand that everything has to come to an end eventually. Seeing you cling so desperately to life that you’d doom everything else around you is embarrassing.”

“You,” the god Haro gasped as he looked up to find who was speaking in his presence. “But how?”

“Doesn’t matter because I- oh.”

It was said with disinterest as Haro moved. Pathetic as he may have been, he was still a deity and viewed Ben himself as nothing more than a mortal. The very one who had slit his throat, with no gods to protect him from the other’s divine wrath.

It was almost amusing, seeing one who’d fallen so low suddenly think they had either power or an outlet for his frustrations and, willing to let it go on for a bit, Ben let himself be attacked, the mental construct of himself in that mindspace being hit and pulled at, the god trying to rip his body in half and failing completely to do anything that could be called harm, right until the moment Ben grew bored enough to put a stop to it. Once he had, that little play was finished as thousands of new Bens filled the space, all speaking at once.

“Unrepentant till the end then, just like Quox,” they all nodded in satisfaction as the thunder of so many of them speaking at once cowered the god before him. “Good. If any part of you felt bad or shame, then I might have hesitated over what I’m about to put you through.”

“You, what are you going to-”

He wasn’t given the opportunity to say anything more. All at once, the many Bens moved, his own attacks not so harmless, and filled the space with the sound of that god’s screams.

In the few seconds the mortals around him watched, nothing seemed to change. Ben stood there, touching a branch until all at once his efforts bore fruit. That giant orchard filled with a flash of light-like mana, the density and power of it telling Thera and Yuzu both the scale of what he’d done while Ben got to listen to the notifications going through his mind at the same time the god screamed for mercy in his head, marking the success of his accomplishment along with doubtless more complications to come of it.

<DESTRUCTION AFFINITY HAS AWAKENED TO DESTRUCTION AUTHORITY>

<ACQUIRED SKILL DESTRUCTIVE TOUCH>

<ACQUIRED TITLE- RECORD BREAKER>

<INTEGRATED DIVINE BODY LEVEL INCREASED>

<EVIL AFFINITY HAS AWAKENED TO EVIL AUTHORITY>

<ACQUIRED SKILL EVIL TOUCH>

<EVIL GOD OF SACRILEGE LEVEL INCREASED>

<INTEGRATED DIVINE BODY LEVEL INCREASED>

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