Chương 1110

CH1110 <PLANAR MANIPULATION LEVEL INCREASED> Thera flew them from town to city faster than usual, without any of them being made less comfortable for their speed, which came from Ben working with her in tandem, warping space itself to shrink the distance to their destinations and having an easier job of it once the new notification went off in his head. With their journey already being successful as they hit the main settlements of each of the defeated gods.

Thera's own efforts had helped on that front, raising questions and a demand for answers in those populations as far as the accusations given went, and with those gods unable to explain themselves, first confined by the other divine and then after being stripped of all of their faith, it had left a large feeling of discontentment that was easy for him to capitalize on, strengthened only when they found out he was the apostle who their gods had damned.

He played his part well, of course, not casting blame or easing their guilt, saying exactly what he needed to based on what he'd see in their heads, and when he was making all of those people think at his speeds, there was no need to stop or even slow down. Every settlement he hit instantly earned his god thousands of converts, with many thousands more sure to come in the following days, forcing Ben to help in the heavens above as well.

As dedicated as Myriad was and as strong as the god had grown, those conversion rates were making the cube reach his limits but, with Ben's help by integrating with Myriad's mind to raise his deity's thought speed as well as each new believer's once they were brought to the realm, they were able to keep up with it all, forming a solid impression with the masses.

When so many mortals had never experienced the presence of the divine in person before, meeting Myriad after their first heartfelt offer of faith turned into a core memory that would be hard to shake. Many of the defeated gods had been fairly large by the world's standards, and with twenty different churches to try to convert away as much as possible, along with any believers of the coward pantheon he found along the way, the balance of the world was shifting.

"Hehehe," Myriad let out between meetings with his new converts, not seeming to realize he was giggling to himself while Ben just looked smug from the side.

"So, you ready to admit that nothing I'm doing is actually that bad?"

"No, it still seems morally bankrupt," Myriad told him, no less overjoyed despite that fact.

"But, well, it's not like their old gods are going to be equipped to guide them all ever again if they aren't even going to have the strength to talk to their core believers, and it would be terrible to make all of these people go through the end of the world thinking the gods don't care about them."

"Yeah, yeah, try to justify it to yourself however you like. I'm in your head, I know you're loving this. Just admit it. I'm the best damn apostle on the planet. Hell, I'm the best religious leader on the planet in general, probably in its entire history. I deserve endless praise, maybe even a title. Something like king of proselytization, or-" <ACQUIRED TITLE- KING OF PROSELYTIZATION>"Holy shit!" Ben yelled, completely unprepared for the notification.

"I'm also pretty deserving of a title like divine apostle of Myriad!"

"..."

"..."

"Doesn't look like the system's going to let you have your way a second time," Myriad sighed in relief.

"I can't believe it even accepted one suggestion from you."

"It was hard to deny; it's well deserved. I'll get that other title somehow, if you would just say it once-""Never. I feel like I'd be giving up a precious bit of deniability if I did."

"Mmh, if I just need you to say it, then I wonder if you actually need to do it with intent? If I just take you over and speak through you-""Oh, wow, Ben, I just remembered," Myriad cut him off, not wanting that particular bit of curiosity going any farther.

"I'd like you to make some time in about a week if you could."

"For a real reason, or are you just changing the subject?"

"A real enough reason. I was going to mention it when things slowed down, but with the way you're stretching time for us, this is a decent enough bit of break. We're looking at doing another third-tier gathering. I assume you want to go?"

"Oh, obviously, yeah." Even if he could only enchant with another's third tier skill, provided they were within range of his soul, he could still get their skills on rings in the hopes that would give him access to some future use if he eventually succeeded in awakening his enchanting, and even if he didn't, there were other potential benefits.

Namely, having all of the world's third tiers within a range he could access immediately to start practicing enchanting with their skills and, more importantly, to potentially use them to make a mythic item.

Having access to that many more third tier skills, even if only for the day or two the meeting would go on for, would potentially be his best bet for beating mortal limits and creating something that fell within the realm of the divine and, with what he knew of the abilities they all held, he already started trying to think about what he could conceivable make in such a venue.

"Figured as much, and since you and Thera are both third tiers, she's obviously invited too. I've told Tress, so they'll be going as well-" This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"How are they doing so far, anyway?"

"You gave them a detailed enough fundamental understanding of the world that, so far, there's been no issues. They're helping Valaria manage the church a bit and doing what other odd jobs they can find. Overall, I'd say things are good. Better than I'd expected, honestly."

"Good, I'm glad to hear it. In that case, what's the meeting for?"

"Last minute discussion about the state of the world and the war prospects, along with anything you all might be able to do to improve the odds with your powers, given the number of new third tiers that have appeared, so I'm sure if you put your mind to it that you'll find something. Before anything else, though, are you going to bring Dewdrop? Somehow it doesn't seem like anyone else has caught on to the fact that you have a pet outsider yet. Are you going to change that?"

"... On the one hand, bringing it along would be good if I'm going to experiment with third-tier skills, but on the other, it's not going to want to, and I promised it that I would respect its choices. It seemed pretty happy when it got to stay with Fontesh too, she definitely gave it the pet experience the last time, so I'll bring it up but don't expect it."

"That's fine. Honestly, the less it wants to do, the lower the odds of its existence being revealed seems to be, which will at least delay the inevitable headache that's going to leave me, so-" <ABOMINATION SOURCE LEVEL INCREASED>"Oh, nice!"

"No, not nice," Myriad groaned.

"What-" <ETERNAL SOUL PROTECTION LEVEL INCREASED> <EVIL GOD'S SOUL ENHANCEMENT LEVEL INCREASED>"... The hell are you doing right now?"

"Currently using my soul to work on figuring out how to make and give soul inclination to people, which I really should aim to get done before the meeting so that I'll have something to give to Yuzu and Elvat when I see them. Plus Foast, given that he's got a soul skill too, and Falk since he's the soulsmith, and, well, let's be real, everyone's going to be getting it, just like every other skill I can make."

"Yeah, sure, very nice and all, but I was talking about you becoming a contender for abomination source."

"Oh, just more experiments in my realm. I think I just made a huge breakthrough in biological information compression. I might even be able to get my terraforming trees to cross the ten thousand species mark for how many different creatures they'll be able to produce."

"You horrify me."

"By the end of this day, you might have a hundred thousand more believers than you did yesterday, and by tomorrow you might be over a million from others finishing up on thinking the choice over and deciding to convert. I really deserve a bit more respect than that."

"Genuinely, could you end the world with one of those stupid trees?" Myriad asked, ignoring Ben's complaint.

"Huh? Yeah, at this point, probably."

"So what? If you get the chance, are you just going to go across the universe, creating horrific hell worlds?"

"Only a couple horrific hell worlds," Ben corrected, unable to deny that, if he could, he'd love to see the full potential of the constructs he was currently only able to create within his ever-growing realm, ensouling them and letting them breed to actually populate a planet with his ecosystems.

"I can make trees that spit out slightly more normal life too; it's just the crazy, biologically complex stuff really helps me push abomination source. God, I'd love to awaken that to the third tier too, but even though it's technically a mind skill, it's one that's devoted to such a specific topic that I don't know how I'd go about it. Maybe if I can design a seed that would quickly incorporate the entirety of a planet's outer shell into biomass and then start producing creatures all across its surface?

That would let me convert an entire world immediately into habitable land as well as instantly populate it, while eventually letting the tree itself die and rot once it was done to turn into fertile soil to help continue to sustain the life it produced and-""Stop thinking about how you could create doomsday scenarios, please."

"I think filling a dead world with life is the exact opposite of a doomsday scenario."

"Right until you actually figure out how to make something like that and accidentally drop it, leaving the life on this planet totally replaced."

"It's actually hurtful you think I could be that clumsy when I have an awakened balance enhancement."

"I'm not betting against your balance, I'm betting against your luck. If you make something like that, then the universe itself is going to cut off the hand holding it and water it with your blood."

"Alright, well, one, that was an uncomfortably graphic description, but more importantly, two, luck doesn't exist. You're the one who told me that."

"I've changed my mind. I may not be able to sense or detect it in any way, and it might not exist for anyone else in reality, but you have some sort of abysmal innate bad luck that's only targeting you."

"Yeah, yeah, you're very cute. I'm not going to materialize any seeds on that scale, so you don't need to worry about it. Instead, back up a bit. The meeting. Since I'm a third tier now, am I allowed to bring people I think have the potential of getting to that tier, like Falk did for me and Thera?"

"Yes, so long as it's only one or two."

"And should I assume that Tress is bringing Valaria then?"

"They are. Why? Was she going to be your choice?"

"Yeah, but that's fine, there's others in your church I think that I could help get there, but it's not like anyone needs to go, and it'll make for a good opportunity for her. She and Tress can get a bit of experience with things now, and after, when I get more of your believers to that level, she can handle introducing them to any future meetings if I don't feel like attending them."

"How conniving of you. I should expect no less."

"Ha, trust me, she's not going to regret it. Actually, send her and Tress my way before the meeting too, preferably tomorrow if they're available. I'll help them raise their skills a bit." Tress would be practicing connect with Valaria, but Ben would be able to help them level it faster, and he'd be able to help Valaria raise her connect inclination as well. When he was currently focusing on training both Thera and Delair in those skills, training two more wasn't going to hurt.

"I'll check with them when things slow down a bit."

"Better pull them up after the next person then, because it's about time we bring another new believer up."

"Mmm, I have to say, existing between microseconds like this is a bit much. I don't want to think about how long it's going to feel like I've spent with you in what, in reality, will only be an evening."

"And tomorrow too," Ben laughed.

"Maybe even the next day. New believers are going to keep pouring in. If I'm not up here making it feel like a trickle instead, then you're never going to get them all done without me."