“I can’t believe you talked me into letting Sachel be experimented on,” Myriad groaned when Ben got up there. “What would I have done if something went wrong?”
“Nothing was going to go wrong, and I verified on Skoe and Ralia first, didn’t I? This is objectively a good thing for every one of your believers I helped. I can ensure that they get the integrated body version of the skill! Even if the odds of any of them getting a level to it before the next wave is low, it’ll still be better than just getting partial body. Plus, now when I die, I can make my sales pitch for snagging believers even better. Join the church of Ben, and not only will you be turned into a demigod, you’ll be turned into someone who can grow their demigod aspect! A power not even the natural-born can claim! I am going to have such a big church, just you watch.”
“I think I’ll keep my eyes closed as you’re doing that, actually.”
“Well, for one, you don’t have eyes, and beyond that, I’ll be up here hanging with you the entire time. You’re not going to be allowed to look away.”
“Ugh.”
“So other than that, how’s everyone feeling?” Ben asked. “They all seemed fine when I finished with them, but I’m assuming you’re keeping watch?”
Realistically, he could say they were doing better than fine. He couldn’t be sure of the part he personally played by giving his test subjects the benefits of his authorities, but more than half had gained skills after the surgery, either attribute enhancements or inclinations that Ben took advantage of to slip onto his rings, with even more getting levels beyond that. Becoming a demigod for both growth and gain was no small thing, and it was already paying off for those who enjoyed it as far as he could see, with his god confirming as much.
“No side effects, and trust me, I’ve been looking. I’d say that your partner did it just as well as any surgery Vividus has pulled off, if only slower.”
“Glad to hear it. If you find out about any of your believers who got it claiming any new inclinations for themselves later on too, then let me know. One of the rarest skills in the world, I’ve gotta get any new ones that pop up on some rings.”
“Have you not gotten enough as it is?”
“These things can be used to lower mana costs in enchantments if I use them right, I’m never going to have enough. I only got five today, but I know I can get more as people get some more practice.”
With Sachel getting lucky and claiming a plant inclination for herself and, far more shockingly to Ben at least, Ralia managing to claim one for beastform skills despite the fact that, by the nature of both her race and the skill, she could only have the one, he’d also seen such skills appear for combat, gathering, and music and he still wanted to see more. When he considered some of the type bonuses that the system had announced him to be holding, he couldn’t deny his desire for more than a few new ones himself.
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“You have so many already,” his god said, seeing right through him. “Plenty would say too many.”
“But I could have more. Crafting inclination, connect inclination, hell, I’d still take a mind or sacrilege inclination too. Plus apocalyptic inclination-”
“I desperately don’t want you getting apocalyptic inclination.”
“And besides that,” Ben went on, pretending he hadn’t heard. “Inclination inclination. I’ve got five inclinations now, I should be somewhat due for an inclination that covers them, right? And besides-”
“Oh, perfect timing.”
“I wouldn’t call it that,” Myriad grumbled. “Dare I check what you’re currently putting your soul through?”
“Just some light practice, I wouldn’t mind it. Instead, let’s focus on the fact that multiversal inclination is growing kind of slowly. I feel like with everything I do, I should have it awakened by now.”
“It might simply be too broad to grow as fast as some of your others. For what it’s worth, I still find the speed you’re managing to raise it to be horrifying.”
“Oh Myriad, you charmer, you. Not to worry, I’ll aim to start growing at a faster, even more horrifying rate than before. Considering just how much multiversal inclination covers for me, I have high hopes for what’ll happen if I awaken it.”
“... Oh hell, you want it to awaken to speed up some of your deranged third-tier skills, don’t you?”
“Among other things,” he grinned. “But I can’t deny the idea that getting it to the second tier might raise my evil and destruction even more is pretty appealing. It’s not like inclinations were necessarily a part of my home universe, which means they should be fair game for that skill right? At the very least, at the third tier they’ve got plenty of aspects that wouldn’t be present back on Earth. Sacrilege too, since there were no obvious gods in my old world. It should already be helping all of them, I just want it to help them faster.”
“You actually can’t be getting any more skill synergies than this, I don’t think I could handle it emotionally.”
“Awe, come on buddy, every time you think that, you always pull through in the end. When I finally get my inclination inclination, you’re going to love it, I just know it.”
“It’s just eternity with this maniac,” Myriad muttered. “How bad could it possibly be?”
“You’re going to love it. We’re going to have so much fun together when I’m a proper god, but before that, one more thing I wanted to deal with today that might be a bit of a pain in the butt for you.”
“... Fine. What?”
“Similar topic to earlier, I’m just going to need a bit of help arranging it, which means I’m hoping you’ll talk to Phixth to sort it out quickly for me. Thera’s going to take a demigod surgery, and after talking with her about it for a bit, we want to do the one Vividus has the god for.”
“So you want to arrange a time in her schedule? That’s not too hard, it can be managed.”
“Yeah, that’s definitely not it. You think either of us wants to deal with her if we can help it? We’re literally raising the child she abandoned. I trust that I could probably keep civil, but I think Thera would see if she’s finally strong enough to properly kill a great spirit if she sees her again. As I and the gods agreed before the faithful of the world, these are my crystals and I want that one back for what’s going to amount to a few hours. If this can’t be arranged for tomorrow then I’m being shown the gods had no intention of sticking to their side of the agreement and will be reacting very poorly.”
“Alright, ease up on the threats a bit, I’ll make it work. Not to support your overly violent nature, but while you have it, could you break the mind inside? It would be easier to work with in the future if every body it possessed didn’t need to be so thoroughly restrained.”
“Hmm? Oh yeah, I can absolutely do that.”