probablyaturnip

CH581

Shoot and dodge, shoot and dodge, that was the routine of his experimentation to see if anything they could create could hurt the monster in the sky as Thera burned unheard-of levels of mana, to the point that Ben had to create light-enchanted bands partway into their testing just to speed up her recovery.

His first round of experiments had been aimed to see if the creature would show any particular reaction when hit with any of Thera’s spells, but as she switched between weakening da...

CH580

It took him far too long to realize it was even doing anything at all, instead assuming the movement he was seeing was nothing more than an extension of the strange, ever-present warping it was going through, but he was wrong. Tendrils of it were stretching out in all directions and in one movement they smashed down, hitting against the earth and sky, bringing a sharp sound of cracking with it that shook Ben to his core and let him alone see the consequences that the seemingly random act had....

CH579

“Thera, bring us down,” Ben told her before going back to address the sky. “And Myriad, what should I be doing to make sure she’s okay?”

<For now, block her ears and make her focus on the ground as she keeps bringing you both onward. I’ll let you know when you need to block her eyes.>

“Got it. Thera, one sec.”

He passed on what Myriad told him before spending his own mana, first materializing wax to shove into her ears before creating a dense ear coveri...

CH578

“Oof, that was a weird one,” Ben said with a shiver after reading another ghost's memories.

“Why, what was it this time?”

“Some star species, only instead of being like any of the others I peeked into, I think its original species wasn’t made of matter or mana but instead energy. It was really weird to try and process. Also another notch I’m using to confirm that the majority of gods are assholes.”

With not much else he could do on their journey out, Ben had ...

CH577 Evil Gods and Eldritch Horrors Part Seven

“Again!” Ather shouted out at the people surrounding him, paying no mind to those he’d already knocked down as he started to fight more, hardening and strengthening his body with his earth augmentation while swinging his spear, all to work out his burning frustration and rage.

That was all he could do after his last failed murder attempt, his mortal father and the church as a whole having sent him away under the guise of training, even if he was well aware they simply didn’t wan...

CH576

The second they passed through the gate, Thera wasted no time pulling away the paved stone below them and shaping it the best she could, creating a large basket for them to stand within as she flew them at high speeds to their distant destination while wind whipped by their faces.

So how long until Thera’s going to be in danger of seeing this thing?

<At your current speed, an hour. I’ll warn you beforehand.>

And how long till the world ends?

CH575

“Well Ben, it’s been fun,” Myriad told him dejectedly as the cube sat on the ground.

“Myriad? What’s the matter?”

Ben had only just gotten to the realm for the night, only to get those as his god’s first words to him. With neither Nare nor Helori there either, he had no clue what had led Myriad to what felt like was going to be a full-on breakdown.

“I mean, fair really is fair, isn’t it?” The god went on, acting as if he hadn’t heard his apostle as he s...

CH574 Evil Gods and Eldritch Horrors Part Six

It’s time.

They’d done all they could, prepared as much as possible for the task before them all, and now they finally needed to begin. Naloth could feel his heart pounding in him at the thought, even as he used his own dark magic to help still it.

It was the culmination of his life's work about to be put to the test. Decades of study and research, reading untold books and history and legends, even going so far as to steal classified information to make his vision a r...

CH573

<ACTUALIZATION LEVEL INCREASED>

The colosseum's seats were packed and bustling with the watching crowd, all of them ready and eager to enjoy the final match of the tournament with Ben and Thera feeling it just as much, with the two enjoying their front row seats amongst the rest of the healers.

Thera was feeling the same excitement as the rest of the crowd, but a lot of Ben’s own came from his desire to get some validation over fixing the broken blade. He wanted to see wit...

CH572

The morning was filled with Ben fulfilling his promises to the gods, making a few statues quickly to keep them pleased and handing them off to some of Nare’s representatives who came to pick them up before the two left for a meal and to watch the matches that were to come, with both the quarter and semifinals taking place that day for the crowd to enjoy.

Ben enjoyed it too, even if it wasn’t anywhere near the main thing he was looking forward to that day. The entire time as fights w...

CH571

When Ben went to bother the gods that night, he was fully intending on getting every bit of information he could from them on the maker of the blade that had captured his interest. Surely they had to know something about a creation like that, but what he was less prepared for was the level of enthusiasm he was greeted with as Helori ran over to ruffle his hair while Myriad circled around him, practically vibrating in excitement. It was only Nare who stayed off to the side in a pout.

“...

CH570

Before the man could answer, the ground around them rose up, trapping him within it and freeing Ben from his grasp as he turned to his lovely girlfriend who had only just noticed what was going on.

“Ah, Thera, it’s okay! That was my fault, he’s fine!”

She didn’t look like she fully believed it as she walked over, done with the now very scared-looking official who’d just seen her casually use her power before freeing the man from the stone that trapped him.

“Ben...

February poll

Hey all, happy monthing! Man oh man, somebody (me) completely forgot that it is a short month this one, that surprise kicked me in the butt but here we are with another poll!

Let's see, what is there all to say? First off, sorry about taking a couple days off in the middle there, I hadn't been sick like that in a while so it's good to be back to top shape, hopefully nothing like that happens again soon and hopefully by saying this I'm not tempting fate or whatever sort of vengeful god r...

Side Story: Nati, Xilly, Zallith, Afterword

Author's note

You would not believe that such a simple and boring title lead me to fifteen minutes of googling but here we are. I wasn't positive if I wanted afterword or afterward because I wasn't 100% I knew the difference, so for anyone else who's curious, afterword can be an epilogue, afterward is what comes next. Pretty sure either would have actually worked but I ultimately went with Afterword because if I didn't I would have had to make the choice on whether to write it as afterw...

CH569

Every mind in his head was racing to try and make sense of what he was seeing. Magic nullification was the one skill that he knew couldn't be enchanted with, the very nature of the power destroyed the enchantments it was a part of, but when he looked at the sword as a whole he found another reason that couldn't be the case.

The sword couldn't be enchanted with magic nullification because there were no enchantments on it to begin with. He didn't see a single weave of mana or any of the o...

CH568

After Ben was done and the two left the very flustered priest as he and the ones under him dealt with handing the small mountain of statues that now flooded his church, they finally started making their way to the city’s coliseum, passing through the busy streets till they reached their destination and made their way within.

It was a big place, but not so big that it ruined the view, even with them in the middle of things, but Ben still made use of his magic to create binoculars for t...

CH567

<ACTUALIZATION LEVEL INCREASED>

<INTELLIGENCE ENHANCEMENT LEVEL INCREASED>

The following day, Ben and Thera left for their next destination, being a place Ben already had plans for thanks to the gods. A place they’d actually been to before, though the circumstances of their past visit made things slightly more complicated. They were going back to warriors’ tower.

It wasn't for simple sightseeing though, but instead an event being put on by the city itself. Af...

CH566

When Ben came down from his god’s realm, he did it earlier than usual thanks to Myriad informing him that Thera had woken up, with her sleep being a little more restless than he’d hoped.

“Hey, you’re up early.”

“Mmh, I could say the same about you,” She muttered against his chest. “Couldn’t sleep either?”

“I got a head’s up that you woke up. Feeling okay?”

“Ugh, no. I think it might take a day or two.”

“Well then, we’ve just gott...

CH565

The act of reversing the effects of that ancient petrification was long, with each minute of it giving Thera far too much time to reflect on the exact nature of what she was doing.

With the museum staff looking after the victims she’d put to sleep while others led her to the storage room holding the last few, it was only once she was done that the representatives of the communal church arrived to take over from their care, letting the two of them find a place to stay for the rest of t...

CH564

“Just make sure nobody stops me.”

Ben wasn’t given time to ask what she was going to do before she’d already crossed the boundary to the statue, leaving him to deal with the yelling staff who’d come to stop her as he rushed over and held them back, trying to be as reasonable as he could given the circumstances.

“Now, I know this probably doesn’t look great, but there’s definitely a good reason for this,” He told the two he’d grabbed in his arms, all while tryin...

CH563 Thera's Perspective

Despite a bit of soreness in her muscles when she woke up the next day, Thera couldn’t deny that going to the beach had ended up being a lot more fun than she’d expected. Even if she never managed to fully get the hang of swimming, it was something she’d be willing to do again and despite how childish the following activity had seemed at first glance, making sandcastles had been an entertaining way to pass the time, especially as a crowd had gathered to see what Ben had made.

When...

CH562

<ACTUALIZATION LEVEL INCREASED>

A new day, a new gate to pass through, with the one they’d chosen feeling a little more special compared to a few of the other options available to them. It was one Ben had enchanted himself, picked for the dual reasons that it was a city they hadn’t been to before, as well as one on a coast to let them enjoy all the ocean had to offer.

After a night of socializing with Greed and his partner, followed by practicing his actualization in Myr...

CH561

When Greed’s second show came to a close, both Ben and Thera were able to give a much grander applause than the first, having loved it when they themselves weren’t a part of the subject matter.

Only when the crab and his performers gave their final bow did things really come to an end, with Greed waving for Ben to climb up the stage to grab him.

“So, what did you think then?”

“It was great,” Ben laughed. “Way more than I’d been expecting when you first offere...

CH560

Despite being fairly early, the venue was already packed, leaving Ben just a little worried about the fact he was showing up without a ticket, even if he’d been told to do as much by the show’s producer himself.

It looked like Greed had done well for himself, with a line formed of people from all over, each of them talking excitedly about the performance that had taken the world by storm as Ben tried his best to not let his personal history with what was about to go on taint his exp...

CH559

When Ben opened his eyes to the second day of his vacation, he was greeted by a small surprise. For once, Thera was awake before him, watching him from the side and looking bright as she held his arm.

“Look who’s finally up,” She laughed, getting a happy smile for her comment

“Good morning Thera, what has you up so early?”

“Ha, it’s later than I’m usually up and I’m excited. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a good show, the fact that Greed has people s...

CH558 Gods and Godhood

When morning came and Ben left, the three gods dropped their more casual atmosphere, all of them forced to reflect on what they’d just witnessed.

“This should go without saying, but if you would both do me a favour and not spread this around, I would appreciate it,” Myriad groaned. “I don’t want to imagine how anyone else would react.”

Nare gave his friend a light pat, trying his best to be reassuring. “Even if word does eventually get out, this isn’t as bad as som...

CH557

It was late by the time Ben was finished being healed, with both soul mages having used him as a chance to experiment to determine the best ways of healing a damaged soul, but once they were both done, Ben and Thera’s vacation options were finished for that point.

Rather than go out through another random gate again to see what they could find, they opted to enjoy a meal with their friends, explaining that they were supposed to be taking some time to relax, even if the first day had g...

CH556

In Ben’s eyes, there was plenty of good about the world so long as one ignored the evercoming threat of impending doom. With so many different races coming together to build a planet and society, the richness of food and art was something to love, but what was always going to be most apparent when stepping through a new gate was going to be the architecture, with the one they’d chosen not disappointing.

Unlike the more angular buildings he would see on Earth, the ones of the land he...

Update: I am sick

Hey all, it feels like only a couple days ago I posted something saying nothing would ever go wrong again and boy was I wrong. Currently super ill so I'll be taking the next two days off of posting to try and focus on recovering and I'll post those two missed chapters later in the month. Super sorry about that, crossing my fingers the worst of it passes so there won't be any more unexpected delays in my posts.

CH555

“I can’t believe we’re about to waste two weeks,” Ben sighed as he handed out breakfast to Thera and Sonya, the last meal the three would be having together for a while. The gods knew well that if Ben stayed in Stonewall he’d sneak back to the forge for practice so they told him to go off to see more of the world while he could, but it still seemed like nothing but a waste of time.

So what if he was a bit overworked at the moment? Plenty of people were. If they were really so ...