probablyaturnip

Side Story- Helori and Myriad

“Do you have to swing your legs if you’re going to sit up there?”

“What? It’s comfortable.”

“It’s distracting! How would you feel if someone kept rapping against your head?”

“You shouldn’t complain so much, do you have any idea how many mortals would be happy to treat this as a reward? And more than a few gods as well.”

“Yes, well it’s been quite a few centuries since any part of me was mortal, and even then, to use my apostle’s words, you...

CH337

Standing in the middle of the training grounds, Thera wore an intense look of concentration on her face as she held the stump of Kelf’s arm, pouring untold thousands of mana out into the world to an extent that Ben could feel it standing off to the side as grass, weeds, and flowers in the area all took in what wasn’t being forced into the ghoul’s body, growing before his eyes before she eventually gave up.

“I can’t believe I’m meeting someone with a worse body for healing th...

CH336

“Wait, what?”

“From what I understand, you’re able to enchant unlike any other in the world. I know this is a lot to ask, but if you would at least try to make me one, I’d be forever grateful.”

“...Alright, ignoring the fact that I wouldn’t even know where to begin with something like that, I’m going to ask the obvious question of why you can’t get an awakened healer to help you. If your god was willing to spend the item I owe them for this, you must be worth g...

CH335

<I can’t believe you told me you’d properly rest on the same day you stopped sleeping altogether. I’d rather not watch you kill yourself Ben.>

“I’m having naps, it’s fine. Besides, I told you I would when I had time. I clearly don’t right now.”

He had a positively outrageous amount of work to do at the moment with all of the orders he’d been receiving in the last week. Although he’d taken most of them on the first day, with only about half of the visitors...

CH334 Thera's Perspective

As had become all too common, Thera awoke from the sounds above her, cracking open her eyes to see the numerous spirits filling her room as a cheer went up amongst them when they noticed her eyes flutter open.

“Princess!”

“The princess is up!”

“Hello again princess!”

Dozens of them, all speaking up at once to her left Thera wanting nothing more than to close her eyes again, even if she resisted the impulse as she held out her hand...

CH333

Once Falk put a stop to Ben’s wanton acts of deforestation, they both began heading back to town. The shop would be opening later than usual, but given how often it was closed as its owner left to deal with different clients, that wasn’t a big problem.

No, the big problem was the unusually large crowd trying to make it into Stonewall since they’d been in the woods, a long line of carts trying to get in as the few guards on watch were busy alerting their supervisors of everything s...

CH332

<ABSORPTION RESISTANCE LEVEL INCREASED>

Ah- Damn… it. I… guess- it…’s not… so bad since- I- won’t need- to… remake- my bracelets… yet, but- still, that’s gonna… make it- harder- to train.

<MENTAL EXPANSION LEVEL INCREASED>

“Ah, dang it Myriad, trying to think in your stupid language just raised my mental expansion level!” Ben complained as he felt his head throb, both from feeling the change to his minds, as well as having spent s...

CH331 A Consequence of Awakening

In the heavens, the gods watched down on the world as they did all they needed to. Preparing for the war wasn’t just something to be dealt with on their end after all, they needed to be sure their believers were doing their best as well, along with any mortals who’d been doing any work for them specifically.

Of them, the most important groups were the ones who had gotten to reap the benefits that killing the forbidden gods had brought. By enjoying potions that immediately boosted on...

CH330

<PLANT KNOWLEDGE LEVEL INCREASED>

<MATERIAL KNOWLEDGE LEVEL INCREASED>

“Huh, looks like I was right. Alright guys, you can stop now,” Ben told the two gods who were speaking in his head, spewing a stream of information about the plants in the world as he finished up a book on the same topic. Specifically, he’d been learning about plants in so far as how they related to his crafting and alchemy, wanting to see if that would level up both of his knowledge skills an...

CH329

“Bastard rings? Really, isn’t that a little tasteless?” His teacher asked him after flipping through the couple hundred pages of notes Ben had written, getting a shaky thumbs up in return.

“It’s the ring system of a bastard, it works,” Ben said weakly, still feeling the effects of buying what he needed to with Thera the night prior. “The other option was assface rings and honestly that just doesn’t have the same ring to it, you know?”

“Huuh, you’re not wrong ...

CH328

“Awe Ben, you can be such a good boy when you want to be,” His god cried, interrupting his lessons with Helori. “I’m going to make sure to show what you said to Thera to everyone, that should be plenty to show that you’re not actually as bad as you act.”

“Or you could not, that was kind of a private moment you know. Not that I actually have any of those. I wonder if I can use my sacrilege to keep the gods from watching me in general?”

“If you aren’t planning on...

CH327

After he finished boiling the bones, getting everything he’d needed out of them, he left them to the side to dry out as he admired what he’d collected. Having it well boiled down, there was a bit less than fifty litres in the caldron, and of it, he would be getting ten.

No good greedy gods talking my pay down to a fifth.

<You of all people can’t be calling others greedy.>

And yet, I will.

At the very least it wasn’t all bad. He’d made ...

CH326 Thera's Perspective

“So, what’s this spell you keep feeling the need to distract Ben from while you’re casting it on him?” Sonya asked offhandedly as they walked to the clinic.

“I’m not trying to distract him, I just don’t know how to bring it up. It’s kind of just a general health spell, it’s fine,” Thera admitted, still embarrassed to be caught by her aunt in the act so soon into doing it.

Sonya just stared at her, eyebrow half-cocked as she waited for more until Thera gave in.<...

CH325

Despite how good it felt to be home, despite how much he wanted to stay in bed for just a little longer, acting as if there was nothing for him to do, Ben got up earlier than he typically would.

Both Sonya and Thera planned to go to the clinic earlier than normal. Sonya to help out as she always did, while still making time for her practice later in the day, and Thera because she felt bad for being gone so much longer than she’d planned, even if she wasn’t a true member of the clini...

CH324

Getting to the guild, Ben ignored the looks along the way he now realized were due to a combination of people learning that he wasn’t dead, as well as the secret that he was an apostle leaking to the town as they went inside. He needed some sort of distraction from the fact that Thera fully intended to fight in a war against a race that was all but certain to win, and dealing with Ceselee raising his rank seemed like the perfect way to keep his minds off things.

As they got in, Onk im...

Well well well, if it isn't poll time

Looks like it's that time again. 

Not going to lie, almost forgot about this with how hectic posting this month was but when I saw the date it all came back to me. The nicer thing about doing a mass release is that it lets me have a lot more options for what I can think to make side stories for so hopefully something catches your eye. 

As always, the chapter will be up a couple weeks after the poll is done so pick what your interested in and have an excellent one!

CH323

“Just for the record, I want to make it clear I hate every part of this,” Ben said as they made their way back to Stonewall, holding his seat in a death grip from the stress that only he was feeling.

Thera for her part was ecstatic. She’d thought it was a brilliant idea as soon as she’d had it, taking advantage of the improvements to her earth magic to use the cart in a completely different way, raising it into the air as soon as they left the city limits, not just letting them ...

CH322 Thera’s choices and the thoughts of the spirits

Author’s note

I guess this is kind of an arc epilogue so read and enjoy before getting to the next one tomorrow! Also ignore how early this is going up I don’t have a real sleep schedule

Thera was seething as they went through the streets of Anailia to pick up the cart they’d left at the church before finally going on their way home, to the point that anyone else walking around them took a wide berth. With her anger came a feeling of pressure as her man...

CH321 Thera's Perspective

Author's note

On the longer side today so enjoy

Waking up in the morning, she half-heartedly fumbled around the bed before even opening her eyes and realised she was alone, Ben likely having already run off to either play with the archive or work on his magics since he’d finished every book in Viv’s library, meaning Thera would be facing the start of the day by herself.

Hopefully it would be a good one, but her stomach was in knots thinking about it...

CH320 Vividus's Perspective

Out amongst the snow the great life spirit hovered in the air, watching the battle going on beneath her as Abrus’s child faced off against the beasts she’d created for the coming conflict. A small horde of creatures, any one of them built to tower above Thera with teeth and claws fit for killing and not much else. They were meant to be predators in their purest forms and better than any plain homunculus could be, due to the seconds' limited nature and functions.

Instead, they were h...

CH319

<SPEED READING LEVEL INCREASED>

<PLANT KNOWLEDGE LEVEL INCREASED>

“Man, I might actually finish everything here at this rate.”

Being left alone in a library for so many hours, he’d spent the time plowing through books, enjoying the experience all the more for just how peaceful it was. He hadn’t been able to do anything like that in the trial and it felt like an excellent change of pace as he used the time to escape the world.

Vividus’s library was...

CH318 Thera's Perspective

They were awoken the next day by a knock on the door from another one of Vivdus’s creatures and were motioned to follow it down to the main hall where the great life spirit was waiting, another monster standing beside her.

With a head as big as any of them were tall and little in the way of any sort of body to go with it, Thera couldn’t help but think the creature's existence was pitiful. It looked like the majority of it was just a mouth, no facial features beyond that, and dozens ...

CH317

Eventually, they heard a knock on their door as their meal arrived, though in a way neither of them would have anticipated. Plates were stacked on the wide flat back of a six-legged creature that walked in as soon as they opened the door for it, making it perfectly clear that they were supposed to treat it as a table to be used.

“Okay, even for me this is a bit messed up,” Ben muttered as he stood by it to begin eating, Thera seeming much more hesitant. “There’s no way this thin...

CH316 Thera's Perspective

“Uh, is this okay?” He asked her as he understood what they were doing. “Didn’t you say before that it’s dangerous to go through here?”

“As long as we’re only here for a day we’ll probably be fine. We need to get you checked out and unfortunately, there probably isn’t anyone better suited for it than her.”

“Look, I know the skill sounds bad, but I feel fine. Besides, I dealt with bacteria and fungus growing across my flesh during the trial, not in a huge ru...

CH315 Thera's Perspective

<WOODWIND INSTRUMENT LEVEL INCREASED>

The notification went off in her head as she played the small flute Ben had made her while listening to her various students follow along. At a couple weeks after arriving, she’d long taught them all what she viewed as being most relevant for them to learn, meaning that aside from the few projects Ben got her to help with, she didn’t have much else that needed doing.

Originally, that had left her plenty of free time that she put towa...

CH314

Okay, this is incredible but I can study it more later. Gotta work on the next thing first.

Reaching into his bag, he pulled out his knife he’d used when killing the forbidden gods, stripping it of its enchantments before going through his packed rings. He had so many by that point that soon enough he would have to rethink how he organised them, though that would be a later issue. For the time being he grabbed the main two he’d need. The beast form one he’d copied from Ra...

CH313

In the days since the meeting, Ben could feel the tension in the village lessen. It wasn’t gone, but he no longer had the immediate fear that things might turn violent when he left and he was able to focus on teaching them what he could, with the day prior focusing on getting a group of magic users to learn the finer points of enchanting, as well as explaining how it could be used with connect when they’d get it.

That in particular seemed to capture their curiosities, understanding ...

CH312

“What do you think about punishing them?” Ben asked as he walked around the enormous summoning spell, still set up in his god’s realm for him to look at.

“I think that it’s a complex topic with no easy answer. It can’t be denied that some of them are in the wrong, but can they really be held responsible for their actions after the way they’ve been brought up? After what all of their kind had been led to believe since they were created?”

“And I get that, but that ...

CH311

The next day, Ben could see that the first group he’d worked with was exhausted. He’d pushed them for hours, giving whatever guidance he’d thought they needed to help them learn and grow since their foundation was almost nonexistent. A group that tried to leave no traces simply didn’t build things to last, always looking at what could be broken down or moved instead. After pushing them though he left them with the simple task of trying to figure out how to construct a well on their ow...

CH310

Hey, I forgot to ask you earlier but what does it mean for a skill to transition? Ben thought to his god after talking about his status with Thera reminded him of it. It admittedly seemed to be a major change given the fact that it had altered his eye colour, even if he didn’t end up sprouting any scales.

<And I’d so successfully managed to block that from my mind too.> Myriad complained. <You want to know the worst part of this? I had actually expected you to do t...