As Ben went to sleep for the night he did so with a headache. There were just over two hundred living members of the village, and from checking their skills he couldn’t help but think there was little of immediate value. They all had their blessed skills of course, but without the cards to tell them what they were, none of them had even known they existed, meaning except for the magics, they were almost all at the zeroth level. People had ones oriented to hunting and gathering, but not much...
2023-02-09 14:02:07 +0000 UTC
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In the realm of gods, where all who ruled over the races of the world resided, ever staring down at the acts of their people, an exceedingly rare event was being held. A meeting to discuss the fate of a single mortal.
It was rare that any moral would do anything worthy enough for a god to consider directly punishing them, rarer still for multiple gods to get involved in the matter, but all of them? Not even Olop had gotten such a gathering. It was unprecedented.
It was only after ...
2023-02-08 12:13:25 +0000 UTC
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He felt surprise course through him as Thera said it and he gently pulled away, reaching into his bag to get a small white mana crystal to hold up to his eye. What little reflection he saw was crude, nothing compared to the mirror he’d have liked to have, but it was enough to see that Thera was right. Neither the whites nor the pupil were different, but his iris had changed to a vibrant violet, the same as any demon.
…So I definitely need to make sure I haven’t sprouted any sc...
2023-02-07 12:10:11 +0000 UTC
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Author's note
this is a long one so make sure you're comfortable before diving in
Ben opened his eyes, the five soul-sealing crystals in his hand as well as his knife as he looked around. Thera was leaning beside him as she read to mentally escape every revelation that had been forced on her that day, trying to gain a better understanding of how to use her magics in tandem instead of thinking on the fate of the world, while the gods were still talking to the sky, discus...
2023-02-06 14:16:13 +0000 UTC
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It took some time for them all to be healed, and while just how to handle them all once they woke up was one question, what would happen to their gods was another entirely that Anailia seemed to be ready to answer then and there.
“Helori, what’s the current status of the five of them?” She asked the sky as the answer came down for all to hear.
<Well, they’re alive for now at least. They put up a struggle at first and it seems they tried to escape when they realized that...
2023-02-05 11:49:55 +0000 UTC
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His job crystal forgotten, they all stepped through, seeing a scene of carnage before them. At first he thought he was seeing proper invaders killing one another, they had the red scales and violet eyes that were the trademark for the race, but something was clearly different. As much as the body types of a demon could change, letting it be born with shapes more adapted to flying or swimming or even burrowing as he’d seen in the past, they’d always only have those two main traits, and cer...
2023-02-04 07:22:05 +0000 UTC
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When Ben and Thera got through the untamed land’s gate they were told to take, they encountered the three they were expecting. Three gods who had descended upon the world into the bodies of their believers.
The average adventurer that was there had no clue who they were but could feel something exuding from them, a feeling of power unlike any other as they wondered if perhaps it was a meeting between third-tier skill holders, not knowing that they were experiencing divinity for the fi...
2023-02-03 13:57:26 +0000 UTC
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“What was that?” Caz asked, not understanding what his fellow priest was saying as Toltho screamed out into the crowd.
“I said no! Who are the gods to say that we should die for them? Who are they to say we should kill the ones we love before running away like cowards? Is our community so fragile? Are the bonds we share so weak? Could you all go on living with yourselves if you just let the lives of your parents and your young, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbours end so e...
2023-02-02 11:44:42 +0000 UTC
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Since he’d first become the priest of Quox, he’d never once been told there was an emergency to gather them all at once. Even when the wise one had escaped, he alone had been contacted to deal with it due to being the only one in the village with his skill advancing beyond its limits, and when he stretched his memories to his youth before he’d taken over the role he couldn’t say it had happened before either.
The fact spoke of an emergency of unprecedented levels as all five pri...
2023-02-01 13:49:46 +0000 UTC
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In his realm watching down at the world, Quox lounged around, feeling content in the amount of faith he had, even if it would never be enough for his taste. When his world had fallen he’d made the only reasonable choice and ran, having heard the rumours of this one from a void god he encountered and fled to it, hoping to find new believers and new strength, but things hadn’t worked out that smoothly.
When he’d arrived he was almost immediately exiled, told he’d be forbidden from...
2023-01-31 14:04:13 +0000 UTC
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<Ben, don’t be stupid. Of course it was made to keep demons from being a part of it. You think we don’t understand just how important that would be? While the system automatically takes in any intelligent race it encounters, the original gods that built it worked exceptionally hard to ensure that demons would be excluded. What sort of idiot would create such an intensely powerful weapon, just to give it to enemies and allies alike?>
Ben could tell from the voice of his god in ...
2023-01-29 17:21:07 +0000 UTC
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His final task, the last thing keeping him from the comforts of home, was admittedly small, the sort of thing he probably could have gotten away with ignoring, but if he didn’t do it now he had no clue how far in the future it would be before he could make the time to see the results in person.
Taking their cart through the elven gate, Thera and Ben drove out to the farm Ben had purchased just before the crafting contest had started, to be used as a way to gain faith for his god. Even...
2023-01-27 14:43:28 +0000 UTC
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At Ben’s prompt declaration, Myriad could only sigh. “There’s no point, and for a number of reasons too.”
“Cool, you can explain them to me after you teach me then,” He said, ignoring his god’s resistance. “Look, realistically I don’t think I can do anything to help, but I have to assume that they’re either hoping that they can make their way to this universe, that the gods here can somehow prolong the life of their star in their universe, or that we can somehow use ...
2023-01-26 09:18:10 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone, time for another poll! This one's going to pull from some old options or the chance to choose giving everyone two extra chapters instead so pick whatever your heart desires.
Of course, since we did just pass a patron goal I'm giving an extra seven chapters next month anyway so we'll see if you all plan on turning it into a total of nine. Either way I've got this.
Hmm, not much else to say, I thought I'd be rambling a bit more but it's late and this needs some posting...
2023-01-26 02:15:13 +0000 UTC
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He cradled the crushed shell in his hands, tears streaming down his face at the death of his lone companion-
“Ben.”
Without Greed he knew it was the end for him. His body was a mess of injuries. Broken and bleeding, he did all he could to raise his head-
“Ben!”
Facing the balls of fire plummeting from the heavens, one on a collision course that he couldn’t avoid. He’d need the strength to move to do that and he was spent. After so long...
2023-01-24 17:11:28 +0000 UTC
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Author's note
So we had another Sonya/Falk story win the last poll! There's two things I'm going to be honest about. First, I had no clue what to name this one which is pretty obvious from the weak title. Second, originally I was going to do this as a continuation of the last Sonya and Falk story but after rewriting it three times I just couldn't make something that I would be satisfied giving to you all, so instead you're all getting a story that takes place a fair bit later, but still...
2023-01-23 23:55:53 +0000 UTC
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“That all went way too well,” Thera said, still stunned to have received a new blessing out of the blue. “I take back everything I’ve said about your terrible luck, it looks like good things do happen to you occasionally.”
“Well obviously, you’re one of them,” He told her, giving a playful wink as they went on to his next task, trying to see Steph and Will, at least until Myriad spoke up in his head.
<You should also check your card right now.> His god advise...
2023-01-22 05:33:20 +0000 UTC
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By the third hour of discussing the topic they lost Jake, the man falling asleep while listening to the conversation Ben and his three teachers were having. As much as he tried to learn, it was all just too dull for him.
Yuzu on the other hand gave up on the seventh, not because she was bored, but because she had reached beyond what she understood. She was becoming competent in soul magic, but what they were discussing pulled from all branches, it had gone well beyond the limits of her ...
2023-01-20 16:51:03 +0000 UTC
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Unlike the last time when he was trying to get somewhere without prior arrangements, this time Ben decided to do things properly. He went to the home of Amy, Jake, and Yuzu, told the guards at the gate who he was and why he was there, and waited patiently as that information was passed along.
“So you okay?” He asked Thera as he watched her fidget beside him, his hands busy making a circular tool he’d need later through his magic skills.
“Um, yeah. Things might just be a li...
2023-01-19 08:44:28 +0000 UTC
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“Hey Ben, just out of curiosity, you aren’t actually trying to awaken your sacrilege skill, are you?” Thera asked as the three of them walked through the streets.
“Of course not. How would I even do that?” He asked, immediately feeling the wheels turning in his head with the question. It wasn’t like he went out of his way to do things that could be considered acts against the gods, and if sending the trial he’d been stuck in to a whole other level of reality had only been ...
2023-01-17 16:15:31 +0000 UTC
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“Ugh, I’m so tired of reading this,” Thera groaned as she put her book down, leaning her head on Ben’s shoulder. “Golem creation, petrification, earth healing, even at the ninth level in both of my magics I don’t think I have the control to actually manage any of these.”
“Well, you won’t know until you try. When we get back to Stonewall we can go for a good long hunt and test them out after you understand the theory a bit better.”
“I know, I know. Might as we...
2023-01-15 17:24:44 +0000 UTC
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Author's note
Alright my precious turnip
2023-01-13 18:48:04 +0000 UTC
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Author's note
In case you have no clue who Iberu is because he only appeared once in chapter 255, he’s the head of the craftsman’s guild.
We really should have tried to plan this better. Iberu thought to himself as he tried to push through the chaos of the streets around craftsman’s tower to get to the gate.
He’d been fulfilling his role as head of the craftsman’s guild as he always had, taking meetings, approving the buyin...
2023-01-12 16:52:24 +0000 UTC
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Eventually, Thera pulled away, her face shining, even as she smiled.
“Um, so what now then?”
“Well,” Ben started. “If we look at the order we’ve done things we got engaged, moved in together, confirmed our mutual love and then kissed. If we continue on doing romance the complete opposite of how my race typically does, that means it’s probably about time for me to take you on a date if you’re free today?”
“My schedule is completely open,” She told him ha...
2023-01-10 17:30:09 +0000 UTC
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Eventually, Abrus forced the crowd to disperse, and while Ben got the great spirit to agree to host Greed, with the two of them still having things they needed to discuss, they both decided that was for a later day as he and Thera made their way back to the embassy.
When he looked at her he had so much he wanted to say. He’d just been through a living nightmare, but seeing her was like a dream. He thought his feelings were going to spill out, but what he said ended up being completely...
2023-01-08 17:16:28 +0000 UTC
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<SPIRIT EMPOWERING LEVEL INCREASED>
<MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE LEVEL INCREASED>
“Thank you for taking so much time to teach me,” Thera said graciously to the group of life spirits around her who had been spending the last few weeks by her side, educating her on the finer points of the magic and the structures of the living things she was hunting in exchange for consistently transferring them mana to reproduce and recover.
“Of course earthkin, but it is you we o...
2023-01-06 14:28:35 +0000 UTC
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Ben found himself in a much smaller room than any other time he’d finished a section and thought it to be a good sign. There was no fountain for water, nor table for food, and while the pile of old items was still there, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The only difference he could see was a small stand with a bound book placed on top of it, and seconds later the appearance of a star.
Star was the best way to describe it at least, even if it didn’t feel like it was burni...
2023-01-05 10:58:02 +0000 UTC
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Acting fast, Ben stripped off his armour as he figured out what to do. He quickly and carefully placed Greed on the ground before taking the glove he’d made to use in place of a staff and putting it on, running his mana through it to alter the shape of the helmet he’d been wearing, ever so carefully modifying it to act as a sealed container that he could put his companion in and applying the strongest time enchantment he could on it, blending it with his other magic rings to enhance the e...
2023-01-03 16:06:16 +0000 UTC
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It had taken two agonizing weeks to heal all of the damage to his body, but as it went Ben spent the entire time thinking on what was coming next. He knew the life section was still to come, and while if he was lucky that would be the end of it, he was feeling like he’d just used up his entire lifetime supply by getting through the death section.
What mattered was what was still to come. If he was to think about what he could expect from life magic and ignored anything that could be b...
2023-01-01 17:41:16 +0000 UTC
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Ben sat in front of the next section of the trial, staring at the door of it and heaving a long sigh.
“Man, I really don’t want to do this.”
They’d finally gotten to the death section and he couldn’t imagine it going particularly well. He’d been expecting to deal with the life section first so when he first saw the enchantments indicating that he’d been wrong it had thrown him off completely. He at least had a decent understanding of death magic, but considering it w...
2022-12-30 13:29:25 +0000 UTC
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