Chapter 793

    “Let’s see, I guess Sonya might be out, she has her work and this would be a little last minute to spring it on her but what about your parents?” Ben suggested. “That way Lux and Funa will both be around too, they’ll probably be able to look after him pretty well, all things considered.”

    “I’d rather not use them as our first choice. He’s never met them before and I have no clue how they’re going to react to the birth of a whole new type of spirit and I know they need to meet eventually but I really want to talk to them first and then actually be there for when everyone meets just in case I need to clear the air like I did when they met Insia and as far as introductions go, leaving him with them for a couple days is going to be a lot. Plus, they all have work that keeps them busy too and since my mom is going to be busy trying to run the country, that only leaves the staff, Writ, and Ogilt to actually look after him.”

    “Okay, is there anyone you’re thinking of then?”

    “Ugh, I don’t know. I don’t want to leave him with anyone he hasn’t met before but he really hasn’t met that many people, has he? I mean, it’s not the best choice but there really isn’t a reason aunty couldn’t bring him with her to the hospitals she’s been working at like I’ve been but she’s already so exhausted all of the time but... I don’t know.”

    “Okay, give me a second. Another option, another option,” He looked over at the boy as he muttered it, finding his answer right beside him. “Got it, someone he knows that he can be around. It won’t exactly be the one looking after him but that should be fine, she owes me a favour anyway. Okay, now''s a decent time to finish things today anyway so let’s go tell our babysitter she’s got the job.”

    “Oh, Ben, Thera, what do I owe the pleasure?” Fontesh asked as the four of them walked through the gate to her living room. “Delair’s been behaving I hope?”

    “She’s doing great, couldn’t be prouder of her progress so far but I’m sure she’s caught you up on all of that and it’s not why we’re here anyway. Long story short, after tomorrow, me and Thera are going to be away for a few days so lessons are going to be canceled until we’re back, we just have one little hitch. We need a babysitter. You briefly met Mora?”

    “I did, hello again,” She said, smiling at the boy. “Delair’s been telling me a lot about you.”

    Mora didn’t respond to that, only quietly standing to the side in a way Ben chose to view as shyness, letting him go on. “So anyway, you up for the job? Plus maybe again another week or two from now?”

    “Of course, I owe you that much at least. Feel free to drop him off whenever’s convenient.”

    “Fantastic, appreciate it Fontesh, in that case, we’ll see you later and Delair, we’ll have your last lesson before the break tomorrow too but while we’re away make sure you’re training your plant magic until we’re back, you should be close to a level and that little boost will be great for your job progress.”

    “And if anything happens to us, you can get Sachel to go to my family,” Thera added. “They should be able to help from there.”

    “Hmm? Alright, um, how likely is something to happen?”

    “Ah, you know how it is,” Ben shrugged. “We haven’t died in a tower trial yet but there’s a first for everything.”

    “Wait, you’re taking on a... No, I guess that makes sense. In that case, please try to be safe.”

    “Always try.”

    In the days since they’d taken him in, the two had thought they’d been making slow but steady progress with Mora. The boy had been talking a little more with each one that passed and seemed at least to be trying to interact a bit, even if it was still limited, but on the walk home that day he was completely silent in a way that left both Ben and Thera to quietly look at each other until one broke down and broached the topic.

    “Mora, is everything okay?” Thera asked him. “You seem a little withdrawn. If there’s a problem, we can talk about it.”

    “...”

    It seemed at first as though the boy was going to keep quiet from there, regressing to his first day with them before ultimately speaking up. “Are you getting rid of me too?”

    “What, sweetheart, no! Is that what you thought was happening?”

    Myriad Myriad Myriad, you around?

    I will in a bit, just going to attempt to send a snack your way first.

    You’ll know when you get it so just try and be on the lookout for when it arrives.

    With warning given, Ben’s focus turned to the souls he was creating and his newest active skill, the condemnation he’d been using ever since he’d acquired it, and tried his best to expand its function.

    Ogilt had said it was a skill to push souls down but why was that the only direction he could push them? With the bit of sense that had come with it, Ben could feel all of the space around him and he already knew the direction of a different layer of reality, he just needed to combine the power with the path to see if such a thing could be achieved and he began spending his mana to make it happen.

    With no word from Myriad and no notifications in his head to go along with it, he had no choice but to assume his first attempt ended in failure but that wasn’t one to stop him. With a mana pool now above seven thousand, creating and condemning souls was easy even without his coat to aid him, even as he poured more and more power into trying to get it to work, only stopping when he got a reaction.

    So it worked, huh? But it wasn’t enough to awaken this stupid skill? Lame, that was my only real idea for it.

    Debatable, you take them in and they become a part of you, that sounds a lot like eating to me.

    Excuse you, have you seen how many of my incredible and valuable items I’ve slapped your name on? I’m one hundred percent of your good press by this point, no matter how much more devote Sachel and Valaria are, there’s no way they can compare to my pure marketing power.

    Okay, okay, fine. But did you or did you not absorb it or whatever?

    Why not?

    To see what would happen if you take in a soul made by your corest of core believers? And how that might affect an artificial being like you?

    You got it.

    Having succeeded once, doing it again still felt easier even without an awakening to go along with it as Ben paid more attention to the subtle difference in how the space around him felt when sending them up instead of down, with Myriad’s reaction being a reward.

    His god admitted begrudgingly.

    Okay, exceptions such as?

    A bit optimistic to think you’ll get there buddy. Or maybe it''s a bit pessimistic to think you’ll get there and then lose them all again.

    Alright then, I’ll start condemning them your way, the mana cost is only a little higher so it’s not the end of the world but is there anything else you can do with them? Not that maintaining your sense of self isn’t grand and all but I’m going to be honest, I was kind of hoping for a little more.

    What, why? Just tell me now!

    ...I swear to god, when I reach the third tier I’m pulling every one of those secrets from you whether you like it or not.