“So, is there anything else I should know about?” Myriad asked Ben while he was still up there, seeing that he’d calmed down. “Should I worry about whatever bonus skill came with it?”

“Eh, it’s soul enhancement, so probably not, but I’m going to need to figure that out too, but as for anything else… well, a lot, but the biggest bit might be that my race changed.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Myriad asked, his tone of voice making it clear he thought that was the real matter to panic about, the feeling only raised as Ben went on.

“Got a unique system message. Integrated demonic body has exceeded the limits of a skill. I’m now a demonic human, and-”

Before Ben could say more, Myriad crashed to the ground below, a sense of defeat weighing him down more than anything else.

“How?”

“If I had to guess? Obviously, taking in a part of a demon’s soul contributed to it; I must have crossed some threshold. Maybe that was the last step to my demonification, or maybe there was more to it than that. Not just body and soul, I’ve also had plenty of demons imprinted on my mind; the totality of myself has been contaminated by them in one way or another, which would be my best guess, although that does raise another question. I’ve also got integrated divine body at its ninth level. I've had divine flesh grafted into me, I’ve had the minds of deities imprinted on my own, and by receiving their blessings, I’ve had pieces of their souls merged into me. If those are the conditions, then my divine attribute should have changed my race by now too, unless I’m wrong about what’s needed, or else the fact that we’re talking about gods means there’s a different condition. But in that case, I would have guessed it would be reaching the third tier, and now I’ve done it while having the skill at the ninth level, yet still no luck. Honestly, a bit unfair. Still, it re-raises that old question of how much experience someone would get if they killed me. At this point, considering how powerful and skilled I am, you’ve gotta imagine that doing me in would be enough to finish a third-tier job, right?”

“I don’t care, just don’t go testing it,” Myriad told him, still on the ground and not reacting as Ben actualized a soft blanket over his back and a cup of hot cocoa before him to try to make him feel better. “Just… I have a demon for an apostle. The moment word gets out, my life is going to be a nightmare.”

“Hey, you have a demonic human for an apostle, it’s different, and if any of the gods try to bully you about it, then just tell me and I’ll give them a firm piece of my mind.”

“How are you so okay about this? Your species just changed!”

“Myriad, come on, you and I both know I haven’t actually been human since I was brought to this world. I’m a soul that was shoved into a homunculus that looks human, with not a scrap of biology or even matter that was native to my home reality. As far as I can tell, nothing too body horrory has come with the change, I haven’t sprouted any red scales anywhere which I’m genuinely grateful for because that would have been a bit much to accept, so if there’s any changes going on, they seem to be internal. It does raise an interesting question, though. I had a couple skills merge into the skill, my limit break and my healing enhancement. What are the odds you think I can re-learn them as skills again, now that they’ve somehow dissolved into my race?”

“Ugh, I think the only way to know is to see because I’ve never heard of this happening before.”

“Really? Because when I first got partial demonic body, Vividus asked me if it changed my race.”

“Sure, I wouldn’t be shocked if any of the great life spirit’s twisted experiments had their races changed at some point or another, but this is my first time hearing a skill has grown into a racial characteristic. It’s bizarre. Imagine how you would feel if you heard Amy kept leveling her skills, but instead of becoming a third-tier for them, she became a combat human, or if Jake became a magic human. The only reason it doesn’t sound like complete nonsense on you is because the skill originally stemmed from a biological change, but that still doesn’t mean it’s normal.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Okay, sure, but… hmm?”

“Nope, don’t like that at all. What is hmm?”

“No, it’s nothing, it’s just… it kind of feels like someone should be here panicking by now, you know?”

“Why would I possibly know?”

“Well, I got Yuzu’s help with my awakening and then I kind of freaked out and left her after shoving the demon’s magic cancelling onto her soul-”

“I’m sorry, you did what?”

“Not immediately important. What matters is, I’m surprised that nobody noticed her yet and came barging in to make a scene about it, is all.”

“... It’s possible that nobody knows where you took her so there’s currently no eyes on her, or it’s possible that Phixth is being driven mad trying to keep everyone’s reactions appropriate without barging in here like they did for your first awakening, considering just how ridiculously high your sacrilege has gotten. I suppose I’ll have to find out after you leave if we don’t get interrupted, which means I can look forward to a headache of my own. For now, though, is there anything else about this stupid awakening I need to worry about?”

“Mmh, I’m now the destined god of soul production, mental symbiosis, and most of all, connect, so eat your heart out about that, Myriad, and I got levels to my authorities which led to a couple second tier awakenings too. Unnatural mana enhancement, which kind of makes me wonder if my unnatural prefix has migrated from my mind skills to my attribute enhancements, considering that my intelligence enhancement got it too-”

“Considering how you raise your attributes by this point, unnatural is a perfectly reasonable prefix.”

“And,” Ben went on. “My soul regeneration enhancement merged with my soul resilience when it awakened to a new skill, eternal soul protection. Good name, by the way. I like what it implies. The only issue is that I didn’t get a destined holder title for either skill. It was a little shocking to know that anyone managed to claim them before me.”

“Even if accumulating the sort of soul damage one would expect to need to get skills like that seems unlikely before the invasion started, it’s not impossible that anyone was born with them as their blessed skills, nor is it even impossible that anyone got them as bonus skills for some long passed awakening. History since the system’s creation hasn’t been short.”

“True enough, it’s just a bit disappointing. Still, it’s good. I feel more powerful, my attributes got their bonuses, and hey, I’m even going to live longer too. In theory. Provided the world doesn’t end and I’m not brutally murdered.”

“Cheery about the future as always.”

“I’m allowed to be at least a bit of a downer about the future right now, my awakening didn’t come remotely close to the way I wanted it. I thought taking in the demon’s magic would have raised my odds of connect merging with my enchanting since both are magic skills, but instead it went for my mind and soul skills. I feel ripped off, because now I’m probably going to need to awaken my enchanting too. Ugh.”

It was at a point, though, that he no longer needed to worry about the wrong skill reaching the third tier and accidentally taking in his enchanting. That worry had always been based on the idea that, if such a thing were to happen, he’d still be stuck trying to raise connect after. Better to focus on trying to get both at once, but now that fear no longer mattered. If anything else were to awaken and take in his enchanting, then that would be a blessing, and if his enchanting awakened by itself, then that would be more than enough too. All that mattered was that he’d been given what felt like an impossible barrier once more, leaving him with a different sort of headache than the nature of his new power had left.

Although, unlike with connect, I’ve got some decent pathways. I let myself worry enough about the wrong skill-merger happening that I limited myself a bit, but now there’s no reason not to go all out.

With a path to exactly that already in his head and gods waiting to see it. At the completion of craftsman’s tower, Ben had been offered a great quest. Make a mythic item and receive the full blessing of the world’s crafting gods, something that would be the equivalent of ten tower blessings. Operating on a scale like that, with all of the work he’d already put in, it wasn’t impossible to say that such a thing wouldn’t be enough to awaken multiple other third tier skills in him as well. At the very least, he was allowed to hope. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

And other than that, I should be able to get one more significant growth factor, right?

“Anyway,” Ben went on. “It doesn’t matter; it’s just one more thing to figure out. What does matter is that I should have a new third-tier job waiting for me, so Myriad, arrange things with Phixth so I can get that done as fast as I can. That way, we can finish Thera’s job too.”

“I’m sure that’ll be a fun conversation to have,” Myriad grumbled. “But fine. I’ll get that set up as fast as possible for you.”

“Great. Thanks, Myriad, I appreciate it.”