After an early morning of doing exactly what he’d planned, going to the shop before the sun rose to make something that could act as sunglasses to help keep his migraine down, stopping by the guild after to talk with Ceselee and then waking up Falk to learn that they’d both only grew by three points in their different attributes as well, and finally making a simple breakfast for everyone as he awkwardly explained the level he’d gained in his sleep, along with his intentions to hide away for a week until it started to calm down. Ben then went to his room and spent the rest of the day working on adding enchantments to his three mythril bracelets for practice, not using more than ten of his minds at once to try and keep the pain down and his mood up as the hours passed in relative peace.

He couldn’t deny that it was boring, the very act of not thinking was taking a toll of its own when all he wanted to do was at least dive into his thoughts for whatever bit of stimulation he could get, but he resisted the urge the best he could, or else he risked not only dealing with even more pain, but the experience his various skills might gain.

Definitely not taking another enchanting job till this is all sorted out. I kind of ignored it before when Thera was telling me no mind jobs, but the enchanting branch does give me bonuses to all skills, and it seems like pretty decent ones at the moment too since I’ve gone beyond the master path. Definitely should have considered that when I took it.

Still, it was too late to regret his choice when he was in the middle of it. He had no intention of changing it out when he was so far along and losing the bonuses he’d gained, even if those same bonuses had the potential to lead him into even more pain depending on how they were used. Instead, he changed to trying to think of any solution he might have before being distracted by a gentle knock on the door, Thera doing her best to be as quiet as possible before letting herself in.

“Hey,” She said softly, trying to hide the growing concern she’d been feeling since she’d learned what happened.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Brought you a snack and some water since it doesn’t seem like you’ve eaten. You should have at least a bit before you go to sleep,” She told him as he sat up to take the plate before she slid behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

“If you’re feeling lonely I sure don’t mind the company,” He tried to tease without getting so much as a giggle in response.

“No, I’m feeling like practicing my magic on you to see if I can do anything to help at all. Don’t worry, it will probably be fine.”

“I mean, I wasn’t worried till you said something. Just out of curiosity, what are you trying?”

“I spent the entire day at the clinic using my mana examination to try and look at different species' brains to try and get a bit of a reference for what’s wrong with yours to the point I even leveled it up. Obviously, it’s not as good as having another human for reference, but aside from the amount of stress your brain is under, I think your skills are altering it too.”

“Oh joy, another thing to worry about,” He said dryly.

“I don’t think it’s actually a concern… well, hopefully not at least. It just seems like your brain is becoming unusually dense compared to pretty much any other race I’ve seen, so rather than treat this like treating strain I’m going to treat it like an injury where your cells need to heal to see if that increases the density and gets you better faster. Of course, this is your brain we’re talking about so I get not wanting to do something like that since messing up would be beyond worrying, but on the other hand, everything I’m seeing is already worrying and I’m ninety percent sure that if I’m wrong then nothing will happen.”

He could see that this was coming from a place of concern and agreed without a fight. “In that case, magic away. Who am I to argue with my primary healer?”

Having agreed he let himself lean back on her as she cast her magic, enjoying her company in a comfortable silence as the time passed until she needed to go.

“Any better?”

“Honestly not sure,” He admitted. “Any change to my brain might not be enough compared to whatever needs to finish happening with my soul.”

“Mmh, well I’ll keep trying for the rest of the week. For now, get some sleep Ben. You probably won’t get another level like that so it’s healer's orders.”

“Alright, alright, will do. Have a good night.”

He leaned back in bed and closed his eyes, having no desire to sleep after how it had gone the previous night but wanted to risk it anyway as a means of escaping his headache. He felt it coming to him easily too. Spending so much time with so many minds meditating was dull enough to put him in the right headspace for drifting off, with the only thing that stopped him being the voice of his god in his head.

What? Was as far as he got to thinking before a new system notification filled his mind.

Okay, that doesn’t feel like a good sign but allow.

As soon as he granted permission he found himself pulled elsewhere, his mind brought to a different plane of reality the same way Myriad used to need to do for him before he had figured out how to manage it himself, and when he did he found he was facing a crowd as a horde of gods towered above him, with his own and a few others he recognized standing to the side, various annoyed and angry looks spread over their faces.

And that doesn’t seem to be a good sign either. Feel like if they’ve changed their minds about having me tossed into the infinite hells then Myriad would have said something different so what’s this about?

It was a god who he’d never met in person yet nonetheless recognized that cleared things up for him. Eneth, the same god who had declared him his enemy in the form of a title, the same god whose church Ben had been getting his revenge on for their acts against him and Thera, who stood at the front of it all, watching him and being watched in return as Ben let himself fall into the feeling of sacrilege, feeling an instinctual understanding of how strong each one was along with their weak points that he would never have the strength to exploit.

Like the other gods in front of him, Eneth had taken a large, grand form, seemingly to convey a level of might and majesty that Ben didn’t believe the god had as the reptilian deity opened his mouth to speak for the others.

“Apostle Ben Heph,” He said in a far too loud voice as Ben tried to keep the pain from it from showing on his face. “While we commend you for your discovery, it has been decided that a single mortal cannot be allowed access to something so powerful as the soul of a god. When our agents arrive in a few hours we expect you to hand the crystals and rings you made over to them so they can be put to proper use. There are simply some things mortals shouldn’t be playing with.”

Ah.

Suddenly what Myriad had requested of him was making a lot of sense, but he didn’t even pick up on his god crashing to the ground when he saw the change in Ben’s expression, he was too lost in his rage, the feeling only being amplified with his migraine.

As much as it would have pissed him off, as much as he would have fought against it, he could have seen the argument that those were things he shouldn’t have access to. He knew there were differences between a soul that had achieved godhood and a soul that hadn’t that might make it concerning for a mortal to just possess, but if it was a problem, that was something that not only should have been addressed when he’d first gained them, it was something that had nothing to do with the tools he’d made to force them to inhabit the various fruit trees he’d bought. The fact they were demanding those as well pointed to one inescapable conclusion. They were still planning on going through with what he suggested, they were just cutting him out.

“So this is how gods act, huh? They want something, they just take it?” Ben spat, rage in his eyes as he couldn’t believe they were even bothering to try and dress things up as them doing what was right. “That’s the sort of being that all us lowly mortals are supposed to be giving faith to? Someone that will see something shiny in the hands of another and go to grab it for themselves?”

“This isn’t just any random thing!” A different god said, speaking out to hide the feeling he and many others were picking up from Ben. A feeling they couldn’t understand but knew they didn’t like. “We’re speaking of divine souls!”

“Oh yeah, you were all clamouring to get them before now weren’t you?” He responded, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Just an absolute coincidence that this little meeting is happening after I’ve found some use for them, isn’t it?”

“You can’t keep something like that for yourself with the world at stake,” Another told him sternly. “Mortal greed can only know so much before responsible parties step in.”

“I’m sorry, keeping for myself? Mortal greed? Fuck you,” He told the crowd, seeing the expressions of each god warp to hear such a thing from a mortal for what was the first time for most of them. “That’s not even worth dignifying with an argument. You know exactly how I was handling it and you should all know that it was beyond reasonable. The issue here isn’t the greed of mortals, and the fact you’d try to paint it as such is all the more disgraceful for anything that calls itself a god.”

By now, the feeling Ben was giving off was only growing more. Not enough that any god would be impacted by it, it wasn’t even close to harm, but they were all aware of his rage in a way they simply wouldn’t be from any other mortal, and combining that with the fact that his mind was silent to all but the three he had granted access to his thoughts, it created an unsettling feeling that didn’t match the weak being giving it off as things failed to go how any of them had really expected.

Even with Ben having his absurdly high sacrilege, they’d fully expected him to behave like any other mortal they dealt with, respectfully handing it over and seeing it as being for the good of the world. They didn’t take seriously Myriad’s early warnings that Ben viewed them all in a way no different from how he’d see a person, and they were dealing with the consequences of that as he lashed out at their attempt.

It was Eneth who acted first in the face of it, being flanked by the shouts of Myriad and the others with him as before Ben could react he reached out and lifted him up to eye level, holding him tightly in his reptilian hand.

“In the end, it doesn’t matter whether you cooperate, you unruly child. Just wait here quietly and after our people have taken them you can make peace with the fact.”

It thrilled Eneth to no end to watch Ben seethe after all that had happened between the two, especially for all the damage his head church had taken, but after only seconds Ben’s rage became far more contained as all of his minds flared to life despite himself and he spoke up.

“Well, there’s two things you need to consider, you lizard bitch. The first being that the entire greenhouse is filled with enchantments to destroy itself if anything tries to get in or out without me, and the second and more important one is this.”

Before anyone could wonder just where Ben was going with that, he’d vanished not only from Eneth’s grasp but the realm entirely, forcing his mind back to its regular plane of existence.