“Alright, good work everyone,” Ben clapped once the day was over, having spent it not only in the heavens above to help his god with all of the new converts like he had the last, but on other tasks below as well, looking at them all as he did.
Of them, only Delair and Mora looked content; his student being trained in a far easier manner considering her youth, and Mora not needing any sort of mental training at all, considering there was no way to help the boy get other skills. To them, it had been just another fun day in the shop, working on a few projects Ben suggested before deciding on some different ones for themselves, while around them, various adults laid down in exhaustion, nursing headaches from what they’d been put through.
There was Thera of course, his girlfriend worked harder than he’d actually wanted to at her own demand, getting her to the ninth level of connect and two more levels of knowledge as he forced information into her head, ending with a single new level to her sacrilege as well.
With her were Tress and Valaria, both training under him too, with the first aiming to grow their connect as much as she could while the second was training in the same, but thinking it was for the purpose of bringing her closer to getting it to the third tier while also awakening her connect inclination, and while both of those were admittedly goals, Ben was continuing to do everything he could to lower the barrier for driving her unnatural mental expansion to the third tier as a hidden priority.
But, even with those three, things didn’t end there. He’d told the demis that they were always welcome if they wanted to train connect, and it seemed Myriad had let them know that the faith was rapidly expanding, even if the explanation as to why was left light. Still, that had renewed the drive of many of them, ready to end their break to keep growing their own awakened connects and mind skills under his tutelage, lest they risk letting themselves fall behind any of the newcomers, a mistake Ben didn’t bother correcting them on. As far as believers went, theirs was a group that wouldn’t be beat. Even if Ben himself would be fine with training any of his god’s worshipers to get them to the second tier, he truly doubted that many of the new ones would be able to stand up to the level of work that would still require, even with his help, and he wasn’t going to make them. They’d only just joined, he wasn’t going to scare them off, but he was more than happy to take advantage of whatever motivation they provided, bringing hope that it wasn’t only Valaria he’d help turn into a new mind god any time soon.
“Ben?” Delair asked, full of curiosity. “Is training people supposed to be an apostle’s job?”
“No, I don’t think so, but since I’m pretty good at it, I make sure to do it as a favour to Myriad. It helps that I like the majority of his believers too.”
“For which we are eternally grateful, Ben,” Toltho said weakly, leaving Ben to admit to himself that if even Toltho seemed worn out that he may have taken training a bit too far that day. “All of our people are indebted to you for the help we receive.”
“You aren’t. I care about you guys, and you’ve even been helping the dryads like I’ve asked. And since I care about you guys, I’m going to tell you all to not come in again tomorrow if you want to practice any more. At least one day of recovery, and then you can decide if you’re ready for another round.”
“Ah, I don’t believe you’ll see us fighting that particular order,” he chuckled, forcing himself up. “For now, though, I think it would be best if I saw the rest home. You don’t need any assistance here?”
“No. Thanks, but we’ll be fine, Toltho. Get back safely.”
He waved the demis off, watching the remaining three slowly recover while Delair and Mora tidied up.
“Okay, kiddos, you think you could do me a favour and make sure Thera gets home safely?”
“I’m fine, Ben,” she tried to say in her defense, the migraine he could feel in her mind making it clear what a lie that was.
“You’ll be fine in a couple of hours. Currently though? Not so much. If you two could walk her home and take care of her for a little while, then I’ll make you both a treat when I’m back.”
“Where are you going?” Mora asked, less concerned than he had been the day before since Ben had taken them all out with him to make him feel better.
“Gotta carry these two home, from the looks of it,” Ben said, nodding at Tress and Valaria, both of them looking too worn out to move. “And after that, I’m going to make a tiny pit-stop to the library that I’ve been putting off because other things kept coming up. I shouldn’t be long though, don’t worry.”
With a nod, the kids took Thera, leaving Ben to pick up the other two and walk them through one of his gates, getting them home so he could finally move on to a task he’d been looking forward to ever since he’d asserted his dominance over the world’s gods.
“You both going to be okay?” Ben asked, seeing that Tress’s condition had at least improved on the way back, the body he’d built them able to quickly adapt to the strain he’d put their brain within it under, while Valaria continued to look worse for wear despite trying to sound positive.
“We’ll be fine,” the high priestess groaned, not sounding convincing at all. “Thank you for your help today, Ben.”
“... Considering how you look right now, really don’t worry about it. Just take it easy and make sure you’re in good shape for the meeting. It’s not the sort of thing you’re going to want to miss.”
He had expectations and designs for her during it as well. If she had to skip it because he’d worked her too hard a few days prior, then that would be a nightmare, but Valaria shook her head.
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”
“Okay, I’ll count on it then. Tress, make sure she goes straight to bed to relax, and you make sure to take things easy yourself. Just because you're feeling better, doesn’t mean getting your own rest isn’t important too.”
“Understood.”
He watched them go in before leaving himself, running to his next destination so the kids wouldn’t have to watch Thera for too long while he thought about everything he still had to do.
He had to grow stronger, awakening or even just leveling his skills, and he needed to keep working on ideas for how he would defeat Oaun. Just as importantly, though, if he failed in that, he also needed to work on projects that might at least help the world if he failed, while also considering others that would help deal blows to the various demons across the galaxy. There were endless tasks to fulfill, but with his new authority, he was closer than ever before to some benefits that would help him.
He’d told the gods that from then on, he’d be taking the best benefits of being both mortal and divine, and he was going to use them for all they were worth. There were things that only gods could normally demand or get away with, but now he was above them; it was time to enjoy those rights for himself.
With his soul outstretched, he could already tell the one he was looking for was there when he’d gotten close enough, letting him make his way to their office when he arrived, not needing anything else as he knocked on their door.
“Come in,” Killi said, glancing up from her work before doing a double take the moment she saw him. “Ah, I see your death was exaggerated."
“Kind of. Some gods did drop me into hell, like you would have heard, but I managed to make my way out, and let’s just say the gods responsible aren’t going to be in a position to try that again. I’d love to give you some fuller details when I have the chance later, but for now I’m in a bit of a rush.”
“Alright then, what can I do for you?”
“The library’s basement,” Ben told her. “I’m looking to finally get access.”