Chapter 1116

In Nare’s lands, once Ben finished administering the potions to all of the volunteers, the only thing left to do was wait for the following day to see what results they would bring and if any of his new formulas would be substantially better than the original he'd produced, having high hopes for how it would turn out.

After all, originally, before he’d turned the products of gods into a mere commodity, rather than the overwhelmingly rare resource they had once been, there hadn’t been much room to experiment when making a god potion. Only a few of the divine that had made up the world had recipes they’d created using long dead evil gods from their lost lands, and while Ben had been more than happy to experiment once he’d gotten past that bottleneck, he was still basing what he’d made off of the foundational research the gods had done.

What he’d gotten from the library’s basement, though, was different. As foul as it was, they had been based off of a middle ground of sorts, using inherently magical people in place of any plants and animals to great effect. Taking everything novel and interesting from those independent designs to see how they’d interact when used on anything that was hosted by the gods above gave him hope for a new breakthrough, even if he tried to keep his expectations in check.

But we’ll find out how that’ll go tomorrow. For now, other tests and projects still to run.

Projects that lead him to Anailia, looking for help, but as he went, he trained in other skills as well, wanting the growth he could get in other areas too and left him flicking his fingers as he walked, empowering each minor strike with his mana and left micro-cracks in space itself, along with a new notification going off in his head.

<PLANAR MANIPULATION LEVEL INCREASED>

The second the notification went off in his head the cracks he left grew bigger and lasted longer, so long as he didn’t work to close them and, out of his own interest, he spent just a bit more of his mana, putting more force behind the spell to break into the hells proper, even if he limited himself to creating a hole in reality no more than a centimeter in diameter.

But even that was enough to attract the attention of the damned. What little of his own soul he poked through that space could see them all rush to it and, not wanting to deal with the headache that was figuring out how to handle them, he closed it once more, feeling uncomfortable as he did.

I’m really going to need to figure out how I want to interact with hell, he sighed to himself. I know there’s innocent souls down there, and even for the guilty ones, I’m not really sold on the whole ‘eternal punishment’ thing. If I’m still around to worry about it, I really am going to have to figure things out on that front, but… mmh, if I do end up trapping Oaun down there then I might lose that option.

He believed that damning the god, either just in soul or entirety, would kill him, but at the same time, he didn’t want to find out what would happen if Oaun turned into a ghost like any of the other condemned. What would it even mean for a god to be such a thing? Better to leave him safely trapped in hell, without opening any more pathways there after, meaning if he really wanted to do anything about it, that was going to have to come before he could go off to get himself brutally murdered.

… I’ll think on it. Add it to the list of things to worry about, I guess.

Until then, however, he could safely train his skill without worry and let it occupy him as he went, letting himself into Pelenia’s home to seek out the spirit he needed, but with little luck.

Other great spirits were around, it seemed like the newly made combined ones were happy to make themselves right at home, but even when he stretched his soul out, the one he sought was nowhere to be found, leaving him to instead go to a different option as he followed the path to the dark spirit Funa, the plant spirit Bloom, and also Karly, where all three were engaged in conversation.

“You should really ask someone else for advice here,” Anailia’s human summoned, Karly said. “Like, anyone else for advice, because I am so not equipped to help with this.”

“Think of it as helping a contemporary,” Funa tried. “You’re young, he’s young, and this certainly isn’t a matter I’ve involved myself with, so I can’t help him.”

“Listen, I’m either twentyish years older than him or millions of years younger, this is not the same. And I’ve had a boyfriend, not a dozen at the same time!”

“Oh, did Bloom and the dryads make it official?” Ben asked when he joined, pulling all eyes to him and left Karly sighing in relief.

“Great, this guy’s in a committed relationship, so ask him for advice instead.”

“And as much as I would love to help with whatever’s going on here, I was actually looking for Ogilt. Any idea when he’s getting back?”

“Likely late into the night,” Funa told him. “But, if you’d be willing to try to lend Bloom some advice, I’d be happy to make that brother of mine do whatever you need tomorrow.”

He didn’t actually think that was needed, Ogilt always seemed to be willing to help, given the space spirit’s history with the demons Ben was working so hard to finish, but with a small shrug and a nod, he gave in. He knew Bloom, and even liked that unusual great spirit quite a bit, and given how they’d met, he even felt some responsibility for him. The great plant spirit was someone he’d named and whose mind he’d brought mostly to order, and as thanks, Bloom had modeled his body after Ben’s own, just like Ogilt and Grace had as well. If something was bothering him, then Ben could at the very least hear it out.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Although, based on what I’d heard walking over, it seems like it’s the sort of thing that’s going to give Thera a headache when I fill her in later.

“Let’s hear it, then,” Ben said. “What’s going on with the dryads that you need advice on?”

“There’s just a couple of things,” Bloom said, sounding surprisingly bashful to Ben. “They’ve been good to me, so I wanted to do something for them in return. I know mortals like their trinkets, so I was thinking about getting them gifts, but I’m not really sure what they might enjoy.”

Damn, Bloom can be cute, can’t he? Ben smiled to himself before he began materializing jewellery of all sorts, using what the dryads he personally knew seemed to like as a reference while applying the skill of a master craftsman, producing captivating necklaces, bracelets, pendants, brooches, and rings of all sorts that the rest of them look at with interest.

“Then you’re in luck, Bloom, because you happen to know the best jeweler on the planet. Pick a piece for each of them, and I’ll get them all nicely boxed and wrapped for you to give out.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if I got them all the same thing?” Bloom asked, even while he lifted different ones up to look each over. “I don’t want any of them feeling slighted if they think they got something worse than the others.”

“If you’re getting someone a gift, then getting a group of people all the same thing is too impersonal. You care about all of them as individuals, right?”

“Of course, they’re my important friends.”

“Then you’ve gotta think about what to get them as individuals. If you get them different things, it doesn’t matter so long as you can properly explain why you thought a different piece suited them. Does one necklace match their eyes? Does a brooch compliment the flowers growing in their hair? Maybe they’re colours or materials you know they like; what matters is that when you give it to them, you tell them that.”

“Beginning to think you might not have ended up so single in high school if you’d been a bit more normal about art,” Karly commented after hearing that.

“One, I’m super normal about art, and two, dating just wasn’t a huge priority then.”

“Why not?”

“... It would cut into my art time.”

“Yeah, that’s what everyone thought your reason was,” she laughed. “And you still managed to win over a country’s princess. Not bad.”

“What can I say? I’m a delight. Anyway, how’s decision-making coming, Bloom?”

“I think I’ve got it,” the great plant spirit said, pulling his chosen jewellery to the side for Ben to materialize boxes and wrappings and bows around each one, making tags as well to make them all easy to keep track of. “Thank you. I can’t wait to give these to them.”

“No worries. If that’s all then, I’ll be back tomorrow-”

“That’s actually not all,” Funa stopped him before he could run off.

“That was the easy part,” Karly added, looking like she wanted to escape as well. “Bloom, hurry up and tell him the other thing you were talking with us about.”

“Hmm? It’s nothing much,” the plant spirit said, viewing it as a smaller matter than trying to show them his appreciation. “Recently they’d just brought up the prospect of having children in the future and-”

“Stop,” Ben said, holding up a hand and pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to collect himself. “When you say ‘having children’, do they mean having them with you?”

“Yes, that seems to be the intent.”

“Okay, yeah, we’re pausing here. Why am I discussing this with him instead of Lux of Abrus?”

“Both of them are out at the moment,” Funa shrugged, leaving Ben to hang his head back in exasperation.

“Okay, fine. First off, then, if you’re looking for advice, Bloom, don’t impregnate anyone right before the world is going to end because that’s just going to be depressing for everyone. In a hypothetical future where the world hasn’t ended, though… Okay, there’s two things you need to think about. One, you do understand that you’d need to help with raising a dozen children, right? You’d have to be present in all of their lives and teach them in a way that spirits don’t need. It would be a lot of work, and before you even consider this, you should find a couple with a newborn and watch what they have to do for a few days to see what you’d be getting into. Hell, find parents raising children at every stage of their lives and see what that’s like, because it’s definitely not some simple thing.”

“It would be easier with everyone working together though, instead of just two people, right?”

“... Maybe. I’m not going to lie, I don’t know if that would make things easier or harder, and I guess the dryads are used to raising their kids as a community, but to be on the safe side, assume harder. Now, two, and an equally important thing to consider. You have to think about what these women mean to you.”

“They’re my friends-”

“That’s exactly it. You say they’re your friends, but what does that mean? You care about them, but are they special to you at all in ways that other people aren’t? Would you think so hard about giving gifts to anyone you consider a friend, or have kids with anyone for that matter, and… You know what? Thinking about it is all well and good, but I’m just going to save us all a bit of time here by looking in your head and seeing how you feel about them, okay?”

“By all means.”

“I actually think getting him to self-reflect a bit might not have been a bad idea,” Karly muttered.

“Too late, because I can now tell you all how he feels with confidence, nice and easy,” Ben sighed. “I get why it was confusing, too, since these were the first friends he made since becoming a great spirit. Anyway, congrats, Bloom, you’re in love. If you need to make any comparisons, just notice your feelings for them are different from your feelings for any of the great spirits, me, Karly, Pelenia, Writ, or any other mortals you meet. You should probably let them all know that you feel that way about all of them too, to save yourself from any potential future situations, and then, once they’re all nice and informed of that, you all can figure out exactly what sorts of lives you’d like to make together.”

And I get to decide if I should make Thera suffer through knowing that she can officially expect at least a dozen new half-spirits if the world doesn’t end… Yeah, if I have to be aware of Bloom having a harem then she needs to know too.

The answer seemed to entirely catch the other three off guard, with Funa breaking the silence he left first.

“You can discuss that little tidbit with them after Lux and Abrus are back then, because that’s going to be so many new half-spirits and it will be the first time any are being born between one of us and a traditionally mortal race that matches our nature. Expectations are going to be… complicated.”

“Odds of them being born with an awakened plant magic does seem higher than you'd otherwise expect,” Ben nodded. “But, now that I’m done helping with this, I really do have to run, so good luck with all of that.”

He made his escape the second he’d said it, more than happy to leave them with that bombshell while he instead focused on considering how he was going to break what looked like the most likely future to Thera now that his actual plans for the day had been delayed.

<MAX LEVEL OF THE PLANAR MAGE JOB ACHIEVED>