Walking back from Nare’s church with everyone, Ben led the way, stopping only once they got to the gate network.

“Valaria, stick around for now unless you have something else you need to be doing,” Ben told her. “You were already Myriad’s best option when it came to getting another one of his believers to reach the third tier, and now you have connect inclination too. We should try to level that for you if we can.”

“I wouldn't want to waste your time,” she told him. “I know your work is valuable-”

“Valaria, as someone with an awakened mind skill of their own, you should be able to tell by now that I’ll have no issue. I need to go to Stonewall first, but after I’ll be visiting Anailia, I can drop you off then after you’ve made a bit of progress.”

“Well, if you’re sure…”

“I am. Now, stop being so hesitant about getting help and take a seat.”

He materialized a chair in the middle of the gate network, a few passing eyes looking at him as he did but Valaria did as he asked, perhaps having too much trust in Ben as he pulled her mind into his own before materializing straps to hold her in place, positioning her hand to be close enough to her job crystal that he could get her to touch it without revealing the situation he’d put her in before he lifted the seat up with his magic, effortlessly letting it float beside him to let him immediately begin trying to help her raise both her inclination and her mind.

With even more stares now from the surrounding travelers, everyone else he was with just ignored it, long used to how he would do things as they made their way through the magic towers and back home, both Toltho and Sachel expressing their gratitude as they did.

Already they’d finished a couple of their jobs and reaped the benefits of changing them and they’d continue to do so as the day wore on, but with that finished they left before Thera parted too, off to get some practice in while Fontesh was still watching Mora and let Ben begin what he needed to as he lifted himself next, stretching out his soul as he did to fly around Stonewall.

With the power of soulcraft bringing so many people into his range, binding them to his experience pool was the quicker part of the task compared to what else needed to be done. After all, there were only so many job crystals in town, and while the believers of Myriad now all had their own, it became important to create more, otherwise the few other spots housing them would be flooded with people as the day wore on.

That led to the quick creation of them as crystals were materialized with the enchantments already on them, made with pedestals and signs that indicated exactly what they were for any curious onlooker, while he spoke directly into one mind he got close enough to touch.

Hey, Ceselee, he said, feeling her jump from having him in her head. Just a heads up but everyone in town is going to start finishing a bunch of their jobs today, yourself included. It’s nothing to worry about, and new crystals have been placed all over town, so there should be plenty of options for people to go if it feels like the guild is filling up too much, so good luck with that.

He felt her try to respond but left before she could, feeling a bit of vindictive revenge when he remembered some of the glee she’d taken in keeping him an adventurer in the past and any quest she sent him on before moving on. Stonewall was finished; everyone there now linked to his soul, and with that, he went to Anailia to begin anew.

Admittedly, splitting the experience he’d be sharing between an entire city like that would slow everyone down, but he didn’t expect it to be too much of a problem, at least at that stage. With three second-tiers holding advanced options in his party, that wasn’t going to be as good as having even a single third-tier would be to force him to need more experience before finishing, but it would be enough for the first tiers he’d joined himself too, especially when plenty didn’t know what was happening. Anyone who finished their job and needed to find a crystal to use would simply stop gaining experience from him, with all of it being diverted to others from there, meaning the church of Myriad would still get the majority of the progress he had to give.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Once more, Ben got looks from the general public as he started, flying around with Valaria tied to a chair floating behind him as he materialized through the city, but unlike in Stonewall where he could be comfortably recognized, in Anailia he was quickly stopped, even if it was by a familiar face.

“Do I even want to ask, Ben?” Abrus said in place of greeting, with the spirits in the city hearing the concerned talk of the public and delivered their news quickly to their great one, getting him to investigate.

“Oh, hey Abrus, good to see you. Sorry, yeah, I guess I should have come by to talk about it first, but long story short, I’m basically able to help speed up people's job progress now. I won’t go into all of the details about it but I wanted to make sure the people here benefited from it so I’m just going around trying to get the city population under my effects and placing some job crystals around; but no, you’re right, I should have come told you and Pelenia about it first. I’m sorry, I got a bit manic in my excitement.”

“Alright, yes, I suppose talking to us about it would have been good, but I’m actually referring to the woman it looks like you’re kidnapping. The high priestess of your faith, correct?”

“Oh, Valaria? She’s just going through some training right now. Do me a favour and don’t spread this around, but once I get her to be a contender for a certain skill, I’m going to try and push her to the third tier if I can.”

“... Right,” Abrus gave in, feeling like the conversation was getting away from him. “No, alright, people may not immediately recognize you as my daughter’s fiancé, but they’ll recognize me, so I’ll join you while you’re doing this to hopefully keep reports down.”

“Oh, that would be great! Thanks Abrus.”

“Ha, thank me by bringing my daughter around sometime soon. I’ve heard from the little ones that she's had quite the accomplishment. I’d love to congratulate her in person.”

“I’ll let her know. I’m sure we can make the time to come by in a couple of days, assuming nothing comes up.”

“I’ll look forward to it then. In that case, lead the way.”

With a companion now to talk to, Ben began flying once more, exploring the city in a far greater way than ever in the past. With his soul stretched out, he was everywhere, enjoying the feeling of omnipresence it gave him in a brand new environment, only forced to pause again far too soon, a frown left on his face for what he found.

“Ben?” Abrus asked, seeing something was wrong as the boy beside him sighed.

“Yeah, I guess I was going to find something like this again eventually. Sorry, Abrus, we’re going to need to make a pit-stop. Potentially a few pit-stops if I’m being honest.”

With Ben’s authorities, combined with the effects of evil and destructive thought, when Ben connected to people, it wasn’t hard to find any particular wrong they might have committed in their lives if he looked, but with those two thought skills combined directly into soulcraft, the link he made brought them to the forefront of things for him, even if it usually didn’t matter. Ben simply didn’t care about what he’d usually see, be it some fights, acts of anger, or harsh words. Everyone on the planet had something they’d said or done that would activate those skills, and as a result, Ben had previously been able to ignore it. A few acts that others or even the people doing them themselves viewed as evil didn’t need to be the first thing Ben considered when he was in another person’s mind, and he knew enough people who would be seen that way, even if he himself didn’t care too much.

From Cheele who was the head of an organized crime family to Greed, whose past lifestyle of one-night stands had left him with a string of people who hated him enough to want him dead, to acts of violence for good or bad reasons from anyone. Perhaps as the coming god of evil and destruction, he should have cared more, or perhaps that apathy was exactly what made him suited for such a role, but as long as those were either actions of the past or there were limits to what was being done, he didn’t particularly mind. Now, though, with his new level of power, he found himself seeing even more, even after blocking out most of it. The aspects of a person’s history that he himself would consider evil, unable to be suppressed, as a murder decades prior appeared before his thoughts.

With a deeper dive revealing that the man who’d committed it had never been caught for his crime, a friend killed out of jealousy over a shared love, seeing it could only leave him to groan, the truth of it inescapable. Ben had connected to a significant portion of the world by that point, but with his new level of power, things he’d avoided before were more easily thrust to the forefront, meaning acts heinous enough that even he’d care about them would be found, and wouldn’t be so easily ignored.