Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

“Uh, so is this a common occurrence?” Ben asked, trying to be polite despite the numerous questions the reaction had filled his head with, all while Killi was busy rubbing her own.

“Well, he startles easily and is a bit of a worrier, but this was definitely more extreme than usual. Gods above, just what could have set that boy off now?”

He noticed the keyword ‘now’ hinting that there were surely other events like that one, even if potentially less random, but didn’t have much time to think on it. As he was taking a second to figure out where to steer the conversation after such a thing, his thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of feet as the guards stationed at the beginning of each staircase rushed up in a desperate bid to get to the top, ten of them with spells on their fingertips, ready to fire.

Oh, I really don’t like whatever’s happening here.

He pushed the majority of his minds to the limits of their speed as he watched spells fire, light and dark as what looked like a wall sprung up around him and his homunculi, at least it would have appeared so if his resistances weren’t so high. With them being what they were, he was able to see through it with ease, getting to watch as the rest of the guards threw themselves forward with one giving orders from the background.

“Sleep didn’t work, focus on protecting Miss Killi! Havov, hit him with a drain spell!”

That one hit him before the rest got close enough, Havov clearly ready to fire before the order was given, with a result he could at least feel. His life force was draining, albeit slower than he was sure any of them expected, all while he was left thinking of what to do.

Everyone was moving too fast for him to get a word in, but at the same time, he was able to think at a speed that left them moving in slow motion, giving him the leeway to consider his next move.

Okay, I’m a decent eighty percent sure I’m completely innocent of any wrongdoing here so let's just keep myself safe and try not to escalate things. It looks like they either don’t have or won’t use more physical magics, probably to protect the books, and I can deal with this level of drain for a while. That just leaves the three that are about to appear through the illusion to try and punch me in the face.

They didn’t know he could see them and it was ultimately what led to their downfall. Ben didn’t even need to move to protect himself, all he did was carefully watch as each one ran, waiting with how slow their movements looked in his eyes for their feet to get as close together as they could before he materialized his mana, a strong metal chain binding each of their legs together and bringing them to the ground.

All of that only pumped their fears. He was showing no effect from the drain or sleep spells being cast on him and had just taken out the three with combat skills without moving a muscle, just what had they been told to deal with?

Ben for his part spent what felt like a minute to him feeling overwhelmingly smug before trying to actually deal with the situation.

Not so easy to kill anymore, am I! Getting pegged in the face with that snowball before was just a fluke!

There was nobody to answer his regained sense of pride, nor did he need it. After letting himself enjoy that small sense of victory he carefully sculpted his expression before he spoke up, the bit of smugness he let himself feel before being nothing but a flicker across his lips, so fast that no one watching would have picked up on it.

“So, before we go on can I at least be told why you’re all attacking me?” He asked, trying to sound calm. “I’m pretty certain I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Even as Killi took her distance, watching him through cautious eyes, she couldn’t help but agree, especially since it didn’t seem like Ben had any intention of causing harm or escalating things. All he’d done was protect himself, the most injuries anyone had sustained were bruises from falling to the floor. “What’s this all about? What did Verbum see to deserve such a reaction?”

It was the one who’d been giving orders at the back who spoke up, staff in hand and obviously considering casting something slightly more dangerous. “It’s his status, there’s-”

“Wait,” Killi said, cutting him off and pinching her brow. “All of this wasn’t because of something in the boy’s history, but his status of all things? You must be joking. Haven’t I told everyone not to take my idiot student’s worries so seriously? If you’re going to attack everyone with something a little complicated in their status then you’ll be attacking hundreds.”

“It’s not just one thing ma’am,” Another guard said. “We were told that there’s specifically sixteen points of major concern, spread across nine titles, five jobs, and two skills, though we didn’t get anything more specific beyond that he’s extraordinarily powerful.”

“I’m sorry, how many titles?” She asked, looking at Ben with renewed concern as his mask slipped just enough to give away his cheer.

“Awe shucks, I don't know if I would say extraordinarily powerful,” he told them. “But I do manage pretty well for myself I guess. Either way, if everyone is willing to not attack me, I’ll explain pretty much any point of concern you all have, so can we please be cool?”

Even as he was saying it though, his mind was working in a completely different direction. The man from before, Verbum, had seen his status. Sure, Ben and the soul mages could as well, but that really just pointed to one specific thing outside of those outliers. An awakened analysis skill.

Hello, new best friend.

Killi motioned the guards to stand down, taking a far calmer look as she did. “Alright, I’m sorry for the inconvenience but if you don’t mind then I’d appreciate it. Wonoth, you stay with me, the rest of you get back to your regular work.”

“But miss-”

“Even if it is my student’s fault, the library has just attacked a person on no grounds other than the status they bear,” She told them coldly. “And seeing as how nobody was harmed beyond some small bruises when he obviously had the advantage, we will be treating him with all due respect, especially considering he’s willing to talk through the very things that just got him attacked. Am I being clear?”

“Yes ma’am,” They said in unison.

“Good. And while you’re at it, find my student and send him back to me in a bit. It seems that after all of these years, he still needs to be further educated.”

With that they left back to their respective posts, only the one who seemed to be the leader was staying with them as they went to take a seat at the table, Ben first sitting his homunculi down and leaving them out of his range as he was looked at curiously for the act.

“I can only use them if they’re close enough to me,” He explained. “I figured this would make everyone a bit more comfortable anyway. Now, I’m going to reach into my pocket and get my card out, nothing nefarious so no trying to attack me please.”

He moved slowly, trying to make it clear he meant no harm and had no ulterior goals as he pulled it out and activated it before sliding it across the table to let them both see the information it contained as their eyes skimmed over it all, one doing significantly more to hide their expression than the other.

“Well, this is impressive,” Killi muttered, taking in the sheer volume present on his card, as well as making connections for what different bits meant.

“More like concerning,” The guard, Wonoth, said, looking ready to fire a spell again. “I can’t begin to imagine a reasonable explanation for half of this.”

“You can’t just assume guilt from a person's status. Especially since it appears the status in question belongs to an apostle. I apologize for the inconvenience Ben, but if you don’t mind?”

They were both seeing it in very different ways, with Wonoth seeing the same things that had driven Verbum to run away, while Killi was evaluating it against things she’d heard about in the last few years, immediately knowing who he was from the apostle title and the presence of the dead god’s trial being marked, along with his many blessings and other positive titles that went with it.

“Sure, just do me a favour and don’t go spreading this around please. This is my second time being attacked for my status and it doesn’t get any better.”

“You have my assurance that nothing either of us see will be spread. At this point, it’s just for our peace of mind.”

While not looking happy about it, the guard nodded, letting Ben begin.

“Alright, pretty much all of this can be verified by the gods so if you aren’t happy go talk to the communal church and I’ll get Myriad to sort it out. Godslayer, madman, monster, god killer, and threat, along with my skill, king of sacrilege, are all related to the forbidden gods. Since you have a tier three skill, I’m assuming you got one of the potions made from them?”

“I did.”

“Well, I’m the one who acted as their executioner for their crimes. Killing five gods got me to that level and let’s just say they were feeling pretty free with the titles they were granting as it was happening.”

He didn’t feel the need to explain that he had some levels of sacrilege beforehand, thinking it would only complicate things as he went on.

“As for the jobs, I’m assuming it was heretic, divine heretic, infernal craftsman, profane enchanter, and impious creator, the first two I took for the previously mentioned executions on the grounds that if I was going to have to deal with all of the issues of levels and titles that came from killing them since you don’t get to see the context, I might as well use the opportunity to grow as much as I could after. The latter three are jobs that are related to both the heretic branch and the other advanced paths I follow, but because I got to see just how good the attribute bonuses were for divine heretic I wanted to keep going with it to grow even more, you know, because of the whole world ending and impending doom thing. Other than that, the demon skill is because of an organ transplant to save my life, which is again verifiable by both the gods, as well as the current queen of Anaila, who I want to mention just for funsies is my mother-in-law.”

Again, he wasn't stretching the truth so much as just making it fit a bit nicer, but he didn’t want to spend hours giving the backstory of his life. He’d done nothing really wrong and all of that was easily provable, so the sooner he got the conversation over with, the sooner he could do what he really wanted, picking at the minds of both Killi and her student to get all he could.

His last statement establishing his relationship with Pelenia had clearly shaken the two of them, coming out of left field as something that couldn’t be seen in the form of a skill or a title on his card, but Wonoth still wanted to hear the rest.

“And the rest of the titles then?”

“God, I’m guessing he was probably talking about enemy of Eneth, the mad apostle, god of destruction, and I have no clue what the last one would be. Either way, the first two of those stems from the fact that I don’t respect the gods as higher powers.”

“You don’t respect the gods?” Wonoth asked, the professionalism slipping at that. “You’re an apostle.”

“As higher powers I said. I respect them on the same grounds as people. If a god is acting like a dick then I'll treat them as such, no matter how they might feel about that.”

“I suppose that probably stems from you being human,” Killi nodded. “I really wasn’t expecting to meet another one of the summoned like this.”

She’d known what he was the moment she’d read his card, but for so much to be on it after just a few years on the planet, she could only imagine the life he’d been living to get it to that point, not to mention the skills he had. She may not have known that he didn’t arrive with the awakened skills of the others, and she understood that his sacrilege was clearly sped through as a result of the unique circumstance that killing so many gods had granted, but that still left three other skills he had to have awakened solely through his own efforts.

Ben for his part wasn’t shocked that someone with a third-tier knowledge skill would know who he was from the name of his species alone, even if having it revealed did leave him feeling a bit uncomfortable, which he did his best to ignore as he went on.

“Anyway, as for the last two, I’m going to be honest, god of destruction is way too complicated for me to explain so if you really want context on that one too you should again go to the communal church to get a priest to ask a god and I don’t know what the last one he considered so bad is so I don’t know how to help with that.”

“Oh, I’m sure it has to do with one of your trial titles,” She said. “But seeing as how you have the trial of the dead god listed on your card, I understand the context of how you got both. Wonoth, I believe we’ve confirmed enough.”

“We still haven’t verified any of his explanations,” He tried to argue, only for Killi to wave him away.

“Then you can go do that but I’m satisfied. Ben, I understand this may have been a bit more unpleasant than you’d hoped, but I’d still love to chat with you if this whole experience hasn’t put you off of the idea?”

Are you kidding? After all this, I’m going to be shameless in taking up your time.

It was a thought he didn’t dare speak aloud given that he really didn’t hold poor feelings for either of them for just trying to be careful. Instead, he put on his best, least threatening smile as he looked her in the eyes.

“Of course it’s no problem, I was hoping for this same opportunity.”

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