<Alright, are you ready to head out then?>

“Yep, don’t worry about it.”

<And you’ll be on your best behaviour?>

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

<I don’t know but you make me worry.>

“Well, as long as nobody pulls any crap then you shouldn’t expect any problems. I have already been paid after all.”

With the day to awaken what few mages had managed to get to the eighth levels of their magics finally there, he already knew he’d be helping just over two hundred people, netting him close to forty extra points of mana thanks to his agreement with the gods which he intended to make good on, even if he found himself surprised to have so many more to do.

<It shouldn’t be that shocking for you. It’s admittedly a lot of people who’ve managed to reach such a level in the span of a year, but at the same time, look at what you’re offering. The prospect of awakening a skill is beyond what any average person could dare to dream, but if they were already at the seventh then the eighth level is going to feel significantly more within reach. If getting to just that point means they’ll be able to force an awakening within themselves then it shouldn’t be shocking that people have spent all of this time pushing themselves to the edge of death to take advantage of you. Hell, there are those who were at the fifth and sixth level when word got out that have been working just as hard, desperate that they’d be able to get there by the time we do this again before the third wave, even if their prospects aren’t exactly as good.>

“Well, what can I say, I’m happy to inspire people to get me more mana.”

<They aren’t doing it to make you more powerful.>

“No, but it’s a fair trade-off. Hell, it’s not even a fair trade-off, I was crazy generous with this deal. I’m getting a point of mana for every six people I help, meanwhile, they’re awakening their magics with all of the other bonuses that come with it. Every god that thinks I’m not generous is a factually incorrect asshole and you can quote me on that.”

<I won’t be doing that and anyway, get a move on.>

“Fine, fine, it’s not like there’s a rush.”

Walking through his mini-gate to the main network and to Allfaith from there, Ben went to the same place he’d been the last time he’d done it, going to the soul mage Elvat’s home on the surface and finding the expected faces already there.

He knew the two soul mages would be around, same as the last time, and everyone else he’d come to expect, with Thera there too, practicing with Uliel and Vasta at the side as she had been for months at that point, sparing him a smile while she worked on a spell as he greeted them all.

“‘Sup guys, everyone ready for the end of the world?”

“We’re being positive about it Ben,” Amy sighed, with Jake sharing Ben’s personal favourite strategy.

“I’m just not going to think about it till day of. This is officially the last month I can enjoy without stressing.”

“Okay, that’s the spirit.”

With a month until the invasion points opened, everyone was going to approach it in their own ways and it was easy enough to see discomfort creeping back up in random faces on the streets, even if Ben felt like he was seeing far too much optimism too. Things had gone too well during the first wave after all. It had raised some people's faith for how things would continue to go to an unreasonable degree, something he didn’t feel at all himself.

Okay, Jake’s right, not thinking about it.

“Alright then, in that case, don’t mind if I borrow a few bodies before we start,” He told them all as he shifted a bit closer to Uliel and Vasta, making copies of both of their powerful and all-encompassing magics on new rings.

While in general, he would typically prefer the specialized versions to claim for his use since they would be more powerful in general while he could make up for how focused they’d be, he wanted to be prepared for what was going to come and having both options at the highest available level was going to do it for him.

Especially since it looks like I’m not going to be finding anyone with some fifth and sixth leveled-magics at their second tier. God, I get awakened skills are supposed to be hard to level but how can the world not have any?

<No, you don’t properly get the fact that they’re hard.> Myriad sighed in his head. <Someone who's completed as many jobs as you and has eight awakened skills is actually incapable of appreciating it.>

Excuse you, I had to work my butt off to get to this point.

<And I’m aware, but a normal person simply isn’t capable of doing that much which is really a fact you should try to appreciate more. Anyway, forget the fifth level, we’re fairly certain the world doesn’t even have an awakened fire or time magic user who’s gotten it to the third unless they’ve simply not advertised the fact to enrich themselves, which is admittedly possible. Still, we aren’t sure about a few other affinitied magics too, not to mention non-affinitied branches. There’s certainly no magic contenders on the planet other than Uliel and Jake at the moment.>

Hmm, not a fan of hearing that little fact. Not one contender for a magic getting to the third tier other than them?

<None. There’s barely more contenders than third-tier skills Ben and we can’t exactly choose who’s going to reach that point, even with the soul mages’ help.>

Okay, also not thinking about that. No more distracting me with bad news, I still have things to do.

Not wanting to spare what his god had to say any more thought, Ben went over to Jake next, taking his friend’s hand and giving him a bright smile.

“Hey buddy.”

“Ben, my guy? You look a little scary right now man.”

“I just want to borrow your mind and soul for a couple minutes.”

That got a grimace as Jake understood where this was going.

“Man, shoving mana into me like that really hurts, you know?”

“I can guarantee it hurts you less than it hurts me. Not only do I regulate the amount I give you but you have a fundamentally higher capacity than I do. Anyway, I just want to make a certain magic material and you’re the only person I know with the right affinities for it. Please? Pretty please?”

He did his best to look his most innocent and hopeful, getting the response he wanted for his efforts.

“Alright, if it’s just the one…”

“You’re the best! Thera, mind if I borrow you for a minute?”

“Sure, let’s make it quick then.”

She came over and placed a hand on his back as he did the same to Jake, merging his mind into the other’s to create what he so badly wanted.

While his prior visit to see all of the new magic materials had been for the purposes of making Inux his body, Ben still needed to think on the ones he’d seen and how they might be incorporated into his future designs, as well as wait for more research to be done on the various unknown ones, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to play with anything after all that, with the target of his attention being the material that seemed to condense the fabric of reality around it, as well as that condensate itself.

It had proven to be a fantastic enchanting material, and while some of its other properties would limit its uses, he still very much intended to see what he could do with such a thing, with the only thing that meant being that he’d need more. A lot more.

As Ben directed Jake to spend all of the mana being shoved into him, what came from that effort was a cubic foot of the substance, plenty for him to do his own tests and experiments to see its potential and limits later. For the time being, having gotten all that he wanted he shoved it into his bag before thinking out loud.

“Let’s see, if I’m supposed to be naming all of these things then I guess this is getting called voidstone. It condenses the void of space around it, that should be good enough, right?”

No one answered his musings but he was happy enough with it, and with everything he wanted to do beforehand finally done he moved on to chatting a bit with his friends before the door opened, letting in the first of those he’d be awakening.