Holy crap, what else can I add to my bracelets to pass the time? Maybe I could mix a fire enchantment with an air one so it will spit out flames if I scream through it? No, wait, Sonya would be pissed if I started a fire by mistake. Um, maybe I could set it up so that all three of them would shoot out a ball of dirt or metal that’s passed through them? I mean, I could technically do both so long as I don’t actually test either, and there really is the option of just repeating enchantments at this point, but man I’m so, so bored!

Even if he wasn’t as poor off as he had been when mental expansion first leveled up, he was still far from being in top shape, planning on spending another week cooped up at home rather than face the far too loud world, with the only issue being how unreasonably dull it all was. He had been practicing his enchantments the best he could considering he didn’t have a wide variety of tools to test them on and he’d finished off crates of books in that time, both ones he’d bought in previous trips to Anailia and Allfaith, as well as the ones that had started coming in from the guild that he was getting for free for being a rank one adventurer, but they were only able to distract him for so long before he wanted to do something despite his pounding head.

“Myriad, buddy, tell me there’s an easy solution to this I’m just not seeing,” He muttered.

“And I get that, but what I’d really, really like is a quick fix that would let me think without feeling like there’s an ice pick wiggling around in my brain.”

“Ugh, don’t care, I stand by it.”

The cube sighed.

“Yeah yeah, it’s just a few more months of suffering. I’ll live.”

Though the quality of life leaves something to be desired.

Tired of enchanting and reading, he grabbed a blank piece of paper to begin drawing something, not having any subject in mind but needing the change of pace, when a knock came to his door and Thera poked her head in, moving to sit on the edge of his bed.

“Oh hey, sorry I didn’t hear you guys get home. Didn’t realize it was so late but if you give me a minute I’ll get dinner started.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, I still want you to take it easy for a while so I can bring you a plate later. Actually, there’s something I want to talk about,” She told him, looking unusually serious before she continued. “Alright, so you know how I got a letter from Yuzu this morning? Well, she made me… us an offer. One I personally hope you’ll turn down.”

“Uh, what’s the offer then?”

“She wants us to join them for taking on the earth tower.”

Ben froze as soon as the words left her mouth. The earth tower, one of eleven magic-themed trials, considered to be both bigger and more challenging than the standard trial of a god, though he knew little else on the topic. She didn’t need to ask him to turn it down, he had no interest in even considering it if not for one overwhelming issue.

“So should I take the fact that you’re asking me not to accept instead of saying we shouldn’t accept to be a sign you intend to do it?”

She sat there in silence, her answer being obvious as Ben leaned back and sighed.

“Alright, then I’m going. Do we have to leave immediately, or…?”

“Ben, just because I’m going to do it doesn’t mean you have to,” She told him, trying to be both gentle and firm as she did. “I’m doing it because this will be the best opportunity to level my earth magic I can get before we’re all fighting with our lives on the line and I know you don’t actually want to do this. Have you slept well even once this entire week?”

She asked fully knowing the answer was no. He’d been trying to sleep properly instead of spending each night in his god’s realm like he normally would in an attempt to escape his headache, but he was wracked with the same nightmares he’d been having since he’d escaped the trial, making it only a marginally better experience then dealing with his headache, even if it did leave him spending too much time exhausted from it.

“Thera, how am I supposed to not go with you when I know you’re going to do something like that? Trials are dangerous, how could I possibly be comfortable knowing you were going to go do something like that alone?”

“But I won’t be alone. I’ll have Amy and Yuzu and Jake there. In fact, it’s hard to stress just how much worse off you’ll be compared to everyone else there. It’s an earth magic trial Ben, I don’t think I need to remind you just what magic you lack?”

“I didn’t think Yuzu had it either though?”

“She’s a third tier skill holder, it doesn’t matter that she doesn’t. Her teachers probably just want her getting the reward. Compared to everyone else you’d be at a massive disadvantage.”

“Then why did they even extend me an invite?”

“...”

“Thera?”

“Even if it’s known for being a hard trial, it’s not like it had anywhere near the death rate of the last one you did,” She finally admitted. “When they were looking for people to fill their two empty slots I guess they thought of us because of my power and the fact that you can be resourceful. But that doesn’t matter because you’re in no shape to be doing it right now, mentally or physically. Plus, the rewards you’d personally get aren’t even close to what the rest of us will if we get to the top.”

…Probably not the time to be asking why this trial is going to discriminate against me.

“Okay, but there’s one important thing you’re forgetting,” He said as he gently cupped her face in his hands, bringing her eyes to his. “We’re a team. If things were reversed then you wouldn’t want me doing this without you, would you?”

“...That’s not fair,” She sighed, leaning her head against his. “I’d be a lot happier if you didn’t do it.”

“And I’d be happier if you didn’t either, but if this is something you can’t pass on then it’s something I can’t either.”

“Mmh, you really are impossible.”

“It’s part of my appeal.”

“Your appeal is going to get yourself killed, but okay, fine, I’ll let them know. We do have a month and a half before they plan on challenging it anyway so you need to put your all into being in top shape for it, understood?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good, ‘cause if you get yourself killed in there I’m killing you,” She said as she got up to leave the room. “It will be a while till dinner so get some rest if you can, you still look exhausted.”

As she left, Ben laid back in his bed, closed his eyes, and forced himself into the realm of his god, finding Myriad had company.

“I knew you’d be coming up here so I brought him over for the talk since he’s been wanting to chat with you anyway,” Myriad sighed as he gestured to the god Nare beside him. “So what is it you want to ask first?”

He didn’t try to talk his apostle out of it. He knew the boy would stubbornly insist on going since Thera was going to as well, but it was obvious that there were gaps in his knowledge that needed to be filled, all the more clear from his talk with Thera.

“Well, I guess the first question is changing to why you thought it would be best to grab another god for this? Hi again by the way, wasn’t expecting to meet up so soon.”

“Ha, our dear cube came to me in a rush as soon as he caught wind of what you were going to be doing. As for why, I was the primary designer on all of the major tower trials.”

That pulled Ben’s attention like nothing else. Even if he didn’t know much about them, he understood that they were a huge deal as far as the trials of the world went, with the fact that Nare was the lead designer denoting his importance.

“So I take it you’re kind of a big deal as far as crafting gods go?” Ben asked, his eyes shining as he did.

“You could say that,” Nare said smugly as Myriad went to explain.

“You could say he has first mover advantage. Aside from the fact that as a god of both challenge and craft, he’s unusually suited to making trials, he was also one of the first gods to settle this world, being the first of the crafting gods in particular.”

“Wait,” Ben told them, feeling connections forming in his head as that information joined with other things he knew. “Does that mean-”

“It does,” Nare told him, a large grin forming in the magma that made up his face.

“You’re going to regret admitting that,” Myriad muttered as Ben went on.

“You’re one of the creators of the system as a whole!”

“The primary architect in fact,” The god told him, feeling a swarm of questions fill Ben’s mind as his original reason for going up there slipped away.

“How did you make it?” Was the main one that came out, causing the god before him to take a more subdued attitude.

“Ahem, sorry, consider that a divine secret.”

“Why?”

“Also a divine secret.”

“Why?”

“There’s just some things mortals aren’t allowed to know. Surely your god has told you that before.”

“Sure, but in the past, it was about things with world-destroying implications. Wait, don’t tell me the way the system was created could be used to destroy the world? Or does the system as it currently stands have some sort of deadman’s switch in it? I could see designing it in such a way that it would access the user's mana for some large-scale destructive spell. Did you build something like that into it to pull the same sort of hail-mary world-killing scenario that Myriad’s kind did as a last hurrah if nothing ends up working?”

“No, of course not! And don’t go spreading ideas like that around, you’ll only panic people with the invasion so close by!”

“I won’t if you tell me how you made it. Or at least tell me why it has to be a secret?”

Nare turned to Myriad, feeling the weight of the apostle’s curiosity as the cube sighed. “Honestly, you just saw how my apostle acted the other day, why did you think it was a good idea to stroke his interest like that? And Ben, he’s really not allowed to tell you. If you do me a favour and let the matter drop I promise I’ll let you know as a final parting gift when you use up your natural lifespan.”

“What? But that could be decades away! At least tell me on my deathbed in general since that seems like it will come a lot sooner.”

“Don’t like hearing how casual you are about that, but fine. Assuming I can and there’s no reasonable way you’ll live, I'll do it. Can’t believe I have to plan out your last moments with you like that just to get you to relax.”

“Blame your buddy for picking at my curiosity. So back to the trial then, what can you guys actually tell me about it? Or the tower trials in general actually since there's what, eleven?”

“Thirteen,” Nare answered. “Was supposed to originally only be twelve, but I and the other gods of crafting disciplines weren’t going to be satisfied with being neglected.”

“What?”

There were only eleven branches of magic, even if one was incredibly vague in the form of non-affinitied magic, so it wasn’t clicking what the other two were till his god filled him in.

“Not all of the tower trials are magic trials Ben, though admittedly most of them are since each branch is considered extremely powerful compared to other skills once it reaches the awakened stage. One that you’re missing is warrior’s tower, a trial to test the challenger’s combat skills, as well as one I know you’ve heard of, craftsman’s tower.”

“Which I was actually hoping to talk you into taking,” Nare said, leaning in towards Ben. “If you put your all into it I’m sure you won’t disappoint.”

“Well, before I even consider the prospect of throwing myself into any more trials than the one that Thera’s doing, can you guys at least tell me whatever I’m allowed to know? Or maybe even more than I’m allowed to know? I promise I won’t squeal on you both and it’s not like the other gods can even look into my mind to see if you gave me any hints.”

His request was flatly ignored as Nare started to explain.

“The gist of it is pretty simple, even if there’s only so much you can be told. All tower trials are five floors high. If you complete the first three you have the chance to leave, only taking the blessing you’ll get for it, or you can climb to the top to get the true reward. Since trials are made to gather faith they can’t be too kind, but in exchange for each floor being a deathtrap, you’ll actually have the chance to quit after completing any of those three floors, though like I said, no blessing unless you finish the third. As for the last two, you have to do them back to back. If you haven’t realized you aren’t cut out for them then the chances of escaping with your life are slim.”

It sounded a bit more reasonable than what he’d just gone through at least, even if he was still feeling suspicious of it. “And why was Thera saying I would be getting worse rewards than anyone else? Genuinely, what does this world have against me?”

“It doesn’t have anything against you Ben and saying your rewards will be worse is only partially accurate,” Myriad explained. “If you complete the third stage and leave you’ll just receive the earth pantheon’s blessing which is honestly already an excellent one, but if you go beyond it, anyone who has an awakened earth affinity skill will receive a level to it on top of it. Since you don’t have anything of the earth affinity you can’t get that, but there are rewards for those few who take the trial but don’t have anything that matches it or an awakened skill. Instead, you’ll receive two levels to any non-awakened skill.”

“Interesting, interesting,” Ben said, his concern about taking the trial briefly vanishing as his eyes shined with greed. “And just hypothetically, can I-”

“You can’t use it to awaken a skill,” Myriad told him bluntly, shutting that train of thought down. “Sorry Ben, if it was something like an eighth-level earth affinitied skill then you could awaken it to the zeroth level of the second tier, but that’s not in the cards for you.”

“You could say that ninth-level skill holders have the best luck with that,” Nare laughed. “The way the faith works out for it, we can just barely justify helping to awaken their skill and then still bring it to the first level after, though that’s not exactly in the cards for you either. Though the soul mage who’s joining you all will be stuck with the same rewards as you since she doesn’t have an earth skill either, the powers that be just want her getting the blessing.”

“Ugh, well I guess a blessing from what? A hundred gods is more than worth the trade-off anyway. Something that good would have to level up basically all of my skills and put my growth rates through the roof, right?”

Even if he didn’t have the chance to use the final reward to level up either of his awakened skills or to use it to awaken his connect like he so desperately wanted, the prospect of just how much a blessing like that could aid in his growth was filling his mind, at least until he caught how the two gods were looking at each other.

“Oh come on, what? Was I wrong to think that when you say I’d get the earth pantheon’s blessing it would come from all of the earth affinity gods? Is it just a couple of them or something?”

“Er, not exactly,” Nare started awkwardly before turning to pass explaining off to Myriad.

“You’re technically right in that it’s coming from all of the earth gods, it’s just that the final blessing doesn’t work out to being equivalent to each one of those giving you their full blessing.”

Ben could immediately see where that was going as he put his head in his hands. “Okay, so then what is it the equivalent of?”

“It’s still quite good! It matches the standard blessing of ten gods, so it’s nothing to turn your nose up at.”

Ben just stared at the two before him blankly, waiting to be told it was a joke, only to watch them both turn away from his gaze.

“...Alright, I’ve decided. I’m bringing atheism to this world ‘cause that’s bullshit.”

“Ben, listen-”

“I know you guys get plenty of faith for these trials Myriad, you’ve told me as much before. Are you jerks really having mortals putting their lives on the line so you all can skim a bit off the top to save for yourselves?”

“I’ll have you know that if you reach the top then the gods in charge of the trial actually lose faith in the end, at least for those who are getting levels to their awakened skill,” Myriad said weakly as Ben stared at him with suspicion in his eyes.

“And what about people who just quit at the third floor?”

“Well, in that case, the gods get more out of it in the end.”

“Of course they do, and when you stack up how much they get for themselves from people either making it to the third floor or dying going farther up compared to how much they lose from people making it to the top, how much farther do the gods come out ahead?”

The silence from both Myriad and Nare spoke volumes as Ben felt his headache coming back in full force as he got to once again confront the difference between what mortals would put in from what gods would give out. Even if that faith was going to be used for the world as a whole in the end, he couldn’t help but think that if the world survived and the size of the rewards didn’t grow to match what mortals were risking then he really was going to start an atheist revolution on the planet.