Immediately, Ben wanted to confirm he was right about what he was feeling and reached out with connect, linking with the man and letting him see the skills on his soul, finding exactly what he’d been expecting. A tier three skill, albeit one that didn’t have a level so it couldn’t grow, meaning he was sitting beside one of the more valuable of the summoned on the planet. All that left was just what it did.

“Akashic record huh?” He muttered, getting to see Verbum almost jump out of his skin while Killi chided him.

“You are not allowed to react poorly to someone else peeking on your soul if you’re going to do it to everyone around you as well, and yes Ben, he’s the holder of a tier three skill like myself. To be specific, he is the first holder of a tier three analysis.”

Okay, stay calm and be casual and cool. Don’t want to go scaring him off more than he already is.

“Uh, Killi, can I leave now?” Verbum tried to beg. “He’s looking at me like I’m a piece of meat.”

“Rude, I’m looking at you like you’re a friend waiting to happen. Like your teacher said, I was also one of the summoned from the human group so let’s get along.”

He held out his hand, only for it to be regarded with suspicion, with the other only taking it when it seemed his teacher was about to lose patience.

“Verbum’s from the pleiaden group.”

It was a name that scratched at his memories, even if he didn’t immediately know why. He really hadn’t taken as much interest in the other groups of summoned as he probably should have, he hadn’t even bothered to learn the name of Yuzu’s species. The only two he knew with certainty were humans and the grey.

Although that isn’t exactly true, is it? He thought to himself, understanding dawning on him. I technically met an orion, even if I didn’t talk to her, and wasn’t it the pleiadens who were the ones that got to deal with that shock when they arrived?

The shock being the discovery that they’d been secretly ruled by another race. The orions, a group of lizard people who had somehow hidden their entire species from a planet of others, ruling them in secret for reasons Ben couldn’t begin to guess at. All at once, Ben couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the other man as his nervous nature made more sense. If he’d had to learn about the existence of the grey watching his world and playing their pranks at the same time he was dealing with accepting the fact that he’d died and been given a new life specifically to fight in an impossible war, there was a good chance he wouldn’t have been in a great spot either.

It also left the problem of not knowing where to take the conversation from there. What am I even supposed to say here? How was it living in a society built on the biggest lie you could imagine? Do you chat with the two orions that were brought here with you, or do you keep your distance? How did the rest of your kind take the reveal?

Lucky for him, he didn’t need to make that choice, Killi did it for him.

“Verbum’s people came here under, let’s say, unique circumstances which can leave him a little cautious, but since you’re both holders of the knowledge skill along with being otherworlders, I thought it might be a worthwhile experience for you to get the chance to talk. Different ideas can grow into incredible things when they meet after all.”

“I’m aware about the whole ‘secret ruling species’” Ben admitted. “Honestly must have been a shock but I can kind of get how you feel. Have you heard of the grey? They were watching my world from a whole other reality and instead of making themselves known they would just pull pranks on us by appearing to crazy people. Well, I guess maybe not crazy people since they were right, but you get my point.”

He said it to try and commiserate together, to have a common point of interest that might help unite them, but that failed too, and spectacularly so.

“They were doing the same to my world too,” He said, hanging his head back with a dead look in his eyes. “Secretly ruled on my world, secretly watched from another reality, dragged into this one by higher powers my people never even conceived of, just so I can die all over again. I’m just waiting for whatever’s next. Maybe this multiverse is being observed by some greater omniverse, or maybe everything is just a simulation and whoever’s running it decided to be mean to me in particular. Hell, maybe none of you even exist and this is all an extension of my own disembodied nightmares torturing me.”

“Uh, I think you could at least verify some of that with your analysis skill, right? Or does it not work like that?”

“How am I supposed to trust an ability I got in this reality if I’m not even confident anything exists!” He yelled back. “For all I know, something else just gave it to me to give me a false sense of security!”

On one hand, a little paranoid, but on the other, I still don’t really think I can blame him.

Killi seemed to be faced with the same predicament. She was placed in charge of helping him learn and grow due to the compatibility of their skills, but she couldn’t do anything for the doubts and fears that plagued his mind.

“Ahem, the way his analysis skill works is it lets him see all of the information the system contains on anything he desires-”

“Allegedly.”

“Based on everything we can see about it,” She went on, ignoring the interjection. “It’s honestly probably the most powerful information-gathering tool on the planet given how it is, but unless one is specific about it, it can provide too much information so he’s still practicing trying to refine what he gets to the most important bits.”

“Interesting,” Ben said, trying not to show his naked desire and opting to make some small talk before he got to the heart of what he wanted to know. “So do you think you got that and your knowledge skill based on anything you did in your first life? I was aiming to be an artist which might explain my three blessed ones and I know others whose skills matched things they would do, but then plenty of people arrived with magic skills despite nothing like that existing on my planet.”

“I was training to be a rememberer,” Verbum told them, more life draining from his eyes as he did.

“A rememberer?”

“One who’s trained from childhood to remember the history of my people and learn the lessons it contains. Except none of that matters since it was apparently all a lie and I’ve been wasting my life.”

The table fell silent with the bleak statement as Ben did his best to hold back a sigh.

Okay, I’m never getting anywhere with this guy so I think I’m just going to jump down the deep end.

“So when you use your skill, how do you get information from it?” He asked forcefully, not giving room for another depressing rabbit hole. “Is the knowledge forced into your head or do you hear it or read it?”

For the limited form of analysis that Ben had from both his crafting and enchanting, it appeared in a visual form, the characters of the world’s language appearing in his vision when he wanted them to, but he didn’t know for sure if that was the case for a proper analysis skill, least of all one that had made it to the third tier.

“I read it. Why?”

Score score score score score score score!

“As you’ve already seen, I have plenty of jobs, skills, and titles I would want more information on than the system will usually provide and it just so happens that one of my skills can let me see through the eyes of others. What do you say, want to give me a look?”

Without meaning to he’d started leaning towards the other man, with Verbum’s dead expression changing to one of meek fear under that predatory gaze.

“Uh, like Killi said, there’s too much information, you wouldn’t be able to get anything out of it,” He told him, wanting to flee with all he had.

“Oh, that won’t be a problem for me. I guess you didn’t look too deeply, but my absolute thought speed and unnatural mind would make it a breeze. Come on, don’t be scared and give it a try.”

He was already connected to him, looking through his eyes in the hopes he would do it, if just to see more on the skills he had just said, but Verbum was too focused on the look on Ben’s face, and before he knew it the visual connection was broken, not through any intent from either party, but instead a result of the fear becoming too much for the pleiaden, making him black out where he sat.

…Ooops.

“Ooops,” He spoke, voice sheepish at what he’d just caused, not having any intent for things to end in such a way. “Is he going to be okay?”

“It’s fine, this wouldn’t be the first time,” Killi told him, lacking anything remotely akin to concern. “More importantly, is what you just said true? Can you see through the eyes of others?”

“It’s how I’ve been using my homunculi to read so much.”

“Interesting,” She muttered before focusing on him almost as deeply as he had on Verbum. “Ben, let me make you an offer for a trade. I saw on your card you’re a rank one adventurer.”

“Unfortunately, though I’m not actually skilled enough to deserve the rank and got it on a technicality.”

“You successfully handled ten of our guards in a fight. They may not be the best of the best, but they aren’t exactly slouches either.”

Hmm, true. Honestly, between my magic and all of my mind skills now, I might actually be more fit for the role than I was when I was first forced to take it.

“Alright, what’s your interest in my rank?” He asked cautiously, wondering where this could possibly be going.

“I mentioned already that part of my role is to investigate different things and phenomena, a role my student happens to have the skill set to excel at. The issue is that he’s, well, he’s like this.”

She gestured broadly at his unconscious form before continuing. “I’ve been taking him around with me while I work, but he needs experience with other people too or else he’s never going to manage in the world. I was hoping you’d be willing to go with him to a few different regions to deal with what should hopefully be some quicker investigations.”

“Are you sure you’re not just asking me so you can have a break?”

“Irrelevant. The point is, if you do, I will ensure he’ll use his skill for you. It shouldn’t be that hard to convince him and given how fast you seem to read it wouldn’t take long to go through your entire status.”

It was a tempting offer, but one he honestly thought he could get out of the man on his own with just a bit of work. He wanted to sweeten the deal for himself.

“I’m told the library has a basement too, what are the odds I could have access to that thrown in too if I do this?”

“None. The basement is only available during specific circumstances, one of which being permission from the gods. Nobody in the world is allowed casual access to it, not even me.”

Oh god that just makes me want it even more.

Still, he didn’t think she was lying so he couldn’t force things for her, not when he really wanted to maintain a good relationship with her for the future. Just picking her brain on that bit of the summoning spell had helped tremendously, he didn’t want to lose that connection.

“Alright, I’m not against it, but I need to discuss the matter with my partner,” He explained. “I wouldn’t be going without her.”

“Romantic or adventuring partner?”

“Both.”

“Her rank?”

“Also one.”

“Interesting,” Killi muttered. “Does she have any skills that would be useful for travel? Ideally space magic, all of these locations are in the untamed lands and many of them are quite far away from anything else.”

“No space magic, but she’s a powerful earth mage and can use it to fly an entire cart full of people through the air. Slower than space magic obviously, but it’s the next best thing.”

“And does she use the library?”

“Vasta and Uliel got her access to the third floor, same as me, but she didn’t care about taking any additional tests.”

She seemed to think for a minute, mentally passing over options before she came to a conclusion. “Okay, if the two of you would be willing to, I’ll throw in access to the fourth floor to her, how does that sound?”

It sounded mildly like an abuse of authority, even if he wasn’t going to say it, along with the question of if there was even a point. He’d be able to read over everything up there in just a few days and from there use his magic to make a perfect copy of any book he thought might be useful to her. Why would she need access to the floor?

Of course, that’s also not for me to decide.

“She should be reading on the third floor right now, if you don’t mind I’ll talk it over with her.”

“Alright, and if it’s all the same to you I’ll tag along, lest I be reamed for entrusting him to someone I haven’t at least met.”

He had no reason to argue so he didn’t, leading the way downstairs to talk things over with Thera, leaving the unconscious Verbum at the table to wake at his own convenience.