Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

“You want to try and negotiate now?”

“Is there any reason not to?”

A good reason for Ben was that he comfortably felt like he already had a foot out the door when it came to life on that planet. Agreeing would mean staying and committing to helping instead of just taking whoever he felt like and running off to the first safe planet he could find. It would mean taking the hit and slowing down his growth where plenty of gods still didn’t like him and it would mean ultimately putting his life on the line. Wouldn’t it be better and easier on him to just turn it all down and run off with the people he cared about?

His minds flashed to people he didn’t know. Faces of those he’d never shared a word with but passed on the street each day and he sighed. “Fine, let’s negotiate. What are the odds I can get some more blessings for my work then? You said the ones you gave me were to show that I am at least somewhat appreciated and sorry but I fully intend to take them as such, not partial payment.”

“I’d expect no less, but as for other blessings… it’s unlikely.”

“Not enough remaining gods like me enough to wanna give in, huh?”

“Partially but not exactly. The mind gods seemed willing to an extent when I spoke to them but not many of the ones that qualify as such are particularly powerful, they’d feel the hit more than most. As for the crafting gods, well, they seem like they’d be happy to but they’d prefer you acquire it a different way.”

“What, how?”

“I’m sure you’re clever enough to take a guess.”

It wasn’t like he didn’t have an idea, Nare had been pretty motivated he do something that would land him their collective blessing before the first wave but he pushed that thought to the side for the moment. He hadn’t actually expected the request to be accepted and it seemed the Phixth was used to him enough by that point to understand that as he waited for a real offer while Ben put his thoughts together, trying to figure out what would be best for him.

If he was staying on the planet then he still needed to awaken his two skills and he still needed to grow further, meaning he needed to think about how to compensate for how slowed he was about to be trying to help the third tiers and how to ensure that whatever he got would still help him in the long run as he mind flashed through his current job options before he spoke again.

“Alright, first off and non-negotiable, I need the guy currently in charge of the adventurers’ guild fired,” He began, holding up a hand before Phixth could say anything. “I’m not going to deny I’m being a bit petty but there’s a far bigger reason here for that. A person in charge of one of the largest organizations on the planet cannot be being swayed by the random whims of any god, especially not a multinational organization like that. He’s proven he’s not fit for the role and that needs to be rectified.”

“I understand and I don’t disagree. That at least I can confirm will be done. I assume there’s more though?”

“Yes. Second and also non-negotiable, despite what you’ve already said, I want Duna’s blessing. This one is entirely me being petty.”

“...Can I ask why?”

“Because as a rule, I intend to get a blessing from any god that tries to screw me over. While I’m personally hoping it will one day act as a nice little deterrence factor, for now, it really is just to make a point and if my help really is as important as you think then a single blessing from one god shouldn’t be too much to ask.”

“...I’ll discuss that with the others but it might be a harder sell. Giving a blessing isn’t easy no matter how casual we might make it look.”

“What, do you think speeding through jobs is?”

“Is it not?”

“...If I was just going to be helping second tiers to finish their jobs then yeah, honestly it would be pretty easy. Third-tier jobs are different though. The way I finish them involves pulling massive volumes of mana into myself and aside from a pretty significant amount of pain it causes, more than once I’ve damaged my soul doing it. There is absolutely a cost to this to me that doesn’t make what you’re asking some easy thing. Plus, that’s not to mention that doing that kills my mana growth rate. There’s actually a lot of personal negatives to me doing this.”

Phixth was silent for a moment, neither having known or expected such a thing and it forced him to consider the request more before answering.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Alright, I can’t promise it but I’ll at least do my best to push for it as I talk to the others but I assume you have something more than just paying out your grievances?”

“Well, yeah, let’s get to the meat of this then. I currently have at least thirty-three jobs and I’ll almost certainly get some advanced options after completing a few too. Let me finish most of those and then I’ll leave, what? Fifteen options after? That should cover the twelve third-tiers as well as leave some room for if any of them got advanced options and I’ll bring whoever you want into my first few parties. Wait, actually, scratch part of that. Eleven third-tiers, I refuse to help Rook no matter what you say and I won’t be helping the believers of Duna, Eneth, or Olensia but that was probably predictable by this point.”

“Not the most surprising and as for Rook, well, It’s not like any of us know where he is at the moment. To be clear, he’s not gone forever, correct?” The god asked him with a pointed look while Ben shrugged.

“A few months, you’ll see him again with time to spare before the third wave, provided his immortality isn’t a lot weaker than the name would imply. And if it is, well… Then the world gets a new god, woo.”

“Alright, but this is where I need you to show some willingness to negotiate. As eye-raising as all of the jobs you can access are, doing so many at once will be a challenge no matter what. I’d prefer we spread it out more, both because we’ll need time to find and gather certain people as well as to create the chance for people we want to raise to gain access to job options they might not have access to the first-time you help them.”

Ben thought it over. It would slow him down but all of this was going to slow him down, if he was going to do it then he could make it work, one way or another.

“Alright, then we’ll divide it up. Let’s say I’ll get to finish two jobs before I help each of the third tiers, plus the one I take with them. Ah, but for the very first time, I want to finish four jobs if we include my current one and then carry whichever third-tier with my fifth.”

“That would mean you’d potentially run out of options after helping each third-tier once. While we haven’t had enough who’ve finished their jobs before dying in the past, it’s likely to think that at least a few of them will have advanced options we’d want you to help with.”

“Alright, I need those terms at least to finish the jobs that would give bonuses to my core skills so let’s say this. While I personally don’t think I’d run out of options for helping them, if it looks like I’m getting close then let's say by the time I only have five jobs left we’ll switch things so that I’m helping a third-tier for every job until there are none left. If I somehow run out first then I’ll do my best to acquire a skill or skills that would give me new options, does that sound agreeable?”

“I personally find those terms acceptable.”

“And one thing I want clarified is that the gods will ensure the adventurers, mages, and mind users we’re going to need are both gathered and paid the rate I’d intended to give them for their help. You all can cover the cost since you guys are the reason things are happening this way but I don’t want to find out that you’re getting them to help for free.”

“Is there a reason for that? Most would jump just to have the chance to finish some of their jobs early.”

“The reason is that I intended to pay them and even if they don’t know that, they should be compensated fully in the way they would have if you all didn’t step in. It doesn’t matter if they won’t be aware and it doesn’t matter if they’ll be getting the benefit of finishing some of their jobs sooner than expected, these people should not be getting a worse deal because the gods of this world decided to intervene.”

“Alright, I understand. And then what?”

And then what?

Ben wasn’t sure what else there really was to ask for, nor why Phixth thought there should be until he really considered his requests so far. Firing the head of the adventurers’ guild he viewed as something that just genuinely needed to happen and the way they’d agreed to organize how he’d go through jobs was infinitely worse still than if the gods hadn’t interfered. Ensuring the people he’d need to even make it possible were paid was out of principle but did nothing for him, meaning the only thing he’d really asked for himself until that point was Duna’s blessing. Something he absolutely insisted on getting but was still altogether small compared to the loss in time he could expect.

Thinking of it that way, it made sense that Phixth expected him to want more. Now that he’d lined up what he’d asked for so far, he couldn’t help but want more too, with the only question being what? He had so many goals, what could he reasonably ask for to help with any of them?

More mana, a level, a skill, a blessing… Okay, yeah, it has to be that last one, doesn’t it? It would be the most useful all around.

“A new blessing,” He finally said. “I don’t care from who, I don’t care how inconvenient it is for all of you, and I don’t care that I’m already asking for Duna’s. One more blessing from any of the countless gods of this world for the time and pain and effort I’m going to have to spend to help these people finish their jobs.”

Thinking for a second, eventually Phixth nodded. “Alright, the request seems reasonable enough to me, I’ll talk it over with the others and we’ll let you know.”

“I really don't think I can get more agreeable than this. If the rest are against it then that’s it.”

“I will make that clear.”

“Thank you. In that case, hope you guys don’t keep me waiting too long and if we have a deal then I hope we can start as soon as possible.”

“The second I have agreement from the rest I’ll be setting things up to begin as soon as possible. With this done though I’ll be borrowing Myriad, we can expect a few long hours of discussions to follow.”

“Good luck.”

With one more nod, Phixth left, taking Myriad with him and leaving Ben alone in the realm as he laid down, lost in his thoughts.

As much as it annoyed him, he’d committed to staying and now that he’d been slowed down, that just meant he was going to have to work all the harder.

So ends my break. Looks like I’ve got some busy months ahead.

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