“Ben, help me out,” Pelenia asked with a pout. “Use that clever brain of yours to figure out how to help me awaken a skill too.”

Luck hadn’t been on the queen’s side when she got her blessing, it hadn’t given her the one level she needed to her charm to be able to awaken it and the moment they all stopped focusing on Thera she turned to him as they made their way back.

“Mom, you can’t just expect him to be able to come up with some crazy way to strengthen yourself on the spot,” Her daughter told her, in far too great of a mood to be brought down by her parent’s childish attitude.

“Why not? I know he awakened a bunch of people with a physical magic, I’m sure he can help little old me if he just gives it some thought.”

“You’re not going to age that much more than Aunty Sonya.”

“I will eventually! I don’t want to stand for it. Give it three or four decades and she’ll be unbearably smug.”

It looked like Thera was going to say more, but he stepped in before she could. “I mean, it’s not like I have no idea.”

“What?”

He got shocked reactions all around. Even Pelenia hadn’t really been expecting an answer, but hearing there could be one filled her eyes with greed, at least until he went on.

“Of course, the gods are definitely going to act if I tell you how and it would close the door for any future children you might have from using this little cheat but it’s up to you. If you want I’ll get things set up.”

“...Now hypothetically, if I do have another child and we do this at the same time, would that work?”

“It would, it would just take some prep.”

“Hmm, in that case, I can wait a decade. Which means I really do need Abrus finishing up with that old ape soon.”

Thera must be in a great mood if she’s not going to comment on that.

<And I’d really like to know just what you’re talking about.> His god said now that Ben was no longer separated by the trial. <You said as much earlier, didn’t you?>

I’ll tell you as long as you promise not to tell the other gods. I can’t go having my master plan be foiled by any asses deciding they want to change the rules since they’d been outsmarted.

<Please, I haven’t outed you for worse, I’m not going to out you for being clever. Now come on.>

Fine, it’s simple really. In fact, after what I just saw it could be a hell of a lot simpler. Pelenia has life magic and any future child she might have is going to have charm, which means they’d be able to get dark. Have the mom go into the life tower with a party of four life spirits and the kid go into the dark with dark spirits and then they can not only be carried to the top, but claim all of the levels and blessings since spirits don’t need them. Easy peasy, right?

<...Well, you’re definitely right about the idea that some other gods would try and put a stop to that. I don’t think any would consider it since even the great dark spirit joining you was an outlier, but there is a chance something might come up.>

If they do then I’m one hundred percent going to accuse the gods of blatant racial discrimination. You think the great spirits will stand for that after what happened in Allfaith?

<And you really do have a disgusting affinity for figuring out how to stir up some chaos. Either way, I won’t say anything so I guess we’ll just have to see if you all live long enough to put it into practice.>

Ha, as long as the world doesn’t end then I’m one hundred percent getting my way here even if anyone upstairs tries to stop it. You’ve seen Abrus, do you really believe he’d allow the gods to change the rules in a way that would screw over his wife and child in particular? It would be a bloodbath.

His god fell silent as he imagined exactly that while they crossed through the gate and made it back to Pelenia’s home before the two of them said their goodbyes and took the far smaller gate back to the shop.

Just the two of them now, Thera was all smiles as she took his arm in her own and told him about the other levels she’d gotten as they made their way down the streets, far too happy to give a single thought to the people they passed while she was busy filling him in on all that had come with the blessing.

“- And you?” She asked at the end. “Anything interesting go up?”

“A few. Both unnatural mind and unnatural thought speed even though I just freaking got that, plus I got a level to defense enhancement which was why I only asked for one there and had the other level to go to lesser inspiration to get me another two ninth-level skills.”

He’d gotten a few other levels too, going to absorption resistance, piercing resistance, bite enhancement, puppetry, and marksmanship, but no more to his awakened options, not that he minded. With another powerful blessing to his name, that really was just a matter of time.

More importantly though, it wasn’t himself he wanted to talk about. “And what about your job? Know what you’re going to take yet?”

“Mmh, no,” She stopped and touched the crystal on her neck, thinking it all over. “The only new one I got was high crystallization mage but obviously not that. I guess barrier wouldn’t be a bad choice since it’s my lowest one now, but now that I don’t need to worry about my charm leveling I wouldn’t mind rushing through the dark jobs. Plus I’ve got war mage as an option still which I can’t help but be curious about…”

She trailed off as she thought it all over, feeling excited by the prospect of taking a new job that she hadn’t been able to experience when she’d gone for her last one. Even if her options hadn’t really grown, it felt like the world had opened up to her now that she wasn’t going to be constantly worrying about the skills she raised.

“If you’re not sure, would you be willing to trust me?”

“Pff, obviously I trust you,” She told him, moving in closer and feeling no issue making her affections clear as they went through the streets. “What do you think I should take?”

“Master adventurer.”

He was expecting to have to explain why, but before he could she’d already grabbed the crystal around her neck again and took it immediately.

“Well, that worked out well,” She told him brightly. “I just got a level to my empathy and barrier magic.”

“You didn’t want to know why?”

“Ha, do I even have to ask? It’s a great job and it’s obviously because you have some idea for getting through it, right?”

“I mean, yeah, it will just take a month to get the ball rolling on that.”

“Then that’s fine, a month is nothing.”

While it would be a harder job for her to level since she didn’t have the same intense compatibility with it that she did for mage jobs, she would be able to get a bit of growth out of it in the meantime and its bonuses were good enough that there was no reason to decline given that it gave major ones to all attributes and skills, but that was really the last thing on her mind. The moment they were home and through the door, she had him in her arms and in a passionate kiss.

“Thera?”

He didn’t get to let another word out as she placed a silencing finger over his lips, looking cheery and playful as she did.

“Ben, we should be alone for at least a little while and you just helped me get past the biggest problem in my entire life so no talking and just let me show you how much I appreciate it.

Well, I’m not exactly going to say no to that.

With Sonya still at the clinic to give them a bit of privacy, it was the perfect time to enjoy what they had.