Immediately the spells he requested were cast, even if it led the spirits to stare at him as he shoved the collar on it for the extra insurance.

“Ben, this is-”

“A prisoner of war and a source of information,” He clarified. “A valuable one too. This thing is a double contender so I’m hopeful it knows something useful, it just has the minor problem that if it wakes up it will use its mana canceling to escape. Hence the moribusial. If we keep it in a constant state of mana exhaustion then there’s no problems and I can plunder its mind. Which I’m about to do so if you don’t mind, give me just a second.”

Plus Oaun called this guy a prospect, it wouldn’t hurt to know what he meant by that.

Before anyone else could say a word, Ben was already plunging into the creature’s mind and memories, seeing all he could in his search for answers.

There was no end to what he was searching for either. He wanted to know why the demons invaded the way they did, he wanted to know how many gods they had and what they were gods of to begin with and he wanted to know if they had any goals beyond just sheer conquest. But as he dived through its thoughts and history, searching memories all the way back to the pre-sapient stage of its life, he found little but the violence and carnage he knew to be innate to the race as a whole. Higher functions hadn’t made the monster into something more, only creating a more skilled killer in the end as he saw through the eyes of a beast that not only invaded worlds but also killed mountains of its own kind to grow stronger and come out on top.

Through everything he looked at, Ben only got a single answer, even if it was one he had trouble believing himself. When it came to their gods, the beasts had only one.

But that’s literally impossible. He thought to himself as he pinched his brow. It genuinely just doesn’t make sense. Even without the system, the sheer number of worlds they have means that others have to have risen to godhood so why would there only be one?

…Wait, maybe that’s actually not as impossible as it sounds. The demons fight and kill for dominance. Why would their god be any different? Maybe it kills any of its believers that rise to godhood? That would mean it doesn’t have to share the faith which is the best guess I have right now. Still, I can’t believe how little useful information this stupid thing knows.

He’d at least been able to see its god a few more times in its memories, with the demon having been rewarded by strengthening its blessing for Ben’s capture after he’d been sent away as well as having gotten to see that the god would occasionally step out to make appearances across the worlds it controlled or otherwise exert its influence across them to be sure it’s people would act as he wanted in regards to the gates, including instructing that one and a few of the other more powerful demons to step out and view the early stages of its various invasions while stopping anything obstructing them, but not much more than that.

Even in that regard, he didn’t get any real answer as to why its god wanted to structure its attacks in such a way. Ultimately, the beast’s life almost solely consisted of killing in an effort to become more powerful, devastating its race and the worlds it touched and giving him nothing more to work off of despite the heights it had reached.

Heaving a sigh, Ben closed the pod once more, freezing it in time again in case he wanted to look at it once more later before asking Ogilt to return it to the rest as he planned his next moves. He’d at least tell the gods what little he’d learned later and when he had time he’d go bother Verbum to see if the record holder would be able to find any useful information in the system by focusing in on the new blessing bound to his soul.

Which just left what he’d do next. There were still a few hours left in the day and he had big goals now, he couldn’t just waste them, leading him to eyeing the three great spirits once more.

“Hey, would you guys mind if I borrow you all for a little longer? Like, ten minutes?”

He knew that Lux and Abrus at least were busy people given how much they could do for the world but at the same time they were resources he could use, making him want to take advantage of them just a little longer if he could.

“If that’s all then it should be fine,” Abrus agreed. “Why, what do you need?”The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Gonna borrow your minds for a bit, give me just a second,” And without waiting for a reply he reached out and connected to the three great spirits, feeling the intense strain as he did.

It was something he was doing his best to keep from them, even if he was doing a bad job of it, as he sped up their thoughts to give him more time with their minds, letting him suffer under the mental weight of three nearly godlike beings as he carried out mental conversations, asking and learning about what had happened for both of them in the last month and then making small talk beyond that, all in an effort to train his deep connection.

Getting it to the third tier was the goal but it was never going to be easy so he was going to do all he could, even if it meant wearing out his brain in the process. With the soul mage job nearly complete, he was going to be in the best position to level it he could be, leaving only one key thing to getting there. Experience.

He was already thinking of other ways he could get it too, ways he’d be putting into practice as soon as he’d be able, but until then he knew what a resource the great spirits would be. Just connection to Ogilt had gained him a level only the day prior, adding two more into the mix at the same time would only help as he forced himself to grapple with the alien nature of their minds and memories, even as Lux moved to his side to begin healing him.

“Ben, I do believe I’d like to get an answer as to why you’re trying to destroy yourself right now.”

“Is the fact that it’s really good practice an acceptable answer?”

“No.”

He sighed. “I need to raise my deep connection more. I’ve already seen how much progress I can make by connecting with one great spirit, I’m just trying to cheat it with more. It’s actually not that bad when I’m not also shoving millions of points of mana through my soul.”

“Mmh, it admittedly doesn’t seem like you’re going to get to the point I found you in yesterday, though I really don’t believe it’s worth it.”

“Didn’t your husband get ripped in half trying to fight a dragon for a little extra strength? And my deep connection is directly related to the quality of the things I can make, the higher my level, the more I can produce.”

“Thera won’t be thrilled about you doing this to yourself, you know?”

“She won’t but everyone’s pushing themselves, I need to as well.”

“Mmh, well if you plan on continuing this in the future, make sure you do it when either she or I are around to treat you.”

“Okay, will do but by your estimates, will I be able to manage with just one great spirit do you think?”

“...Why?”

“Because I’m assuming Ogilt will still be free when you two run off back to work and that would let me keep practicing.”

He felt her staring at him for a minute, only to shake her head in the end. “Just find me before you fall asleep tonight to check on the state of you, otherwise I’d be worried about you never waking up again.”

“Will do, appreciate it.”

With a safeguard in place to keep his brain from turning to mush, Ben kept the two for as long as he could before Abrus went off to patrol the surroundings while Lux left with the last three prisoners to help them acclimatize to the new world they found themselves on before taking the space spirit with him back to the building of pods, staying connected the entire time.

“Not going to ask what we’re doing?”

“No.”

“Lame, I’m telling you anyway. I need to practice connect and as tough as your mind is to deal with, it alone isn’t going to cut it, so since it just so happens I have a building worth of folks to work with, that’s what we’re going to do. Don’t mind me getting comfortable.”

He took a seat in the middle of the structure before stretching out his soul as far as it would go, feeling the minds frozen within each pod.

Although nearly frozen would be the more correct descriptor, the time within was brought down as close to zero as possible but it wasn’t completely stopped, meaning that once connected he could increase the speed they’d each think at while bringing dozens into his head, interacting with both their minds and memories for the disastrous results that came with it.

All of the ones he connected to were too mad or traumatized to be given a chance at freedom like the rest and they all screamed inside his head the second they were able, at least those with the mental strength to scream. More than a few felt nearly braindead, as if they’d succeeded in destroying their higher functions for what bit of peace and escape it would give them, neither of which were results Ben wanted to see. After so long, they were finally free, they needed to be able to enjoy it, even if they were all suffering from mental wounds that might take years to recover from.

Which means there’s no time to start like now.

He didn’t exactly want to be experimenting with his newest awakened skill on victims who had been through so much already but with it feeling like an avenue he could progress through he started using the effects of hive mind, threading his thoughts through their own without trying to take over like he’d done during their escape, instead trying to force a sense of calm on them that they’d all long since lost, creating a headspace where they’d listen if he talked.

From there, that was exactly what he did, talking to each one the best he could, trying to turn the calm he was forcing onto them into something more natural while aiming to draw out their long shattered sanity, beginning a project he knew would take ages as the hours wore on through the last little bit of the day.