The next day, Ben could see that the first group he’d worked with was exhausted. He’d pushed them for hours, giving whatever guidance he’d thought they needed to help them learn and grow since their foundation was almost nonexistent. A group that tried to leave no traces simply didn’t build things to last, always looking at what could be broken down or moved instead. After pushing them though he left them with the simple task of trying to figure out how to construct a well on their own with as little input from him as they could manage while he focused on trying to train up some others in a different discipline, namely both smithing and alchemy.

He’d originally considered skipping these topics altogether. This deep in the woods, so far from civilization there was no way for them to get metals to work with meaning they probably wouldn’t need it until they’d reached a point where they’d be joining the wider world, and since so many of them were life mages they didn’t have much need for potions either, but in the end he decided to just make it a lesson they could use if the opportunity ever came up and met with the group of five he’d be teaching, holding in a sigh as he did.

He had no way of knowing what their community was like before he arrived, but with three of them keeping a few steps away from the other two, a strong look of distrust in their eyes, it wasn’t hard to imagine that they’d been on opposite sides of the conflict he’d arrived to.

Myriad, you’ve really got your work cut out for you.

I’m here for a couple weeks, I’ll do what I can but it’s not going to be enough to fix things. Tell Sachel to work with Toltho on it when she gets here.

In his heart he gave a small apology to the oracle for dumping so much work on her as he spoke up, getting everyone’s attention.

“Alright all of you, I grabbed you guys for a bit of a different lesson than what you watched the others learning yesterday since your skills are appropriate for this. If you ever get the opportunity to actually use anything I’m teaching you, you don’t really have to, but it’s good for some people in the village to have some idea about it. Pay attention and ask any questions you need cause we’re talking about metalwork and alchemy.”

He went on to explain each in detail, having to start at something as basic as what metal was since they’d never encountered any, at least in a pure form, as well as how their skills related to it, especially their magics. From the use of fire and earth magics for any smithing to the different ways death and water magic could be used in alchemy, and even including how life and light could be used to enhance the effects of potions. He made diagrams in the dirt as he needed to to get the ideas across and made sure to mention how the earth mages among them could make similar items to what could be made in a forge, though lacking the same quality.

For alchemy in particular he tried to focus on areas it could be used that were unrelated to life magic since those aspects would be less valuable to them, instead focusing on how it could be used to enhance any items they made or else be used in different sorts of potions, ones to enhance various attributes or restore mana, which was when he got what he thought was a most interesting question.

“So would a mana potion be similar to the effects of eating a mana viper?” One hesitantly asked, unsure about cutting in as she did while Ben perked up.

“Not sure, what’s a mana viper?”

“Just something we can eat to let us use more spells. The low ones used to go crazy for them, but they just need to be fed first to get the effect.”

“Can you show me?”

With a nod, the group led him to a tent that seemed to house them specifically, pulling out a woven basket with the creatures inside. He hadn’t seen them himself, but the snake-like creatures were clearly what had been used on Thera, Steph, and Wedrow when they’d been captured by the demons, at least as far as Thera described them.

He was looking at it in interest before the one holding it tilted their head back, putting it in his mouth and biting down on it as it still lived, a shiver going through him as he swallowed and explained. “They aren’t pleasant, but they do the job. Would you like to try?” He asked as he grabbed a new one and held it out.

“I think I’ll take your word on it, thanks.”

Okay, I think I have a bit of a picture of what went on here. Demons use their minor soul magic to change themselves into their sapient stage so eating these must have let them use their magic longer to reach that point. They said, they need to be fed first and from what Thera told me before these things were draining her of her mana when she had them on her, does that mean their bodies can store the mana they absorb for a while in a way that’s possible to get back? We might just have a practical lesson on our hands here.

“Alright, you’ll all need to give me a few minutes to make some basic tools for this, but it looks like I will be having you all actually work on gaining the alchemy skill. The rest of the day is going to be figuring out what part of them actually stores mana, extracting it, determining how well it keeps and its other properties, and if there's any chance it can be collected while they’re still alive. This is going to be fun!”

His current students looked about, unsure if they trusted his enthusiasm given how exhausted the construction team had seemed by dinner yesterday but giving in without argument. The person before them was the representative of the one who would be their new god, they were lost enough after what had happened to their old ones, they needed to put faith in someone.

After a day with the future alchemists where Ben did his best to resist the urge to completely take over the project he’d found for them, instead just gently guiding and advising them as they experimented themselves, he took some time to look at the village as a whole.

The construction team seemed to be making decent progress on creating a well and from what Thera was telling him, it seemed that lessons about the wider world were going alright with the people of the village showing open curiosity to what lied beyond the vast woods they’d been spending their lives in, but there were the expected issues too. A divide had formed amongst them between those who’d tried to fulfill their previous gods' wills and the ones who’d either been in danger from them or else had tried to protect the others. It kept things tense, feeling like everyone was on the edge of exploding, and he had no clue how to make it better.

But I should still probably do something before I pass them all off to someone else. He thought with a sigh. Even if his god was working on it as they all rested, that didn’t mean he shouldn’t do anything either, so he went to find the one person among them he thought he could ask for advice.

“Hey Toltho, mind if I pick your brain a bit?” Ben asked when he found the man sitting by the fire.

“Honoured apostle, just tell me what I can do and I shall.”

“Well first, you can call me Ben. Things vary from god to god but Myriad doesn’t ask for anywhere near the level of respect your old ones seem to have demanded so I don’t need it either. Just treat our lovely cube like a friend when you see him and things will go well. More important though, I wanted to talk to you about the strain on the village as a whole.”

A look of discomfort flashed across the other man’s face when Ben said it, not that it wasn’t understandable. Toltho knew as well as Ben that this was going to be a long-standing issue with the only question being how it was going to be dealt with.

“I’m not sure if I’ll be much help, but I’ll tell you what I can. What were you hoping to know?”

“Things weren’t like this before, right? I was kind of hoping you’d have some sort of idea on how to ease the tensions among everyone since I’m assuming you know them pretty well.”

“Easier said than done I’m afraid. It’s not as if the victims don’t understand, all our lives we were taught to obey our gods, that if we didn’t the balance of the world would be destroyed. Until you and your gods came along and showed us the truth, it was all of us who didn’t immediately give in who had to accept in our hearts that we were going against all we were taught, maybe threatening the world in the whole for the act. For the ones who thought they were doing what was right, even if they were conflicted, well it’s no easy thing.”

Ben let out a tired sigh as he took a seat beside him, leaning his head back to stare at the stars. “You’re all victims here, it’s just a matter of how complicit any one person is. I don’t suppose you’ve talked to the other former priests at all?”

“I have. They are… not in a good place. Fulfilling their roles hunting and then just hiding away. I’d say they’re probably the worst off of everyone mentally.”

Of course they are. Even if everyone’s faith was shattered, they were the only ones talking to the gods. Maybe executing the five in front of them all was too much, but it’s too late to worry about that now.

“You guys must have had issues here in the past, right? How would you deal with it before?”

“Before all this? Anyone who’d caused any major problems would be made to work to make up for it or put to death if they violated the rules of our gods, but I’m not sure how applicable that would be here.”

Ben fell silent as he thought over what the other man said. It’s not perfect, but there might actually be an idea there. Impose a penance on them huh? That might just be what these people need.