After another hour of enchanting, he finally finished all of the tree collars and let himself get set up for potion making, pulling out everything he’d brought for the act as he pulled out a mortar and pestle to show to Delair.

“Alright, are you ready to attempt some alchemy?”

“Yeah!”

“Great, now since these potions are important I’m going to just have you do some of the simpler stuff, with one of the main things involving using the wood everyone just brought back.”

He now had a pile of far more than the three branches he’d first been gifted ready to go, and with a sharp knife he began cutting off a chunk of one, tossing it in a pot with some water before placing it over a fire, the goal being to have it absorb what it could and soften up, letting them move on to the next stage of grinding it into a paste.

As they waited he spoke with the girl about the process, trying to explain what they’d be doing as simply as he could for her sake, along with telling her about the potential that alchemic knowledge contained, not just the potions it could be used for but also its applications in smithing, and how it could be used to let items get even more out of certain affinities of enchantments.

Ah, if she’s going to be my apprentice one day I’m going to need her to get connect. What do you say Myriad? Feeling generous?

No, but if I can make up the faith you’d lose on it would you do it?

Hmm, maybe it would be easier to just hire Zandale.

It was something to worry about in the future, but not a priority. She had her low plant magic she could enchant with after all, and even if it wouldn’t be as handy as other branches, there were still plenty of enchantments he could think of that he could get her to practice with once she got the skill.

I guess that means I’m writing down all of the enchantments I can think of too, so I might need to ask Thera to pick up some paper while she’s in the city. Combining that with training details for each crafting discipline I’m competent in, I’d probably be using the town's entire supply.

It’s an issue of consent. I put out the offer to train her so I do need to take responsibility for that. You made the request of taking me as a believer without explaining that would leave me as your apostle, meaning you need to deal with my casual attitude about it.

He heard a hmph from his god but he ignored it. The wood was done so he carefully moved it from the pot to his mortar, showing Delair what he was doing to break it down before giving her a chance to try, only taking over again at the end as she got tired and to ensure it would be perfect for their needs.

From there, he didn’t actually have much more for her to do. All of the other ingredients had been prepared before he’d arrived, the thought he might be teaching someone any alchemy not even a glimmer in his eye at the time, so instead he explained why he was combining them as he went, what purpose each ingredient served and why it needed to be added at different stages of the process while he stirred it all until it was finally complete, the only thing remaining being to use it.

“Alright, I guess we’re going to have to gather everyone in the village first, but for the time being since you helped with making it why don’t you be the first to give it a try?” He told her as he divvied out the portion she’d need to see the full effects of what they made and watched as she hesitantly took it, trying to contain her excitement as she took a sip.

“Wow, it’s tasty!”

“Ha, yeah it is. Always nice when things work out that way, isn’t it? When you finish up, do you want to ask Hentath to gather everyone and we can get to sharing it?”

“Alright.”

Eager to get the rest of the town to try what she’d helped with, she quickly finished the potion and ran off to spread the word, leaving just him and Thera as Myriad spoke in his head.

What?

Interesting. I’m already growing more fruit than I can use and that’s before I’m updating the enchantment with my new plant magic ring. I should be able to keep sending more potions to the village with the extras in exchange for a constant supply of wood to go along with it. I’ll bring up the idea with Hentath later.

Sure, but it was interesting musing. Consider it an investment for the future anyway. If the world survives then it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have some powerful plant mages, right? Heck, even in the next year or two it could be valuable to help them grow as powerful as possible in case there’s any food insecurities. I’d say that would make preparing for the invasion more than worth it.

As the potions were distributed throughout town, a subtlety that Ben had at first missed began to rear its ugly head. An edge of fear, not clear on each villager at all times, but always around a few of them. The same fear that had gripped the world as the days kept on counting down.

Only fifty-one days left.

It was on everyone's minds to one extent or another, the inescapable fact that odds were good that in a few short years they’d all be dead, with the strain that came with that knowledge not so easy to hide.

Still, it seemed that the adults around were trying not to show it, with no desire to scare the children with something that couldn’t be changed, and neither Ben nor Thera had any intention of talking about it either.

Both Falk and Sonya would be at craftsman’s tower by the time there’d be only thirty days left, with Ben and Thera joining them no matter how things turned out with his attempt in the woods, all of them needing to be ready for whatever part they could play.

And then I get to worry about losing my second life by idiotically standing at an invasion point when I don’t even have to. Yay. I guess on the plus side I’ll get to see whatever sort of magic super weapon Falk helped to build. Maybe if I ask real nicely they’ll let me look at the designs a little. That could happen, right?

He got no answer, all of the gods who would spend time in his head busy with other things with the end of the world so close as he held in a sigh, mingling with the dryad’s he hadn’t seen in so long as they all tried to pretend that things were okay.