Chapter 155

“You know, I’ve never wanted to push the issue, but I’m just saying if you and her were to produce children I’d be able to get a couple believers that could potentially live a thousand years. Just something to think about if you feel like doing more to secure the stability of my faith.”

“Really, that’s the first thing you bring up? I just got here,” Ben told his god, already not feeling the conversation. Being a bit tempted by a friend he was close to was normal enough as far as humans went, but actually making a pass wasn’t happening.

Myriad seemed to be mostly joking anyway, not that he would have minded such a thing, but switched conversations easily enough. “In that case, would you rather discuss your ambitions of trapping a soul to be used for eternity?”

“Absolutely! Do you think it’s actually possible?” He asked with enthusiasm, not picking up the dread in his god's voice.

“The problem is that it’s all too possible! The moment I heard you float the idea and could see how instantly captivated with it you’d become I had to immediately rush to Anailia to discreetly ask about the implications of such a thing! You do get that sounds evil, right?”

“I mean, I guess? I already hunt animals for parts though, that’s just one more part to use.”

“...It’s an excellent thing that the forbidden gods didn’t have the option to try and take you as a believer.”

“Hey, all of you gods agreed to collect two hundred souls specifically to force into your war, I don’t think there’s much moral high ground here.”

“Honestly, fair enough,” The cube relented after a moment's thought.

“So then what did Anailia say about it?”

“That you’re lucky you’ve already made a good impression on her if you’re going to try something like that. She can’t guarantee what the other gods would say, but it should be alright so long as you don’t publish however you accomplish it and you don’t try it on any of the sapient races. She was extra clear on that last bit and so am I; if you even try to trap the soul of a single person on this would, you’ll be executed immediately and condemned to the infinite hells, regardless of the rules about how mortal punishment is handled.”

“No worries on that front, even I can tell that would be unethical. Just to be clear though, where do demons fall as far as experimental materials go?”

“Pfff, you won’t find a single god in the world that cares what you do with them. In fact, I’m fairly sure many gods would actively approve of you doing something like that, so if you insist on trying it out once you’re skilled enough be sure that’s what you go for.”

It seemed like during the night Thera had started using him as a pillow and was holding onto him tighter than he could easily escape without waking her. Since the sun had only just started to rise he didn’t want to ruin her rest, but he was burning daylight, so slowly and carefully he pulled himself from her grip before making his way outside to start splitting the logs he’d dried the other day, cutting them into the shapes he’d need to replace the rotten boards of the fence.

Once that was done he gave each a light coat of oil before finally removing the rotten ones and replacing them with what he’d so painstakingly made, before giving the older posts he didn’t need to replace a coat as well.

Once he was done he looked at his work and smiled, taking a moment to forget about just how much more he had to do.

If I don’t look at the house behind me I have nothing to be stressed about.

An excellent idea! I’m going to need the others to prepare more trees for me anyway by the looks of it, six definitely wasn’t enough to do everything.

His next task decided he went back to cutting the logs into the lengths he would need before splitting them into boards, once again cursing out the fact that he was forced to live in the stone age like this and desperately missing the shop.

Am I at least getting experience to my crafting skill for going through all of this?

Okay, but like, good experience. The kind that will help me level up the skill faster, not a trickle in an ocean.

“Ben, would you have some time,” Fontesh asked, having no idea she’d interrupted his talk with his god. Not that he particularly cared, but if people ever found out they seemed to get nervous.

“Of course, what can I do for you?”

“Well since everyone else is still asleep I thought we’d put off breakfast, and a few more of the villagers asked if I’d take you to their homes to work on some of their enchantments.”

“Of course! Let’s head out immediately then.”

It seemed word spread fast in a small community like this, especially when it came to someone like him. As an outsider in a tight-knit and closed-off town like this, people would naturally be talking, and even more so when they heard what he was doing. He didn’t want to brag, but the enchantments he’d seen the villagers using were rather clumsily put together. It was almost certain they’d come from someone with only level three or four in the skill. At level five currently and having it as his blessed skill anyone could immediately feel the difference in mana cost when they tried his tools out, even without the benefit of having a magic affinity tied to it to reduce the cost further. It would only be a matter of time before one by one they all came to ask for his help.