Chapter 383

Chapter 383

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.

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.