Seven days.
He’d squeezed in as much time at the library as he could, but he’d reached the point where their packing up was done, leaving his time there finished. It had been plenty valuable, but he couldn’t help but wish he’d gotten more as he made his way through the crowded streets.
They’d finally reached the day that various foreign armies were pouring in, each getting ready to set up at the section of the invasion points they were meant to cover, while many of the remaining citizens began their departure, going through the gate to safer areas in cities that had spent the last year rapidly expanding to host the refugees if they had no other place they could join up with.
Of course, not all of them were leaving, at least not immediately. With war came opportunity, and there were more than a few merchants and businesses that were staying set up for as long as they could, hoping to make whatever bit of cash was available from the soldiers and other groups that had come to fight in the last bit of downtime they’d have.
Ben for his part had something different in mind as he and his teacher carried planks to the edge of the city's limits, the area everyone would need to pass as they made their way to the invasion point or else where they’d be resting.
“Here okay boy?”
“Yeah, it should be good. Sure you don’t want to stick around?”
“Ah, I respect the bit of charity you’re looking to do, and maybe it would be better if I helped, but I’ve got a selfish streak to me. Gonna meet up with some old friends before it’s too late. Of course, I can help you finish setting up if you want?”
“No, I’ve got this, go have your fun. Make sure you tell them about your precious apprentice who you absolutely adore.”
“Yeah yeah, don’t be surprised if a bit more work ends up your way since you’re doing this.”
“It’s basically what I’m here for, so whatever. Later Falk.”
As his teacher left, he got to work, pulling out a hammer, saw, and some nails to quickly throw together a simple stand for him to work at, before pulling out some black paint to make two signs to display exactly what he was doing there.
FREE ENCHANTMENTS FOR ARMOUR AND WEAPONS FROM THE CHURCH OF MYRIAD
THE APOSTLE IS IN
Oh yeah, that’s looking good.
Hey, I’m just trying to do the good I can and since I have the time, why not? Besides, I doubt I’ll be getting too many people.
And why’s that?
Wait, what?
Before his god could say anymore though, his thoughts were pulled away by the sound of pounding feet coming his way as he saw a massive crowd of people making a beeline at him, making what he expected to be a pretty slow time look like it would end up infinitely fuller than he imagined as he yelled out the moment they all reached him.
“I’LL GET TO ALL OF YOU SO FORM A PROPER LINE!”
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He didn’t know how many hours it had been of constant enchanting, with the sheer mass of people making him have to re-evaluate how he’d planned on doing it. Originally, he’d been expecting to talk potential enchantments over with each person, trying to collectively decide what would help them the most, but with it stretching into the distance with no end in sight he had to modify it for the sake of having the slightest hope of getting everything done.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Instead, he mentally planned general enchantments that would be useful for the people coming his way with all armours getting a collection of his resistances attached to them, as well as various defensive skills mixed in as well, some of them found within his own status.
Aside from that, he made sure to shake hands or equivalent appendages with all who’d come to him, not just to see if they had any skills worth making rings from, but also to get a feel for what they had before he enchanted their weapons, not wanting to add anything that could weaken their growth rates in such a pressing time, meaning that those were the areas he needed to get at least a little creative as he mentally prepared a general set and adjusted it before laying it down to match what the user would need.
Since everything was going to the tools of common soldiers, that also meant almost none of them were built with mana crystals or mythril, leaving everything just a little weaker than it could have been to match the users need to supply it themselves, yet not taking so much mana as to put them in a precarious spot if an emergency came up.
It felt like he was walking a tightrope trying to make everything perfect, knowing that there’d be cases where how he chose to balance things would be the difference between life and death, but despite all of that he still worked quickly. The thirty-two minds in his head were devoted to the task, all of them working simultaneously to put the enchantments down so he could move on to the next person, and then the one after and so on in an unending stream.
And for all of his work, he only asked for a single thing. A prayer for Myriad, just one, both to make his god happy and because there was nothing else he wanted to take. Even that request was really an afterthought too. He was doing this because he could, it was his little bit of charity to the world that had given him a second chance at life, regardless of how things had turned out after.
It was only as he started what felt like his untold hundredth enchantment that he stopped, the feeling of something cold pressed against his cheek breaking his focus as he jumped back, finding Iberu holding out a bottle with a smile on his face.
“I have to say, when I agreed to let you do this I wasn’t expecting it to turn out like this,” He laughed. “Not that I’m complaining. I appreciate the work so drink up.”
“Oh, thanks. What is it?” Ben asked as he took the bottle, giving it a smell and finding it to not be the most appetizing thing he could put to his nose.
“Mana regeneration potion, the best I could get my hands on. If you’re going to be doing all of this then I don’t want you falling into mana exhaustion.”
“Oh sweet, in that case down the hatch.”
He chugged it back, finding the flavour was at best medical but put up with it. If his mana could regenerate faster for a few hours after drinking it then he could work faster, meaning he could get even more done.
“Ha, and since it seems like this might keep up if nobody puts an end to it I’ve sent someone to the far back of the line to keep more from joining today. Do you think you’ll be doing more tomorrow or has all of this scared you off?”
“I’ll be doing it for another five or six days, don’t worry. I’m going to get everything I can done.”
“Falk really does have an excellent apprentice. Alright, in that case, I’ll make sure to send somebody a couple hours earlier than this each day to put an end to the line though. As things stand, I don’t think you’ll be finishing till the middle of the night.”
“Yeah, that’s what I get for not actually planning things through. It’s fine, it will be fine.”
“Ha, I’ll have more potions sent as well. Having said that, do you mind if I ask one more favour of you when you’re already doing so much?”
“Uh, well you can at least ask.”
“I’m not going to pretend it’s not a lot, but I was hoping that when you finish up these enchantments you might make some job crystals. Given the amount of experience we can expect to be going around in the next month we’re going to want people to be able to change theirs as fast as possible, but there was never going to be enough considering they need to be made by people with connections to gods. And since you’re conveniently here…”
“I got you, I’ll do it. How many are you thinking?”
“I have a hundred crystals ready to be enchanted.”
Woo boy, okay, that combined with all of my enchanting combined with summoning spell research combined with still making time for Thera when she’s done helping Lux each day and also going into the archive for an hour each night to see if meditating for days in my exhausted state will push me over the edge. Definitely going to be burning the candle at both ends.
I’m pretty sure I can manage about three hours a night. I will need some wake-up calls though.
As his god droned on about how he needed to take care of himself he focused back on Iberu.
“Alright, I’m your enchanter. If you keep me supplied with potions then I can multitask and work on the crystals while I’m doing all of these enchantments too so if you can get your hands on even more I’ll make as many as I can. Worst to worst you can send any extras off to other invasion points, right?”
Hearing that, the troll couldn’t keep the warm look from his face. “If you’re willing to do so much then I won’t decline. Thank you Ben, it’s nice to see someone working so hard for the world.”
“Eh, I’m just doing the bit I can. Don’t worry about it.”