“My grandmother is never going to accept that,” Sachel instantly told him, even without knowing what his reason behind it was. “I’m sorry Ben, I can try to talk her into it if you have a good reason but even then I honestly can’t imagine I’d be able to convince her.”

“Well, we’ve just gotta try,” He shrugged. “So anyway, off we go.”

He’d already started walking but Sachel kept up at his side.

“Can you at least explain why you’d need that?”

“Hmm? Didn’t I already?”

“No.”

“...I’m trying to improve the effects of the strengthening potions I’ve created,” He admitted. “I’ve got a lot of ideas and theories on what might work but I’ve gotta put them to the test and since I’m already using some wood from your family’s groves to do it, that’s an area I can improve on too.”

“Oh, she’s really not going to like that.”

“If I can’t convince her then that’s life,” He sighed. “But I really do have to try. I understand her concerns about what’s going to happen to your people if your woods start being viewed as nothing but materials again but that’s really the sort of worries you get to have when the world isn’t ending. Right now though I need to chase down every avenue I can to improve our odds and this is one of them.”

The current strengthening potions he would make were derived from a recipe using the corpses of gods, something that existed in too small of a supply for anyone to really experiment with, but using the fruits of his possessed tree turned that into another matter entirely. There was no reason he couldn’t experiment with dozens or hundreds of recipes until he figured out something better, with the goal of increasing their potency by at least a few points, both for the world as well as himself.

Assuming the effects of defiler of ambrosia held true for his potions, the three points anyone else would get per bottle would mean six points for him and any increase he could manage would double as well. It was a temptation impossible to resist, even if his results left him with something only a single point better than what he could already create. Any extra would add up in the months to come, what mattered was getting every point of power he could in the time he had left and he continued to think on just what might get him there as they passed through the gate to a different city before Thera lifted the earth beneath their feet to get them out to that distant village for whatever negotiations would follow.

Ben took in the sight of the village after they landed, feeling his heart swell with pride at the most obvious change. It seemed his young apprentice-to-be had been busy, since unlike the last time he’d been there, he could already see a few new sheds standing by each house bearing the signs of her handiwork, telling him exactly how much effort she’d been putting in during her training.

Better say hi while I’m here too so I don’t hurt her feelings. I’ll stop by later after I’m done talking with Hentath.

That was his intent at least but it seemed he had little choice in the matter of how that would work out. It was only a few minutes after walking through the village that he heard his name being called and felt a small body throwing itself at his back while he laughed.

“Ben!” Delair cheered. “What are you doing here?”

“Ha, I had to come see your grandma… great grandma? Hentath. Don’t worry about it, how did you find me so quickly? You don’t have some tracking skill locked onto me, do you?”

“I saw you after finishing up my work,” She told him proudly. “Everyone in the village has been depending on me since I got back, I’ve been getting so many snacks each day too!”

“Fantastic, I’m glad to hear you’re keeping up with your practice. I was admiring a bit of your work while we walked by too, it all looks good.”

She beamed as he ruffled her hair, enjoying the chance to see how the girl had progressed in the time since they’d parted and only had it interrupted by a cough coming from the rest of the group.

“And I’m here too,” Sachel said, holding out her arms and waiting for a hug. “Your beloved cousin who you definitely love just as much as a person you only met a couple years ago. Now act like you’ve missed me already.”

“Hmm? It’s nice seeing you too Sachel, mom will want to see you while you’re here so make sure you say hi to her before you leave.”

Hugging her back, it was only a second before she’d slipped away to grab Ben’s arm to pull him along.

“Come on, you’ve gotta see all of my work since you’re here!”

“Yeah, sure, I have time.”

“Ben,” Ralia spoke up. “Weren’t you telling us before how you wanted to get this done as quick as possible?”

“I mean, yes but if my talks with Hentath don’t go well there’s a very real possibility she kicks us out of town so if I don’t look now I might not get the chance. It’s fine, it will be an hour, tops.”

He ignored both the look Thera gave him and the small smirk on her lips. Delair had been working hard, all he was doing was making sure to encourage such an enthusiastic student with just a bit of the time they had. If that meant setting themselves back by an hour then no matter how bad things may have been, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

“-And then most recently I carved this!” Delair showed him as they finished up looking at all of the things she’d made in the last little while by ending on a small statue of her mother, wonderfully carved as Ben looked it over.

“It’s excellent, you got all of the key details and proportions right. And if my eyes don’t deceive me, I do believe you did some of the shaping by using the destructive aspects of enchanting?”If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Yep!”

“Good kid, keep this up and you’re going to go far. I’ll make you a few new things before I leave too.”

“You’re the best!”

“Ha, of course I am.”

“Please don’t spoil her too much,” Fontesh called from the side where the rest of them talked, with Thera laughing before he could respond.

“He can’t resist. Look at him, he’s having as much fun as she is.”

“I am having fun and I’m not spoiling, don’t worry. All this is me supporting an enthusiastic student. Trust me, compared to having one that intentionally makes your life hell and leaves you to bleed out even when they have a healing magic, this is a whole heck of a lot better.”

“That felt oddly specific,” Skoe muttered while Ralia shushed him, not wanting to open whatever can of worms was buried there, with all of them being interrupted by one more guest arriving in the form of exactly who he’d been looking for, Hentath coming into the yard after seeing them.

“Mmh, so what are you here for this time?”

“Do I really only visit when I want things? And wouldn’t you like to take a few minutes to say hello to your dear granddaughter first? She’s still sore that Delair loves me more.”

“She does not.”

“She likes my cooking a hell of a lot more.”

“That’s not fair, I’m obviously not going to compare.”

“It’s lovely to see you, Sachel dear,” Hentath sighed. “It’s genuinely good to see you doing well and I’d love to chat a little when we’re done. Now are you actually just here to visit because if not, why are you here?”

“...Okay, fine,” Ben sighed. “There is something I’m here to discuss and you’re not going to like it but I promise I have a really really good reason for why I’m going to ask this and I’d really appreciate it if you’d at least hear me out.”

“Well, alright. I suppose you’ve done enough for the village that I can do you that much of a favour at least. Now let’s hear it.”

“Okay, so I was hoping to use one of the trees from your grove-”

“Absolutely not.”

“What happened to hearing me out?”

“We’ve been sending you some of our dead wood, is that not good enough?”

“For what I’m currently making, yes but I’m trying to go beyond that. The world isn’t in a good place right now, we all know that but I want to do everything in my power to change that, with one of my aims to make that happen being to try and improve my strengthening potions.”

“And why exactly would using one of our living trees be so much better than one of our dead ones?”

“Because on something alive, I’d be able to use this.”

He pulled a soul crystal out from his ring, the very crystal he’d gone back to Stonewall that morning to grab, holding not just some normal construct he’d created to access a little extra power but the imprisoned soul of a forbidden god, cutting to the very heart of what Ben was going to try.

While his current strengthening potions already made use of one possessed plant, it had more in it that would act as ingredients including the very wood he was currently trying to get, but he wanted to go beyond that. Throughout a process of testing and experimentation, he wanted to go through all of the ingredients he already used and those that he believed might have potential and enhance them all by touching them with the divine he had access to, harvesting what he could to see what would improve the overall formula.

There were some animal parts he would have wanted to enhance if he could too but that added a layer of unpredictability he wasn’t sure he was willing to try to handle. Plants were hardy, they could take the damage that would come with having large parts of them broken away, but animals were different. He didn’t know for sure what would happen to his trapped soul were to be in an animal when it died, nor how strong it would become before that happened from housing a god. It was too much of a headache overall for that, meaning he had to take what he could after having already made that one compromise.

Explaining that all to Hentath, with her and most everyone else only looking more and more horrified, didn’t seem to have the result he was looking for, with Ralia being the first to speak up.

“Why exactly do you have a god’s soul?”

“Because I've got so much gumption and spunk. Also it’s a long story, the other gods know and are fine with it, I wouldn’t worry.”

“This really feels like the sort of thing that should be worried about. And would cause a huge reaction if it got out.”

“What matters is that even if it does, nobody will believe you. Now Hentath, what do you say?”

“Absolutely not,” The elder said, only looking more firm. “Our groves aren’t some common plants, they may not be people but they have an intelligence to them that makes them worthy of dignity and respect. I understand where you’re coming from, I do, but if I can help it then you won’t get so much as a seed from me.”

A firm answer from the woman, putting up a strong front and making it clear she wouldn’t bend even if it meant fighting him, it left Ben with only one choice.

“Huu, okay, I understand,” He nodded. “If you’re so against it then I’ll stop trying.”

“Really?” She asked him, watching him with suspicious eyes.

“I'm disappointed but I like you guys. I like everyone I’ve met here. Given my only option is to either sneak in and steal from you or fight you all and just take it, I’m not going to do either. It’s fine, I’ll just keep using the wood I’ve already got and hope for the best with the experiments I’m already running. It will be fine.”

Even as he said it he couldn’t help but pinch his brow. The dryad wood was already an important ingredient for the potions, he was sure that if anything was going to make a difference then that would have, but other than trying to contact other dryad groups or negotiating with Jagal herself, there was nothing he could do.

With how hard it was to get that one village to like him he was sure he wasn’t going to have any luck if he tried the first and it seemed for the latter, the goddess still viewed him favourably enough that he didn’t want to risk sabotaging that relationship by attempting to go to her around the dryad’s back. It was annoying but he was stuck.

Seeing him back down so easily left Hentath feeling a bit bad but there was no helping it. On that ground, she wouldn’t back down, no matter what it was for. The dryads cared for their trees, they weren’t products of commerce no matter what the reason, even if it seemed like there were only the best intentions behind it. Even if it wasn’t a slippery slope, it was an avenue that could lead to greedy eyes seeking out their woods for their own profits, something she wasn’t willing to tolerate.

At an impasse, Ben was prepared to leave, only being stopped by Fontesh as she raised a hand.

“Ben, if all you need is wood from a species of our homeworld instead of any specific tree then I think I can make a suggestion.”

“Fontesh,” Hentath said in a warning voice, being waved off by her grandchild.

“It will be fine grandmother, not even you will have any issue with this. Come on.”

Eager to see any potential solution, Ben and the others followed her to the other side of the house, leaving him to instantly see exactly where she was going with that as he looked at a small bush that stood out more than anything else growing around it due to the absence of one particular thing.

“That plant doesn’t have a soul,” He muttered in curiosity, drawing the other dryads’ eyes as he said it.

“I don’t even know how to respond to hearing that,” Fontesh said as she gave him a look. “I guess that explains why it doesn’t respond beyond just growing under my magic. Anyway, you shouldn’t have any issue with this, should you grandmother?”

“Not even sure how I could. If it’s just this then it’s fine.”

“Seriously? Sweet, thank you so much! So what kind of weird plant is it? Do you have any around in the woods I can take advantage of or any seeds I can take?”

The question got a laugh from the elder, shaking her head while she looked at him. “Handle that yourself, that’s what grew from the seed you helped us materialize.”