He finished the smaller projects he was working on through his clones and gathered them all together. While what he was thinking of making could have been accomplished through his true body alone, leaving the four to carry out different projects for the experience, the moment the idea popped into his head he knew he wanted it built and tested as fast as possible.
There were plenty of things he wanted to make in life, so many of them getting closer to within his grasp, with one in particular that he thought just might be possible with his current level of skill. Since the quick end of the first wave, he’d had the chance to learn so much more about magic and apply his knowledge to the things he’d made, with all of it leading up to now.
He was going to make a personal gate.
The ones that were part of the world's network were huge things, not just to let many people go through with ease, but also to support the massive enchantment that it needed to work, but thanks to his efforts the size of the magical component had already shrunk so much and would only shrink more. All of his time reading at the library hadn’t been for nothing, he could already see himself reducing the scale on a massive level as he went to the storage room to grab the various materials he would need, he and his clones filling their arms with dozens of them as metals were heated and various alchemic enhancers were prepared, grinding and extracting what he needed as he got to work.
He could feel his many hands, each moving expertly as different parts had whatever they needed to be blended with were perfectly managed while hammers clanged to prepare what materials he could before using his magic to aid in the more delicate aspects of the task, pushing it to blend what he needed to in order to ensure that every piece would be able to show its maximum function. Thanks to the homunculi he was able to inhabit, he was a workshop unto himself, a single man yet a full team working in harmony to bring a vision to creation as he was able to let his various concerns slip away while he got lost in his goal.
By the time the first piece was cool enough to touch, he stopped smithing with his main body to let it do the one thing the others couldn’t; use his mana. He was already connecting with his rings, grabbing hold of the enchantments on them to use as he saw fit while he freely blended and weaved all he could, making a thick tapestry of interlocking rings on each piece as it all strained against the magical load.
Strained, but didn’t break. He knew his limits, there was no need to gamble by trying to push any component farther than it needed to be. By the end, each would act as greater than the sum of its parts so long as he was correct in his construction.
Even with five bodies at his disposal, it wasn’t quick. Faster than it had any right to be, but by the time all of the enchantments were done a few hours had passed, leaving him with the final step, assembly.
With over a hundred parts of varying sizes, he picked up pieces in a constant stream of movement, connecting together what he could, fitting what he had to and spending just a bit of his mana to link a few places until it was finally complete. Before him stood what looked like two door frames, and with the final piece put in place for both, gates formed, creating a portal from one to the other.
“Well god damn, I finally made it when I wasn’t even trying.”
He wasn’t talking about any of his levels. As incredible as it felt to get them, his focus was on what he created, and more specifically, its ranking. In his eyes, clear as day, he could see it. He’d finally made something lower legendary.
He felt breathless at his achievement, getting lost in just looking at what he’d made. One of the biggest barriers for any craftsman and he’d finally crossed it by creating something the world had never had before; a personal gate.
It wasn’t attached to the network, but then, he didn’t want it to be. If it had been linked to it, that just meant anyone could come through, destroying the personal aspect of it. By having it tied to just one other gate, that meant that he and whoever was on the other side of it had full control of how it was used, and he already knew where it was going to go.
Anailia. If he couldn’t trust that it could be safely left there then there was nowhere he would be able to leave it. Having it there would mean it would be close enough to the gate network that they would be able to save hours of travel any time they used it with how often they ended up leaving Stonewall.
Of course, it’s not big enough for the cart but I doubt it would be an issue to have another made and left there if we need it. If I buy anything I could just carry it through by hand after the fact.
While he was thinking all this though, there was another reaction taking place, feeling like it was going on entirely in his head as watching gods made their thoughts known.
Nare asked, his excitement obvious.
His god laughed back.
Helori chimed in, sounding in disbelief.
“Well, I’m only able to shine this brightly because I have Myriad so I’m not leaving him,” He told them as he took his first step through the gate, skipping about a meter of floor to get out the other one. “If I never got connect I’d never be doing anything so you’d have to offer something pretty impressive to take me away.”
“Hey now, I don’t even know what I could be offered to leave you. Nobody could give me enough money and I can’t think of anything else I want that would motivate me. I’m still super sweet. In fact, I’m the sweetest.”
His comment was met with Nare’s laughter as he enjoyed everything he’d just taken in. It may have been the first one Ben had made, but his success was doubtlessly a sign of more legendary items to come, meaning the world now had two people capable of making them, with other crafting gods coming to see what the fuss was about and getting just as shocked, many of them cursing the fact they missed seeing the small gate’s construction themselves.
“As long as I can keep it up? Ha, who do you think I am? I’ve officially broken the barrier and gotten a buttload of levels with it, this is just the start of things so just you watch.”
Trying to make more legendary items wasn’t going to be his sole priority, not when he was still trying to think of any way he could help Thera, but if he was in the shop then he’d be doing his best and officially had no doubt it would happen again, the only question was when.