In the days that followed, word spread fast as the gate network drastically expanded with each hour as he added more, with common people from other gate cities understanding what was happening through their own mixups.

When a new gate was added to the network, the ones already within it would shift, making room for the new one as many of them had a change in neighbours depending on where they ended up, creating plenty of room for misunderstandings.

There were many people in the world who might live in one city and go to work in another depending on what they’d do, or employees of one government rushing through multiple to contact others around the world, and if any of them went to the spot they typically would, they’d find themselves in the wrong one due to the shift.

Some would think it was just a simple mistake on their part, but more than a few were able to see the truth of it and feel the joy that accompanied such a fact. The gate network was expanding, meaning a person with the necessary skills to do all that needed to be done to make such a thing possible had been born.

It was a thing to be celebrated, and any that understood that would make a mental note to try and be more aware of how it would change in the coming months, only to be faced with the sheer rapidness it was growing at immediately.

Either after coming back from whatever business they’d have, be it hours or days later, many found that their gates hadn’t been moved one or two spots, but dozens, all in a span that felt impossible against just how complex a gate was. If they could be created so quickly and easily then there wouldn’t be centuries between their construction, nor would there be cities across the globe with unenchanted gates, waiting for their chance to grow and join the world like that, all of which pointed to one thing as far as many were concerned. The birth of a monster, who after a few short days of work had permanently altered the shape of the world.

Ben for his part, not knowing or caring how his work was being perceived, had more important things to focus on as he sat up in Myriad’s realm with the gods he was acquainted with, wanting to get a different idea explored rather than waste time on something he’d already finished with.

“So here’s what I’m thinking,” He began. “With the destruction of craftsman’s tower, there’s plenty of enchanters that are out of work. Nare, how many competent ones are you aware of and of them, how many would be willing to move for a job? Also, since I’m not exactly the administrative type I’d need someone who could be in charge of everything. Oh, and I’m going to need there to be ones for every affinity of magic, plus a couple with non-affinity options. Right, and I think we should be aiming for people that are sixth level in both skills, but I’d go down to five if you think it would work.”

“Well, I can think of a couple who would fit the bill and I can ask a few other crafting gods if they have anyone who could use the work, but first, why?”

Unlike Myriad and Helori, Nare still didn’t have much practice dealing with the complexity of Ben’s mind, and given the change to it, it had become essentially unreadable to him, even without the effects of king of sacrilege taking place. While the two other gods had an additional benefit in that they could have Ben think in some of the languages of their homeworlds to make it easier to find what they wanted to hear, he lacked that benefit as well, meaning he had no clue what the apostle was going for with the request.

“The summoning spell. You know I’m trying to brute force it, but I don’t have thousands of hours to spend on learning the subtleties of it, so I want to break down and use my greatest power of all. Money. If I can get others to handle the testing and record the results, I can just go over them later, plus I’ll have a team to bounce ideas off of.”

“Except you aren’t going to find anyone who can place their mana down as well as you can for it,” Helori pointed out. “You’re matching the size of the spell with your enchantments, but if someone else was to try, they'd need what? Sheets ten times the size, maybe more? It’s too much to expect from anyone.”

“I’ll still be handling that bit, I just need the rest of them to do the testing for the output. Of course, that means I’m going to need to build a pretty ridiculous facility in Stonewall to both house everything I’m building, as well as give them all a place to work, but that should be fine. Though given how much a cubic meter of diamond will weigh, I guess that also means I’ll need more earth mages to help move everything around while they work.”

It was going to be a lot, an outrageous amount really, but it would help him fly through testing each section of the summoning spell in a way he simply couldn’t by himself. If he was exceptionally lucky, he might even be able to get what would have been years of constant work down below a year, though he didn’t really expect things to go quite that well.

The only drawback is that there’s a very real chance that all of this will be for nothing, but this is the best idea I have so far and there’s always a chance I could use them for other work after.

As disappointing as it was, he couldn’t just hire people to help with his goals of building Inux a new body or learning the language hidden within the archive. The first required a level of technical skill that he didn’t think an unawakened craftsman could help with, and as for the second, he wasn’t going to leave a mythic item laying around like that.

But not having to worry quite as much about this is already a load off my mind so I’ll take it.

Nare was quiet as Ben thought, the god only speaking up after giving it some proper consideration. “It’s doable at least, but many I can think of would want to move their whole families. Nobody wants to be away from their loved ones in a time like this, but if we get you two dozen people working for you then that might be as many as sixty people moving to your town in total and they’d all need to be housed.”

“That’s doable. There’s a few empty ones in Stonewall but depending on where I build the… research center I guess? I might have to have other houses built closer to it too. Hmm, providing free rooms would probably help as a draw, right?”

“Likely. If you’re already paying well and they don’t need to worry about either buying or renting a place, that’s just more money for them, and greed is always a handy motivator.”

“Cool, in that case, I’ll trust your opinion on anyone you can find me, all that leaves is sorting out the setup. Hmm, I want it done fast so I know who I’m asking, but I really don’t think I’m ready to face him.”

“It will be fine Ben,” Myriad told him. “You’re going to have to see him eventually and we’ve already spoken about this. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Mmh, if you say so. Either way, Nare, if you could send anyone who seems interested to Stonewall, I’ll be back in a day and I’ll make sure to be all set up by the time anyone would arrive.”

“Alright, I’ll get on it.”

With that the god disappeared, leaving Ben with the remaining two as he let himself focus on all there was for him to plan.

After waking up, he and Thera ate quickly before leaving the ruins of craftsman’s tower for the last time. It had been a convenient place to stay as they each finished up all they had to do, with both of them already being comfortable there without needing to find new accommodations, along with a gate so close by, but neither would miss it as they left and headed to Anailia.

The city itself felt just a little calmer as they went through the streets, each one far quieter than the days leading up to the invasion or all that immediately followed, even if it might have been too much so, a reaction to all that happened as the people shut themselves away for what measure of peace they could get before it all happened again.

For Ben, he couldn’t help but long for a bit more hustle and bustle around, anything to distract him from his thoughts as they slowly made their way to Thera’s family home.

“It’s going to be fine,” She told him, taking his hand as she drove. “I know you’re worried, but I’ve already told you that nobody blames you Ben.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that a lot, but hearing it is very different from actually seeing someone with any reason to feel justifiably angry.”

He didn’t know how Abrus was going to react when they saw each other, but if Ben wanted to have any construction done and fast, then he’d need to ask the great spirit’s help.

And it’s not like I can avoid him forever when I’m dating his daughter. It will be fine, just relax.

He just kept telling himself that as they finally reached their destination, letting themselves in and wandering around the large building until they came across anyone.

A part of him couldn’t help but wish that he’d be out, that he could keep avoiding needing to actually meet Abrus, but he wasn’t given that bit of peace as he and Pelenia were the first people they found, with the latter almost tackling him in a hug.

“Mom, seriously, what the hell?”

“How can I help it, he just keeps making us richer and richer,” The queen laughed. “You have no idea how many places are trying to buy from your father to set up gates. So long as the world doesn’t go and end then in the next few years we’ll be in a very good spot on the international stage.”

Thera rolled her eyes as her mother moved to hug her as well, leaving him to be focused on by Abrus as the great spirit walked up to him, giving a friendly hug and acting no different than he ever had.

“It’s good seeing you well Ben,” He said positively. “You weren’t conscious when I found you last, but you looked rough.”

“Ah, well you know how it is, who doesn’t have their mind and body destroyed every now and then on this world?”

“The majority of people,” Thera chimed in. “You just attract a certain level of suffering. Anyway, are aunty and uncle still here?”

“They left for Stonewall a few days ago,” Pelenia said in disappointment. “It wouldn’t hurt them to stay longer you know, but both of them only ever talk about work and everything they need to do and I really don’t know when they became so boring. This is exactly why nothing interesting has happened yet.”

As they spoke, Ben felt something within him relax, just a little. Everything was so normal, nothing felt exceptionally off, nor was he picking up anything akin to blame or judgment going his way, letting a bit of tension leave him.

“So anyway,” Pelenia went on. “Since neither of you ever come to visit without a reason either, can I take it you’re here to buy something?”

“Ah, more like I’m interested in hiring Abrus for a bit,” He explained. “I need to have more than a few builds setup in Stonewall and I was hoping to do it as quickly as I could so I wanted to see if he’d come down in a couple days after I buy all of the property I’m going to need for it.”

“That’s doable,” He agreed. “How much do you need built? A house, maybe a church?”

“I’m looking at maybe a couple dozen houses, an area that can be used for some large-scale storage, and also what’s basically going to be a research center.”

The explanation got him shocked looks, neither of Thera’s parents expecting he’d be looking for anything near that scale as he went on.

“Oh, and I’m going to need as many of those diamond sheets I got you to set up before as possible. Like, multiple tens of thousands of them.”

“Alright, but I need to ask, what could all of this possibly be for?”

“If things go well, getting a few new neighbours on world and growing the planet's collective knowledge beyond anything the gods could dream of. If they don’t, then it’s for burning more money than I’d ever expected to have in the first place all at once. It’s going to be great.”

And if this fails then I just need to figure out another idea I can use. This will be fine.

At least that was what he told himself, but despite that, he couldn’t help but hope that things would just work out.