With the new day came new lessons, as Jake and Thera’s split minds were put to work. Both of them were materializing and both of them were enchanting, with learning both the enchanting modifier he’d found within the archive as well as a few of the mana modifiers discovered within the two great spells he’d been studying being the priority for that day, but on top of it from there, he was now also getting them to learn to bestow, with one in particular feeling free with their complaints.

    “Ben, buddy, I know I asked for something different but I meant instead of enchanting, not on top of it!”

    “You’ll thank me when you get your level.”

    “I really won’t!”

    “Okay, you’ll thank me when I take you with me when I challenge craftsmans’ tower later.”

    “Wait, what? So you’re doing it in the end?”

    “Yeah, and luckily for you, you make it to the list of people it might make sense to bring along so since I’m going to be doing my best to get you another free level after this one, focus a bit before I make something that will make you.”

    That small bit of motivation actually managed to get him what he wanted, with Jake showing a renewed level of effort that Ben hoped would last at least the day.

    He meant it though, it made sense to bring him. At some point, he was going to have to talk with Nare to figure out just what would count as a crafting skill to figure out who would be best to take but given complete non-affinitied magic could enchant, bestow, and shape materials, he felt certain it would fit the bill.

    Of course, when it came to who else would benefit from it, he still wasn’t sure but that was a problem for the future. He still had a completely different tower to manage first and things to make before then, with the focus being on just what Amy would be getting by the end of that day.

    Among all of his bodies at work, three were busy creating weapons of all sorts while Amy stood nearby, giving them a few test swings or shots depending on what was made to be sure they felt okay, giving confirmation each time.

    “Okay, at this point it’s a little freaky how perfect you can make all of these feel,” She said as she held a sling in her hands. “How are you doing this?”

    “It’s called being a master craftsman, I’m just that good and since these all seem to be working it’s time to start handing off some of these to my real body.”

    More than that though, it gave a bit of a feeling of power that using a bow just couldn’t manage. There was no escaping her upbringing, a gun just felt inherently more dangerous, even if magic and augmentations and other skills helped to level the playing field. ????A?????O?ВE?s?

    But as she was left mulling over her thoughts, Ben prompted her to go for another shot, and another from there and so on and so forth, with her not understanding the point at first until she kept going, never once needing to stop and reload.

    He was already grinning by the time she stopped again, knowing that he’d surprised her but she still gave him what he wanted.

    “Okay, I’ll bite, how am I not running out of ammo?”

    “Materializers built into the gun itself and stored in some voidstone,” He explained happily. “A bullet gets spent and a new bullet takes its place. It’s actually an effect you’ll find on any of the other ranged weapons I’ve got in there, with bows that make their own arrows and slings that make their own shots too, plus some javelins and discs and other similar things that will be replaced when thrown, though those were both harder to make work. It basically materializes brand new ones each time you throw one, but if you do too many at once then the mana cost may need a minute to keep up.”

    All she could do was blink as he explained, looking at the new ring on her finger and then back to him. “I feel like I can’t actually begin to guess how rich you must be by now.”

    “Here’s a hint, all of the weapons in the ring are at least low legendary and the ring itself is high. I could probably buy a small country if I wanted to but what would I even do with something like that? Much better to hoard my wealth until something fun enough comes along.”

    “What could possibly come along that you can’t just make for yourself?”

    “Eh, assuming I don’t die a tragic demise I’m planning on bothering Zandale to get him to teach me each and every skill that he has that seems interesting and some ingredients are harder to come by than others which raises the price. Plus, I’ve got a few employees and if some of the research I’m having them doing ever needs a cash investment then I’m happy to pay it.”

    “And all of that sounds like a fraction of what it would take to buy a country.”

    “...Okay, and maybe I just like having it. I’m at a point where I couldn’t spend all of it if I tried; there’s not much to do but either keep it or start giving away my services for free and the latter sure as hell isn’t happening.”

    Still, he hadn’t considered it before but there was a very real chance he was the richest of the summoned on the planet by that point and regardless of how it may have sounded, considering how the positions had been reversed when they’d all arrived, he couldn’t help but enjoy that fact a bit.