Attempt five… failed. Dang, let’s crack it open I guess and see if it’s at least obvious.

Sitting at a table in the shop, Ben was examining a side project of his. Nothing significant, just something to try and help him with some mechanical aspects of his designs for Inux. He was attempting to make a watch.

It wasn’t an easy task by any stretch, not least because he didn’t even really know how they were supposed to be put together. Thanks to his knowledge skill and unnatural mind, he was able to recall the few times he’d seen examples of their inner workings back on Earth, and combined with the knowledge he’d gained through his constant study and any relevant bits he’d learned from Quilith he was doing his best to combine it all into a functioning whole, even if his attempts had been met with failure so far.

Given how small a timepiece was, he was making each one the quickest way he could, figuring out the structure and composition in his head before spending a bit of mana to materialize it, with each end product being small enough that he still had plenty left in his reserve, but after creating them each in such a way he had no choice but to manually disassemble them in an attempt to see just what went wrong.

Everything looks like it should work, what could it be? Did I mess up somewhere when I was redesigning it to fit the longer days I work under here? Should I have tried to make one for Earth time first before I started trying to adapt what I remembered?

…Probably. Oh well, too far in to quit now. Maybe if I shrink that and add another small gear…

There was always the option of asking the grey for help during his next lesson but he had no desire to do that. Part of learning and growing for him was figuring things out for himself when possible. If he believed he couldn’t then he’d take any helping hand but with that project he felt too close to give into such thoughts and with a renewed determination he created his sixth attempt, feeling his heart pound as its second hand ticked.

“Success!” He cheered, throwing his hands in the air.

It wasn’t perfect. Just comparing against his internal timekeeping, it was not-so-subtly off in a way that would have it an hour behind in just a few days, but that was a minor issue he could work on in the future after a bit more testing and refining. He was undeniably on the right track, for whatever small bit of help it would give him.

And with that, it would be about time to go.

With that little bit of fun done he left the shop after getting the few things he needed. A couple of books and a variety of circlets of copper and mythril, not needing much to power the enchantments that would be on them, unlike the bands on his arm where enchantments were constantly being made and destroyed.

While they’d had a variety of fixed magical effects on them before Thera’s charm had been dealt with, all in an effort to raise his resistance enhancement, it was now no longer a concern which once again left it as a skill he wanted to neglect. As handy as it was for the most part, he couldn’t help but think that making himself harder to heal was probably something to be avoided if he could help it, lest he ever end up injured without an awakened healer around.

Should probably try and come up with a solution to that too, one day. I’m probably pretty boned if I’m ever gutted with only a standard healer nearby. Oh well, that’s a later problem.

With everything he needed in hand, he hopped on his bike and raced back home where a small crowd had already gathered, all standing around the cart to head off for their destination at warrior’s tower with Thera, Sonya, and Sachel’s party ready and waiting to go.

While he had his mini-gate stored away at the shop, they weren’t going to be using it for that particular outing, as much as he was sure he’d regret that choice. Even though Sachel was aware he’d made it given how he’d wanted to show off after his success, they were keeping the other end in the home of a nation’s queen. It wouldn’t be good if anyone got the idea that it would be fine to use to save some time, at least, it wouldn’t be good if it was anyone other than the people she’d expressly allowed.

It’s okay, I’ve dealt with plenty. I can manage hurtling through the sky at speeds where a crash would kill me before I even notice. This is fine.

…except there's nothing I can't notice with my thought speed skills and I'd definitely be forced to live out my final moments in slow motion. Hmm, going to try and not think about that.

Shockingly, his self-reassurance failed him in the end, so instead he focused on the distraction he’d be using during the trip. His would-be test subjects.

“Why’s he looking at us like that?” Skoe muttered after seeing the look in Ben’s eyes, one of his four arms getting hit by Ralia for the comment.

“Don’t acknowledge it. Just pretend you don’t see him and maybe he won’t do whatever he’s thinking.”

“No, I’m totally going to. Hi by the way, sorry I’m late.”

“No worries,” Thera told him, not bearing any mind to whatever he was about to put that party through when they were too trapped to escape. “We’re all ready to go if you are?”

“I’m good, let’s head out.”

He jumped in the back of the cart with Sachel’s party while Sonya took the front, the older woman able to get just as much joy from traveling like that as her niece did while the rest could only deal with it the best they could as they started to move.

“So…” Ben began, holding three circlets in his hand. “Who wants to help me test something?”

“No.”

“Please no.”

“Sure, what?” Sachel asked, acting as a beacon of faith towards him in a way the rest of her party didn’t.

Is this the bond that exists between members of the same faith? Her party doesn’t deserve her.

“New circlets. When I’m done with this meeting I received a request to help teach someone in a different god’s faith so these are just designed to speed up the process. Come on, it will be fine. And by ‘come on’ what I actually mean is ‘I’m providing you guys with strengthening potions so put them on already’.”

That got the other two in line, with both Skoe and Ralia at least taking them, even if they still regarded them with suspicion. The extra three points to all stats they were getting thanks to him really was big enough that it made it hard to turn down a request, even if they really wanted to.

“So what do they do then?” Ralia asked, at least wanting a solid answer before she wore it.

“If I made the enchantment correctly, it should split your mind to give you a second one while at the same time boosting your reading speed and ability to retain information. At least that’s the hope, but I actually need to test them before I get there to be sure so on with it.”

It was an enchantment made with both unnatural mind and knowledge after Ben had a certain epiphany. Had there ever been someone with both an awakened enchanting and the knowledge skill before? From what he could tell, the answer seemed to be a firm no, meaning there was lots of room to put that particular combination to work, he just needed to see if he could make it happen.

He saw a few faces scrunch up when they heard their minds would split but obediently put them on from there and he reached into his bag to pull out a book each, with Sachel getting a book on the more complex plant spells he had found during his reading in the library, making her eyes light up in excitement, while the other two got something more generic since he didn’t know enough about their interests to care when all he needed to see was how well they’d learn, and to do that he reached out and connected to them, experiencing each of their minds to see how well the information was absorbed and retained, along with finding a terrible little idea in one of their thoughts as Skoe leaned back, trying to let the circlet fall from his head, off the edge of the flying cart.

Can’t have that.

The moment it slipped, Ben reached out with his magic to catch it and push it down firmly onto the man's skull, giving him a silent look as he did while the other knew he’d been caught and meekly went to his assigned reading.

Good.

With nothing but time from there, he examined both their minds and their memories while they read, looking at how well they absorbed the information and comparing it against how well they seemed to learn in the past, with results seeming promising.

They aren’t retaining it with perfect accuracy the same way a proper holder of the skill would, but it looks like they’re properly taking in the important concepts. It’s possible they’d even be able to completely memorize some passages given either a few rereads or tweaks to the enchantment itself. Maybe lowering the speed reading aspect could help them take in more? Or better yet, split their minds a couple more times. I’m sure they’d each be able to handle five without any problems… Well, they should all be finished with their first books soon enough and I can make my modifications from there. After all, it’s a long ride.

With those thoughts and more ideas forming in his head on how to improve the design, two of his test subjects couldn’t escape the small shiver running down their spines as their journey went on.