When Ben arrived to see his students for the day he decided to start off strong, if only to make them all more agreeable for when he planned on forcing them to befriend Insia. All it was going to take was beating them down a little first.

“Guys, I’m honestly so proud of all of you,” He told them, really putting his heart into it. “Nati and Xilly, we may have gotten off on the wrong foot but through constant effort you’ve both taken in more than I’d expected to teach, even getting all the way to the sixth level of connect! To raise the skill so high in such a short amount of time, it brings a tear to my eye. And then there’s Zallith, who’s adapted well to what he was always meant to be, becoming one of the best footstools the world has ever seen.”

“I'm not-”

His words were cut off with a sharp kick while his two students just looked tired. Even if it had only been days, it had felt like Ben had been pushing them beyond their limits for months by that point while he made them suffer under his unnatural thought speed, but they could see a light at the end of the tunnel finally approaching. They’d finish up that day and the next before finally being free, or so they thought until Ben continued.

“Now, obviously I’m going to do my best to get you guys up to the seventh level by the time I leave tomorrow, it would be a shame not to but it would be an even greater shame to stop there, don’t you think?”

“Um, what do you mean?” Nati asked, her blood running cold at what he was implying.

“Exactly what I said. You guys have made so much progress, why leave it at that? I really believe that with enough time I’d be able to help you awaken connect and I’m basically just a gate away, so considering how much closer we’ve all grown and how good it would be for the world as a whole, I’ve decided. I’m talking to Nare later, I’m going to come back three or four times a week to keep training you all. Now, I’m not sure how long it will take to get you guys there but don’t worry, one way or another I’ll make sure to push you both over that edge by the beginning of the next wave, no matter what it takes.”

Xilly fell to her knees and Zallith let out a low whimper, with Nati wearing a look of despair. None of them really doubted that Nare would agree if Ben put out that offer, it was just a question of if any of them would still be sane by the end of all that. What he’d already put them through had been beyond mentally taxing, the only thing they’d been holding onto was the fact that they were so close to their freedom. Losing that would all but break their minds.

While Ben was a little offended to see the reactions, they were essentially what he’d been hoping for, even if they fell on the extreme end of things, and from there he offered them the potential out they all so desperately wanted.

“Of course, if you guys had some sort of good reason you couldn't do it, I suppose I’d just have to be satisfied with wherever you end at tomorrow and hope you all manage to keep practicing by yourselves.”

“If we keep going then I’m going to have a full-on mental breakdown,” Xilly offered, hoping for mercy but getting none.

“Not a good reason, your mind can probably be reconstructed if need be. Next.”

“I have priestly duties and I don’t even have connect to learn from you so I should probably be excused,” Zallith tried, getting betrayed looks from the other two as he did his best to abandon them.

“Then who am I going to practice things with for my own training? And more importantly, where would I kick up my feet? Denied, next.”

It was Nati who seemed to pick up where this was going, cutting to the heart of things.

“What can we do to get out of this then?”

“An excellent question Nati! How does it feel being the clever one in your group? Don’t answer that, it doesn’t matter. Maybe you guys could get out of more lessons if you could show that you’re actually capable of being good friends to others.”

“Please stop beating around the bush and just tell us what you want us to do,” Xilly muttered, still imagining the worst.

“Fine. Tomorrow you three will be meeting a young fairy. You will do your best to form a real, genuine friendship with the girl while also being good influences. That means doing the sort of things that are expected of good people, like showing basic courtesy and helping others when they’re in need. You will continue to be friends with her after I’m gone, I will be checking on this, and if I find you lacking in any way you will all live to regret it. I’m talking spending a straight week of real time in my head as just a start. Oh, I guess that’s only if you live though. This is Thera’s friend so if you hurt her, well… Let’s just say she already wouldn’t be too bothered about anything that happens to you all, understand?”

He got swift nods and he checked their minds to be sure they weren’t thinking anything nefarious or considering ways to get out of it once he was gone, finding none of them were and leaving him satisfied.

Another job well done. Now that that’s sorted, the rest of the day should go pretty well. He happily thought to himself, right as a servant ran into the room.

“Miss Nati, you have to evacuate!” They screamed, shocking everyone as Nati held up a hand, urging her to calm down.

“What’s happening?”

“The volcano, it’s erupting!”

Motherfucker.

As soon as he heard it, Ben was running through the tarp that was covering the missing wall, seeing the volcano in the distance with a jet of fire bursting up into the sky. Even worse than seeing it was what he felt though. The effects of bind, telling him Thera was over there.

“Myriad! I need you to find out how much danger Thera is in right now!”

<None. Despite how it looks, that isn’t an eruption and it should be calming down any second.>

“What? Then what the hell’s happening there?”

<You can get the details from her later since there’s currently an entire city to try to keep from panicking but the long and short of it is she tried to murder the great fire spirit. It looks like they managed to resolve things semi-peacefully though.>

“...Okay, whatever. If you say it’s fine I’m trusting you, but if I end up drowning in lava later I’m going die mad.”

He didn’t get an answer, presumably his god was off to help Nare try and calm things down so Ben tore his eyes away from the distant peak, the fire that was erupting from it now gone which was enough to get him to focus on his panicked students that were about to rush to the gate.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Good news everyone, everything is actually fine, nothing is erupting so we can continue on with our regularly planned lessons!”

“Uh, I think we should still leave, just to be safe,” Nati tried, believing him but still wanting an out from however long they’d have to learn that day.

“Nope, now take your seats or I really will come back to make up for lost time.”

That threat was enough and the three sadly made their way back to him, all of them holding a small hope in their hearts that the mountain really would explode.

<INTELLIGENCE ENHANCEMENT LEVEL INCREASED>

“Hmm, a bit slower than the way I was leveling my thought speed skills but probably comparable to the way I’ve leveled lesser inspiration. I guess this is going to be another skill that benefits from the way I think,” Ben mused to himself as he kept up his usual practice, letting out a long yawn while his students were suffering under the effects of his mind.

He was really pushing them too. While he’d said that he wanted them at the seventh level by the time he was leaving, he was really hoping he could squeeze the eighth out of them just to see if he could. Getting them so far in just a week had already managed to stroke his imagination about just what else he could manage.

With my awakener title and the shape of my mind I might actually be able to make them awaken connect rather easily so even if I don’t make these guys deal with me for a few more months I really should pop by again once or twice, just to see if I can push them over the edge. Plus there’s all of the rest of Myriad’s believers. Here I am, training up these two who don’t even worship the guy, I really should hold a day in Anailia or something where I do my best to forcibly raise everyone a couple levels.

<Please don’t.> His god begged. <I’d rather you not put anyone who worships me through this.>

Please, I would only do it to anyone that wanted to, plus I wouldn’t hold them if they wanted to leave. All it would be is a training session.

<Mmh, well I guess if that’s all…>

It's just an idea for now so don’t go spreading the word yet anyway. In the meantime, I take it since you’re talking that things are good now?

<For the most part, though Nare still has a fair bit of work. He told me to tell you that since he kept word from getting out that your girlfriend was partially responsible for causing a mass panic, you two are square for helping him improve things with Nati.>

You know what? That’s probably fair.

<Speaking of, look who’s here.>

Hmm?

“Hey,” Spoke Thera, coming in through the hole in the wall instead of the door, with her father behind her. “How are… things?”

Her eyes were drawn to the three with him, all sitting in an empty daze in a way that couldn’t help but create a worrying impression, even if she decided to brush past it.

“Probably better than you. I hear you had an interesting day?”

“You already know everything?”

“Just that you met your uncle. Fill me in?”

She was quick in giving him the details, mostly focusing on the discovery of her relationship with Insia and glossing over the murderous rage she’d flown into, not knowing that Ben was at least partially aware of that bit already, before getting to the heart of why she found him.

“-So anyway, I was really, really hoping you could do me a favour and make more personal gates, just so she can see the rest of the family without my ass of an uncle worrying and maybe for popping down here too if you got those three in line?”

“Oh, they’re super in line, don’t worry. And of course, give me just a minute. I guess this is why you brought your dad down? Hey, by the way, long time no see Abrus. Ready to make me a buttload of materials?”

“Ha, I’m well practiced after spending so much time helping your teacher. Just let me know how much of everything you need.”

“Oh, it probably won’t be that much. I’ve learned some tricks since I last made one and Insia isn’t that big, we’re going to see how small I can make this. But first gotta handle this lot.”

He dropped the three from his mental prison, letting them come back to reality to find the two unexpected guests there, making them jump at the sudden sight of Thera that she and Ben both ignored, instead focusing on the new task at hand.

“Hey, just so you guys know I’m going to be raiding your storage room for materials. You don’t actually get a choice in this but on the plus side you all get a bit of a break to see what I’m going to be making so make sure you enjoy it and learn what you can because this is going to be a demonstration of me putting everything I’ve tried to teach you into practice.”

The fact that he was practically robbing them didn’t even touch their thoughts as he went to rummage through their supplies, each was too happy to be freed from his mind, even if it just meant a lesson in the real world. After all, the longer that took, the less time there was to drag them into his head.

With all of that out of the way he got to work, grinding up the materials that he’d taken to act as enhancers while at the same time heating up the forge to the side, enjoying the feeling of properly working, as well as getting to take advantage of the space as a whole. When he’d first seen the room he’d thought it looked fun and he’d been right, it had everything he could want in a workshop and as the home of the granddaughter of a crafting god, the place was well supplied with any tool or material he could have hoped to get his hands on.

It was as he was preparing all of that that he mentally worked on the enchantment, trying to determine just how small he could go. With the enchanting modifier discovered, there was no doubt that he was going to be shrinking it considerably, but as annoying as it was to admit, he felt something else helping him too.

Alien thought structure, the skill that had practically been forced on his mind was showing its effect, allowing him to approach the problem in ways he normally wouldn’t and letting him cut away some of the enchantment’s total mass. It wasn’t as significant as the enchanting modifier, but it was undoubtedly there, doing its bit to let him improve further.

But there’s still no way in hell I’m going to be thankful about it. Stupid freaking Galwax messing with my brain. So freaking glad he’s dead.

He restricted his grumblings to a single mind as he began the construction, carefully blending the alchemic enhancers into the magic materials and other elements Abrus had produced at his request, innately knowing he’d gotten the ratios correct as he carefully shaped everything, both with a hammer as well as his magic.

Even though he was going to be making four of them, four doorways for two paths, it really wasn’t going to take too long to complete, if only for two simple reasons. Compared to the first personal gate he’d made, he now was confident in how to create them, and more importantly, all of them would be small, with each doorway being a circle of only a foot in diameter.

He wasn’t watching to see if his students were looking like he’d said to or not, if they weren’t then it was their loss and he began laying down his enchantments once the structure itself was finished, creating his complex blend of weaves and ring, filling all of it with power and only strengthening it further thanks to the modifier until he ended with exactly what he’d been expecting to make, having four new holes in space.

“Hmm, but only lower legendary still. I guess the benefits the modifier has on raising item rank must fall off a bit once you start hitting legendary. Shame, I feel like if I could have squeezed out a middle one then I might have gotten another enchanting level.”

It was as he spoke those absentminded words that he finally turned to look at his students, enjoying what he saw. Shock and disbelief from all three. Word that personal gates were even possible had yet to spread to the world, what they’d seen seemed like they should have been impossible by all accounts and none of them were able to hide it, leaving Ben just a little smug.

Bet you jerks regret wasting your first week with me a bit more now, huh?

“Well, now that that’s done, I guess we better get back to it,” He said positively, breaking them from their thoughts with a clap of his hands. “We still have hours to kill so back into my mind you all go and maybe we’ll get you guys a little closer to managing this all yourselves as well.”

Well, not this unless they also plan on getting some awakened mind skills, but I think with the modifier I could throw together an enchantment that they could do that would only be a little bigger than the first one I made. Hmm, maybe I’ll leave them plans for that as a parting gift-slash-final project? Yeah, why not? I really am the best teacher, aren’t I? Of course, this means I’ll need to push them even harder for the last bit of time but oh well, they’re troopers.

His good mood was only matched by his students' fears, almost sensing what they were about to go through as he crammed as much knowledge into them as he could for the rest of the day, leaving Abrus and Thera to go set up his newest creations.