As Ben sat in the living room late at night, staring at his jacket with intense eyes, Myriad spoke up in his head.

<Bad news for you, unfortunately.>

“Oh yeah?”

<The amount of work you’re going to be sent is going to drop significantly after next week. Given the quality and speed that your teacher’s factory is going to be spitting out once it's up and running then that’s going to be the priority. We’ll still be sending you work, but it will be the equivalent of what you’d currently be doing in a day or two.>

“Oh sweet, sounds good to me.”

<Sweet? I’d been expecting you’d be a bit more disappointed.>

“Why? I’m already filthy rich so I don’t need the money, and while I am doing the best I can for every single piece I create I’ve been having to go fast to get it all out too. This means I’ll be able to focus more on quality than quantity for a bit. I’ve been doing all this for the sake of the planet but there’s definitely a ton I’d rather be focusing on instead.”

<Alright, fair enough. So what has you so distracted then Ben? And up so late I might add, I was expecting to have this conversation with you up here but given you show no signs of getting any rest…>

“I’m up because I have a question on my mind, buddy. Let’s talk the ship of Theseus.”

<You want to make a boat? I’m not even surprised at this point, although I would advise against it. While seaworthy vessels exist on this world to a minor extent and on plenty of lost worlds in the past, the oceans of this planet can be just as wild as any of the untamed lands that cover the continents. Which I shouldn’t need to remind you about, I’m assuming you remember your past encounter with the leviathans?>

“I do and that’s not what I’m on about. It’s a matter of philosophy from my old world that goes something like this. Imagine you have a boat and you replace a plank on it. Is it still the same boat?”

<Obviously and I’m immediately questioning the depth of your people’s philosophers if questions like that gave them any struggle.>

“Okay, well first of all, screw you. Second though, there’s more to it so just follow me for a bit. In that case, if you replace a second plank, is it still the same?”

<Yes, but I suppose I see where this is going. The question becomes how much can be replaced for it to still be called the same boat I take it?>

“Exactly, with a bit more from there as well. For example, what if you take all the discarded pieces and re-assemble them into a boat again? Does it hold a greater claim to the title of being the original boat by virtue of being made from all of the original parts or does the methods of repair and assembly change things? What do you think?”

<I think I don’t like the way you’re staring at my church while we’re talking about this.>

“Ah, my sweet Myriad, you’ve hit the nail on the head though! ‘Cause you see, while there’s really no straight answer on my old world, here there kind of is, at least in this case. Stuff on Earth may lack any sort of immeasurable qualia, but here we have your church filled with your essence! There’s no way you guys up there couldn’t tell me how much I could change it while leaving it in a form that would still qualify as your church, or how much I could take away in the process either. Along with the little minor detail of if the stuff I take away is going to have any interesting uses either.”

<Okay, well starting with your last point it’s not so curb your greed a little->

“Lame.”

<In cases where material is pulled away like that, you’ll find it frequently being made into charms or statues, either to decorate the building itself or for the believers who come to give their faith.> Myriad went on, ignoring his apostle’s complaints. <As for how much it can be changed… Expanding never causes issues, but that obviously isn’t what you’re thinking, is it?>A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“No, of course not.”

<Of course not.> The god sighed. <So outline your idea for me and I’ll tell you how viable it's going to be.>

“Okay, so as you know, the advertised defensive properties of the coat suck-”

<That’s literally just a matter of faith and time, it’s not my fault it hasn’t had a chance to improve.>

“Which is fair enough I guess and it’s not just you either. The enchantments I have on it are good, outrageously fantastic even, but once they go against an awakened skill holder with an ultra-rare weapon I end up pretty hurt-”

<Which again, is not something you should just casually be encountering in your day-to-day life.>

“And I agree completely, but seeing as how that seems to come up every now and then I’d much rather be ready when I don’t need to and worry about having overprepared later. Now, as for the changes, I know I can remake the enchantments without issue so it comes down to how much I can alter the physical coat itself. I’ve patched it plenty before and it's been fine but that's all been minor modifications in the grand scheme of things. Ideally, I’d want to replace the entire thing but since the point is kind of to reap whatever benefits it gets from being a church I can’t do that, so that leaves me hoping I’d be able to replace either the outer leather or inner lining.”

Myriad was quiet for a moment, thinking it over before giving his answer.

<You’d be able to replace its lining without anything to worry about. It’s a little hard to explain, but if you let it settle for about a year after that you should be able to do something with the leather then, though I’ll need to guide you a bit in that time.>

“Really? In that case, that’s better than I’d hoped for so this is perfect. In that case, let’s get started.”

Paying no attention to how late it was, Ben went to the shop to start his newest project, laying his coat down as he envisioned exactly what he wanted to do.

Since the inner lining was the part that he’d be able to replace, that was the bit that would be getting his main focus as he broke down the various enchantments covering the total of the thing before removing that bit, casting it to the side.

While he’d reclaim the mythril it was made with later, he wanted something more complex for it compared to what had originally been there as he went through his already present materials, grabbing not only more mythril but also others that could be used to give power to enchantments, the rainbow mana crystal and moribusial that went into so much that he made for all of the other things he’d create thanks to the power they could provide, as well as a few other metals to make the end product strong but flexible.

After taking all of the time he needed to, painstakingly constructing a mass of wire with the properties he desired, it was time for him to move on to the next part of the lining.

Like with the original, it wasn’t just going to be made of wire. It needed to be comfortable to wear after all, meaning he needed some threads to go with it, but he wanted a far higher quality than the stuff he’d already picked, with an option already available and waiting in his shop.

He was still receiving wood from the dryads in exchange for the potions and other goods he was sending out and as one of the best enchanting materials on the planet, it made it the perfect choice to work with as he first used his magic to help separate the fibers before breaking them down just enough to make them softer and more flexible, easier to work for his purposes as he further treated them until it reached the point they’d feel comfortable against his skin.

It was only once that part was finished that he bound the wire to the threads and started enchanting up the individual strands before bringing them together, creating a newer, stronger lining that would have more power for the enchantments he was placing down, keeping the heating and cooling ones but adding to them so that the defensive enchantments wouldn’t only be on the outside of the coat, creating a second layer of safety for him to work with as everything was strengthened to its maximum potential.

It was only once that was done that he added the new lining to the original coat, but continued on from there. After all, just because he couldn’t replace the leather didn’t mean he couldn’t enhance it, so with that goal in his mind he moved on to his next task, turning a small chunk of orichalcum into a fine powder and impregnating the leather with it to help increase its overall defensive properties, only to build upon them further with the outer layer of enchantments placed on top using everything he’d learned since he’d last modified them.

It was with that he was finally done, the task having taken up the whole of his attention span as notifications filled his head.

<UNENDING CRAFTING LEVEL INCREASED>

<DIVINE ENCHANTING LEVEL INCREASED>

As exciting as those were to finally get though, they weren’t near as much as he’d felt given what his eyes were telling him. If anything, it just made the fact he’d gotten those levels feel obvious as his limited analysis showed in an item in the middle rank of legendary, telling him that he’d yet again broken through another barrier.