A few days after returning from the Shark Leviathan job, Ben started a new project. The demon lacrima that he obtained from the black Shark Leviathan gave him an idea.
"That black Shark Leviathan wasn't a demon, so why was there a demon lacrima in it's body?" Mira asked, confused.
"Well, I don't know for certain, but I think that it ate a demon's corpse or the lacrima itself. If that was the case, it would explain it's mutation into a variant with more power than a normal Shark Leviathan. As you know, magic can be extracted from any creature that uses magic including human mages. So a normal shark obtaining magic by eating a demon corpse is possible." Ben stated.
"Hmm, that certainly is possible. The demon must've been quite powerful while it was alive because their magic power was turned into a lacrima crystal even after being eaten by the shark." Mira added.
"Maybe, but don't get your hopes up. We still don't know the requirement for a creature's magic power to become a lacrima crystal naturally. Even powerful magical creatures like dragons and gods didn't always create lacrima crystals. Whatever, this thing will come in handy." Ben said.
"What will you use it for? Turning someone into a Devil Slayer like you?" Mira asked.
"That is good too, but a small demon lacrima like this won't be enough to make a strong Devil Slayer. Even that Shark Leviathan only grew that much and can't use powerful spells." Ben pointed out.
"So what's your plan?" Mira asked him.
Ben grinned.
"I will upgrade this thing and turn it into a bigger and stronger demon lacrima." He said.
"Is that possible?" Mira asked.
"Of course, and it will also help with my big plan, the Anima plan. I planned to go to the Magic Library first before executing this plan but now things have changed because I obtained this lacrima. It gave me a good idea that will save us a lot of trouble and give us more benefits. I'll still go to the Magic Lacrima though because I need to find a way to dispel the magic on Tenrou Island. Anyway, let's start the big project right away." Ben said excitedly before leaving his office.
Ben planned everything over the last few days with A.I Chip's help. Now he just needed to execute his plan and start this project. The first thing he did was collect lacrima crystal balls that haven't been installed with any magic.
He collected the lacrima crystals from the guild's treasury and by purchasing them directly. He collected a lot of them until their number was close to 500. The other guild members were confused about what he'll do with so many lacrima crystals but they still help him collect them.
After he obtained the necessary amount of lacrima crystal balls, Ben began his work. He wrote runes and inserted them into the lacrima crystal balls. He created clones to help him do this in his personal workshop that he just set up in the guild's underground room.
The only person that might be able to help him at the moment is preoccupied trying to find out what spell was used on Tenrou Island. If Freed or Levy were here, they could certainly help him. It was fine as he was used to working alone since he was in Cait Shelter.
It took a week for Ben and his clones to finish their work. He passed the guild's responsibilities onto Macao so he could concentrate on this. But it still takes longer than he expected because he used some complex rune formations.
The preparation wasn't finished though. He still needed to modify the runes that he installed throughout the guild hall. The guild hall will be the center of the whole project, so it needs to be prepared thoroughly.
It only took a day for Ben to complete the modification. He could've finished faster if he didn't make too many additions. But those additions were necessary for his plan so he couldn't leave even one of them out.
"Preparation complete. Now, let's start for real." Ben said as he entered the underground room alone.
Ben went to another underground room, not far from the one containing Mavis' body. Mavis' room had a protection system that prevents magic power from leaking outside. It's not suitable for his plan that would increase the ethernano density in Magnolia.
So he modified this underground room next to Mavis' room for his plan. He built all the necessary equipment in this room since he came up with the Anima plan. Mavis' room wasn't that important to him, so he never entered it again after upgrading it's defense.
After checking to see everything is ready, Ben took out a small stamp. He pours his magic power into the stamp and starts to stamp the floor. The marks created by the stamp start to slowly release magic power.
Yes, these marks are Anima and the stamp is a tool to create the Anima. Ben's plan was to take magic power from a universe with abundant magic power. But he needed to be careful so he made the small Animas take a small amount of magic power.
This Anima stamp was made after very careful research by Ben and A.I Chip. The marks in the underground room won't move but the targeted locations in the targeted universe will constantly move to random spots. This way, the residents of that universe will have a hard time discovering the Anima's.
These Anima's also just absorbed a small amount of magic power at a time so the targeted universe's residents won't realize it right away. They will also spread all over the world so finding them will be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack.
However, even if each Anima only absorbed a small amount of magic power, the accumulated amount will be massive. Not to mention Ben can make thousands of these small Anima's in this underground room.
The magic power that he gathered after finishing all of the Anima's installation was quite satisfying. It still wasn't enough to make the entire town become dense with Ethernano. But at least this underground room is already full of Ethernano.
"This density is similar to a lacrima crystal mine. If things go well, we will even have a lacrima mine under our guild hall in a year or two. That's not our priority now, though. A.I Chip, when will we release the lacrima crystal balls?" Ben asked.
[With the current magic power absorption by the Anima's, I have calculated that we will have enough power for the lacrima balls to be released in 4 days. We need to raise the Ethernano density in the guild hall first before releasing the lacrima crystal balls.]
"Alright, 4 days isn't that long. Let's prepare that new thing we planned." Ben said as he left the room.
4 days later, Ben released the lacrima crystal balls as planned. The lacrima crystal balls hover on top of Fairy Tail before they spread all over the town. They spread randomly inside the town but the ones outside the town created a big circle that surrounded it.
These lacrima balls will control the Ethernano inside the town. The ones outside create a big dome that will prevent leakage. But all these lacrima will also function as defensive tools to protect Magnolia from magic attacks, preventing something like Acnologia's attack.
Then after the lacrima balls were released, Ben installed a small altar in the center of the Anima room. This altar is a magic item that he made to collect the excess magic power that the Anima's absorb even after spreading it all over the town.
On top of this altar is the demon lacrima that he found. He planned to increase it's power using the excess magic power. It won't be a fast process but at least the excess magic power won't be wasted.
Ben grinned as he watched the excess magic power flow into the demon lacrima. "I can't wait to make other types of magic lacrima."