The next day after the celebration, Ben trains in the cave again with Bella. Wendy is still absent because she still wants to play with Carla. Then after the training, Ben returns to the village and gets a surprise.
"A car?" - Ben is dumbfounded
What Ben sees in the village is a strange green four-wheeler. It looks like a car, but the front seat is open, while the back seat is covered. The design makes it look like a carriage without horses rather than a car.
(a.n: Like the one that Erza drove)
"This is a Magic Four-Wheel Vehicle, a type of transportation for Mages. It uses a mage's magic power as fuel to run." - Roubaul
"Where did you get this?" - Ben
"I told you my friends will help us. Did you want to try it?" - Roubaul
Ben nods and gets on the driver's seat. Roubaul explains the mechanism, and Ben listens carefully. He is not that impressed by the energy source, though. If a mage needs to use their MP for fuel, then wouldn't they run out of MP for battle?
'Hmm, maybe I will try to learn this thing's mechanism and modify it. Maybe I'll even be able to make a new one with real fuel instead of mage's MP. Hmm, can I use lacrima crystal? It has ethernano in it, right?' - Ben
Ben knows a lot about automotive; it's his hobby on Earth. Well, actually, his dad was a car mechanic, and he was taught about cars since childhood. They have a small car workshop, and his brother succeeded it after their dad retired.
Ben adapts to the magic car fast and takes Wendy, Bella & Carla for a ride. They try it for a few minutes before returning to the village. Ben is exhausted from his training after all, so he can't drive for too long with his low MP.
(a.n: Wendy doesn't have motion sickness before FT's disbandment. Motion sickness on Dragon Slayer also happens when they become 'advanced' level. They also won't suffer motion sickness if they perceive the vehicle as an ally rather than just transportation. So, you guess it, Ben will never suffer motion sickness because he likes automotive. Source: Fairy Tail Wiki)
'This thing uses too much MP for such a short ride. I really need to learn and modify it. Who knows that I can do my hobby again in this world? This will be fun.' - Ben grins
Ben likes automotive, but he will only do it in his free time. He knows his training is important, so he can't neglect it for this project. Besides, he has someone and something that can help him learn the vehicle faster.
'A.I Chip, can you help me learn the mechanism faster?' - Ben
[I can, but you need to flow your magic power all over the car so I can scan all the details and make the blueprint with all the parts' details.]
'Hmm, that will need some MP, let's do it tomorrow.' - Ben
Ben decides to scan the car the next day. He scans the car after his hunt, so he would still have MP for hunting. He doesn't know how much MP he'll need for scanning, so he needs to prepare for it.
'Let's start!' - Ben flows his MP on the vehicle
[Scanning started!]
Ben keeps flowing his MP on the car for 5 minutes before it finishes.
[Scan complete! Constructing blueprint..... Complete! Transferring Blueprint copy to the brain!]
Ben receives the blueprint from A.I Chip, and he realizes the biggest problem.
'It uses MP to spin the wheel directly using spells attached to some lacrimas. There's no gear at all to reduce the needed energy. A.I Chip, can you make any possible upgrades for the machine using all my knowledge?' - Ben
[Yes, the process will take a few hours for all possible upgrades.]
'Okay, let's train while the process runs.' - Ben
Ben has found out more features & usage of his A.I Chip. It is more like his 2nd brain with computer ability, so he can really multi-task with it. A.I Chip has all his memory and knowledge, so it can think like him and understand him. The only difference will be A.I Chip's fast computation that his brain can't catch up.
'Hmm, I need to ask Gramps too about how to absorb energy from lacrima.' - Ben
Ben immediately goes to meet Roubaul and asks about it. Luckily, Roubaul knows how to do it, and Ben notes all of it with his A.I Chip. There are some methods that Roubaul tells him, and Ben puts all those methods into an equation on his upgrade plan.
Ben leaves the process to A.I Chip and goes to train. It will take some hours for A.I Chip to finish because of all the data. The process only finishes the next morning before Ben goes to train in the cave with Bella.
Ben leaves it and focuses on his training today. After he returns to the village, Ben finally looks at all the possible upgrades. He looks at all the models, and it takes 4 hours before he finally gets 3 best models.
'I will make these 3 machine prototypes on Sunday after I buy the milk.' - Ben
~Sunday~
Ben goes to buy the milk with the girls in the village. Roubaul has given them some money to buy the milk as much as they can. They do just like what Roubaul asks and get their car filled with milk completely.
"How will we return? There's nowhere to sit." - Wendy
"Just sit on my lap, and the cats will sit on your lap." - Ben
"Ooh, as I thought of Ben nii-san, so smart." - Wendy praises Ben
"Of course." - Ben gets smug
Ben then sits on the driver's seat, and Wendy sits on his lap. Then Ben straps the seat belt over both of them for safety. For the cats, Wendy will just hold them, as they're light, and they can fly, so they won't fall.
After returning to the village, they store the milk in the cold storage room. Then Ben immediately starts his project to make the machine prototype. He uses wood rather than metal because it's just a prototype to test his concept.
Roubaul, who gets interested in Ben's project, decides to help. With the old man's help, the work becomes faster. They finish all 3 machine prototypes at night. It's a lot faster than what Ben predicted to be finished in a week. Roubaul is really a master at magic item crafting.
They immediately try the 3 prototypes, and they all work. Roubaul & Ben get very excited now because these 3 models can be used. They run the 3 for an hour and
note their result.
"Hmm, they all are good machines, a lot better than the original. But they all have different machine characteristics." - Roubaul
"Of course, they're built differently." - Ben
Ben's concept for his machine is based on 3 different car machines.
1. The first machine is based on a petrol-fueled machine, the classic type. It uses a weak explosion spell to push the pistons, so it creates a petrol-fueled car's sound.
2. The second machine is based on an electric car, so it didn't have any sound.
3. The third car is the pure upgrade of the original magic car. Ben uses gears to reduce the energy needed to spin the wheel so it can run longer with the same amount of energy.
'As I thought classic car's sound is always good. An electric car is good for the environment, but this car uses magic, so it won't really affect the environment. I guess I'll use the 1st model.' - Ben
"I never thought that you'll be able to create these 3 new concepts in a short time, and they all work. You even modified the magic absorption spell from the lacrima to be a lot better. Maybe you should stop being a dragon slayer mage and become a magic item craftsman instead." - Roubaul
"No way, I like vehicles, but I don't plan to focus on it." - Ben
"Well, that's up to you. So, which one that you'll use?" - Roubaul
"The 1st one, but I also want to make the other 2. It's just that I don't have money to build it. Maybe I will have it if you allow me to have a job outside." - Ben tries to persuade Roubaul
"No, you can only do it after Wendy turns 7 y.o like what we've decided. So it will be next year when you're 12." - Roubaul
"Come on, Gramps, I want to see the world too." - Ben
"No, if you go to see the world, then you need to take Wendy with you, so she needs to be 7 at least. Did you want to leave her here without knowing the world while you know it?" - Roubaul
"Sigh, fine. I'll just train to be very strong so I can protect her there." - Ben
"Good, that's what you should do as her big brother figure. And as for money, how if I show these to my friends? They'll surely find a way to turn these into money." - Roubaul
"You want to sell the concept?" - Ben
"Yeah, we will patent them under your name, so you can keep getting money from the royalty fee." - Roubaul
"Ooh, that's a good idea. Then I'll leave it to you." - Ben
"Alright, just focus on your training." - Roubaul
Then with that, Ben finally has his machine, so he will be able to build his own car. Now he just needs to wait for the money from the concept selling and buy the materials.
"Hehe, this will be fun." - Ben