CH601

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?>

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“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.>