If Michael was going to be completely honest, he wasn't planning on creating a toll booth for the Golden Road so early in its construction. Of course, he planned to make it a business later on down the line when it was more established within the Royal Continent, but he thought that it would be much further later in the future.
However, creating this [Gate of Rebirth] would necessitate him having to create a membership that would allow people safe entry into the Golden Road.
For example, at the start of every town, there would be a toll booth to enter the Golden Road. Once they paid a certain amount, they would then receive one of his Shadow Clones to accompany them throughout the journey, keeping them safe from the Unity Flames of the [Gate of Rebirth].
This was actually a tremendous idea if not for Michael being a little bit hesitant in making people pay for passage into the Golden Road.
After all, his initial idea for the project was to make the road as accessible to everyone as possible so that they would eventually be led down into the Kings region and into the Nation of Reborn.
But if there was a toll booth for this road, then it was possible that people would be hesitant or even refuse to enter because of the fee.
This was quite a dilemma for him until ChatJK4 talked some sense into him.
[Studies have shown that people are much more willing to pay a premium price for safety and convenience.]
Hmmm…you're right. I guess I have to stop thinking of the Golden Road as just a simple road. It is a guaranteed safe and convenient passage through all the territories in the Royal Continent.
Now that he had the [Gate of Rebirth], he could be sure that there wouldn't be any unauthorized people from setting up an ambush in the middle of nowhere and stealing any important merchandise. The Sleazy and the bandits incident wouldn't ever happen again once Michael installed [Gate of Rebirth] all around the Golden Road.
The best part about this was that there wasn't an obvious loophole that people could exploit.
If they purchased entry into the Golden Road and tried to rob someone, then Michael would be immediately informed of what was happening. After all, their safe passage came from the [Shadow Clone] attached to their body.
Now, Michael could give safety assurance to other people who pass through the Golden Road.
Before the [Gate of Rebirth], there was still a chance for non-Rebornian people to get robbed while travelling in the Golden Road. But now, that possibility was practically zero.
For now, he planned on implementing the [Gate of Rebirth] and the toll booth in the road between Angora City and the Grafted Cluster. He wanted to treat it as a beta test to see if there would be any problems that would occur before he implemented it to the rest of the Golden Road.
The only problem now was its construction.
Having to concentrate on this magic spell was, of course, not feasible. Thankfully, he had an endless supply of clones that could fill in the role for him.
You know what to do, ChatJK4. Please give me a clone skill that can supply endless mana in the [Gate of Rebirth] spell.
[Understood. Creating spell…]
[Shadow Clone Battery]
— ★★★★
— Unity element
— This spell allows the user to create a clone that fills in the role of a magic caster.
Upon activation of this new spell, two parts of Michael's shadow immediately separated from his feet and latched themselves onto the magic circle.
The shadow 3-d effect brought on by the skill made the magic circle look more realistic, as if it was tangible in the real world. It didn't look like a hologram, it looked like a floating neon sign.
He immediately felt the burden of mana lift from his chest, making him breathe a little bit easier than before.
A weight had been taken away from his shoulder and transferred over to the two shadows, who kept on absorbing mana from the surroundings and keeping the magic spell active.
The best part was that he could remotely turn the [Gate of Rebirth] on and off at any time he wanted.
For now, he turned it off. There could be plenty of curious, innocent bystanders that could lose a finger because of this.
He only planned to make it active once he completed this whole part of the Golden Road and finished the toll booth. That was the only way he could warn the travellers about the dangers of the [Gate of Rebirth] without getting a Rebornian shadow.
Nice, it works. Now, onto the hard part.
He still had hundreds upon hundreds of kilometers left from this part of the Golden Road, which would probably take him a few days to finish if he did it all by hand.
ChatJK4, any way that I could have my clones install these magic circles?
Thankfully, such a thing was possible. He could simply just create all the required magic circles in one place and have his clones transfer them over to their appropriate spot, shortening the required time from one week to just one day.
…
…
…
After Michael was done with the [Gate of Rebirth], he went straight to the First Settlement and seeked out the Rebornian Engineers for another project.
Thankfully, Michael found a couple of A-class Engineering talents from the Grafted Cluster who he recruited into the Nation.
So, while the rookie engineers continued the work on expanding the Golden Road, the more experienced workers started on Michael's new project, the toll booth.
"It's just a simple barrier that goes up and down…"
He borrowed heavily from his previous life, taking all aspects of highway toll booths and implementing it here.
"Seems easy enough, boss. Give us a couple of days and we'll have it done," said the Yellow Mankey Engineer.
They worked quickly, already hollowing out the road to create the new foundation for the toll booths.
Meanwhile, he was approached by one of the elders from the First Settlement about a problem.
"We can't enter the other towns," he said. "There's fire all over. We can't visit our family."
The old man was talking about the flaming sphere barrier that Flarecorp put up on the remaining territories in the Grafted Cluster still not connected to the Golden Road.
With people unable to go in or out, there was a lot of frustration building up among the citizens.
Narito and Sasuki emerged from behind Michael and also gave their input about the whole situation.
"It's total isolation over there, boss. Since no one can go in or out, people are having to rely on Flarecorp products to sustain themselves," Narito reported.
"RAH TA TA!" Sasuki shouted in anger. "Even if the prices are a little bit more expensive than normal, people have no choice but to purchase from them."
It seemed that this was one sure-fire way for Hestu to make sure that Bulren's company was keeping its profits up.
It was a slimy business practice, for sure.
"I'll have to give them another visit," he said.