Several days passed without much happening, at least on the surface. That was mostly because he didn't want to reveal too much change in such a short time. Though he doubted the old man wasn't already suspicious, the man was simply that sharp.
He'd already considered telling Winston about his plans to become the world's hero. He had even cooked up a believable lie to explain it all away. He just didn't feel the time was right yet.
Beneath all the deception, he was already planning the first steps toward the future. The first priority was a main base of operations. With goals as ambitious as his, it was an absolute necessity.
After much consideration, he decided to build it beneath the estate. There was an enclosed cave just south of the property, a place he had only managed to discover while testing Ghostfreak's intangibility.
With summer underway, there was fortunately ample time for him to figure things out. The only unfortunate thing about his situation was his inability to acquire resources freely on a large scale.
The materials, resources, and key technology he needed would raise a massive red flag, practically announcing to every major government, corporation, and organization around the world that something fishy was going on.
And getting on anyone's radar was the last thing he wanted right now. Fortunately, he had access to Upgrade, Grey Matter, and XLR8. With XLR8, he could quietly source basic materials from scrapyards in the neighboring city of Coast City.
Using Upgrade, those battered parts could be restored to factory condition, or even improved beyond their original specifications.
Finally, with Grey Matter's instinctive understanding of technology guiding him, what most people dismissed as worthless junk could be transformed into something invaluable.
It would be a slower process than simply buying everything he needed, but it was also far safer, allowing him to build toward his goals without attracting unwanted attention.
For now, it was the best solution he could come up with. It wasn't sustainable in the long run, but it would serve its purpose for the time being.
Once he had laid the groundwork and put his basic affairs in order, he'd surely have several solutions by then.
In the meantime, work had already begun.
Several meters beneath the ground, construction was already underway. In his Ghostfreak form, Ben phased back and forth through solid earth, carrying equipment and materials from one point to another.
He hadn't built an entrance yet. For the time being, Ghostfreak's intangibility and invisibility were more than enough to get in and out unnoticed.
The underground cavern was still largely bare. No obvious construction had begun yet. Instead, at its center stood a massive machine nearly five meters tall. Dropping the last of the required components into place, Ben slapped the dial on his chest. A flash of green later, he had transformed into Grey Matter.
He didn't waste time and quickly got into work. The machine was practically complete, requiring only a bit of fine-tuning. Several minutes later, the last component slid into place, and the machine hummed to life.
His frown gradually gave way to a grin as he admired his creation, an autonomous fabrication unit. With this machine up and running, he no longer had to build every little thing from scratch.
All he had to do was feed it a schematic and the required components, and the machine would handle the rest.
After confirming every parameter was up and running, he returned to his room, pulled out his laptop, and tapped a few keys, connecting it to the AFU hidden beneath the cave.
He quickly uploaded the blueprint for his very first Omnibot, a robot designed to assist with the construction of his base.
With the Omnibots handling the bulk of the work, he no longer had to worry about arousing Winston's suspicions. Aside from supplying the necessary construction materials and checking on their progress from time to time, the Omnibots would handle everything else, leaving him free to devote his time and energy to more important matters.