Chapter 35: New Magic
Once inside the dorm, seeing her in a well-lit place, I realized she was quite a pretty girl.
But, just like Yuri-san in the beginning, her appearance was a letdown.
Her hair was messy, and she was wearing tattered sweatpants under her skirt.
I suspect she’d transform into a beautiful girl if she tidied herself up, but in her case, I get the feeling she’s not looking for that.
“…Don’t people often tell you it’s a waste?”
“Yes, people I meet for the first time tend to say that. How did you know?”
When I replied, “Just a hunch,” she tilted her head and said, “Everyone says that, you know.”
Despite saying that, she followed me to my room, and I showed her the Petal.
“Hmm, what an unusual material. Is this all you need?”
“Yeah, no problem. It has considerable healing power.”
“Oh? If you, the one who brought Catalyst Crystals and Fire Resistance hide, say so, I’d like to try it out a bit. May I test it?”
Being asked that, I tilted my head. How was she going to test it?
Then, before I could ask, she answered with her actions.
She lifted the hem of her sweatpants and showed me that her leg was a Prosthetic Leg.
“If I can regenerate it even a little at a time, it’ll be back to normal in ten years… That’s why I started as a Potion craftsman. Surprised?”
“Ah… yeah. Before you try it, can you promise to keep its effects a secret?”
I thought there was no way to test its effects, but with this, it’ll be obvious in an instant how insane it is.
But, if I’m going to Yuri-san’s place, Potions made from this should be extremely useful, so I want to have them made.
“Sure, but… is it that amazing?”
“Yeah, something like that, I think it’ll heal in one go if you just nibble this much.”
Saying that, I tore off a small piece of the Petal with my fingertips and placed it on her palm.
“Ahaha, are you making fun of me? If that’s true, its rarity rank is undoubtedly Legendary-grade.”
Woah. Seriously? Even I know how incredible Legendary-grade items are.
They say it’s an item rarely found even in a country’s treasury, and most nations don’t possess one. It was written in a bestiary that wars have even started over a single piece of Legendary-grade equipment.
“Does it really go that far? It’s something that can be substituted with Healing Magic, right?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. To heal this, you’d have to keep a Healing Magic user occupied for several years for a complete recovery. Assuming this tiny fragment is equivalent to three years, how many decades would a full bottle be? Isn’t that a legendary Elixir?”
Ah, no, it might be even more potent. I mean, I survived even after getting my head blown off.
I thought so, but I couldn’t say such a thing, so I just gave a polite smile. She then nibbled the edge of the fragment I’d given her.
The moment she did, she couldn’t stay standing and collapsed, so I caught and supported her, and I realized her leg had healed.
If she was going to eat it, I wish she’d eaten it all in one go.
Now something even more insane has been revealed.
“I’m letting go, okay? Are you alright?”
“Eh, y-yes—”
Standing on her own two feet, she stared blankly at the floor, dazed.
However, she had firmly clutched the remaining fragment in her palm and tucked it into her pocket.
“So, can I assume you’ll make the Potions while keeping this a secret?”
“Y-yes. How many do you need?”
“I’d be happy with as many as you can make, but how much will it cost?”
“Are you an idiot! I wouldn’t dream of taking money for this! How much do you think that treatment just now would cost!?”
She said she’d make a hundred or even two hundred for free, so for now, I requested a hundred. I told her I’d pay if it exceeded that.
Saying that, I handed over half of the Petal.
Even if divided into a hundred parts, each would be more than ten times the size of the fragment I gave her. The healing power should be more than enough.
She said, “So I just need to divide this into a hundred parts. Leave it to me!” so the deal was struck right there.
However, I felt bad about it being free, so I presented her with some meat.
I grilled two hundred grams for her as a sample, and then gave her about five kilograms to take with her.
When I gave it to her along with the Petal, she happily went home.
And so, I finally had some space to myself and started thinking about tomorrow’s plans.
The problem was where to go after I finished hunting everything on the 35th Floor.
Maybe I should go around the nearby Floors, get the drops dismantled, and find the most profitable Floor.
“Phew. Looks like that’s it for the foxes.”
The sounds disappeared, letting me know I’d hunted them all. I’ll head down to around the 40th Floor as planned and bring back some Monsters from the Floors in between.
Just as I thought that and started down the stairs, I remembered.
Come to think of it, I still haven’t tried out the Magic Circle the Monster was using.
I also learned the Lightning Strike Magic Circle the fox was using, and I want to try that too.
I assembled the Magic Circle the flower Monster used and activated it from a distance.
Just like that time, a straight beam of light shot out in the direction the Magic Circle was facing, gouging out the wall.
“Huh? Isn’t this, like, super vicious?”
Yeah. I mean, it’s light-speed. And its power is high too.
Hmm. Should I use this instead of my Gun from now on?
It’s silent, and I don’t have to worry about retrieving bullets.
Alright! Let’s upgrade it to a Laser Gun!
The moment I thought that, something else popped into my head.
Gun, Lightning Strike… if those are involved, there’s only one thing to make.
A railgun!
No, wait. Railguns make a hell of a noise, don’t they?
Wouldn’t it just be an inferior version of the laser?
But between a gunpowder Gun and a railgun, the railgun’s power is definitely superior, right?
I seem to recall the mechanism being pretty simple too.
But can magnetism be generated with materials manifested from Magical Power?
Nah, first things first, it’s worth a try.
“Alright then, let’s start with the Laser Gun!”
Once I started thinking, I couldn’t stop, so I hurried back to school.
I dropped off the materials and made a beeline for the Third School Building, knocked, and opened the door.
“Ah, it’s you. As expected, it’s not ready yet, you know? I need a week since I’ll be tinkering with it extensively.”
The guy I’d asked to make the Staff greeted me, but the one I’d asked about the hide didn’t even glance my way.
Looks like he’s still struggling, as expected.
“No, I’m here for something else today. Um… is it possible to attach a Magic Circle to a Maso?”
“Oh, I can do that! Well, it’d be a crime if you just did it as is, though, right?”
The female Magic Tool craftsman, who poked her head out from the partition separating the room, beckoned me over, so I walked towards her.
She offered me a chair, and when I sat down, for some reason, the hide guy and the Staff guy also brought chairs and sat down.
“So, what do you want to do?”
To answer her question, I brought out the Magic Circle that generates a laser beam and activated it. When I showed them how it pierced through a barrier of my manifested Magical Power in an instant, a hole opened up right through it.
“I intend to use this for offense, and I want to maintain a state where it can be fired just by sending Magical Power to the Magic Circle.”
“I don’t know this magic…”
“I’ve never seen it either. If I don’t know it, it must be considerably rare… Where did you get this?”
Oh. Come to think of it, that’s right. The textbook said that most magic outside the four elements is kept secret.
This is an unexpected find!
But how should I explain it?
As I was wondering about that, the Magic Tool girl stopped them.
“Hey!? Prying is bad manners, you know. So, you want to turn it into a Magic Tool, right?”
“Ah, so that’s what it is?”
Well, as long as my objective is achieved, the name doesn’t really matter, I nodded to her.
“Things like this can be made quickly, but it’s no good if the Magical Power gets mixed up.”
I manifested a small Magic Circle with Magical Power and handed it to her.
“In that case, it’s not difficult. Just make it with a material that conducts Magical Power and embed an insulator, and that’ll solve it.”
“I’ll be using it in combat, so it needs to be sturdy… Can I assume it will have some degree of strength?”
“Oh, that’s something you figure out by actually trying it. If you make assumptions without trying, you’ll overlook something.”
Now that she mentioned it, I was deeply convinced. When I replied, “That makes sense,” I was taken outside, and the testing began.
She carefully applied a liquid insulator only to the contact points, then wiped off a little of the insulator at the edge. When I sent Magical Power through it from there, the beam was emitted without any problems.
It seems that while it doesn’t conduct raw Magical Power, it does allow the converted magic to pass through.
Otherwise, you couldn’t make Magic Tools, so I guess that’s obvious.
Because I made the Magic Circle small, the beam was only about five centimeters, but when I increased the output, it easily sliced through a board made of Magical Power just by touching it with a swift cutting motion.
Seeing that, the hide guy exclaimed.
“This! Can’t this be used to cut the hide!?”
Being told that, I remembered.
The Ape Monster had been obliterated by this magic.
That material probably doesn’t have Light Resistance. It’s a strange thing.
Ultimately, I think both fire and light attacks are heat-based, but in this world, they seem to be different things…
“Yeah, it probably can.”
“Then let me use it! Nothing I did could cut it!”
Just as I thought.
While thinking that, I agreed, and it was decided that we’d first make a processing Magic Tool for this Light Magic.
Only I can assemble the Magic Circles, but writing them down and conveying them is a crime.
So, it seems I have to do the work.
“You’ll use this Mithril wire, which has high Magical Power conductivity, to make the Magic Circle. This is the most crucial part. If it’s wrong, it won’t activate, and even a slight misalignment will drastically reduce its power.”
“Ah, if that’s the case, it’s simple,” I said, picking up the wire.
“Easy, you say…? You mean tearing this off and processing it, repeating that until it’s a perfect shape?”
Ignoring her words, I ask.
“Does this melt with heat?”
“Well, it can be melted, but… it’s a material that’s already been melted and had other things mixed into it.”
In that case, I tear off what seems like a necessary amount, wrap it with Maso, and heat it with Fire Wall.
In the meantime, I materialize a Magic Circle for a small light beam and make a mold.
Finally, after pouring it in and smoothing it out, I let it cool, and it’s complete.
“Here, this should do it, right?”
Leaving the Mithril behind, when I return the tools to Magical Power, a beautiful Magic Circle had formed.
“You, if you came over to our side, you could become a top-tier craftsman.”
“No, I polished my Magical Power control to become a Hunter, you know?”
“No, well, yeah. It’s about me needing to work harder on my control, right? But this is already the strongest, isn’t it?”
“Even I’m amazed by this. Can I ask what kind of training you’ve been doing?”
After that, I was bombarded with questions, and they grilled me about my training methods, but I just explained that I made everything from furniture to small tools with Magical Power, showed them various examples, and they were convinced.
“I see. All your daily necessities with Magical Power, huh?
Indeed, if you go as far as to elaborate on their designs, you’d get used to it whether you like it or not.”
“For us to do that, our proficiency isn’t high enough either way.”
When I said, “More importantly, about the Magic Tool,” they immediately got back to the main topic.
She coated the shaped Mithril with something, attached a clay-like substance, and then rolled it up as is.
“Huh!? Hey, is it okay to ruin its shape like that?”
“Ahaha, people who don’t know would think that, wouldn’t they?
However, most Magic Tools out in the world are generally made this way.”
According to her, the clay they use is a special material. When you wrap something with it while sending Magical Power into it, it memorizes the shape. It seems to have the property of maintaining the current state even if it means distorting space. Apparently, as long as you just roll it up carefully enough not to break it, the effect isn’t compromised.
Since it hardens to a considerable degree, it’s also useful for maintaining secrecy, and it’s said you can no longer dismantle it to examine the Magic Circle.
From that point on, she said she’d be using her family’s secret techniques and the culmination of her own dedicated study, so I was sent outside. After waiting for a while, a Magic Tool orb of a familiar shape was completed.
There was an orb attached to the end of a grip-like rod, and an arrow was marked in the direction the light would fly.
It also had a power adjustment function, so it looked user-friendly.
He, the one working on the leather, immediately took it and started his work.
“–!? It works!”
After muttering that single word, he became completely engrossed in his work.
It seemed like my questions weren’t reaching him at all.
In that case, I should also carry out my objective, so I thought about how to carry the materialized Magic Circle that had an insulator attached.
Even though I had imitated it from a Monster, it was, by any normal standard, a dangerous thing to carry around.
“Then, why not just make it into a Magic Tool?”
Being told that, I thought, “That’s true,” and my mind settled.
At that time, the guy with the Staff made an interesting suggestion.
“About that, you want the Magic Circle to be small and the output to be as high as possible, right?
If that’s the case, why not amplify the power with this Catalyst Crystal?”
“Oh! That’s a great idea! If we’re carrying a Magic Tool anyway, the effort is the same, so it’s perfect!”
“Alright!
In that case, if possible, could you bring five crystals—no, even two would be fine?”
Since he asked, I got five from the Dismantling Yard and handed them over.
“Woooah! With this, we can make a first-class Magic Tool!”
“Indeed, seeing this completed will be quite a sight!”
I too was excitedly watching the two of them get fired up, but linking the Catalyst Crystals seemed to be an extremely difficult task, and the work continued late into the night.
When they reached a stopping point, I brought in some cooked dinosaur meat I had prepared. Once our stomachs were full, drowsiness hit us, and we disbanded.
Each of us returned to our own rooms in the dormitory.
Nothing had come into my hands yet, but I was confident that those guys would make something good, so I also went to bed.