Eternal Adventurer (WN): Chapter 98

 

Chapter 98: Fiddling with the Magic Stones

“Welcome baaackk!!”

Count's territory

As soon as I enter my mansion, a fairy sticks to my face.

"I-am-hu-ngryyyy!"

I can feel my mana fading away

"Kora, Fairy-san. I know how you feel, but don't do anything rash!"

"Sedona was with Shiro, so why not!"

A figure quietly appears from the side of the two argued

"Shiro-sama, Wince-sama. Welcome back."

"We're back, Firance."

Firance had several sheets of paper in his hand.

"I have to get to work right away, right?"

"Ah, no. No, this is not for work."

Somehow, it's not quite clear

"I'm sorry, even I don't understand it."

The fairy replies instead.

"The report of the research on the bonding of many kinds of magic stones. And the report of research on the purification of slime nucleus as its bonding agent."

"Shiro-san, do you understand?"

Somehow?

"Combining magic stones?"

"Hmm~, the amount of mana stored in the magic stone will increase!"

In other words, small magic stones from weak monsters are mixed together to create a magic stone that is comparable to the magic stone of a strong monster.

“However, in the end, the magic stones that can be obtained from the higher level monsters were much more efficient.”

"What's the point?"

“Well, we can get a large number of them, so... yeah.”

“Then let's discuss it further in the office.”

---------

I sat in my chair and drink tea

By the way, Wince, Sedona, and Firance ran away because they didn't understand it.

"At first, I took the magic stone of the big worm and tried combining it."

That's nostalgic, the big worm

I haven't seen it in years

"The magic stone itself was successfully combined. So I poured mana into it."

"What happened?"

"It exploded."

Are you hurt?

"It's the equivalent of two Big Worms, so I poured in twice as much, but it didn't work."

"What is the cause?"

"It's as if the stored mana surged into the joint and broke it from there."

So the bonding area is brittle.

“Next, I mixed a magic stone with the one that was on the verge of criticality, on the verge of exploding.”

"That's a dangerous experiment."

"The moment they were joined, they exploded."

After much trial and error...

If you express the magic stone in terms of numbers,

Magic stone (100) + magic stone (100) = magic stone (200)

From there, the mana gradually decreases

Magic stone (100) + magic stone (20) = magic stone (120) is on the verge of criticality.

“In other words, if you combined magic stones of the same type, the amount saved only increased by about 20%?”

"Correct!"

Seems to be correct

"So I was wondering if there was some way to increase the strength of the bond."

"And the slime nucleus was the best solution?"

"Yes, that's right! The reason the slime bursts when it dies is because the nucleus that encases the magic stone collapses!"

"If the nucleus collapses, how can the magic stone explode?"

"The mana flows into the slime from the slime's outer viscous body."

That's why it scatters with a lot of force.

"So? How did you get the nucleus out of the slime without killing it?"

"Eh, didn't Shiro come up with that solution?"

What are you talking about?

“We would dissolve the viscous substance with a chemical called alkaline, right?”

Ah~~~

I said that a long time ago.

When was that?

I think it was when slime spawned in the catacombs

"And this is the result."

The fairy pulled out a magic stone from the desk drawer.

No, don't put it on my desk without permission

"How much mana did you get in there?"

“It's gone up from 20% to 80%!”

Isn't that a great number?

“Improving the efficiency of magic stones. That means you succeeded in reducing the cost. That's great."

"Right!"

No, I can't judge the specifics.

"Anyway, shall we show it to Quies and the scholars in the Royal Capital?"

"Yeah, yeah! Tell them about my achievement!"

I know, I know.

A proper achievement of a... fairy

"Wha?"

"What?"

"I don't even know your name after all this time."

I didn't notice it for a long time

"Name? Name... Fairies don't have names..."

"How do you guys usually check in with the others?"

"We can do it through telepathy."

“I'll think of a name for you before reporting.”

"Seriously!? Thank you, Shiro!"

I will ask everyone tomorrow

"A cute name. A cool name. A beautiful name. Think a lot!"

I will try my best.