“I’ve never interacted like this before.”
“Y-yeah...”
“Ah, right! Usually it’s either over the network, or all of us together with Big Sis!”
Seated around the round table in the lounge, Akane, Olive, and Asahi began talking.
“External stimulation often changes the direction of thought. We should be creating situations like this more proactively too.”
As Akane said that, automated machines arranged drinks and tea snacks on the table. <Ringo> had prepared them for the three sisters.
Since Asahi could only consume liquid food, a smoothie had been prepared for her.
“I’m not particularly interested in eating itself, but I wonder if that would change if I became able to eat normally.”
“Eating is a basic function of living things. We also have one foot in the realm of living things, so naturally.”
“Desserts are good...”
Because Asahi’s digestive organs were weak, she could not consume normal meals, but her sense of taste had not been reduced in any particular way. Naturally, she liked sugars as an energy source, and if anything, she had even been directly consuming glucose solution.
Well, Big Sis had naturally objected ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ to that lifestyle, so she was currently in the middle of revising it.
“Anyway, analysis speed on the magic-related side has started to drop, so I wanted to ask my big sisters for their opinions!”
Saying that, Asahi drew some of her smoothie into her mouth through the straw.
“So good!!”
“It’s made with berries, yogurt, milk, and honey. The flavor was balanced with sugars, and the scent was added with menthol-based and vanillin-based flavoring.”
“C-could it be this is handmade by Big Sis Akane...?!”
“<Ringo> made it when I said I wanted to drink it.”
“Oh, I see.”
Well, putting that aside, Asahi set the glass back on the table and flicked her finger with a sharp little motion.
In sync with that gesture, three projection monitors appeared around them.
“I made several things the locals would recognize as magic devices.”
Displayed on those three monitors were three tools. According to Asahi, they were magic devices that used the power of magic.
“This one here is the mana-density meter. Let me add a little context so we’re all using the same understanding. It’s a magic device that combines olfactory cells from a threat organism called a Forest Boar with a <Magic Stone>, and makes use of the fact that the electrical potential changes when mana density changes. Then there’s the stove. It generates heat. Well, strictly speaking, that’s actually two kinds, since there’s a <Magic Stone> type and a Fuelstone type. And this one here is a rod I produced to confirm structural reinforcement. It’s just hard.”
The third item Asahi introduced was a light, hard rod made using the <Magic Stone> and shell of the gigantic butterfly-like threat organism Big Moth. Apparently, it was harder and tougher than titanium of the same weight.
“This actually seems really useful. As long as it’s kept separated from the <Magic Stone>, the shell, which is mainly made of chitin, can be processed to a certain extent. Then if you shape it however you like and bring it into contact with the <Magic Stone>, it gets structurally reinforced in that state.”
“...That does sound useful. We might be able to lighten the multi-legged tanks. Also the Titan-class.”
“Yes, exactly, Big Sis Olive. It might be worth trying it on some prototypes. We were able to obtain a large amount of the material.”
That said, Asahi continued.
“We can now see a path toward creating magic devices that operate with magical power, but the problem is that all the raw materials come from threat organisms. That doesn’t pair well with the mass production we’re good at.”
“So they can’t be made with materials that can be mass-produced?”
“Yes, Big Sis Akane. As for industrial-scale mass production, there’s no outlook at all. It might actually make more sense to think about raising or farming threat organisms.”
To make magic devices, it seemed that materials containing mana, or at least materials that had a strong affinity for mana, were required. However, at the very least, the materials that <The Tree> could currently manufacture industrially would not work.
The raw materials had to be materials derived from threat organisms.
“The issue is that if you want to create magic devices with strong effects, you need materials from correspondingly large or powerful threat organisms.”
“...If they’re domesticated, do they get weaker?”
“No, unfortunately, we still don’t know that much. But even if we wanted to domesticate them, they’re just too strong to begin with. Take the Forest Boars—even if we tried to pen them up and raise them, it feels like they’d just smash everything apart with body slams.”
“That’s certainly true. Halfhearted fences or walls would not even count as obstacles.”
As she steadily ate the neatly decorated sweets, Akane voiced her agreement.
“If we assume that magic is directed to some extent by will, then the possibility that domestication would weaken them is actually a prediction we can’t just ignore.”
“So because they’re wild, you get better-quality materials?”
“Exactly. Well, if we find some small and useful threat organism, I’d like to test it.”
At the very least, the young of <Rein Kroin> had already awakened their magical abilities. Since that was breeding rather than taming them into obedience, though, it could not really be used as an example of livestock.
Still, if those three juveniles eventually grew to the same size as <Rein Kroin>, then at some point they would become impossible to raise. The question was whether, at that point, they would be able to secure useful materials as <Rein Kroin>.
“And another thing—magic devices absolutely require a <Magic Stone> to operate. For example, with Forest Boar olfactory cells, it looks like we could multiply them if we prepared the right environment, but to make them function as a magic device, we need a Forest Boar-derived <Magic Stone>.”
“Can’t the <Magic Stone> be split?”
“If you split it, its effectiveness drops drastically. You can think of it like this: if you cut it in half, performance falls to about one quarter. If you divide it into four parts, each one becomes about one sixteenth. That’s a rough calculation, though. If you’re only using it as a mana-density meter, that much is still workable, but even then it means you only get four mana-density meters from one animal. The efficiency is extremely bad...”
Whether it was Fuelstone or a <Magic Stone>, its effectiveness followed something like quadratic performance based on volume or mass. Put two together and you got four times the performance; cut one in half and performance dropped to one quarter. Incidentally, even if you said “put together,” they had to be fused, so it was not possible to enlarge a threat-organism-derived <Magic Stone>. At least, not yet.
“As for Fuelstone, we’ve already established the technology to fuse it, so it feels like it could be applied in quite a few ways. Ah, in that sense, maybe the better approach is to search for magical materials that come from the environment rather than from living organisms.”
“...Fuelstone is found inside lava rock. So if there’s land with other properties, maybe we’d find something else.”
“Yes, exactly, Big Sis Olive! We keep calling it Fuelstone, Fuelstone, but I’m starting to think it’s basically a <Magic Stone>. Maybe we should classify it as a volcanic <Magic Stone>!”
Research on Fuelstone had already advanced considerably.
And from here on, they would likely be able to secure the full cooperation of the Kingdom of Lepuitari, which excelled in handling Fuelstone. If they could gather a wide range of knowledge, then <The Tree>’s analytical capabilities would probably let them push the research forward all at once.
“If nothing besides Fuelstone is found, that classification has no meaning.”
“Then we’ll call it provisional! Anyway, let’s use the mana-density meters to carry out a large-scale search on that front!”
Apparently Asahi issued some sort of instruction over the radio. She herself continued the conversation without pause.
“I think what we’re aiming for is being able to mass-produce materials with magical functions artificially. Well, personally, I do want to use magic myself and all!”
“...Can you use magic, Asahi?”
“I just kind of have that feeling!”
Akane had narrowed her eyes halfway, so she was probably not buying it. Still, she did not seem inclined to press the matter.
“So unless we do something about the <Magic Stones> that form the core of the magic devices, even if we prepare the materials, it still won’t work...”
And from Olive’s perspective, she seemed to be interested in manufacturing magic devices with artificial materials.
“It doesn’t seem like having no <Magic Stone> means there’s no effect at all. There are ointments and oral medicines that make wounds heal faster, and those are made by processing plants. Of course, they don’t contain any <Magic Stones>.”
“Mm... Maybe I should try touching that a little.”
“Oh, interested, are you? Then I’ll have it flown over!”
