Act 2: Chapter 35: 《Adamant Ore》
We, who safely secured the ingredients for 《Adamant Ore》 at 《Mithril’s Cane》, went straight back to our room at the inn and started the alchemy experiment immediately.
Various items were arranged in the bottom of a huge kettle. I was really anxious whether we could create 《Adamant Ore》 or not by using 《Jade Dragon’s Eye》 as the base material.
In front of the big kettle was a deformed and more adorable version of 《Fear God; Zorophilia》’s mask.
It was something that she created with 《Dream Sand》.
《Dream Sand》 was the ultimate catalyst for alchemy, we could literally create almost anything with it.
This mask had already been fine-tuned by Philia so that we could use 《Dream Sand》 to its maximum potential.
To put it simply, we’re currently performing an alchemy under influence of the 《Dream Sand》’s magical power in order to get the result that we’re hoping for.
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【Dream King’s Mask】《Value: Phantasmal》
The mask was created by the virtual god who ruled over the dream world.
This 《Dream King’s Mask》 is the adorable and deformed version of the original.
This mask could be used to fine tune the power of 《Dream Sand》.
《Dream Sand》 was originally a substance that granted a wish indiscriminately.
It releases magical power that can become a great aid for all alchemy.
It’s an item sought after by all alchemists in the entire world, they would pay any kind of price to get their hands on this item.
Alchemists from five thousand years ago prepared two 《Dream King’s Mask》 when they created 《Fear God; Zorophilia》 but, later on, whenever its appearance was recorded in history, it would always become a spark for a great war.
For some reason, the third mask has appeared in the world right now.
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Such a dangerous-looking explanation appeared when I appraised it with 《Akashic Record》.
It seems the indiscriminate nature of 《Dream Sand》’s power was really useful in alchemy.
I glanced at Philia who was sprawling on the floor with a satisfied look on her face.
「Kanata! Philia is really useful, right? Philia is helpful, right?」
「Yeah. You’re really helpful. Thanks, Philia-chan.」
… After this experiment, I will ask Philia to dispose of this mask, thus returning the existing number of masks in this world back to two again.
I can’t be careless about the disposal of the mask since it might trigger a big war in Manarak.
But then, one needs vast amounts of energy to change the property of a material with alchemy when the change is initiated.
The item that would become the base material, the item used as trigger for the change, and the item that made up for the lack of energy were the main ingredients for this process.
In fact, the mana of the practitioner itself could be used to make up for the lack of the energy and to trigger the change.
As for how much mana would be consumed during that process, it could be completely dependent on the practitioner’s skill and understanding of alchemy.
《Dream King’s Mask》 allowed the practitioner to skip those two phases.
Even if it was impossible to create the thing in theory, we don’t know until we try.
I mean, we had an item sought after by all the alchemists in the world after all.
「K-Kanata-san, can we really… make 《Adamant Ore》 with this? I mean, even the sword made from 《Adamant Ore》 are high-end product, even this kingdom might only have one or two of it.」
「U~hm… I wonder how much price they put for it?」
I mean, I had no idea just how much the price was going to jump by increasing the rank.
According to 《Mithril’s Cane》, 《Jade Dragon’s Eye》, which was the only B-rank item, was priced at five million gold.
Could it be that the price was going to jump up to 20 millions gold for a sword made from S-rank 《Adamant Ore》?
I mean, even if there was really such a sword, selling it wouldn’t be that easy either.
「M-Maybe… the buyer would even be willing to pay several dozens of millions of gold for huge lump of it to make a weapon.」
「Seriously!? Even though it just a mere S-rank item!?」
「Somehow, I feel rather conflicted when you say that S-rank item is… just a “mere”, Kanata-san.」
Pomera spoke as she looked at me with an amazed look on her face.
Honestly, I never thought that far.
The item rank from the lowest are as follows: S-rank, Legend-rank, and lastly Phantasmal-rank.
My sense of value got quite weird while I lived with Lunaire in 《Cocytus》. I mean, S-rank items were rolling around everywhere like trash over there and Lunaire always wore Phantasmal-rank items.
Even most of the items she gave me to celebrate my graduation back then were of Phantasmal-rank.
Though I realized that I needed to readjust my sense of value a while after I left Cocytus, Pomera’s remark reminded me that I still had a long way to go.
W-Wait a minute, could it be that 《Ether》 could be sold for dozens of millions of gold on the surface?
No, let’s think again, displaying my wealth aside, it might be sold for hundreds of millions of gold.
It seems the investment for my training was comparable to the level of a small country’s budget.
I wonder what kind of face I should make when I meet Lunaire again.
「… Kanata-san, there’s purple smoke coming out from that big kettle but… shouldn’t we stop it?」
「… eh? AAH!?」
Pomera’s remark snapped me out of my train of thought.
Mist with dangerous looking color spread out from the big kettle.
Upon a closer look, the liquid that had soaked the fragments of 《Jade Dragon’s Eye》 vaporized.
S-Since when did all the liquid start to show an alchemic reaction?
This should never happen!
Maybe the alchemic reaction exceeded my hypothesis due to the effect of 《Dream King’s Mask》.
It seems that all the energy from the alchemic reaction was gathered in the 《Jade Dragon’s Eye》.
And broke it into pieces.
The fragments of 《Jade Dragon’s Eye》 started to shine, and those lights were dancing in the air.
Seeing that, I pointed 《Hero Sword; Gilgamesh》 toward the big kettle in a hurry.
「Barrier Magic, 5th Rank; 《Force Shield(Mana Shield)》！」
I deployed a light barrier to surround the big kettle.
The next moment, 《Force Shield》 started to expand as if it got hit by unimaginable force from the inside.
Barrier magic wasn’t my forte.
The fire magic which was my forte aside, I also mastered space-time magic for multi-purpose use, aside from those two, I was only interested in alchemy and earth magic which seems to be extremely useful outside of combat.
I desperately poured my mana so that my 《Force Shield》 could withstand the explosion from the big kettle.
「T-This is really safe, right, Kanata-san?」
Pomera asked with an anxious look on her face.
「… How much would the inn owner charge us if we accidentally blew up the room?」
「STOP! PLEASE STOP THINKING ABOUT SUCH TRAGEDY!」
The barrier then stayed still after a clear bell-like sound resounded in the room.
Seeing that, I lowered 《Hero Sword; Gilgamesh》.
「That was clo— eh, is this…?」
The remaining fragments of 《Jade Dragon’s Eye》 in the big kettle cast a light of peculiar color.
I took out 《Akashic Record》 from the magic pouch, and opened its page.
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【Adamant Ore】《Value : S-rank》
An ore that gives off violet light.
It is said to be the hardest material known in the human realm.
It has high resistance against all kinds of magic.
It was a material that could only be found deep underground, after a metal exposed to powerful earth pulse’s mana for so many years.
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「W-WE DID IT!」
The page that opened when I opened the 《Akashic Record》 was the page about 《Adamant Ore》, meaning that even 《Akashic Record》 recognises those fragments as 《Adamant Ore》.
Our alchemy experiment was a success.
With this, I just need to get my hands on 《Yggdrasil’s Droplet》 and hunt the devils in the mirror to get all the ingredients I need to concoct 《Ether》.
「W-We really… succeeded?」
Pomera was peeking at the page of the 《Akashic Record》 from over my shoulder.
「Amaziiing! Kanata is so amaziiing!」
Philia jumped up and down happily, praising me for my success.
「Let’s change all the remaining 《Jade Dragon’s Eye》 into 《Adamant Ore》.」
Pomera’s face stiffened the moment I said those words.
「H-How many times again… Pomera can block the sound with her spirit magic, but… c-can Pomera block the next sound? You can suppress the amount of alchemic reaction, right?」
Pomera sent a glance toward the big kettle which had already deformed into elliptical form.
「… Well I guess it’ll get better next time since we know what going to come at us…」
「… Please say those words while looking into my eyes…」