Chapter 134 – The Debugging Witch

After passing through border customs, we entered China and arrived in the city of Shenyang within a few hours.

Located in the Liao River basin, Shenyang is a major city that fully utilizes its vast, fertile land provided by the great river, supporting a population of one million.

The wide stone-paved streets were bustling with energy, and on the great river winding through the city, steamships belching thick smoke traveled back and forth in abundance. Smoke, smoke everywhere—like Mokutan.

The moment I stepped off the train, the smoky air hit my throat hard. It felt scratchy as hell. On top of that, there was a faint smell… like garbage.

Squinting, I grabbed Hiyori’s hand, and she hailed a tiger taxi to take us out to the suburbs.

A city of one million people is a massive metropolis in this era.

Cities like Tokyo that maintained large populations continuously since the pre-disaster era are rare. According to Hiyori, cities that lost population during the Gremlin Disaster and then rapidly regrew tend to carry some kind of distortion.

Busan didn’t smell weird (maybe the spices masked it), but its administrative system was lax, which allowed Hatobato to operate freely.

In China, on the other hand, entry procedures were stricter than in Korea (they checked for vaccinations against Shadow Sickness and Mushroom Disease), but instead there were pollution problems.

Garbage disposal is insufficient, and they burn low-quality coal, oil, and basically anything combustible to keep the city running, so the air in urban areas is bad. It’s like industrial-era London. Japan had a similar phase too—developing cities everywhere tend to go through the same thing.

However, once we left the city center and arrived at a suburban hotel surrounded by farms and fields, the air became much cleaner and the smell disappeared. Finally, some relief.

While Hiyori handled check-in, I looked out the window and saw a vast golden wheat field stretching across the plains.

And in the middle of the fields… gray rocks rolling around in fenced ranch areas.

What the hell are those…?

They looked like rocks, but they were moving on their own. Magical beasts?

China is known for its gremlin-based industries.

Using vast fertile land, they grow massive amounts of crops, which feed large numbers of magical beasts, which in turn produce large quantities of high-grade gremlins.

If Japan specializes in magic wands and the U.S. in magic metals—secondary industries—then China dominates primary industry: producing the gremlins essential for all magic production. I myself use quite a lot of Chinese large-grade gremlins.

Given that, those “rocks” were probably gremlin-harvesting beasts.

But the only Chinese magical beast I knew was the red-eyed Carbuncle.

After finishing check-in, Hiyori followed my gaze and waved a pamphlet.

“I got a ranch tour pamphlet. Want to go tomorrow?”

“Hmm… maybe. Those rocks are raised there too, right? What are they?”

“They’re called… hmm… in Japan, they’re known as Shinju-gan—Pearl Rocks.”

“Oh?”

According to Hiyori, those rolling rocks are magical beasts called Pearl Rocks, capable—at least in theory—of producing gremlins with up to eight layers, surpassing even Cureanos.

They’re Class C-1 magical beasts with gremlin-like regenerative abilities. Even if chipped or broken, they regenerate—and even if completely lost, they regrow.

Since most magical beasts weaken or die when their gremlins are removed, this makes Pearl Rocks quite rare.

Because of this, the magic beast industry is experimenting with cultivating multi-layered gremlins through breeding rather than processing.

The idea is similar to pearl farming:

First, extract the gremlin.

Then shave it into a small sphere and coat it with a thin metal layer.

Put it back, and the Pearl Rock regenerates, forming a new outer layer around it.

Once the outer layer thickens, extract it again.

At that point, you get a three-layer structure: core, metal layer, and outer shell.

Drill a hole, dissolve the metal layer with acid, and you’re left with a two-layer gremlin.

Repeat the process, and you could theoretically create seven, eight—even a hundred layers.

Amazing, right?

…But that’s only in theory.

In reality, Pearl Rocks get sick if impurities are involved during regeneration and don’t live long.

Currently, two layers is the limit—and if two layers are enough, Carbuncles are cheaper and more efficient anyway.

Still, if proper care methods are developed, mass-producing multi-layer gremlins beyond Kyanos’s seven layers could become possible.

So research continues.

“Hey Hiyori, about that apology gift for the Wuxian Group—should it be something beast-related? They bought the Golden Jade Wand, so they care about wands, but I feel like their main interest is magical beasts.”

“I don’t think an apology is necessary if the contract was honored… but honestly, anything’s fine. They seemed more interested in the technology behind the wand than the wand itself.”

“I see. Then I’ll just send them something interesting.”

She gave me a worried look.

“Let me check it before you send it.”

“Why?”

“When you made Kyanos, you treated it like a ‘cool magical staff,’ not a nuclear weapon, didn’t you?”

“…I can’t argue with that.”

So we decided to stay at the hotel for seven days to prepare a proper gift.

While Hiyori originally wanted to explore authentic Chinese cuisine, the room service was good enough that she ended up sitting in the corner, meditating all day again.

Seriously, she’s always meditating.

In the end, I decided on two items:

• The Iatros Glass 
• A Dimensional Storage Box 

The plan was to store a modified Magia Glass inside a box with the same dimensional storage function as Kyanos.

The Iatros Glass was something I modified during the train ride.

By combining its reaction to mana color with principles from the three-dimensional Apollonius problem, it can diagnose certain mana-related illnesses.

Originally, I was trying to create a mass-producible mana gauge—but failed.

Still, this is a great substitute. A lifesaver for the medical field.

Currently, mana-related illnesses can only be identified after symptoms appear.

Even those who can see mana can only tell it’s unstable—not what the exact issue is.

But with Iatros Glass—

Just touch it, and several types of mana disorders become instantly visible!

Not all—but several.

If you made tens of thousands of variations with different internal structures, you could theoretically analyze a person’s mana properties completely.

You could even detect affinities—like Hiyori’s strong ice alignment—or possibly even blood relations.

…In theory.

I’m not making tens of thousands of these by hand.

As I grinned and wrote the instruction manual, Hiyori examined the storage box.

“Are you really having that much fun?”

“Yeah. It just feels… fantasy-like. Imagine—just touching a crystal reveals your mana.”

“That’s just a mana thermometer.”

“…Well, yeah, but…”

Way to kill the mood.

While I was thinking about that—

“Ah.”

“Eh?”

Hiyori suddenly gasped.

The storage box on her lap… was gone.

Gone?

Why?!

“I-I just traced along the lines with twisted mana and… something activated…”

“…You’re kidding.”

She tried grabbing at empty space to retrieve it.

But it was too late.

Without a stabilizing structure, it had drifted into the fourth dimension.

Gone forever.

“It’s like dropping a phone into the middle of the ocean,” 

I said. 

“You’re not getting it back.”

“I didn’t mean to! What do we do?!”

“Short answer? Too late. It’s gone. Well… good to know dimensional tech is dangerous.”

Honestly, better this happened now.

At this stage, the theory is still primitive. Unexpected behavior is inevitable.

We’re lucky it only disappeared.

It could have taken us—and the surrounding space—with it.

“Hiyori, relax. You did great. Seriously—top-tier debugging. Finding bugs like this is invaluable.”

“Ugh… you’re being nice…”

I sighed.

Yeah… we’re not sending the storage box.

That thing is way too dangerous.

If it malfunctioned and erased space, it wouldn’t be an apology gift—it’d be terrorism.

Good thing Hiyori tested it.

Seriously.

There’s nothing better than having a girlfriend who can debug reality.