Chapter 103: The Mysterious Box

Isamu, who regained his peace of mind after enjoying rice for the first time in about five months, finally began decoding the spoils with Eto and others the next day.

It was a full-fledged operation at the Magic Theory Algorithm Research Workshop after a long time.

“Hmm, it looks like a well-made metal box.”

Eto murmured while examining the box-shaped magic tool from various angles.

The first thing Isamu and the team tackled was a box-shaped magic tool that was difficult to dismantle on-site.

It was a roughly 30-centimeter cubic dark gray cube, and it felt heavy, perhaps because thick metal was used for the exterior.

If it weren’t for the activation magic stone embedded in what seemed to be the front, it might not have been recognized as a magic tool.

On the top surface, there was a shallow recess, perhaps for placing something, and that part seemed to be made of a different metal, shining in a light green color.

Also, on both side surfaces, there were parts made of the same light green metal, each about 15 centimeters square.

“Eto-san, what about this part…?”

“Ah, this part is made of magic silver mithril. Moreover, it’s true magic silver true mithril.”

Eto said while stroking the light green part.

“Oh, so it’s magic silver mithril… It’s also a metal that conducts magic easily, right?”

“Yeah. It’s used for high-grade weapons and armor because it’s lighter and harder than iron, and it conducts magic well. Well, it’s quite expensive.”

“Using it so generously means that this magic tool must be quite useful, right?”

“Well, it wouldn’t be used it for just any magic tool.”

While saying that, Eto examined the box in detail to disassemble it.

Since Isamu was a novice when it came to the construction of the chassis, he entrusted it to Eto, who was a professional.

“It seems that there’s no other way but to remove or shave off the part that joins the bottom…”

Eto said with a grim expression after examining it.

“I guess that’s how it’ll be…”

Isamu’s face as he answered was also grim.

Although the box was made of fairly thick metal, there were no screws or rivets to be found.

Moreover, there were no seams except for the bottom, as if it had been molded by pressing.

It was unclear what kind of technology was used, but it was speculated that it was a metal box formed without a lid, with the bottom part being joined later.

There was no way to forcibly cut the metal, but since it was unknown how the magic circles inside were drawn, it would be the last resort.

“How is this attached? Are the gaps filled with a slightly different colored metal??”

“Yeah. It seems like melted metal is used to attach them.”

“Is it welding or soldering? Well, it may not necessarily be melted by heat…”

In this world, Ethersia, the techniques used for metal joining are forging and soldering. Both are techniques that have been used since ancient times on Earth.

Although the technology of the Old Civilization Era is based on magic, it is unknown how this box is joined, but since there is no other option, it was decided to try heating it up for now.

Heat enchantment, which is the basis of the magic stove, was used for heating. True mithril, which is heat resistant, was processed into thin blades like knives and heated with the Heat enchantment. The metal in the gap of the joint surface was heated intensively.

Since the box itself was made of metal, it would be okay to heat it up, but it was decided not to do so because there was a possibility of affecting the magic circles inside, especially the substrate.

(Yet who would have thought that the first time I would be processing mithril would be with a soldering iron…)

For Isamu, who had played a certain famous RPG, mithril was a dream metal in a sense, but he couldn’t help but smile inwardly at the fact that he had used it to make tools, and watched Eto work.

Carefully heating it up, Eto felt a change in sensation in his hands.

“Hmm?”

Then, the mithril blade slipped smoothly into the gap.

“”Oh!””

Isamu and Eto’s voices harmonized involuntarily.

To prevent it from dripping into the inside of the box, he quickly changed the orientation of the box, propped it up with his feet, and continued to work while peering into it from the bottom.

Since it was impossible to heat all four sides simultaneously, he heated one side at a time while trying to scrape out the metal used for joining as much as possible.

When heating the last side, it became visible that the bottom plate was loosening.

And finally…

“All right, it should come off now.”

Since the main body seemed to be hot, Eto put on a mitten and slowly lifted the top upwards.

It rose slowly, almost without resistance, like the lid of a pie box, probably because the soldering material used for the joint had been removed cleanly.

“What’s this? A non-attribute magic stone??”

The first thing that caught the eye was a large non-attribute magic stone with a diameter of about 15 centimeters.

It seemed to be firmly fixed in the center of the magic circle placed on the bottom. Since it was cloudy, it seemed that there was not much magic power left.

“It’s smaller than the one we brought back from the Kalenberg ruins, but it’s still considerable.”

“Yeah, it’s bigger than a large magic stone.”

“And this one hasn’t been cut.”

“Yeah. Regardless of size, it looks like a non-attribute magic stone that we’ve seen a lot.”

Eto answered with a wry smile.

“Although it’s called a lid, it’s actually larger, but how about the inside of that one?”

To grasp the overall picture, Isamu checked the removed top for the time being.

“Ah, sorry. Which part?”

Eto, who was still holding the removed top in his hand, turned it over and placed it on the table.

“Hmm, I see.”

The inside of the box was covered with magic circles, from both sides to the front and back, and even the top.

“Wow, it’s quite densely packed… Even if we can read it, it seems like it will take a lot of effort to decipher. Oh well, it’s going to be tough.”

Isamu’s face was already beaming despite saying so.

“Oh? You can read this??”

“Oh! Really??”

“Yeah. It’s a little detailed so it might take some time. Yeah, the front is a normal starting formation.”

Isamu said and immediately started deciphering it.

When it comes to this, knowing that basically anything he says will go in one ear and out the other, Eto began to examine the large arm he brought back.

“Hey… This might be a major discovery…”

It was late afternoon after lunch, and Isamuy finally finished deciphering the contents.

“Huh? Again?”

“Huh!? A major discovery!?”

“Huh? Again?”

Willem, Annemarie, and Eto’s words overlapped after they joined in the afternoon.

“Yes. It seems that this is a magic tool for charging magic power into magic stones.”

Rubbing his eyes, Isamu said casually.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Charging magic power?? Huh, does that mean…?”

“Yes. I think it’s a magic tool that can replenish magic power into magic stones that have run out of magic.”

“What the heck?!”

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?!”

“What in the world?!”

The voices of the three overlapped again.

It’s no wonder they’re surprised. After all, in this world of Ethersia, it’s common sense to discard magic stones once they’re used up.

“And it seems that it works by using a person’s magic power to replenish it.

By putting magic power from a person into these mithril parts on both sides, it seems that magic power accumulates in the large magic stone inside. After that, the magic power is compressed and poured into the magic stone placed on the top surface all at once.

It seems that magic power as it is won’t enter the magic stone, so some kind of conversion seems to be applied before accumulating it in the large magic stone, but it’s unclear what that is.”

“””…?”””

The three were silent at Isamu’s explanation. Rather than the content of the explanation, they were surprised by the fact that magic stones could be reused, and their thoughts stopped there.

“However, I don’t understand why they bothered to pass it through this large magic stone, and I don’t know why they compress it when transferring it from the large magic stone to the small magic stone. If you can put magic power directly into the large magic stone, you should be able to put it directly into the small magic stone from the beginning… Also, it seems that this is only for non-attribute magic stones.”

“Haah, I thought there wouldn’t be anything that would surprise me anymore, but I was wrong.”

“Yes, we need to reconsider our perception of things.”

“It seems like I’ll continue to be surprised until I die…”

The three who returned to reality said so deeply.

“Oh!!!”

Then, Eto suddenly shouted.

“I see, so that’s why it was left behind!!”

Eto seemed to be satisfied with something alone. Not understanding, Isamu asked.

“What was left behind?”

“That non-attribute magic stone in that warehouse. Um… oh, there it is.”

Saying that, Eto found a box among the things he had brought back and opened it. Inside were many dull small non-attribute magic stones.

“Ah!! Is it the one from that shelf!?”

“Yeah, that’s right. In terms of size, wouldn’t it fit perfectly into this recess?”

Eto said so, took out one of the magic stones, and placed it on the indentation on the top.

“Oh!! It fits perfectly!! So this magic tool was for recharging magic power.”

Convinced, Isamu nodded vigorously.

“Hey? It looks like this smaller magic stone has been cut. Whoa, wait, are all the ones in here cut!?”

Willem, holding what seemed to be replenishable magic stones, was astonished.

“That’s amazing, to cut them all like that. Must have been quite a task with this many…”

Pulling out several magic stones, Willem marveled at them.

“Shall we try replenishing it a bit? Wouldn’t you like to see how it feels?”

Isamu proposed, though it was clear he was the one most eager to try.

“Well, that’s fine, but are you sure it’s safe to try? We don’t know how much magic power it’ll use, do we?”

Eto expressed concern.

“Yeah, I think it should be fine. It seems it only absorbs as much magic power as we put in, not a predetermined amount.”

“I see. Well, as long as you don’t overdo it.”

Isamu chuckled at Eto’s caution.

“Haha, don’t worry, I won’t do anything reckless.”

Isamu reassured them with a smile.

However, there was one problem that arose.

Because they had broken the sealed state, the connection of the magic circles seemed to have been severed, causing it to stop working.

“Sorry, but it’s impossible to use it as it is since I don’t know what metal was used for the joint… I’ll need to create connecting parts and link them together, so please wait a moment.”

Saying so, Isamu began creating magic circles to connect the top and bottom parts.

“…You seem to be getting better and better at making magic circles as you like.”

“That’s right… You might be on par with the magic circle artisans of the ancient era at this rate.”

“Wow, that’s something. I need to study more myself.”

As the three watched in amazement, Isamu muttered to himself, “Hmm, here like this…” and “Ah, like this,” and finished drawing the magic circles in about 30 minutes.

He lifted up the top part again with his feet and connected the bottom part with several L-shaped magic circles he had created.

Simply bypassing the connection points between the substrates, the magic circles he made were extremely simple.

However, since it was necessary to determine which points were connected to which in order for the process to flow correctly, it was a difficult task.

“Alright, the connection is complete… Now then, Eto-san, could you hand me one of those magic stones?”

“Sure thing.”

After receiving a magic stone from the ruins from Eto, Isamu placed it in the recess on the top of the magic tool.

Since the activation magic stone had also run out of magic power, they replaced it as well.

“Okay, here we go~”

Saying so, Isamu activated the magical tool.

With the familiar startup sound, the magic tool activated, and faint light emitted from both sides of the mithril.

“Now, I’ll slowly flow about half of my magic power so I won’t collapse.”

Isamu said, touching the mithril parts on both sides of the box with his hands.

Then, concentrating, he slowly began to flow magic power. The method itself was almost the same as the process of fixing a magic circle after drawing it.

As Isamu began to flow magic power, the large magic stone installed on the bottom surface emitted light.

Inside the magic stone, a swaying light could be seen swirling slowly.

As everyone watched in awe at the sight they had never seen before, Isamu poured half of the magic power over a period of 10 seconds.

“Phew.”

Isamu let out a sigh of relief and stopped supplying magic power, and the brilliance of the large magic stone increased slightly.

At the same time, the mithril on the top surface began to glow. Then, the light from the large magic stone continued to increase rapidly.

After shining brightly to the point where it was dazzling even when squinting, the large magic stone suddenly lost its light.

After a moment’s pause, the magic stone placed on the top surface glowed brightly for a moment.

“””……”””

The group watched in astonishment at the turn of events.

Since nothing changed even after waiting for about 10 seconds, Isamu stopped the magic tool.

“Judging from its behavior, I think the magic power has been replenished. Let’s see…”

Saying so, Isamu picked up the small magic stone on the top surface and examined it.

“Wow, amazing! The transparency has fully recovered! Eto-san, can you tell how much magic power is left in it?”

Isamu handed the magic stone, which seemed to have been replenished with magic power, to Eto with a pleased expression.

“Let’s see… Hm, the magic power has certainly increased. Hmm, I can’t say for sure, but it feels like about a quarter.”

Based on Eto’s experienced estimation, it seemed that about 25% of the magic power had been absorbed.

“Hmm, I remember when we measured the total amount of magic power in the small magic stone before, it was around 5,000 (※), right?”

“That’s right. There was some variation, but it was around 5,000 to 5,500.”

“Yeah. When my magic power was measured shortly after coming here, it was said to be 105. It might have increased slightly since then, but it shouldn’t have changed much. So, I replenished about half of it this time. Even if we estimate a bit more, it’s around 60. Doesn’t that seem strange?”

“Indeed… If it was a quarter of 5,000, it would be 1,250. That’s clearly not enough.”

“Yeah… Well, the units used in the magic circles and the units we measured when we came here may not be the same, so it’s hard to say. Maybe human magic power is denser?”

“I see…”

“Shall we try again? Maybe this time with Annemarie-san? Last time we compared the amount of magic power, hers was about 1.5 times mine, so I think the color might change this time.”

“Understood. Let me give it a try.”

“Oh, right. Since we’re already here, let’s try activating it with the replenished magic stone. It might not have actually been replenished, after all.”

Saying so, Isamu replaced the activation magic stone attached to the front of the magic tool.

“Now, if it moves, it means the magic power has been restored, but…”

“Oh, it started up properly!”

“This proves that the magic power has been replenished. Alright, Annemarie-san, go ahead!”

“Uh, okay!”

With a slightly nervous expression, this time it was Annemarie’s turn to flow magic power.

After a while of flowing magic power and letting go, the small magic stone was replenished with magic power in the same way as before.

“How is it? Eto-san.”

“Hmm… It seems to have become more transparent than before. I’d say about a third.”

“If it’s a third of 5,000, it’s around 1,700, so it seems that about 1.5 times my amount of magic power.”

“Wow, it’s amazing that magic power can actually be replenished…”

“Yes. It would be convenient if we could somehow extract the magic from the large magic stone.”

Thus, Isamu accomplished the first great achievement of replenishing magic power to magic stones in the (new civilization), but he felt a lingering unease that he couldn’t voice.

(Why are they bothering to replenish only the non-attribute magic stones? In terms of value, the priority should be higher for magic stones of other attributes, right? And using such a huge magic stone and mithril for that… I wonder if there’s a difference in how magic stones and magic are viewed between the old civilization and now…?)

However, there was no way to immediately confirm such unease, so he pushed it to the back of his mind for the time being.

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