Kays Translations

Chapter 39: Stone??

The day after the report meeting, Isamu and the others immediately started working on the prototype and experimentation of the magic tools. They started with a magic circle that seemed to generate stones based on the configured parameters. Since there were multiple settings for each of the five categories, they decided to experiment with them one at a time to find out which one is useful.

"How many settings can be adjusted?" 

Eto asked.

"It seems like there are five categories to start with. Some of them have multiple settings, but in terms of categories, there are five." 

"Yeah, messing with all of them at once would be confusing, so we'll have to try them one by one," 

"How about trying to assemble it as it's written for now? We should find out what kind of stone it produces, just to be sure," 

"Sure, let's do that. We have no idea about the size and other details, so let's do it outside," 

They decided to start with the default settings to see what the magic circle could create. After about an hour, they assembled a prototype and headed to the backyard to test it. 

"Now, let's see what comes out," 

Eto said with excitement.

However, Willem was even more excited.

"Oh man, this is the first time I've witnessed an experiment with an entirely new magic tool. I was so excited yesterday that I couldn't sleep."

Well, it's not surprising. Most people in this world never get a chance to see experiments with entirely new magic tools.

"Alright, here we go," 

Isamu said nonchalantly ignoring Willem’s excitement, and activated the prototype. The activation circle lit up, and the light spread to the function circle. The distinct yellowish light of the earth magic stone flowed through the magic circle, and particles generated by the magic circle gathered in front of the magic tool.

After about three seconds, they thought a cube of light about 20 centimeters had formed on each side. Then, the light disappeared, and there were three identical yellowish blocks in the same size.

They repeated this process three times, and the magic tool stopped moving. In front of Isamu and the others were three stacks of yellowish blocks, each three blocks high.

"For now, it seems like we can make three," 

"Yes, and they stack neatly, which is good," Eto remarked.

"And it's a good thing we only made three. If dozens of them had appeared, it might have fallen over. That’ll be dangerous" 

While discussing this, the three of them approached the blocks. At first glance, they had a slightly rough texture with a grainy appearance.

"I've never seen anything like this. It seems quite porous... Oh!!" 

Eto tried to pick up the top block but was surprised by how light it was, and he almost fell backward.

"Eto-san! Are you alright?" 

Isamu and Willem rushed over to check on him.

"I-I'm fine. But what's this?! It's incredibly light, isn't it?" Eto said, holding two blocks in his hands and lifting them up and down.

"Is it really light? Oh wow, it is!!" 

Isamu picked up the remaining block and was amazed at how light it was.

"Willem, look at this!"

Seeing how light the blocks were, Eto suddenly threw a block at Willem.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" 

Wilem was startled by the sudden toss but managed to catch the block, looking astonished.

"Ah... that was startling, Eto-san! What are you doing?!" 

"Heh heh heh. Sorry, sorry. But how's the lightness, huh?" 

"It’s really light. Is this really a stone? I doubt it'll be useful though. Isn’t it extremely fragile."

Isamu muttered as he scratched the surface of the block with his nails, easily leaving scratch marks.

“It certainly doesn’t look like stone…”

"Yeah. It's crunchy and looks like bread."

Eto and Willem also hit and scratched, agreeing with the conclusion that it wasn't stone-like.

"I think so, don't you? Hmm, but I feel like I've seen this somewhere..."

Isamu, who noticed that the shape and texture looked familiar, tilted his head and traced the thread of his memory.

and…… 

"Ah! Urethane, is this urethane?! Is this a magic tool for making urethane?"

"Whoa! What's all this sudden excitement? Urethane? Is that what you call it?"

Eto was surprised by Isamu sudden outburst and tilted his head at the unfamiliar term.

"Yes, probably. It feels very similar to what was called urethane in the world I come from. I think it's something that might not exist here."

"Yeah, at least I've never seen or heard of it. What about Willem?"

"It's my first time seeing it too."

"Looks like it's the case..."

"In my world, it was used for various purposes... But the urethane I know isn't made of stone. Wait a minute... Isn't urethane on Earth a petroleum product? Petroleum is called a fossil fuel, so does that mean it falls under the category of stone? But, to begin with, just because it looks similar doesn't mean it's exactly the same as Earth's urethane. In that case..."

Eto voiced his concern as Isamu muttered to himself, lost in thought.

"Hey, Isamu. Are you okay?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, sorry. I've come to the conclusion that while it's similar to the urethane I know, it's probably a different substance. It's incredibly lightweight, but it makes more sense to consider it as a type of stone, given its properties."

"Well, it is a earth magic stone, so that's a more natural way to put it."

"Yeah, and there's no way to confirm what this really is. So, for now, let's stop at the point where we have something 'urethane-like.' The crucial thing is to understand its characteristics and whether it's useful or not."

"...Yeah, you're right. There's no point in wasting time on something we don't understand."

Eto replied with a wry smile.

"Yes, and if it has features similar to urethane, it should have various potential uses."

"Oh? This fragile, lightweight stone? I don't see how it could be useful..."

As Eto played with the "urethane" (so to speak) in his hand, he cast a skeptical gaze toward Isamu.

"Indeed, if you use it as a 'stone,' it might not be very useful. But this thing has a different purpose."

"So, it's a stone but not used as a stone? This is starting to sound philosophical..."

"Haha, it's not that complicated. Besides, we haven't verified its properties yet, so we don't know what it's capable of. Let's finish checking the magic circle's settings first," 

Saying that, Isamu once again started examining what seemed to be the parameters of the magic circle.

"Alright. So, three blocks of this size came out. Which probably means... Oh, this is probably the quantity, and this seems to be related to size. But what about the other three? One of them is a number, but I have no idea about the other two. They look like some kind of words, but their meanings are unclear.”

Isamu’s ability skill visualized the meanings of the magic incantations used in magic, but it only did so for things directly related to the activation of magic. If there were descriptions that did not directly affect magic activation, the skill wouldn't provide their meanings.

For example, if there were a magic circle that could produce intense flames for an hour, with the description directly stating "produce intense flames for an hour," the skill would provide a direct visualization of its meaning.

However, what if the description read, "Create flames. The content is as variable 1 and variable 2," with "strong" for variable 1 and "1 hour" for variable 2?

In that case, it would be known that it can create flames and that there are two parameters, but it wouldn't be clear what "strong" and "1 hour" refer to. Regarding numbers, they frequently appear within magic circles, so it's clear that the variable contains numbers. However, "strong" would only be recognized as a word unless one knows its meaning.

Incidentally, Isamu somehow possessed the ability to read and write the language currently used in this world. Perhaps it was a bonus at the time of the summoning. However, this translation ability didn't work for languages not currently in use on the magic circles.

A similar exception was the incantations in magic spells written in a language that couldn't be translated. This was probably because the words in magic language directly interfered with magic power to produce events. In the case of magic circles, the words inside variables didn't interfere with magic power directly, so their meanings couldn't be understood.

One slight exception was the first activation circle, which was full of excessive descriptions. While it should have been impossible to read those unnecessary descriptions, for some reason, they were readable. One hypothesis was that the descriptions were indeed commands directly involved in the activation of magic, even if they were unnecessary in the activation circle.

However, there were no clear answers, so he would continue speculating based on facts.

Returning to the story, in this case, the five parameters were merely visualized as Parameter 1, Parameter 2, and so on. The values were also recognized as numbers when they were numbers, but for other cases, their meanings remained unclear.

"Hmm, we can change the size and quantity. Shall we try it out?" 

"That's a good idea. Let's start by adjusting the parts we understand and see if we can create various shapes. I'd like you to draw everything as you see it, except for this part. Willem-san, you can draw, right?" 

"Sure, I'm something of a researcher," 

"Then Eto-san and Willem-san, please make two each," 

Two hours later, along with what Isamu had drawn, they had a total of seven prototypes with different parameters.

"All right. If the predictions are correct, each of them should produce different results!" 

"Haha, that's a lot of items we made," 

Eto commented.

"With this speed, we'll keep making various magic tools," 

Willem said.

Isamu had expected the parameters to work as follows:

- The same as before, creating five identical items.

- Creating blocks half the size of the original.

- Creating blocks twice the size of the original.

- Creating elongated shapes.

- Creating plate-like shapes.

- Adjusting the mysterious parameter to half the original number.

- Adjusting the mysterious parameter to twice the original number.

"Shall we give them a try?" 

They began to move the magic tools one by one. The first five produced the expected results.

"As expected, it worked," 

"Yes, that went well. Now, the issue is this mysterious parameter,"

When they altered only the mysterious parameter, there was no visible difference from a distance. Isamu took one in hand to investigate further.

"Hmm? The texture is subtly different. I see! This parameter changes the size or density of the air bubbles inside. So, this could be creating something like foamed urethane?"

When the parameter was set to half, the air bubbles inside became finer, while when set to twice, the air bubbles were larger.

"Oh, indeed. These ones made bigger are even more porous and fragile... It's not very user-friendly at this point, is it?" 

Eto pointed out.

"Yes, if it's too large, it seems inconvenient to use. But if it's indeed foamed urethane, it could be quite useful," 

"Really? What would we use it for?" 

"Oh, I think building walls is a good idea. You can't use it directly as a wall because it's too fragile... but it would probably make good insulation material." 

"Insulation material?" 

Willem inquired.

"Yes, by sticking these plate-shaped ones on a refrigerator box, it should last longer than it does now."

A refrigerator, as the name suggests, was a magic tool used to keep things cool. It worked by cooling the inside of the box using the cold produced by the ice magic stone. While the basic concept was the same as modern refrigerators, the performance was not as high.

Wood had a relatively low heat conductivity, making it one of the natural materials with high insulation properties. However, when compared to foamed urethane, the opponent was quite formidable. Given the widespread use of foamed urethane as an insulating material in modern times, its insulation performance was literally on another level.

This comparison primarily involved the transfer of heat by conduction and convection, while the discussion of radiation was another matter. However, since the radiation rates were not significantly different between urethane and wood, that aspect would be omitted.

But let's put that aside for now.

Assuming that this magic tool was able to create foamed urethane, Isamu and the others decided to conduct a simple thermal insulation experiment.

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