Chapter 84: Practical Applications of Metal Leech

Before diving into item development using the fascinating material of Metal Leech, Isamu organized the issues he felt during ruins exploration.

The points that he identified as needing improvement were as follows:

1. A magic circle that can charge higher-powered magic.

2. Strengthening weapons and armor due to the presence of tough and hard magic creatures, especially weapons.

3. Long travel times; a desire to shorten and make it more comfortable.

4. Essential camping in ruins for proper exploration; the need for something to make camping comfortable and safe.

5. Many security areas; a desire for means to forcefully break through, as there are numerous situations where unlocking is not possible.

Concerning the first point, although the size of the substrate might increase, there was nothing they couldn’t handle. Isamu planned to teach Eto and Willem how to learn the basics of the activation circle and have them work on it.

For the second point, since the Sharpness enhancement was already pushed to its limit, Isamu had limited options until now. However, thanks to the characteristics of the recently discovered Metal Leech material, the possibility of creating something new had emerged.

As for the third point, there were two aspects he wanted to improve: the travel time to the ruins and the movement time within the ruins. Improving the latter was difficult since it primarily required walking, but there were options for the former.

In this world, advanced carriages used by nobles, essentially vehicles, served as a means of long-distance travel. Improvements had been made to these commonly used means of transportation, including the inclusion of simple spring suspensions using lightweight boards.

However, there were still limitations. Even now, ignoring the comfort of the ride, it seemed possible to increase the speed of the carriage to some extent. Isamu believed there was room for improvement there.

Concerning the fourth point, it seemed that many things could be improved with tools and magic devices. For example, having a small magic stove would allow them to enjoy a warm meal even in places where nothing could be burned. Isamu’s knowledge from Earth also seemed to be useful in this regard.

As for the fifth point, while they wanted a means of forcefully breaking through, it might be difficult with conventional methods, as even explosive magic couldn’t destroy certain areas. They would need to explore various directions and engage in trial and error.

After careful consideration of effectiveness and feasibility, he decided to prioritize the following three:

1. Development of new weapons to deal with magic creatures inside ruins.

2. Improvement of carriages for comfortable and fast long-distance travel.

3. Development of items to make camping in ruins comfortable and safe.

The decision to create a magic circle for high-powered magic charging had already been made.

“Hmm, it’s entirely reasonable.” 

Eto, who had been listening with crossed arms, nodded and said.

“I agree. For now, it’s a theory to start with something that seems certain to be effective and has a low development hurdle.” 

Isamu added, nodding slightly.

“Then, first, let’s focus on weapons. Sharpness enhancement to its limit didn’t quite cut it against those spider-like magic creatures we encountered in the entrance hall of the ruins the other day,”

Eto said, recalling the recent battle.

“Yes, cutting weapons don’t seem to work well against such hard enemies… It would be a different story if it were an incredibly sharp weapon. A striking weapon that would be effective against Metal Leech is what I’m thinking.” 

“Hmmm…Well, that makes sense. So, what’s the plan? Do you have any ideas?” 

“Attack power is fundamentally determined by speed and weight. If the speed is the same, a heavier weapon will have higher attack power, and if the weight is the same, a faster weapon will have higher attack power. Ultimately, factors like distance traveled, hardness, and the area transmitting the power also matter, but they’re irrelevant to this discussion… What I mean is, if we can swing a heavier weapon at the same speed as before, the attack power will increase.” 

“If you swing a big hammer at the same speed as a small hammer, the bigger one will probably be more powerful…There’s nothing you can do about not having enough power to wield it, right? ”

What Eto said was reasonable. To swing a heavier object, more muscular strength would be required.

“I’m thinking of using the Metal Leech material’s ‘becoming heavier’ characteristic to somehow achieve that. What if we start swinging it at its original weight and then make it heavier when it hits the enemy?” 

“…!!!” 

Eto’s eyes widened, understanding what Isamu was implying. If it continued to move at the same speed even when it became heavier, the power would simply increase by the added weight.

“In practice, it might be difficult since suddenly becoming heavier would be hard to handle, and you would need to activate the magic device at the moment of impact. So, putting it into actual combat might be challenging right away…” 

It’s unlikely that the weight will change while using the weapon, or that it will become particularly heavy, so a certain amount of practice will be necessary.

“Even so, it’s worth a try. The mechanism is simple, like with the Felis Type 1. I’ll make several with different amounts of magic power, and we can practice using them.” 

“That makes sense. I’ll consult with Felix-san later,”

Thus, it was decided that the first step would be to develop a variable weight impact weapon.

“Next is the carriage… As you said, if you increase the speed, the ride becomes uncomfortable, and the parts wear out quickly, making it unusable,” 

Eto said, acknowledging the challenges.

There must be limits to using primitive leaf springs for suspension. There should be something like a stack of leaf springs called a leaf spring, but unfortunately, Isamu lacks knowledge in that area. What he thought of was the introduction of shock absorbers.

The suspension used in vehicles on Earth, including cars, primarily consisted of a combination of springs and dampers. While springs absorbed shocks and vibrations, they tended to return to their original state after absorption, resulting in prolonged oscillations. Shock absorbers, or dampers, were used to dampen these oscillations, hastening the settling of the ride.

Currently, the carriage lacks shock absorbers, causing the shaking to worsen as the speed increases. However, attempting to mimic Earth’s oil dampers would require highly advanced sealing technology, making it impractical.

There was a time when Isamu thought about improving the carriage shortly after coming here, but the high hurdle made him give up.

This time, he focused on the fact that Metal Leech took on a low-resistance material-like property when infused with water attribute magic.

Upon compression, it slowly returned to its original state, suggesting the potential for both shock absorption and damping.

“By using this slow-return property to pull, it means stopping the spring from returning vigorously. It’s quite an interesting concept,” 

Eto was deeply impressed.

“There’s just one problem. The damping occurs only while magic is being infused, but if you keep infusing it continuously, it becomes progressively softer. Although there is an upper limit, it becomes too soft if you don’t stop at some point.” 

“Stopping at just the right softness is necessary… But wait, isn’t that impossible? If you stop, won’t it return to its original state?” 

Eto asked, twisting his head.

“Exactly. However, this material has another interesting characteristic. After a certain amount of time has passed since starting the infusion, the infused magic is released at a constant force.” 

During an experiment where he continuously infused earth magic at a low output, he noticed that after a certain period, despite continuing to infuse magic, the material began to lighten.

“If we can understand when the magic release begins, how much force is applied, and balance the amount of infusion and release at the right moment when it reaches the desired stiffness, we should be able to maintain the perfect hardness.”

For example, let’s say magic starts releasing 50 seconds later at a rate of 2 per second. If you continue infusing 2 magic per second, the total magic will keep increasing until 50 seconds. After 50 seconds, 100 magic has been infused, and the release begins. However, from that point on, the infusion and release are balanced, maintaining a constant state of 100.

If you wanted to stop at 200 magic, for example, you could infuse 4 magic per second continuously for 50 seconds and then change it to 2 per second. After that, you could maintain the state of 200.

“It’s quite a detailed calculation to make something like that… I sort of understand what you’re saying, but it seems impossible for me.” 

Eto sighed while shaking his head.

“Haha, I only happened to study it in my original world.”

Word problems that involve changing the amount of water midway through or water flowing out midway through are standard problems involving simple equations, so Isamu simply applied them. 

“Well, even if the balance is achieved, there are still limitations, such as not being able to move the carriage until the magic quantity stabilizes.”

“That can’t be helped. As long as it can be moved for a reasonable period, there shouldn’t be a problem.” 

“Yes, it’s best not to get carried away with luxury demands.”

And thus, the improvement of the carriage was decided. However, due to time constraints, they had to limit the third aspect of creating comfortable camping equipment to simply making a small magic stove.

The day ended with experiments and decisions on what to create, and the prototypes would be worked on from the next morning.

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