Chapter 18

"Well, let's check the spoils of war."

That night, after finishing dinner, I quickly returned to my room and spread out my bag.

I laid out the light stone, the fragment of the stone slime, the piece of the treasure chest, and the enchanted dagger on the bed.

"Lloyd-sama, what's that?"

"I brought them back from the dungeon."

"No wonder you were so late... You went to conquer a dungeon, huh..."

Grimo sighed in exasperation.

I'm sorry, okay.

First, I picked up the light stone.

As Tao said, it seems to have lost its light after being taken out of the dungeon.

Let me try scraping it a bit.

Using the water magic 'Water Blade,' I started to scrape the light stone.

When scraping hard objects, a material 'Water Blade' is easier to use than a massless 'Wind Blade.'

After scraping, I didn't notice anything unusual inside the stone.

It's just a very ordinary stone.

"Considering my hypothesis, the core of the dungeon absorbs various things to grow. It probably created the dungeon by absorbing such stones and soil."

This means that items taken from the dungeon revert to their original form when removed from the site.

This fragment of the treasure chest... no good. I can't feel any magic at all.

The core is probably a magical creature that died when cut.

Incidentally, the fragment of the stone slime has also turned back into ordinary soil.

It must have returned to its original state after being taken out of the dungeon.

But the lich seemed fine even when away from his dungeon.

High-level monsters might be different.

...No, what if the dungeon is considered a giant magical creature?

I've heard that powerful monsters have a core to enable them to act independently... but it's just a hypothesis.

"Anyway, I'm starting to understand what a dungeon is. But it's still just a hypothesis, and I need more samples. I want to explore another dungeon sometime."

"Lloyd-sama is a magician, right? Are you going to research dungeons too?"

"I don't know what might be useful for magic."

"Hmm, I see."

Magic is a study that combines various elements.

Therefore, it has a connection with all things in the world.

Originally, without fire or water, it wouldn't be possible to create them with magic.

Knowledge is always beneficial, and this knowledge might come in handy someday.

"Let's move on to enchantment magic."

There were quite a few books on enchantment magic, but special catalysts were needed to test them.

This was the magic marrow fluid applied to the dagger.

It has a very strong retention power for magic and high permeability, making it often used as a catalyst.

It's quite valuable and is usually only available to promising blacksmiths, so it was hard to get.

I had a lot of other things to do, so I put it off and never actually tried it.

"First, I'll remove the magic marrow fluid..."

Let's see, the method is to soak the applied part in hot water and scrub it off.

I heated the water with magic, immersed the blade of the dagger in it, and scrubbed it with a brush. An oily substance floated to the surface.

This is the magic marrow fluid.

It peels off with heat but doesn't dissolve in water, so it floats on the surface.

I scooped it up and put it in a small bottle.

"Hmm, there are impurities floating. It must have been reused many times."

The magic marrow fluid can be peeled off and reused when no longer needed.

However, each time it is reused, it gets dirtier and the purity decreases.

This naturally weakens the effect of the enchantment magic.

"Then, I'll clean it up."

I placed my hand over the small bottle and enveloped it with magic.

Small pieces of debris floated out of the liquid.

"...Lloyd-sama, what are you doing?"

"I'm removing the impurities."

Water magic 'Purity Increase'

This is a magic that acts on liquids, literally removing impurities.

It can be used to purify river water for drinking or to remove debris from fuel.

However, if the purity is increased too much, the mixture will completely decompose.

I once increased the purity of tea too much and turned it into water.

"Such delicate work with magic...? Wow, I see now, Lloyd-sama's magic is really impressive."

"I didn't develop it. Magic is always evolving, and a lot more can be done now than when Grimo was around. ...Okay, let's scoop out the debris. Yes, it's clean now."

The magic marrow fluid looks much clearer than before.

By the way, what kind of spell is contained in this magic marrow fluid?

Let me take a look.

I focused my consciousness on the spell contained in the liquid.

"Hmm, this is a spell to increase strength, isn't it?"

It's one of the most popular spells to imbue into objects.

Expensive swords can be reinforced with this to prevent them from breaking easily.

But this spell has been reused for a long time.

It's very old-fashioned and inefficient.

Let me rewrite it.

This spell can be discarded.

There's a lot of space now. I can weave in three layers of strength increase.

I'll add elasticity increase as well.

This makes the metal more resilient and very durable.

...Okay, that's it.

Now, I'll reapply it to the dagger.

"Done!"

The tip of the dagger in my hand is now shiny.

I tried it on the treasure chest, and it cut through it easily.

"Wow, that's impressive!"

"Yeah, it's good."

This is enchantment magic. It's quite interesting.

I want to try more, but I don't have any magic marrow fluid.

"...If I don't have it, I'll make it."

"Can you do that!?"

"If I break it down to the raw material stage, I can figure out the ingredients and ratios. Then I can reproduce it."

So, I put the remaining magic marrow fluid in a small bottle and activated 'Purity Increase.'

This time, I wove in an enhancement spell.

By doing this, I can return it to its raw material state.

After casting the spell for a while, the color of the magic marrow fluid started to turn yellow.

Various crystals gathered in the liquid and accumulated at the bottom.

Okay, decomposition complete.

"Hmm, so these are the raw materials of the magic marrow fluid."

"That's right. The liquid part is... just oil."

Oil is compatible with both magic and metal.

I had expected this to some extent.

"The crystals inside... are mainly silver. Coins can be used as a substitute. The red grains are red magic powder."

Red magic powder is made by grinding the core of a powerful monster's heart.

It conducts magic very well and mixes easily with liquids, so it is used in various materials.

This red magic powder, when compared with the core of the dungeon, looks very similar.

The dungeon is indeed a type of monster, as I suspected.

So, if I grind the core of the dungeon I obtained, it should be usable.

This material is also clear.

"That means... I can make magic marrow fluid with the materials I have here."

"Wow, that's amazing, Lloyd-sama!"

If I understand the concept, there's no reason I can't do it.

Okay, I'll gather the materials and try to mix them tomorrow.