Chapter 97

"Given that, I think I'll try to create a new alloy."

In Dian's workshop, which is now empty, I called out a single maid.

The girl, with her short, neatly styled purple hair and tanned skin with big, round eyes, is named Ren.

She used to belong to the Assassin's Guild, but after various events, she is now my maid.

"Alloy... how do you make it? I'll do anything I can to help, though."

To Ren's puzzled question, I replied.

"Use Ren's ability."

Ren's ability is to convert her magic power into poison.

In other words, it means manipulating invisible, extremely small substances to generate new substances.

In short, if used properly, it can create not only poison but various substances.

Currently, thanks to my training, her ability has expanded to the point where she can create certain chemicals.

Using this ability, it should be possible to create a new alloy.

"Eh... I can't do it. I've never done it before."

"Didn't you say you'd do anything for me?"

"Ugh...! W-well, that's true, but..."

Ren's face twisted, and then she sighed as if giving up.

"...Sigh, okay. I understand. But I can't create metal, you know?"

"What I want you to do is not creation but measurement. To understand a substance, you taste it or touch it, right? I want you to measure the hardness of these metals and quantify it in the same way."

Saying this, I handed her several metal plates.

If we need to create something harder than the Katankoto alloy we are currently using, we must first quantify its components.

We just need to create a lot of alloys and have Ren measure them one by one.

"Who's going to make the alloy?"

"Of course, it's me."

When I brought the materials together, a spark burst, and they mixed.

The alchemical magic 'Material Synthesis' allows the mixing of solids to create new substances.

It consumes a lot of magic power, so it can't be overused, but with this, I can create alloys quickly.

Well, let's do it. If we can create a good alloy, there will be many other uses as well.

I took the countless materials lined up on the table and started the work.

"Hmm, hmm... munch, munch. Lick."

Ren, with a serious face, stroked and bit the metal plates.

To deeply understand a substance, it is common to examine its taste, texture, and smell.

Incidentally, the same method is used when investigating the structure of liquids.

"Whoa! Thirty types, here I come!"

"Gr, gr, gr... What, I've already done thirty-one types!"

Meanwhile, I also had Grimo and Jiriel synthesize alloys.

The two are usually very competitive, so they are working hard, competing with each other.

The number of material combinations exceeds ten thousand, so it would take a lot of time if I did it alone.

"Hey, hey, isn't the synthesis speed abnormally fast!? I'm already out of breath at thirty, but you've already made over five hundred types!?"

"The speed of incantation and the depth of magic power are too shallow... 'Material Synthesis' consumes a lot of magic power, so we need to take breaks after a few uses, but Lord Lloyd doesn't stop at all. He's terrifying..."

The two were muttering something.

It doesn't matter, but I wish they would move their hands more.

After about an hour, all the syntheses were finally completed.

"Phew, it took longer than I thought."

It was a difficult task that had to be done one by one.

Magic is the same, but such techniques are supported by steady effort.

"Not at all, I thought it was a steady effort... but it was more like a tenfold leap forward."

"Yeah, this work has advanced alchemy by centuries..."

"Haha, that's not true."

The two are really exaggerating.

I chose the alloys that seemed usable from the ones created, but there were still over a hundred types.

It will be a lot of work for Ren to measure them.

"Are you okay, Ren?"

"Probably..."

But ignoring my concern, Ren was focused.

It seems she found her own way to do it while I was synthesizing, touching the metals one after another.

Looking closely, the metal was slightly melting.

"I see, you're dissolving it with poison to extract the components."

"Yeah, liquids are more familiar to me. Bringing things to your own strengths is the basic principle, whether it's sports, academics, or magic. So, increase what you can do, improve your strengths, and compete there... that's what Lloyd always says."

Ren smiled proudly.

Indeed, I have said that, but it's impressive that she thought of it and put it into practice.

It's not easy to do even if you know it.

"You used your head. Good job, Ren."

"Hehehe~"

When I praised her, Ren smiled like a flower.

"Anyway, this should significantly improve efficiency."

"Sure, leave it to me!"

Ren proudly puffed out her chest.

Hmm, but it would still take a lot of time if I did it alone.

Let's see, I'll help too.

I lined up the metals and weakened the wind magic 'Wind Cut' to its weakest level and activated it.

A sharp, needle-like whirlwind slowly touched the metal plates, and the sound of metal being shaved off could be heard: "Kari, kari, kari, kari."

"Pretty weak magic, not like Lord Lloyd at all."

"Hmm, it seems you're gradually increasing the pressure. What are you doing?"

"Strength measurement. I'm increasing the pressure one level per second. When it breaks, that's the limit of the metal's strength."

It would take a long time to do it one by one, so I released three hundred wind blades to measure them simultaneously.

After a while, the weaker metals started to crack: "Pakkin, pakkin."

"Yeah, it's decreasing a lot."

In no time, the number of synthesized metals was reduced to less than half.

As I was saying this, they kept breaking one after another.

More time passed, and finally, a crack appeared in the Katankoto alloy.

It seems this is the limit.

Among the remaining metals, only one was still holding up.

"Oh, one is still left."

"It doesn't show any signs of breaking yet."

"Yeah, it's a good one."

Even after a minute, the metal hadn't been pierced.

I stopped 'Wind Cut' and picked up the metal.

This is the alloy of Golden Slime's mucus, black copper, and red magic powder.

Holding the dull, reddish-brown metal, it was surprisingly light and strong.

"This seems usable. Ren, can you compare this with the others?"

"Sure. ...Wow! This is really hard! It's far better than the others! I've never seen anything like this in my measurements!"

It seems to be better than what Ren has investigated.

This should be able to withstand the core of a golem.

I'll show it to Zerof once.

But thanks to everyone, it was finished faster than I thought.

The power of my companions is great. Yes, yes.

"Well, I'll measure the rest... but they're all gone!? There were so many left, but Lloyd did it all by himself!?"

"...Sigh, Lloyd is really amazing. I still can't do much to help."

"He did several times more than what that girl did in an instant... What did we do? Really."

"Indeed... Our help is not even a tenth of what Lord Lloyd can do. In the end, he could do it alone, couldn't he?"

The three were muttering something, but I guess I don't need to worry too much.

Anyway, having finished the work, I returned to the workshop.