Chapter 82

Ricardo went to Bernardo's shop and consulted him about whether he could get a Shouryuseki (a special gemstone).

"Shouryuseki, you say... Unfortunately, it's sold out."

In the capital, when people talk about Shouryuseki, they usually mean the red Shouryuseki found in the Ascali volcano. It is necessary for making magical lighting devices, so there is a steady demand, but it is rare for it to be sold out.

"Is there any reason for that?"

"I don't know the details, but it seems to be needed for lightning magic research."

Ricardo was surprised by the unexpected answer.

"Could they be making a Lightning Conductor Pick?"

When Bernardo asked what a "Lightning Conductor Pick" was, Ricardo explained what he had presented at the conference.

"I see, so that's why all the magicians started researching lightning magic."

Ricardo then asked when the next shipment of Shouryuseki would arrive.

"That's... "

"Is something wrong?"

"It seems a Flame Extinguishing Turtle has appeared at the Ascali volcano mining site."

The Flame Extinguishing Turtle is a magical beast that lives in the crater of the Ascali volcano. During the breeding season, it comes down from the crater to hunt Crowned Lizards.

This magical beast is a higher form of the Flame Turtle and is feared to the point that it is called "Extinguishing."

Ricardo had planned to go and get the red Shouryuseki, but after hearing about the Flame Extinguishing Turtle, he began to hesitate. The Flame Extinguishing Turtle has a high resistance to heat and fire, and Ricardo was unsure if he could defeat it with his fire magic.

"It's best not to go to the Ascali volcano right now."

Ricardo listened to Bernardo's warning but couldn't give up.

"But I need the Shouryuseki for my research."

"Is it that urgent?"

"Not really, but..."

After some hesitation, Ricardo decided to invite Patrick to go to the Ascali volcano. He chose Patrick because he excels in water magic.

Ricardo thought that if they encountered a turtle monster, they could escape if necessary.

After preparing, they set out from the capital on a clear morning. Ricardo was wearing new equipment: a breastplate, gauntlets, and greaves made from the shell of a Steel Scorpion. The armor was as light as plastic and as sturdy as steel, a quality that would not be out of place among the nobility.

The shell of the Steel Scorpion is very tough, and the craftsman had a hard time processing it. At twelve years old, Ricardo was tall and thin, and the black, shiny new equipment made him look out of place.

"You look like a novice monster hunter."

Patrick laughed.

"I'll get used to it."

The two slowly made their way to the Ascali volcano.

"By the way, how is the Thunder Vortex Steel Bullet you told me about?"

"I can now say it's one of my specialties."

Patrick answered happily.

"Does that mean a transfer to the extermination bureau is near?"

"I've submitted a transfer request, but it hasn't been approved yet. It seems I need more achievements."

"Achievements, huh? It's hard to build a record in the miscellaneous bureau."

"That's true. If we catch a big monster on this trip, it will count as an achievement."

Ricardo had borrowed Patrick from the miscellaneous bureau under the pretext of helping with his research. Patrick was officially on a mission for the bureau.

"By the way, how is the research on integrating the Thunder Vortex Steel Bullet into a magic cannon?"

"We've completed a prototype, but using a second-grade magic rod in the magic cannon makes the manufacturing cost prohibitively high."

"The Crown Prince said it's fine even if it's expensive."

"But General Samuele said we need to lower the cost to produce them in large numbers."

"Maybe we could get an attribute-colored rod from the Crown Prince, like the one Prince Aurelio requested for his magic cannon."

"I thought about that, but the Thunder Vortex Steel Bullet is a composite magic of fire and earth. I think we need to use two attributes to coat the magic rod."

"That sounds difficult."

Ricardo tried to coat the magic rod in two stages, changing the attributes on the top and bottom, but it didn't work.

He also tried changing the attributes on the left and right sides, but controlling the excited magic power was too difficult and it failed.

At that moment, the idea of a magic furnace came to him, and he became engrossed in that research.

Ricardo and Patrick arrived at the mining site at the foot of the Ascali volcano, where the red Shouryuseki is mined.

They headed to the cliff they had mined before. As they approached their target, they also began to see Crowned Lizards.

"There are still a lot of Crowned Lizards."

"One is easy to handle, but they're troublesome when they attack in groups."

They approached the exposed layer where Shouryuseki could be found and used magic to defeat the attacking Crowned Lizards, clearing the area for mining.

"Someone said a Flame Extinguishing Turtle appeared, but it doesn't seem to be here."

"Let's start mining while we can."

The two began digging into the layer with their pickaxes. Red Shouryuseki fell to the ground, and they picked them up and continued digging.

After about two hours of work, they noticed the Crowned Lizards starting to make a commotion. They began to run towards Ricardo and Patrick, making high-pitched cries.

"This is bad."

Ricardo confirmed that there were over thirty Crowned Lizards and thought about running.

"Let's run."

They had collected about forty Shouryuseki, which was the minimum amount they needed, though it was a bit insufficient.

As they were about to run, they noticed something strange about the Crowned Lizards' movement. Instead of coming towards them, the lizards ran past them and fled.

"This is bad."

"If the Crowned Lizards are running away, it must be the Flame Extinguishing Turtle."

"There's no other explanation. Let's run."

Ricardo and Patrick started running after the Crowned Lizards. After a while, they felt something chasing them from behind and turned around.

There was a giant turtle about seven meters long. Its shell was orange with flame-like patterns.

Seeing the Flame Extinguishing Turtle approaching with a ground-shaking sound, Ricardo realized that coming to mine Shouryuseki at this time was a mistake.

They ran as fast as they could, but the Flame Extinguishing Turtle's speed was the same, and they couldn't escape.

"Why is a turtle so fast?"

"Stop complaining and run faster."

"Can't you do something with your water magic?"

Ricardo asked Patrick.

"Look at that hard shell. I think we need a higher-level magic."

The two continued to run as fast as they could.

Breathless, Patrick suggested,

"Huff, huff... Let's try Ricardo's higher-level magic."

Ricardo nodded and prepared a catalyst. Casting magic while running was difficult. Ricardo managed to control his magic, release it from the Death Prod, and scatter the catalyst.

After confirming that the magic was attribute-activated, Ricardo stopped and began to chant a spell. It took courage to do this with a giant magical beast so close.

"Fana, Rapiseiravon, Sperogoma"

A glowing, scorching sphere was born at the tip of the rod and flew towards the Flame Extinguishing Turtle.

The Flame Extinguishing Turtle retracted its head and limbs into its shell upon noticing the Sun Flame Bullet. The Sun Flame Bullet hit the shell, scattered flames, and was deflected into the air.

"It's no good. Run!"

Ricardo ran as fast as he could. Patrick hurriedly followed.

The Flame Extinguishing Turtle, with its head and limbs out, increased its speed and pursued them.

"We can't escape."

"Ricardo, do something."

"Um, what can I do... I know."

Ricardo took out a catalyst for the Mud Bind spell and cast it in front of the Flame Extinguishing Turtle.

The Flame Extinguishing Turtle's front legs and head sank into the mud pit created by the spell. Ricardo and Patrick stopped to watch.

"It's doing a handstand in the mud. Do you think we can defeat it like this?"

Ricardo looked at the shell and hind legs protruding from the mud, recalling a scene from a Japanese movie he had seen before. If those were human legs, it would be a mystery, he thought for a moment.

At that moment, flames began to spout from around the Flame Extinguishing Turtle, which was doing a handstand in the mud.

The Flame Extinguishing Turtle could breathe fire from its mouth.

"It's not a mystery, it's a monster movie."

Ricardo muttered.

The two ran away as fast as they could. Behind them, the Flame Extinguishing Turtle, blinded by the mud in its eyes, began to breathe fire in all directions, enraged.

Ricardo and Patrick, who managed to escape, sat on the ground, exhausted.

"I thought we were going to die."

"It seems it's best not to approach during the breeding season."

Ricardo realized that there were magical beasts that couldn't be handled with just the Sun Flame Bullet and decided to research higher-level magic other than fire.

Back in the capital, Ricardo continued his research on the magic furnace and completed a magic circuit that could convert heat into magic power. However, because he used red Shouryuseki as the base for the magic circuit, it was found that a small amount of attribute-activated magic power was mixed into the magic power converted from heat.

Originally, Shouryuseki has the effect of attribute-activating magic power. If all the magic power created by the magic furnace's magic circuit was attribute-activated, it would be useful, but the problem was that the attribute-activating effect of Shouryuseki was weak and only a part of the magic power was attribute-activated.

As a result, the magic power created by the magic circuit could not be stored in a magic battery.

This was a headache for Ricardo. Incidentally, the magic power could not be used for magic or magical devices either.

"Is there a Shouryuseki that doesn't attribute-activate magic power?"

Ricardo checked in the library of the Magician's Association. In a book about Shouryuseki research, he found a gemstone called white crystal, which is also known as a fake Shouryuseki.

The white crystal has the same hardness and texture as Shouryuseki, but it does not attribute-activate magic power when magic power is infused.

"Maybe this white crystal is what I'm looking for."

Ricardo went to a store in the capital that dealt with gems and asked the shopkeeper if they had any white crystal.

"We do, but if you're buying it as a gift for a woman, I recommend a diamond instead."

The shopkeeper, who had recognized Ricardo as wealthy, recommended an expensive diamond.

"No, it's not a gift. I want the white crystal."

The white crystal is a gemstone mined in the mountainous region of the Apra territory and is not very popular. Ricardo bought all the white crystal the store had.

Back at the Magician's Association, Ricardo engraved a magic circuit on the white crystal. Normally, a magic circuit is engraved on a pea-sized yellow tree fruit crystal, which cannot accommodate a large number of factor letters.

Therefore, the circuit is divided and engraved on several yellow tree fruit crystals, which are then combined to complete it. However, since Shouryuseki and white crystal are much larger than yellow tree fruit crystals, all the necessary factor letters can be engraved on one.

Ricardo made a steel frame to fit the white crystal with the engraved factor letters and embedded the white crystal in it. Unlike diamonds, which are carbon crystals, Shouryuseki and white crystal have high heat resistance and do not burn even when placed in fire.

Therefore, instead of directly heating the white crystal with fire, which would cause soot and other substances to adhere to the surface, Ricardo decided to heat the metal frame in which the white crystal was embedded.

He prepared a brazier-like device, placed a small amount of firewood in it, and started heating the metal frame with the embedded white crystal.

Ricardo infused a small amount of magic power into the white crystal. Immediately, the magic circuit engraved in the white crystal began to work, converting heat into magic power.

Some of the generated magic power was used to operate the magic circuit, but the excess was released from the white crystal. Ricardo checked the released magic power and confirmed that it was pure magic power.

"Good, it's a success. The white crystal is indeed a Shouryuseki."

Ricardo considered how to design the combustion chamber of the power furnace and decided to make it stove-like.

In this world, stoves were not widespread. There might be some made somewhere, but most homes used fireplaces.

Ricardo remembered that in the real world, stoves became popular after Benjamin Franklin developed a stove surrounded by iron plates in the 18th century.

Unlike fireplaces, stoves have high airtightness, allowing for air supply adjustment and high thermal efficiency.

Ricardo designed a magic furnace similar to a rectangular stove and asked the Galofaro workshop, which had made the container house, to manufacture it.

It would take about ten days, so Ricardo had some waiting time.

Ricardo headed to the breeding grounds for the first time in a while.

The breeding grounds had new buildings: two employee dormitories, a large warehouse, and two silos. The floor of half of the original work shed was boarded, and new looms had been moved in.

As he approached the work shed, he heard the sound of looms: creak, thump, creak, thump. The work shed had become a weaving shed, and Jessica and the others were weaving towel fabric every day.

"Mr. Ricardo, look. Everyone can weave towel fabric now."

The products made from the towel fabric were selling like hotcakes. Knowing this, Michela and Jessica were enthusiastic.

"I have a consultation."

Michela called out to Ricardo.

"What is it?"

"I want to increase the number of weavers. About five more."

"Since you're in charge of weaving, Michela, you can hire more if you want."

"Thank you."

When he went to the new warehouse, Antonio was checking the number of salted baccala stacked there.

"Brother, you look busy."

"What are you talking about? It's all your fault."

Antonio was already busy with the cultivation of the monster trees, and he had started fishing for baccala and making salted baccala.

"I'm sorry. If you're busy, hire more people."

"That's true, but even if we hire, they won't become productive right away."

"I think training is necessary, but simple tasks should be fine."

"I'll think about it."