by Hiro Ainana
Next, I added the core powder and the stabilizer to the liquid copper inside the pot. There was a light pop and a small puff of red smoke—but no smell.
I poured the completed circuit solution into the grooves of the wooden board. This time, I smelled something scorching as smoke rose from the hot liquid burning the wood.
Maybe I should’ve let it cool a bit before I poured it.
> Skill Acquired: “Magic-Tool Crafting”
I gained another skill as soon as I completed the process, so I maxed out both and activated them.
Now, the next step was to verify that the circuit worked, but I had no idea how to do that. All Foundations of Magic Tools said was When you have completed the process, try letting magic flow into it.
The authors had probably neglected to describe this detail because it was so obvious to them.
“What are you making?”
Noticing that I’d reached a good stopping point, Arisa, who’d been ignoring the study cards to peek at me curiously for a while now, joined me to talk.
“Magic tool number one.”
“Really? You can make those yourself?”
“I guess so. Want to test it out?”
“May I?”
Arisa looked so excited that I felt guilty.
“Try letting magic flow into it.”
“No problem! To use a magic tool, you just have to send the power from your right hand to your left, right?”
Thanks for the explanation. Now I could sneakily pull off some trial and error.
“All righty, here goes!”
Arisa poured her magic into the tool, and the dull copper glowed a reddish gold.
“All right, that should be enough.”
“So what happens now?”
“Once you put it in, the magic will flow through the circuit.”
“Nice, nice. Then what?”
“That’s it. It goes around the circuit till it runs out.”
“What? Really?”
“This is my first time making something like this, so it’s not gonna be complicated.”
“Aw, man, you got my hopes up there…,” Arisa complained, extremely unsatisfied.
Really, I’m not sure why you would expect a simple circle to do something complicated.
Losing interest, Arisa went back to the spell book she’d been reading.
I waited until her magic ran out of the circuit and the copper returned to its original color.
Now it was my turn to try. Judging by Arisa’s MP gauge, I needed to use only a tiny bit.
Cautiously, I put my hands over the magic circuit and imagined magic flowing from my right hand into my left.
The next moment, my creation burst into pieces in a flash of red light.
I reacted instantly, grabbing the overcoat I’d put nearby just in case and catching the fragments of copper and wood before they flew everywhere.
“Enemiiies?”
“Watch out, sir!”
Tama and Pochi rushed over at the sudden explosion. Liza and the others peered in my direction, too.
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing. Sorry for startling you.”
I apologized to the group and returned to my experiment.
Reviewing my log, I saw that I’d gained all sorts of skills and titles from that little mishap.
> Skill Acquired: “Magic Manipulation”
> Skill Acquired: “Overload”
> Title Acquired: Magic-Tool Designer
> Title Acquired: Magic-Tool Engineer
> Title Acquired: Agent of Destruction
The skills seemed helpful, so I put some points into each.
Since “Overload” seemed intended for sabotage, I changed it to “inactive” afterward. It could come in handy if I ever needed to destroy dangerous magic equipment.
I re-created the same circuit and tried infusing it again. Since I had the “Magic Manipulation” skill now, I figured it should be okay, but I moved a few paces away from Arisa before starting the experiment in case any debris went flying.
This time, I supplied the magic without any problems. Perhaps because I had crafted it with my newly acquired high-level skills, the circuit circulated the energy more than ten times longer than the first one.
Once I had mastered this, I had the feeling I could potentially use it to make a condenser or an MP battery or something.
I continued experimenting until it was time for bed, working through the practice circuits in Foundations of Magic Tools.
As a result, I realized that magic circuits shared many similarities with electrical circuits in both structure and function. Some sections would have been identical if you replaced magic with electricity.
However, there were also circuits with features that seemed physically impossible—they weren’t totally interchangeable.
There were many that I would’ve liked to try prototyping, but I didn’t have the gear or materials. I had some tools in my spoils from the Cradle and the Valley of Dragons, but it was so difficult to find the right ingredients that I just gave up.
I’d have to buy them in the next town. My shopping list was so long I was afraid I’d forget things, so I used the Memo function in the social networking tab to prioritize.
After a satisfying dinner with plenty of mutton, we enjoyed some after-dinner tea.
Liza, who looked like she’d been mulling something over for a while, made up her mind and approached me.
“Master, I would like to carry out some training with Pochi and Tama to ensure our skills remain intact. Is that all right?”
I’d been a bit nervous about what she might say to me, but since it was nothing major, I readily agreed.
Of course, real swords would be dangerous, so I cut down a nearby tree and fashioned wooden swords and a wooden staff roughly the same shape as a spear.
“Master, I would like to participate as well, I entreat,” Nana said.
“Sure, that’s fine,” I said, watching the beastfolk girls enjoying their practice. I fashioned a wooden rapier for her.
“Just don’t use Magic Arrows during training.”
“Restriction registered. Master, your command has been accepted, I report.”
Nana nodded expressionlessly.
The beastfolk girls were level 13, so since Nana was only about half their level at level 7, I gave her permission to use her Foundation Magic’s Body Strengthening spell. It would make for an appropriate handicap.
I let them engage in one-on-one and two-on-two practice battles. Since I was serving as the referee and on-call medic, I didn’t take part in the training.
As expected, Liza came in first by a long shot, followed by Tama, Pochi, and Nana.
Tama’s skill lay in evasion, thus she had a knack for earning a draw by dodging her opponent’s attacks until time ran out. Pochi’s attacks were about as good as Liza’s, but she was too focused on offense, at the expense of defense and evasion, so Liza used those openings to defeat her.
Poor Nana didn’t win a single match. She might have been able to win by a narrow margin if she could have used her Magic Arrows, but for now it seemed that the beastfolk girls’ higher levels and energy were too much for her. However, she was the best defender of the four. She’d probably be a good tank once her level was higher.
After the four of them cleaned off the sweat from training, they ate some soup that Lulu had reheated for them, and I put them to bed.
While I was on first watch with Arisa, a vampire bat attacked us. Though the name made it sound like a monster, it was just a normal bloodsucking bat.
I reached into my coat to pull my Magic Gun out of Storage and shot it down through one of its wings.
Then, nocking an arrow to the short bow, I acquired the “Bow” skill by pressing it into the bat as it flopped around on the ground.
I didn’t want to torture the animal, so I used a knife to kill it instantly once I’d acquired the skill.
The next day, the fifth morning since our depa
rture from the city, I awoke to see a mountain of prepped and stripped vampire bats.
When I’d checked my map the night before, I hadn’t seen any nests nearby, so they must have attacked a bunch of times until morning.
As a result, we had grilled bat for breakfast. They smelled pretty good, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat any. I just pretended to taste one and left the rest to everyone else.
Arisa and Lulu felt the same way I did, so the grilled bats disappeared into the stomachs of the beastfolk girls. The three of them gleefully ate their fill, bones and all. I guess maybe they were tastier than they looked.
I’m on a journey through another world—maybe I should work up the courage to try it next time.
As I made this resolution, the carriage brought us out of Seiryuu County and into Kuhanou County.
Monster Attack
Satou here. When I visited my parents back home, I saw signs that said BEWARE OF BEARS, but luckily, I never encountered any. Seeing one from a car is one thing, but I would never want to meet one face-to-face.
“Master, the sky looks a bit ominous. It might start raining while we’re crossing the mountains.”
We’d just passed over the county border in the mountains when Lulu gave a report from the driver’s seat.
She was right. Without my noticing, dark clouds had gathered above us. It was nearly lunchtime, but we’d likely have to eat in the carriage.
I took a waterproof cloak out of the Garage Bag and put it on. The girls would probably be fine inside the carriage, but I gave everyone their rain gear anyway and told them to wear it.
“Lulu, I’ll take over.”
“Yes, sir. The road is narrow here, so please stay close to the side of the mountain if possible.”
“All right.”
I took the reins from Lulu.
The road certainly had narrowed since we’d entered the mountains, and now there was barely enough room for two carriages to pass each other. Perhaps out of consideration, the slope of the road was very gentle. Still, due to the path’s numerous twist and turns, visibility far ahead was poor.
Farther into the mountains, I could see four horses and a carriage rushing around. Of course, “rushing” for a horse-drawn carriage was still slower than the average motorbike, but I wondered if something had happened.
I selected Search Entire Map from my magic menu and gathered information about Kuhanou County.
There were three people on horseback following the carriage—I’d guessed they were robbers at first, but they were escorts. The carriage was indeed under attack, though, by nearly thirty red points on the radar. I couldn’t see them from here, but once I selected one dot, I discovered that it was a pack of wolves.
I caught a glimpse of one of the mounted guards fighting off the wolves with a short bow.
The escort captain was around Liza’s level. The other two were level 6 or 7—about the same strength as an average soldier, I’d say. The wolves were only levels 3 to 5, so as long as they didn’t overtake and surround the carriage, the riders would probably be fine.
Nevertheless, we were well on our way to a head-on collision with the fleeing carriage, which prompted me to check the map for a place to escape.
Over the next ridge was an apparent rest area with a hut where we could get out of the way, so I spurred the coach toward it.
“Dooogs?”
“Lots of them, sir!”
Clad in their rain gear, Pochi and Tama clambered up to the front to report that they’d spotted the pack through the trees.
“Those are wolves. They’re chasing a carriage.”
I corrected the two of them, then conveyed the situation to the rest of the group inside once they’d finished changing clothes.
“Wolves after a carriage? Why, that sounds to me like a flag for saving a princess or a noble!”
Arisa sounded thrilled about what she believed was a scripted encounter, but I told her not to be ridiculous. Besides, I’d already cleared both a princess rescue mission and a noble rescue mission.
As if some god of fate had heard this joke and taken offense, a giant wolf the size of a cart itself attacked the mounted escorts. I must have blinked or glanced away for a second, because I could have sworn it teleported in front of the horseman.
The cavalry captain defended himself against the giant beast’s attack, but three more wolves of the same size leaped at him. Unable to defend against the pack, he quickly fell. The other two horsemen saw this, dropped their bows, and tried to flee. A sensible decision.
I wanted to help them, but a short bow wouldn’t reach from this distance. The Magic Gun was out, too, since it had about the same range.
But a spear or a throwing stone might reach.
I stopped our carriage and threw a rock at one of the huge wolves. Ignoring air resistance and gravitational acceleration, the missile rocketed at subsonic speed and smashed through the giant wolf’s head.
I got ready for a second shot, but just as suddenly as they’d appeared, the other giant wolves vanished on the spot. The dots on my radar suggested they were going after the horse-drawn carriage.
I investigated the details of the giant wolves on the map. They were rocket wolves, monsters with levels in the late teens, with the Unique Skills “Jet Propulsion” and “Kin Control.”
…So they were the same species as the pup that Tama had caught before.
“We’ll ambush the wolves in the open area coming up. Get ready for battle, everyone.”
A chorus of confirmations sounded in reply. Even the horses answered with snorts full of fighting spirit.
“Do your best, Rye, sir!”
“You toooo, Effie!”
Pochi and Tama encouraged the horses before readying their bucklers and short swords. Rye was the horse on the right, and Effie was the horse on the left. Needless to say, the inspiration for their names came from their respective sides of the carriage.
“Lulu, drive for me, please. I’m going to go on ahead to the plaza.”
Lulu hurried into the coachman’s stand to take the reins from me, and I broke into a run down the road alone. Of course, I couldn’t sprint at full force or I’d wreck the road, so I limited myself to the speed of an average car.
As I ran, I checked on the map.
In that short period of time, the remaining two escorts had become the rocket wolves’ prey, men and horses alike.
But the escorts had bought time, and the carriage was still safe. The archers riding in the back were hard at work keeping the pursuing wolves at bay.
The smaller ones were just ordinary brown wolves. The rocket wolves’ Kin Control ability was probably controlling them.
I arrived at the plaza. It was bigger than I’d thought. There were trees along the side of the valley to shield from the wind and enough space for three or so horse-drawn carriages to park. A bit higher up on the mountainside was a little log cabin.
The first drops of rain finally fell from the heavy clouds.
I looked farther up the mountainside, past the flat area with the hut. I should be able to snipe the wolves on the mountain pass from there.
Moving quickly, I took a short bow and some arrows out of Storage.
…Crap, I only have ten arrows.
Clicking my tongue, I kept my eyes on the brown wolves and the carriage as they slid in and out of sight, sniping one and then another. I aimed for their vitals, so most of my shots were one-hit kills.
> Title Acquired: Bow Expert
The rapid-fire rate of the bow was even faster than that of the Magic Gun.
I caught sight of one of the rocket wolves and disposed of it. My last arrow wasn’t enough to take it out, so I pulled out my Magic Gun from Storage for the finishing shot.
Since the power of the short bow depended on how strongly the bowstring was pulled, the level of the user had little effect.
After this, I defeated a few more brown wolves with the Magic Gun, but the road took a wide curve along th
e side of another mountain, making me lose sight of them.
Below me, the carriage with the rest of my group arrived, and I went down to join them.
“I got rid of about half the wolves. There are two more of the giant ones—those are called rocket wolves. They’re really strong, so we’ll take them out one at a time together.”
Even the beastfolk girls would have difficulty beating those monsters one-on-one without injury.
I had Lulu hide inside the hut and tied the horses to a tree obscured in the shadows behind it.
Arisa was rolling up her sleeves and pinwheeling her arms in the air, but I had to have a quiet word with her and burst her bubble.
“Arisa. Don’t use your Unique Skills.”
“What? Master, could it be that you’ve finally fallen for the amazing Arisa and all of her—”
“That’s an order.”
“Fiiine.”
Arisa dropped to her hands and knees in a dramatic display of disappointment. I felt bad, but I wanted to heed the advice Zen had given me on the verge of his death. I had to make sure we didn’t carelessly use Unique Skills like Arisa’s One-Shot Cannon move.
Under the shadow of the mountain, the carriage came into view on the hill, about a hundred feet away.
White steam rose from the horse’s rain-soaked body.
“The carriaaage!”
“All right, time to attack.”
At Tama’s report, I gave the go-ahead to start the battle.
Mia’s bow and arrow, Pochi’s and Tama’s stones, and Nana’s Magic Arrows all descended upon the wolves pursuing the carriage. Since Arisa’s Psychic Magic could potentially affect the carriage, we didn’t use it here.
I fired at the wolves, too, with one Magic Gun in each hand.
“Whoa, dual-wielded guns? Now, that’s hot! Ahh, I wish digital cameras existed in this world!”
I paid no attention to Arisa’s comments and took out one brown wolf after another.
As the workhorse reached the top of the hill and started down, I caught a good look at the carriage. Below the torn-up canopy, I saw a rocket wolf just seconds away from eating the coachman. There was no sign of the guards who had been in the back.
