Chapter 394 (1/2)

Magi Craft Meister 388

Theorist’s Days

Three days had now passed since Reinhardt, Berthie, and Saki were officially welcomed into the Hourai Island family.

It went without saying, that they all enjoyed themselves during that time.

Reinhardt completed the paddleboat that he had wanted to make, and Saki increased her knowledge on various materials.

As for Elsa, she was gaining experience by making magic tools that Jin had made up until now…such as vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, lighters, popcorn makers, distillers, and magic lamps.

As for Berthie, who was neither a Magi Craftsman or an alchemist, she studied under Peridot, one of the golem maids. And she learned how to cook new things and expanded her repertoire.

But it was not as if Edgar, Ehr, Neon, and Noir were standing around and doing nothing either.

Edgar was with Laozi, Ehr with Butler 1, and Neon was with Soleil and Luna. And Noir learned a lot from Land 1.

“Hmm. Jin, this development environment is wonderful!”

Reinhardt said happily when he came back from testing his paddleboat at Tatsumi Harbor. For now, he had Marine 50 and 51 driving the boat.

“I don’t think I can go back to using an ordinary workshop…”

Reinhardt muttered with a smile. While he stayed in the workshop during the day, Berthie always dragged him out during the night, so he was getting enough rest at least.

“Reiko. Would you mind helping me?”

It seemed like Elsa was going to start something with her again. Recently, Reiko had been listening to any problems that Elsa had. And Elsa really relied on her.

“What is it?”

“Yes. This time, I’m thinking about making an accessory instead of a magic tool…”

“I understand. You want a design.”

Through Laojun, Reiko had all of the world information that Quinta had gathered.

And that included designs that were popular among noblewomen.

“Jin, I want to talk to you. Is that alright?”

As Saki saw things differently from Magi Craftsmen like Jin, he always found her interesting.

Saki was currently dressed in white. It was made of cloth that was weaved from the webs of a Grand Spider. Jin had given it to her as a present. It stayed clean and was very durable.

She looked like a mad researcher. Her glasses really suited her.

“What is it?”

“Yes, it’s about engineering magic. Uh, what is engineering magic?”

“Hmm? …It’s magic you use for Magi Craft.”

It was the most obvious answer. But Saki was not satisfied with it.

“No, no. That’s not what I want to ask you. Hmm. Maybe I should rephrase it.”

Saki said as she looked out of the crystal window.

“You, Elsa, Reinhardt and Magi Craftsmen can use a magic called ‘Forming,’ right?”

“Ah, that’s right. That is engineering magic.”

“And you can process Adamantite if you can use Forming?”

“Yes.”

“Adamantite is the strongest metal known to man. And you can’t affect it with magical energy. So if they can change its shape, shouldn’t it require incredibly powerful magic?”

“I see.”

Jin understood what Saki was trying to say.

For instance, it required almost limitless power to bend Adamantite. However, Forming made it possible with only a little magic energy. Why was that?

“Hmm. I hadn’t really thought about that…”

Jin had a few theories of his own. He decided to organize them in his head and then explain them.

“Forming is the affecting of atoms or molecules of substances, wherein weakening their binding power, you can change their shape.”

“I don’t really understand. So, are you saying that you weaken it first and then change the shape?”

Saki didn’t really understand terms like atoms and molecules. But she seemed to grasp the general idea.

“Wouldn’t that make Forming one of the strongest kinds of magic? Swords, armor and even castle walls will become useless if you change their shape, right?”

“Hmm. But it doesn’t really work like that. First, the user must be touching the object. And the thing that you can transform must be proportionate in size with the amount of your magic energy.”

“Hmm, hmm. In other words, you must be touching it and have a lot of magic energy.”

“Yes. And it also takes time to activate. You touch it, send the energy into the object, and then change its shape. This is time-consuming. It’s not like unleashing a fireball.”

While Jin was an exception, for most people it would be impossible to use Forming to bend a sword that was swinging towards you. Similarly, making a path through a castle wall would take way too much energy.

“I see. I understand it perfectly now. Thank you.”

They had a lot of small conversations like this.

This one was on the first day. And on the second day…

“Jin. Is it true that engineering magic doesn’t work on living creatures?”

Saki asked him.

“Yes, that’s right. For instance, you can’t use Shaping on a tree. Yet you can use Wind Cutter to cut it down.”