Two days after Princess Regina was born to Queen Maruca, the crafters of Wing Crest gathered at the Crafting Hall.
It wasn’t because MARS or the communication devices were completed, but rather to verify magic power and materials. Until now, everyone had been too busy with their own schedules, so they could only conduct individual, rudimentary tests. Today, however, everyone’s schedules finally aligned, allowing for a thorough verification. It had been over a month since Yamato evolved into an Element Human, but fortunately, his equipment seemed fine. This lack of urgency was also a reason for the delay in verification.
“I believe that if any of the magic strength, hardness, or magic conductivity is 5 or less, it won’t be able to withstand the magic power of High-Class beings.”
“If we consider the total or average values, the boundary becomes ambiguous. Perhaps the concept of a minimum line is clearer that way.”
“But it’s not impossible to make a judgment based on the total or average values, is it?”
“That’s true. Many people don’t even know the specific values for magic strength, hardness, or magic conductivity. In that sense, the total or average values might be easier to understand.”
“Certainly, for something like a chart, those would be better. But don’t decimal points often get rounded down?”
“That’s right…”
This kind of headache-inducing debate had been going on for a while. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it, and Fiana and Reina had been looking utterly lost. Flamm and Clara, surprisingly, were following the discussion properly, as they had been diligently studying. What was surprising in a different sense was Chief Crafter Ed. He had a critical weakness for a crafter: being bad with numbers, so he occasionally looked like he wanted to escape.
“If decimal points are rounded down, wouldn’t multiplying by 10 or 100 solve the problem?”
“If that’s the case, it might be faster to create a dedicated formula.”
“Even if you say formula, isn’t it something that can’t be easily created?”
“If it’s a simple one, just looking at the magic values of the materials, I think it would prevent confusion.”
Mako was saying something difficult. It’s true that numbers are important for crafters, and formulas are essential when building structures, beast carriages, or ships. However, even a seasoned G-rank crafter, if they hadn’t majored in it, would be completely baffled. And yet, she was talking about creating such formulas…
“It’s simple. Just multiply the average value by 10… see.”
“Oh, the decimal point is gone now.”
With the decimal point gone, it certainly looked cleaner. Oh, and I forgot to mention, the metals we prepared this time, when averaged, looked like this.
Iron: 5
Magic Silver: 6.3
Adamantine Steel: 6.3
Crystal Silver: 5.3
Jade Silver: 7.3
Blue-Gray Iron: 7
Lapis Laz: 7.7
Magic Silver and Adamantine Steel had the same numerical value, but it was surprising that Blue-Gray Iron was slightly inferior when made into an alloy. However, with adjustments to the composition ratio, it might be possible to approach Jade Silver, and for the same reason, Lapis Laz’s performance might be further improved, so it’s currently under research. Divine Metal couldn’t be prepared, but its overall and average values are the same as Lapis Laz, so a comparison is possible for now. I definitely wanted the actual item, though.
“However, this is too rough, and we can’t determine the boundary between High-Class and Ancient Class.”
“While it has become easier to see, all we can understand is that anything below 7 cannot withstand High-Class magic.”
“When Element Class is included, it becomes even more confusing.”
Mako wore a troubled expression, and Marina and Flamm followed suit. It’s true. Alloys are metals that can be commonly used not just by High-Class beings but even by Ancient Class. However, based on the average values, it’s difficult to predict how far Ancient Class beings can withstand them, or what the situation is for Element Class. In that case, as Yamato said, it’s easier to understand that if any of the three values are 5 or less, it cannot withstand High-Class magic.
“Regarding magic durability, I agree with Yamato, but isn’t that sufficient?”
“It’s not that it’s insufficient, but then the category of ‘magic durability’ itself… Ah!”
“Ugh… why didn’t I realize that?”
“Right. Because Magic Silver and Adamantine Steel were considered difficult for High-Class use, we were trapped by the preconceived notion that such a thing didn’t exist.”
Mako, Marina, and Yamato made faces of realization at Clara’s simple question. I didn’t understand what they were talking about, but Yamato’s explanation made it clear. Originally, Magic Silver, Adamantine Steel, and Crystal Silver would quickly degrade or cause magic fatigue when used by High-Class beings. Therefore, weapons and armor alike would last at most a few months, and sometimes break during combat, necessitating the storage of a large number of spare arms and armor. While alloys have mitigated this issue, before their development, this was the norm, and I heard that evolving into High-Class significantly worsened the problem of arms and armor. Yamato and Prim also faced similar difficulties, leading them to involve Ed in the development of alloys. In other words, evolving into High-Class means that most metals, except for Divine Metal, become difficult to use. That’s why no one had ever paid attention to magic durability.
“Um, could it be that the Measuring Tool also has a ‘magic durability’ category?”
“We won’t know unless we look, but it wouldn’t be strange if it did.”
“Right. Shall we try it immediately?”
Yamato and Ed, in response to Fiana, immediately used the Measuring Tool on the Magic Silver before them. When using the Measuring Tool on metallic materials, it typically measures magic strength, hardness, and magic conductivity, with weight sometimes being added. It’s also possible to hide unnecessary categories, so if there is a “magic durability” category, it should be displayed if we focus on it.
“There’s not only magic strength, hardness, and magic conductivity, but also weight, size, toughness, boiling point, and melting point.”
“I didn’t expect there to be 10 categories in total.”
“Th-there were that many?”
Yamato and Ed seemed to have opened all the categories, but they hadn’t expected there to be 10 in total.
“I have a feeling that this ‘magic durability’ and ‘magic accumulation rate’ are related.”
“Right. Judging by the names, ‘magic durability’ is probably the resistance to magic itself, and ‘magic accumulation rate’ is the value for storing magic.”
That’s probably right. We’re currently looking at Magic Silver, and it was surprising that both its magic durability and magic accumulation rate were a mere 5. I thought they would be higher, so I was a bit taken aback.
“Adamantine Steel has a magic durability of 6 and a magic accumulation rate of 4, while Crystal Silver has a magic durability of 5 and a magic accumulation rate of 7. So they’re not particularly low.”
“When made into an alloy, it becomes at least 7, doesn’t it? If it changes this much, it feels like metals are meant to be made into alloys.”
Mako and Flamm were also confirming with the Measuring Tool. Indeed, alloys are amazing. Jade Silver has a magic durability of 8.7 and a magic accumulation rate of 8.8, and Lapis Laz has a remarkable 10.8. Compared to Magic Silver, Adamantine Steel, and Crystal Silver, their performance has significantly improved. Yamato had mentioned that alloys were generally like this, but the extent of the improvement suggests, as Flamm said, that using them as alloys is the correct approach.
“That may be so, but on the contrary, it’s become more troublesome. Why is that?”
“Because I thought that low magic durability meant it couldn’t withstand High-Class magic, but Adamantine Steel has a magic durability of 6, which isn’t low, is it?”
“Ah, right!”
This is indeed quite troublesome. I truly hadn’t expected a “magic durability” category to exist, but now that it does, we believe it must be related. However, Magic Silver and Crystal Silver are 5, and Adamantine Steel is 6. I thought they would be lower.
“…Alright!”
Suddenly, Mako, who had been silent, gave a small fist pump. Wait, what is she doing?
“Look at this. It’s the total value of magic strength, hardness, magic conductivity, magic durability, and magic accumulation rate. When you double it, it becomes this.”
Looking at the table Mako had written on paper, it showed the values for metals other than Divine Metal.
Iron: 40
Magic Silver: 58
Crystal Silver: 56
Adamantine Steel: 58
Jade Silver: 74
Blue-Gray Iron: 74
Lapis Laz: 82
“These numbers are easier to understand.”
“Yes. If all the categories were 10, the calculation would result in 100, so I think it’s easy to use as a benchmark.”
To have figured that out in such a short time, what kind of brain does she have? But as Ed said, it has indeed become easier to understand.
“Judging by these numbers, anything below 60 cannot withstand High-Class magic.”
“We do have things like leather and wood, so we can’t say for sure, but for now, that’s what it means.”
“So, using these numbers as a standard, will we investigate how they perform when used by High-Class, Ancient Class, and Element Class beings?”
“The standard is easy to understand, so that’s how it will be.”
Ah, so that’s how they intend to investigate.
“We don’t have Divine Metal, but is that alright?”
“I understand what Fiana is implying, but we can’t help it if we don’t have it.”
“Right. Besides, it’s likely to have a similar value to Lapis Laz. The verification will have to wait until we can get the real thing, but since its distribution is limited, let’s skip it this time.”
I was also curious about Divine Metal, but it’s unavoidable if we don’t have it. When we can eventually obtain it, we’ll conduct a thorough verification then.
After that, we conducted our verification of the metallic materials based on the table Mako had created. As a result, we found that Jade Silver and Blue-Gray Iron could not withstand the magic of Element Class beings, and only Lapis Laz could. In terms of numbers, 80 seems to be the boundary between Ancient Class and Element Class. Therefore, the boundary between High-Class and Ancient Class is likely 70.
“The results are surprising again.”
“Yeah. I’m truly glad Lapis Laz was completed.”
Among the metallic materials tested this time, only Lapis Laz, with its performance value of 82, was found to potentially withstand even Element Class magic. Yamato can now generate new Wing Bit Liberators, and it seems he can even hold those Wing Bits in his hand. However, he is more accustomed to using the Azure Silver Sword – Pale Green, so it’s difficult to use in a pinch. Therefore, being able to continue using the Lapis Laz Azure Silver Sword – Pale Green is significant not only for combat readiness but also for Yamato’s morale.
“However, this verification hasn’t finalized anything, and we can’t completely rule out any possibilities. If we get our hands on Divine Metal, we’ll obviously investigate that, but perhaps we should try to create some alloys?”
“Oh, that sounds interesting!”
Indeed, as Ed mentioned, we haven’t definitively confirmed that it’s absolutely safe. So, if we get Divine Metal, trying to create an alloy with it seems like a valid option. Not only Reina, who spoke up, but also Marina, Raus, and Fiana seemed enthusiastic. However, Reina is prioritizing her Hunter activities, so her Crafter Rank remains at C. Yamato, Ed, and Raus are agonizing over whether to enroll her in the Memoria General School, scheduled to open next year, or keep her as she is. We’ll think about that later. Creating a Divine Metal alloy does sound interesting. I’m curious about Divine Metal’s performance value, but if an alloy can be made, I believe it will surpass the performance of Divine Metal and Lapis Laz. Therefore, I am absolutely determined to help when it comes to creating a Divine Metal alloy. However, before that, I would also like to research the composition ratios of Jade Silver and Blue-Gray Iron. If successful, it could improve their performance, and perhaps they might even become usable by Element Class beings. Of course, that’s a different matter if there are many people who can evolve into Element Class.
