As December draws to a close, I was engrossed in crafting MARS at the Crafting Hall.
MINERVA, currently under construction in Glacian, is scheduled for completion in May. Since multiple MARS units will be installed there, I need to start producing them now to meet the deadline. Some modifications are planned, even though I have the materials and blueprints ready. While rapid completion is impressive, it also means an earlier deadline, proving that faster isn’t always better.
“Yamato, regarding the barrier, the idea you mentioned seems viable.”
“Oh, really? Then please make adjustments in that direction.”
“Understood!”
Ludia is in charge of the barrier adjustments. She was the one who initially proposed the concept and came up with the current improvement plan.
Meanwhile, I am diligently working on creating the MARS units to be installed in Glacian’s MINERVA. The official announcement has been made: the MARS facilities at Memoria General Academy and Glacian are both to be named MINERVA. This naturally led to the Coliseum also being referred to as MINERVA. While the units will be of the same model as those installed there, I’m continuing to refine them to achieve smoother monster movements.
“Ludia, about this barrier, what if we tried to replicate a water surface?”
“I considered that, but it would require constant use of Flying or Scaffolding on our end, and it would necessitate a height from the ground, making it more dangerous than regular water combat.”
“I understand that. That’s why we can prepare a ship-shaped platform and project the ship’s barrier onto it, allowing us to recreate shipboard combat, right?”
“Ah, I see!”
Mako’s idea was a blind spot for me. Thanks to the Flying and Scaffolding proposed by Prim and Mako, the number of Hunters engaging in water combat has increased, leading to more opportunities to hunt sea monsters. Consequently, the simulated battles at Memoria’s MINERVA often involve sea monsters. However, in Memoria’s MINERVA sea battles, the barrier is deployed in a way that Hunters enter the water, and monsters attack from all 360 degrees. This has led to some requests for simulated battles that could replicate naval combat or shipboard situations. The idea had been postponed due to a lack of inspiration, but Mako’s proposal seems perfectly capable of addressing it, and MARS might require only minor adjustments.
“However, wouldn’t that put them in mortal danger if they were to fall, not to mention serious injury?”
“The replica ships are only for projecting the barrier, so we plan to place them on the ground.”
Huh? I thought the replica ships would be positioned at a much higher elevation. They intend to place them directly on the ground? Honestly, that would make it difficult to even deploy small monsters.
“Since it’s a phantom, there should be no problem with them emerging from beneath the ground. Besides, Ludia’s barrier is already spherical, so it covers the area beneath the ground. There might be other places like the Krater Labyrinth, and more might appear in the future. We can keep that aspect as is and make the new one purely for water combat, creating a distinction.”
That was a revelation. Indeed, the barrier is spherical and confirmed to cover the sky above the Coliseum, so it should also extend underground. Furthermore, only monsters like Undines, Water Dragonewts, and Dragonians engage in underwater combat, and simulations haven’t been adequately equipped to handle them. In water combat, it’s not uncommon to be unable to track monsters beneath the surface, so an attack from directly underground, a completely unseen location, could be overlooked. If we can also project ship phantoms, they can serve as platforms and even provide ship protection.
“That’s great! I never even thought of projecting ships as phantoms!”
“Losing the ship would count as a defeat, so that part will need adjustment.”
“If the land is visible, those who are accustomed to it can use Flying or Scaffolding to move. Otherwise, they’ll just fall into the sea due to Mana Depletion.”
“That’s true. We’ll need to prepare replica ships as platforms, but if we imbue them with Telekinetic Magic, setting them up and removing them won’t be a hassle.”
Right. We can adjust the setting where losing the ship means defeat by having the phantom disappear. In actual water combat, sinking the ship would mean the end, and if they were on a Guard mission, it would lead to mission failure.
“Oh, in that case, what if we also prepared replica Beast Carriages? We could add situations like encountering monsters during escort missions.”
“That’s a good idea. We could also set it up as if they were traveling, not on an escort mission.”
“If that’s the case, wouldn’t only one monster phantom feel insufficient?”
That’s exactly the issue… Currently, MARS can only produce one monster phantom at a time. While increasing the core Magic Stone or the number of MARS units could be a solution, it would be too costly and would require too much space. Moreover, simply increasing the number of monsters isn’t meaningful if their movements are monotonous. The phantoms need to operate completely independently yet cooperatively; otherwise, there’s no point. I do want to replicate Labyrinth floods eventually, but that seems like a very long way off.
“Is the Magic Stone you’re currently using an Abyss Panther’s, if I recall correctly?”
“Yes. We defeated several during the Labyrinth flood at the Gagun Labyrinth.”
The MARS units planned for Memoria General Academy and Glacian utilize processed Magic Stones from A-C rank monsters, specifically Abyss Panthers. Going any higher would involve O-rank monsters, but all O-rank monster Magic Stones are currently from Demise Species and are presented to the Celestial Emperor’s Family, making them inaccessible to us, even for MARS. If we absolutely wanted to use them, we’d have to enter a labyrinth and search for O-rank monsters. Since the first one must be presented, we’d need to hunt at least two of the same monster.
“Even with A-C rank Magic Stones, there’s a processing capacity shortage. Making it a multi-core system might be an option, have you tried that?”
“Ah, no, we haven’t tried that. But you’re right, that’s a possibility.”
Multi-core means parallel processing. That might indeed work.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Even though I suggested it, it might still be a bit difficult.”
“Why…? Ah, I see, it probably is.”
However, Mako herself put the brakes on it, and I also realized the reason.
“Huh? Why won’t it work?”
“It sounded like a good idea!”
Ludia and Flam seem confused, but I was slow to realize it, and Mako, who suggested it, appears to feel the same.
“Even if you increase the number of core Magic Stones, you can only set one Magic Stone for the phantom, right? You *could* increase them, but that would be no different from installing multiple MARS units, rendering it meaningless.”
“Furthermore, the information from the Magic Stone is that of the individual it came from. Even if you successfully increase the number, there might be no variation between monster individuals, and their movements could be identical. While movement can be adjusted, individual differences are impossible to overcome.”
Even the same monster species has individual variations, and MARS replicates those as well. Moreover, even if we enabled parallel processing, if we had to increase the socket for Magic Stones, it would just add extra work. In that case, installing another MARS unit would have the same cost.
“Ah, so that’s how it is.”
“In other words, replicating Labyrinth floods is impossible in our current situation?”
“That’s right.”
The solution likely involves using Demise Species Magic Stones, but since Demise Species haven’t even been sighted in labyrinths, it’s far from realistic. Even if we could get permission from Emperor Reinhardt to use them, there’s no guarantee, making it incredibly difficult.
“So, A-C rank Magic Stones are the best option available right now. Still, M-rank and above cannot be said to be perfectly replicated, so we’re left with either revising the affixed magic or changing the Magic Stone’s attribute.”
*Changing the Magic Stone’s attribute isn’t realistic, so revising the magic is the only option.*
“That’s also problematic.”
Revising the magic is also tough, as we’ve already affixed a considerable number of spells. While a list of affixed spells exists, it would be faster to list the ones not yet affixed. Most of those are spells with no practical use in simulated battles, like Storing or Inventorying, so revising them wouldn’t be very meaningful.
Yes, we’re completely stuck.
“It can’t be helped. Let’s give up for now. Perhaps we can consider it later if we ever obtain O-rank Magic Stones.”
“Yes. There’s no point in yearning for what we don’t have. For now, let’s focus on producing MARS for Glacian and upgrading Memoria’s version.”
“Agreed.”
“Understood.”
We don’t know if we’ll ever have an opportunity to obtain O-rank Magic Stones, but since we don’t have them now, there’s nothing we can do. For now, as Mako said, MARS for Glacian and Memoria are the top priorities.
“Ludia, we’ll proceed with your barrier idea, but the control panel will need to be replaced. Could you please handle that as well?”
“Understood. And while I’m at it, I’ll also prepare the phantoms for ships and beast carriages.”
“It must be a lot for you, Ludia alone, so I’ll help too.”
“I appreciate that.”
The control panel is set into a Magic Stone socket and has ten registered barrier patterns. Ludia’s idea is to consolidate the background patterns into a single Magic Stone and deploy the background barrier by pressing a corresponding switch. While the rank of the Magic Stone to be processed as a Tenma Stone will have to be increased, it will still be less costly than using ten Magic Stones and will allow for a smaller control panel. It’s also easy to prepare space for additional switches, and adding new backgrounds won’t require much effort. This is a common system on Earth, so either I or Mako should have thought of it, but sometimes things are overlooked precisely because they are so common. It’s an excuse, I suppose.
Not only creating the barrier but also a new control panel would place a significant burden on Ludia, so Flam’s help is a relief. The outerwear she was responsible for is being produced by Memoria’s Crafter’s Guild for use in MINERVA. However, we need to process the materials ourselves. Recently, Flam has been prioritizing that task. While the outerwear is generally on loan, we’re considering future sales. The challenge lies in the special liquid they are immersed in to achieve synergy. It contains core Magic Stones and rare materials, and its use as a Communication Tool makes it a state secret, preventing anyone but us from producing it. Therefore, we must process the raw silk and light silk materials. The visors are the same, so limiting sales to Ancient Class and above might be necessary to keep up with production. For this reason, the outerwear and visors at Memoria are strictly managed, and we keep spares in our possession.
I never anticipated this level of importance, nor did I intend for it. But now, I can’t stop, nor will I. That’s why I must cooperate to the best of my ability and continue to strive. It’s tough, but I have to do my best.
