“First of all, Cooling, right…?”
Jin and Laojun had started the development of the new weapon. Elsa was helping out as well.
“It means to take away something’s thermal energy.”
“Convection, conduction, and emission, right?”
“Right. But this Ice magic, “Eis”… I think we should better analyze it.”
Ice magic was causing a phenomenon that couldn’t be explained by thermodynamics alone.
“Elsa, could you try using Snow Bullet on the surface here?”
“Sure.”
Jin and Elsa went out of the laboratory together, and started to analyze magic.
“…Snow Bullet!”
Snow was generated from Elsa’s hand and flew forward at a considerable speed. Jin studied its movement using the Trace spell.
“Hmm, so it has its basis on Cooling after all.”
The Engineering magic spell, “Cooling”. It was a spell that cooled down overheated components.
“I wonder how much the temperature can be lowered by unraveling the principles behind this and modifying its activation method.”
Reiko was also helping Jin and Elsa on their research of “Cooling”.
“After all, it’s not convection, conduction, nor emission, but a process that snatches heat away…”
Seeing a hot object being instantly cooled off was something truly magical.
“I can only think of it as transferring the object’s thermal energy to some other space, or even another dimension…”
Jin decided he would remodel “Cooling” based on this new hypothesis.
“Can something like that happen, Brother Jin?”
Elsa, who was looking from the side, seemed to be amazed at the idea.
“Yeah. Perhaps the Magi Formula here is the key. We can’t remodel a spell if we’re trapped in common knowledge.”
“I can understand that. You’re that kind of person after all, Brother Jin.”
And after a lot of trial and error, Jin managed to complete his “Super Cooling Spell”, naming it “Absolute Zero”.
It was a spell that instantly transferred the thermal energy of an object to (probably) another dimension.
By adjusting its power, it was possible to cool an object down to anywhere between an extremely low temperature close to absolute zero and below freezing. However, there was still a lot of work to do regarding the amount of magic power it consumed.
It only took a single use for Elsa to be almost completely drained of her magical power. It seemed that they would have to make and use magic tools.
＊ ＊ ＊
Laojun was making a plasma sword using the mobile terminal “Laozi”.
The biggest problems with it were strength and durability.
Based on the Masamune and Muramasa that Jin had remodelled, the hurriedly constructed plasma sword had 500 times more magical power than what it originally had.
“So, enhancing the magic circuit… And then, Cooling.”
Since it is a plasma of 1 billion degrees, even though it was confined within a super strong barrier, the effect of such heat on the main body was nothing to sneeze at.
It seemed that it wouldn’t be unbearably hot after being kept on going for a long time.
“Thankfully, My Lord has just developed this Super Cooling Spell…”
With it, the excess heat would appear to be taken care of.
The only thing that remained was that the amount of magical power consumed was extremely high, but this could be dealt with by using high-quality magical crystals and installing a highly efficient ether converter.
No matter how much magical power would be consumed, it was far from being all of Reiko’s reserves (about 40% of them, to be precise).
For Titan, it was relatively easier because one could simply install a larger mana tank on it.
“Let’s make these Vibration Swords the standard for Hourai Island’s armament.”
Laojun had already begun with their mass production.
＊ ＊ ＊
“I’m thinking about making a barrier bomb.”
After finishing development of the “Absolute Zero” spell, Jin suddenly brought that up.
“A barrier bomb?”
Reiko asked as Elsa silently pricked up her own ears to listen.
“Yeah. It’s an easy thing to do. All that I’d have to do is create a barrier that enclosed my target, and then make it smaller.”
“Wouldn’t that smash the barrier?”
This time Elsa was the one who asked, frowning.
“Well, maybe.”
He recorded the Magi Formula that created a barrier, and the one that shrunk it, both on the Magi Crystal. Then, to wrap it up, he set the Magi Formula to activate with a specific magic power.
The prototype itself was completed in 10 minutes.
“Alright, let’s give it a try.”
After stepping in front of the laboratory, Jin prepared the carapace of a small Giant Peeder, and threw a prototype barrier bomb at it.
“Activate!”
A barrier was created after Jin uttered that keyword. It wrapped around the carapace and part of the ground. It then quickly started to shrink.
The carapace soon started to make a creaking sound as it was being crushed by the barrier.
The spherical barrier barrier, which was initially about 5 meters in diameter, soon became less than 1 meter wide.
Nevertheless, as it continued to shrink, the spherical barrier started to crack under the tremendous pressure generated inside once it reached a diameter of about 30 cm, and as a result, it was destroyed and disappeared.
All that remained was the Giant Peeder’s carapace, which had been hardened into a round shape. Looking at how it was sunk into the ground by its own weight, it appeared that it is quite heavy. Or rather, if its original weight hadn’t changed, its density now must be more than 50 times higher than before.
“Reiko, try cutting it down with Peach Blossom.”
“Yes, Father.”
Reiko brought her personal weapon, Peach Blossom, back from the laboratory.
“Here I go.”
She raised the blade over her head, and slashed down at it.
There was a slightly muddy metallic sound, but the blade didn’t bite even one millimeter into the carapace.
“Alright, then once again, in Vibration Sword mode.”
“Yes.”
The exact same thing happened again. Only this time, Peach Blossom’s blade had broken apart.
“Stop! This is amazing… Have I created a material that is actually harder than Magi Adamantite…?”
In addition to the barrier bomb’s successful test, an unexpected new material had been created.
“Analyze… I knew it.”
“Did you learn anything about it, Brother Jin?
“…Its molecular structure had been compressed.”
“Huh?”
Though it would be unthinkable under normal circumstances, the carapace of a Giant Peeder was a material with high amounts of magical power, and was stable enough in a compressed state without collapsing.
“Is it the work of Ether? If so, it might be applicable to Magi Adamantite as well…”
Jin made another more powerful barrier bomb, and prepared a lump of Magi Adamantite of about 1 cubic meter. It weighed 19.3 tons. A lump of this size could only be carried by either Daidara or Reiko.
Jin threw the barrier bomb at it, and activated it.
This time, a spherical barrier with a diameter of about 2 meters was generated, which then started to shrink. When it reached a diameter of about 60 cm, the barrier bomb collapsed and the spherical barrier disappeared, just like last time.
All that remained was the Magi Adamantite, which had been compressed to a diameter of nearly 60 cm. It seemed that its density was now about 10 times higher than before.
It was now a sphere small enough to look like it could be lifted by hugging it with both arms. However, it was a ridiculous substance that weighed nearly 20 tons. Its relative density was about 200. To put it in perspective, it was as if a sphere the size of a baseball weighed over 40 kilograms.
“This is amazing…”
Not only its weight, but also its hardness was absurdly high.
“I’ll name this Hyper Adamantite! Let’s repair Peach Blossom with this!”
After finding this new material, Jin was as cheerful as a child. Elsa thought that he was being a little weird.
Changing the entire blade to Hyper Adamantite would make the weapon too heavy, so just like how Katanas used to be made, only the edged part of the blade was made of this new material. The rest of the blade that enclosed the edge was still made of regular Magi Adamantite, in order to suppress the increase in weight.
Of course, the Vibration Sword mode was also installed in the blade as usual. Since most of the weapon was based on Magi Adamantite, it could be further strengthened by imbuing it with magical power.
“Okay, Reiko. Now try cutting the rest of the Hyper Adamantite.”
“Yes, Father.”
Peach Blossom was about three times heavier than before. When enhanced with magical power, Reiko was able to swing it lightly, so she easily slashed into the Hyper Adamantite ingot.
The ingot was brilliantly split into two with a clear, high-pitched metallic sound. This sharpness wasn’t thanks to the Vibration Sword mode, but to the level of magic enhancement.
“Amazing… It has become the strongest sword of all.”
“Thank you very much, Father.”
Reiko had seemed to be rather dejected when her Peach Blossom shattered, but now she was smiling with joy.
＊ ＊ ＊
“So, Hyper Adamantite, huh? I expected no less from My Lord. Let’s use some of it to strengthen the units that will be investigating the Inado Mine.”
Laojun was concerned about the mysterious magic device found deep underground in the mine.
It would be a few days later that Laojun would develop a drilling machine for underground exploration.
And so, the development of new weapons and new materials progressed, and Hourai Island’s strength was further increased.