Chapter 44

Chapter 44 Strongest Sage, Teaches Augmenting

Ruli mastered the way to refine dungeon wall in only 30 minutes .

The purity isn't that high, but it's good enough to make weapons .

"Then, let's secure enough iron to make one weapon for now . "

The metal we have on hands are around 200 gram iron and 5 gram mithril combined . Iron has 10 times the volume of mithril but 40 times the weight . Mithril is light .

"One weapon . . . . Which means we'll need 10 times this amount?"

"That's about right . Well, I'll be helping you . Let's create a lot of dungeon crude ores and then refine them . "

"I . . . I'll do my best!"

I smash the dungeon wall while saying that .

After smashing around 200 kilogram wall, we started the process to refine the dungeon crude ores .

Ruli's refining speed is about half of mine .

It's partly because she's still inexperienced . . . . But also because she's a bit too careful .

"You can be more haphazard when creating the crude ores . Since raising the purity comes at a later stage . "

"I, I understand!"

Her speed slightly increased .

And then, we finished turning all the dungeon wall we smashed into dungeon crude ores .

I solidified the soil and put it somewhere to prevent it from obstructing the way .

"And then, um . . . . Ei! This magic is a bit hard . . . . "

"Well, that's cause it's not production-type magic . "

Ruli gathers the dungeon crude ores using magnetic magic .

Her control is quite poor . . . . But output is all she needs to gather the ores anyway .

To begin with, magnetic magic isn't of production type, the First Crest isn't good with it .

"Next, we just need to refine all these . . . . Wanna try doing them all?"

"Yes!"

Ruli puts her mana into the ores, activates flame magic and turns the dungeon crude ores into a lump .

The flame magic I used is the normal attack magic, but the one I taught her is of production type .

It has a short range and it's hard to increase its power, but it's easy to manage and control precisely . And best of all, it's well suited for the First Crest .

"You're doing well, keep at it!"

"Yes!"

Ruli repeated the recrystallization process many times and eventually, she got 2kg of iron and 50gr of mithril on her hands .

Some of the metal seems to have been shaved off at every recrystallization, but they're enough to make a sword .

"Looks like you've learned how to handle most metal now . "

"I can't believe I did all this . . . . "

Ruli becomes teary eyed . Cute .

But today's coaching isn't over yet .

"You probably have guessed the way to create the sword right?"

"Creating swords . . . . Are we perhaps making the sword by molding it with mana?"

"Yep, exactly . . . . Ah, you should mix some mithril with the iron rather than having it pure iron . Use about half of the mithril we have now . "

"Mixing it with mithril? . . . I'll give it a try!"

Ruli mixes the mithril and the iron and turns them into the shape of a sword .

" . . . . Doesn't it look bent?"

"That's normal for the first try . "

The sword Ruli made is slightly bent to the left . Well, turning metal into a precise shape using mana is a matter of experience .

"This should be already far stronger than a sword made from iron . Try using that sword to cut this . The sword has no blade though, so it's more like smashing than cutting . "

Ruli slashes at a block of wood I took out .

The block of wood is cut in two along with a sharp sound .

"Huh? Is this maybe stronger than the swords they sell in the city . . . . ?"

"Yea . Metals are basically stronger when they're in alloyed form . There's other techniques to this . . . . But for now, try to augment that first . "

"It's augmenting at last!"

"Aa . . . . That said, augmenting isn't really hard once you understand the basic of chantless magic . For now, look at this . "

I take out one piece of paper from Storage magic and give it to Ruli .

"Is this . . . Magic circle? I've never seen one this complex . . . . "

"It's a magic circle for 【Brittle Fracture】 and 【Toughening】 . I'll teach you the way to compose magic circles once you've gotten accustomed to augment magic . "

It's easier to learn the way to make magic circles once you've tried many different augments and grasped the feeling to do it .

I'm not saying that learning magic circle math beforehand is bad though .

"Dual augment right from the start!?"

"【Toughening】 isn't that complex, and this is actually one of the simpler dual augment magic circles . First, make a space to put in a magic stone on the sword and carve the magic circle using your mana . "

I give a hermit crab magic stone to Ruli .

It's the best material for practicing since we have a lot of it and it doesn't fetch a high price .

Also, it should be big enough for dual augment .

"Err, first you make a space . . . . "

Ruli changed the sword shape a bit and put in the magic stone .

And then, her mana slowly and carefully moves as the magic circle is getting carved into the magic stone .

However . . . .

"I finished the carving . . . . I think, but the magic sword won't activate . . . . "

"There's some parts where they shouldn't be connected . Try to reduce the amount of mana you put into it a bit more . Put a lot of mana into the thick lines, and little mana into the thin ones . "

"Yes!"

I take out a huge amount of hermit crab magic stones I stocked and give them to Ruli .

She succeeded this time .

The performance is quite low for an augmented sword, but magic dwells on it at least .

"I-It's done! But the atmosphere of this sword felt quite different . . . . "

"That's because you skipped mana conditioning . You should put your own mana into the magic stone and the sword before the augment . And once the mana settles down, do the augment . The performance will be better if you do just that . "

Ruli completed a magic conditioned magic sword with the third hermit crab magic stone I gave her .

"This one feels similar somehow!"

"Try hitting the wall with it, you'll see how good it is . "

"The wall . . . . Ei!"

Ruli's magic sword broke the dungeon wall .

This sword is augmented not for combat, but for mining the dungeon .

"I-it broke! And they said even the national treasures couldn't do it . . . . "

You can't count on the national treasures .

We're in a world where that rip-off sword (the time needed to augment it; 5 seconds) is one after all .

"It's a success . Then, let's keep refining the dungeon at this pace!"

"Yes!"

–Later on, Alma came back carrying a huge amount of hermit crab magic stones, saw a part of the dungeon getting smashed and turned into swords, and shouted "What's happening here!?" in confusion .