For now, let's try to scrape it cleaner.

　The reason why the connection didn't work was probably because the two magic stones were not completely connected.
　The magic element or magic power must be leaking through the gap.
　In order to reduce this, I polished the two magic stones more precisely than in the first experiment.
　Both appear to be perfectly flat.
　...... But are they really flat?
　I realized now that I had never worked with magic with such precision before.

"Is it done?

"......, let's check it out.

　I thought for a while about how to check, and then I remembered a method I had seen on TV.
　I thought about how to check it, and remembered a method I had seen on TV a long time ago. The method was to put ink on one of the boards and stack the two boards on top of each other, and if the ink spread over the entire unpainted board, it was a success.
　If only a part of the board is covered with ink, you can shave off that part.
　This is not a method to check the flatness of the surface, but to check if the two surfaces are perfectly aligned, but it is perfect for the magic stone connection.

　I'm going to look in the item box to see what I can use as ink.
　The magic stone is red, so I look for something in red that will stand out.
　Then I saw a bright blue liquid that looked poisonous.
　It's zunana plant extract.

...... is it good?

　It's a bit of a waste of ink, but it's not something you'd use in large quantities.
　Put a drop of the extract on one of the magic stones and spread it thinly.
　Put the other magic stone on top of it and peel it off immediately.
　Because the extract is less viscous and lighter in color than real ink, it didn't stick as nicely as I had expected, but at least the magic stone turned blue overall.
　It seems to have been scraped cleanly.

Okay, try this. This is an experiment in connecting magic stones, so it doesn't have to be a three-dimensional structure.

　I reattached the magic stone, fixed it, and handed it to him.

"Okay. I'm going to make a lantern to test the artifact as well.

　Catherine took the stone, worked on it for about 30 seconds, and then took her hand off the stone.
　It was probably finished.
　The magic lantern is one of the easiest artifacts to make, as it could be duplicated even in the days when people could not read ancient texts.

It's done.

　With that, Catherine turned on the lantern.
　The reason why I knew that she had activated it even though she hadn't turned it on was because the lantern emitted a light so strong that it was clearly visible even in bright light.
　I have never seen a lantern with such power.

Is this more than a magic stone that is not connected to ......?

No, it's only 20% of a normal magic stone. No, it's about 20% of a normal magic stone. The magic stones it's made from are too powerful to be used in magic lanterns. ...... But it's good enough for practical use!

　I'm not sure what to make of it.
　Considering the strength of the two-structure, it seems that even 20% of the three-structure would be enough to make something powerful, but 20% seems somehow insufficient.

Anyway, if you polish it up nicely, it will be ......

What's going on?

　After the experiment, I realized that I forgot to remove the extract of zunana grass that I used as ink.
　That may have caused the percentage to drop to 20%.

　This time, I shaved the magic stone in the same way as the previous one, made sure that it fit perfectly with the Zunana grass extract, and then wiped it off properly.
　I gave the completed magic stone to Catherine to experiment with. ......

This is the same as ...... the first one.

Should I not wipe it off?

"Looks like it.

　The finished lantern was only barely visible in the dark.
　What really matters is not how well the surface is polished, but what you put in between.

"I'm going to try a few things. Can you make a ...... magic lamp out of Green Wolf's magic stone?

No problem.

　Even though I have a budget to spare, I don't feel comfortable consuming too large a magic stone for an experiment.
　The magic stones for the experiment cannot be reused because the magic carved on them will shift when they are removed.
　It may be possible to use one of the two, but it is a basic rule of experimentation to eliminate errors in other conditions.

　However, with the Green Wolf's Demon Stone, wasting 100 or 200 of them does not hurt or itch.
　I shaved off a hundred or so at a time to make a flat surface, and made up whatever liquid I could think of to put between them, and tried it out from one side to the other.
　After a few hours of experimentation, I came to know what were the strongest materials.

　The strongest liquid I had on hand was the Zunana grass extract that I had tried first, but the efficiency increased even more when I mixed it with the powder from grinding magic stones.
　It seems that the performance also depends on the quality of the magic stone, and the powder made from the center part of a large magic stone, about one-fifth of its length, was the most effective.
　Zunana plant extracts, which were used for medicinal purposes, can be further boiled down to increase its efficiency.

　The final result is a poisonous purple liquid ......, or rather a paste.
　It is a triple-concentrated extract of Zunana grass, with a lavish amount of powdered wyvern magic stone in it.
　The output is still about 50% of the raw material, but since 40% is the limit for non-Wyverns, this is still an exceptional performance.

It's done.

I feel like I've made something amazing.

　I'm still a little dissatisfied, but I think it's true that ...... is a great product.
　It's within the range of structures 4 and 5.

...... So, let's try structure 4.

"You mean skip structure three?

Oh, I didn't think so.

　I felt that I had already succeeded in structure 3.
　I handed Catherine a large magic stone with the finished paste and waited for her to finish the magic tool.
　As I watched, I suddenly became curious and assessed Catherine's magic power.
　Then I noticed something strange, and asked her when the magic tool was completed.

...... Are you sure about your magic power after making such a large number of magic tools?

　The maximum value hasn't changed, but the calculation doesn't match the production capacity I've heard before.
　I know that a craftsman with a lot of magic power has a high production capacity, but I've never heard that the same magic power can produce a large amount of magic tools.
　I'm curious about the reason, so I'm going to ask even though I know it's okay.



"...... Huh?　Didn't you hear?

About what?

Since the dragon was defeated, the amount of magic I can use has increased. I don't feel like I've gained much lately, but I think I've gained about thirty percent since before the dragon was defeated. And it's not just me, it's all the wizards.

　I'm not listening to .......
　The victory party turned into a drinking game before we could talk about anything serious, and the meeting afterwards was all about the problem and not about the other effects.
　I guess they didn't bother to talk about it because they expected that all the participants, including me, would have heard about it from somewhere, and it had little to do with disaster countermeasures.
　No, since I myself was known to be a wizard in the first place, they might have thought that if they were going to ask me, it would be from my side.

　But fortunately or unfortunately, I live a life where I don't care about magic power unless I'm dealing with a dragon.
　In the first place, even if you use magic at a level that doesn't harm the people around you, your MP will remain at the upper limit. And since MP is a value based on the average, if the average is pushed up, there is no change even if the absolute amount of magic power increases.
　There is no way to notice that the amount of magic power that one MP represents has increased by 1.3 times.

Is it me too?

　If the value of MP has not decreased, then it must be so.

...... Don't you know how much magic you have?

It's probably increasing, but you'll never run out of ...... magic.

　It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're doing.
　In the event that you'd like to get more information on this, please visit our website.
　A pressure spell or a rock spear would be a real-life reenactment of the destruction of the earth by something, and a water spell would be a flood that would wash away the world.
　Even the relatively peaceful movement magic would be destroyed by a shockwave.
　...... I feel like I've stopped being human.

I'd like to share even a hundredth of ...... that with you.

　It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're doing.
　I'm not sure what to do with it.

"Okay, activate it whenever you want.

"Okay. I'll go to .......

　After a short pause, Catherine activated the Blue Focused Magic Lamp.
　At that moment, an intense blue light was emitted from the magic stone, illuminating the wall.
　Catherine squinted her eyes at the glare.

"It worked.

The magic stone was connected to ...... in just one day.

　Catherine seems to be impressed, but if you have time to be impressed, let's proceed with the research.
　There are still a lot of magic tools to try and a lot of discoveries to be made.
　The day will be lost if I am moved every time.

Let's move on to the fourth structure.

Are you sure you don't want to make the other three?　There are more and more strong-looking ones for attackers. ......

"Sure, there are powerful magic tools for single use, but there are more interesting things in the fourth structure. There is no need to rush into making a slightly stronger magic tool, since other adventurers can handle all but the largest outbreaks.

　If we spread out too many powerful magic tools, adventurers will lose their jobs.
　There is a difference between annihilating demons in one or two places and reusable artifacts.

I don't remember any artifacts with four structures, but what's an interesting artifact?

"Magical Element Suppression. It's said to be able to harden and kill demons that have been spawned by demons over a large area. It seems that the Demon Freeze is an enhanced version of this.

"...... in four structures?

I'm sure you've heard of it. It's only useful in this situation. I'm not sure what to make of it.　If you use a long wand and work hard, you can get the results you need without me.

You can't do that against an airborne demon. ......

　I don't think so.
　I'm not sure how many of them there are, but I imagine the wizards in Decibatore (who are probably in Brokens right now or out on the road as reinforcements) could handle something like that.
　Apparently, flying demons tend to be regarded with more caution than those on the ground.

Well, it's still useful. The structure is this: ...... I'm a little nervous about testing it in a public place. Try it here first. It's a magical tool that turns wood into sugar.

I've also written the structure of "Demon Subduer", but it's not as easy to experiment with as the magical tool of light.
　Even if it doesn't affect people, that was in the time when the ancient texts were written, and we don't know how far it will go in this day and age.
　So, below is a diagram of the structure of the four-structure artifact "Wood Sugaring", which has a nice and peaceful effect.
　This is a magical artifact with the literal effect of turning wood into sugar, a dream come true.
　The other 4 structures, such as "Hair Regrowth", seemed to be in high demand, but they are disposable, and I chose the sugar one because I didn't want to spend a large magic stone and paste for hair.
　In the first place, I couldn't find anyone who would be a good test subject.

I'm glad to hear that, but with the ......4 structure, you'll need three magic stones.

All right.

　I thought I could get two structures with one magic stone, but it seems it's not that simple.
　I had no choice but to shave both sides of one magic stone parallel to each other, then combine it with a magic stone shaved only on one side, and apply paste to it to make a combined magic stone with three magic stones lined up in a straight line.
　Since the magic stones are joined together twice, the theoretical output is about a quarter.
　The combined magic stone is then turned into a magic tool, just as Catherine did with the three structures, and placed on the desk.

"Is ...... enough wood?

　I take a relatively clean piece of wood from the item box, carve its surface with my magic sword, cut it into a reasonable size, and place it on the desk.
　I put a tray underneath it to catch the sugar, and I'm ready.

Now, let's go.

Okay.

　Catherine, who seemed to have gotten used to the experiment, checked and immediately activated the magic tool.

　Then, the piece of wood on the desk turned into sugar.
　The wooden tray and the top of the desk on which it was placed.