753 - - 22-21 Acquired
"Thanks for your hard work, Reiko."
Jin works on Reiko after she comes back. His eyes are strict. His eyes are stern, as if he is trying to find out if Reiko has any defects.
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"So, how is your body?"
"...... Yes, to be honest, the left side of my body feels strange.
Jin thought that being frozen at minus 250 degrees Celsius would have some effect on him, and he was right. There are quite a few defects.
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Jin glances out the window and says to Reiko.
"It will take a little longer for the ancient dragon to shed its skin. I'll fix it up while I can."
"...... please."
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Jin then stopped Reiko and began to examine her.
"...... that's terrible."
After being exposed to ultra-low temperatures, her magical muscles had been torn when she tried to move.
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The skin made of sea dragon wing membranes had also lost its elasticity and cracked.
"For now, let's make some emergency repairs.
I intend to do a thorough overhaul when I return to Horai Island.
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First, the muscles. The parts that are not torn will be strengthened, and the torn parts will be connected with engineering magic.
Then the skin will be softened and toughened to keep it soft for a while.
"Okay, now normal operation should not be a problem. But you can only get 10 percent at the most. Be careful."
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"Yes, thank you."
Reiko got up and thanked Jin.
"Jin, outside!"
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Erza shouted just then. Jin looked out the window.
"Oh! ......"
There, an ancient dragon was standing quietly after shedding its skin.
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An ancient dragon standing quietly. The surface of its body glowed a lustrous ivory color. At its feet was a freshly shed shell.
"Land-1, back away slowly!"
Jin ordered the ancient dragon to retreat so as not to provoke it. The Frost Dragon is not nearby, so he can rest assured.
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Using the force field generator, we can move silently. We continued on our way, and kept our distance of about two kilometers.
Before I knew it, most of the sky was covered with clouds, and the wind was beginning to blow. It was as if we were waiting for the ancient dragon to finish its molt.
As the snow fell, the ancient dragon began to walk slowly, and after about 20 minutes, it disappeared from sight.
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"All right, let's hurry up and retrieve the shell!"
Reiko, who had been repaired, and Land 1, who had been in charge of piloting the ship, went outside.
The newly molted shells were softer than expected, and had not hardened even in the sub-zero temperatures.
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Therefore, Reiko and Land 1 were able to fold the shells into small pieces and retrieve them in less than 10 minutes.
The storage hatch at the rear of Capricorn 1 is opened and the shells are stored.
As if waiting for them, snow began to fall in earnest.
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Reiko and Land 1 rush back to the house.
The two quickly became a lump of frost inside the room.
"<
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Jin heats and dries them.
"Thank you, father.
"Thank you, master.
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"Thank you both for your hard work. We got a nice piece of material intact. It's a good job.
Jin is in a good mood. Behind him, Saki and Erza were beaming.
"Jin, congratulations! You've achieved your goal!
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"Yes, thanks to you and Alectus, Zion.
"I didn't do anything..."
No, you didn't. It was thanks to your intuition that we were able to find the ancient dragon.
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Jin then instructs Land 1.
"All right, let's hurry back! Unlock the force field generator.
"Yes, sir. First, the clan territories of the
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Yes. Yes.
Until we found the shell, we had to move reasonably slowly on the ground, but now that we have achieved our goal, there are no such restrictions.
Using the force field generator, Capricorn 1 began to travel at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour, about three meters above the snow.
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The snow has not yet turned into a blizzard, and he wants to make up the distance while visibility is still good.
"You're going fast. ......"
Zion looks at the difference in speed between the trip to and from the airport.
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"I can't wait to get back home and do some tests.
Saki also seems to be excited inside, though she doesn't show it on her face.
Saki's eyes caught a strange feeling. No, she felt something strange in the scenery.
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"Jin, I'm sorry, but could you please stop for a moment?
"Yeah? "Yeah? Okay. Land one, shut it down."
The force field generator's running, so there's no shaking, and it stops instantly.
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Saki? Saki?
"Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, there was something just past us."
What is it?
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"Yeah, I didn't have time to check. Something was bothering me."
"Okay, let's go back and take a look."
So Capricorn 1 backtracked about a kilometer.
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"Dad, there's something over there."
Reiko, who had the best eyesight, spotted it.
When she approached it with Capricorn 1, she found it was a frost dragon. However, it did not move.
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Its size is rather small. It does not seem to be the one I just sent flying with the transporter gun.
"...... Is it a corpse? I can't feel its magic power.
If it is a corpse, we might be able to get some materials from it. Saki's eyes lit up and she looked at Jin.
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Jin understood how Saki felt. However, there is no way to carry this huge body by Capricorn 1.
"...... transfer gun, huh?"
Jin readjusted the destination to Horai Island and chose to send it out.
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The adjustment took about 30 minutes. After all, the gun is not designed to change its destination.
If he made a careless adjustment, he would ruin the precious material.
"Okay, that's better."
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Reiko goes outside and transfers a suitable lump of snow to try it out. She activates the gun and the snow completely disappears in a hemisphere about 40 meters in diameter.
The old man immediately calls me. It seems to have worked.
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"Okay, now let's do the real thing!
Reiko aims at the Frost Dragon carcass and activates the transporter.
The old man reports.
"That's good. Now take care of that."
Leaving the deployment of the materials to the old man, Jin and the others headed back home again.
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Capricorn 1, despite the differences in elevation of the Tusulu Plateau and Lake Chikagwa, followed a straight trajectory to the Gospel Clan's territory.
It took about two and a half hours to reach the territory of the Gospel Clan before dusk.
"Oh, Jin-dono, congratulations on your successful return!
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"Thank you very much. I was lucky enough to see the molting scene of an ancient dragon.
We were treated to dinner, and our conversation blossomed.
"Hmmm, I understand that such a thing happened after you went around Lake Chikagwa to the Tusulu Plateau.
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He talked about the herds of grand lagoons.
"I didn't know they turned that color in the winter. I've never heard of it before."
Were the frost dragons tough?
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"Oh, ancient dragons are that color, hmmm..."
Everyone listened with great interest to the stories of a place they had never visited and would never visit in the future.
That night, Jin and the others sleep in Capricorn 1.
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The clans of the Gospel and Zion are used to it, and a thick comforter and blankets seem to be sufficient, but Jin and the others are cold in an environment where the indoor temperature is below 10°C. " used to it," he says.
"......Habituation, I guess."
"Habituation, I guess."
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"...... habituation."
"I wonder if it's just a habit."
Jin and the others were half-impressed, while Zion's reaction was that he didn't know what was going on, even if it was his own thing.
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Anyway, the four of them rested in Capricorn 1.
The next morning it was still snowing. That sunny day only happened once or twice a month, and it seemed to be a precious break from the snow.
"Well, thank you very much for your hospitality.
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"I wish you could have taken it a little slower. ......"
"Ha, I can't wait to get home and try out the new materials."
"I'm a Magecraft Meister. ......
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I'll be back.
"Yes, I will be waiting for you."
After exchanging brief but heartfelt words with each other, Jin and the others boarded the Capricorn 1.
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The clansmen of the Gospel watched Capricorn 1 walk away in the blizzard until it was out of sight.