Magic Maker - How to make magic in another world - - Chapter 22

Magic Maker – How to make magic in another world –

Chapter 22   Will it lead to the second magic or not?

There was a mining site located a bit away from Istria.

Miners were transporting ore, but there were also regular people passing through the road.

It seems to be a road people take to get to a different area, despite being a mine.

Therefore, travelers and merchants could be seen from time to time.

The mining site had two sections: one was an exclusive area accessible only to miners, and the other was a mining area where regular people could enter with permission.

If you paid a small fee, you could freely mine there afterward.

However, as it was generally open to the public, it mostly contained inexpensive minerals, and mining required decent tools and effort.

As a result, it seemed to be mostly in the red.

We were after thunderstone, which wasn’t within the rocks but exposed in plain sight.

It could be found facing the street, often with signs nearby.

The signs only said ‘Beware of Thunderstone.’

There were thunderstones scattered throughout the rocky terrain.

As Glast mentioned, they emitted discharges.

They produced a crackling blue current and were luminous.

It was like observing electricity flowing through water from the outside.

It’s dangerous to touch, and there’s no doubt you shouldn’t get too close.

Thunderstones came in various sizes, and the strength of the current varied with their size.

“Don’t approach recklessly. You won’t get away with just a burn,” Glast warned.

Hearing Glast’s advice, I observed my surroundings.

The thunderstone, about the size of my body, looked evidently dangerous.

I would probably die if I received a massive electric shock.

But the palm-sized thunderstones didn’t seem as bad.

Even so, they still crackled with electricity.

“So, what do we do? Are we going to touch it with a mica ore?”

“No, even if we touch the ore in this state, of course, the current won’t pass through.

It’s thick, so even though it’s not an insulator, electricity shouldn’t conduct. That’s why I’m doing this.”

I tried to peel off the mica, but it was harder than I thought.

I might not be able to remove it with my strength.

“Let me try.”

I handed it to Glast, and he easily peeled off some layers.

After peeling off a few, I stacked them to cover my entire palm.

Several thin layers were now on my hand, but it felt a little flimsy.

I remained seated in front of the thunderstone and touched it unexpectedly.

“S-Shion!?”

My father hastily lifted my body and moved away from the thunderstone.

In the process, the mica membrane I had was dropped.

“What are you doing? Are you okay? Any injuries? Burns?”

Saying that, my father examined my hand repeatedly, but there were no injuries.

Once he realized I was unharmed, my father let out a sigh of relief.

“Really, I told you not to do anything dangerous.”

“Sorry, Dad… But, see, I’m fine. It looks like it was mica after all. It was an insulator.”

My father let go of me.

I gathered the mica membrane that had fallen to the ground and showed it to my father.

“…It doesn’t get burned or scorched. So, this insulator doesn’t allow electricity to pass through the lightning, right?”

“Yeah, I was somewhat skeptical, but it’s been proven now.”

As we were talking, Glast said,

“So, it should be fine to touch it… Let me try.”

Glast took the mica membrane from my hand and placed it on his palm.

Without hesitation, he touched the thunderstone.

“I certainly don’t feel anything. It’s completely a shield.”

With a surprised expression, Glast looked at me.

In his eyes, a strong question began to form, and I hurriedly continued,

“Anyway, we’ve confirmed that the mica is an insulator. Now all we need to do is purchase larger pieces of mica and transport the thunderstone!”

It seemed like I could achieve my goal. It consumed a considerable amount of time and effort, but it couldn’t be helped. We didn’t have a developed civilization like Earth or convenient tools.

It might be inconvenient, but I didn’t really mind. After all, we had magic.

Glast seemed to be deep in thought, but he didn’t say anything in particular.

I might have acted too hastily.

My parents didn’t seem to mind, but not everyone would be the same.

Glast seemed like a good person, but that didn’t mean he would accept anything.

I might have jumped the gun.

“Alright, let’s head back to town, buy the mica, and come back.”

My father didn’t seem concerned and sighed after glancing at Glast.

In any case, it seemed like I could achieve my goal, so I wanted to return with the thunderstone as soon as possible.

There were many things on my mind. But I was excited about finding new materials for magic research.

From fire attribute to lightning attribute.

I hope to use more magic next time.

With those thoughts, I returned to the town.

○●○

I wrapped the thunderstone in mica membrane, then wrapped it in a furoshiki cloth and brought it home.

The size was about twenty centimeters.

It was not too heavy to carry, yet posed a certain level of danger.

That’s why my dad told me this was the limit.

As far as I was concerned, the size was just right, and I had no complaints.

The leftover mica was given to Glast.

He paid half the price, so it was not a problem.

He’s a good person.

Even though it’s quite expensive, he said it’s like having a nephew and laughed.

I will work hard on my magic research to not waste my dad and Glast’s kindness.

By the way, when I brought out the thunderstone, the receptionist had an incredible expression.

Mom just smiled.

Now, I’m in the courtyard.

The thunderstone constantly crackles and sparkles, so I can’t keep it in my room.

Besides, it would be a disaster if it caught fire in the house.

So, it was decided to place it on the rocky area at the edge of the courtyard.

The thunderstone is a mineral that generates intermittent electrical currents.

I have many questions, like what its energy source is, but I’m neither a scientist nor a mineralogist.

As long as I can use magic, I don’t really care, and if research is needed, I’ll do it.

My sister, dad, and mom are watching from a distance.

Dad was watching with sparkling eyes.

Mom was smiling, looking at me.

My sister seemed to be out.

I stood in front of the thunderstone and raised my hand.

Let’s begin.

The experiment of thunder magic starts now.

I gathered magical power in my right hand.

From the gathering state to external release.

A palm-sized sphere of magical power was released and headed for the thunderstone.

It touched.

At that moment.

The bluish electrical current momentarily changed to a red-white color.

And it shone briefly, just a little.

“Oh!?”

My father exclaimed with excitement, clenching his fist, but…

“…Oh?”

Doubt crept into his voice.

The thunderstone continued to discharge.

Just as usual. The pale blue electrical current.

In other words, it returned to its normal state in an instant, the only changes being in color and intensity due to the infusion of magic. Otherwise, nothing had altered.

Moreover, the increase in light was so slight that it hardly made any difference.

Furthermore, when magic had been infused into fire, the released magic had moved and dissipated as it moved away, but the magic directed at the thunderstone vanished instantly.

“Did it fail, I wonder?”

“Seems like it.”

My family showed their respective reactions. There was no mistaking their disappointment. A sense of bewilderment emanated from behind me. Perhaps because I hadn’t moved from the spot. The two of them approached me.

“Well, well, it’s natural to fail. After all, You failed countless times before you could finally use fire magic. Don’t worry, Shion,” my father reassured me with a pat on my shoulder.

Next to him, my mother tilted her head and said,

“Oh? Shion-chan, could it be…?”

My shoulders trembled, not with sadness, but with a smile.

“Hehe, hehehe, hehehehe!”

“What’s going on!? Shion! You have that expression on your face, even though it didn’t work… Could it be that electricity passed into your body and made you go crazy!?”

“Oh dear, Shion-chan, you’re looking absolutely wonderful. Hehehe, you seem so happy. Even I’m delighted, darling.”

My father shook me by the shoulder. “Don’t die, Shion! The wound is shallow!”

Even if there was some damage to the brain, it was unimportant to me at that moment.

“Hehe… Well, you see, the sparks produced by flint and steel are technically a form of discharge, just like this electrical current. So, Dad, you know that when you touch magic to them, blue flames appear, right? At this point, I had two hypotheses. One was that magic is a flammable substance with no other properties. The other was that magic can turn flammable substances into something else, but it also has other properties. The idea of it being flammable is temporary, and that might be just one of its properties. Anyway, if magic had only the property of flammability, it should have caused the thunderstone to burn when I touched it with magic. But it didn’t. The color of the current changed, and the intensity of the light increased. In other words, magic has properties beyond just flammability, making it highly likely that I can use various types of magic as I imagine. “

In the case of fire, or in this instance, sparks, when magic comes into contact with it, magic envelops it in flames. But when magic is applied to electricity, it changes color and emits light. It’s an entirely different phenomenon. It’s difficult to analyze scientifically. I’m not from a scientific background, nor am I particularly knowledgeable. So, what I’m doing is simply exposing magic to various conditions, considering the results, and building a theory. In this experiment, I learned the nature of magic, albeit only partially. But that’s still significant because I discovered that it has the potential for uses beyond fire magic. I don’t know yet how to harness it as lightning magic, but there’s a glimmer of hope. That’s why I smiled. I wasn’t seeking a dramatic result. I was just hoping that it wouldn’t catch fire while releasing magic. And that wish came true. So, I couldn’t help but be overjoyed.

“Hmm, I may not understand the details, but it seems that there’s a higher likelihood of being able to use lightning magic,” said my father.

“Yeah, but in the current state, it’s not usable. It felt like we only altered the nature of the current by releasing magic externally and letting it make contact,” I replied.

“What kind of result would make you say it was successful?” my father inquired.

In response to my father’s question, I envisioned an ideal scenario. “Hmm, it would be something like releasing a bolt of lightning directly from the palm of my hand towards a target.”

“Like lightning coming straight from your hand?”

“Yes, exactly. I think that’s the feeling.”

“But there might be side effects for the one using the magic,” my father cautioned.

“If I release the lightning directly from my palm while in a state of magic emission, it might indeed have side effects. Just like with fire magic. But before that, I need to try a few things…” I trailed off.

“I see. In any case, don’t try it today. You’ve just returned, and you’ve already started your experiments,” my father advised.

He was probably right. We had left in the morning, visited the mining site, shopped at the market, and even picked up a few additional items along the way. Thanks to that, we didn’t get back until late afternoon. It wouldn’t be practical to spend the whole day conducting magic research. Although I really wanted to try out various things, I had been quite demanding today, and my father had been inconvenienced. He had bought the delicate ore for me and also paid for the mining fees, which must have amounted to a significant sum. I was fortunate to be a noble’s child. Following my father’s advice, we headed back into the house. It was beginning to turn red. Within that reddish glow, the thunderstone continued to intermittently discharge. I couldn’t help but think that it would be quite noticeable at night. I decided it might be a good idea to construct some sort of enclosure early to contain it. With that thought in mind, I entered the house.