108 3.20 You lost the sword?! - Part 1

After lunch, everyone else went to train with miss Lilith. Ronald was still recovering, but if we just stay by his side all the time, he won't be able to rest properly. So, all of us decided to go with our normal schedule and leave the care of Ronald to Sam.

As for me, I decided to visit Zagan's space with Flare. Yoru also wanted to come with us but I asked her to go with others so that she could see how they train

Even though she looked unconvinced, she agreed at the end when the princesses asked her to join.

"Hey Zagan, how do we refine this?" I asked.

I was standing in front of a huge pile of soil with ore mixed in it. We brought this whole thing here yesterday, but it was getting late back then, so I decided to leave the refinement for the next day. And now that I had some free time, using that time to refine this ore was a good idea.

"This is a pain, but we need to do it sooner or later so let's get to it. For now, we are just going to filter it. We can shape it using earth and fire magic later after we collect all the metals we need."

He didn't seem that active so it looked like I would be the one doing the job following his instructions.

"So, do you know how the refinement of a normal metal works?"

"Not exactly, but I know a few things. Like how you heat and melt the ore to separate them from impurities."

"Yeah, that is basically what we need to do. Use earth magic to harden the soil and make a spherical vessel with ore inside it."

I touched the pile of soil with my hand and transferred the raw mana within me into it. I then converted the raw mana into earth magic and manipulated the soil to change it into a spherical vessel.

Considering the quality of the soil, even if I am able to give it a shape and make it hard, it would break if a large pressure is developed within. And because of this, I needed to constantly supply raw mana to it for making it sturdy.

I moved a little backward after I finished making the vessel. Flare was with me today, so I could use her ability to manipulate the surrounding mana and keep the surface of the vessel hard in case the pressure developed becomes hard to contain.

"Now that you are done with it, apply fire magic to heat the ore, and wind magic to maintain the temperature inside."

It would be hard for me to do everything at once, and in case of an emergency, I may not be able to handle things. So, in this case, it would be wise to let Flare handle the heating part.

"Flare, can you heat the ore? I will try to keep the vessel sturdy and manipulate the wind inside."

"Of course, master," Flare replied as she changed into her divine form.

It was only now that I noticed the end of her tail and some feathers in her wings had also changed blue. I had seen that in her small form, but this was my first time seeing this in her divine form.

"Now keep on doing it until I tell you to stop. And after I say 'stop', create another spherical vessel, and transfer the melted ore there. Mithril melts before Lightstone crystal, so the molten part is Mithril."

It looks like the ore is basically an amalgam of mithril and Lightstone crystals with few impurities. The refinement process turned out to be a lot simpler than I thought. That is, it was simple to understand. Doing the whole thing by yourself was a whole another level of challenge.

After maintaining it for a while, I could sense that the ore had melted. This happened a lot faster than I had initially thought, but it looked like the melted ore was ready to be transferred.

"Now, stop."

After Zagan said that, I created another vessel using the leftover soil and transferred the upper layer of molten ore there. Compared to the impurities left in the vessel, the metal obtained wasn't even one-fifth.

Though if I was doing it industrially using magicians, this method would prove to be rather economical. Considering the value of mithril, the cost for magicians and resources could be covered by 1/20th of the profit. And after I create my own space, teleportation to the places where I leave my mana was possible.

The only problem was the fact that I would need this huge device to store my mana. But there was an advantage that I would be able to teleport wherever my familiars were.

"Okay, I guess this is all we will do for today. Next time when you come, try doing it by yourself without me having to pull you here."

"I can do that? I thought this was your space and only you were allowed to come here freely."

"Nah... as my master, you should also be able to come here freely. You need to train yourself to be able to travel between the spaces."

That made sense, but it also made me curious about how he sees the gap between the spaces. The last time when I tried doing it, I was sent to some self-proclaimed supreme being in existence.

"I will give it a try next time… By the way Zagan, how does the gap between the spaces appears to you?"

"Well, the transfer between the spaces works too fast for me. I don't usually have time to look around."

Then I probably met him by accident. Back then the goal that I wanted to reach wasn't any particular space. I just wanted to sense the gap between the spaces, and because of that, I was probably lost in there.

"Master, I need to go back now. They must be back from the training."

"Yes, Flare"—I turned towards Zagan— "I think we will be taking our leave now. Let's collect the other metals next time."

After I said that, Zagan snapped his fingers, and with that, both Flare and I were back to our room.

: You lost the sword?! - Part 2