CH 11

As usual today, we ate breakfast and decide on our plan for the day. It’s been a few days since we ate steak. However, we can eat meat every day while changing the cooking method.

But now that we’ve accumulated a good amount of meat and need to process and preserve some of it so that it doesn’t spoil, we’re going to do an experiment that Haru had told me about.

I was wondering if the magic circle could be a magical medium.

That’s why we copied the magic circle the last time we dived into the dungeon. It would be easy if I could take a picture, but it can’t be helped because we can’t use electronic devices inside. However, I thought it would be difficult to copy the lines as they were, even if I put the paper on top of the magic circle, due to some problems such as the thickness of paper, so I brought a thin paper and a dark pencil.

I don’t know if everyone has done it before, but I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It’s the kind of thing where you put a thin sheet of paper on a fine uneven surface and rub it with a dark pencil to make lines appear.

By using it, we were able to reproduce not only the shape of the magic circle but also the thickness of the line.

And now. We are working on it. We are carving the magic circle on an iron plate.

No, I’m not very good at that kind of work, so it’s just Haru who’s doing it. And I’m pounding on the boar’s horn. It’s not that I’ve lost my mind.

The other day, Haru hit the boar’s tusk with a crowbar as hard as she could to test its strength, and it turned out that the horn had the same flexibility and durability as metal. So I hurriedly built a simple stove in the garden, made a work surface out of iron sheets and stones, and am using a hammer to do blacksmith-like work.

But just to be clear, the reason why I built a stove in the garden instead of a stove was not that I wanted high heat, but because I didn’t want to waste money on gas. If we wanted to build a fire outdoors, we had plenty of garbage left over at home for fuel, so there was no problem.

If I ran out of fuel, I could always go into the woods and get some dry wood. So here I was, in the garden where it was supposed to be cold, beating the tusk with a hammer while sweating profusely from the heat of the fire.

Even so, the nature of this tusk was interesting. If you don’t heat it, you’ll have to enter the dungeon and hit it with all your strength in the status, but if you heat it to the limit with fire, you can bend it just by hitting it.

However, it does not melt, so the melting point may be higher. It seems that the temperature of the stove is about a thousand degrees Celsius, so if we raise it to that temperature, we can process it. It is much easier to process than iron.

However, we know that its durability was less than that of iron because it was dented after getting hit by a crowbar. That’s why I joined a lot of tusks to make it bigger. It looks like a western sword.

By the way, it is only an imitation because I cannot make a blade just by hitting it.

If I make one in the first place, it may be considered a crime, so I don’t plan on making it. In fact, there must have been several types of whetstones in this house, so I can make blades, but I don’t want to go to jail and leave Haru alone, so I won’t do it.

I don’t know how much of a crime it would be to make a sword. Maybe not much. Because the blade length is 50 cm or more.

“Hey, it’s done. Did you get what I asked for?” (Haru)

Haru came out to the yard and I handed her the two pieces she asked for. But it was just a piece of card with the corners cut off to the right size.

Haru said that it was difficult to carve a magic circle on a curved card, so she asked me to make it flat. The fact that he said it was difficult to carve on a curved object, rather than impossible, was typical of Haru.

So I handed the card to Haru, adjusted the fire on the furnace, put the net on top, and went into the house. It was almost lunchtime, so we decided to prepare something for lunch. First, I cut the boar meat into blocks and skewered them.

I repeat the process. I only had enough to make ten skewers, though. I sprinkled some salt on it and took it to the garden and laid it on the stove net. Of course, I would roll them around once in a while to make sure the whole thing was nicely cooked.

“Brother, it’s done. Oh, it’s skewers.” (Haru)

Haru came out to the garden again, saw the skewers grilling, and came over to the fireplace to warm herself up. The meat should be cooked just right by now. I hand one to Haru.

“Itadakimasu.” (Haru)

I can’t join my hands because I have a skewer in one hand, so I say “Itadakimasu” with only one hand and start eating the skewer. I don’t know what it is, but I can feel it seeping into my body. To be honest, I’ve gotten used to the boar meat in the dungeon, but it was delicious as usual.

After eating lunch and taking a short break, we geared up and prepared to enter the dungeon. Today we were not going to go to a new level as we were going to do some experiments. We decided to go to the sixth floor, which was already mapped out since we have currently captured until the seventh floor.

There is a slight difference between our equipment and the usual. We were both carrying cards made of iron and boar’s horn.

Naturally, the cards had magic circles engraved on them. From the shape to the depth of the engraved grooves, the engraving is so precise that the unevenness cannot be seen with the naked eye. I’d like to tell Haru to pursue an art career, but unfortunately, she’s not very good at creating things, even if she is good at crafting.

She can copy something or make something common, but when she makes something new, it falls apart. And we end up with something I don’t understand, with beautiful curves and corners. I saw this and understood that skill and artistic sense are two different things. I have neither, though.

Aside from that, when we enter the dungeon, we stand on the magic circle in a small room near the entrance. Then the letters come to my mind. I’ve experienced it many times, so I’m not surprised now.

Transition

5th floor: entrance

5th floor: Exit　

In this way, it is now possible to make a limited transition from one level to another.

I say limited because this transition can only be used once in a day, once on the way down and once on the way back up. In other words, it was impossible to try again. Even if you try again, you’ll have to wander around the first level, which is completely impractical.

However, the number of transitions does not include transitions on the same level, so I could go back and forth between the entrance and exit of the fifth level as many times as I wanted. Incidentally, the resetting time for the number of transitions seems to be midnight.

In addition to the fact that there was no change during the time we were exploring, it was also midnight when dungeons appeared all over the world, and our dungeon appeared at midnight. Of course, there is a time difference in the world, and the dungeons appeared in sequence between countries.

This is why I believe that many dungeons are created at midnight. Well, that aside, we’re going to start our experiment in this sixth layer.

“Well then, brother. I’ll go first. [Bomb].” (Haru)

Haru’s magic blows away the three wolves in front of her. However, the damage is not that great. They could resume their attacks after a short rest. Based on that, the level must have risen a little, and it seems that the area of effect of [Bomb] has also increased.

However, I don’t feel much increase in power. Considering the distance the enemy was blown away, the power is increasing, but it’s not enough to defeat the enemy.

“My turn. [Speed]” (Kei)

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I don’t need it either, but for the sake of experimentation, I’ll use magic and then finish the wolf off. This speed seems to be more effective as the basic stats go up, so it’s probably magic to increase the speed a percentage higher than my base speed.

“Then, this is the next one.” (Kei)

As I walked around looking for the next wolf, I took out two cards. One is an iron card and the other is a tusk card. Of course, they had magic circles on them.

As soon as the wolf came from the other side, Haru pointed the iron card forward and chanted.

“[Bomb]” (Haru)

A ball of light came out from the tip of the hand holding the card normally and blew off one of the wolves. There is no change in power compared to the previous time.

“Is there a change in the amount of magical power used?” (Kei)

“I don’t think so. This card has no effect.” (Haru)

So Haru cast the spell again but she used the tusk card.

“[Bomb]. Hmm?” (Haru)

At the same time as she cast the spell, the magic circle on the card glowed faintly and a ball of light flew towards the wolf. As usual, the ball of light hit the wolves and exploded.

The wolves were obliterated.

“”Seriously?!”” (Kei & Haru)

The power had changed so much that both of us shouted in astonishment. The increase in power is unknown because the target of the attack died in an instant, but it seems that it has at the very least doubled.

“But for some reason, I feel that the amount of magical power consumed did not change.” (Haru)

As Haru said, the power increased a lot without any change in the consumption of magical power. It’s scary.

“Next, another wolf has come.” (Haru)

“This place is a hunter’s paradise, isn’t it?” (Kei)

At the sound of the explosion, I spotted the wolves approaching. There was one group. That meant three of them. As the wolves attacked, I threw my machete between them to focus the attention on me. Sure enough, the wolves were alerted, and three of them jumped towards me at the same time.

“[Speed]” (Kei)

When the magic circle in my hand glows faintly, my field of vision becomes slower than usual, making it easier to grasp the wolves coming from three directions. I’ll be able to dodge the three easily.

What would happen? As a matter of course, the claws of the wolves hurt each other. The claws caused serious, if not mortal, wounds to each other as the defenseless, attack-focused wolves clashed with each other. I used my hoe to hack at the throats of the immobilized wolves, killing them.

“What is this? This magic circle is amazing.” (Kei)

“I will definitely bring it again next time. I will make spares.” (Haru)

They had acquired a new weapon that day. It would be a long time before the siblings knew that this information was a technology that even the Self-Defense Forces, who were searching far ahead, had never heard of.