Volume 3 - CH 19

Chapter 19 – Gem

The old man swiftly walks through the winding passages of the royal castle, which makes Eto feel like he is going to lose his way back. But since it will be embarrassing to get lost in the royal castle, Eto followed the old man closely, so he won’t lose sight of him. Until suddenly, when Eto didn’t even know whether they’re above or under the ground, the old man stopped.

“This is the room.”

The room was equipped with a large double door that was above Amou’s height. The surface of the door is also beautifully decorated with an arabesque pattern. And after the old man hummed something, a clicking sound was heard from the inside of the door, showing how guarded the room was, as they even put a magic mechanism for security measures.

“There are more than a thousand treasures owned by the royal family in this room. Although you guys can only see one-tenth of the treasures, it doesn’t change the fact that all of them are highly valuable. The really important treasures are designed only for royal families, after all, so there won’t be any meaning even if an adventurer has it.”

After saying that, the old man places his hand on the door of the treasury and opens it, which automatically turns the light of the magic tools on, illuminating the treasure in the room.

And the first item that caught their eyes was the golden armor and weapon placed on the large table in front of them. Truly, a treasure, that’s what they thought. Meanwhile on the left side, there was a shelf with colorful crystals lined up that stretched all the way to the back of the room, fascinating Sorano and Kohaku. A shelf was also set up on the right side, with many tools placed there. According to the old man, all of them are magic tools. And Amou surprisingly showed a keen interest in those magic tools.

Golden armor and weapons, precious crystals and magical tools. Truth to be told, although those items are certainly valuable, they couldn’t pique Eto’s interest.

“The four of you can choose any of the items in this room. There were also some enchanted items in the back, you might also want to look at them.”

With those words, Eto finally found the thing that made him very interested, enchanted items. Therefore, he went to the back of the room without hesitation. He then asked the old man to show the list of the items there, and checked the effect of the magic of the items he was interested in. Regrettably, none of them could surpass Eto’s enchantment1.

“Hmm? I thought you were interested in these enchanted items?”

Hearing that, Eto picked up a sword that he saw and enchanted it with wind magic, saying “Enchant – Wind Sword”. And when he places the sword back, the old man can see that there is a wind that envelops the sword, swirling and blowing around the sword.

“I can use support magic. And I can also enchant weapons and armor with my magic. Honestly, the effects of my support magic are far more powerful than the items I’ve seen so far here.”

“Hmmm.”

Humming, the old man walked to the deepest part of the room and brought a golden ball that was small enough to be hidden in a hand.

“This is said to be a gem that enhances the effect of magic. However, apparently, no matter how many times people tried to hold this gem while casting attack magic, there was no effect whatsoever to their attack magic. How about you try it with your support magic?”

‘Interesting.’

That was what Eto thought when he heard the old man’s explanation. And if it doesn’t work, he can just choose another treasure, after all. Hence, Eto gathered his party members and explained the situation, before casting Haste while holding the said gem in his hand.

“W-what is this?! My body could move faster?!”

Suddenly, the old man, who shouldn’t have gotten the effect of Haste, shouted. It was supposed to be only for Kohaku, who was the closest to Eto. But now, everyone including Eto himself, had the effect of Haste. After releasing the Haste, Eto took a step away from the four and reapplied it. Surprisingly, everyone still got the effect of Haste. And according to his party members, the feeling is no different from the usual Haste.

After that, Eto gradually made distance from them while repeatedly activating and releasing Haste. That led to one conclusion. It seems, if he uses support magic while holding the gem, the effect of the magic was extended to all humans within range. Although it is still unclear how many people it can exert the effect on, Eto found that the range of the said effect is about two steps with the gem in the center.

The magic power consumption is also relatively low. Indeed, Eto still didn’t know the exact amount of magic power it used, but it definitely allowed him to save more magic power than buffing several people at once.

The only problem is whether the gem could affect debuffs too or not, but Eto quickly found the solution. Since the range was changed only when he cast his magic with the hand that was holding the gem, he can just simply use his other hand when casting debuff.

Most magicians use magic with one hand. Therefore, it may be difficult even for them to cast magic with both hands. Fortunately, since he began learning magic, Eto was able to use magic dexterously with both hands2.

“Houhou. It’s like a tool made especially for you.”

The old man nodded, seemingly impressed by what he saw.

“Excuse me, is there any other gem like this? I’m very interested in it.”

“As far as I know, this gem is the only treasure that has such an effect.”

“I see. I thought if there are more gems like this, the usage of support magic would be vastly expanded.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know any other gems like that.”

In the end, Eto chose the gem, Kohaku and Sorano chose beautiful and valuable crystals, and Amou chose a magic tool that could create a barrier during camp to prevent monsters’ attacks. Needless to say, Eto also thanked the old man for recommending the gem.