CH 137

After getting home, I teach some more about cooking, and stay in my room alone to do alchemy.

That dungeon exploration made me think about a few things. More than just the dungeon, my way of thinking that everything will turn out fine somehow was too soft. I feel like since I read about what kinds of monsters appear in those floors, I was walking through the dungeon without much sense of danger.

I acted all high and mighty in the guild and said that the adventurers were poorly prepared, but I would have probably been completely helpless if I didn’t have my skills.

The safest option when I heard about the superior species would have probably been to turn back.

I was trying to have a safety margin while in the dungeon, but I need to take into account that I could always end up being dragged into something unexpected. And when that happens, it’s too late to think about what I should have done.

Also, I’m going to have to defeat bosses if I’m going to be exploring the dungeon. I want to lay a foundation in case anyone sees me using a gun. Then I can say that I got it from a boss’ treasure chest.

Guns are my trump card, but their oddness makes them difficult to use. If people knew about them, they would still be rare weapons, but I could probably use them without much issue, because people would know of their existence. Probably.

Although it would still be a good idea not to use them unless I had to.

What I fear the most is that someone might see that strange weapon, start connecting the dots, and look into who I really am. I have to protect myself from being exposed and having that kingdom stretch its hands towards me. Maybe I should look into the people that were summoned into this world before me.

But first, we have to become stronger, and everyone needs to master using their magic energy, starting with Mia.

I start wondering why it isn’t going well, but the reason is clear. People can’t see magic energy, so they have to go about it by feel alone.

Leila and her party can use magic energy well, but they have the groundwork of what they learn in the academy, and experience as adventurers. Yor also does research on her own, and I’ve seen her talking to the others about it, so that might play a part too. There’s also the fact that I’m probably not good at explaining it…

So what should I do? Make it so they can see magic energy like I do.

I place all the items I need on a table.

There’s something on the list of transmutable items that seems to fit what I want, so I’ll be using that as reference.

The shadow wolf’s magic stone, glass, ore, mana potion…

First I see what ore I have. I need something both tough and light to serve as the frame of the glasses. I make that while making magic energy flow.

Once that’s done, I transmute the shadow wolf’s magic stone and the glass, while picturing lenses that show magic energy. I have to make a lot of magic energy flow into them to give them strength so they don’t crack.

Then I take a break. I need to drink a mana potion, because I’m at my limit. Once my MP is back, I combine the frame and the lenses, and it’s done.

It seems simple when put into words, but I worked hard on this. That and the process of trial and error means it took me about two hours. And I had to do many small adjustments.

“Mia, do you have a moment?”

I realize I can’t test it by myself, so I knock on the door to the next room.

When Mia opens the door, I notice she’s wearing her pajamas. Was she getting ready to go to bed? I don’t think I’ve seen her wearing that before, so it kind of gets my heart racing. No, not kind of.

“What is it Sora?”

“Ah, sorry. Can you put these on?”

Mia looks curious when I hand her the glasses. I don’t strongly prefer girls with glasses or anything, but I still think it’s nice. I keep that last part to myself.

“All right, I’ve put them on, but…?”

She looks kind of perplexed. Oh no. Did what I was thinking show on my face? I immediately put on my serious face.

“Can you look at this with those on?”

I take out a magic stone I made for magic energy training, hold it up in front of Mia, and make magic energy flow into it.

“Eh?”

Mia sounds surprised.

“Do you see anything?”

“Yes. I see light flowing from your hand to the magic stone.”

“Correct. Those glasses are a magic item that makes magic energy visible.”

“Magic energy?”

“Yes. It’s hard to look for magic energy by feeling alone, right? I figured it would be easier for all of you if you could actually see it. What do you think?”

“I can understand it with these. This is great. Incredible, Sora.”

She’s more excited than I expected.

I hand the magic stone to Mia, and she makes magic energy flow into it too.

It goes more smoothly than ever before. She keeps going ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’, probably because she’s excited.

“Big sister Mia, you’re noisy.”

Hikari appears from the back with sleepy eyes.

She’s also wearing cute pajamas. The same as Mia’s actually.

“I’m sorry Hikari. Did I wake you up?”

“Yes. I’m sleepy.”

“Let’s end it here for today. There’s more I want to test, but let’s do it tomorrow.”

I say, but Mia doesn’t look too convinced. I guess part of it is because I came knocking at her door late at night with this in the first place. I was just feeling unsure. I wouldn’t be able to sleep without knowing if it worked.

Mia goes back to her room with the glasses still on her face.

I’m going to have Hikari and Sera try them too tomorrow. If they can use magic energy too, that should up our fighting power quite a bit. But Sera doesn’t have a lot of magic energy to begin with, so she probably can’t use it unless it’s with a weapon made of a highly conductive material like mithril.

Should we have her use her magic energy in other ways then? Magic energy isn’t spent unless magic is used, so it’s a waste if it’s left alone.