Chapter 3 – DEPARTURE
「… so hungry」
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From the technology and knowledge Jin had inherited from the 《Magi Craft Meister》, Adrianna Balbora Ceci, there was no magic to create food from nothing.
Just barely, he was able to create water using water magic so he wouldn’t die from dehydration, however being without food was fatal.
He made clothes for himself. The sewing skills he had refined wasn’t just for show. He had used a suitable fabric he found on a shelf.
For now, Jin took a brief tour around the research facility. The knowledge he had gained was, how to say, like reading a reference book or a dictionary, it was somewhat different to recalling a memory.
In regards to magic, he was able to get the knack of using magic after using it once, but it takes some time to look up magic he hasn’t used before.
So, back to what was being said. There was no food stored in this research facility. Rather, he definitely wouldn’t eat even if there was food from 1000 years ago. No… he probably wouldn’t eat.
「Nnn, this goes here」
If one was to say what Jin was doing, it would be repairing the 《Automata》, or more precisely he was restoring it.
Breaking into pieces after fulfilling its duty, the state it was in was pitiful. Originally, Jin had created dolls for the orphanage children, and it was in his nature to see if he could repair broken devices and machines.
「My predecessor sure was amazing. The frame is almost identical to a human」
The inside of this 《Automata》 had a frame just like a human, with 《Magic Fibre》 used for the muscles, and synthetic 《Magic Skin》 used for the skin.
In place of the organs there is an 《Ether Converter》and a 《Mana Drive》, and in charge of thought processes is an elaborate 《Control Core》.
「The frame is in pieces and doesn’t seem like it can be repaired…… it would probably be quicker to make a new one」
With that said, using a light metal found in the underground storage room, he rebuilt the frame. Although rather than build, it was quite easy as it was simply processing it with magic to the same dimensions as the original.
After that, he used the rare 《Light Silver》, although he did not understand its worth because he had plenty. Usually 1kg of 《Light Silver》 could build a mansion, but he used it without care only because it had a high affinity with magic.
「Putting the 《Ether Converter》 like this will increase the efficiency… also doing this will downsize the 《Mana Drive》」
He made models to get the gist of what to improve while rebuilding it. The magic power of words, or in other words the soul of language, 《Magi Language》 was inscribed, and then he noticed that for some reason Japanese, as well as kanji greatly increase the performance, so he decided to rewrite it all in Japanese.
「Should I make new 《Magic Fibre》 and 《Magic Skin》 or should I keep them as they are? No, 《Magic Fibre》 seems to have room for improvement… as for 《Magic Skin》, if it were to change then the appearance would be altered. Ah, but I’ll need to apply a lasting 《Reinforce》」
Gradually Jin became engrossed, and because of that, he did not notice the specs that the predecessor made abnormal were becoming even more abnormal.
「Finally the 《Control Core》, huh? It looks like it could break at any moment… and there wasn’t any in the storage room was there…」
In a tunnel underneath the research facility, there was a countless amount of magic dolls classified as golems that, slowly, but without resting, continually dug out useful resources. For 1000 years in fact. That amount was unimaginable to think of, and to Jin it was inconceivable. The golems had a simple structure so as long as their magic power does not deteriorate they would continue to operate.
「Here they are, there sure is a lot isn’t there? Well then, let’s use this lovely guy」
The 《Magic Crystal》 used for the original 《Control Core》 was red, however the one Jin took out was iridescent like an opal.
「Transfer the information of the old 《Control Core》… great, it worked. This one is large so there is probably still some room. Should I try to copy my knowledge?」
Forgetting hunger, it seems like it was in his nature to be engrossed in creating things.
「… 《Transfer Info》…urgh, my brain endured considerably well. As I thought, all my knowledge was impossible, well I guess this is fine」
Transcribing all of Jin’s knowledge would take time as expected, so he mainly transcribed knowledge regarding language. Specifically it was Japanese, kanji, kana, the alphabet, etc.
For the whole day, Jin had spent it all on assembling the 《Automata》.
「All that’s left would be clothes」
Trying to put on the clothes, its magic power had shaken off and scattered the dust on its body, and now the 《Automata》 was naked. It was extremely tempting in various ways.
「I’ve already come this far, I’ll see this till the end」
Because he made clothes for himself, none of the fabric he found remained.
It couldn’t be helped he thought, and as he expected, he found what he was looking for in the store room. Using the large amount of string from 《Ground Spiders》 as fabric, he used it to create clothes. Making use of his predecessor’s loom.
He used fine threads to weave underwear and thick string to weave the outer-garments. It was even able to weave lace, as one would expect of his predecessor.
「The composition of it is the same as the original clothing, but how should I dye the colour?」
Searching for dyes, he quickly found them. He chose a translucent blue. In fact, this was a magic dye which had the effect of warding off demons.
The shoes from the store room were similar to a dark brown colour. In fact, Jin didn’t mind that the leather was that of a dragon.
Rather than maid clothes, he finished clothes that were more suitable for an Alice. As a matter of course it was natural, the design was the same as the clothes he made for the dolls for the girls of the orphanage.
「Hmm… well, it has the figure of a child so it should be fine」
Jin was satisfied with what he had finished.
「Well then, the last thing to finish this is the 『Activation』」
To activate it, he poured his magic power into the 《Mana Drive》 but the 《Automata》 laying before his eyes did not move.
「Huh? Did I make a mistake somewhere?」
He checked it, but there was no defect in the performance of the magic circuit.
「Yeah… I have no idea」
At that moment, as though to remind him, his stomach rumbled.
And so, we return to the opening line.
＊ ＊ ＊
「Aaaa… so hungry…」
Jin sank down onto the floor.
「At this rate I’m going to starve to death in this research facility…」
Thus, he decided to go outside for the time being.
「Hmm… if I remember correctly, there’s a 《Warp Gate》 I can use to easily travel around.」
The knowledge he inherited had told him there was such technology.
「Also, the 《Warp Gate》to go outside should be on the 1st floor」
His memory, or rather he searched his knowledge for the 《Warp Gate》 that was the gate to the outside world. Just how many 《Warp Gates》 were lined up?
「Oh well, any of them will do, let’s just take the 5th one then」
According to his knowledge, the 《Warp Gate》 exits are close to large towns.
He takes 5 gems from the store room to exchange for money. They were small rubies. He judged that it would be difficult to convert into money if it was too big.
「Looks alright. Well then, time to go」
He gets on the magic circle of the 《Warp Gate》, and pours in his magic power. The magic circle immediately operates…
「… something feels odd」
Jin had forgotten. The 《Warp Gates》 were setup more than 1000 years ago. In a 1000 years, towns can perish and the geography of land can change.
The corresponding 《Warp Gate》 of the 《Warp Gate》 Jin was using no longer existed.
「Su-re-ly-it-wo-nt-go-out-of-co-nt-ro-l?」
The magic circle was flickering intensely. The amount of magic power needed to transfer was great. Now that its destination was lost, it began to malfunction.
「This… is… bad…」
He was unable to get off, and just as the magic circle malfunctioned, Jin’s figure disappeared from the research facility.
＊ ＊ ＊
「… fa…ther?」
The 《Automata》 opened its eyes. Being in the room under the malfunctioning magic circle, it was able to sense that Jin was in danger.
The reason why the activation was so slow was because for its body that had a tremendous magic power capacity, it took time to convert the 《Ether》 in the air to the quantity of 《Mana》 the 《Mana Drive》 needed to activate.
「Father… is gone…」
Having its creator gone, it was the most serious matter for the 《Automata》.
「I have to… find father」
The 《Automata》 faced its search for its own 《Raison D’être》, Jin. Readying a new 《Warp Gate》 to return with, it was now prepared,
「I’m going」
And now another disappeared from the research facility.
All that remained were the golems that dug out resources single-mindedly.