Published at 25th of March 2019 9:39 pm

Chapter 133: Discovery of the Magic Stone, and Mock Experience

[And here we are. Shall we start digging then?]

I stand at the search spot and roll up my sleeves. Well, I will be digging with magic, though. I knew that there is a magic stone in here with search magic; however, I don’t know how deep it is.

[Anyway, don’t I have any other choice than to dig through the ground?]

I begin digging up a hole with earth magic. I float with [Fly] and carry the dug soil to the ground with [Levitation]. I encountered several hard bedrocks while digging, but I crushed them with earth magic and continued afterwards.

I think I have dug out a lot, but nothing comes out yet. It is really very deep. I hope I don’t hit an underground water or something.

Eventually, the bedrocks started to change. Because some of them were glittering, I stopped digging and tried to check it for a moment. I found that red transparent crystals were mixed in with a stone. I wonder if those are magic stone fragments. Unfortunately, they are just 2-3 mm grains of sand.

Is my objective close now? I better start digging carefully from now on.

As I advance while slowly digging using earth magic, a big red crystal shows up. Is that it?

In order to prevent damaging it, I shave off the soil and rocks and peel it off from bedrock. Little by little, I start to completely see the buried magic stone. But this isn’t much bigger than I thought, isn’t it?

Since I had designated the search for all things bigger than 30cm, anything big would also be probably caught. Well, I guess I won’t have any problem then since I’m not troubled if it’s big.

I take out the fire magic stone using [Levitation]. It’s extraordinarily big after all since it’s over 50 centimeters. It also seems like a big jewel.

Eh? Doesn’t this mean I can make a killing by digging gems this way?

Hm~, but it will be entirely based on my ability. Kousaka-san told me not to rely too much on my individual ability for the management of the nation.

Although I don’t want to think about it, but my death will make that thing over if the country depends on it. As much as possible, won’t it be better to quit making a profit that way? So far, the development of the country is going well, so I would make money only when I personally need it.

It will be really convenient if I discover the raw materials used for Frame Gear this way as well~. Though I can’t go on doing everything from mining to extracting and purifying it by myself.

However, selling this will probably fetch me a high price… is what was floating in my mind for a moment, but the power of the Frame Gear will be absolutely necessary in future. When this time comes, I persuade myself that I will need to use this. And so, I bury back the hole and return home.

Scene Change

[Oh my, it is pretty big]

Flora is amazed when she sees the magic stone I have brought to the [Alchemy Building]. First of all, I split it into two with [Modelling] because she said she doesn’t need it to be that big. More or less, it looks like the other portion is a reserve in the event of failure.

It seems it will take a month to complete. Given that I also didn’t need to help her with this, I decided to entrust it to Flora and headed towards the [Hangar].

When I arrive to the garage where the Frame Gear is stored, I found the shutter is left open. As expected, is it still broken?

As I entered inside, the gray knight was standing upright same as before.

[Oh~yo? Is it master?] [Eh? Master?]

I turned around when I heard a voice behind me, and Rosetta and Monica can be seen standing there. Rosetta is in her usual working uniform, but why is Monica in a camouflage uniform? She looks she’s from a special force of some country with that green beret… I don’t understand the sense of these girls as always.

[What’s wrong, you two?] [I thought I’d better do a light maintenance since 5000 years have passed. Magic is applied so that corrosion and deterioration wouldn’t happen inside the [Hangar], but dust and other similar dirt do pile up] [Like I said, where is that dust you keep talking about? The [Hangar] is properly managed by me]

Monica is pouting because of Rosetta’ words. After opening the shutter with a pipe wrench, it is very much uncertain whether you are adequately managing it.

Rosetta confirmed the surroundings of the Frame Gear for a bit and then called out to me.

[It may be impossible to activate it, but would you like try sitting in the cockpit?] [That’s right. Do you want to ride it?]

Hearing my response, Rosetta quickly goes up the Frame Gear from the feet to the knees and then to the foothold on its waist. And when she arrived around the chest, she held out her hands to something that looks like a panel for some reason. There was a ‘Pushuu’ sound produced. The air came out, and the chest hatch opened up and down. Ooh.

I start to climb the cockpit as well while mimicking Rosetta, and Monica came to the same height with the help of a crane-like thing attached to the wall. If you have something like that, bring it out from the start…

When I peeked inside, installed there to the left and right of a leather seat were control sticks, some kind of small gauges, image panels and a lot of switches and levers tightly lined up that I didn’t understand very well. It’s an old-fashioned cockpit.

I try sitting down immediately. Un, it is not uncomfortable. There is something like foot-levers under my feet. Would they make it walk?

[You will be able to maneuver it once you understand the fundamentals of its movement. Afterwards, all that’s left is to get used to it. The unit itself will do the minute assistance and corrections after it reads the pilot thoughts. Therefore, even a child can make it move once he gets used to it] – (Rosetta) [In other words, the pilot’s thoughts and experience basically have a large influence, and a person who is not as strong as a veteran soldier won’t be able do anything but basic movements] – (Monica)

I see. Will the limit be dependent on the pilot’s own abilities if that pilot becomes skilled at piloting? In other words, I wonder if it will be better to have a knight or a soldier as a pilot candidate. When I try asking Rosetta, it seems that it depends on the unit in question. There seems to be units which are suitable for a magicians as well. Therefore, do I have to choose the pilot who utilizes his/her individual characteristic the best for each unit?

[I wish I can move it soon. It will take some time to get used to it]

When I come out of the cockpit and get off the Frame Gear, Rosetta approaches me while her hand suppresses her laughter.

[I thought such thing would happen as well! Actually, there is something that I secretly made!]

Rosetta made a flashy pose with a grand gesture. What does she mean?

Is that it? Is that the thing she has been secretly doing from time to time since before?

We headed towards [Workshop] while we were being guided by Rosetta, and in there were two objects laid down like eggs lined up. Their size is approximately that of a minicar. They really look like eggs because of their white color, but they are definitely man-made as I can see thin joints on them.

[This is the simulation system [Frame Unit] for Frame Gear training]

BABAN! Rosetta explains her creation with flashy actions. Frame Unit? When you say Simulation system, does she mean I can have a mock experience…?

When Rosetta touches the side of the egg, the slightly pointed front opens up and down, and what comes to our sight is the cockpit of the Frame Gear I boarded a little while ago.

[Will this work?] [The power in use is not Ether Liquid. Instead, natural magic power is in use because it’s not necessary to actually move it]

Well, I guess that’s right. It seems the Frame Gear lets the magic power inside the Ether Liquid spread out to the whole body and will synchronize it with the pilot’s magic power. As a result, it seems it will move like your body. If the pilot is the brain, will that make the Ether Liquid the nerves?

Not only that, it seems it is also being used as a catalyst for tremendous magic power amplification that operates the power reactor. Rosetta and Flora explained it, but, truthfully, I didn’t understand the small details. I am not good with science.

I am told that I may be able to move the Frame Gear even without the Ether Liquid due to the amount of my magic power, but it looks like they have to rebuild the whole structure from scratch for that to work. It seems there was a Frame Gear with that design as well, but the said blueprint is also in the [Warehouse]. I wonder if I can build my own unit once I find it.

At any rate, why not try out this simulation?

As I try boarding it, the construction is exactly the same as that of the cockpit of the Frame Gear. After Rosetta closes the hatch, a thin dimly green light lit inside the cockpit.

『Can you hear me, Master?』 [Rosetta? I can hear you] 『The first step is to start up the system. Please touch the central panel in front of you』

In front of me… Is it this one? When I touched a small panel about the size of a B5 notebook, several gauges started to move along with a quiet startup sound, and images are projected on the large monitors in front, and to both sides. Ooh, it continues on just by pressing the touch panels even though it’s construction is retro.

The viewpoint is high. Is this the height when you get in the actual Frame Gear? My surroundings are open plains. I can also see something like a forest in the distance.

[Was it something you projected?] 『It is the projection of this country given that I have created it as training stage』

Ooh, no wonder. I thought it was a scenery I saw before. It looks so real even though it’s just a picture I see on the screen.

『First, let’s try walking. Please step on the right foot pedal slowly. After that, step on the left one. You will be able to walk like that』

As I do exactly as she told me, the unit started to walk slowly. Ooh! It is really shaking.

『When turning, shift the center of gravity of your movement and it will move to the left or to the right. Step towards the toes to withdraw and step on them quickly to dash』

Oh? Ooh~ Fascinating. I just simply walk, turn, and step back and yet it moves fairly well as I desire it. Is it because it assists me by reading my thoughts?

After that I have grasped jumping, crouching, side movements and the like while I am being guided by Rosetta. Next is learning to move the upper body using the control sticks, raising the hands, lowering them, waving, turning the shoulders and so on and so forth.

What’s convenient is that things like turning the neck a little, closing and opening the fingers, twisting the waist and the like can be done just by thinking of it. If one gets used to it, that person will definitely be able to follow the movements of the body. It looks like it isn’t a lie when they said anyone can ride it.

When I got pretty accustomed to the point that I was making the frame hop on each leg, another Frame Gear appeared in the front.

[Eh? What?]

That Frame Gear looked like the gray mass-produced one I saw in the garage.

『Since it seems you have got considerably used to it, let’s proceed with the next stage, Master』 [Ha? Monica?]

The voice I heard undoubtedly belongs to Monica. Does it mean she is riding in that frame? Now that I think about it, there are two eggs. Did she board the other one?

Afterwards, two plain swords with a dark grey color dropped in front of me and Monica.

『Next is studying the actual combat movements』

I see, the reason why there are two eggs is for network battle.

I reach to the sword stuck in front of me and firmly grasp it.

Good, I shall try doing that for a change!

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