1.
I think analyzing yourself is incredibly important.
Self-objectification, I guess.
Anyway, I’m usually very scatterbrained and can’t focus well.
But once I get fixated on something... I latch onto it and cling to it like my life depends on it.
If I were to put it nicely... I tend to become intensely absorbed in things all at once.
Even that wasn’t something I figured out myself. Yuna told me.
And when I get absorbed like that, my efficiency goes through the roof.
Like right now.
Tick... tick...
A metronome swung in one corner of the workshop.
Beside it sat a purple response stone.
I pulled my chair close and sat down.
It was dark outside. It had already been evening by the time I arrived back at the estate.
The moment I found the response stone during the day, my eyes practically rolled back. As soon as I finished the calculations, I headed for the carriage.
I did ask Dolores whether it was all right for me to go back.
She smiled and nodded, and I returned straight to the workshop.
Apparently, after that, she sat me on her lap and played with me for quite a while.
She apparently did that sometimes whenever I was focused on something.
[When you’re staring into space with your mouth hanging wide open, imagining equipment....]
[She squishes your cheeks while looking at you like you’re the cutest thing ever.]
I honestly don’t remember it.
Anyway, the moment I came in, I started tinkering with the response stone.
The rough conclusion was....
"...I’m glad I went out today."
Most gemstones are full of themselves, but this one was different.
Normally, you had to start by breaking their spirit, and that process could be pretty finicky... but this one was like a gemstone born ready to resonate with its user.
Even that metronome was the same.
It lets you concentrate in an instant? That’s fucking awesome!
When I first saw those gloves, I wanted to wash my eyes out. But now, I was completely satisfied.
I needed to remember that general store. Mentally bookmarked.
I should stop by whenever I went to see Ruby.
...Anyway, what I was going to make was a deck that could be worn on the wrist.
So there would be no need to open a case every time she drew a card... and no need to hold a stack of cards in one hand.
I envisioned it fitting snugly around the wrist, then unfolding whenever needed.
My first priority was aesthetics.
It had to be pretty... so Bella would enjoy wearing it, right?
"Yuna, bring up a holographic blueprint, please."
A blue blueprint appeared in the air.
"First, make a silver bracelet."
Two silver bands wrapped around the wrist, slightly crossing over each other.
I would set the response stone in the center.
It was a pretty decent-looking gemstone in its own right... so I thought it would help aesthetically.
"Normally, it’ll look like a bracelet... but when mana is fed in here—"
Click....
"—it’ll produce cards."
I also made sure there was room for the cards, so it would not limit Isabella’s upper potential.
She would draw them from there, one at a time.
The finer details of the blueprint were something I would have to think about as I refined it later....
"Let’s pick the materials first."
I rose from my chair and headed to the storage room.
There was no point in making it well if the material could not withstand the mana. It would be a problem if Isabella drew a great card, got excited, cast a spell, and then her bracelet suddenly shattered.
So I made a decision....
"I’ll only use the good stuff."
But make sure you bring those ten kilograms....
I opened Yeomhwa’s jewel box.
Perhaps because the gems had been sorted by color like a rainbow, I could take them all in at a glance.
Among them, I picked up a purple gemstone.
─────────────────
[Berrybon Amethyst] [★★★★★]
─────────────────
『A dawn that grew where light cannot reach.』
─────────────────
[An amethyst that grew over thousands of years in the deepest region of the Berrybon Great Cavern, where mana gathers.]
[It can contain high-density mana within its crystal.]
─────────────────
"...You’re the one."
Now then, was that the end?
Not at all.
What I was about to do was the most inefficient thing imaginable....
If anyone saw it, they might point at me and call me insane.
I set the amethyst down and reached into the jewel box again.
Starting with purple, then indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red.
I lined up gemstones worth at least four stars in rainbow colors.
And then.
"...Yuna, can you bring up the shape of a gemstone?"
I brought up a hologram.
I widened it slightly with my fingers... and lowered its height.
So it would not stick out once it was placed atop the bracelet.
"Divide this gemstone into seven parts."
Lines smoothly appeared inside the gemstone.
From this point onward, I was going to....
Take little pieces from these seven insanely precious gemstones and turn them into one rainbow gemstone.
I would carve them so they fit together flawlessly and became a single jewel.
Then I would set it onto the bracelet alongside the response stone....
That was the rough plan.
"...Let’s start with the frame."
The metal that would serve as the silver base was Whiteheart Iron.
It was a frequent customer... and seeing it often meant it was that good.
I had used it so much that I knew exactly what it was good for, too.
I put on Totality, asked Hwiri for air conditioning, and opened the crucible furnace.
"...Ah, that’s refreshing."
A cool breeze blew against the nape of my neck.
Seriously, without this, I might have roasted to death during summer.
Whoosh....
The fire was already going, thanks to all-powerful Ignia giving me an inextinguishable flame....
I immediately put in the Whiteheart Iron and melted it, then poured the molten metal into the mold I had prepared.
After cooling it sufficiently and taking it out, something that vaguely wanted to become a bracelet popped out....
First, I had to shave off the excess clinging to the edges before it would look halfway presentable.
Scrape... scrape, scrape....
"...There."
The basic shape was finished, at least.
I set the mold aside on the workbench.
At this point, the process was actually very simple.
...What would I do with the pieces I had cut away?
I would make the frame for the gemstone I was about to create.
I had to be economical. The point was not making myself do the same job twice.
"......Phew."
One response stone... and the other seven rainbow gems.
The response stone would be set separately, while the other gems had to be made into one gemstone....
I had to perfectly match their touching surfaces and combine all seven.
"You lunatic."
I wondered if I was making trouble for myself again, but....
Scrape... scrape....
I started by carving the red gemstone.
From here on out... it was probably going to take quite a while.
2.
There were many benefits to high-star gemstones.
They all developed very strong personalities.
While working on the red gemstone....
"Ow, hot as fuck."
It became hot.
And the blue gemstone....
"Ow, cold."
It was cold, but perhaps because of Dolores’s body, I had become somewhat accustomed to the cold.
How much time passed like that?
[One month!]
Isabella had apparently left ten kilograms of gems and minerals outside the door....
I had not even unpacked them yet.
Still....
"I’ll finish within a week."
[You said that a week ago.]
"...This time, I mean it."
Before I knew it, seven small fragments had been completed.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple.
Lined up beneath the light, they looked pretty convincing.
Now, I would....
"Combine them into one."
The assembly process was easy if it was easy, and hard if it was hard.
It would be nice if they simply fused together, but....
I had already fitted them together in the hologram. In theory, all I needed to do was slot them in as they were....
Clatter.
"...Just a little here."
I had to shave away the ever-so-slightly warped joint with a knife.
I was not a machine, so I absolutely had to adjust the fine details.
Scrape....
Tap, tap.
Grind, brush away the dust, grind again, brush away the dust again.
If I shaved off too little and something protruded, I could just shave it again... but if I shaved off too much, there was no fixing it.
So I had to do it little by little....
Scrape... scrape....
Who the hell said this was easy?
Click....
I secured the completed portion to the Whiteheart Iron mount and brought over the next piece.
Green, blue, and indigo.
Whenever another one fit together, I set the knife down.
And the last one.
"...Please."
I pushed the purple fragment into the final slot....
Click.
This time, it fit perfectly.
That was right. At least one out of the seven had to go like this.
"......"
With trembling hands, I carefully let go....
The seven gemstone fragments were complete, perfectly interlocked with one another.
"The joints...."
I could not see them.
They had fused snugly together as one.
Sure of my success, I pulled up the corners of my mouth.
Then, at that moment.
─────────────────
[Jewel Spectrum] [★★★★★]
─────────────────
『Seven gemstones become one.』
─────────────────
[Fully preserves the unique properties of all seven gemstones.]
[Selectively manifests the corresponding gemstone’s properties according to the wavelength of infused mana.]
[Even when different properties are manifested simultaneously, the flow of each mana does not interfere with the others.]
─────────────────
"...Ha."
I leaned back in my chair....
Roll....
Then threw myself straight onto the floor.
I closed my eyes, then opened them again.
"It’s done."
I was almost there.
[There’s no time to hesitate!!!]
Those were Yuna’s words, not mine.
I snickered and got back to my feet.
Then I brought the Jewel Spectrum, enclosed in its Whiteheart Iron frame....
I guess it was called Spectrum because it was rainbow-colored.
Anyway, I brought it to the main workbench.
All that remained was assembly.
The silver bracelet frame, the response stone, and the Jewel Spectrum.
Combining them into one would be easy.
As long as I did not break anything....
I had to be careful until the very end.
I secured the bracelet in the center of the workbench and first examined the empty slot on its side.
Where the two silver bands crossed over each other....
Click.
I inserted the Jewel Spectrum.
Since I had designed the whole structure from the start, it fit together perfectly.
Next came the response stone.
I set it into the slot beside the opening where the cards would emerge.
The goal was for it to convert the stimuli it received into wavelengths and transmit them to the Jewel Spectrum....
The final check was....
Whether there were any spots pressed down while securing the frame, or any places where the joints had come loose.
"......"
Once I had finished the final adjustments.
Whine....
A purple light came on inside the response stone.
I lightly ran my thumb along the edge of the cover.
"...It’s pretty."
And then.
─────────────────
[Jewel Guardians: Oath] [★★★★✦]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility] [- /110]
─────────────────
『The souls dwelling within seven gemstones pledge their loyalty to one person.』
『They will always answer the call, and on the battlefield, the knight best suited to the task shall step forth.』
『If you make the first move, our oath shall follow after.』
─────────────────
【Weapon Exclusive to Going Second】
[This equipment and the knights summoned from it can ‘never’ attack first.]
─────────────────
Wait a second, exclusive to going second....
For a moment, I felt a little bad about that....
But the feeling vanished in an instant.
─────────────────
【Chivalry: Yielding the First Move】
[Designates an action by an enemy selected by the user as a ‘first move.’]
[Regardless of intent to attack, movement, breathing, minute bodily motions, and mana manipulation are all recognized as valid actions.]
[The moment a first move is detected, a response as the second move to that action is permitted.]
[The Guardians never wait for the opponent’s action to end.]
─────────────────
【Order】
[The user can create cards inhabited by the Jewel Guardians based on the properties of the seven gemstones.]
[Each knight’s armament and combat style are determined by the magic the user grants to the card.]
[When a card is deployed, the corresponding knight materializes and carries out the user’s command.]
[The knight’s rank and the combat power it can manifest are proportional to the user’s magical capability.]
─────────────────
【Lucky Draw】
[When a first move is detected, the card in the deck best suited to responding to that action is summoned first.]
[The summoned card reaches the user’s fingertips regardless of its position in the deck’s arrangement.]
[If the user has directly designated a card, that command takes priority.]
─────────────────
『Entrust even your worries to us.』
- Seventh Knight Amethyst -
『...The ancient Jewel Guardians? That oath still remained?』
『W-wait, all seven of them have gathered....』
『No, where on earth did he get a deck that even I don’t have......?!』
- Resonance God Arjibelna -
─────────────────
Along with the satisfying four-and-a-half-star rating....
There was suddenly a heaping bowl of text.
And even sweet knight Amethyst, Ms. Amethyst herself.
"...Ah, wait a second."
First, I needed to look at this from the perspective of an omniscient card-player mage.
First, the description that it was a weapon exclusive to going second.
Given the nature of their magic, where going first and going second were determined... from what I had seen, going second seemed to mean you had to allow the other side to attack first, but in exchange, your explosive power was enormous.
Going first, on the other hand, seemed more focused on controlling the opponent.
But....
"No... even breathing counts as going first?"
A breathing-based first-move judgment that shattered the disadvantageous paradigm of going second.
The instant someone’s body rose and fell to take a breath... it was basically saying, Oh, it’s my turn, then stabbing them.
This was supposed to be chivalry...?
"......"
Was it really all right for something like this to end up in a card player’s hands?
With grave ethical concerns in mind....
"For now, it’s complete...."
Grinning, I flopped down onto the floor.
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