Chapter 64: 63. Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore
1.
After bidding Gaia farewell,
Dolores and I left the Tower without delay.
The method for those who had entered the Tower using an invitation ticket to leave it was simple.
They just had to tear up the invitation ticket they carried on them.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
I released my interlocked fingers from Dolores's tight grip and tore the invitation ticket.
Riiip...
Along with the sound of tearing...
a faint wave of nausea swept over me.
My body dropped as though the ground beneath my feet had vanished.
Just as my vision sank into blackness—
【Where are you?】
I heard a voice from somewhere.
Not that I truly heard it.
It felt like words softly scraped through my mind before slipping away.
Letters floated before my eyes.
【Why didn't you come?】
【I've been waiting all this time.】
【You said we'd meet.】
Who was it?
...No.
I knew this feeling.
Those things I had blocked before, whose names I couldn't even properly read.
This was probably...
Abyss.
【You promised to be with me ■■■■】
【I've been down here all this time ■■■■■■■■】
Black letters obscured my vision one after another.
【Don't go.】
【Are you going to leave me behind again?】
My body... my body... kept sinking downward.
It felt as though something with soft hands had seized my ankles.
Just as the darkness tried to drag me deeper down—
Swoosh...
Something caught the hem of my clothes from behind.
Then I felt it gently... incredibly gently pulling me upward.
『Child.』
【■■■!!! ■■■!! ■■ ■■!!】
The letters suddenly vanished from sight.
Along with the faint scent of earth in my nose.
『I am behind you, so do not worry.』
『Let us meet again next time.』
Gaia's voice came closer.
As if she were embracing me from directly behind.
Splash!
With the sensation of breaking through the surface of water,
my vision was dyed pure white.
"Urk!"
Thud!
I sprawled out in front of Dolores's study.
"Lionel!"
Dolores hurriedly crouched down.
She pulled me into her arms from where I had fallen and looked me over from head to toe.
"I'm fine. I'm just a little nauseous..."
It was just motion sickness.
Probably.
I'd heard that using an invitation ticket felt much harsher than entering normally.
And since I was a child, it must have been even tougher on me. That was only natural.
I rested my head against Dolores's chest.
The cool sensation radiating from her body put me at ease.
"...Phew."
I finally felt like I could live again.
"Would you like to lie down for a while?"
"Yes. Just for a little..."
And with that, I closed my eyes.
I had truly intended to sleep only a little.
2.
A vigorous, solid morning.
"This is seriously ridiculous."
I said I'd sleep only a little, yet I had sprawled out and slept until morning again.
I could see why they prevented children from going to the Tower.
This was hard to handle in the first place.
"Good morning, Ruby."
"...Overslept."
"It's still morning, though?"
10:48 a.m.
Anyway, it was before noon, so it was morning.
Munch, munch.
With a ciabatta roll clenched in my mouth, I briskly walked down the corridor.
I held the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore dearly against one arm.
While I was at it, on the way there...
"Dolores, please give me that flower."
"All right."
I got Gaia's flower back from Dolores as well.
From now on, Gaia was my religion.
She must have saved me from being dragged away by the Abyss before I left the Tower, right?
I wasn't sure exactly, but that was what the circumstances seemed to suggest.
And Gaia had pulled me back up.
The Abyss could wait for now.
There was nothing I could do about it right away.
Later, I could just send Isabella a DM and ask her about it.
No, wait?
"Dolores, do you happen to know about the Abyss?"
"...The Abyss."
Dolores stopped moving.
Her expression stiffened slightly.
"Don't tell me Isabella told Lionel about—"
"No, it isn't like that. Um..."
I briefly explained what had happened before we left the Tower.
How my vision had turned black. How someone had called for me and pulled me downward.
And finally, how Gaia had pulled me back up.
Of course, I didn't mention that the Abyss had been sending me invitations all along.
To explain that, I would first have to confess that I could see the Tower's system.
"I saw something somewhere that called that sort of thing the Abyss..."
But then.
"..."
Dolores's expression became exceedingly grave.
"Lionel."
"Yes."
"Are you certain Gaia appeared then?"
"I only heard her voice, but I'm sure it was her. I could smell earth and grass, too."
Dolores sank into thought for a moment.
Her hand came to rest on top of my head.
Rub, rub.
"I don't think this is something I should judge carelessly."
"Then should we ask Isabella—"
"Absolutely not. Yes, never."
She reassured me, saying she would ask Gaia for a conversation.
"Don't worry too much. They are, after all, beings that hide because they fear the sun. Have you eaten?"
Beings that hid because they feared the sun...
That was a rather abstract expression.
Without answering, I pointed at the ciabatta in my mouth.
As always, Dolores sighed and was about to tell me not to skip meals...
"...Stop right there."
"Huh?"
"You're calling that breakfast... Come here."
In the end, Dolores caught me and dragged me to the dining room.
Ciabatta and soup.
Eggs and a salad, too.
I ended up eating a proper, hearty breakfast.
Then I returned to the workshop.
I hadn't been away that long, but it felt as if I had been gone for quite some time.
"Ugh, I'm stuffed."
I placed the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore on the table.
Then I put Gaia's flower into a vase and filled it with water.
"Pretty."
The sight made me smile. It felt like the workshop had come alive.
Now... I should get started right away.
I felt as though I had put off making a hammer for far too long.
The essentials of a good hammer, according to Harngar.
The recoil from the strike should not travel back into the wrist.
And since my body was still growing, the handle should be replaceable later on.
Something along those lines...
"Should I start by drawing up the blueprint?"
Normally, whether I designed it in 3D or drew it with a ruler, I would have to do it myself.
But I had the best supporter there was.
In the era I came from, using AI to draft blueprints was standard practice.
An era where what I had seen in movies was possible.
You could call it the pinnacle of mechanical engineering.
"Yuna."
[Hmph. It's been a while.]
Her voice dripped with displeasure.
Since I hadn't called for her much while going back and forth to the Tower, she seemed a little upset.
In this world, the moment I started talking about her being upset or whatever, it would turn into a disaster.
"My beloved little sister, I need your help."
[...What is it?]
It was best to keep things pleasant.
"You know."
I grinned and answered teasingly.
[............]
After a brief silence, Yuna spoke curtly.
[The angle and speed when you swing a hammer, plus the impact data on your wrist.]
"Yeah, and include my arm length and palm width."
[I was going to include all of that, you know?]
"Heh heh. Should I spread my arms?"
[Yeah, hurry up and spread them.]
I stretched both arms wide.
Bzzzz...
Thin blue lines swept from the top of my head to my toes.
It wasn't actually a hologram scanning me. It was an image Yuna had overlaid onto my vision.
To anyone else, I probably looked like I had suddenly stopped in the middle of the workshop and spread my arms wide.
[Measurement complete.]
"Then just make a prototype blueprint first."
[What are the conditions?]
I fetched the Earthborn Hammer from the corner.
"...It should fit my body as it is now. Make the weight similar to this, with the center of gravity a little farther forward than the Earthborn Hammer?"
I could work out the finer details later.
[What about the material?]
"For now, calculate it with provisional material properties. Later, I'll find something that suits the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore."
Provisional material properties.
Since the material I would use hadn't yet been decided, I would assign arbitrary values for density, strength, and elasticity, then establish the form first.
[Got it.]
Fine lines began appearing one by one before my eyes.
Horizontally, vertically.
Strange, complicated values and angles overlapped one another.
Before long, a translucent hammer floated in midair.
Of course, only I could see this as well.
I reached out and pretended to grasp the hammer.
Naturally, my fingers passed straight through the hologram, but...
Sliiide.
It settled naturally into my hand.
Assuming that I was holding it, I said,
"Can you overlay it on the Earthborn Hammer? Just preserve the sensation of its weight."
The Earthborn Hammer's weight had been absolutely perfect.
Everything else had been the problem.
[Okay.]
I gripped the actual Earthborn Hammer, and the shape of the translucent hammer overlaid itself on top of it.
Naturally, what I actually felt in my hand was the familiar hammer's weight.
What I saw was the shape of a new hammer.
Yuna separately marked only the differences between the two hammers with red holographic lines.
Clang.
I gave the anvil a light swing.
"The hammerhead is a little too small."
[I made it to match your grip strength and arm length;]
"No, it can be a little bigger. But make the handle shorter."
[Then the weight will be concentrated toward the head, though?]
"That's what I want. I won't be striking with my wrist. I'll use the hammer's weight."
Harngar's words.
Never move it with sheer strength.
A hammer was not something you forcibly drove down.
[Design Version 01]
[Shorten the handle, widen the hammerhead]
Yuna immediately adjusted the values.
The hammerhead grew a little wider, and the handle became ever so slightly shorter.
Since things like the center of gravity weren't something I could know right away,
I swung it a few more times.
I adjusted the size, shape, and various other details.
It didn't seem bad.
At this point, it looked good enough to me.
Now it was time to bring in... another area of expertise.
"...What if we add Yuna's aesthetic sense to it?"
The visuals were important too.
From here on, it wasn't my area.
[Hmm.]
Then, with Yuna's touch—
Bzzz...
Without disrupting its weight balance,
the hammerhead was refined, while the handle became a little smoother as well.
[Appearance adjustment complete]
I rotated the completed shape once, then nodded.
Not bad.
"The blueprint is done."
Now,
it was time to choose the materials.
The most basic Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore, which would form the hammer's framework.
I needed to heat this thing up first.
I put the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore inside the crucible furnace and raised the heat.
Creak, creak.
Whoosh!
"Haa..."
No matter how often I did it, heating the crucible furnace was no easy task.
Doing it in the real world again after so long was killing me.
I wasn't trying to melt it right away.
I wanted to see at what temperature it softened.
How its properties changed when exposed to heat.
A few basic tests were necessary.
So I had intended to check that first, but...
"...?"
But then.
[Are you going to raise the temperature... more?]
"No, that's not it..."
The flames, which had been red, turned yellow.
Then they neared white.
I raised the temperature until the inside of the crucible furnace turned white, but...
Creak.
I opened the lid and checked inside the crucible.
"Why the hell isn't this thing melting?"
The Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore had not changed at all.
Its surface neither softened nor glowed red.
The crucible furnace was already at its limit.
I waited a little longer, trying to be patient, but...
"..."
Click.
In the end, I lowered the heat and removed the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore with tongs.
Clack.
The Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore held in the tongs was pure white.
"No... what the hell is this?"
At this temperature, even if it didn't melt, something should have changed.
It should have shown some kind of reaction, seriously.
But the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore...
Forget melting—it hadn't even softened.
The Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore now lay on the anvil.
Wondering whether I had gotten something wrong, I thought for a moment.
Then I looked at the ore again.
─────────────────
[Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore (White Flame Crystal Stone)][★★★★☆]
─────────────────
『An ore formed when the final spark left behind in life by Voldr, the 7th Head Craftsman, crystallized.』
『Within the ashes of an extinguished furnace, it remained warm without cooling even once for hundreds of years, awaiting a new Heir of Fire.』
『Only when an Heir of Fire strikes it will the dormant White Flame awaken.』
─────────────────
"...The White Flame awakens when struck."
The basic principle for ordinary ore was to heat it first, then hammer it.
If I simply hammered cold ore, it would only crack or be damaged.
There was no way it would change shape.
But...
"...All right, I get it."
On the off chance it worked, I would give it one try.
I raised the Earthborn Hammer.
And aimed squarely at the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore.
I didn't need to exert any force.
I would simply let it fall, using the hammer's own weight.
Tung!
The ring of metal echoed through the workshop.
"..."
Nothing changed.
So it wasn't that after all.
Just as I thought that and moved to withdraw the hammer—
Crack.
I heard something splitting inside the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore.
"...?"
Then...
A beam of light shot from the spot where the hammer had struck.
And soon—
Fwoosh.
White flames enveloped the ore.
"Hey, this was it!"
Just as expected from a four-star ore.
It was no ordinary material.
Excited, I stared at the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore.
The white blaze gradually grew larger.
"Wow, this is nice."
Yet it didn't actually feel that hot.
It felt about as warm as a campfire.
The palm-sized flame soon grew as large as the Earthborn Hammer.
"..."
Then as tall as I was.
"...?"
Wait a second.
When was this going to stop?
Just before the blaze reached the ceiling—
[Fire, there's a fire!!!]
Yuna was the first to scream.
"Fire, there's a fire?!"
The fire had grown this large, but my body didn't feel hot at all, so I had let my guard down.
It seriously wasn't hot in the slightest.
First, on reflex, I thrust out the tongs and grabbed the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore.
Just as I tried to swiftly put it into the crucible furnace—
Gllk.
The tips of the tongs holding the Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore bent.
And then—
Clang!
"...?"
The tongs melted away.
The Hundred Flowers Crystal Ore fell to the floor.
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