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Chapter 2 – Magic Silver Transmutation

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TL: Kazue Kurosaki

ED: Kazue Kurosaki

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After the goddess disappeared, I left the room.

Then, I searched the shelves in the bedroom and found a change of clothes. It’s not a good idea to be naked forever.

In the game, it was an alchemist, who self-proclaimed herself a goddess, who created the homunculus. As soon as we’d wake up, we’d be given the status of the alchemist’s apprentice and some money and be told to go on a journey.

According to the alchemist, if we were able to comfortably live among humans and achieving great success in life, she would have accomplished her goal of creating a human by human hands for the first time.

I know where the alchemist keeps her money because I’ve done this so many times.

“Okay, here’s the safe.”

I take out a large safe about as long as my arm from the shelf.

Then, I raise my hand and strike it with magic power at a certain wavelength.

The lock on this safe senses the wavelength of magic. The alchemist always opened the safe by striking it with her own wavelength. I remember her wavelength from back then.

Normal humans can’t change the wavelength of their magic, but a homunculus can.

There was a click sound and the lock was open.

“All right, all right. There’s a lot of money here, but this should be enough.”

Inside the safe was a wad of bills.

Paper money system has already been introduced into this world several years ago. Gold coins would be better in terms of atmosphere, but they’re a bit too heavy for my taste.

The amount of money in the safe was about 300,000 Bars.

Since a loaf of bread costs about 200 Bars, the value isn’t so different from Japanese yen. It’s enough to live for about a month.

And one more thing. There was about 10 kilograms of mythril… magic silver that was probably stored as a catalyst.

“This is a good start. I wonder why this was even kept here.”

I search for the mythril processing formula in my mind.

“Magic Silver Transmutation: Ring.”

My brain runs the magic formula and the spell is activated.

The mythril turns from solid to liquid and wraps itself around my right and left arms and thighs.

Then, it becomes a ring and returns to solid form.

Magic silver becomes liquid when a very specific wavelength is applied. By manipulating the liquid, it can be turned into a desired shape.

“Magic Silver Transmutation: Type 1 – Spear.”

The spell is activated again. The rings on both my arms become liquid and gather in the palm of my hand, then it becomes a spear of about 1 meter and 50 centimeters with a double-edged knife-like blade at the tip.

Then, I do a quick light demonstration with the spear.

I’ve been using the spear as my main weapon for the past few decades, so I’m quite familiar with it. But this body in its current initial state is slow to react and move, so it feels uncomfortable.

Satisfied after moving my body a bit, I return the magic silver to its ring form. Always having it in the shape of a spear would be a hindrance.

I can bring this in even in places where carrying weapons is restricted, and it also has the bonus effect of distributing the load to both hands and feet, making it easier to carry. I usually carry my weapons like this.

“Now, what should I do?”

I have three choices. There are several cities in the Korine Kingdom, where I am now, so it’s important to decide where to go.

If I want to be a successful businessman, I can go to a city in the south where there’s a port and the economy is strong.

If I’m looking for a stable-life and security, the most well-defended and fortified city is where the king currently resides.

And…

“If you want to be stronger than anyone else, the Sealed City of Erin is the only place to go.”

It’s more lively than any other city. There’s more dreams there than in any other city. It’s more chaotic than any other city. And it’s more full of death than any other city.

I decided to go there. I found a sturdy travel bag in the house, packed a change of clothes and three days worth of food and water and set out.

If it’s the same as the game, there will be an event in the Sealed City three days from today that will be very convenient for me. … And above all, Kuuna will be there.

◆　◆　◆

I run at full speed while using magic to enhance my physical abilities.

The best road isn’t properly maintained.

The alchemist’s house was in a remote and isolated area so obviously the road was not maintained.

It was quite difficult to run, but I stuck a thin layer of mythril on the soles of my shoes to cope with the difficulty. By doing that, I can ignore small twigs and stones.

My speed is about 40 kilometers per hour. That’s my current limit.

It’s about 200 kilometers until my destination, the Sealed City. Considering the decrease in magic power, I’ll need to take a one-hour break every two hours, so I should arrive in about eight hours.

Fortunately, I was brought into this world first thing in the morning, so I shouldn’t have to camp out in the wild.

“Are the roads the same as my memory?”

In the past, I set out for the Sealed City three times in the game.

Because of that, I remember the road well. And even if I forget, I have the maps made by the players in my head, so I’m sure I won’t get lost.

I put strength into my legs.

◆　◆　◆

This happened after I took a break and set off again.

As I approached the city, the road became clearer, making it easier to run and increase my speed.

The bushes in the forest swayed. I stopped and hid behind a tree.

Out of the bushes came a big deer. About two meters big. It was standing on two legs and had a club on its hand.

“I’m lucky to see a monster outside the Sealed City.”

Monsters exist in the world of Irulande. However, they rarely show up outside the Sealed City.

No, to put it correctly, it’s because of the Sealed City.

I climb up a tree. If it’s me right now, I’d be instantly killed upon being discovered.

This monster has abilities at the top of Rank 1.

One of the few game elements in Irulande is Rank. There are six levels of Ranks, and the difference in rank is the absolute difference in power. If you’re in the same Rank, you can still win by any means necessary, but if you’re in different Ranks you can’t win unless a miracle occurs.

“Nbou.”

The bipedal monster shakes its head from side to side. It’s looking for prey.

The biggest difference between monsters and animals is that monsters don’t need food to live. Monsters prey on creatures with magic powers to get stronger.

Maybe it came out of the bushes because it smelled my magic.

But unfortunately, it lost sight of me because I erased all traces of my magic power.

“Magic Silver Transmutation: Type 3 – Bow.”

I activate my magic. I’m using a high level technique to activate my magic without leaving any signs of my magic power by pouring my magic directly into the mythril from my hand to eliminate all leakage.

The ring was replaced with a bow on my right hand and an arrow on my left hand. I held my bow horizontally, like a western-style bow.

“Automatic Target Aim.”

I activate a new magic. Since it’s a magic that’s completed inside the body itself, there’s no leakage.

The information from the field of vision, the bow and the wind on the skin. This magic uses all of this data to predict where the shot will land. Based on those predictions, the body is automatically manipulated to fire the bow, allowing the caster to fire with an astonishing high accuracy rate.

I focus my gaze on the eyes. That determines the target of my aim. The distance between me and the deer monster is 10 meters. My kill range.

The silver arrow is released.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

The arrow pierced the eye. Any animal would have died instantly.

Despite that, it’s still storming around, screaming in anger.

“Automatic Target Aim.”

The second arrow is shot.

This time, I couldn’t get a line of fire on the eyes, so I aimed at the soft nape of the neck.

A hit. However, the arrow only scratched the skin and fell to the ground with a hard sound.

Even aiming at a soft spot ended like this… If that’s the case with the neck, then it’s the same no matter where I aim except the eyes.

That’s the difference between our status.

“Ngoooooooo!!”

It found me.

The deer monster turned its huge horns and rushed at me with all its might. Then, without losing any momentum, it crashed into the tree, and it snapped the tree, which had a thickness of one meter in diameter.

I jumped down just before the monster hit the tree. The snapped tree slammed into the ground, causing a roaring sound and lifting a cloud of dust.

Then, the deer monster came charging again.

“You’re persistent! Magic Silver Transmutation: Type 4 – Hammer.”

The mythril in my arms wasn’t enough, so I also had to use the magic silver wrapped around my thighs to transmute a huge hammer.

Normally, a weapon that requires such a large swing wouldn’t be able to hit a superior monster.

However, the monster was slowed down by the near fatal wound and it was also furious. All it’s thinking about is swinging its club and smashing me.

“Ngyaao!!”

I stand still and intercept my opponent. The enemy is coming right at me, there’s no need to move.

And then, the deer monster and I cross paths.

I take a step to the side to avoid its club, and I swing my hammer diagonally to strike the back of the arrow that pierced its eye.

The arrow reached the brain, and, as expected of a monster, it ran out of steam and collapsed.

I was not unscathed either. The club it swung at me shattered the rock, small fragments scattered about, some of them stuck onto me. But no blood was flowing out.

Instead, blue particles of light were flowing out of the wound.

“Well, so much for that.”

It was a good thing that I was able to defeat a monster equivalent to the top of Rank 1 in this initial state.

After confirming that the wound is completely gone, I begin to dismantle the deer monster.

There’s one more game-like element in this world. That’s the goddess’ blessing. In game terms, it would be HP.

When you’re injured, as long as you have HP, your wounds will be enveloped in a blue light and it’ll heal on its own. But every time a wound is healed, the goddess’ blessing decreases, and once it gets completely depleted, it’ll lose its effects and you’ll bleed when you receive a wound. The goddess’ blessing can only be restored with time. There are no items or convenient magic that can restore the goddess’ blessings.

“Magic Silver Transmutation: Type 5 – Dagger.”

I trust a knife made for dismantling into the heart of the deer monster.

Dead monsters are easy to cut. Their bodies aren’t naturally hard, but they’re strengthened by the miasma. Once they die, they lose that miasma.

Inside the heart, there is a blue crystal about the size of my fist, which I remove. That’s the core of this thing. It’s a magic stone.

By eating this, I can make the monsters’ power my own. By doing that, I’ll increase my Rank and become stronger.

The more magic stones you eat, the stronger you become. And there’s a point where the dimension of strength changes, that’s the Rank.

The highest Rank confirmed in this world is Rank 6, and I became the second person in the world to reach Rank 6 in my gaming days, but I never heard of any other player achieving Rank 6.

“I want to absorb this right away and become stronger. But if I absorb it, I’ll die.”

This magic stone has the biggest trap of all.

Along with the power, it also puts miasma into your body. In other words, if you absorb a magic stone that’s not suitable for you, instead of becoming stronger, you’ll die from the miasma inside the magic stone.

With the power of this magic stone, the me right now would die instantly. I need to absorb a weak magic stone to gain strength before eating this.

… But there is a loophole in this system. It took the players two years in this world to find a way to deal with this. But it’s impossible in my current condition. I’ll do it once I’ve recovered my strength.

“Okay, let’s go.”

In the end, I put the deer monster’s magic stone in my bag and set out. I’ll deal with the magic stone calmly once I arrive in the Sealed City.