CH 195

The grimoire in my hand burns and disappears without a speck of ash.

I have now completed learning all of the Life Magic. Now let’s put them to use!

Let’s start with Water Drop.

“Water, pour into this hand, [Water Drop].”

Magic flows out from the pit of his stomach and gathers in his right hand to form a ball of water.

The diameter is about five centimeters. It seems smaller than when Mel used it before.

“I wonder if this is due to the difference in INT, or the difference in the presence or absence of skills. Or are there other factors at play?”

But where did this water come from?　

Did it collect moisture from the air, was it moved from another place, or was it magically created from nothing? I don’t know yet, but I don’t think the theory that it was moved from another place is wrong. I think the cost is too low for a space transition event to occur.

Well, that’s fine…

“What should I do with this water…”

I hadn’t thought about that. …… I’ll look for something appropriate.

I thought about it for a minute, searched through my backpack with my left hand, took out a pot, and slammed it into it.

I thought for a moment and had a taste.

“It’s warm and the taste is… normal.”

It was not cold like well water but just an average tasting water. There is no information to tell. It’s the same kind of water.

I remember that potions are supposed to be made with this water.　I’d like to find out how it works, but I don’t think there’s anything more I can find out right now.

…Ah, yes.

“I should check if it will work even if I remove this ring.”

If I was able to learn this magic thanks to the Orichalcum ring, then there is a possibility that it may not work if I remove the Orichalcum ring.

I took off the ring, placed it on the desk, and invoked the magic.

“Water, pour into this hand, [Water Drop].”

The magic power in the depths of my stomach slowly begins to move …… and gathers in my right hand, somewhat violently.

“Hey, hey, what the…”

My right-hand releases magic power, and an irregularly shaped mass of water with a diameter of about two centimeters appeared. And at the moment when as it undulates and my focus shifts, it pops quietly, and a splat is formed on the floor.

…It was the first time I had ever felt such a sensation. It feels like it’s not the magic I usually used, and I don’t think I can control it well.

In other words, I can use magic without the ring, but it won’t be stable and I won’t be able to show my true ability. It said to be practically unusable.

“I see.”

Well, I’m glad I tried it with the [Water Drop] spell. If I had tried it with [Fire Seed] or something, it would have been a terrible sight.

Taking the Orichalcum ring from the desk and putting it back on my finger.

Is it limited to when I wear this ring? Hmmm, this looks conspicuous and I usually feel like I had to take it off.

Well, the only thing I won’t be able to use in the Life Magic other than the [Light Source] spell, and since I’ve had no problems without it so far, it won’t be a big problem if I can’t use the others.

But if there I can cast [Water Drop], I might use it more often. After all, it is great to have a constant supply of safe water. I used to buy thin grape wine at the cafeteria and put it in my canteen for my drink, but now I can have water.

No, if I don’t buy wine all the time, it will be revealed that I can use [Water Drop]. Given that, it would be better to continue as before, at least until I can use the spell without the ring.

Now, enough about [Water Drop], let’s try the next magic.

“Flame, into my hand, [Fire Seed].”

A small ball of fire appears above my right hand and begins to flicker and burn.

Now I can light a fire in the field without using Holy Fire.

I can light a fire with a Holy Fire, but for some reason that one stands out because it turns white. It’s okay though, because it still functions as a fire, but I can’t use it when other people are around.

Alright, let’s use the next spells.

“Earth, move by my hand, [Earth Manipulation].”

The magic power gathered in my right hand was released and then dissipated.

“…”

I had somehow noticed this when I read the magic book, but now I was convinced. I think this is the magic to move the soil. It didn’t seem to make sense to use it here. I guess I’ll re-examine this another time when I go outside.

Let’s try the next spell.

“Darkness, take hold [Weight Reduction].”

It seemed that I needed to specify the target, so I just chose a desk in front of me and activated the magic.

A black blur born from my right hand enveloped the desk and then disappeared.

I grabbed the edge of the desk and slowly lifted it up.

“…Is something different about this one?”

It was supposed to have the effect of lightening the weight, but there was no effect that I could feel.

Ummm… I feel like the overall effect has been small since a while ago. The water drop magic is a little smaller than what Mel was using. I think it’s because I forced myself to learn the spells, so the effect is weak, or my level is low, or I don’t have the aptitude, or some other problem.

Let’s try the next magic.

“Wind, into my hand, [Breeze].”

The magic power gathered in my right hand was released, and a gentle breeze blew.

It was really a slight breeze, just enough to feel when someone walks next to you.

Once again, this time I used my right hand toward myself.

“Ahh, maybe it’s cooler.”

It’s a little weak and subtle for an electric fan, but it may be useful when it’s hot. If you have clothes or armor with this effect, it may come in handy in the summer. Perhaps such magical weapons exist.

I used the magic of a breeze several times to cool down and got tired of it.

It’s not unusable, but they are spells that wouldn’t bother me much whether they are there or not, I feel that [Fire Seed] and [Water Drop] are very useful spells, and I think [Light Source] is also very useful. I also feel that [Weight Reduction] has the potential to improve as well as [Light Source] with proper practice. However, [Earth Manipulation] and [Breeze] are…

“Aren’t they a bit of a disappointment?”

Well, I remember when [Earth Manipulation] had Stampede at Rankfurt, it was used for building the ramparts along with [Stonewall], which also has the same earth attribute. That makes me think that [Earth Manipulation] has its uses. …So that leaves only [Breeze]. If done well, could it be used in place of a hair dryer? It might even come in handy when making dried fish!

“…No, isn’t it too miserable?”

Hmmm… Breeze… Breeze… I think I’m forgetting something.

I think I’ve seen this magic used somewhere before… Where was it?

I pull out the memories in my head and check.

The southern village, the forest village, Rankfurt, Elem, and the port town of Ruda. Then I went underground from the mountains, defeated the black slime and met Borok-san and…

“Oh! Borok-san!”

I believe when we first met him, he used it to blow up the death powder.

And after that–

“Hmm?”

He was using it after that. As I recall, he repeatedly used the [Breeze] throughout the cave for reasons such as “because people cannot live when the air is stagnant” or something like that.

If the air is stagnant, living things can’t live, so you blow away the stagnation…

Somehow… like this, something seems to be understood, but it doesn’t come out well.

In a cave, the air is stagnant. Dwarves know this. Dwarves go underground. There is less oxygen underground.

“Ah!”

Somehow, I may have found a clue.

“Water, pour into this hand, [Water Drop].”

[Water Drop] magically fill the pot that I had just put out with water. The amount of water at a time was small, so I repeated the process several times, and when about 10 cm of water had accumulated, I put my right hand into the pot. Then, he said–

“Wind, into my hand, [Breeze].”

I used [Breeze] under the water.

The magic power gathered in my right hand is released, and it becomes wind.

The right hand placed in the pot. Bubbles of various sizes welled up from the gaps between my fingers, and popped up from the surface of the water.

“Just as I thought.”

This magic, it is not blowing wind, it is generating air.

I don’t know if it is being transferred from another place or converted from magic power. But this is not moving the surrounding air and making it wind, but creating air in our hands.

So, does this mean that Borok-san was not using this magic to create wind to make stagnant air fly away, but was creating air in the place to ventilate it?

No. First of all, what is this gas? Is it oxygen, carbon dioxide, or nitrogen?

After thinking for a moment, I took a cup and a piece of parchment out of my backpack, twisted the edge of the parchment, and put the cup into the water. Then he put his right hand in the water as well and invoked the magic.

“Wind, into my hand, [Breeze].”

The gases bubbling up are collected in the cup in the water while changing the angle of the hand.

When the gases had collected to the point of overflowing, I stopped the magic, and since there was nothing to serve as a lid, I pulled out my right hand while pressing the cup against the bottom of the pot with my left hand, and ignited the paper.

“Flame, into my hand, [Fire Seed].”

Then, holding the burning paper with my right hand, I pulled the cup out of the water with my left hand, and at the moment I pulled the cup out of the water, I put the fire inside the cup.

“…No changes, huh?”

But there is no change.

The fire does not change in particular, and continues to burn the paper.

This is a combustion experiment. This is the one we did in elementary or junior high school.

If the inside of the cup was oxygen, the fire would burn intensely, and if it was carbon dioxide or nitrogen, the fire would go out.

But if nothing changes, it is a gas with a moderate amount of oxygen mixed in. In other words…

“It seems to be just normal air.”

Well, this experiment itself is a simple one, and there may be flaws somewhere, so we can’t be sure.

But I think there is a strong possibility that this magic is generating a gas that contains oxygen.

Is it possible that the dwarves have been supplementing the oxygen that tends to decrease as they live underground with [Breeze]? It seems to be a common practice among dwarves who go underground, so it must be something meaningful. If it does make sense, I think it is more likely to be oxygen.

If I think about it, [Water Drop] may not be collecting moisture from the air and turning it into water, but rather converting magic into water.

If matter can be created by magic, it seems as if the mass of this planet will continue to increase indefinitely, but when you think about it, the armor when it fails in getting enhanced and the grimoires when people learn magic are completely return to nothing. In other words, we cannot deny the possibility that this is a world where matter is constantly being created by magic and vanishing due to magic.

Well, that is only a hypothesis.

If I consider the possibilities, a number of possibilities come to mind. As long as there is a possibility that the laws of physics can be ignored by magic, even an answer based on theory from Earth will end if someone says, “That will be overturned by magic.”

“Truly this world is very interesting.”