Clank. Clank. The brass machine moved at regular intervals. Complex blueprints drawn on the grid magic plate. Cider sat at the desk with the magic plate on it, looking busy changing and fitting circuits. Clank. When the machine moved sideways, his arm with rolled-up shirt sleeves followed with taut tendons to fix sothing. Even in the midst of all that busyness, he didn't forget to record each change in the circuits.
Busy yet quiet. It felt like an illusion that the air was flowing slowly.
He must be equally tired, but the man absorbed in research with his still-damp hair carelessly hanging down was so concentrated he couldn't even hear the door opening.
Just when she was standing still, feeling like she'd be interrupting, and only rolling her eyes around, he spoke with his sharp yet languid profile, without even turning around.
"Co in and look at this."
Did he know? Esperanza awkwardly set down the sandwich tray.
Cider put a magic stone orb into the empty space of the machine. Whirrrr. The orb settled into place in the machine. The gears moved in sequence and those thorough, perfectly interlocking parts slowly began to operate. He closed his eyes for a mont and savored the sound of the machine engaging.
'It sounds like scraping a food tray, is that really so good?'
"What kind of machine is this?"
"You'll know when you see."
When Cider pulled the lever, the machine opened and a brass plate erged. What was placed on top of it was sothing Esperanza knew well.
"This is my scythe!"
"Try holding it."
She felt it imdiately. It was different from before. When she had held the scythe in front of Cider previously, nothing had changed. But now, she could tell the mont she grasped the handle.
Esperanza opened the scythe. In a room where not even a breath of wind could pass through, papers rustled. Even Cider's golden hair, sitting quite far away, fluttered in the breeze.
When she pressed the equipnt stats window, the change was even more clearly visible. The scythe that had been low-grade equipnt given in the beginner stages had beco powerful enough to clear mid-level dungeons. Not only the main stats but also the additional stats had nearly doubled.
Dr. Sullivan and other magical engineers knew how to upgrade equipnt. Even blacksmiths could do it. The thod was to collect monster byproducts and bring them to have equipnt parts changed or optimized.
But turning beginner-level equipnt into interdiate level? That was impossible unless you changed each material piece by piece and essentially made it anew. Moreover, this era didn't even have the monster byproducts needed for upgrades. This trendous stat increase didn't make sense.
What the hell did he do? Did he sell his soul to the devil?
"How did you upgrade the equipnt......"
"I have a lot of money, you know."
He made that annoying comnt as usual. Esperanza briefly thought about wanting to swing the scythe, then nodded.
"So?"
"Look."
Taking the scythe back, he placed it on the machine. When he pulled the lever, the gears spun busily. And at the top, a sepia-colored screen she hadn't even known existed lit up. It was a kind of beam projector. What was receiving the light was the blueprint on the grid magic plate. Cider unhesitatingly drew lines on the scythe handle in the blueprint with a red ink fountain pen.
"I replaced all the internal components with magic stones."
"The gears, screws, and such? No, why?"
Why such money... money waste?
"I wanted to try it once. When I did, the magic perability increased dramatically. Well, you wouldn't understand the detailed numbers even if you saw them, so I'll skip that."
It was remarkable how he could say such things without sounding dismissive. Though dismissing was unavoidable. She really didn't know. Esperanza nodded sowhat blankly.
"And there's one more thing I replaced. I completely emptied the inside of the scythe and increased magic efficiency. When I did that, most categories showed higher nurical increases than I expected."
People who weren't hunters, even if they were magical engineers, wouldn't be able to understand these words precisely. But Esperanza knew imdiately upon hearing it. She had received a stat buff. What on earth did he do to add a stat buff without a single monster byproduct?
"Curious about what I did?"
His words had showmanship. Esperanza genuinely nodded for once. The man grinned wickedly. A blue light flashed like lightning through his cold gray eyes.
"I passed through the substance with the highest magic content per unit that I possess."
It was before she could even ask what that was. A brass chanical clamp descended, set down a small glass bottle, and disappeared. It was a glass bottle Esperanza knew well.
"No way, no way......!"
"That's right."
She never thought of it. It was sothing none of the magical engineers from 13 years later, including Dr. Sullivan, had thought of. Why didn't they think of this? It was a simple shift in thinking.
"Mage's blood. The result of researching your blood is...... let's see."
This ti she couldn't even grasp what manipulation he was doing. But when the manipulation ended, the typewriter behind Esperanza began pressing keys on its own. As if invisible hands were pressing them.
Then it suddenly stopped. A loud machine sound echoed through the room.
Beep beep beep beep!
Cider sighed as if defeated. What?
"I pressed wrong."
Esperanza pulled out the paper that had been half-printed from the typewriter. anwhile, Cider turned a dial. The machine sound stopped.
The last line on the paper read:
When their eyes t, Cider shrugged. As if it were nothing.
"As you can see, there's too much magic power to asure, so I diluted it and asured. Wait."
The typewriter started moving again. The sound of key tapping was cheerful. Esperanza waved her hand over the pressing keys even though she knew it obviously wouldn't work. Cider smiled as if telling her to try more.
This ti it ca out properly.
Complex numbers continued endlessly, and Esperanza couldn't tell where to start looking. Cider didn't even glance at that paper.
"This was just shown for fun, and if you add so arithtic to the asurents there, the conclusion is that the magic power in your body is about 30 million torts. About 30 gatorts."
The magic power needed to run the air purification airship that circles Nine Holder's sky twice a day for a month is 3 gatorts.
"Ah, that. I know."
"......You knew? Your magic power amount?"
"Precisely 30.47 million, let's see, 1998 torts."
Esperanza said, stumbling a bit as she read the magic power amount shown in her profile.
Suspicion sprouted. Esperanza speaking that specific figure as if reading it from sowhere.
Magic power amount was like blood pressure. It fluctuated slightly depending on the day and condition. But that figure not only almost matched his estimate but also didn't seem like she was just making up random numbers. Could she know by quantifying her body's condition?
Well, let's pursue this later.
"That's deflating. Anyway, your blood has higher magic content than any substance discovered so far and even has high magic perability. If we could develop and mine this like a magic stone mine, I'd buy it even for billions."
"I won't sell blood!"
Esperanza said in horror. Are you crazy?
"Anyway."
Cider, who passed over that part without answering, boasted about the scythe's improved performance like a salesperson. It was indeed amazing though. He spoke jokingly, but it was research that was easily decades ahead.
"I tried experinting to see if other people's blood would work too, but it didn't. It seems special because it's mage's blood."
A red tinge showed through the inside of Cider's shirt sleeve. It seed he had stabbed himself to draw blood multiple tis. It was sowhat shocking.
"M-mad scientist......."
"Huh? What did you say?"
"You stabbed your own body?"
"This is nothing. I didn't just experint with my blood either."
That sounded even more horrible. Then whose blood did he also use? Suddenly the faces of Avondale mansion's employees flashed by and...... the genre beca horror.......
"I did it legally."
Cider said curtly as if the misunderstanding was unpleasant. At this point, what difference was there between misunderstanding and truth?
"Take the scythe. I've done what I could. Your gun looks interesting too, but I need to research the remaining blood for now, so I'll borrow it later."
Esperanza held the scythe that had her blood flowing through it, making it sowhat creepy. Looking now, it even had a rare buff. Raising stats to the level of almost changing the weapon's essence was amazing, but even a rare buff with a 0.03% probability. And properly as an attack attribute too.
So this is how geniuses just break through things. The days of item farming seem aningless.
Cider Claiborne was changing pipe directions while sweeping up his obstructing hair. His clear facial lines and deep eyes ca into view. His long, firm nape and forearms where muscle contours bulged even over his shirt. He was young, brilliant, and a genius who shattered the era's limitations.
If there hadn't been the setting that this man would die in a year, things like hunters probably wouldn't have been needed in the 'Golden Claw' worldview from the start. How much could he have created in 13 years? Since he seed interested in weapons too, after the monster crisis when research on monster byproducts beca active, he would have created weapons that ordinary people or trained soldiers could use. By maximizing magic efficiency.
Special humans, 'players,' weren't needed. In a world where Cider Claiborne existed.
'That's probably why they set him as soone who died.'
"Do you need to find the Golden Claw? It seems like you could just make a ti machine."
"I wonder. I only do things I think I can do."
The answer was quite firm. Of course it would be difficult now, but who would have thought that soone who could make things like this couldn't make a ti machine?
"It would be difficult to explain to you since you're not a magical engineer, so I'll skip the explanation."
"Ah, yes."
Fine if you won't.
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