Chapter 100

Chapter 100

Otherworld Cheat Harem.

Episode 100: Making Gold (4)

“What?”

Raize let out a scoffing laugh at the ridiculous question from her fellow mage. It was an absurd question.

“Well, I mean… what do you think would happen if everyone could use magic?”

“What a bizarre thing to say…”

It was unimaginable. Everyone using magic? If that were possible, there would be no need for the Magic Tower to struggle to find apprentices, and she wouldn’t have to be here, enduring hardships for her research.

“There’s no way that’s possible.”

“But, even now, people use scrolls to cast magic, right? Isn’t that, in a way, allowing anyone to use magic?”

“Just mimicking something like a parrot without understanding how it works isn’t called using magic. That’s just using a scroll.”

“Anyway, there could be a tool like a scroll that lets anyone become a mage, right?”

“What do you think would happen if such a thing appeared?”

“Yeah.”

Raize pondered for a moment. A world where everyone could use magic, just thinking about it was terrifying.

Magic is inherently the domain of mages, and selling magical tools or scrolls is a blessing bestowed upon commoners who otherwise wouldn’t encounter magic.

If a world where everyone could access it came to be, it would throw the world into chaos. It was something that shouldn’t happen.

“If someone created that.”

“Created it?”

“Every mage would probably try to destroy it.”

Raize replied with that and told Kahuu to stop thinking about useless things and focus on research.

“So, this is supposed to replace all mages?”

“Yes! That’s right!”

After drinking the stimulant to clear her mind and returning with a fresh look, Noah began explaining as she set down the tool she had invented.

Her expression was so lively while explaining the tool she made that Dojin couldn’t bring himself to tell her to stop and go take a nap.

“I got a hint from Deokgu! To ‘substitute’ something. This is a tool that substitutes for a mage!”

“Uh… how does it work?”

“Ah, I’ll explain again. So, by breaking down the magic circle’s circuits into zeros and ones… implementing the magic circle each time it’s activated… based on the Gold Pillsburg principle…”

The theory and formulas were too complex for Dojin, who was a high school graduate with a background in arts and sports, to understand. The more he listened, the more his head felt foggy.

A phrase he once saw on the internet flashed through his mind.

─Medieval people are not stupid. At least not more than you.

Dojin reflected on how he had thought of them as ignorant medieval people from a fantasy world. He couldn’t even understand a single theory they established, making him wonder if the truly ignorant one was himself.

In the end, unable to grasp any of her detailed theories, Dojin asked her for a simpler explanation.

“Explain it simply.”

“Hmm… it’s faster to try it out than to explain it in words!”

With that, Noah handed a staff to Dojin. The staff was heavier than it looked, indicating that it had a high density, which meant it was solid gold as it appeared.

“…Is this really gold?”

“Yes! Gold is the most cost-effective!”

“R-Really?”

Why did you use something so expensive? Dojin was about to scold, but when he heard that gold was the most cost-effective, he kept his mouth shut.

Come to think of it, this other world was a fantasy world filled with metals more expensive than gold. Mithril, orichalcum, and other rare metals Dojin had never even heard of existed…

Dojin silently turned the staff around in his hands. The balance was perfect, no matter how it was made. It might be soft, but it was sturdy enough to be used as a staff.

Dojin aimed the staff at a tree in the yard and shouted, just like Noah had done earlier.

“Bang.”

But nothing happened. When Dojin looked at Noah with a “what is this?” expression, Noah, who had been smiling brightly, explained the detailed usage.

“The important thing is the image!”

“Image?”

“Yes! Imagine what you want and feel like you’re shooting it out.”

“Image…”

To shoot out, there was nothing more to say. In Dojin’s world, the most famous thing was guns.

Thinking of a gun, Dojin gripped the staff tightly. Then, with a massive vibration and a bang, something shot out from the end of the staff.

Boom!

“Ahhh!?”

Noah covered her ears as the sonic boom hit late. Surprised, Noah looked at the tree.

The tree, hit by something, was broken and had fallen over.

“D-Dojin? What were you imagining…?”

“A gun… No, I didn’t expect it to be this strong.”

Wasn’t the image important? As a high school student, Dojin had never actually seen a gun, and what he imagined were scenes from movies or dramas where buildings or cars exploded in one shot.

Thanks to this, it achieved a power that couldn’t be compared to real firearms.

This time, he thought of a slightly weaker firearm, one with enough power to pierce through a human body, and extended the staff.

However, with a fizzing sound, the staff ceased to operate.

“…This is broken, isn’t it?”

“Pardon? Ah! It seems the mana is depleted.”

“Mana?”

“Yes. You just need to replace the Mana Stone. It’s attached at the back, right?”

Sure enough, the Mana Stone attached to the end of the staff had exhausted its power and was turning to ashes.

“So, as long as there’s enough mana, it works?”

“Pardon? Yes, theoretically, but… it’s safer with the Mana Stone, so don’t get any strange ideas… D-Dojin?!”

Mana Stones were plentiful in the mansion’s storage, but Dojin was too lazy to go there and was curious if it could be used without one, so he changed his grip on the staff.

He held the middle of the shaft with one hand and the end of the staff with the other, like holding a spear. Satisfied with the posture that he liked, he imagined the scene he wanted.

He imagined a powerful attack that could even bring down the Wolf King, which he had never been able to defeat.

What could it be? The first thing that came to mind was a nuclear explosion, but that was too much. There was a high chance he himself would be caught up in it.

So, something a bit weaker than that… the next thing Dojin thought of was a beam attack like those in giant robot cartoons.

A beam attack that shoots a strong ray of light from the weapon in hand. Conveniently, what he held in his hand was just the right shape for such a tool.

When Dojin completed his clear visualization and mustered the will to unleash it, the staff, sensing his intent, immediately began calculating the corresponding magic.

Magic, after all, is a general term for all acts of altering the world to create desired phenomena. For merely emitting a heat ray, the staff didn’t require extensive calculations.

In an instant, the calculations equivalent to an incantation were completed, and a powerful heat ray shot out from the tip of the staff.

Dojin was startled by the rapidly depleting mana, as if it were a bottomless pit, and was shocked by its power.

Swoooosh!

The intense heat ray was scorching the wall. Dojin, startled, tried to stop it, but he hadn’t learned how to.

“D-Dojin! Aim for the sky! Just aim for the sky!”

“O-Okay!”

Hearing Noah’s words, Dojin instinctively raised the staff upwards. As a result, all the buildings in its trajectory were slightly scorched, and then a massive pillar of fire erupted spectacularly inside the mansion.

“What do I do to stop this?!”

“Just put it down!”

At those words, he planted the staff into the ground. Fortunately, the staff did not absorb the planet’s mana to unleash even more powerful magic, and the pillar of fire vanished.

But.

“…What do we do about that?”

Dojin pointed to the countless scorched roofs of the neighboring houses.

Noah, with a devastated expression, fidgeted with her fingers.

Then, she finally opened her mouth to speak.

“Let’s just pretend we don’t know.”

“…Should we?”

“There aren’t any mages in the mansion… If we keep quiet, no one will know!”

“Right…?”

In the end, Dojin decided to keep quiet with Noah. They thought no one would find out if they just kept their mouths shut.

When the guard visited in the afternoon, they claimed ignorance, and no suspicion fell on Dojin’s mansion, which had no mages.

Eventually, a rumor spread throughout the city.

The dragon has returned!

Intelligence Artifact.

That’s the name they decided to give to the tool Noah created.

“Because it’s a magical tool that thinks and calculates on its own!”

Dojin, concerned, asked her again.

“Are you sure you don’t need to announce this?”

“Announce it? Hmm… It’s fine!”

“Really?”

“…But if I announce it, the mages might try to kill me, you know?”

“No way, they wouldn’t…”

Even as Dojin said that, he subconsciously thought it might be possible. After all, those in power tend to fight to protect their rights, and the mage community was a group that might even overthrow a country to protect their magic.

Noah laughed heartily, telling him not to worry.

“To begin with, I made it on a whim, so I don’t even remember how I made it.”

The Intelligence Artifact was a masterpiece so outstanding that even she didn’t know how she created it, and at the same time, it was a great mystery.

At that time, it felt as if she was possessed by a god. She sensed a brilliant melody in her mind, and she merely played it.

“So, I can really keep this, right?”

“Yes, of course. Oh, you’re not going to fire me just because I can’t make it again, right? Dojin?”

“No way, not for that reason.”

Upon hearing Dojin’s words, Noah giggled and replied that she would really go to sleep now. Even with the help of stimulants, she had been awake for too long already.

She couldn’t quite remember how many hours she had been awake. 200 hours? 300 hours? It was definitely over 100 hours.

“Yawn… then I’ll go to sleep… Dojin, good luck with your work today…”

“Oh, sure.”

After guiding Noah to her room, Dojin stopped by the warehouse and fitted a mana stone into the staff. Watching it activate, he realized carrying the staff around was quite inconvenient.

‘Can’t it shrink? Like a necklace…’

At that moment, the staff sensed Dojin’s will and began to shrink immediately.

Atoms and electrons started to pack tightly together. They compressed into a single necklace.

Seeing the staff suddenly become a necklace, Dojin let out a wry laugh. It wasn’t that difficult, yet the mana stone he had just inserted turned to ashes.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re impressive.”

Inserting a new mana stone into the necklace, Dojin put it around his neck and momentarily lost his balance. After all, it was a solid 1.5-meter-long gold piece. The weight was no joke.

“…Well, it’ll be fine, right?”

After moving around a few times and adjusting to the weight, Dojin packed his gear and headed to the dungeon with Eunha.

In front of the dungeon, Raize and Orion, who were already gathered, greeted them.

“…That’s a necklace I haven’t seen before. What’s that?”

“Oh, this? Just an accessory…”

“Really?”

Raize showed a bit of interest but passed it off without much suspicion. Phew, Dojin sighed lightly.

He couldn’t let a mage like her find out about this.

“By the way, isn’t that a mana stone?”

“Huh, what?”

“Why is there a mana stone embedded in the necklace?”