episode_0179

When I heard the news that the princess was looking for me, I headed straight to the magic tower.

And that too with high expectations.

Considering that he had been holed up in the magic tower after taking to the skies on a zombie wyvern with me, it is clear that he must have called me because he achieved something.

“What on earth did you make?”

I somehow managed to pull out only some of the memories from my past life, which I didn’t have much left, and barely explained the concept. I was filled with anticipation and interest wondering what on earth they would make based on that.

With anticipation that made my heart pound for no reason, I flew up on a zombie wyvern to get to the magic tower as quickly as possible.

These days, it seems like there’s a lot of talk about buses going more than 3 steps in the city, and I thought I might become a zombie wyvern going more than 3 steps.

“Well, it doesn’t matter… … I won’t lose. I don’t know about Jiena, but it’s obvious that Amy will scold her for being fat.”

I thought it would be enough to just be comfortable, but when I thought of Amy fussing about doing some exercise, I shook my head.

Of course, because I was in a hurry right now due to anticipation, I had no choice but to choose the option of riding a zombie wyvern.

So I rode the zombie wyvern and quickly arrived in front of the magic tower.

Since I often rode a zombie wyvern for dating purposes, no one guarding the entrance to the Magic Tower or those around me was surprised. Or it could be because of the yellow-colored linen clothes the zombie wyverns were dressed in.

Anyway, when I arrived at the Magic Tower, I went straight to the 8th floor, the top floor of the Magic Tower.

However, when I arrived at the end of the stairs going up from the 6th to the 7th floor, I found the princess who seemed to be waiting for me.

“Viscount Steel!”

“Princess? No, why are you here… … .”

“I couldn’t wait to show Viscount Steele the result as quickly as a minute or a second. The best moment of my alchemy life is now!”

The princess, with her hands clasped against her chest as if in ecstasy, appeared to be truly happy.

Still, he seemed to want to show off, so he immediately grabbed my hand and led me to a room on the 7th floor, not the 8th floor, where the school president’s office was.

The room I was led into was littered with all kinds of tools, all of which were artifacts containing mana.

The princess led me past those artifacts and into a small resting area. I wondered what on earth she was trying to show me here, but as soon as I sat down in the rest area, the princess started explaining.

“Didn’t Viscount Steel talk about the hypothesis that everything in the world is made up of very small particles?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“That’s not just a hypothesis, it actually happened, right?”

“… … Yes?”

“In fact, tiny particles make up everything. I confirmed it by experimenting.”

I couldn’t understand the princess’ words for a moment. Among the memories of my past life, I only vaguely expressed concepts in the form of hypotheses, but it was difficult to understand since I figured it out right away.

But the princess looked very triumphant. As he spread his shoulders wide, it seemed as if he was saying, ‘Go ahead and praise me!’

Of course, I couldn’t praise him because I didn’t fully understand the situation yet.

“Are you really saying that you proved what I said as a hypothesis? … ?”

“Yes. I proved it using magic and artifacts.”

She was a princess who slightly lifted her chin, making her already high nose look even more pointed.

Since this was a woman of exceptional beauty, my eyes were drawn to her for no reason, but what was important now was not the princess’s appearance.

“Dae, amazing… … You say it. By the way, what method did you use?”

“Do you know the artifact called a magnifying glass?”

“I’m not sure, but it seems like they’re showing something enlarged.”

“That’s right. There are items from other worlds that were passed down through warriors, and among them is an artifact made based on an item called a telescope.”

As if she had prepared in advance, the princess took out an artifact called a magnifying glass and showed it to me.

It was literally showing something enlarged, and what was enlarged as a demonstration was a wooden box on the table.

“Oh… … . It’s fascinating.”

The wooden box, magnified through a magnifying glass, looked quite amazing. The grain of the wood seemed to have been enlarged ten times, and scratches and other things were clearly visible throughout the grain.

“A magnifying glass is an artifact that allows you to see something in a larger magnification. However, the downside is that if you try to see larger than a certain level, everything will just look blurry.”

When I operated the magnifying glass as if to actually show it, the visible grain of the wood instantly turned hazy. It wasn’t so much that I could see anything, but I couldn’t see anything to the point where I wondered if it would be like this when I opened my eyes in the muddy river water after the rain.

“At first, everyone thought this was simply a limitation of the magnifying glass. However, the thoughts of the alchemists and I, who realized that the world was made of particles, were different. It looks blurry because you are trying to see a lot of very small particles gathered together!”

The princess seemed a little excited as she recalled her thoughts at the time, and continued her story in an excited voice.

And, although the content was very long, it was simpler than I thought. In order to overcome the limitations of the magnifying glass, a huge amount of mana was poured into it, and the magnifying glass artifact itself was enlarged, as well as improvements such as adding light magic.

“That’s how we were able to see the tiny particles for ourselves!”

The princess stood me up and said she would show me in person, and then immediately led me to another place. There was a structure so large that three or four adult men could hug it, and it was also a kind of artifact.

To be exact, it was a magnifying glass that had been enlarged to that size.

“Would you like to take a look? Inside is a piece of iron taken from Viscount Steele’s research and development headquarters.”

Following the princess’s guidance, I approached the large magnifying glass and saw that mana was flowing over the artifact as if drawing a picture. No, I was actually drawing a picture.

“The tiny particles are all particles that make up matter. We alchemists call it an atom, meaning the source of the world.”

I felt that the name atom was somehow familiar. But the name wasn’t that important, so I closely observed the picture Mana was drawing.

It was a painting that gave the impression that tiny-sized grains were floating in the air, and it occurred to me that the grains I saw were all different.

“Are you saying that each and every one of these particles is an atom?”

“That’s right. However, I’m still just learning the basic concepts, so I don’t know if the name will change in the future. As you can see, you can also see atoms entangled with each other in a certain structure, right?”

“Hmm, I see.”

My head nodded as the princess spoke while pointing at the picture Mana was drawing.

There were lumpy kernels, and there were those that were woven into a certain structure. You would think that if only one or two of them had that shape, it would be something else, but there were countless kernels that had a certain shape.

“What do you think? Isn’t it amazing?”

“It’s fascinating. It’s also amazing. It makes me wonder how you made something like this.”

To be honest, it was so amazing that I was shocked. This is a concept I know because I have some, if not complete, memories of my past life, and I couldn’t help but be surprised that I was able to discover it so quickly in this world where the technological difference from my previous life was enormous.

“It wasn’t difficult because it was a modification of an existing artifact. but… … It just cost a little more money.”

“I heard it so much that you are looking at me… … ?”

“In addition to the money sponsored by Viscount Steele, all the cash and goods that our school had stored separately… … .”

When the princess said that she had used all the money she had, I thought for a moment that I had heard wrong. The amount of support I provided was not just a penny or two, and the value of cash and goods held by the company was by no means low.

But unfortunately, what I heard was not an auditory hallucination.

“Well, they spent a lot of money to make this one… … Is this you?”

“… … Still, what was used to create this artifact can be retrieved at any time later, so wouldn’t it have been used up? Most of the money was spent on making mithril to amplify performance, so if you sell only mithril, you will be able to recover some of it!”

“Then, can I destroy this and sell only the mithril?”

“Oh, no!”

I sighed as I saw the princess blocking the improved magnifying glass with her whole body as if she was going to protect it at all costs.

I understand that whether it is a magic tower or a research and development headquarters, it is a facility that only produces results if a lot of money is invested, but I never imagined that this much money would be spent all at once.

Moreover, the result was all the more disturbing because it only looked at atoms. There didn’t seem to be any particularly useful areas.

“Princess. So, does this have any use? Except we can simply see atoms.”

“Of course! It is an artifact that brings one step closer to the truth of the world, but there is so much that can be gained through it!”

However, the princess seemed to have a different opinion than me and stroked the giant magnifying glass as if stroking a treasure.

“I heard from the researchers that what Viscount Steel was asking for was to make metal that doesn’t rust or that is harder?”

“… … Is it really possible?”

“First, the cause of rust itself was identified. When we figured this out, there was a deformation in some of the atoms that make up iron. It is an atom that is found in abundance in water and air, and rust occurs when it gets mixed up with iron atoms.”

“So, is there still a way to prevent rust?”

“Still, it’s definitely good news. This means that if you identify the cause, you can prevent it just by blocking the cause. All you have to do is study it gradually.”

I nodded slowly as I saw the princess speaking with confidence.

Since they had been talking about the concept of atoms for a long time and these were the people who discovered atoms themselves, it was clear that it would not be difficult to solve the problem of knowing the cause as the princess said.

But the princess’s words were not over yet.

“And! In the case of harder metals, we found a clue. Researchers say that even for the same type of iron ore, the results vary greatly depending on the region.”

“That’s right. Rumors say that in the case of dwarven craftsmen, there are cases where they even consider the area where the ore was mined.”

“Yes, researchers also said that. So I checked it myself, and there was actually a slight difference in the ratio of atoms depending on the region. Why do special iron ores contain some different atoms?”

“… … Is that true?”

“Yes, I finished the experiment. It was possible to create a harder metal by artificially adjusting the ratio of the atoms.”

The princess took out a small piece of iron from her bosom and handed it to me.

On the outside, it was an iron ingot, not much different from the iron ingots made in my mine, but it felt strangely different. Not only did I have the experience of touching iron myself, but I was also watching skeletons touch iron every day, so I felt a slight sense of difference.

“I don’t know much about iron, but researchers say it is harder than iron made with elixirs. Then, if you make this piece of iron using an elixir, wouldn’t it become stronger?”

I couldn’t help but change my mind when I saw the princess looking at me as if asking, ‘What do you think? Does this seem useless?’

If this were possible, even if we spent two or three times more money than we would have used, it was completely acceptable.