Ch.105Chapter 105 – Seeing is Believing

“Depleted magic stones? I can certainly provide those… but what do you plan to use them for?”

Professor Emelda expressed her curiosity at my request for depleted magic stones.

But expressing curiosity was one thing; the professor stood up, opened an old box, and took something out from inside.

She then sat back down on the sofa across from me and placed several cylindrical stones on the table.

“These are magic stones that have lost all their mana. Depleted magic stones.”

The depleted magic stones looked like low-quality crystals with reduced transparency due to impurities.

I picked up one of the depleted stones; it felt just like an ordinary rock you could find anywhere.

Though, it does look exactly like a battery without its wrapper.

“Now that you’ve seen depleted magic stones, you should see their counterpart too. These are the standard magic stones commonly used in magical tools available on the market.”

Professor Emelda reached into her jacket pocket and placed a transparent, battery-shaped magic stone on the table.

Unlike the depleted stones, the magic stone that still contained mana maintained its transparency.

“Normal magic stones emit a soft glow when viewed in the dark.”

No sooner had Professor Emelda finished speaking than she snapped her fingers.

The lights went out, and the research lab was instantly plunged into darkness.

“Now, look at the table. You’ll understand what I mean.”

Following Professor Emelda’s instruction, I lowered my head to look down.

The magic stone on the table was emitting a soft light, like a mood lamp.

The brightness wasn’t overwhelming, but it seemed bright enough that if you dropped it while replacing stones at night, you could easily find it.

“Hoho, fascinating, isn’t it? We call magic stones containing mana ‘active magic stones.’ Unlike depleted stones, they’re called that because the mana inside them is still alive and moving.”

The professor snapped her fingers again, turning the lights back on in the lab.

“Now, you understand the difference between active and depleted magic stones, right? And as you can see, even with active stones, as the amount of mana decreases, they gradually lose transparency starting from the ends, becoming opaque…”

Professor Emelda, clearly in her element, was enthusiastically explaining magic stone knowledge to me.

But what I wanted wasn’t this detailed information—it was to know if depleted magic stones could be regenerated.

‘Depleted magic stones are that way because their mana storage function is broken, she said.’

I raised my head and stared intently into Professor Emelda’s eyes.

“Eh? Is there something on my face?”

“Professor.”

As I posed my question to the professor, I changed the form of my Infinite Shadow.

Not a large hammer, but a small one used for delicate crafting work.

“Do you know what the opposite of ‘broken’ is?”

“The opposite of ‘broken’… what do you mean?”

When I asked the question, the professor gave me a puzzled expression.

“It’s…”

Before answering, I picked up one of the depleted magic stones from the table.

“‘To fix.'”

Without giving Professor Emelda time to react, I quickly struck the depleted magic stone three times with the hammer.

—Tap! Tap! Tap!

A sound similar to a child hitting a rock with a hammer resonated from my palm, and simultaneously, a faint light began to envelop the depleted magic stone.

“Huh…?”

Professor Emelda showed an expression of amazement as the depleted stone in my hand became surrounded by a faint light.

Hehe, that’s it.

People always react like this the first time they see my ability in action.

After a moment, when the faint light enveloping the depleted stone disappeared, what remained was a magic stone with such clear transparency that my palm was visible through it.

“It’s… glowing even under the lights…?”

Professor Emelda’s face took on an expression of ecstasy as soon as she saw the stone in my hand, and she began reaching toward it.

I didn’t stop her hand.

Instead, I extended my hand toward her to make it easier for her to take it.

“What… what did I just witness?”

Professor Emelda picked up the stone.

The magic stone in her hand was emitting a soft glow.

Just like the stone she had shown me was glowing in the dark room.

“This is impossible… Was this really possible all along?”

Professor Emelda seemed shocked.

Judging by how she kept repeating “impossible,” the impact must have been significant.

“Are you alright?”

“No, I’m not alright! This is impossible!”

When I asked if she was okay, Professor Emelda’s voice grew louder.

“Do you know what phenomenon this is? Do you understand what’s happening with this stone?”

“I don’t really know.”

“Yes. That’s why you’re reacting this way.”

Professor Emelda took a moment to catch her breath and then began explaining the phenomenon displayed by the stone in her hand.

“Earlier when I darkened the room, unlike the depleted stones, the active magic stone emitted a soft glow, right? That’s the energy contained in the mana being released through the stone.”

“So, is the stone you’re holding showing the same phenomenon?”

“Yes, that’s right. But… it shouldn’t be visible in a bright room like this. Most active magic stones sold on the market can barely emit light visible only in dark places. But…”

Professor Emelda paused briefly.

“This stone in my hand is emitting a soft glow even in a bright room. This is…”

What’s going on? Why does she keep stopping mid-sentence?

What exactly happened to the broken magic stone I used my ability on?

“This is… this is a top-grade magic stone.”

Top-grade magic stone?

“To put it in perspective, if there were 1 ton of magic stones in a mine, only 0.05% would be top-grade. 0.95% would be high-grade, 9% would be mid-grade, and the remaining 90% would be the commonly used low-grade stones.”

“That’s hard for me to grasp.”

“It means they’re ten times rarer than extracting gold from the same weight of gold ore. So if you could extract 1 kilogram of gold from ore, you’d only get about 100 grams of top-grade magic stones.”

Wait, so that means…?

“This one… has very high purity. The higher the purity of a magic stone, the more mana it can hold, resulting in a stronger light.”

By this point, I was curious too.

So how much more mana does this stone hold compared to regular ones?

I posed this question to Professor Emelda.

“Among commonly used magical tools, there’s the portable mana burner. With a regular magic stone, you can use it continuously for about 10 hours. And with this top-grade stone…”

Professor Emelda paused her explanation and looked up at the ceiling for a moment.

She must be calculating the duration.

“Basically, a top-grade magic stone contains about 1,000 times more mana than a regular low-grade one. So, it could be used for roughly 10,000 hours… but since this one has the highest purity, it could last at least 25,000 hours.”

Wow. So with just this stone, there’s no need to replace it?

“If my calculations are correct, the portable mana burner would break down before the mana in this stone is depleted.”

After finishing her explanation, Professor Emelda looked at me.

Her eyes were sparkling with excitement.

“What kind of ability is this? How did you transform a depleted magic stone into a top-grade one?”

Professor Emelda grabbed my hands, her eyes twinkling as she bombarded me with questions.

As she did so, she pressed her body closer—

‘S-soft! Overwhelmingly soft!’

Was this the first time I’d had direct physical contact with someone of the opposite sex…?

I’m not sure about that, but the incredible softness pressing against my chest was something I was experiencing for the first time in my life.

“C-could you please step back a bit?”

Was it because of Professor Emelda’s chest touching me?

For the first time in a while, I started feeling a reaction in my lower body.

“Ah, uh, ah… I’m sorry.”

Professor Emelda seemed to realize she was too close to me and stepped back.

“Phew, now I’ll explain.”

Only after Professor Emelda backed away did the time come for me to explain my ability to her.

Whew, but her chest was really big. Seriously impressive.

Ahem, ahem! That’s not the point!

“First of all, I am an ability user. My ability was directly bestowed upon me by the Great Goddess Epitrina.”

“Ah…”

Upon learning the source of my ability, Professor Emelda nodded as if she finally understood.

Thank you, Epitrina-emon!

Just mentioning your name makes everyone accept my ability!

Perhaps this is my true power?

“I see… I couldn’t believe what was happening because it defied common sense, but if it’s an ability granted by the Great Goddess, then it makes sense.”

Professor Emelda showed that she had accepted the explanation.

“This is… amazing. It’s worth researching. Thank you so much. You’ve given me an extraordinary experience.”

Only after receiving Professor Emelda’s thanks could I finally leave her research lab.

Phew!

Another curiosity resolved today!