In the [War] against the [Pig] Demon Lord, the three new models of the Avalon-Ritters—the three knights as we called them—were seriously damaged.
After receiving Rorono"s permission, I used [Create]—an ability I could only use while in the [Awakening] state—and made the three knights evolve.
These evolved knights were made stronger by their advanced materials as well as by several new technologies.
By advanced materials, I was primarily referring to the unknown magic metal they were made of. Even Rorono, the world"s best blacksmith, was unable to identify it. Whatever it was though, it exceeded even orichalc.u.m in terms of lightness, receptiveness to magic power, durability, magical resistance, and more.
When the [War] ended, Rorono began a.n.a.lyzing the evolved three knights. At the same time, she was also trying to figure out how to reproduce them.
At the very least, she was thinking of how to obtain more of that mysterious metal.
And so, she considered the [Mine] dungeon room which produced metals in accordance to the Demon Lord"s strength.
Alas, we had already done a thorough survey after the [War], and the new metal was nowhere to be seen. All of the recent levels that I gained as well as the strength I had gained from my [Monsters of the Covenant] did increase the amount of orichalc.u.m present, but there was nothing more than that.
Today, we were going to do a new experiment.
Considering that a Demon Lord"s strength increased vastly when in the [Awakening] state, it follows that the metals that we could mine would improve if I a.s.sumed such a state. Perhaps then we could find that new metal.
However, just because I was in the [Awakening] state didn"t mean that the [Mine] room"s deposits would change instantly. [Mine] rooms updated their deposits at only one uncertain point in time each day. In other words, I needed to time when I would be in the [Awakening] state to that reset point.
Under those a.s.sumptions, Rorono asked for my cooperation.
…and then, I carelessly forgot and postponed it.
My carelessness aside, there was a reason we were only doing this today. The short of it was that [Awakening] was extremely exhausting.
At the moment, I could only stay in that state for a few minutes.
That meant that we needed to pinpoint the exact time the reset occurs or risk doing it for nothing. For that reason, Rorono had to develop equipment to detect the signs for the reset first before we could proceed.
◇
"Master, here"s your tea."
"Thanks, Rorono"
At the moment, we were in the [Mine] Room. While waiting for the sensor nearby to pick up some signs for the reset, we sat down, enjoyed some tea and snacks, and watched the golems continuously dig.
When I looked up, I saw some Darkness Dragons flying as fast as they could. Most likely, they were training for the races. The prize being the privilege of eating as much as they could in the [Forest] room, each one of them was deadly serious.
Looking at the dragons, I was then reminded of the B rank monsters that I unlocked when I made Fallen Angel Raphael.
I should examine them more closely.
I only just glanced at my Demon Lord book so I wasn"t really sure why, but apparently, I could make [Maelstroms] for them. My theory was that because I didn"t use [Person], they were cla.s.sified as holy bird monsters rather than humanoid monsters.
Whatever the case, they were probably going to be another key component of my war potential.
"Rorono, is your a.n.a.lysis of the evolved 3 knights going well?"
"Mhm. I have completed all the necessary tests. I could say with confidence that I have learned most the techniques and technologies used. Knowing what I know now, it really is too bleeding edge. I"m a bit jealous, to be honest… but then again, it seems I can improve their designs further, so that gives me some measure of satisfaction. It also seems likely that I can ma.s.s-produce them."
Amazing as always. She did all that while preparing our new home and developing the sensors? Just wow.
"And if this experiment succeeds and we can mine the new magic metal, what do you plan to do with it?"
"First on my list is improving my [Mechanized Warmaiden]. The battle against the [Pig] Demon Lord has shown me that its current form is utterly insufficient. Both Kuina and Aura have grown and are continuing to grow stronger. If I stay as I am, I will definitely get left behind. Thus, I must also grow stronger. That being said, once I have improved my [Mechanized Warmaiden], I want to make better weapons for the two of them and all the others."
"I look forward to that. Once you"ve done it, show to me, alright?"
"Of course. Actually, on the a.s.sumption that we would succeed today, I have already begun making designs. In the case that the experiment today is a failure, however, I"m considering of dismantling one of the three evolved knights."
Rorono said so with a serious look on her face.
It seemed like, as the world"s best alchemist, she wanted to experiment with the new material no matter what.
The two of us continued to chat idly.
The time of the reset wasn"t fixed. In fact, it was randomized. All that was certain was that it would happen once a day. And since the sensors haven"t detected anything today, we should be able to catch it as long as we waited long enough.
It might take a while, but I didn"t dislike these moments. After all, Rorono who was doing her best to hold a conversation with me was very adorable.
And so, we waited.
After some time, it arrived.
The nearby sensor made loud and incessant sounds.
"Master, the reset will happen begin in one minute. Please prepare to use [Awakening]!"
"Got it."
Filled with excitement, Rorono said so with a raised voice.
And now, time to test our theory.
"[Awakening]!"
Like always, magic power within me rose. Alongside it were these dark urges.
I allowed these dark urges to take hold, but denied them of one last shred of my consciousness.
Without looking away, I faced my dark self who was full of ugly desires and controlled it.
My back swelled, and then eventually revealed black wings.
At the same time, my eyes glowed as though it was set ablaze.
Throughout the process, my power rose and rose.
After a while, my transformation was complete. I have Awakened.
"Rorono, has the reset happened yet?"
"Not yet. 30 more seconds… 20… 10… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, now!"
Appearance-wise, nothing changed, but I myself felt the [Mine] shifting within.
"Golems, begin the survey!"
As per Rorono"s instruction, golems carrying special equipment deployed.
This special equipment was for detecting the presence of the new magic metal. According to Rorono, this unknown metal gave off a different enough signature from orichalc.u.m and other metals that she needed to develop a new tool to detect it.
"Master, please stay in that state for as long as possible. It"s possible that there are already some of the new metal under the ground, but let"s make sure first."
"I can"t hold on for long, but yeah, I"ll give you what I can."
At this point, I was drenched in my sweat.
Like always, [Awakening] was exhausting.
But if for the sake of gaining a new and better metal, it was totally worth it.
The one who has truly worked hard was Rorono. I could only imagine the amount of effort she had put in to prepare for today.
Even now, she was doing her best. She was quickly a.n.a.lyzing the vast amount of data being sent to her tablet computer as well as to the computer terminals being carried by golems.
"How is it?"
"…the [Mine]"s deposits certainly have changed. There are now nearly twice as much orichalc.u.m than usual. Our theory that the [Mine] will adjust its deposits to reflect the Demon Lord"s power levels during the time of the reset is spot on."
"So, [Awakening] really is the key, isn"t it? If so, then it shouldn"t be strange to find that new metal now."
"Mhm. But at this point, all we can do is hope we"ll find some."
Several hundred golems, each one carrying the new surveying tool, were thoroughly searching the [Mine] room.
To simplify things a bit, Rorono operated her tablet in order for another device to project a map into the air.
Each area that has been thoroughly searched but not yielded results were marked with an X. If an area were to have the new metal, it would be marked with an ✓.
Sadly, there have been nothing but X"s on the map so far.
Understandably frustrated at the results, Rorono was biting her thumbnail.
As expected, it wasn"t long before I undid my [Awakening] and returned to my usual form.
And then, two hours pa.s.sed.
About 80% of the map was now littered with X"s. Both Rorono and I were about to resign ourselves to the prospect of failure.
Just then though, Rorono"s eyes became wide open.
From the vast amounts of data that she was quickly a.n.a.lyzing, she picked a set sent by a certain golem and enlarged it.
And then, she smiled.
"There"s no mistaking it, this reaction, it"s the same as the metal that"s in the evolved three knights! Father, we found it! We finally found it! Our experiment"s a success!"
Rorono, overcome with emotions, hugged me and even called me father instead of master.
"…that"s great news. You really did a great job, Rorono. And for that, I think you deserve a reward."
"I"m so glad. I"m really so glad."
Rorono was on the verge of tears.
Now that she was relieved and relaxed though, the strength from her body left her.
Thankfully, I managed to catch her before she fell to the ground. But supporting her like that made her glow bright red.
In the meantime, the other golems kept sending the data they gathered.
It wasn"t long before the map was complete.
There were countless of X"s and only 1 ✓.
In this vast and great [Mine] room, the new magic metal was in only one small location. As to be expected, it was a hard-to-find metal.
"Master, I"ve received a message from the golems. They say they"ve finished digging up the new metal."
"Then, please tell them to bring it here. I want to see it."
"Mhm, I"ll make them go here right away."
The ground rumbled as a Mithril Golem carrying the magic metal approached. When it arrived, it then carefully presented the metal before us.
Being whitish gold, it was of a curious hue.
Its surface was absurdly smooth, but more importantly, an amazing amount of magic power could be felt from it.
I then lifted it up. For its size, it was extremely light. And when I lightly hit it, a solid sound was made.
Lightweight, receptive to magic power, durable, magic resistant, all of these excellent qualities were present in this dream-like metal.
"Master, this chunk weighs about 2 kilograms. It seems that, despite how vast the [Mine] is, we can only get this much in a day."
"Which is not nearly enough to make a golem."
"Mhm, so I"m going to use this to make a weapon instead. This should be enough to make at least one."
Due to their size, she would need a lot more to make a golem. If we save a month"s worth, maybe then we would have enough.
"…as you know, master, once the reset happens tomorrow, the deposits of the [Mine] will go back to normal"
"Uh-huh"
At the risk of sounding obvious, if I and my power levels were to go back as my normal self, the amount and kind of metals we could mine were going to go back to normal as well.
"Considering what I will use them for—like testing, repair, and manufacturing of —I want to have at least 10 kilograms of this new metal. For that reason, I have a favor to ask you, master: I want you to do your work here for one week starting tomorrow. The omens for a reset could only be picked up a minute before it happens, and even if I do contact you as quickly as possible, I fear you still wouldn"t make it here in time."
I needed about 30 seconds to enter my [Awakening] state.
Moreover, since each dungeon room was in a separate dimension, we couldn"t use radio frequency devices to communicate between rooms.
And so, a minute just wasn"t enough for me to arrive in time, especially if I was in the middle of something.
"For Avalon"s sake, I"ll indulge your request."
"Thank you, master! I love you!"
Rorono"s eyes were sparkling.
She was like a child who was given a new toy. But then again, I couldn"t blame her. All the possible things she could do and make with the metal must have excited her.
"By the way, what are we calling this new metal? No one else knows of a magic metal that exceeds orichalc.u.m, it seems. Because of that, it doesn"t have a name."
It was possible that no one else but me has ever acquired this metal.
…well, it"s nearly impossible to obtain, after all.
First of all, a Demon Lord needed to have three S rank monsters, who could level up and have leveled up a lot, as their [Monsters of the Covenant]. Just having 3 S rank monsters was difficult enough for most Demon Lords.
Next, they needed to have access to [Awakening] to increase their strength further. And then, since there was no Demon Lord that could always be in [Awakening], they needed to time its activation to the reset of their [Mine]. Even if they get lucky enough, they would still have to find where the mysterious metal appeared in the [Mine] before the next reset, lest they do it all over again.
"If it can only be found in Avalon, then let"s call it Avalon Jewel. Also, it has a lot of interesting special characteristics. It"s a metal, yet it"s more like a magic stone. …Hence, a jewel"
"A jewel, huh? Well, considering how rare they are, I"d say jewel is quite right."
It was a good name.
Avalon Jewel. I look forward to all the wonderful and new trump cards that will be made from it.
"I should now bring the Avalon Jewel back to my workshop and do some research. Knowing that there"s some spare, I can now do experiments to the evolved three knights that I wasn"t able to before."
Visibly excited, Rorono then put the Avalon Jewel into a backpack.
She had worked an absurd amount for at least the last couple of days, and yet here she was, ready to go again. She really loves researching, doesn"t she?
I couldn"t help but smile wryly.
"Before that, why don"t we grab a bite? We didn"t notice it, but it"s already dark. I for one could eat. Why don"t you join me? I mean, it"s been a while since the we—just you and I—ate out. So, how about it? Let"s go?"
"Mhm. It"d make me happy to be alone with you for a bit longer."
And so, Rorono and I linked arms.
I"m so glad she accepted. I would be so depressed if she said she would rather do her research. This might be wishful thinking, but I hope this means that she loves me as much as she loves doing research.
Even if it was just a little, I wanted to make my hardworking daughter happier and less tired.
If I remember correctly, that shop served some delicious and first-cla.s.s shrimps. Alright, we"ll go there and eat as much of her favorite as we can!