‘Damn it, I never thought obtaining high-purity gold would be this difficult….’
Robak, the old mage of the Kalibore Mage Tower, thought as he looked down at the broken artifact.
The artifact he was currently making was the masterpiece he had staked his life on.
To create it, he had done everything he could, beginning with its design.
He had studied the theories needed for artifact design, of course, and made countless efforts to carefully handle the mana of every kind of element.
On top of that, he had used only the finest materials.
The more carefully designed an artifact was, the better the materials it required.
Generally, a tool that used mana but had a simple design and performed a simple function was called a magical device. An artifact, on the other hand, had a more complex blueprint and performed a variety of functions.
If magical devices were everyday tools that performed simple functions, such as lighting a fire when mana was added, boiling water, or even pressing a button, artifacts performed complex tasks. They purified mana, activated barriers that protected designated areas, detected people, and activated security magic that allowed only authorized people to pass through.
Naturally, the more complex the work, the more complicated the mana flow that had to be handled. The mana circuits needed to design such things required greater precision, and making precise mana circuits required equally pure materials.
And the material most commonly used to construct mana circuits was gold.
Gold was easy to process precisely and had high affinity with mana, making it the best metal for creating mana circuits.
And in ordinary magical-device or artifact production, gold was not a problem.
But.
‘To think this would become a problem….’
The artifact Robak was currently producing had magical effects far more complex than existing artifacts. Because of that, it would sometimes operate, then suffer a runaway mana flow and break.
Even after using the purest gold available in the Empire to solve the problem, it continued to happen.
It was not as though he had failed to make an effort.
Why else would he have gone beyond receiving gold from workshops that handled precious metals and even directly commissioned a workshop of the Magnus Family, the Empire’s greatest house of alchemists?
Isaac Magnus, the Family Head, was too busy to commission directly. But Robak had placed an order with a workshop managed by one of his children and asked for especially high-purity gold to be produced.
Yet even after using that gold to make the artifact, it had malfunctioned because of purity issues and ultimately broken.
‘Such insolent, arrogant, incompetent bastards. Can they really call themselves the children of the Empire’s greatest alchemist?’
Robak grumbled inwardly.
But then.
‘...No, when I think about it, this is my fault.’
Robak soon lamented that.
It could not be helped.
What Robak wanted was pure gold.
But almost no substance existed in a pure state in the world, and no technology existed that could perfectly separate substances intricately mixed together.
Separating salt from seawater was simple because one merely needed to boil away the water. But separating metals with similar melting points required more than a process like that.
This was what happened when one challenged the impossible.
He knew that.
Even so.
‘...If only I can obtain pure gold somehow….’
He could see the thing he had devoted his entire life to, so he found it difficult to give up easily.
That was why he stared resentfully at the gold circuit within the artifact.
‘...Staring at it will not suddenly make pure gold appear.’
After sighing, Robak briefly looked toward an overturned frame lying in the corner of his laboratory.
“....”
He stared at it silently for a while, then left the laboratory for the first time in a long time.
Meanwhile.
At a laboratory in the Kalibore Mage Tower.
“It's flying! It's finally flying!”
Senior Mage Ivrin Kalibore cheered as she watched the flying metal object.
The silver-white metal object was literally shaped like a dish, with its center slightly concave inward. At Ivrin’s gestures, it slowly sank and rose through the air.
It was a result that proved the validity of the research she had conducted for so long: [Research on a Metal Flying Saucer Capable of Flying Through the Sky].
‘As expected, a dish is the ideal shape for a flying object.’
Ivrin thought in delight.
In the Empire, high-ranking mages who had learned advanced magic could fly through the sky. But people who could not usually used hot-air balloons, heating air in order to fly.
Of course, some people drew inspiration from birds and researched winged flying machines, but most of those efforts had not been particularly successful.
That was why Ivrin Kalibore thought that the shape of a flying object had to be important. She came up with a dish-shaped flying machine and began experimenting.
The reason she thought of a dish-shaped flying machine was simple.
When she was young, she had a hobby of throwing the dishes in her home in every direction. Seeing how well they flew, she had gained the realization that, ‘A dish shape has the property of flying well!’
Until now, she had failed because she made flying saucers from metals that were too heavy. But thanks to the lightweight aluminum received from the Magnus 43rd Workshop this time, she had finally succeeded in making it fly.
‘I succeeded… With this, I can save humanity from penguins…!’
Ivrin watched the flying saucer with delight and smiled happily as she imagined the future.
Of course, it required an excessive amount of mana to keep the dish flying, so it was difficult to maintain for long. But Ivrin decided not to think too deeply about that part for now.
Then.
“...What are you doing?”
The old mage Robak, who had entered the laboratory, spoke.
“Ah, Master Robak! It's been a long time since you came out! This is a flying saucer, and….”
At that moment, Ivrin lost focus.
Her flying saucer fell to the floor.
CRUNCH!
The aluminum flying saucer landed on its edge and crumpled immediately.
“Uh…?”
Ivrin froze in shock as she looked vacantly down at the crumpled flying saucer.
“...What is this?”
Leaving behind his disciple, who wore the expression of a child whose lollipop had been suddenly snatched away, Robak picked up the aluminum flying saucer.
“Ah, M-Master, that is… it is a flying saucer….”
Ivrin explained to Robak in a trembling voice.
She had been researching a flying machine that lifted metal into the air by applying the property of lightning magic to move quickly through the air. Other metals had been too heavy to rise, but the metal called aluminum, which she had ordered from a workshop this time, was light enough to float in the air.
However, because she had made the dish too thin, it had crumpled the moment it fell.
Having roughly grasped the situation, Robak thought.
‘...Did she not simply lift it with force?’
It was not widely known among ordinary people, but when Electric Elements overlapped, physical force was produced and affected metal.
That force was not especially strong, amounting only to gently pushing metal away. It was not normally strong enough to lift metal into the air and move it like this. But this time, the metal was thin and light, and Ivrin had overlapped the Lightning Element in absurd quantities with her innate talent for mana capacity. It appeared she had reached the level of lifting it into the air and moving it.
‘It would be nice if she used that talent for proper research….’
Robak thought regretfully. She was his disciple, and her talent was exceptional, but her interest always seemed to fixate on strange things.
“I think the problem may be that this metal called aluminum has too little strength. Ah, next time, I should order a metal that keeps this weight but has greater strength….”
‘But aluminum? That is a metal I have never heard of….’
Robak only half-listened to what Ivrin was saying as he examined the aluminum.
“Hoh….”
Then he was impressed.
It was thin, but it was a truly lightweight metal.
Ivrin had poured an absurd amount of mana into it, but even apart from that, the metal was light enough that he could understand how she had managed to lift it into the air.
‘What enchantment did they use to make a metal this light?’
Curious, Robak let mana flow through it and checked its elemental affinity.
And then.
“...This cannot be.”
He was astonished.
‘It's pure metal?’
The mana flow was the same no matter which point he examined.
It was so consistent at nearly every point that it would not have been strange if its purity were at least 99 percent.
‘How can metal like this exist?’
He had studied magic for a long time and created countless artifacts, but he had no choice but to confront realistic limits.
No matter how precisely processed a metal was, no “completely pure” metal existed in the world. Every metal existed mixed with other metals to some degree.
That was only natural.
No metal existing in nature was truly pure.
But judging by the consistency of its mana flow, this could be called a metal that was nearly one hundred percent pure.
‘Such processing technology exists?’
Its affinity with the Lightning Element was not as good as gold’s, so he could not use it for the artifact he was currently making. But a workshop with technology like this might be able to make the pure gold that would fulfill his dream.
“...My disciple.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Could you tell me where the workshop that made this ‘aluminum’ is?”
“Ah, it came from a place called the ‘Magnus 43rd Workshop’….”
“Thank you, my disciple!”
Robak, the old mage, ran out of the Mage Tower at a speed that did not suit his age.
“Uh… Master? You need to return my flying saucer before you leave!”
Ivrin shouted loudly, but it was already too late.
***
At the Magnus Alchemy Workshop.
“...So, if you roll a ball from a high mountain, the ball rolls down, right? The Lightning Element works the same way. Imagine a mountain of Lightning Element called ‘voltage.’ If Lightning Element is on that mountain, it will naturally roll down too, won't it?”
Standing before the electrolytic cell, Eugene was explaining the concept of voltage.
The two people listening to his explanation were.
“Hmm… hearing it, I feel like I might understand it….”
Emily, the youngest alchemist at the workshop.
“And, um, I think I need to hear a little more before I understand….”
And Henry, an apprentice.
The two had been hired as new alchemists thanks to the financial breathing room created by the money from the Katiere Family. Eugene was explaining electrolysis to them as part of their training.
He had modified Lightning Field slightly into a spell that created an electric field, so he no longer had to stand directly beside the electrolytic cell to work. But if business became busier, he might not be able to manage the electrolytic cell alone.
That was why he was explaining electrolysis.
But.
“...So, lightning also occurs naturally when you create a slope that lets the Lightning Element flow naturally….”
Emily was only looking at Eugene’s face, while Henry merely scratched his head with a blank expression. It seemed hopeless.
‘...I was told they were fairly capable alchemists.’
Henry was a gifted student who had graduated from the Academy with high grades, while Emily was an alchemist who had worked at the Magnus 35th Workshop until she was suddenly fired not long ago.
They were talented people Edgar had hired through his broad connections, but they could not properly understand even basic concepts of electromagnetism.
‘Why can they not understand this?’
Unlike science, magic was considered personalized. But even accounting for that, Eugene could not understand why supposedly capable alchemists reacted like this to such basic electromagnetism.
‘Anyway, this does not seem like it will work…. I think I need to install an artifact that reproduces the spell I use exactly, so it can operate as long as mana is supplied.’
A paradigm shift through education seemed impossible, so it looked like he would have to turn to an engineering solution.
‘Damn it, artifact-design spellbooks are really difficult to obtain….’
Eugene sighed.
“...Forget it. Just watch this. I will show you what this can do.”
He spoke while pointing at the electrolytic cell.
The electrolytic cell contained a solution of gold dissolved in aqua regia (an acidic solution capable of dissolving gold or platinum, made by mixing hydrochloric acid and nitric acid in a 3:1 ratio).
Perhaps because its manufacturing process was not modern, the aqua regia’s concentration was lower than what Eugene had used in laboratories. But perhaps the determination of alchemists who had sought to create gold was reflected in it, because it was strong enough to dissolve a small lump of gold.
It was enough to dissolve gold and turn it into ions.
The electrodes had been made with lead for the cathode and copper for the anode.
When voltage was applied to the electrodes, the positively charged gold ions received electrons at the copper electrode, the cathode, reduced into pure gold, and fell to the bottom.
“...This is what happens.”
“Amazing.”
“Oh….”
The reactions of the two were not much different from undergraduate students who had come to observe an experiment as part of a laboratory tour. They did not understand a single explanation, but were astonished because something interesting had happened.
In other words, it also meant that the day Eugene would make them understand would never come, even if they died and came back to life.
‘...I will somehow study artifact design and make these two take over the work!’
With that inward resolve, Eugene filtered the solution after electrolysis and picked out the pure gold.
“Anyway, through this method, we can produce pure gold with a purity of at least 99.99 percent. If you test its mana flow, you will understand. Compared to that gold bar over there, you will be able to feel that the mana flow has become much more consistent and stable.”
“Ah, I see! Wow… that is amazing….”
Emily reacted that way and played with the refined pure gold.
“That is incredible…. But what should we use this for?”
Henry asked in puzzlement.
“...Right. Still, if we make it, perhaps there will be somewhere to use it?”
Eugene himself could not think of anywhere in particular to use it.
They were not going to make highly integrated semiconductors, and pure gold had low strength, so it was not suited for accessories either.
He simply did not know what to use it for.
‘Hmm, is there some way to sell this too?’
For now, the workshop was not short on operating funds. But workshops had many expenses, and if they did not quickly pioneer a new outlet for sales, financial problems might soon come again.
As Eugene was considering that.
“Young Master Eugene, a guest has arrived from the Kalibore Mage Tower.”
Workshop Master Edgar spoke to him.
“Ah, Workshop Master. Who has come?”
“His name is Robak. He is quite an old man….”
“Then please tell him to come in.”
“Understood.”
The inside of the workshop was far more comfortable than outside because of its air-purification and temperature-and-humidity-control artifacts.
The door opened, and the old mage entered.
He wore a hat, with white hair and a bushy beard. He wore an ash-gray coat, but it was covered in dust, perhaps because he had been in a great hurry.
‘Wow, he really looks like a mage.’
Eugene thought.
“...Are you Eugene Magnus, the manager of the Magnus workshop?”
“Yes, I am Eugene Magnus. I am pleased to welcome a valued guest from the Kalibore Mage Tower, Mr. Robak.”
Since the Kalibore Mage Tower was the customer that had rescued Eugene from his financial troubles, he showed Robak the utmost courtesy.
“...The Magnus Family?”
Robak was startled.
‘Were not all of Isaac Magnus’s children arrogant and insolent bastards?’
He had not expected someone so polite to exist.
“Is there a problem?”
“You are different from what I expected… no, ahem. Forgive my earlier slip of the tongue, Mr. Eugene Magnus.”
“Ah, yes….”
Eugene did not understand what he meant, but old people often said things with no clear meaning, so he decided not to think too much about it.
“Ahem. In any case, the reason I came here is that I saw the aluminum made by this workshop, and there is something I wish to commission….”
As Robak spoke, his eyes suddenly fell on Emily’s fingertips as she played with the gold behind Eugene.
His eyes widened in shock.
“P-Pure gold! Guhk….”
“...Pardon?”
But no answer came.
Robak had been so shocked that he fainted on the spot.
“...Sir? Please wake up, sir!”
As Eugene shook Robak awake, he thought.
‘Why did he suddenly faint? Does he have a gold allergy?’