kscans

Chapter 194 - The Sorcerer's Apprentice 2. In the Workshop (Part 2)

What did this boy just say? Grind the soil? What did he mean? Faren was about to ask, but Yuri demonstrated the answer before he could. Using only magic power, he began to turn the soil particles into an even finer powder.

"...I see..."

Understanding, Faren tried to do the same...

"...This is... quite..."

And soon, he tasted failure.

At first, he was just breaking up clumps of soil, which he managed to do somehow. But the following step was difficult. Incredibly, monumentally difficult. Yuri pulverized the soil particles without any trouble, but normally, one would never go through the trouble of casting magic on something as small as a grain of soil. Or rather, there was simply no need for it. A typical magician might strive to move large objects, but they would never concentrate their magic power on such a minuscule target. Even when told to do it as if grinding with a stone mill, he had never formed a magical surface with such fine control. Moreover, if he made even the slightest mistake in applying force...

"Ah!"

"Oh, you knocked it over. It's alright, it's just soil inside."

Yuri told him he could just start over, but the mere thought of redoing it from the beginning was exhausting. One might suggest he just pick up the spilled soil, but it was not that simple. The crucial fine powder had been scattered about when it spilled. It was impossible to collect.

"...Yuri-kun... could we not... at least do the grinding part with a stone mill or something...?"

"If we do that, the way it absorbs magic power will be different when it's finished."

He had to just keep repeating the process of breaking down the soil and kneading it, over and over again. And he said all of this work had to be done using only magic. After grinding it to a certain point, you had to add water, and it was better if it was water created with Water Magic, stir it gently, and discard the floating debris. This was to remove impurities other than the soil. If impurities were mixed in, or if the soil particles were not uniformly fine, the finished product would apparently have brittle spots. Hearing that, he understood he could not cut corners in this process. He understood, but... while he was struggling, Yuri was swiftly continuing the work with practiced ease. It was a subtly disheartening sight.

"It's alright. A seven-year-old me could do it."

Yuri probably meant it as encouragement, but the result was that it only cut off Faren's escape and cornered him further. The fact that Yuri himself was unaware of this was what made it so vicious.

"If you get your face too close, you'll end up inhaling the fine powder. It's not good for your health, so you should guard the area around your face with Wind Magic or something..."

Yuri started to say, but seeing the light fade from Faren's eyes at the prospect of being forced to perform multiple spells simultaneously and continuously, he corrected himself.

"...Until you get used to it, a mask... it's a good idea to cover your nose and mouth with a cloth or something."

"I'll do that..."

Thus, Yuri, who believed himself to be at the bottom of the food chain without a shred of doubt, ended up subjecting Faren to a Spartan training regimen without even realizing it.

"Let's set aside the grinding for now, and I'll teach you how to do the shaping first."

Seeing that the unfamiliar work was taking a long time, Yuri had them temporarily halt the soil preparation and begin practice on shaping. The material was the soil that Yuri had quickly made earlier, while Faren was struggling. That alone was reason enough to feel dejected, but the shaping process that followed was also quite a challenge. Imagine forming the shape of a knife, complete with a blade, out of soft mud. And then he was told to do it not with his hands, but with magic power alone. It was a cruel demand for a magician unaccustomed to even manual labor.

"It's alright. You might be confused at first, but you'll get used to it soon. After you've made about fifty, you'll naturally start to understand what's good and what's not. If you keep channeling magic power into the well-made ones when you use them, they'll eventually be displayed as 'Magic Stone Tool'."

This boy made it sound so simple, but how much time would it take to reach that level? Faren realized he had underestimated the problem somewhere along the line and cursed his past self, but it was too late for regrets now.

(Still... I had the impression that things made with Earth Magic were just makeshift...)

Come to think of it, no one in the past had prepared the materials so carefully, nor had anyone channeled magic through them so persistently.

(But... hearing this boy's circumstances, it makes sense. It was literally his lifeline. His level of resolve must have been different from ours. If he was doing this every day, it's only natural his Earth Magic would be well-honed...)

From everything that had happened so far, Faren no longer had a single shred of contempt for Yuri. It seemed the boy had specialized in a different direction from them, but he was without a doubt an advanced user of Earth Magic. His interest piqued by that skill, he was momentarily tempted to use Appraisal on Yuri, but... he decided against it. Even if Yuri was a child, and even if it was temporary, Faren felt it would be rude as someone receiving instruction. And... he had a bad feeling that if he saw the appraisal results, he would not be able to recover. In reality, even the numbers Yuri was faking were abnormal in this world, so Faren's decision was a happy one for both of them. In any case, Faren misunderstood that Yuri's Earth Magic had been trained through the creation of Magic Stone Tools. That was not actually the case, but this misunderstanding had a certain persuasiveness to it, and so it would be relayed as is when he reported to Professor Magam later.

And so, without Yuri's knowledge, Faren contributed to concealing Yuri's true identity.