CH 363

“Transmuting gold?

“Yes?”

“Isn’t that like the peak of alchemy? That’s incredible Master Rust! You can even do that?”

“Ah, no Shellrule. Sorry, I didn’t explain properly. We are not going to change lead into gold or anything like that.”

I correct Shellrule’s misunderstanding while I make preparations and she looks at me with a sparkle in her eyes. Shellrule is talking about changing matter itself.

Well, that’s actually possible in extremely small quantities too. It’s just that it consumes a very large amount of magic elements, so it’s not at all cost effective, which is pretty much the same as saying it can’t be done.

“I need a certain amount of gold, so I’m going with the simplest method. Some monsters have a lot of metal in their bodies, right? I’m just going to extract gold from certain monster’s materials.”

“Ah, I see, you scared me… But… Doesn’t that mean you can get as much gold as you want as long as you have those materials?”

“Yes, but monsters are a finite resource too.”

“That’s right…”

“I only have this much.”

I’m done preparing to transmute, and take out all the monster materials I’ll be using. I got them when we were in Sototo. Apparently many flying monsters in that country are rich in gold.

I’m glad I managed to evade Taula’s eyes and swipe these materials. That variant species in particular has a higher percentage of gold. It’s strange.

“Hieh! So much…”

Shellrule lets out a small shriek when she sees what I bring out.

“Ah, and I want to make it clear that you can leave any time if you’re feeling tired.”

“No! I’m fine!”

Shellrule’s amazed expression quickly turns serious again, and we get to work right away.

◇◆

“Sorry… I can’t do it anymore… It’s too intense…”

Says Shellrule, breathing heavily.

Extracting gold from materials is kind of a specialized transmutation. Having said that, it spends so much magic elements that you really need to put your strength into it.

We keep replenishing those lost magic elements via potions, until Shellrule throws the towel on this never ending repetition.

Losing the magic elements filling one’s body all of a sudden causes lethargy, and filling that void with new magic elements makes one feel full. Repeating this process over and over again when you’re not used to it is no doubt tough. Stamina can be recovered with potions, but this also brings a lot of mental strain. Shellrule did a good job hanging in there.

“Thank you Shellrule. You did great, but you can go rest now.”

“Uu… I’m sorry. I’ll be leaving… How much longer are you going to be here?”

“I’m about halfway done. I made a lot of progress thanks to you.”

“Half!? And you’re going to keep doing that on your own…”

Shellrule looks at me with her eyes wide open, but mine are already back on the materials, as I start working again.