TLN: There is a play on words in the title; what I’ve loosely translated to “actually” is つーか/tsuuka, and “currency” is 通貨, also pronounced “tsuuka”.

After clearing the Eclipse King’s Orchard, the forest of Immortal Ents became much livelier. The trees that had fruits hanging from them all year round were like treasure boxes of fruit.

There was also a large reformation in Talosheim. Traveling to Dungeons had become easier; people no longer had to venture beyond the walls to reach them.

Garan’s Valley, Doran’s Aquatic Caverns, Borkus’s Sub-Dragon Savannah and Barigen’s End Life-Mountain had all been moved inside the city.

It seemed that Vandalieu’s Labyrinth Construction skill was able to move Dungeons that he had previously cleared.

“Moving them at the speed of someone walking at a brisk pace, it costs about ten thousand Mana every minute, but… I regenerate about ten thousand Mana every second with the Automatic Mana Recovery skill, so with enough time, I can move Dungeons anywhere,” said Vandalieu.

The Dungeons’ entrances followed behind him with the sound of something being dragged along the ground, but there were no changes to the insides.

Everyone, not just Luciliano, was dumbfounded to see this.

Vandalieu was even able to teleport from the entrance of any Dungeon he had previously cleared to the entrance of any other previously-cleared Dungeon. Unlike teleportation between Dungeon floors, this teleportation only worked for himself, but… since the Ghosts following him and the insects he had equipped were treated as a part of him, he could bring them along.

He had even been able to teleport to the Dungeon that he had cleared years ago, before he had even met Zadiris and the Ghouls, so it seemed that he was able to go to any Dungeon anywhere as long as he had cleared it before.

“I suppose we should go and clear the Dungeon I made in Niarki next time,” said Vandalieu.

“More importantly, Master, should you not simply just create lots of small Dungeons all over the place?” Luciliano suggested. “You can create them, can’t you?”

“Well, it does use up a considerable amount of Mana, though,” said Vandalieu.

He had tried creating a small Dungeon just to test this ability out, but it turned out to be much more difficult work than moving an existing Dungeon. Creating a single Dungeon required an hour of concentration and consumed 100,000,000 Mana.

The resulting Dungeon was a Dungeon with a single floor, filled with only Rank 1 monsters such as Horned Rabbits and Big Frogs.

“It seems that when creating Dungeons, the amount of Mana, time and the effect it has on my mental state depends on the skill’s level,” said Vandalieu.

The Eclipse King’s Orchard had been formed as a result of the hundreds of millions of Mana that he had poured into the ground on numerous occasions. The thirty-floor C-class Dungeon, Heinz’s Skeleton Caverns, had been created as a result of him reaching such a mental state that his consciousness disappeared and his Mana pool ran empty; he had no recollection of what had happened afterwards.

It seemed that Vandalieu wasn’t yet able to freely create Dungeons of the difficulty he desired. It appeared that the Dungeons’ interior structures were also similar to the areas surrounding the places they were created in. That was why the Eclipse King’s Orchard was a forest environment.

However, Vandalieu was able to change the Dungeons’ difficulty and number of floors after they had been built. He spent time during the next day pouring Mana into the one-floor Dungeon to find that it had become a two-floor Dungeon. He could probably increase the difficulty of Dungeons in the same way.

And wouldn’t he become able to make the Dungeons more freely once his skill leveled up? There wasn’t any pressing reason for him to become able to create high-difficulty Dungeons right away, so this was probably fine for now.

The Labyrinth Construction skill’s features were as follows:

• Allows Vandalieu to create Dungeons. However, freely changing its floors, difficulty and interior structure was impossible at this point in time.
• Gives Vandalieu knowledge of the layout of a Dungeon’s floor by stepping foot into it.
• The monsters appearing in the Dungeons have no souls. Because of this, Vandalieu is able to exercise limited control over them. In order to tame them, he must have appropriate spirits possess their bodies.
• Allows Vandalieu and his allies to teleport between previously-cleared floors in a Dungeon.
• Allows Vandalieu to alter the structure of previously-cleared floors in a Dungeon. He can place or remove walls, doors and traps, as well as create stairs that connect separate floors.
• Allows Vandalieu to move Dungeons. This has no effect on the interior structure of the Dungeons.
• Allows Vandalieu to teleport from the entrances of previously-cleared Dungeons to the entrances of other previously-cleared Dungeons. However, only the insects he has equipped and astral-type Undead can accompany him when he teleports in this way.

Vandalieu altered the structure of Doran’s Aquatic Caverns, installing stone pipes to draw saltwater in order to create saltpans outside the Dungeon.

“It would be convenient if other people could freely teleport between Dungeons as well, but… I wonder if I could make a Magic Item for that?” Vandalieu wondered as he munched on a delicious fruit similar to an apple.

『The levels of the Labyrinth Creation, Strengthen Followers and Death-Attribute Charm skills have increased!』

Around the same time, Rodcorte was spending all of his time and energy on his circle of transmigration system, which was now producing frequent errors.

“What in the world is the meaning of this?! A large number of Lambda’s souls have left the system? Did Vida’s races do something?!”

Hundreds, thousands of souls were leaving Rodcorte’s control at a time.

This was something that had occurred countless times before when races like Vampires, Ghouls and Majin who were capable of turning members of other races into members of their own races caused souls under Rodcorte’s control to be taken in by Vida’s system.

However, this didn’t happen very frequently. At the very least, hundreds or thousands of souls would not leave Rodcorte’s control within a single day.

The cause of this was that Vandalieu had made large numbers of the spirits accompanying him possess the soulless monsters of the Eclipse King’s Orchard in order to tame them.

Vandalieu had done this thinking that it was no different from creating Undead and Golems, but as Luciliano had pointed out, it was equivalent to reincarnating these souls. In the same way that he had made a spirit possess the Live-Dead’s fetus in order to create Pauvina, he was making spirits possess living monsters rather than corpses or inanimate objects.

Vandalieu was merely a mortal, but he had started performing the work of a god.

He had to perform everything manually, but it was equivalent to running his own circle of transmigration system.

Vida’s races generally needed the consent of members of other races in order to convert them to members of their own race, but in Vandalieu’s case, the spirits were completely charmed by him. Under his command, they were happy to be reborn as plant or insectoid monsters.

And so, a new circle of transmigration system had been born in Lambda, one that trespassed on Rodcorte’s authority, one that was more unstable and more arbitrary in function than Vida’s circle of transmigration system that Alda was apprehensive about.

“What in the world is happening…!”

But Rodcorte was pressed to deal with the errors in his own system. It would be some time before he learned the truth.

Incidentally, this also caused frequent error in the Demon King’s circle of transmigration system, but it had already been producing errors every day; its normal working state was one that was producing errors. Thus, unlike the breaking of Sercrent’s soul, this was not considered a particularly great problem by the remnants of the Demon King’s army, including Hihiryushukaka, the God of Joyful Life.

Around the time of year where every region would be conducting their harvest festivals, the Five-colored Blades were trying to make a harvest of their own.

“GUAAAAAAH! Curse you, humans!”

They were harvesting not produce and fruit, but the head of a nobleman of dark nights who had grown fat from drinking the blood of the people, a Vampire.

“Guh, how did you know about this place, about our existence?!” shouted a man named Chipuras. He had served as the Sub-Master of the Commerce Guild for ten years, retired due to old age and was now a good-natured old man who provided advice for young, aspiring merchants.

But none would consider him a good-natured old man if they could see him now, crimson-eyed and baring his fangs like a beast.

“It’s all thanks to a good-willed informant,” said Heinz.

“Tch! Those traitors?! They sold us out after receiving Ternecia-sama’s blessings?!” Chipuras, who was no longer acting like a merchant, readied his claws with a movement unbefitting of his obese body.

Most of the Subordinate Vampires and Noble-born Vampires working under Chipuras had already been defeated by Heinz’s companions. He had very few allies remaining now. But although his eyes showed hatred, they didn’t show despair.

“I could have forgiven you if you were simply keeping that Dhampir as a pet, but now that you have caused me so much disgrace, I shall kill all of you and present your heads as a present to Ternecia-sama!” he shrieked.

Chipuras’s movements were far quicker than one would expect from his appearance, but Heinz saw through it immediately and his magic sword sliced deep into Chipuras’s stomach.

“Blue Light Flame Blade!”

This was a martial skill of Radiant God Swordsmanship, Heinz’s awakened superior skill that he had gained after moving to the Orbaume Kingdom and becoming a part of Alda’s peaceful faction.

The martial skill that unleashed Heinz’s light-attribute and life-attribute Mana in addition to the magic sword’s normal attack power would cause a fatal blow to a Vampire even with a light graze.

This martial skill had sliced deep into Chipuras’s round belly. Even a Vampire with an astounding amount of Vitality wouldn’t be able to resist this.

“Gufuh, gufufufuh, that will not work on me~! Diamond Rend!”

“What?!”

Instead of being defeated, Chipuras sneered and used an advanced martial skill of the Unarmed Fighting Technique in an attempt to tear Heinz to pieces. He swung his claws with the strength of a Colossus; Heinz barely managed to use the Swordsmanship martial skill, Flowing Willow, to stop the attack and opened his eyes wide in shock to see that Chipuras was unharmed.

“Kuhaha! Because of the divine protection of Hihiryushukaka, the Evil God of Joyful Life, I have been granted the Light/Life-Attribute Nullification skill!” Chipuras cackled. “Your sword technique has no effect!”

It was probably because of this skill that Chipuras, who was supposed to be a Vampire, remained unharmed despite the fact that the mansion’s walls had been destroyed and the sunlight was hitting him directly.

“Hahahaha! I am a Vampire Marquis! I am one of Ternecia’s three most powerful chief vassals; even if you are A-class, did you think that a human like you could defeat…” Chipuras faltered mid-sentence, a suspicious look on his face. “You bastard, what are you playing at?”

Heinz had raised his sword, facing Chipuras directly.

“Are you listening to what I am saying? Your powerful Radiant God Swordsmanship and your light and life-attribute magic will not work against me!”

Ignoring Chipuras, Heinz focused and sharpened his mind.

“… Transcend Limits… Transcend Limits – Magic Sword…”

The image in his mind was one of a single blade.

“… Familiar Spirit Descent!”

Heinz was enveloped in a pillar of light that descended from the sky, and wings made of light sprouted from his back, a sign that a Familiar Spirit of Alda had descended upon him.

“Y-you bastard! Can you not tell that your efforts are futiiiiiile!” Chipuras shouted.

Against Chipuras, who possessed the Light/Life-Attribute Nullification skill, there was little meaning in Alda’s Familiar Spirit descending upon Heinz.

However, it was angry words rather than scornful laughter that were coming from Chipuras’s mouth. Unable to withstand the pressure that grew stronger as Heinz’s power became greater, Chipuras activated his own Transcend Limits skill, giving his body an explosive increase in physical strength.

“Diiie! Endless Twin Claw-Blades! Ice Beast Pack Assault!”

Chipuras used a martial skill in which the claws of both of his arms were swung in rapid succession, with beasts of ice conjured by water-attribute magic filling in the gaps between his attacks with their claws and fangs.

This was Chipuras’s consecutive attack that would result in certain victory. This was the trump card that he had used to climb the ranks of the Vampires’ twisted society, where one couldn’t survive on resourcefulness alone.

The moment this swarm of blades reached Heinz, he swung his magic sword.

“Evil-Crushing Blue Radiant Flash!”

Chipuras’s claws, which were harder than Adamantite, fell apart as if they were made of glass, along with the beasts of ice. The blade of the magic sword sank into his body as if being absorbed, and silently pierced through it!

This fearsome slash didn’t stop there. The ceiling and walls of the mansion were cut apart and erased.

“Im… possible…”

Heinz heard the two pieces of Chipuras, who had been cut in half in a line from his head to his crotch, falling to the ground behind him. He exhaled and returned his magic sword to its sheath.

“Even if you have a nullification skill that transcends resistance skills, I won’t lose so long as I have a will to carry out justice,” he murmured.

“That’s all well and good, but I wish you’d fight a little better,” whispered Delizah, the female Dwarf Shield-Bearer.

She had charged into the mansion with Edgar and the others; she was looking not at Chipuras, whose two separate halves were burning in blue flames, but at the place where the mansion’s walls had been.

The mountain beyond that spot had also been cut. It had been cleanly split in two.

“The mountain beyond the mansion belongs to Chipuras; there aren’t any people there so it should be fine,” said Heinz.

“That’s not the problem, is it, now?” said Delizah.

“I only split the mountain; I haven’t cut down too many trees, so Diana probably won’t be angry, will she?” said Heinz.

Delizah put her face in her hands. “Ah, you justice meathead.”

Heinz undid his Familiar Spirit Descent. “Justice meathead” was his nickname among his companions.

In reality, he had defeated Chipuras, an enemy whose nullification skill that rendered everything ineffective except for the attack power of the magic sword itself, by repeatedly strengthening himself a ridiculous number of times before unleashing the most powerful attack possible in order to cut through with raw power.

The shockwave he had produced wasn’t that great, but it had been enough to cut through a mountain.

“You did it, or maybe I should say, you’ve gone and done it,” Delizah muttered.

“Edgar, where are Jennifer and Diana?” asked Heinz.

“They’re gathering Magic Stones from the Vampires we defeated,” Edgar replied. “As for the big one there…” He looked towards Chipuras’s corpse disappointedly before returning to his usual, serious expression. “I don’t think we’re getting anything out of him.”

“But how many Noble-born Vampires is that now? I’m sure that informant called Kinarp can go to heaven now,” said Delizah.

Thanks to the informants, including Kinarp, the former Guild Master of the Mages’ Guild, the Vampires who had been hiding in the shadows of the Hartner Duchy were being hunted down one after another. The impact of this was spreading to the other duchies as well.

At the personal request of Lord Belton, the Five-colored Blades were conducting an investigation of the incident in which the Demon King’s seal had been removed in the underground cemetery that very few people knew about, while also hunting down the Vampires.

They were doing this because it seemed likely that there would be Vampires who worshipped evil gods behind the removal of the Demon King’s seal, but they still had no leads.

In any case, they were hunting down big targets one after another, so they were being paid considerably well for their work as adventurers.

“Heaven, huh… I have to wonder about that.” Heinz frowned.

He was frowning because of the state that Kinarp and his subordinates were in. They were currently little more than mannequins with beating hearts and moving lungs. They looked into empty space with saliva hanging from their mouths.

But when they were asked questions about information on the Vampires, they were able to speak fluently as if they had regained their sanity.

Kinarp and his subordinates had clearly been broken and manipulated by someone.

“Don’t feel sorry for them, they got what was coming to them,” said Edgar. “They’re guys who would kidnap us… I mean, kidnap Selen and present her to this fatty that you just cut in two. More importantly, how much do you think Lord Belton knows?” he asked. “Considering the incident with Baron Ikus as well, I think it’s certain that he’s hiding something.”

Baron Ikus, who had been severely injured when the castle sank, had recently breathed his last breath without regaining consciousness. Edgar believed that Lord Belton had conducted a premeditated murder on his own subordinate. Baron Ikus had been running a pseudo-secret-intelligence-organization so he likely knew a lot of secrets, and he was a traitor to humanity with ties to the Vampire who was the prime suspect for the crime of removing the Demon King’s seal.

It would be problematic for Lord Belton if Baron Ikus didn’t die silently.

In fact, there were several noble families in the Hartner Duchy whose heads and children had suddenly gone somewhere to rest because they had fallen sick. They would almost certainly be announced to have entered priesthood and be spending the rest of their days living religious lives or to be dead from their illness.

That was why Edgar was saying that there was still more than meets the eye, but Delizah shook her head.

“I don’t know about that,” she said. “That lord, he seemed like he was keeping appearances up, but now it’s more like he’s trying to extinguish the fire under his own ass. Even the fact that he gave us this personal request and pays us generously with every Vampire we hunt is all to try and recover his fallen image, isn’t it?”

“True… thanks to that rich kid, there’s a rumor spreading in town that we’re the duke’s best friends.”

Thanks to this, it seemed that the Adventurers’ Guild would soon abolish its unfair rule change against Dhampirs, however.

“I don’t mind being anyone’s friend as long as the evil Vampires and the followers of the evil gods are defeated,” said Heinz. “The problem is the Demon King’s seal. I can’t imagine that it was the doing of the man named Kanata. But I suppose as long as we’re searching based on the information given by Kinarp, who was manipulated by someone, we won’t arrive at the truth.”

Edgar and Delizah nodded in agreement. Jennifer and Diana weren’t here right now, but they would probably think the same.

Lord Belton having an ulterior motive wouldn’t be the end of the world, but ignoring the Demon King’s fragment that had escaped the seal could indeed result in the world’s destruction.

This was true even if there were other pieces of the Demon King whose seals had been broken.

Naturally, the Demon King had been sealed away in the age before Vida gave birth to her new races. Even the Pure-breed Vampires, who were feared now, had been normal people back then, fighting alongside the gods and the champions against the Demon King. It wouldn’t be strange to think that the Pure-breed Vampires knew of the places where the pieces of the Demon King had been sealed.

Members of Vida’s races, such as the Pure-breed Vampires, had betrayed her and sided with the remnants of the Demon King’s army. It was only a natural course of events for them to be removing the Demon King’s seals and using his fragments simply for power.

This was the result of the battles between heroes and great evil that had been written in a hundred thousand years of history.

“It seems that this man named Kanata possessed a powerful unique skill, but it’s difficult to imagine that there was someone controlling him,” said Heinz. “His actions were simply too… how to describe it? Senseless.”

“That’s true, it’s strange, isn’t it?” said Delizah. “He repeatedly performed flashy, crudely-executed crimes before reaching Nineland, even made the effort of going to the Adventurers’ Guild and declaring his name, and then suddenly he was a corpse buried in the collapsed underground cemetery.”

Nobody knew Kanata’s past, where he had been born or what Jobs and skills he had. And yet, his actions before he reached Nineland had been those of an outlaw who simply possessed great power. But he had somehow entered the underground cemetery that had been concealed in a very specific location.

It was completely incomprehensible.

“This is just my intuition, but the man named Kanata might just have happened to be there and actually has no relation to the one who removed the Demon King’s seal,” said Heinz.

The thing that Heinz found suspicious was the information that he had gained from informants other than Kinarp and his subordinates… information that there was a Noble-born Vampire woman who had betrayed Birkyne, and that she and her new master were out there somewhere.

There was a beggar who had seen that Vampire woman… the one allegedly known as Eleanora, going in and out of Kinarp’s mansion.

From a distance, the beggar had seen a beautiful woman with red hair entering the mansion’s back entrance, holding a large number of shopping bags. Nobody, not even the beggar who had happened to be given leftover foods at a spot a little distance away from the mansion, had given her a second glance.

But Edgar, who had heard that there was a beautiful, red-haired woman in the city of Niarki from one of the underlings of the Fangs of Dark Nights, felt that something was wrong when he heard about this information from the beggar.

And upon conducting an investigation, they had found that she had vanished on the day the castle sank.

“It didn’t look like the underling knew the name of this Eleanora’s master,” said Jennifer. “It seemed as if he had been forbidden to speak the name by a Pure-breed Vampire.”

“That must be an extremely powerful individual,” said Diana. “It could be a newly-awakened Pure-breed Vampire. I think it is likely the one responsible for breaking and manipulating the minds of Kinarp and his subordinates.”

The two of them had returned after collecting all of the materials.

Now that the party had all gathered together, Heinz began speaking. “Even if it is a Pure-breed Vampire, we cannot simply leave someone who has undone a seal to release a fragment of the Demon King,” he said. “I cannot allow the existence of someone who plays with life and desecrates souls. There is no more big prey left in Nineland; let’s chase after the Vampire called Eleanora starting from tomorrow… though this means we’ll have to leave the Trial of Zakkart for later.”

“It’s fine; the world is in danger, isn’t it?” said Jennifer. “There’s no doubt that we’re going to be victorious whichever one we go after, anyway.”

“I’m sure Martie would forgive us as well,” said Delizah.

The party seemed to agree with Heinz’s decision, except for Edgar, the only one with doubt in his eyes.

The time that a woman resembling the Vampire Eleanora was spotted in Niarki was the exact same time that the Dhampir called Vandalieu appeared. Well, there is no information about Vandalieu in Nineland, but… in the end, Vandalieu’s route… If he is the son of that Dark Elf from back then, I never managed to find out how he crossed the border between the Mirg shield-nation and the Orbaume Kingdom, passed through the Sauron Duchy into the Hartner Duchy and then came all the way to the city of Niarki. Are Heinz and I just overthinking things?

Edgar wondered whether Vandalieu had come to Niarki through the same route that the Five-colored Blades had taken; he would have never imagined that Vandalieu had crossed the Boundary Mountain Range that very few had ever crossed before.

That was why he never bothered thinking about finding Vandalieu’s trail in the cultivation villages to the south of Niarki.

Vandalieu was munching on the fruits that were similar to apples, together with Pauvina and Rapiéçage.

“Van-sama, it seems that you are often eating fruits these days?” said Tarea.

“Yes; they’re very hard, fresh, very hard fruit with sweet juice,” said Vandalieu, mentioning the important feature of the fruit twice.

“… It looks like your jaw will get tired,” Tarea remarked.

“But they’re delicious, you know?” Pauvina told her.

“S… weet…” Rapiéçage groaned.

These apple-like fruits were very delicious, but… their flesh was as hard as a cow’s thighbone. With the Superhuman Strength skill, Vandalieu and the others could bite into them normally, but normal people would be literally unable to make a dent* in them.

TLN*: The Japanese phrase for “can’t make a dent/progress with [something]”, if literally interpreted, means something like, “teeth won’t last/survive.”

They were so hard that the average Ghoul and Titan would soon get tired jaws while trying to eat them. Pete, the centipede monster that Vandalieu had equipped, didn’t even pay the fruits any attention.

“They’re very hard, but for some reason, one of the Ents I brought from the Eclipse King’s Orchard keeps giving them to me frequently,” said Vandalieu.

Every time Vandalieu passed by, this Ent would always give him this fruit. He accepted them, and thus, he had begun to eat multiple of these fruits every day.

Pauvina and Rapiéçage were happy with this, though.

“I am sure that this Ent was a well-known fruit merchant who sold a lot of fruit when it was alive,” said Tarea.

Vandalieu didn’t really remember if there had been a spirit like that, but he wasn’t really concerned whether this theory was right or not. It was currently nothing more than an Ent that he had tamed.

“Now then, I have to come back to the real world and work hard in casting coins for the new currency,” said Vandalieu.

It seemed that Vandalieu’s rest and escape from reality had ended.

He exhaled as he looked at the numerous failed products in front of him… the stone containers that were filled with a blackish-purple, muddy liquid.

The problem with introducing a new currency to Talosheim was the metal used as the raw material.

Vandalieu had brought back coins of the Baum currency of the Orbaume Kingdom with the exception of the most valuable platinum coins (which weren’t usually handled by anyone other than royalty, nobles and wealthy merchants). The Undead Titan blacksmith, Datara, had accurately determined the relative ratios of the metals in the coins.

As Talosheim would one day be trading with the duchies of the Orbaume Kingdom with the exception of the Hartner Duchy, it was important to match the value of the coins with the Baum.

However, there were no stable sources of gold and silver in Talosheim.

Gold and silver couldn’t be mined in Doran’s Aquatic Caverns. Gold and silver nuggets sometimes appeared in the Dungeon’s treasure chamber, but a sufficient amount to create coins couldn’t be harvested with this method in a stable manner. It was unknown as to what principles the Dungeon used to decide what treasures it generated in the treasure chamber, so they couldn’t rely on it too much.

Even the Labyrinth Creation skill couldn’t freely manipulate the contents of the treasure chamber.

Thus, Vandalieu had to create coins using the iron and copper that could be reliably mined, but if Vandalieu used iron and copper to create coins with the same value as the gold coins that were worth a thousand Baums and ten thousand Baums, they would end up too large and heavy; they would be nothing more than large lumps of metal with not even a shred of convenience.

Vandalieu had considered making paper money rather than coins, but he was still only able to produce sturdy Japanese paper in small amounts, and the printing technology available was still crude. Thus, it was better to use coins after all.

“The name of the currency was decided quickly though,” Vandalieu remarked.

The currency was known as the Luna. It was a play on words; the coins of the capital of the sun that was ruled by the Eclipse King were named after the moon.

The design of the coins had been mostly decided; there were already prototype coins for the one-Luna copper coin, the five-Luna copper coin and half-Luna iron coin. Datara had produced these coins with such quality that they were not at all inferior to the copper Amid and Baum coins.

And then Vandalieu had come up with the idea of making metal in order to create coins worth ten Lunas or more.

“When you mentioned the idea, I thought you were just being crazy as usual,” said Datara.

“Well, it should be considered an idea that isn’t confined to the limits of common sense!” Tarea exclaimed.

Pauvina blinked upon hearing their words. “… The two of you are saying the same thing,” she muttered.

She was a clever girl.

The creation of metal that Vandalieu had in mind wasn’t making an alloy like bronze, but using iron and bronze to create a new magical metal. Thus, both Datara and Tarea’s opinions were correct.

Magical metals were metals filled with Mana, with Orichalcum at the top of the list followed by others such as Mythril, Adamantite, Damascus Steel and Obsidian. Other than Orichalcum, it had been more or less established that all of these were created from lesser metals.

Mythril and Adamantite were produced when regular silver and gold were soaked in Mana for tens of thousands of years, becoming naturally refined.

Damascus Steel and Obsidian were refined from ordinary metals by skilled blacksmiths.

Datara could apparently create Obsidian if he had the materials. It was refined by using iron as a base and forging it for a whole day while adding a very tiny amount of Mythril or Adamantite. But he had said that staying up all night to make produce two or three swords’ worth of Obsidian was the best he could do; it would be impossible for him to create a currency with it.

Of course, Vandalieu didn’t have the Blacksmithing skill, so it was impossible for him to mass-produce this metal with Golem Transmutation.

Thus, Vandalieu had been trying to create a new magical metal by pouring Mana into metal equal to the amount contained within Mythril and Adamantite.

It would normally be impossible, but Vandalieu had thought that he could do it by pouring hundreds of millions of Mana into the metal and using Inanimate Aging, the spell that made time flow faster for its target.

And it turned out to be actually possible. The iron and copper had essentially been soaked in death-attribute Mana for tens of thousands of years, transforming into magical metals… liquid metals.

“Hmm, I did manage to make new magical metals, but I can’t turn this into coins, can I?” said Vandalieu.

“They are liquids, after all,” said Datara.

The metal was the same weight and size as what Vandalieu had started with, but he was troubled by the fact that they were black and purple, mercury-like liquid metals.

“Shall we call them Death Metal and Dark Copper for now?” Vandalieu suggested.

Although they were liquid, they were indeed magical metals; it was certain that they would possess special properties. Depending on their special properties, they would have their uses.

Whether or not they could be turned into coins.

It would be interesting if I could make armor out of liquid metal; I wonder if it’s possible?