On the night of May 19th, Jin sat in conference with Laojun, Anne, and Reiko on Hourai Island.
The following day, May 20th, was the date he had promised Reinhard he would return to the Shouro Empire. Before leaving, Jin wanted to finalize future strengthening plans for the Hourai Island forces, specifically to counter threats like the demon race.
"First, let's take care of the things we can implement immediately," Jin said, his voice echoing in the chamber. "You mentioned that Stealth was seen through, right?"
"Yes," Laojun replied. "It is highly probable that the wavelengths of light the demon race's eyes can perceive differ from those of humans."
The Stealth spell worked by refracting light in the visible spectrum around the user to show what was behind them, making them effectively transparent. However, this "visible spectrum" was calibrated for human visual organs. Based on advice from Anne, it seemed likely that the demon race could see into the ultraviolet range.
Since insects could perceive ultraviolet light and certain reptiles possessed infrared-sensing organs, Jin knew it was a mistake to assume the demon race saw the world the same way humans did.
Based on this realization, he decided to significantly expand the frequency band affected by the refraction to cover both the infrared and ultraviolet directions. To distinguish this demon-ready version from standard Stealth, Jin named it "Invisible."
"Hmm, the effect is potent, but now I can't see anything..." Jin muttered the moment he tested the Invisible barrier.
Because the light was being refracted around the barrier, no light actually reached the person inside.
"What about electromagnetic waves with longer wavelengths... like microwaves?" Jin searched his hazy memories of Earth's science. As wavelengths shortened, they became X-rays or gamma rays, which increased the danger to the user. He recalled that microwaves were used for things like radar. After consulting with Laojun, he developed a visual enhancement plan for the Hourai Island forces, starting with Reiko.
Jin personally handled Reiko’s modifications, but since time was limited, he entrusted the rest of the golems to Laojun. This upgrade quietly but significantly bolstered the information-gathering capabilities of the Hourai Island forces.
"I also propose the reorganization and modification of the Quinta," Laojun suggested.
The plan was to produce ten more of each model—Regulus, Deneb, Capella, Spica, and Mira—and dispatch them to the Shouro Empire and the Leonard Kingdom. Simultaneously, Laojun explained his plan to increase their power output in anticipation of combat with the demon race.
Their output, currently at fifteen percent of Reiko's original capacity, would be raised to thirty percent. Additionally, they would be equipped with weaponry previously omitted to keep them at human-like weights.
To offset the weight increase, the skeletons would be lightened by hollowing out certain sections. To ensure this didn't compromise their structural integrity, the material would be upgraded from standard light silver to 64 light silver. Since this only required adding aluminum and vanadium to the existing light silver, it was a major advantage that the skeletons could be modified via Craft Magic rather than being rebuilt from scratch.
The new armaments would include Lasers and Stuns, as well as the ability to deploy barriers.
"Yeah, that sounds good. Let's proceed with that," Jin agreed.
"As for the rest..."
Jin began summarizing items he wanted to implement gradually, even if they couldn't be finished immediately. First was the defense of Hourai Island itself.
"If the demon race ever thinks to cross the ocean..."
The possibility wasn't zero. If they used Gravity Magic to reduce their effective weight, they might be able to run across the surface of the water.
"In addition to deploying the three completed aircraft carriers, I want to bolster our naval presence," Laojun said.
"Right. Even demons are biological beings. They'll have a hard time dealing with attacks from underwater."
Jin intended to create a Submarine Force. Since golems would serve as the crew, there was no need to worry about food, water, or oxygen, which meant the structural design could be greatly simplified.
"Let's aim for a length of ten to twenty meters per vessel."
"Understood."
Based on the basic specifications Jin envisioned, Laojun began planning the construction of the Submarine Force. He also felt it wise to increase their surface presence.
"I'd also like some cruiser-class vessels for maneuverability," Jin added.
High-speed vessels roughly forty meters in length were added to the plan. Consequently, they decided to double the number of land, sea, and air golem units—Sky, Land, Marine, and Mermaid—from 100 to 200 units each. Laojun could handle this work independently using the Smith units for labor.
The most decisive development, however, was the free ether absorption barrier. As the name suggested, it would completely strip the area within the barrier of free ether—a likely fatal environment for the demon race.
These constituted the primary defense plans. Jin, Laojun, Reiko, and Anne then turned their attention to the next phase of strengthening.
"First, Reiko."
Jin listed the functions he wanted for Reiko. Even if some weren't possible now, he wanted to make them a reality in the future. He was particularly hopeful that he might discover something useful from the alchemists in the Shouro Empire.
- Self-repair function.
- Improved combat techniques.
- Enhanced knowledge and intelligence.
- Power-up.
The first item, the self-repair function, could be implemented immediately. While complete restoration was difficult if an entire limb was lost, it was easy to enable near-instantaneous repair for damage like wounds to her magical skin or magical muscle, or even a bent skeleton.
The method involved embedding magi-crystals imbued with effects like Forming, Fusion, and Surface Treatment into various parts of Reiko's internal structure. With these, Reiko only had to issue a command to "repair," and the pre-set Craft Magic would activate to fix the damage. She could already perform Craft Magic on herself during a rest, but since doing so in the middle of a fight could be fatal, a dedicated repair function triggered by a simple command would be invaluable.
The second item, combat techniques, was more difficult. Jin had always wondered why Reiko relied so heavily on brute-force melee combat. After discussing it with her and analyzing the data with Anne, they hit upon a major issue: Reiko's weight.
Even Reiko's custom sword, Touka, was made of magi-adamantite and weighed about 1.5 kilograms. A steel longsword of similar size would weigh nearly 2 kilograms, while one made of standard adamantite could reach 5 kilograms.
When Reiko, who weighed only thirty kilograms, swung such a weapon, the recoil was immense. Since the law of action and reaction held true in this world, her light weight made her ill-suited for precision sword techniques at high speeds.
Furthermore, there was the problem of "holding back." Paradoxically, Reiko's power was simply too high. To an output of 1,000,000, the difference between 1 and 1.1 is practically zero. Yet that 0.1 difference was massive when dealing with a human. Reiko was currently using her extraordinary reaction speed and control to hold back, but this meant she was wasting a staggering amount of processing power on something that should be simple.
"Hmm, I'll make this my personal homework," Jin said.
He couldn't think of a solution immediately.
"It might be viable once we finish analyzing Gravity Magic."
The memory of Laldus changing the weight of his sword to increase its velocity and impact was still fresh in his mind. Gravity Magic seemed poised to become a key technology for them.
Regarding the third point—knowledge and intelligence—Jin wanted Reiko to be a lady second to none. He ordered the Quinta to collect information on etiquette, as well as songs and dances popular among the common folk of various nations.
Finally, regarding the power-up: given Reiko's physical dimensions, her mechanical strength was essentially at its limit. Any further increase would require more advanced materials, which was another task for Jin to solve later. However, in terms of magical power, the use of Elradrite allowed her to easily output ten times her previous capacity. This modification was finished quickly.
"Now, for Laojun."
Laojun hadn't received a major overhaul since his creation, yet his workload was constantly increasing. At this rate, he would eventually suffer a processing overflow.
"There are two ways to increase processing power..."
Using a computer as an analogy, one way was to increase the clock frequency of the CPU—speeding up his thoughts. The other was to increase the number of CPUs—adding more "people" to the task.
Laojun's brain consisted of a magi-device made from eight magi-crystals: earth, water, fire, wind, lightning, light, darkness, and all-attribute. By creating identical devices and using them for parallel processing, his capacity would grow.
Jin created three additional magi-devices and arranged them in a tetrahedral configuration, with the four devices at the vertices. The original magi-device would act as the supervisor for the three new ones.
"How do you feel, the new Laojun?"
"Excellent, My Lord. Thank you. I am in top condition. I can now process several times as many simultaneous tasks as before."
"I'm glad to hear it... I still want to look into increasing the frequency, though..." Jin muttered to himself. That technology would also be applicable to Reiko's power-up.
Magic appeared to function like alternating current, meaning it had a frequency. That frequency was inevitably tied to Jin's unique magic pattern. As a Magi Craft Meister, Jin's pattern was ten times more complex than that of an ordinary magi, but he wondered if it could be pushed even higher.
Having finished his work, Jin gave Laojun his final instructions before his departure for the Shouro Empire.
"I should also look into medical golems..." he added as he left.
On Hourai Island, Laojun set to work following Jin's directives. His first task was the redistribution of the Quinta.
The Quinta force, now expanded from 100 to 150 units, was dispatched to new posts. Many went to the Shouro Empire or the former Leonard Kingdom, and a few units even prepared to infiltrate the territory of the demon race.
The Quinta sent to the Shouro Empire immediately began searching for the ingredients Jin desired, and their efforts quickly bore fruit. Spica 11 and Mira 11, dispatched to the south, reported finding three varieties of rice near Lake Wasu. Additionally, Capella 11 obtained genuine tea plants near Aube. Having secured both seedlings and processed samples, they immediately began cultivation on Hourai Island.
Meanwhile, the Quinta in the former Leonard Kingdom had yet to find traces of the demon race, but they had discovered several small human settlements.
"Strive to establish friendly relations," Laojun instructed them. "And investigate why that kingdom fell into such a state."
Why had the Leonard Kingdom, once a member of the Allied Kingdoms, perished? Who had established the illusion barriers that covered the land, and for what purpose?
Many mysteries remained to be solved, and the Quinta would be at the forefront of the investigation.