After reviewing the flow of the magi-sequence, Jin thought back to the method he had used for Laojun.
"That's it. If I increase the number of control cores for Reiko as well, I should see an improvement in her processing speed."
With that, Jin decided to add a second control core to Reiko. It wouldn't be for complete parallel processing, but rather something like a coprocessor in computer terms. By having this coprocessor handle the data processing for her senses—most notably her sense of touch—the main control core would be liberated from those heavy computational loads.
As a final touch, he added a safety setting that would allow her to shut out tactile information whenever necessary.
"Alright, Reiko. Try waking up."
The newly upgraded Reiko finally began to move. Jin took her outside to test her out, feeling a wave of relief when he saw no awkwardness in her movements.
"How do you feel?" Jin asked her once they reached the central plaza in front of the laboratory.
"I feel wonderful, Father. It is incredible. I can perceive my surroundings more clearly than ever before. I can even feel the breeze stroking my cheeks."
"I see. That part is a success, then. Now, I want you to gradually increase your movement speed and check for any malfunctions. Start with a vertical jump... but don't go all out at once, okay?"
"Understood."
Reiko moved a short distance away from Jin and began with a few hops in place.
Fifty centimeters, sixty centimeters, one meter. Then two meters, three meters. Eventually, she leaped about ten meters into the air. When she landed, she made almost no sound and kicked up virtually no dust—clear proof that she was in perfect control of her body.
"Good, Reiko. Next."
This time, she broke into a run. She dashed to the edge of the central plaza, executed an instantaneous turn, and came racing back. Her speed reached approximately one hundred kilometers per hour, yet even then, her footsteps were nearly silent.
"Father, this is marvelous."
The fact that she could process tactile information so effectively and reflect it in her actions was impressive enough, but she wasn't finished.
"Until now, I had to pay meticulous attention to moderate my strength, but it is different now. Even if I increase my output, I can adjust it exactly as I wish."
Reiko reached down and picked up a dry twig that had fallen nearby.
"I shall try to bend this without breaking it."
She pinched the twig between the index fingers and thumbs of both hands and slowly began to curve it.
"I am doing this at one hundred percent output right now."
At one hundred percent, Reiko was capable of moving objects weighing several tons. Despite that, the brittle twig did not snap. She was moderating her strength with a precision of one-hundred-thousandth of her total capacity.
"I understand. That's enough," Jin said, bringing the test to a close. "It's a great success. However, if you notice even the slightest malfunction from now on, tell me immediately."
"Yes, Father."
With this upgrade, Reiko should be able to utilize her knowledge of swordplay and martial arts to their absolute limit.
"Though I’d prefer if there were never an occasion to use them," Jin muttered to himself.
Wondering how Elsa was doing, Jin peeked into the workshop on the first floor.
"Elsa, how’s it going—oh?"
"Ah, Jin-nii."
Elsa had just finished the main body of her mascot doll.
"Heh, a black-haired doll, huh?"
Jin had prepared threads for hair in an array of colors—black, brown, red, yellow, blue, gold, and silver—but Elsa had chosen black. The doll didn't have clothes yet, but its black hair, trimmed at the shoulders, reminded him somewhat of Reiko.
"I actually had something I wanted to ask. I want to add color to the fabric, but how should I do it?"
"Ah, right."
It seemed that specific bit of knowledge hadn't been transferred. Jin turned to Reiko and asked her to bring some dyes.
"Father, will these suffice?"
Reiko brought back magic dyes. On modern Earth, there are solutions used to measure pH that change color from red to purple; magic dyes functioned similarly, changing color based on the amount of mana poured into them. This particular type for fabric was different from the hair dye they had used before, as it was designed to be permanent once set.
"Yeah, those will do. Good job."
Jin took the dyes and began his explanation.
"You dissolve this in water and soak the cloth. While it's wet, you apply mana. It starts at red, then as you add more, it shifts to orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue... then blue-violet, purple, and finally red-violet. When you reach the color you want, stop the mana and let it dry. Once it's dry, the color is locked in. You adjust the depth of the color by how much dye you mix into the water."
"Mm, I understand."
Elsa took the dye and prepared to use it immediately.
"Ah, wait a second."
"?"
Jin stopped her and had Reiko bring some raw rubber solution and sulfur.
"If you use it as is and get the dye on your hands, it'll be hard to get off. Besides, a girl shouldn't let her hands get rough."
"...Mm."
Elsa understood the sentiment, but since she couldn't see the connection to the rubber, she still looked puzzled.
"So, we add sulfur to the raw rubber and use Homogenize. Then, put your hands in this."
"Eh?"
Jin took the lead and plunged his hand into the rubber solution, and Elsa followed his example. Since she was wearing short sleeves, she covered her hands and wrists up to about ten centimeters past the joint. Then Jin performed Linking. Elsa imitated him.
"Alright, and finally, Separation. Peel it off your hands."
Elsa peeled the thin film of rubber from her skin and finally realized what Jin had made.
"...Rubber gloves?"
"That's right. Use them when you're handling things that are messy or when you don't want to get your hands dirty."
"I understand. Thank you, Jin-nii."
"There's still plenty of rubber, so you should make a few extra pairs in case they tear. And later, when you have time, make some for Mine, Martha-san, and Hanna as well."
"Mm, okay. Leave it to me."
Elsa nodded and set about her immediate task: dyeing the cloth. Jin watched for a moment, but since she seemed to have a handle on it, he turned back to Reiko.
"Reiko, let's go take a look around outside."
"Yes, Father."
Jin instructed Laojun to assign one smith golem to support Elsa, then headed out.
"Oh, the maintenance has really come along."
Jin and Reiko walked out to inspect the fields of Hourai Island. There were the fruit trees that had originally been on the island: Persica, citran, apulul, ramon, maruon, and ornut.
In the fields, they had planted wheat, barley, black-eyed peas, red-eyed peas, and round beans. The variety of beans had increased significantly without him noticing. There were even types of vegetables he didn't recognize.
And then, there was the cane.
"So this is it—the stuff they found in the southern part of the Celuroa Kingdom."
The Quinta dispatched to the Celuroa Kingdom had discovered it and brought it back. Jin had only learned about it recently because they had waited to verify if they could actually extract sugar from it before reporting. Combined with how busy Jin had been, Laojun had been struggling to find the right moment to tell him. Since sugar was expensive but they had a decent stockpile, the urgency had been low.
"With this, we’ll be much more self-sufficient."
Jin was quite satisfied. All that remained was for the Quinta in the Shouro Empire to bring back some rice.
"Well, that's enough of an inspection. Reiko, let's head back to the lab."
His mood refreshed by the sight of the green fields, Jin set about making something he had been craving for a while. The ingredients were red-eyed peas, white sugar, and a pinch of salt.
Jin was making bean paste.
"Let's see... two kilograms of red-eyed peas, two and a half kilograms of sugar. Since the salt should be one-one-hundred-twentieth of the sugar, that makes 20.8 grams."
He boiled the red-eyed peas over high heat. Once the water reached a boil, he added cold water to shock them, let it come back to a boil, and then discarded the cooking liquid.
He added fresh water and simmered them again on low heat, carefully skimming off any foam that rose to the surface. Once the beans were soft, he turned off the heat and slowly added water to the pot. When the water overflowed, he stopped, poured the beans into a strainer, and drained them.
Finally, he put them back in the pot, added the sugar and salt, mixed them well, and cooked them over medium heat. He stirred constantly to prevent burning, and once the moisture had evaporated, he turned off the heat and mashed the beans.
Once cooled, his chunky bean paste was complete.
The process took two hours—the exact method he had learned back at the orphanage.
Since it was just about lunchtime back in Kaina Village, Jin had Reiko carry the pot of fresh chunky bean paste and went to fetch Elsa.
"Hey, Elsa! It's lunchtime, let's head back to the village."
"Ah, Jin-nii. I just finished."
Elsa showed him her completed mascot doll.
"Heh, that looks great."
The doll had black hair trimmed at the shoulders and striking, round black eyes. It wore a dress of deep blue with a white collar, and the hem of the long skirt was adorned with lace. Jin was genuinely impressed; regardless of the technical skill involved, he could never have designed something so charming.
"Smith 1 brought me the lace, so I tried using it."
"Yeah, it’s a perfect accent. You’ve really improved, Elsa."
Even though he was the one who had given her the knowledge, seeing her grow so quickly made Jin happy.
Suddenly, Elsa’s nose twitched.
"...A sweet smell."
Jin grinned.
"Yeah, I made some chunky bean paste. Let’s head back to the village and eat."