"Good work, Reiko."
Jin praised her as she returned, though his gaze remained sharp. He was meticulously scanning her, searching for any signs of damage or malfunction.
"How is your body faring?"
"...Yes. To be honest, Father, I feel a sense of discomfort in my left side."
Since she had been frozen at -250°C, Jin had expected some lingering effects, and he was right. There were significant malfunctions present.
Jin glanced out the window before turning back to her.
"The Ancient Dragon’s molting looks like it will take a little longer. I’ll perform maintenance on you while we wait."
"...Please do."
With that, Jin temporarily placed Reiko in Stand Still and began his Diagnose.
"...This is bad."
Her magical muscles had suffered ruptures when she attempted to move after being exposed to the ultra-low temperatures. Furthermore, her skin—made from the wing membrane of a Sea Dragon—had lost its elasticity and was riddled with cracks.
"I’ll start with emergency repairs for now."
He intended to perform a thorough overhaul once they returned to Hourai Island.
First, the muscles. He used Reinforce on the intact portions and used Craft Magic to link the ruptured fibers. As for her skin, he applied Softening and Toughening to ensure it would hold for a while. The work was finished in about fifteen minutes.
"Alright, your normal movements should be fine now. However, you can only put out ten percent of your power at most. Be careful."
"Yes, thank you very much."
Reiko stood up and thanked Jin.
"Jin-nii, look outside!"
Just then, Elsa shouted. Jin looked out the window.
"Oh!..."
There stood the Ancient Dragon, having finished its molting, standing quietly in the frozen waste.
The Ancient Dragon remained still, its body gleaming with a beautiful ivory luster. At its feet lay the shed skin it had just cast off.
"Land 1, back away slowly."
Jin ordered the retreat to avoid provoking the creature. Since the Frost Dragons were nowhere to be seen, they were safe for the moment. By using the force generator, they could move silently. They put about two kilometers of distance between themselves and the dragon.
Before they knew it, most of the sky had been covered by clouds, and light flurries had begun to dance in the air. It was as if the weather had been waiting for the Ancient Dragon to finish its molting.
As the snow began to fall, the Ancient Dragon started to walk slowly, disappearing from their sight after about twenty minutes.
"Alright, let's hurry and recover that skin!"
Reiko, having received her emergency repairs, went outside with Land 1, who had been handling the piloting.
The freshly shed skin was surprisingly soft and had not hardened even in the sub-zero temperatures. Because of this, Reiko and Land 1 were able to fold the skin into a small bundle and recover it in less than ten minutes.
They opened the storage hatch at the rear of the Capricorn 1 and stowed the skin inside. As if waiting for that moment, the snow began to fall in earnest.
Reiko and Land 1 rushed back inside. The two of them were instantly covered in frost once they entered the cabin.
"Heat. Dry."
Jin warmed and dried them both with magic.
"Father, thank you very much."
"Master, thank you very much."
"Good job, both of you. We've obtained excellent materials without a single scratch. This is a great success."
Jin was in high spirits. Behind him, Saki and Elsa were beaming.
"Jin, congratulations! You've achieved your goal."
"Yeah. Sion, it’s thanks to you and Alectas."
"I didn't really do anything, though."
"That’s not true. We found the Ancient Dragon thanks to your intuition, didn't we?"
Jin then gave instructions to Land 1.
"Alright, let's head back quickly. Force generator authorized."
"Understood. First, we head to the Gospel clan territory?"
"That’s right. Make it quick."
Until they had found the skin, they had needed to travel relatively slowly across the ground, but now that they had achieved their goal, there was no such restriction.
Using the force generator, the Capricorn 1 began to glide about three meters above the snow at a hundred kilometers per hour. It hadn't turned into a full-blown blizzard yet, so they wanted to cover as much ground as possible while visibility was still good.
"It... it's so fast..."
Sion stared in wide-eyed wonder at the difference in speed between the journey out and the journey back.
"Hehe, I want to get back soon and try out various tests."
Saki didn't show it much on her face, but she seemed excited deep down. In that moment, Saki's eyes caught something out of place. Or rather, she sensed a discrepancy in the landscape.
"Jin, sorry, but could you stop for a moment?"
"Hmm? Alright. Land 1, stop."
Because they were driven by the force generator, the vehicle stopped instantly without any shaking.
"What's wrong, Saki?"
"Yeah... if my mind isn't playing tricks on me, there was something in the place we just passed."
"Something?"
"Yeah, I didn't have time to confirm it. But something is bothering me."
"Understood. Let's head back a bit and take a look."
With that, the Capricorn 1 backed up about one kilometer.
"Father, there is something over there."
Reiko, who had the best eyes, was the one to find it. When they approached with the Capricorn 1, they found it was a Frost Dragon. However, it wasn't moving.
Its size was quite small. It didn't seem to be one of the individuals they had sent away with the transporter gun earlier.
"...Is it a carcass? I can't sense any magical power."
If it was a carcass, they might be able to harvest materials from it. Saki's eyes sparkled as she looked at Jin.
Jin understood Saki's feelings perfectly. However, they couldn't carry this massive body inside the Capricorn 1.
"...The transporter gun, then."
Jin chose to recalibrate the destination of the transporter gun to Hourai Island and send it off.
The adjustment took about thirty minutes. After all, the gun hadn't been designed to have its destination altered so easily. If he made a sloppy adjustment, the precious materials would be ruined.
"Alright, this should do it."
Reiko went outside and tried transporting a random mass of snow as a test. When she activated the gun, the snow disappeared completely, leaving a hemispherical void about forty meters in diameter.
"My Lord, a mass of snow has appeared in front of the laboratory."
A message from Laojun arrived immediately. It seemed to have worked.
"Alright, now for the real thing."
Reiko took aim at the Frost Dragon carcass and activated the transporter gun.
"My Lord. The materials, presumably from a Frost Dragon, have indeed arrived."
Laojun reported.
"Excellent. I'll leave things on that end to you, then."
Leaving the processing of the materials to Laojun, Jin and the others resumed their journey home.
The Capricorn 1 headed for the Gospel clan territory in a straight line, making light work of the Tsusuru Plateau's elevation changes and Lake Chikaguwa.
They arrived at the Gospel clan territory before dusk, after about two and a half hours of travel.
"Oh, Jin-dono! Congratulations on your safe return after successfully fulfilling your objective!"
"Thank you. We were lucky enough to encounter the Ancient Dragon's molting."
Conversation blossomed over the dinner they were served.
"I see, so that's what happened after you went around Lake Chikaguwa to the Tsusuru Plateau."
They spoke of the pack of Grandragons.
"I never knew they turned that color in winter. It’s the first I've heard of it."
"Were the Frost Dragons formidable?"
"Hoho, so the Ancient Dragon is that color... I see, I see."
Everyone listened with great interest to stories of a land they had never visited and likely never would.
That night, Jin and the others slept inside the Capricorn 1 again. The Gospel clan and Sion seemed used to the cold, as they were fine with just thick futons and blankets, but for Jin and his group, an environment where the indoor temperature dropped below 10°C was freezing.
"...It's a matter of acclimation, I suppose."
"Guess it's habit," Saki agreed.
"...Acclimation," Elsa murmured.
"Is that what it is?" Sion asked, looking puzzled.
Jin and the others were half-impressed, while Sion's reaction suggested she didn't quite understand it herself, even though it applied to her. At any rate, the four of them rested inside the Capricorn 1.
The next morning, it was blizzardy again. It seemed that the clear skies they had experienced were a rare break in the snow that only happened once or twice a month.
"Well then, thank you for everything."
"We wished you could have stayed a bit longer..."
"Haha, I want to get back soon and try all sorts of things with the new materials."
"A true Magi Craft Meister, indeed..."
"I'll come by again."
"Yes, we shall be waiting for you."
Though brief, they exchanged heartfelt words before Jin and the others boarded the Capricorn 1. The members of the Gospel clan watched until the form of the Capricorn 1, walking out into the blizzard, vanished from sight.