"I wish I could investigate that golem..."
The Gonpetition was currently in full swing, and every golem was being strictly managed by the Tournament Executive Committee to prevent any tampering.
Of course, with the power of Hourai Island, such security was essentially a sieve, but there was always the risk of a slip-up.
Furthermore, tournament officials and judges were strictly forbidden from personally contacting the participants. This rule was, naturally, intended to prevent scoring irregularities or any other form of cheating.
"If only I could get close to it..."
Reiko stepped in to offer a suggestion.
"Father, it is impossible tonight, but there are mock battles scheduled for tomorrow. At that time, you should have the opportunity to come into contact with the opponent's unit."
"Ah, I see. I might be able to gather data then... but how should I go about it?"
The best way would be to attach some sort of analysis device to golem number forty, Donald Callow's Alte Krieger.
"But it would be a nuisance if it were discovered," Elsa noted.
"True."
"It would be bad if they suspected us of cheating, and even worse to honestly tell them we're analyzing the opponent's data."
"...If it were me, I could understand most of its capabilities after just a few seconds of combat," Reiko added.
"Reiko, you can't hold other golems to the same standard as yourself."
It was a rather thorny problem.
"Jin-nii, why don't you participate in the mock battles as well tomorrow?"
Elsa suddenly chimed in with an idea.
"I see... I could join in briefly for something like a demonstration performance."
"Yes. I think the odds of them allowing that are high."
"You're right."
However, one problem remained.
"What should I do about a golem?"
"Can't you just prepare one now?" Elsa asked, with such casual ease it was as if she were suggesting he just pick out a change of clothes from a dresser.
"I suppose that's my only option."
Jin nodded in agreement.
"If it is you, Father, I am certain you can finish one in no time!" his beloved daughter encouraged him.
"Alright, I'll go whip one up."
Jin pulled out the transporter he had brought for emergencies.
The magic tool he had brought this time was capable of teleporting him to a designated destination within a 500-meter range. He had set a marker inside the hull of the Konron 3.
Jin teleported to the Konron 3, then to Shinkai, and finally back to Hourai Island. He left Reiko behind to serve as Elsa's guard.
"Welcome back, My Lord."
Laojun's voice greeted him.
Jin thought to himself as he headed toward the workshop.
"That's right, I have Steward."
Steward was a Universal Golem Jin had created. He could handle everything from being a butler or coachman to performing miscellaneous chores.
"Let's see, where is he now...?"
Piloting the Konron 3 was currently handled by several members of the former Hourai Island Secret Mobile Unit, now the SP. Specifically, Pensee and Viola.
Since the carriage was no longer in use, Steward was supposed to be at the estate in Loizart within the Shouro Empire.
"Alright, I'll summon Steward and modify him."
Jin felt somewhat reluctant to build a brand-new golem just for this specific task; it had been weighing on his mind.
Steward arrived shortly via the Warp Gate.
"Did... you... summon... me... Master?"
The golem's speech was normally set to this slow, dull cadence to make him appear unremarkable.
"Yeah. I might have a job for you tomorrow, so I want to upgrade you a bit."
"Understood."
Jin immediately set to work.
He laid Steward on the workbench and began the disassembly.
"I'll swap out the skeleton while making sure to keep the weight the same..."
He replaced the 18-12 stainless steel with magi-adamantite. Naturally, he used a hollow honeycomb structure for the interior to maintain strength while keeping the weight profile consistent.
As a result, the frame would be at minimum twice as strong, and at maximum—when infused with magical power—ten times as strong.
"Now, what to do for the muscle tissue...?"
Jin hesitated. Should he use the standard biological-base materials, or try the material he had been theorizing about lately?
He decided to run an experiment first.
Since Reiko wasn't there, Smith 1 and 2 served as his assistants.
"We'll use mercury as a base."
It required careful handling.
"I'll dissolve mithril into this to create an amalgam."
An amalgam is an alloy of mercury and another metal.
In modern Japan, silver-tin amalgam had been used for dental fillings until around the 1970s of the Showa era.
Additionally, gold amalgam was used in ancient gilding; it was applied to bronze statues, which were then heated to approximately 350 degrees Celsius to evaporate the mercury, leaving only the gold behind.
Depending on the combination and the ratio of metals, some alloys would cease to be liquid, while others remained liquid; dental amalgams were the former, while gold amalgam was the latter.
Jin was trying to create an alloy that remained liquid while being highly responsive to magical power.
"Hmm... as I thought, adding too much mithril makes it a hard alloy... wait."
A sudden flash of inspiration struck him.
Jin believed that silver—atomic number 47—was a substance where some or all of the neutrons in its nucleus were replaced by magi-particles.
In that case, if he could replace the neutrons in the nuclei of mercury with magi-particles...!
After thinking that far, Jin uncharacteristically gave up on the idea.
"...No, it's impossible right now."
As expected, there was no Craft Magic capable of affecting atomic nuclei directly, and even if he were to build a magic tool for it, there was no way he could finish it by tonight.
Furthermore, he knew from past experience that research conducted under the pressure of a tight deadline rarely bore any good fruit.
"I'll save that as a task for the future."
Jin decided to stick with biological materials for the muscles this time.
He put away the mercury and resumed the interrupted work.
"Well then, it's inferior to Reiko's, but I'll use Sea Dragon materials."
He had used the very best parts when he made Reiko long ago, but he still had an ample supply of stock of materials that could easily be called advanced-level.
He used those to craft the magical muscles.
"I'll wire two separate systems for the magi-nerves, including a backup circuit."
"Ah, he was still using an ether converter. I'll swap that out for a magi reactor too."
"I'll equip him with a force generator as well."
"The most important part is the control core. I'll make it a multi-core setup and Reinforce its analysis and calculation capabilities."
This was the primary goal of the modification.
Without sufficient processing power, any attempt at analysis or calculation would be futile.
"And I should strengthen the shield case, just in case."
A takeover via Master-Slave Rewrite Magic was the threat he needed to be most wary of.
"Alright, I'll put the original 18-12 stainless steel back on as the exterior. I'll just make sure to apply Toughening and Hardening thoroughly to this too."
The Toughening and Hardening used by Jin, a Magi Craft Meister, were worlds apart from what an ordinary magi craftsman could achieve.
One could say there was as much as a fourfold difference in effectiveness.
In this manner, Jin's high-spec modification of Steward was complete.