At 1:00 p.m., while Jin was on his way to the Go-lab alongside Eira, Kachea, and Groma, he happened to cross paths with Manon, the secretary automaton he had gifted to Tomax Bartman.
Naturally, Jin asked how she was doing. He always cared about how his creations were faring.
"Hey, Manon. How are things going?"
"Very well, Jin-sama....There is one matter I should inform you of."
"What's that?"
"The analysis of the information crystal Lord Maquina discovered deep within the ruins the other day has finished."
"Oh?"
"Lord Maquina, Lord Tomax, and Lady Elena will be returning this evening. Consequently, a reporting session on the analysis results will be held after dinner at 7:00 p.m. Please do attend."
This was welcome news indeed.
The analysis had taken so long not merely because Avalon's analytical capabilities were lacking, but rather because their unfamiliarity with Origin technology left them with virtually no understanding of their data compression methods, formatting, or encryption.
Had Laojun handled it, the task could have been completed in a tiny fraction of that time, but that could not be helped.
Since it was not an urgent matter, Jin had simply left it in Avalon's hands.
"I'll look forward to it, then."
With that in mind, Jin arrived at the Go-lab.
The regular members of the Go-lab appeared diligently occupied with their usual duties.
In other words, evaluating golems.
Having reached a stopping point in the development of the small golem, they seemed to be considering further refinements and enhancements.
Borrowing the Go-lab's Small Conference Room, Jin and his group picked up where they had left off that morning.
"The problem with the pinhole method is that the further away you try to project, the larger and fainter the image becomes," Jin said.
It was only natural, given how much the light dispersed over distance.
"So that's why you said we couldn't project it very far."
"Yeah. If we want to project over long distances, using Light Locus would be better."
"But you can't draw complex magic circles with that, can you?"
Jin nodded in agreement with Eira's point.
Indeed, since Light Locus was essentially like drawing an image with a laser beam, attempting to draw a complex magic circle took too long, ultimately preventing the magic from activating.
With current technology, practical application remained difficult.
There was a good reason Jin was not pushing for it.
"If the image is too dark, we can just make the light brighter. If it gets too large, we just need to adjust things on the projector side," Groma said.
"True. In the end, that's really all there is to it."
Jin agreed that building upon their existing technology was the most sensible path forward.
To curb the magnification rate of a pinhole projector, one simply had to increase the distance between the pinhole—which functioned as the lens—and the source image intended for projection.
Thus, Jin and the others decided to build Prototype No. 2, designed to have double the focal length of Prototype No. 1.
Groma took charge of the casing.
For the light source, Jin crafted one that was as powerful as possible while generating minimal heat.
Eira took responsibility for the magic circle to be projected, settling on a Healing spell. Incidentally, since they were not testing full activation this time, no trigger setup was included.
Kachea adjusted their respective dimensions and balance.
Having already built one before, they completed Prototype No. 2 in just thirty minutes.
"All right, let's test it."
Jin activated the light source.
With no light leaking from any seams, the casing Groma had built illuminated the wall five meters away as brightly as a powerful searchlight.
When they slotted in the projection data Eira had prepared...
"Ooh!"
"It projected cleanly!"
The magic circle was vividly cast onto the wall.
"Five meters works just fine."
"Now, if we gradually step it back... wait, there's a wall behind me."
Supporting the casing, Groma had backed up until he bumped right into the wall.
"We should have borrowed the Grand Conference Room," Jin remarked.
Kachea stood up immediately. "Let's go ask if we can use it for just a little while."
With that, she trotted off at a brisk pace.
"She sure takes the initiative at times like this," Eira murmured in admiration. "Negotiating stuff like that is just such a hassle for me..."
"Well, I can kind of understand where you're coming from."
Jin found himself casually agreeing with Eira.
"I got permission~" Kachea announced as she returned. "Also, everyone says they'd like to see our progress."
"Well, I suppose they would."
The members of the Go-lab were naturally curious to see how Jin and his team were progressing. They were engineers at heart, after all.
Measuring roughly twelve meters on each side, the Grand Conference Room was ideal for testing.
"Um, this is an attempt to project a magic circle over a distance and activate the magic at the target location," Kachea explained to the gathered onlookers.
"Since this is an experiment, we'll dim the room slightly."
This time, Jin spoke up as he lowered the lights. The curtains remained open, so it was not pitch black, but rather about as dim as sitting in the shade.
"It works like this."
Groma Tray demonstrated by projecting the magic circle from a distance of five meters.
"Ooooh!"
"Fascinating!"
"And our current research is focused on projecting this as far away as possible," Groma explained, steadily stepping backward.
Six meters. Not much difference from five meters.
Seven meters. The image grew slightly larger, and the brightness seemed to dip.
Eight meters. The image expanded noticeably, and the drop in brightness was unmistakable.
Nine meters. Though the image was larger, it had grown dim and difficult to make out clearly.
"Hmm. Let's try boosting the brightness a bit."
Having crafted the light source, Jin adjusted the projector. Instantly, the image flared with renewed clarity.
"Ooh!"
"Groma, I'm pushing the light source hard, so check it quickly."
"Understood."
Groma backed up even further.
Ten meters. The image was just barely discernible.
Applause broke out from the Go-lab members.
"Thank you....All right, looks like we've managed to clear the ten-meter hurdle."
Jin was pleased with the solid result.
Developing things under tight constraints is fun in its own way...
Brainstorming with companions, iterating through prototypes, and achieving tangible results.
Jin reflected once more that the joy of crafting remained unchanged, both then and now.