Magi Craft Meister

Magi Craft Meister 579

17 Resolution With The Demons Arc

17-28 Revisiting No. 700672

Before returning to Hourai Island, Jin once again visited the "White Room" where he had met No. 700672 for the first time as promised.

No. 700672 was still on his bed, but still greeted Jin with a smile.

"Welcome, Mr. Jin."

"We were able to put an end to the Nega-Dolls ambitions thanks to you. I really can't thank you enough."

As Jin said that, he handed No. 700672 another sample of the same recovery medicine he had given him on his last visit.

"Thank you. It seems that my condition has improved a little since I started drinking this."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Yes, it is I who should be thanking you."

Neige, who was standing next to her father, looked up at Jin with a slightly happy expression on her face.

"Well then…"

After a short pause, Jin explained how the conflict around the Nega-Dolls had been brought to an end.

"…Hmm, I see."

"Oh, so that's what happened, huh?"

"Interesting. I had expected no less."

"…I see. Truly, I'm the one who can't thank you enough."

Every so often, No. 700672 would nod and express his impressions as Jin continued to explain the series of unfortunate events that had taken place, and thanked him after he had finished.

"Mr. Jin Nidou. I commend you for your wisdom, decisiveness, and actions in solving this predicament."

With a slightly exaggerated tone and gesture, No. 700672 kept on thanking Jin.

"There's no need to thank me. I did this for myself, too."

"Hmph, that's only natural. All living things live for themselves. It's just that the motivation behind 'for myself' is simply different for each person."

"…"

Jin hesitated a bit about how to respond to such a philosophical line, but eventually spoke up.

"That may be true…"

To be honest, Jin wasn't sure he had understood even half of it, but he had to say something to keep the conversation going.

"Uhuhu, you're still young. Even if you can understand my words, it will still take time to understand the meaning behind them."

No. 700672 muttered those words as he stared at Jin with eyes that seemed to see through him.

"Now, I'm sure you didn't come all the way here just to give me a report on how the events have unfolded, right? Is there anything you wanted to ask me?"

After a pause during which No. 700672 seemed to have read Jin's mind, he brought up that question.

Jin promptly answered that.

"Well, I'd like to hear some old stories."

"Oh? What do you want to hear?"

"First of all, I'd like to know more about the native race that originally lived on this planet when your 'masters' came here from Hale."

Sure enough, Jin was interested in the roots of the 'Servant Race' who lived in the demon lands.

"Hmm, the time when my masters came here, huh…"

No. 700672 peered into the distance as if remembering the old days.

"…We first encountered the natives on the southern end of this world. Back then, their culture was limited to using crushed stones, and they had just learned how to handle fire."

Jin guessed that would have been this planet's equivalent to Earth's Stone Age.

"They only had small settlements scattered about. I remember us moving an entire remote village to this continent and training their inhabitants as servants."

"Did your masters ever have children with those natives?"

"Yes. Most of them were native women."

"And what did they look like?"

"Many of them were dark-skinned, probably because they were well adapted to the south."

With this, Jin got the confirmation he needed to cement his theory that the servant race was the native race of this world.

"I understand. Thank you very much"

Refreshed after his doubts were cleared, Jin expressed his gratitude.

"Anything else?"

"Well, while I do have more questions, it wouldn't be interesting if I just asked you about everything. I'll do my best to put these puzzles together on my own."

"Ooh."

Hearing Jin's answer, No. 700672 smiled happily.

"…That's good. I'm sure you can do it.

Then, No. 700672 took another short pause before continuing.

"By the way, this might come out as uncalled for, but why is your body so… inconsistent?"

"Huh?"

Unable to grasp the meaning of his question, Jin tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"How should I put this… Most of your body feels like it doesn't really belong to you. As if it was a 'fake' body."

"Wha…"

"Father, do you think that is a result of your summoning into this world?"

Reiko, who had been silent until now, interjected.

"Summoned? What do you mean?"

"Well, you see…"

Reiko then explained that Jin was the second generation Magic Craft Meister, who had been summoned to this world in accordance with the will of the previous Magi Craft Meister, Adraina Balbora Ceci, who had been searching for a successor for nearly 1,000 years.

"Oh, I see…That's why you're not bound by the limits of this world."

Not surprisingly, No. 700672 accepted Reiko's explanation.

"But to have been summoned from another world? Interesting. I understand the concept, but how does it actually work?"

"I'm sorry, but since I went over my own limits in the process, my memory regarding the details of the summoning itself have been damaged, so I cannot explain how it works."

After passing everything onto Jin, the Automata that was Reiko's predecessor found herself at the end of her life, and broke down. Her Control Core had been so badly damaged that some of its information could not be salvaged when Jin transferred her knowledge to the new Control Core.

"We might be able to reproduce the process if we do what our predecessors once did, but getting there might take a considerable amount of time…"

Reiko concluded that it could take them decades, or even hundreds of years.

"I see. It's a little disappointing, but it's definitely worth a thought…"

Then, No. 700672 turned to Jin as if to look back on the topic.

"In any case, your body was burned in your world, correct? So when after being summoned to this world, you were given a new body made of Magi Atoms."

"Eh, yeah. Though it would be more accurate to say that my original body was regrown using Magi Atoms instead of having obtained a brand new body."

Hearing that, No. 700672 lowered his head as if thinking deep about something, but soon raised his head once again.

"So that's why. Didn't you say that you fell into molten iron? Because of that, most of your lower body and the internal organs within are in an inactive state."

"Inactive state?"

Jin parroted back No. 700672's words, unsure about what he meant.

"Yes. Should I say that the Magi Atoms are constructing something that merely pretends to be a physical body? Anyway, I'm not familiar with your original body."

"…"

"Does this situation cause any kind of problem or physical disability? For instance, your muscle strength may not be improving regardless of how much you train."

Having several things coming to mind, Jin nodded profusely.

"Yes. There are quite a few, actually."

"Just as I thought. You probably won't ever get sick, but your body won't grow either. And you're probably unable to leave offspring as you are now, am I right?"

"Ah…"

"…"

It seemed that not only Jin but also Reiko was taken aback by this.

"What should we do? Please tell us!"

Reiko quickly approached No. 700672, pressing him for an answer.

"…Don't panic, my dear Automata."

No. 700672 gently stopped Reiko and explained how to approach this situation.

"There was a similar technique to save those who were seriously injured. It's like supplementing the missing parts of the body with a transmuted temporary body and slowly letting the original body get used to it."

"A-And then?"

Reiko still seemed quite impatient about the matter. Though it was understandable since it was about Jin's body.

"You are aware of the fact that the cells that make up the body are renewed every few days to several months, yes? However, it seems that special cells such as brain cells do not have such limitations."

Jin silently nodded.

"Very well. …So, most of your new body still hasn't gone through this renewal process. If you were to activate it, that alone should allow your entire body to rebalance itself."

"So basically, what I'm doing now is wearing ultra-precise prosthetic body parts."

"Yes, that's right. That analogy is pretty accurate. So, you might be wondering about how to activate your renewal process."

Jin nervously gulped.

"What kind of Healing Magic can you use? It has to be something that can activate the cells inside your body."

"In that case, we can use 'V?llig Geneseng'."

Reiko quickly answered the question. It was the strongest Healing Magic spell from the Shouro Empire, and one that Elsa was highly proficient at using.

"Hmm, from its name I gather it's a spell that is very effective in treating wounds and all sorts of physical damage, correct? That should work. Just cast it on Mr. Jin several times."

By doing so, the cells that made up his original body would be activated, and the Magi Atoms that composed his reconstructed body parts would be activated in response as well.

"Be warned that you may feel some pain as your cells rearrange themselves after the spell is cast, though…"

Reiko was suddenly struck by the realization that since Jin had basically never been seriously injured, there had been no need to use 'V?llig Geneseng' on him so far.

Back when he chased the Gigas up the mountains, the only injury he had sustained was a scraping on his hand as a result of a fall, so it was no wonder they didn't know that this spell would have such an effect on him.

"Just to be sure, you should try to do it once while you're here, Automata."

Reiko agreed after No. 700672 said that the Magi Devices in the room could be used to monitor Jin's body during the attempt.

"Father, would that be okay?"

There were no objections from Jin.

"'V?llig Geneseng'!"

"…Ugh!? …Oww…."

A sharp pain coursed through Jin's entire body. He held himself tightly as thick sweat started to run through his face, which was frowning as a result of the intense pain.

"Father!?"

Reiko's face looked so worried that if her complexion could have changed, she would have turned completely pale. Jin made an effort to speak up in an attempt to reassure her.

"I-I'm f-fine…"

After roughly ten seconds, the pain subsided, and Jin breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hmm, it's definitely improved. The spell has managed to activate about 5% of his cells."

That meant Jin would have to endure the same pain 19 more times. This fact made Jin feel a bit discouraged.

"No, I don't think you have to do this continuously. Rather, I'd said that you'll get used to it better if you take some time between each use of the spell."

In that case, it would be better to do it little by little, once or twice a day, so Jin decided that would be it until the next day.