I Made Magic Easier by Changing the Formula - Chapter 22

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Made Magic Easier by Changing the Formula ◈

Chapter 22: Depleted Mana Crystal Alchemy Workshop

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Time passed differently in the underground prison than it did outside.

Without the sun or moon to mark the days, I could only gauge the time by how often Nen brought me meals.

I sat in the middle of my now-comfortable private fortress, absorbed in my work.

Scrape.

The [Spatial Stitching Needle] bracelet.

It had originally been an emergency combat tool, but now I was modifying it with second-tier magic.

“The noise is bothersome.”

The firing sound was not loud, but I wanted to reduce it further.

There was no point in secretly targeting an enemy’s vital point if my position was revealed the moment I fired.

I delicately engraved a second-tier Soundproofing Formula inside the bracelet.

I scraped away at its surface with the tip of a needle.

Thanks to [High-Precision Vision] and [Mana Needle], it was not difficult.

“Again.”

─!

This time, there was no sound.

Without any warning, the needle embedded itself deep in the rock wall ten meters ahead.

“Excellent.”

Next, I took out the [Invisible Thread Launcher] bracelet and improved that as well.

‘Now that I’m second-tier, I can’t keep using things I made when I was first-tier.’

As for the tools I had already made, I would enhance their capabilities with stronger magic whenever I advanced a tier.

This place was the perfect workshop and playground for me.

Infinite mana, uninterrupted time, and overflowing inspiration.

When training became boring, I made new formulas. When making formulas became boring, I went back to training by circulating mana.

I also installed new magic circles with the formulas I created.

A Warning Magic Circle that alerted me when someone approached.

A Structural Reinforcement Magic Circle that kept the interior from collapsing under impact.

An Illumination Magic Circle to light up the dark room...

A few days passed like that.

One day, I was inspecting the magic circles as usual.

“Uh...?”

My eyes widened.

Three intermediate mana crystals had been embedded in the core of the [Acceleration Magic Circle] on the cave floor.

When I first installed them, they had each been about half depleted.

But now...

Those stones were giving off a dazzling blue light.

“This... surely not?”

I picked up one mana crystal and examined it.

‘It’s heavy.’

The density of the condensed mana was so powerful that it pressed down on my palm.

‘Don’t tell me... it’s fully charged?’

It was absurd.

Hard to believe.

But there was no mistake.

‘It’s completely full of mana.’

It was filled with mana far purer and stronger than new mana crystals circulated through the Magic Tower.

“Hah...”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

“So something like this can happen.”

It was absolutely impossible according to everything I knew.

I had never seen any record in a book of someone recharging a mana crystal after it had been used.

‘But it’s possible here.’

The infinite mana stored in the ancient Mana Reflux Magic Circle.

The unknown sealing formulas that kept mana from leaking outside.

‘All I did was place mana crystals in that path.’

In theory, mana crystals should have only acted as a passage.

But the mana pressure here was so immense that mana passing through the crystals had settled inside them.

“This is... a miracle.”

My heart pounded madly.

Mana crystals were consumables.

Use them once, and they wore down. Once they wore down, that was the end.

The reason most mages spent their entire lives short on money was these damn mana crystals.

They were more expensive than gold, and there was never enough of them.

But now...

All I had to do was pick up Depleted Mana Crystals that were practically trash and leave them here.

Then they would become new again.

Those stones more expensive than gold.

For free.

‘This actually works?’

This fact could never leak outside, even if I died.

If Count Valderk learned about it, the Count would try to work me as a slave for the rest of my life.

Just then,

Hummm!

The Warning Magic Circle at the entrance resonated softly.

Only I could hear the sound.

It meant someone was coming.

“I brought your meal.”

It was Nen.

Today’s menu was smoked salmon, freshly baked soft bread, and vegetables.

There was fine wine as well.

As always, it was a carefully prepared feast.

I could feel Ellen and Nen’s concern for me.

“Eat up, Hans.”

“Thank you. Every time. I’ll enjoy it.”

After finishing the delicious meal, I spoke to Nen.

“Nen, I have a favor to ask today.”

“What is it? Is there something you want to eat?”

“No, not food... Could you get me some Depleted Mana Crystals from somewhere like a Magic Tower branch?”

Nen looked puzzled.

“Depleted Mana Crystals? The ones that have run out of mana?”

“If possible, I’d like intermediate- or high-grade ones. Lower-grade ones are fine if those are unavailable. As long as they aren’t broken.”

“What are you going to use them for? They’re just stones that don’t even shine.”

“I’m bored. I want to carve a few sculptures out of them and grind some into powder for potion experiments. It’s just a hobby.”

I took out a gold coin and held it out.

“If there’s a cost to getting them, use this. It includes something for your trouble.”

Nen waved both hands.

“No, it’s fine. What would it cost to get a few stones like that? If it does cost something, I’ll speak to Count Valderk. The Count told me to get you anything you need.”

“I see. Then... please bring as many as you can. The more, the better.”

“Alright. You really do have unusual hobbies.”

Nen shook her head and left.

* * *

The next afternoon.

Nen kept her promise.

She pulled a large cart to the prison entrance.

Rumble...

A pile of stones spilled through the bars.

They were lower-grade and intermediate Depleted Mana Crystals that had turned gray.

Among them were even a few shells of high-grade mana crystals with a reddish tint.

High-grade mana crystals were so rare that even depleted ones were difficult to find. Nen must have searched well.

“Where did you find all of these?”

“I told Count Valderk, and the Count said they were piled in the corner of the family warehouse, so I should bring them to you.”

These were Depleted Mana Crystals the Valderk family had used and thrown away over the years.

They had apparently collected a considerable number while saying they would clean them out someday.

“They were just sitting there, so I brought them without worrying about it. Is this enough?”

“It’s perfect. Thank you so much, Nen.”

“You’re welcome. There are more Depleted Mana Crystals like these in the warehouse, so just let me know if you need them.”

The moment Nen left, I lunged at the pile of stones.

My eyes practically rolled back like a tomb raider who had entered a treasure vault.

“Let’s start sorting.”

I sorted the depleted stones by grade.

328 lower-grade crystals, 52 intermediate crystals, and 7 high-grade crystals.

It was an enormous amount.

What if all of these became new again?

Lower-grade mana crystals cost at least 1 gold.

Intermediate ones cost at least 10 gold.

High-grade ones were worth a whopping 100 gold.

Those were only rough market prices.

When supply was poor, it was not unusual for them to rise to two or three times that amount.

‘If I sell all the lower-grade ones, that’s 328 gold. The intermediate ones are 520 gold. The high-grade ones are 700 gold...’

That made a total of 1,548 gold!

And that was the minimum estimate.

‘That’s more than twenty times my stock portfolio.’

1,548 gold!

A commoner could live an entire lifetime without even seeing that amount.

It was the kind of money only wealthy nobles, merchants, or high-tier mages could handle.

Just imagining it made my head spin.

‘With this much... getting into the Amos Magic Tower will no longer be a dream.’

Who would have thought I could make money while in prison?

Still, that was only true if all these mana crystals could be charged.

‘Can I really charge that many?’

I immediately began the experiment.

I created mana-conducting circuits throughout the cave floor and drew Charging Magic Circles along them.

‘Start with the lower-grade mana crystals.’

Since intermediate crystals worked, there was no way lower-grade crystals wouldn’t.

But it happened much faster than I expected.

[328 lower-grade mana crystals: Fully Charged]

Only three days passed.

The lower-grade depleted stones became new mana crystals that glowed with a clear blue light.

It felt like a dream.

Next were the intermediate mana crystals.

[52 intermediate mana crystals: Fully Charged]

About ten days.

The depleted stones came back to life, filled with heavy energy.

The problem came after that.

High-grade mana crystals.

‘Could these really work too?’

Their capacities were fundamentally different from intermediate crystals.

If an intermediate crystal was a small bowl, a high-grade crystal was a jar.

The amount of mana they needed could not even be compared.

‘...Let’s try it first.’

As expected, what I had feared happened.

Even though I placed them in the same spot, the high-grade depleted stones did not shine.

‘The mana is just passing through them.’

Until the intermediate grade, mana traveling through the passage had been enough to settle inside.

But that was nowhere near enough for high-grade crystals.

More mana was leaving than entering, so they would never fill up.

‘...I need to make more mana gather there.’

There was only one way.

I changed the formula of the magic circle.

I twisted the flowing current of mana, making it swirl within.

It was not easy.

I had to dismantle the magic circle and rebuild it from scratch, which took an entire day.

Sssst! Sssssss!

From then on, the mana that had been escaping swirled around the depleted stones.

‘Good! The formula worked.’

I held my breath and watched.

Faintly.

Very faintly.

A red dot appeared inside one of the depleted stones.

That dot slowly spread until it filled the entire stone.

“...It worked!”

I had done it.

I picked it up and examined it.

“It really worked...”

The light given off by the stone in my palm.

It was on a completely different level from lower- and intermediate-grade crystals.

A bright red blaze of mana boiling from within.

A mass of condensed mana.

It was maddeningly beautiful.

‘It feels like I could get sucked in just looking at it.’

This was the first time I had ever seen one.

Something I had only ever encountered in books.

A treasure worth 100 gold each.

‘...This is a high-grade mana crystal.’

My heart raced wildly.

As a mage, I could not take my eyes off it for a long time.

‘This isn’t the time for that. I need to charge the rest.’

Once one had opened the way, the rest was only a matter of time.

[7 high-grade mana crystals: Fully Charged]

It took around twenty days.

“This is insane...”

I had hoped for it, but I never thought they would all truly become fully charged.

The depleted stones had transformed perfectly into new mana crystals.

This was neither a coincidence nor a stroke of luck.

As long as I had depleted stones, it could happen again and again.

‘I should ask Nen to bring more Depleted Mana Crystals.’

But then I faced a happy problem.

“Where... do I put all of these?”

For now, I had dug into the ground and buried them to one side.

As the number kept growing, even that would have its limits.

More importantly, there was the problem of suddenly having to leave this place.

I could not put this enormous quantity of mana crystals in my pockets and walk out.

If I was caught, things would become troublesome.

“I need a warehouse.”

A secret vault that no one could see, capable of storing an unlimited number of things.

[Subspace]

Normally, people used artifacts such as space-expanding bags or dimensional pouches made by high-tier alchemy mages.

But not only were such items hard to obtain, their capacity was limited.

Besides, I was currently locked in prison, so I could not acquire something like that.

“Then.”

I would make one.

If I did not have the tool, I would do it my way.

“Space... is fabric in the end.”

The dimensional veil that made up this world.

If I thought of it as cloth, could I not tear it open to make a pocket, then sew it back together?

Existing magical theory used incredibly complex formulas and enormous quantities of mana to create a new space.

But rather than creating new space, what if I cut, patched, and stitched together existing space?

“Let’s give it a try.”

I thrust a Mana Needle into empty air.

Crack!

There was a sound like air tearing.

But space did not open.

Only the flow of air twisted briefly.

“It’s too hard.”

The wall between dimensions was harder than steel, harder than diamond.

At my current level, as an early second-tier mage, I could not even scratch it.

Maybe at third-tier.

‘That’s true by normal methods. But if I compress it and repeat it endlessly...’

If I stabbed at space with infinite Mana Needles, it might be possible even at second-tier.

Surely no one had ever tried this method.

Even if someone had happened to think of such an absurd idea, it would be impossible to cast it infinitely.

‘It would only be possible in a place with an infinite supply of mana, like this one.’

But nowhere in the Empire or the vast continent would there likely be another place as strange as this.

‘This can only be done here.’

A stroke of luck that had come as though by chance inside a prison like hell.

I spared even sleep as I repeatedly sewed at empty air.

I compressed second-tier mana to its utmost limit at the needle’s tip.

I forced it into microscopic gaps.

‘The weave of space... There must be gaps.’

Just as every textile had gaps between its threads, space had gaps too.

“Please... open!”

I struggled against empty air all night.

My head felt like it would split apart.

Touching space pushed my brain’s processing ability to its limit.

* * *

Meanwhile, the situation in Rowen was moving rapidly.

Count Bergen’s estate.

“Damn it! Bergen Shipping’s stock fell again? You incompetent fools! What have you all been doing while things got this bad?”

Count Bergen screamed in fury.

“...”

The study was filled with the silence of terrified retainers.

As the logistics crisis in the eastern seas dragged on, the damage to the Bergen family, whose main business was shipping, had become critical.

Its stock price plummeted every day, and its cash flow dried up.

“Count... At this rate, there will be a liquidity problem.”

“I know! I know, damn it!”

Count Bergen drew rough breaths.

It had passed the point where money could solve things.

The only option left was to borrow the power of authority.

“Where is Sophia? What is Sophia doing!”

“Young Lady Sophia has sent people to His Highness the Crown Prince’s palace estate, but...”

“What results? Has His Highness the Crown Prince agreed to meet Sophia?”

The retainer lowered their head deeply.

There was no answer.

That was the answer.

“Useless! I put her in that expensive dress, and all she did was humiliate herself at the ball!”

Poison filled Count Bergen’s eyes.

Crown Prince Kaisis.

If he took an interest in Sophia, this crisis could be overturned at once.

But there was someone standing in the way.

“Count Valderk... and that daughter of his, Ellen.”

Ellen Valderk had monopolized the Crown Prince’s attention at the ball.

As long as she was around, Sophia would be nothing more than a foil.

“Find a way to create an opening. Make His Highness the Crown Prince lose interest in Ellen! With Sophia’s beauty, she can capture His Highness if she only gets the chance.”

Count Bergen gritted his teeth.

To survive, Ellen had to be brought down.

* * *

At the same time, the Valderk estate.

“House Head, the Bergen family’s movements are unusual.”

At head butler Zebas’s report, Count Valderk leisurely lifted a teacup.

“They are probably just struggling. Their shipping stocks are becoming scraps of paper, after all.”

The Count looked out the window with a satisfied smile.

Nothing was more enjoyable than watching a rival fall into ruin.

“Nen.”

“Yes, Count.”

“Is that fellow underground behaving himself?”

“He spends the entire day carving Depleted Mana Crystals or sewing.”

“Does he ask for anything else?”

“He asked for more Depleted Mana Crystals.”

“If playing with useless stones is his only pleasure, there is no reason not to indulge him that much.”

Count Valderk waved a hand, pretending to be generous.

“They are things we will throw out anyway. Bring him all of them.”

“All of them?”

“Is there any reason to leave them? Clean them out while you are organizing the warehouse.”

The Count had no idea that every one of those useless-looking stones was turning into a new mana crystal worth more than gold.

A little later.

Nen left the study and walked down the corridor when Ellen approached her.

“Nen.”

“Young Lady?”

Ellen’s face was full of worry.

Two months had already passed, but her father had not budged.

There was no sign that he intended to release Hans.

“Hans... is he doing well?”

“Yes, Young Lady. He eats well and spends his time diligently making something by himself.”

“That’s a relief...”

Ellen sighed in relief.

But guilt still lingered in her eyes.

“I’m so useless. My benefactor is locked in prison, and I can’t do anything...”

“It isn’t your fault, Young Lady. Hans will understand. And he is... stronger than you think.”

Nen remembered the look in Hans’s eyes she had seen underground.

Not despair, but passionate eyes that seemed obsessed with something.

It almost made her think that perhaps Hans was not the one imprisoned. Perhaps Count Valderk was simply mistaken in believing Hans had been imprisoned.

“Just wait a little longer. I’ll definitely persuade Father.”

Ellen clenched her fist tightly.

* * *

The underground prison.

I was fighting solely for subspace.

The past few months.

I had stabbed without rest.

But the needle still only slid over the surface of space.

There had been no progress with subspace at all.

“Damn it... was this impossible after all?”

Creating subspace bare-handed without an artifact was a realm even archmages did not attempt.

Was this just my delusion?