Level Eater - Chapter 42: Arrival at the salt lake

Without any crises along the way, they crossed the fork where they first met Zendo, and proceeded smoothly.

However, due to the late departure time, it was only a few hours into the evening when the destination finally came into view.

Besides, the lake could not be seen clearly from their current location, as a large building shaped like a stone factory was blocking their view.

”Ai. There is nothing but the workshop and the lake from here on out, so why don’t you stay here and watch the people coming from behind?”

”All right. If anything happens at the lake, just holler and I’ll be right there.”

“Ou, Thanks a lot.”

As soon as Ai got out of Zendo’s wagon, she looked around to see if there were any demons that could harm the people who were heading to the workshop one after another.

Fortunately, nothing happened after that, and Ai met up with Tatsuro at the end of the line.

”Yo, good work.”

“Good work.”

Ai and Tatsuro walked side by side in the same direction that everyone else had gone after making sure that Gaz was heading towards the lake.

Soon, they reached the place where the people they had come with were.

There were five large buildings arranged side by side, which they could see from the other side, and people with wagons in front of them were beginning to come and go in a hurry.

“It looks like Zendo and the others have already started their work.”

”I guess so. On the way here, he said, “We don’t have much time today, so we must hurry up and get to work.””

” …… Guild had him stranded there.”

When Ai said this while politely showing off her Zendo imitation, which did not resemble him, Tatsuro could not say anything and replied in a safe manner.

”All right, then. I don’t want to disturb you, but since we’re here, let’s go see the lake.”

”Sansei! So now you’re going to see the first face.”

“Yeah.”

Remembering the story of the four faces that had been told to them when they had gone to the town with Zendo, they walked around the right side of the building to get to the back side of the building.

As they went past the building, they saw a huge lake spread out in front of them.

”This is…” “Uwaa…”

It was such a beautiful sight that it took their breath away.

The lake was shallow, no more than 50 centimeters deep at its deepest point, and the white ground beneath could be seen through it.

The sun was shining down on the lake, and the salt reflected the light, making the bottom of the lake shine brightly.

As the two of them were being moved and fascinated by this scene, they saw several salt makers walking towards them with some large box-shaped tools on their rear car.

”Ororo? What are they doing?”

“Well, I think they’re doing something with that boxy thing on the pillion.”

As we both stared at it, the salt workers took their tools from the rear car and brought them down to the edge of the lake.

As they watched with interest, the salt makers finished arranging the tools of ten rear cars neatly along the edge of the lake, and then the salt makers stood in front of them and did something.

Then, the box-shaped tools started to move by themselves and went into the lake in an orderly fashion.

After a certain amount of swimming, the tools came back and were reloaded into the rear car.

When they took something boxy into the lake toward the building, they would pass it, and people with boxy tools on new rear cars would go to the lake and repeat the process.

“Maybe that’s how they get the salt out of the lake.”

“Is that so?”

”I’ll have to ask Zendo or Gaz on the way back, since I can only speculate.”

“It’s the quickest way. Then we’ll go further back and look at the lake.”

“We’ll do that.”

They walked deeper into the lake, tracing its edge so as not to disturb it.

When they reached a place where they could not see the work of the craftsmen, they opened the doorway of the box-shaped tent that they had taken out of Tatsuro’s “item box” and went inside to have a late lunch while continuing to admire the spectacular view in front of them.

“It’s like a picnic.”

”Yeah. ……”

The two of them spent a leisurely time cuddling in the tent.

The view of the lake in front of them changed little by little depending on the angle of the sun and cloud cover, so it was quite enjoyable to just watch it.

However, that didn’t mean that they could spend the rest of the day admiring the lake, so they decided to do something else until the evening, when they would see it for the second time.

”Hmmm, it looks like there are no demons around here, maybe I should read a book to get some knowledge.”

”Well, our phones don’t work either, so that’s all we can do, right?”

With that, the two sat back to back and began reading.

Ai looked at a book of edible wildflowers, while Tatsuro looked up the polar night and the first day of the month in an encyclopedia.

According to the encyclopedia, once every 12 days, there is a polar night when the sun does not rise for a whole day, and the next day is always the first day of the month, when the moon hides itself.

Also, a week in this world is 12 days long, with the first day of the week being the first day of the month and the last day being the last day of the month. By the way, a day is 26 hours long, two weeks is a month, 14 months is a year, and a year is 336 days, which is shorter than the world of Tatsuro and Ai.

And in those 12 days, the magic attributes are applied in the same way as the days of the week, starting from the first day: dark, fire, water, wind, earth, tree, lightning, ice, life, curse, solution, light, and if one uses magic of the same attribute on the day of the attribute, the control power is slightly increased.

”So that’s how it works.

Have you ever felt that one of the spells became easier to use on each day of the week?”

”I remember yesterday, when I used life magic, I felt better.”

”Life magic? What did you use it for?”

”——I used a little to relax……”

“Heeeh, you should try it on me sometime.”

”Y-yeah, of course”

There is no way he could have told her that he couldn’t sleep because he was so excited because she was attached to him. …… Tatsuro passed the moment in a cold sweat.

”Hmm, so maybe today is the day of the curse.”

”I can’t say that for sure, because I just have a feeling about it.

The day after tomorrow will be the day of light, or in other words, the day of the polar night.”

“Surprisingly, I think we’ll see the third face soon.”

“I guess so.”

The two of them went back to their reading, anticipating the face of the lake they had not yet seen.

They continued to flick through the encyclopedia, looking for anything unusual or interesting they should know. But they were getting bored, so they finally decided to read that book.

From his “item box,” Tatsuro read, “Anyone can do it! Mixed magic of light and dark! It’s very easy!”

The book’s title almost made him throw it away, but he held his ground and opened it, trying not to get his hopes up too high.

Then, on the first page of the spread, the following was written in large letters.

You must have met with a very strange fate to have picked up this book.

I have left this book to help you turn your destiny in a better direction.

It is up to you to decide how to use this power. Please use it as you see fit.

( This is …… a confusing piece of writing to read to see if you’re just in a good mood or if you’re really thinking about the reader.)

With this in mind, he proceeded to the next page.

There, he found an outline of the magic of mixing light and dark.

he read through it in detail, and at the end there was the result of doing so.

(…… the creation of a magical body organism? I wonder what creature is called.)

With that in mind, he read on to the next page.

(Uhm, the point is that a magical body creature is a creature that has been created from scratch using magical power.

Well, if that’s really possible, then it would be a force multiplier.)

Without realizing it, Tatsuro became engrossed in reading the book.

The contents of the book were summarized as follows.

First, on the practical side.

How to practice mixing light and dark magic without letting them disappear into each other.

How to practice incorporating the factors of the attribute magic that you want the magical creature to use into the mixed magic power.

How to create a magical organism with a single attribute, and how to add more attributes to it.

In terms of the law.

Since the source of the magic is the magic power of the user, the magic power can be supplied by the magic body creature.

Light magic and dark magic must be adjusted at the same level of strength to be viable.

The higher the mix of light and dark magic, the better the creature can be.

Magical creatures created by mixing light and dark magic at Lv. 10 or higher will have a high level of intelligence, and their systems will be installed according to the laws of the world.

As far as Tatsuro had read, there was not a single part that seemed to be horseshit. And it was explained in such a detailed manner that it would not be impossible if he put it into practice as written.

(If I could handle this at will, would I be able to control a very powerful demon?

In addition, if the need arises, the magic power can be replenished …….)

Tatsuro suppressed his impulsive feeling that he should give top priority to the project, even if he had to spend all of his current SP.

(Yes, this is powerful, but it’s no good if you can’t do it after you take it.

First, let’s try “how to practice mixing this light and dark magic without annihilating each other.”)

Then Tatsuro immediately puts the book he had in his hand on his knee, adjusts the light magic and dark magic so that they are Lv.1, and puts the magic power of dark magic in his right hand and the magic power of light magic in his left hand. Generate and create an attribute sphere.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m just exploring new possibilities.”

”Okay, can I watch?”

”Yeah, sure.”

Ai noticed that he had started to use magic on the way and began to peek at him, hugging his back and sticking his face over his shoulder.

While enjoying the feel of his back, Tatsuro concentrated on the task at hand.

First, create a thread of magical power that is less than a millimeter from both attribute spheres, and when it is made from a sphere, stretch it to connect light and darkness.

However, it would cause annihilation from the point of touch.

”Gosh, it’s hard to adjust.”

”Good luck, Tatsuro.”

Nodding to Ai’s cheers, he tried again to get into the spirit of the challenge.

In order to do this in earnest, he would have to create a hundred strings at the same time and join them together in an instant.

So if he struggled with just one string, he would never be able to do it.

“Fuu.”

”………………”

Ai watched over him so as not to disturb his concentration, and on the ninth try, he managed to connect the thin threads together.

“Alright”

”Oh, did it work?”

”Yeah, it’s just the first step.”

Before he forgot the feeling of success, Tatsuro hurriedly repeated the process, and by the time evening came, he had succeeded seven times out of ten.

“Then what in the world can you do with it?”

”We’ll be able to create new creatures to help us.”

”What, that’s amazing, did you become a god?!”

“Really? No, when I say creatures, I don’t mean things that eat and drink like us, I mean magic that creates magic with form and intent.”

”That’s awesome and all but ……”

As she said this in a somewhat dumbfounded tone of voice, Ai once again recognized the extent of the chaos of magic in this world.

chapter 43