Chương 118: Chapter 37 Field Testing (Part 1)

The mock battle with Hyodo was called off because the damage to the surrounding area was getting too severe. Instead, I had him use his magic while I blocked it. Sorry about the ground, though. I turned it from dirt into sand, then into a muddy swamp, and even made the grass grow at an absurd rate, leaving the whole place battered and uneven. The Self-Defense Force personnel watching from a distance were getting excited and disappointed in turn as they watched the magic, so I guess they're probably fine with it.

Right now, the ground looks like it does after a rain, all muddy and waterlogged. His image of water is easy to grasp because I had seen it before. He perceives water as something with volume, using it for high-pressure crushing attacks. The reason he can produce seemingly endless amounts of it is probably not simply because there is water in the atmosphere, but because his image of water overlaps with the idea of life force—the idea of something being born and coming into existence. The mother sea is capricious.

Sometimes it kills, and sometimes it gives life. If that's the case, then just like fire... no, water is actually easier to manipulate remotely than fire. I think the reason he's currently using water cutters and hammers is largely because those were the first things he was shown inside the Gate, and he was drawn to them.

"Mr. Hyodo, do you have any apples... no, peaches, or something else with a lot of moisture?"

"I don't have anything on hand right now, but as long as it contains moisture, will anything do?" Technically, anything should work, but if it's too large, it might be difficult to visualize. I could demonstrate it for him, but that might create a discrepancy in the process of using magic. Better to give him advice than to show him.

"Water is everywhere. It's in the atmosphere, and it's in the muddy ground we're standing on right now. Mr. Hyodo, you can use water freely. If that's the case, you should probably be able to do things like osmotic pressure too, right?"

"Ah... do monsters have water in them?"

"Who knows? But at the very least, if we can operate inside the Gate, there has to be moisture in the atmosphere, right?

"For starters, try taking the moisture in the ground and making it permeate into the atmosphere to dry the ground. What you need is imagination." This is the part beyond delusion—the realm of imagination. The actual thing already exists, and he has already formed the thought of drying it. In that case, all that's left is to manipulate it by imagining how the ground would dry. Once he manages that, the rest should fall into place, because he already knows how to perform the subsequent steps.

"Please step back a little, okay? It might be dangerous. Go somewhere dry."

"Dangerous? All right." I moved away from Hyodo toward some dry ground. I don't think simply drying something should be particularly dangerous, but perhaps he's going to accomplish it through a different image. Personally, I was thinking of something as simple as a towel drying in the sunlight. The difference would only be whether you interpret that as evaporation or as the moisture in the towel permeating into the moisture in the atmosphere.

"Water, get out."

"Wait, that's way too large-scale—!" Well, the moisture did come out of the mud... Yeah. The ground had turned into something as hard as a dirt wall—or perhaps even harder. The moisture that had been removed was floating in the air as spheres of water, gently bobbing around. The affected area was probably about five hundred meters square. And there we had it: rock-hard ground. It might actually be quite useful for things like land reclamation, but...

"Mr. Hyodo. Did you imagine sucking it out with something like a dropper?"

"No. I simply thought, 'Just suck the water out.' That would be fine when dealing with monsters, but doing it to the ground was a bad idea. Can you put it back?" The ground was hard and cracked, looking like a drought-stricken region. I think it would be fine if we put the water back, but I wonder how long that would take. I could probably restore it myself, but... well, let's have Hyodo do it. This is also practice with his imagination.

"I can do it, but let's make that the last resort.

"Imagine water flowing into a rice paddy and soaking into the soil. Put back only the amount that's necessary, then let the rest diffuse.

"If you can do that, you'll be able to freely pull water out of monsters just by looking at them, or crush them using moisture from the atmosphere."

"Oh! So I'll suddenly be able to do that thing you were so fired up about. Once I've gotten this far, the rest is basically the same, right? Let's give it a try." No sooner had he said it than Hyodo started putting water back, drawing it out again, and even shaping lumps of mud into hands. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. His imagination seemed to be running wild. In Hyodo's case, he can produce as much water as he wants, so that's convenient.

But for other mages who aren't good at producing water, it might be useful to carry around a water container from the safe space. As the water wriggled and twisted, and the muddy water flying through the air transformed into dry balls of earth, Hyodo suddenly spoke.

"Are there any books you think I should read? I understand the whole imagination thing, but when I start thinking about it too logically, I end up feeling like it's impossible... Do I really have to throw common sense out the window?" Books, huh? I like reading too, but if you're going to read something, I'd recommend novels over manga. Seeing things in pictures makes it easier for an image to take shape, but at the same time, it makes you more likely to become trapped by that particular image.

Whether you're a magic-type or a melee-type, it would be great if there were something that could always defeat an enemy in a single blow, but something like that practically doesn't exist. The philosophy of that famous magazine is effort, friendship, and victory. But to achieve victory, its characters unleash countless techniques one after another. If you translate that into an image, it means hitting the enemy over and over again. When fighting monsters, sure, you won't always kill them in one blow.

Even so, you still need the image of killing them with a single decisive strike. Well, it depends on how the individual thinks and how they construct their images. But if we're talking about what kind of books to read...

"It depends on whether you're more of an intuitive type or a logical type.

"Either one is fine, and you can also replace what you read with your own experiences.

"If you're a logical type, Mr. Hyodo, then something like a chemistry textbook.

"If you're an intuitive type, novels—or perhaps picture books."

"Picture books? Why picture books? Wouldn't manga be fine?"

"When you see magic in manga, there are usually restrictions, aren't there? Things like magic power values or attributes.

"It's easy to visualize, but picture books are freer.

"Wave a wand, and a pumpkin turns into a carriage.

"See? It's completely free, with no logic required." The witches in stories are free, for better or worse. Sometimes they help someone. Other times, they cause harm. But what they have in common is that they can use magic in an unreasonable way. There are no restrictions there. Hyodo was thinking about something while continuing to manipulate the water, but that was fine. There was something else on my mind.

"How's the monster encyclopedia coming along? Even a provisional version would make it easier to establish a common understanding inside the Gate."

"It's mostly done, you know? But since you made it all the way to the 35th floor, we haven't added the information from there yet. If a provisional copy is enough, I can go borrow it."

"Please do. Come to think of it, Mr. Hyodo, you can pilot a helicopter, right?" It seemed the world was steadily moving forward. Even when I watched commercials on TV, I occasionally saw new Sweeper products going on sale, or pharmaceutical companies recruiting compounders. Government announcements were much the same, with all sorts of things such as recruitment for Appraisers. Before long, there might even be a designated space for "Sweeper" as an occupation on resumes.

As it turned out, Hyodo could pilot a helicopter, and apparently there were two other participants who could do it as well. While I was watching the magic practice, a three-and-a-half-ton truck and a jeep stopped nearby, and the members of the training group got out. Some were wearing tattered clothes, while others were still clean, so it was easy to tell who had gone deeper inside and who hadn't. Of course, if they'd changed somewhere along the way, that distinction would disappear.

"Good work. Is Hyodo having a private lesson?"

"Good work. You went pretty deep inside, didn't you? He overdid it, so he's currently taking responsibility for it." Miyafuji, who got out of the passenger seat of the jeep, must have gone deep inside. His clothes were still clean from the waist down, but the jersey on his upper body was torn to shreds, with cuts visible all over it. Just how much of a forced march had they gone through?

"As soon as we arrived, we checked how many people could get out using the escape items. The result was ten people.

"So we divided everyone into teams: Yuji, Suguru, and I made one team, while Akamine and Mochida made another.

"Everyone else is doing a marathon between the fourth and fifth floors.

"We had some injured people among those who went deeper, but no one died." Thank goodness. I hadn't expected anyone to die up to the fifth floor, but there was no guarantee after that. Apparently, the number of people an escape item can accommodate varies depending on its scale. For now, it seemed safe to assume ten people was the upper limit, with the number decreasing from there. I wasn't using mine for the time being, so I'd keep lending it out.

Apparently, its charge accumulated on its own if you simply left it alone, anyway.

"So, how far did you manage to get?"

"Dealing with the monsters wasn't much of a problem, but the sheer size of the field was troublesome.

"We left the safe space, split up from Akamine's group, and searched around until we reached the ninth floor.

"It was good that the Tracker found the Gate, but we're definitely going to need some means of transportation." In that case, should we borrow a jeep and a three-and-a-half-ton truck without a canopy? Obviously, having a canopy would slow down our response when monsters appeared. And since it probably didn't rain inside the Gate, we should be fine without one. If we kept a tent inside the Ring, we could also show consideration for the women.

"Mr. Hyodo, please arrange a jeep and a three-and-a-half-ton truck without a canopy. And if possible, an armored vehicle as well."

"That much is easy. I'll have them ready tomorrow along with the helicopters." I called out to Hyodo, who was still messing around with the soil and water nearby, and he gave me the OK. I see. So this was something Hyodo could arrange entirely on his own authority. Having an armored vehicle available would be a huge help. The Major General had mentioned its usefulness, but when it came to people likely to develop a Gunner aptitude in Japan, there were probably the police, the Self-Defense Forces, and maybe hunters.

People who enjoy survival games might develop it too. There simply aren't many workplaces in Japan where people handle firearms, so regardless of their individual qualities, people in those professions would probably have a higher chance of developing the aptitude. We disbanded for the day, and I had Miyafuji send everyone a LINE message informing them that we'd be diving into the Gate up to the 15th floor starting tomorrow.

Then, just as I was about to leave, Mochida and the others dragged me off to the bath and washed my hair and back. Apparently, a duty roster for washing me had somehow been established without my knowledge. It felt wrong to reject their kindness, and since they were only washing my head and back, I let them do as they pleased. Still, having someone wash my back like this brought back memories of when my children were little. They washed around my armpits and buttocks quite a lot, though I didn't think I was dirty.

And rather than using a towel, they washed me with their hands. Apparently, that was to keep my skin from getting damaged. My wife normally used a scrubbing towel, though she sometimes washed me with her hands too, so perhaps that's just something women do. Personally, I feel like scrubbing hard makes you cleaner, though...

"Man, I'm exhausted today. Akamine-san has way too much energy..."

"Hmm? Did Kaori go deep inside?"

"I was with Natsume-san and the others on Akamine-san's team. We even exchanged LINE contacts. I managed to get a pretty good handle on my job today." After finishing the shopping for tomorrow's Gate expedition, I listened to Mochida tell me about what had happened that day while we were in the car. In terms of combat power, I thought the team composition was a little unbalanced. But in Miyafuji's case, those two were essentially assistants and support, so there wasn't much that could be done about it.

Ideally, I'd like to make three teams, but Yuji and Suguru had no real social experience, so I was still hesitant. I thought people probably accepted them thanks to the mock battles, but whether someone accepts a younger person as their leader ultimately depends on the individual. Well, both the issue of following up and the transportation problem had been dealt with for now, so I'd take a little more time to think about the rest.

When we returned to the hotel, Mochida suggested having a drink, so I drank just enough to avoid getting a hangover. Having someone's cheerleader outfit as my drinking companion was a little much, but the video's view count had become absolutely ridiculous. Mochida said she'd be staying the night again, so I let her do as she pleased. As usual, I called my wife before going to sleep. As expected, she teased me about the whole situation, while Nayuta looked thoroughly exasperated.

Still, once I explained where the money was going, they understood, so I considered that a win.