My Refrigerator Turned Into A Dungeon

Chapter 470

Research Facility 2

I was completely worked up over Chief Toyonami, whose appearance was just like the director of one of my favorite anime works.

Because of that, I was totally distracted from the contents of the Insect King Suit I had handed over being subjected to pressure-resistance and impact-resistance tests while in pieces, and I kept staring only at Chief Toyonami standing in front of the control panel.

“—getsu-san, Egetsu-san?.”

“Ah!? Yes, what is it?.”

Then Supervisor Edabashi, who apparently had been calling me over and over, peered into my face, and I snapped to attention.

“No, you looked like you were spacing out, but are you all right?.”

“Ah, yes, I am fine. I was just feeling moved, thinking how amazing this is.”

“Ahaha, I see. And so this... the Insect King Suit, was it? You made it very well. The finish is extremely high quality. How did you make this?.”

“Uh, how did I make it... I just let mana blend into it normally.”“Ohh. Could you show me that here for a moment?.”

“Yes, understood.”

When Supervisor Edabashi gave instructions to the researchers, they immediately brought over some monster material.

“All right, then please use this to show us.”

“Understood.”

Doing things like this made me somehow remember the times I had interviews, but on the metal tray placed on the table was a gray piece of leather about five centimeters across. I vaguely thought it looked kind of armadillo-like, and when I picked it up and infused mana into it.

But... even when I tried to flow mana into the gray leather, it resisted terribly poorly.

(Huh... what is this? The mana flow is awfully bad...)

So I raised the output of the mana a little, and this time, even though the shape did not change, the color started turning brown from the edges. At the same time, from that discolored part, for some reason, it began crumbling away bit by bit.

“Eeeh!? That is strange.... Is this some kind of special material?.”

When I suspiciously asked the researcher who had brought the tray, I was told it was a perfectly ordinary monster material.

(What on earth is going on?)

But while I was tilting my head like that, another tray was brought over, this time with black leather on it.

“Egetsu-san, then please try this one now.”

“Understood....”

Hmm, why in the world had it not worked? As for processing materials, I normally did that in mana refinement training. And yet it would fail only today. Or rather, this was the first time I had ever failed to process a material.

So I poured in mana more carefully, and this time, in just a few seconds, it flipped around and transformed. The thick, flat black leather became a clean tube shape.

Seeing the result, Supervisor Edabashi, Chief Toyonami, and the other researchers leaned in and began discussing it in an exchange of technical terms.

“It transformed impossibly in that short time? Normally the cellular cortex should not be able to withstand it...”

“But the first time was a failure. Maybe it was bathed in mana exceeding the material's durability and caused self-destruction...”

“It bent so easily it was like roasted bamboo skewers...”

The only thing I could make out from their murmured conversation was roasted bamboo skewers. So I asked about the thing that had caught my attention.

“Um, what exactly was different about that material from before?.”

Then Supervisor Edabashi, who stepped out of the circle of discussion, answered me.

“Ah, that was... the leather used in the second experiment was the leather of that crocodile you defeated, Egetsu-san.”

“Ah~. ...Wait, then!.”

“Yes, that is right. Shape transformation of a material through mana seems to require that the target has been finished off and that its factor, life energy, has been obtained.”

“I see!.”

So that means the leather that was not something I had personally finished off failed, huh.

“Heh~. So that is how it was. I learned something new today.”

....

I borrowed the table again on the spot and laid out the parts of the Insect King Suit, which had ended up full of holes and dents from the pressure-resistance and impact-resistance tests. Several researchers were watching that with curious interest.

And across from the table were Supervisor Edabashi and Chief Toyonami, on a coffee break.

“We learned a lot too. Since the active-duty team that defeats special creatures and materials research are completely different fields, methods like that had not been tried at all yet.”

“Oh, is that so?.”

Then, in place of Supervisor Edabashi, who had taken a sip of coffee, Chief Toyonami answered.

“Well, yes. Chemical testing is given priority for discovering new components that do not yet exist on Earth. Armor and the like can be made without using monster leather, after all.”

“I see....”

Certainly. A slash-proof vest instead of ordinary leather. A resin armor instead of a plain outer shell might indeed be more practical. In that case, maybe things like that will only start drawing attention once material shortages get even worse in the future.

“And after that, attention is going to things discovered in special labyrinths... the kind of things like magical weapons.”

“Hmm....”

Even from the talk between Supervisor Edabashi and Chief Toyonami, it seemed armor made from monster materials was not very popular. Even so, among the Self-Defense Force personnel who dive into some dungeons, they apparently reinforce their gear by attaching monster materials they themselves defeated to their equipment.

“So that is how it is~. If I did not defeat the monster myself, processing it would be difficult...”

“Well, since Egetsu-san has that unusual skill called [Arts and Crafts], that is probably why you had thought it was only natural until now.”

Hmm, now that you mention it.

And come to think of it, monster materials are hard to process unless you yourself have defeated the monster and obtained life energy. I learned that for the first time.