Jin began to explain to Saki about the depletion of resources at Hale and the possible causes of the depletion.
"First of all, most of the <> were buried in space.
"Space burial?"
"Space burial? ...... So, they put the bodies on a spaceship and send them off in the direction of the sun, the Celan sun."
"Oh, I see."
In that case, the materials used for the spaceship and the coffin cannot be recovered. We will inevitably consume them.
"There are very few cemeteries left here in Hale."
"Surely, after thousands of years of this, we will run out of resources."
"And then..."
Jin began to explain the next possibility.
"Even before the resources ran out, the Originals launched many exploratory spacecraft to explore the universe."
"Oh, and most of them have never returned?"
"Yes, that's what I mean."
If we continue this for thousands of years, it is certain that resources will be consumed.
"But..."
Jin continues.
"It is also strange to say that they will be depleted in such a short period of time, that's for sure.
What do you mean?
"One more thing, unless there is some kind of critical trouble, I don't understand why the resources would be depleted to this extent.
But there was no record of this, and the 700672 was unaware of it.
"Is that so ......?"
"So, here's a hypothesis that's not so much a complete guess ...... as it is a creation, ...... do you want to hear it?"
"Now that you've asked me this much, I'd like to hear it."
"Okay."
Jin nodded and began to tell his theory.
"The first one is that a part of the origin, which has not been recorded, may have gone somewhere in a spaceship. I think that they may have taken considerable resources with them in order to go to a distant place that would take generations to reach.
"I see, is it possible ......?"
Saki nodded.
"Second. < did something with the technology of converting matter into energy.
In addition to the energy obtained from the free magical element (ether), the conversion of matter into energy can provide a tremendous amount of energy.
"I have discussed this with the old man for a while, and he said that it is possible that he has done some experiments that transcend time. It's just a possibility."
The energy consumed by the old man to send back Jin's body to 400 years ago was enormous.
Most of it was energy derived from the free magical element (ether) that he had accumulated over the past 400 years, but it might have been a little easier if he had also converted matter into energy.
"Haha, I wouldn't be surprised if <> is doing that kind of research."
Saki admitted that this might be a possibility.
"Third. There is no evidence for this, and it's pretty ridiculous, but someone has intercepted the resources."
Jin laughed, "This is almost delusional at this point.
"Well, it's true that there are few resources in Hale, and there's no way to know for sure."
Saki seemed satisfied with Jin's explanation.
Saki was satisfied with Jin's explanation for the time being.
"So, enough of that, let's go and study the new materials.
"Kuhuh, that's fine. ...... do you know anything about it?"
"Yeah, just that it's stable."
Jin explained that one of the reasons for the formation of the material was assumed to be that it was in an area with a high concentration of free magic element (ether), which could have gradually reverted to normal material if stored at normal concentration, but that was not the case.
"The rest is mostly unfinished."
"Kuhu, that's worthwhile!"
Saki showed her enthusiasm by making a gesture to roll up her short-sleeved arms even further.
"Oh, by the way, the old man speculated that the ore was not in the area of high concentration of free magical element (ether), but was in the area in the state of ...... magma before it became ore.
Jin remembered one more thing and told Saki.
"Oh, that's an interesting theory. Thank you, Jin.
Jin then said to Saki,
"Hey, what happened to the research on the shell of the gigantopod that you were working on until recently?
"We've made a breakthrough. The old man should have compiled a report for you.
"Talking about free magical element (ether) reminds me, didn't we use that material for a before?"
Jin mentioned what he suddenly remembered. Saki's answer was,
"Oh, yes, I know. But how much do you think you'll use it?"
And the question was.
"Let's see, ......."
I think I made them the size of AA batteries, so each one is roughly 7 cubic centimeters.
The shell of a 50-meter class gigantopod has a thick part of 20 centimeters and a thin part of 5 centimeters. The average is 10 cm.
This is approximated by a cylinder 50 meters long and 5 meters in diameter, which is about 38 million cubic centimeters.
The amount of mana tanks that can be obtained from each animal is about 5 million, taking into account the loss of mana tanks.
Assuming that 50 mana tanks are prepared for each animal, it is enough for 100,000 animals. .......
The total number of golems and automata on Horai Island is less than 10,000. Even if we equip all of them, there will be more than 90% left over.
"I understand. You had a surplus even after equipping all of them, so you were thinking of ways to use them."
That's what I meant.
* * * *
After Saki had left for the lab to study the new materials, Erza came in.
"More tea?"
"Yeah, I'll have some more tea."
Jin, thirsty from all the talking, got a refill of barley tea and took a sip.
"How is Elsa's research going?"
"Yes.
But there are a lot of difficult problems," said Erza.
"You have to take your time when working with plants.
In that respect, she said, being a homunculus has made her less concerned about time.
"Such as?"
"A branch that's been cut off will soon be able to use engineering magic, but the cut off branch must not be dead yet. The reason for this..."
"Oh, I see."
A branch is cut off and put in the ground to grow <. This is possible only because the branch has not died after being cut, so how can the engineering magic work immediately after cutting it?
"Maybe what I said to my brother Jin a while ago is correct.
"Well, it's certainly a difficult question.
Hmmm... But it's fun to think about it. We have a lot of time.
I agree. ......... whenever you get lost in thought, you can always ask me for help.
Thank you.
In this way, Elsa also seemed to be working on her research.