Anti Kythera, 15 years old, here. Today, I’ve come to the outskirts of Cardiff to test out what I can do with my skill.
By the way, the crown spinning above my head is embarrassing, but apparently I can’t put it away. According to the headgear itself, [Storage of the integrated gemstone entity has been judged impossible.]
I thought I could put it in my pocket when I’m out and about, but whenever I addressed it, zip, it was back over my head. No idea why. I finally just gave up. So it just spins away up there, even when I’m bathing or asleep.
When I asked how much stuff the item storage would hold, the response I got back was [—Unknown.] What do you mean, “unknown”?! At the very least, it seemed like it could hold a whole lot more than I had expected. I also asked Dad how long those 15 boxed lunches he’d stowed in there lasted before they started to go bad. All I got back was, “There’s no way I’d leave any of Sola’s boxed lunches just laying around!” Apparently he didn’t wreck his stomach in the process, but considering Dad’s iron gut, that didn’t really give me much to go on.
Apparently those high-end dimension stones they use in item bags actually slow down time. But I’d still need to test that out for mine...
I needed somewhere I could be alone, so I ended up at the site of the old mine on the outskirts of town.
No particularly strong monsters usually showed up around here, but there were all sorts of animals living in the forest. It wasn’t the sort of place for the only daughter of a pair of restaurant owners to be hanging out. It was just that the old mine was the only place to practice with my gears without people around. Dad’s old workplace was surrounded by rugged rocks, and the ground was covered in sand. The area around the mine was blocked off, so there shouldn’t be any monsters wandering in, either.
And so, once again sporting my new twintails, I brought out my gears and started experimenting.
“Hmm, looks like this is about as big as I can get the gears to go, huh?”
[—Affirmative.
—Analysis reveals gear size to be limited by current skill level.]
“But wasn’t the one that picked my bed up way bigger?”
[—Storage deployment span determined to be dependent on corresponding item.]
“Hmm, I’m not sure how I feel about that...”
Over these past few days, I’d grown pretty accustomed to talking to Crown Gear. Apparently it could read my thoughts, but when there was nobody around like right now, I didn’t see a point in not just speaking aloud.
“Hey, Crown. If my Gearcraft level goes up, then could I make bigger gears?”
[—Explaining.
—Due to restricted status, information for analysis is limited.
—Prediction that effect would be had on volume, rotational speed, and form.]
“Rotational speed and form? I see...”
I called forth a small gear. I seemed to still have an upper limit on how many larger gears I could make, but apparently I could summon (?) quite a few small ones.
I pictured a sharp blade in my mind’s eye and began sharpening the teeth of the gear.
Ka-ching.
Alright, that worked well!
“Crown, make it spin as fast as you can!”
[—Ready.]
VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Ooh!! Amazing! It’s spinning so fast that I can’t even see the teeth! It’s like it’s just a ring...
It’d be pretty nasty to be hit by this, right?
I picked up a nearby rock and chucked it at my rapidly spinning gear.
Toss.
Baaaaaaang!!!
“Gyaaaaaah!!!”
[—Warning: Action not recommended.]
Could you warn me a little sooner? The shrapnel from the rock almost hit my face!!
“Gaaaah... B-but this seems like it’d make a good weapon, right?!”
If I could land a hit, it would definitely cause some real damage.
“Ummm, how do I throw this thing...?”
VRRRRRRRRRRRR...
I-it’s too scary to touch it...
“T-that’s it! If I could control it and make it fly without touching it...!”
When I practiced yesterday, I was able to make the small gears fly around pretty freely. If I did the same with this...
Creep, creep, creeeeeep.
“I-I can’t make it zoom around?! Why?!”
[—Analysis complete.
—Current skill level judged to be insufficient for moving gears spinning at high rotational speed.
—Fixated in place depending on inertia.]
“Aw, man!”
So I’d have to either leave it somewhere or move it real slowly...
That may work as a trap, but it won’t serve as a weapon...
But I want to be able to do magical attacks! A big, flashy one-shot thing, like bang!...
“Ah, that’s it.”
I remembered a few days ago, when my bed was dropped onto my bedroom floor.
My item storage seemed to have plenty of room to spare. If I put some heavy rocks in there and then dropped them, that’d serve as an attack, right?
“Hey, Crown, you dropped my bed before, right?”
[—Acknowledged. Crown Gear offers an apology.]
“Don’t worry about that. Could that be used as an attack?”
I found a perfect-looking cluster of rocks around the edge of the mine.
“Crown! Store those rocks!”
[—Ready.]
Vrrrrrrrrrrr!
The massive gear suddenly appeared, and in no time at all, the rocks had disappeared.
Alright, now to lift the gear up...
“Bring out the rocks!”
Kwa-BOOOOOOOOM!!!
Ooooh! That was a nice heavy hit!
Being able to change where I bring it out would give me an advantage, right?! First, though, I’ve gotta gather up some more big rocks!
“This would work as an attack, yeah?!”
[—Analysis complete.
—Current actions acknowledged as an attack.
—Shall an attack name be registered?]
“Huh, what...? Okay, how about... uh, ‘Stone Stomp’?”
[—Attack name “Stone Stomp” registered.
—When attack name is input, it shall be activated upon target surface.]
“Ah, right. So just to confirm, what’s the difference between saying that and ‘Rock’?”
[—Explaining.
—In the case of “Stone Stomp,” target will be analyzed, and rock will be released from above.
—In the case of “Rock,” the rock will be released while making contact with the ground.]
...The whole incident with the bed left you with some real trauma, huh...?
Afterwards, I gathered up a nice supply of big rocks, then left the mine behind.