GameDev Reincarnated into His Own Creation

Vol 2 - Chapter 32.5A: R & D

Konomi laughed lightly at Vel's suggestion.

"If only it was that easy," she said, shaking her head. "Identification magic is incredibly complicated, even for experienced mages. There are only a handful of people in the entire kingdom who can do it properly, and they're not exactly available when you need them."

She leaned back in her chair. "That's why we alchemists rely on manual methods. We memorize ninety-eight different alchemical properties, then identify each through different approaches."

"Ninety-eight?" Vel repeated, his brow furrowing.

His past life as Giri had been terrible at chemistry, but he was certain the periodic table had more elements than that. The discrepancy caught his attention immediately.

"Yes, 98," Konomi confirmed with the confidence of someone who had indeed memorized all of them. "There's even a chart for that."

"Can I see?" Vel asked, his curiosity piqued.

Konomi nodded and retrieved a scroll from her stack of books, unfurling it across the table. Vel leaned forward, surprised to find the elements arranged in a circle rather than the rectangular table he was familiar with from his old world.

Some elements he recognized immediately—iron, gold, various metals and gases—but others were completely alien, either nonexistent in his former world or simply outside his knowledge.

"What is this?" Vel pointed to an element near the edge of the circular chart.

"Adamantite," Konomi replied without hesitation. "Harder than diamond, light as iron."

"Huh," Vel murmured, his finger tracing the connection lines between elements. "How about this?"

"Irokan," she explained. "Found only in griffin ichor."

Vel's eyes widened slightly. These weren't just chemical elements—they were magical components, fundamental building blocks of this world's unique properties. The circular arrangement wasn't arbitrary either. He could see patterns forming, relationships between elements that suggested natural affinities and oppositions.

Vel's eyes traced the unfamiliar patterns on the circular chart, his mind racing with implications. This world had elements his old Earth simply didn't—or perhaps they existed but remained undiscovered. He recalled how the periodic table had gaps for undiscovered elements, spaces scientists theorized would eventually be filled.

"This is fascinating," Vel murmured, his finger hovering over an element labeled 'Lumithril.' "But this still doesn't answer my question about identification."

He looked up from the chart, glancing between Konomi and Tomas.

"What about you, Tomas? How would you evaluate or identify an object—say, an artifact?" Vel asked, curious if the merchant's son might have a different perspective.

Tomas perked up, clearly pleased to contribute something to the conversation.

"Well, in my father's business, we dealt with unusual items fairly often," he began, leaning forward slightly. "For magical artifacts specifically, we'd employ a specialist called an Relicmaster."

"An Relicmaster?" Vel repeated, the term unfamiliar.

Tomas nodded. "They're trained to channel a specific type of mana through objects to reveal their properties. It's not exactly a spell—more like a skill developed through years of practice. The method reveals the fundamentals they need—material composition, magical properties, that sort of thing. Not quite like a true identification spell would."