Volume 9 - Chapter 8 – Titan

09-08 Titan

“Now then, where should I start?”

After parting with Reinhardt and returing to Hourai Island, Jin had decided the outline of his next objective.

Namely, it was “intervention so that I am not recognized”.

Part of being a hero was that the hero’s true identity remained a mystery until the final episode.

He had also made the helmet and reinforced clothing too which was perfect for it, Jin was thinking.

Then he got the idea of a gigantic robot. There was no way Jin wasn’t attracted by the idea.

“Although there’s no way I can intervene directly with the war.”

It’ll probably be fine as long as he intervened when common people or such seem to get exposed to danger, he thought.

Furthermore, he was thinking that it would be the best if he acted under the banner of ‘against the Unifilers’.

Anyhow, he should stand out.

By using a laser or a railgun they wouldn’t understand what happened, and Jin had a hunch that the threat they learned by heart would be small.

“If it was a giant robo… golem, it should be intimidating enough, right?”

And so, first of all he decided to start with developing materials.

If he made it out of Adamantite the weight would be immense, so he’d use Light Silver as the base.

“Hmm, if I recall correctly I was taught that titanium was mixed with aluminium and vanadium or molybdenum or something to create an alloy.”

Jin tried to desperately recall the knowledge from his past.

He guessed that Light Silver was titanium the neutrons of which had been replaced which Magitrons. That’s why it should follow the rules and properties that titanium had, he thought.

“At any rate, nothing I can do but give it a shot.”

And so with Reiko as his helper Jin explored Light Silver’s alloys. Using Craft Magic, he created test pieces in an instant. A lot of them.

During the morning he had nearly discovered the most optimal combination of metals.

“Jin-nii, welcome.”

Today too he had lunch with Elsa and Mine. It was cloudy today so they ate inside.

Seeing that the Pelshka fruit had been cut somewhat clumsily,

“Oh, I see that today Elsa has peeled the Pelshka.”

Jin said. Elsa returned a smile to Jin who had noticed it.

The menu was freshly-baked bread, Citran marmalade, vegetable salad, vegetable soup, and Teee.

Judging from the seasoning everything had been apparently made by Elsa.

“Hm, you’re improving every day, aren’t you Elsa?”

Jin praised Elsa while eating.

“I’m glad you think so, Jin-nii.”

Getting praised, Elsa smiled happily.

After lunch, it was once more time for testing the new alloys.

“Let’s see, Light Silver 90, aluminium six, and vanadium four percent, maybe?”

Eventually he settled on the so-called 6/4-alloy. It seems that in this world aluminium was scarcer than titanium.

Vanadium’s original atomic number was 23, the next one following titanium and the one preceding chromium, so even Jin could use [Analyze] to identify some slightly detailed information.

This world’s ground contained small amounts of it, and even that mystery ore had been piled up in the corner of his storehouse.

You could say that the predecessor had had some foresight with giving orders to not discard such unknown ores and metals.

Now, returning back to the subject at hand.

Jin made the titanium, no, Light Silver 6/4 alloy, and tried spreading additional Mithril into it.

With this the strength of the bond between the atoms could be augmented with Magical Energy, and in the end its strength was able to rise up to seven times that of normal Light Silver’s. This was astounding.

“Hmm, from now on it should be much better to use this alloy in place of Light Silver.”

Jin held such thoughts.

Now then, with the materials decided it was about time for manufacture. Jin called back the Smith golems from 91 to 100 to help him.

Originally they were under Laojin’s command constructing the aircraft carrier, but Jin didn’t pay any mind to it and Laojin too understood Jin’s sort of whimsical nature all too well.

And that was because most of Laojin’s knowledge came from Jin.

“For now, how about we try making three: a remotely controlled one, an autonomously moving one, and one which you get inside to control it.”

The giant robot types Jin knew were the type operated with a controlling device, the type that had its own intelligence to a degree, and the type you controlled from inside the head or such.

They all had the same basic foundation. They all shared the same skeleton, muscles, and exterior.

As they had the same foundation as the golems he had made until now, only they were larger, so with Reiko’s and the Smith golems’ support he was able to finish the prototype in an hour.

What remained was inserting the control system. The autonomous type was roughly the same as a golem so it was simple to make. The orders it followed came through a ManaCom system.

“Alright, let’s see, ‘Titan’ Mk.1, move. ”

The Light Silver-made ‘Titan’ was apparently named after the giant divine beings of Greek mythology.

Titan Mk.1 stood up in the open space in front of the research laboratory. It was a rather intimidating spectacle.

“Alright, try walking.”

As it was just a test it didn’t yet have a speech mechanism, so Titan Mk.1 moved wordlessly. However, its gait was stable. The force caused the earth to tremble.

“Alright, try running.”

Abiding the order, Titan Mk.1 slowly started running. And then gradually increased the speed. Its movements weren’t bad.

“Reiko, how’s it look?”

Jin tried asking Reiko’s opinion.

“Let’s see, I don’t think it’s bad. The Gigantes I fought earlier isn’t worthy of comparison.”

“Mh-hm, I thought so too.”

Then after reaching the end of the open space Titan Mk.1 properly turned back as you’d expect from an autonomous model.

“Alright, now it’s time for shadow boxing.”

Because it had portions of Jin’s information transcribed to it, Titan Mk.1 followed the orders diligently and started doing the motions. The quickness of its moves didn’t match with its size. Jin was delighted his hypothesis had been correct.

“Alright, halt.”

Jin had Titan-1 go to a standstill so he could check that nothing had gone wrong with any of the parts. His face was brimming with joy.

“Mh-hm, hmh, it was just a short while but there’s nothing wrong with the joints, the skeleton, or the muscles! This one can be called a success!”

“Congratulations, Father. As expected.”

Reiko also seemed happy.

“Mhm. And now let’s finish the type I control by myself first!”

Jin braced himself to tackle the ‘Titan Mk.2’.

Controlling it from inside the head would be dangerous so he stopped that idea, and decided to prepare a cockpit inside the chest.

The balance and other detailed coordination data was copied from Titan Mk.1’s movements, and the Control Core was made to move the robot in a style according to the pilot’s instructions.

Because Jin didn’t think he’d be able to pilot a giant robot out of the blue like that.

And so the comparatively simple Mk.2 was finished. As it wasn’t as dangerous as flying, Jin abruptly got in the robot.

“Father, will you be alright?”

“Yeah, it’s like driving a car so.”

Although Jin didn’t have a driver’s license, he had operated forklifts and such not on public roads but inside the factory grounds.

“Alright, I’m going.”

Jin sat down in the cockpit inside the chest. As it was a prototype the chest wasn’t armored so he was able to see ahead with just his eyes.

“Go!”

He stepped on the accelerator, which increased the output of the Ether Converter and the Mana Driver, and responding to that Titan Mk.2 began moving.

Jin felt the thuds as it began moving, and gradually it speeded up, until at the end of the open space he made a U-turn and came back…then suddenly stopped.

“…Father?”

Reiko who had been moving with him looked up, and saw Jin’s pale face. Reiko then remembered why a condition like this happened.

She quickly jumped into the cockpit and,

“[Soothe]!”

She healed Jin with the Shouro Empire-style chant.

Jin looked disheartened.

“I suddenly felt nauseated…”

As its size was nearly ten times larger, the up-and-down movement while walking was also nearly ten times larger. That burdened the pilot and Jin quickly became affected with motion sickness.

“It’s unfortunate but the passenger-piloted type is a failure.”

Jin got down from Titan Mk.2 with Reiko’s assistance.

“Perhaps I would be fine in it?”

Reiko followed up. Hearing that, Jin said,

“I guess so. How about we make that be for Reiko’s exclusive use.”

He decided to finish that later, and began working on the third one, the remote-controlled Titan Mk.3.

This used the same system as the substitute puppet Jin made the other day.

He decided that the picture from the Magic Eyes built into the golem would be projected to a dedicated cockpit where he could sit and remotely control it. If he didn’t do that, then if it happened to go far enough to be out of sight it would be troubling, and of course he did want to experience the sense of controlling it from the inside.

Until night he kept reiterating with various adjustments. Jin’s zealous handiwork was undoubtedly because he wanted to see the Mk.3 tentatively completed.