Trapped in Another World With No Magic

Chapter 7: Magic Crystals

Finally settled into her lab in her family's estate, Wenlianna and Daniel begin discussing something Daniel has been curious about for a while.

"Can you explain how magic crystals work?"

"I'd love to! I'll give a quick rundown, and you can ask me anything. For starters, as you've guessed before, magic crystals are made of simple salt, just like used at the dinner table. Using magic and appropriate methods, the crystals are polished to a smooth surface and coated with a resin blend, which grants them SOME resistance to moisture, but as you saw, it's not enough to make them hold up under continuous wetting, such as in use as a water crystal." She hands Daniel a stock crystal; a blank crystal that hasn't been charged with a magic element nor with pure mana. He watched as she made it, so it's extraordinarily simple, but rather expensive. For Daniel, it's about the size of a TV remote, which is a LOT of salt to use for a single application.

He asks, "May I?"

"Do whatever you like. I'm curious about where your brain is headed."

He sniffs the crystal, and it doesn't have a particular smell, which he expected. He licks it, and she gasps. "Wh-What!?"

Sure enough, it tastes just like its sodium-chloride base, with a slight bitterness that's probably the resin she mentioned. He quickly wipes his saliva off, inspecting it.

"You aren't supposed to taste it!"

"Is the resin poisonous?"

"Wh-!? No, but... It's not clean."

A little surprised, Daniel looks at her. She's serious. "It's salt. Salt's one of the best natural preservatives there are."

"Preservatives?"

He stares at her blankly. The things this world lacks stuns him sometimes. "How does this world preserve food for long distance transport? Surely the military is intimately familiar with salted meat and pickling..."

She stares at him.

Daniel sighs. "I'm going to destroy this world, aren't I?"

She scoffs and laughs. "You say such strange things all the time. What am I supposed to think? A poison people drink intentionally? Salt for transporting food?" She chuckles, replying sincerely, "For transport, we use magic, of course. In fact, my mentor and inspiration created the modern magical equipment that can perform the task automatically, rather than needing a mage constantly present. We were able to drastically reduce mages dedicated only to logistics after that."

It's Daniel's turn to stare at her blankly. He replies, "Magic equipment?"

She nods with a smile. "Mm-hmm!"

"That uses... salt?"

Her face drops a little, and she realizes what he's getting at. "Yeah... now that you mention it."

Daniel laughs. "Why's that funny?"

"Sorry. It's just ironic. Magic circumvented some of the innovations of our world, and yet, circled right back." He looks up, saying wondrously, "Strange, how small things can be so strange." He looks at her, saying, "I'm not an expert on the process, but salt by itself dehydrates most bacteria, mold, and fungal spores. Drying helps, as well, since moisture is what those little baddies thrive on."

"You mentioned bacteria before. What is that word?"

"It's our word for tiny things that can't be seen by the naked eye and make food spoil." He thinks, "Does this world have magnifying... tubes?"

She grips his shirt, shaking him lightly, "Geeez! Daniel! You're driving me crazy! We need to start on these things! NOW!"

Daniel chuckles, noticing her glasses. While glass doesn't seem to be heavily used in this world yet, it does exist. He asks, "Wenlianna; is there a reason your glasses are hanging from your hair-piece?"