The so-called Marble Phantasm, as its name suggests, is the ability to manifest corresponding items according to the user's thoughts.
These items do not necessarily need to be fully understood by the user, nor do their mysteries need to be known; they can even be imagined by the user out of thin air. This ability cannot be said to be merely similar to Takumi's Creation Magic, but rather, almost exactly the same.
It involves generating (materializing) objects, and it also only requires imagination. The only difference is probably that the items produced by Creation Magic are permanent, while the manifestations of Marble Phantasm are temporary.
After thinking of this ability, Takumi became very interested in it. After all, this is almost another version of Creation Magic, and it has great reference value for him. If Creation Magic can be upgraded by referencing Marble Phantasm, it might be able to provide feedback to the precursor of Creation Magic—Magical Creation—and thus strengthen both of his cheat skills.
Although his current strength was already sufficient, Takumi didn't mind deepening his knowledge, so he would not miss this opportunity to realize his vision.
"Research me?"
When Arcueid heard what Takumi said, she immediately frowned.
Although her style is more traditional and ancient, and she doesn't know much about modern society, there are magi in the Moon World. Arcueid has been engaged with these magi since the Age of Gods, and she naturally knows what "research" usually implies.
So when she heard about research, like most modern people, she immediately thought of anatomical slices, being made into specimens, or even evil experiments such as breeding and modification. In short, she had no good impression of it at all. However, having had the experience of misunderstanding Takumi's meaning before, Arcueid did not reject it immediately, but asked rhetorically:
"What exactly does it do? What do you need me to do?"
Takumi saw her frowning and understood what she was worried about, so he quickly explained:
"Don't worry, this is not some evil research, it's just the most basic observation. At that time, all you need to do is listen to my commands, show me your Marble Phantasm, and answer some of my questions."
When Arcueid heard this, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. After all, she had signed a contract now. If Takumi forced her to cooperate with those evil researches, she would not be able to disobey. Fortunately, she had misunderstood again.
"In that case, no problem. I am willing to help you research the Marble Phantasm."
Since it wasn't some evil research, there was nothing to hesitate about, so Arcueid immediately accepted the job. Anyway, this job was not difficult for her, and it aligned with her wishes.
As for letting Takumi study and learn what to do when the Marble Phantasm materializes? Arcueid didn't care about this and was even happy about it. After all, she had already joined Dimension City. The stronger Takumi is, the more important he will be to Dimension City. If the city benefits, it is also beneficial to her. Arcueid, who had adjusted her stance, understood this reasoning well. She might be a bit naive, but she is not stupid, and she can still understand mutual interests.
"Well, let's settle on this for now."
Arcueid's errand was also confirmed. At this point, the four girls had their own arrangements. After that, Takumi personally took them to their residences to settle down and walked around the inner city to let them familiarize themselves with the environment. Then, he let them do as they pleased.
After disbanding, Arcueid and Shiki Ryougi were very practical, taking care of their own rooms and preparing to decorate them to make them more comfortable to live in. Tiamat and Manaka Sajyou were relatively more active.
Tiamat seemed to have set her sights on Sakura and Illya, and immediately started working as a nanny for the two little ones.
As for Manaka Sajyou, on the pretext of becoming familiar with her work, she wandered around Dimension City curiously, looking here and there.
Takumi didn't worry about them anymore. Instead, he came to the northwest corner of Dimension City alone and cleared out a large open space. Then, he took out the Moon Cell Automaton and prepared to place it.
But at this moment, Takumi was suddenly startled: "Erm... It seems that I can't just put it down like this."
Takumi then remembered a problem. He was so happy when he received the Moon Cell earlier that he almost forgot about the logistics of placing it. Even though the Moon Cell was in Takumi's hand now, appearing only about the size of a palm, this was just what it looked like after being shrunk and processed by Gaia.
The real size of the Moon Cell is almost the same as the moon, a cube with a diameter of 3,000 kilometers.
If the Moon Cell were restored to its original size, let alone Dimension City, even the entire Forest of Death would not be enough to accommodate it.
"If we were to build a house and expand the internal space, it might not be enough."
Takumi couldn't help but frown. The Undetectable Extension Charm is not omnipotent and cannot expand space infinitely. The limit is about a thousand times, and this is an effect that can only be achieved by studying the Extension Charm to its peak.
Although Takumi can achieve this kind of effect, the Moon Cell is three thousand kilometers wide! Even if you can use the Extension Charm to expand the space, you can only build a building with a side length of three kilometers to house it (conceptually).
Let's not talk about the workload of covering such an area. The Moon Cell is a cube. Just having the area to accommodate it is not enough; it also needs to be tall.
"A three-kilometer-high building..."
When he thought of this, the corners of Takumi's eyes couldn't help but twitch. Although he could save a lot of effort and construction resources if he used Creation Magic to build it, the problem was that this was no longer a question of whether he had the ability to build it, but whether the construction technology existed to support it. If the structural integrity isn't up to par, even if it is generated using Creation Magic, the building will most likely collapse instantly.
"If the ground doesn't work, what about underground?"
Takumi immediately changed his mind. Since it can't be built on the ground, what about underground? It's difficult to build a tall building from the ground up, but isn't it easy to dig a well?
To give the simplest example, in the modern world, the tallest building has not exceeded one thousand meters, but the deepest drilling has already exceeded 10,000 meters—and that was a record set many years ago. Thinking about it this way, Takumi felt that it was very feasible.
Although drilling a well is different from digging a huge basement, and the difficulty is still significant, the complexity can be reduced a lot. For example, instead of drilling a narrow well, what about digging a pit? Without considering reserving a ground sealing layer immediately, he could dig a pit of nine square kilometers, then expand the space, put the Moon Cell in, and finally cover it with soil to seal the top.
In this way, won't the difficulty of the project be reduced to a minimum?
"Right! Just do it!"