Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter3 (section)

===Part 20===

The village belonged to Mikoto and Shokuhou now.

Patissiet was staring down at the ground.

Mikoto wondered what the girl was up to, but then she crouched down and grabbed something between her little fingertips.

“What’s that?”

“I-it’s a fulgurite… That’s the ultimate mineral, worth even more than platinum or diamonds! I thought I must be mistaken, but it really is real!!”

The elf shouted in excitement, but Mikoto and Shokuhou only tilted their heads.

''A fulgurite?

''So what?

When sand was heated enough, it turned to glass. That was what formed fulgurites, “gems” created by lightning. Their origin was unique, but they were primarily composed of ordinary silicon and weren’t all that valuable.

For that matter, glass and bricks were made by heating and hardening sand or earth, but they didn’t appear to have any special value here.

“Does their value ability change because electricity is so rare in this world?”

“Beyond that, experience points here are weak bioelectricity. So it may be less the rarity of the material and more a special value placed on them by their myths and occult beliefs.”

Mikoto had thought it was odd when they discussed searching the fields for gems.

You normally dug deep inside mines for those.

But the guild adventurers apparently collected them from the fields.

Was that because the weather tended to be stormy here, meaning widespread thunderstorms and thus more fulgurites to find? That would also explain where such a small, remote village had acquire the income for their luxurious brick buildings.

Anyway.

That fulgurites were worth more than platinum or diamonds was welcome news. That meant fulgurites were the most stable form of currency in this fantasy world, so their value could influence state economies.

Simply put…

“The lords and kings who have amassed great wealth through their encouragement of slavery probably preserve their ill-gotten gains by stuffing their vaults full of valuable fulgurites, right?”

“But if you start zapping to mass-produce those fulgurites, their value will nosedive. Even a powerful military state needs money to wage war and run its domestic affairs, so you can singlehandedly drive any king or lord to bankruptcy with your instant hyper-inflation ability☆”

It was happening again.

''This world really was made for Misaka Mikoto.