A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 27 His Majesty the King Guards the Border

"My lord, we are the caravan of the Lowe Merchant Guild, departing from the imperial capital and bound for Valuwana. This is our permission; please take a look."

The fully armored knight took the stack of small slips of paper and examined them carefully. After reading them, he scrutinized the dwarf and half-elf: "What level of adventurers are you?"

"silver."

"I'm a Gold-level player!"

The knight nodded, took out something, and stamped the dwarf and half-elf's documents: "Both of you are not permitted to linger in the Holy Kingdom. You must leave the country within three days of completing your mission. The caravan should register and pay taxes at the central port area before entering Valuwana."

"Thank you for your guidance, sir!" Mr. Aller placed his left hand on his heart and bowed. The knight nodded in response and rode away.

"Central Port Area? Isn't our destination inland?" the dwarf asked curiously, and Rorschach was also a little curious.

Aller kept Singh in suspense: "We'll arrive today, and you'll understand when you see us."

As dusk approached, the road widened, the villages and other buildings became more densely packed, and the number of convoys traveling in both directions increased. Suddenly, the sky darkened, not because the sun had completely set, but because a massive, cigar-shaped flying object blocked out the light. It slowed down in the air, descending slowly from the clouds, its surface shimmering with the glow of magical arrays.

Seeing an airship so close from directly below for the first time inevitably evokes worry and fear – will it lose control and crash? But the behemoth in the sky paid no heed to such concerns, its dwarf engines roaring as it propelled the convoy forward, leaving the convoy with a patch of sky.

"Wow, that's huge! Our engine! How did humans come up with the idea of ​​using it to fly in a balloon?"

"So, are you using them for cars and boats?"

"It can pull mining carts, pump water from mines, and even power pumps to supply beer to a city's taps."

Okay, okay, you'll drink it like this, right?

The airships and the convoy shared the same destination. A cluster of towering towers stretched into the sky on the horizon, supporting a vast platform, resembling a giant plant with airships of various sizes perched along the edges of its "leaves." Besides the airships, even large birds carried knights in and out of the area.

"The central port area is actually the largest station for docking airships. The royal capital does not allow airships to fly over the sky, so arriving here means that we are very close to Valuwana. The complex of buildings in front is called the 'Sky Tree'."

The central port area is the gateway to Valuwana, which is in fact the gateway to the Holy Kingdom.

The Valuwana Dukes were the predecessors of the royal family. They had a strong fortress complex in their direct royal territory. In the long years of war, the capital was a bridgehead against the empire, continuously gathering the power of the world of the God of Order from the entire southern continent.

His Majesty the King guards the nation's gates, which is quite inspiring in an era when the Holy Kingdom is in a weak position and relations with the Empire are tense. All kings who have not committed serious offenses have been posthumously canonized as saints by the Church of Order.

But now, the long peace has turned the capital into a place of debauchery and decadence. After listening to Mr. Aller's explanation, Rorschach gained a new understanding of this magnificent building:

The Holy Kingdom's slender neck and major arteries.

Upon arriving at the port area, Mr. Ale still handled the formalities for the Skytree, while the others settled into the port area's hostels. This time, no one suggested going outside for a stroll; everyone obediently stayed on duty or remained in their rooms.

Rorschach locked his door, took off his outer robe, and removed his leather armor.

He examined it carefully under the lamp for a while, but there were no hidden layers or patterns, and he couldn't see anything wrong with it.

[Magic Detection] has no effect; at least it's not a magical item and doesn't have a charged magic circuit.

Luo Xia carefully heated it over the gas lamp for a while, but apart from the aroma of the maintenance oil wafting out, nothing changed.

"Is it really just ordinary leather goods?"

The leather armor styles of the Chamber of Commerce were all the same, including the one given to Rorschach. This gave Rorschach an opportunity to have the agency's specialists replace it with a different one.

However, they will have to be returned later. Rorschach noticed that there was a number under the Leather Armor Merchants' logo, which might be discovered during the inventory check upon arrival.

Speaking of the commissioner, Luo Xia coughed: "If you don't come out soon, I'll just use you to test a new spell I just learned."

After a rustling sound, a man in black crawled out from under the bed. Luo Xia wasn't sure if it was Brother Xiao or Brother Falcon: "Brother Luo Xia, how did you find out? I didn't bring any magic items here today."

"Hmph, hurry up and leave, give me some private space." Actually, Luo Xia was just bluffing, but he actually got something out of it.

"Alright, bro, goodnight!" With that, the man in black flipped over and disappeared through the window.

Luo Xia peeked out and said, "She jumped from the sixth floor like that. The agency commissioner is really something."

The new spell is the level 1 spell [Freezing Ray] given to him by Unuk. He had already learned it on the way, and his character panel showed:

[Frozen Ray (Blue)]

Energy deprivation (blue) ray (blue)

Rorschach obtained two very interesting entries.

The ray allows Rorschach's elemental attacks to be more focused and sustained. Combined with "Magic Concentration (Purple)" and "Elemental Conversion (Purple)," it yields [Rorschach's High-Pressure Water Gun] and [Pseudo-Red Dragon Breath].

"Energy deprivation" involves the microscopic thermodynamic nature of freezing: depriving matter of heat, that is, the kinetic energy of molecular thermal motion.

Could it be possible to master the Star Absorbing Technique? This was the exciting idea that Rorschach initially had, but after trying it, he discovered that he couldn't strip away magic energy, at least not at his current blue proficiency level.

Will there be any new changes after ascending to purple? If it's just "deprivation," then where did the deprived energy go? These are the two questions Rorschach wants to understand.

No one had done any research on this before, at least Rorschach hadn't seen any, and it wasn't even certain whether this magical world obeyed the law of conservation of energy.

Let's figure that out later. At least I can have a cold drink anytime, anywhere. Rorschach picked up the light beer from the bedside table and activated the Elemental Spell [Touch of Ice] with only the "Energy Deprivation" attribute, instantly chilling the beer.

Magic can also create a better life.

Luo Xia, who always drinks soda and beer ice-cold even in the dead of winter, took a satisfied sip.

Wait, it seems I just went into a blind spot. Rorschach's gaze returned to the leather armor.

In the past, using temperature variations to hide and conceal real-world content was a common encryption method.

Rorschach just tried heating it up. In the past, when technology was less advanced, heat sources were easier to obtain than cold sources, and characters hidden by temperature changes were often revealed by heating.

But this is a world with magic.

Rorschach maintained the mindset he had developed from his previous life, only this time he had tried heating methods. What about cooling?

Facing the leather armor, [Touch of Frost] was activated again. Rorschach continuously channeled his magic power, and in an instant, the area in front of his palm reached freezing point and continued to drop. His palm, which was being used to output magic power, did not feel cold, but water droplets continuously condensed on his palm and the leather armor.

Luo Xia's expression hardened, and he withdrew [Touch of Frost].

It appeared; a dark gold pattern emerged within the palm-shaped area.

(End of this chapter)