A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 283 Crafts

"Rorschach, do you want some?" The dwarf came down with a fluffy white bread in one hand and a strange, dark red object in the other.

"Mixed pudding" is a strange thing made by stuffing sausage casings with bits of offal and blood and cooking them.

Although Rorschach had never been averse to the wonderful combination of cholesterol, fat, and protein in his previous life, he simply couldn't accept this utterly chaotic mess.

"I'm not eating anymore." Rorschach took out two small wooden boxes from his storage ring, both from the captain's cabin. One box contained biscuits, which Rorschach opened and ate a few with the water generated by his [Water Creation] spell. The contents of the second box made Singrev's eyes light up—it was pirate liquor.

The juice of a crop called sweet sorghum is the raw material for white sugar. The remaining residue, which also contains sugar, is used to brew wine, namely the pirate wine that was popular at sea.

"These are products from the captain's quarters. The cult members are all skilled at using herbs, so we can't be sure if the maid poisoned the food. At least one of us three should avoid eating here. However," Rorschach glanced at the flour, "we can take these with us. We can heat them up and eat them as fried noodles."

After explaining the matter of food, Rorschach instructed Singerev to tie up Klopp.

He then shared the intelligence with his companions: "The sunken ship is the Order's supply ship, capable of traveling between the Upper Realm and the Shadowlands. Judging from the route, the corpses on board are likely those of Grey Elves. The Order's leader in the semi-submerged area is a supply fraudster who only used powder to stimulate the 'living water' and did nothing else."

"What exactly is this so-called 'living water body'?"

"I have a theory," Rorschach said, pulling out a nautical telescope. "I wonder if we could modify its lenses into a microscope."

"microscope?"

"It's an upgraded version of a magnifying glass. By combining the lenses, you can see very small things." Rorschach used his high school physics knowledge to briefly explain the principle and even drew a sketch for the dwarf.

"I'll give it a try." The dwarf took the nautical telescope, the nameplate showing a magnification of 7x50 for both lenses. He looked at Crawley's control panel: "We also need a magnifying glass."

There really was a magnifying glass in the drawer, which Crawley used to read letters and newspapers. This gentleman in charge wasn't just boasting; his ability to read, write, and do arithmetic alone made him stand out from the crowd, even in the semi-submersible area.

With this lens, Singrev began working on it. He asked Rorschach what magnification he needed, and Rorschach thought for a moment and said, "At least forty times, or even higher."

"This telescope is definitely worth more than forty times." The dwarf began to modify it, taking out a tool kit from his backpack and starting to work as a fitter on the spot.

They had almost forgotten that Singrev was a master craftsman. Now the dwarf was in a state of focus, his stubby fingers doing delicate work like embroidery. Rorschach waited for him to adjust the distance and fix the lens assembly before taking out the modified "microscope".

The dwarf was very confident in his skills: "Without a suitable mold, I can't polish the lens, so I'll just have to make do."

"Actually, my [Stone Shaping Technique] can mold glass." However, Rorschach had no experience in making lenses, so he didn't dare to change the shape.

Rorschach took out the bottle containing the "living water" from his ring. The blue light barrier had faded, but the "living water" was also motionless. Rorschach shook the bottle, and it was no different from ordinary water.

Singrev finished the pirate's wine before modifying the microscope and obtained the transparent bottle. "Not bad," the dwarf said, burping as he handed it to Rorschach, who smashed it and obtained a shard.

[Stone Shaping Technique] is activated, and some fragments are smoothed out, becoming the shape of glass slides.

Everything was ready. Rorschach pointed out a sample and examined it under the microscope. He couldn't see anything. Rorschach used the [Brightness] spell to supplement the light, but all he could see through the eyepiece was a white blur. He couldn't focus properly, so he could only lower the lens as close to the slide as possible.

He changed his approach, put away the magic orb, then cast [Resurrection] and used [Arcane Vision] to observe, achieving an effect equivalent to staining the sample with fluorescence.

It's barely visible now. Sure enough, even after the revived aura dissipated after activation, traces of magical light remained, outlining clumps of microorganisms separating and gathering in the water. The individual microorganisms were round, resembling super-active yeast cells more than bacteria.

Then their forms began to change, connecting together, their aura intensifying, and their magic moving rhythmically, displaying faint traces in [Arcane Vision], constantly converging around these little things.

The image blurred, and Rorschach looked away from the eyepiece, seeing a tiny drop of water wriggling and thrashing on the slide. He gently tapped one end of the slide with his fingertip, and the droplet struggled to wriggle and deform toward the tapped end.

So the truth about "living water" is these microorganisms. Rorschach's "microscope" was too rudimentary to see the structure of the microorganisms or to determine whether they were fungi or bacteria. But he was not a biologist, so this was enough.

"The so-called 'living water' is a body of tiny organisms in the water that can absorb magic and then manipulate the water in a magical way." It's not that the water in the shadowy area is active, but rather that these microorganisms are the culprits. They form some kind of unconscious group and may capture organisms to obtain nutrients by sensing vibrations.

Rorschach's words were somewhat shocking, and the dwarf exclaimed in surprise: "My goodness, even things so small they're invisible can have magic!"

"It's just a kind of magic." Rorschach didn't even consider it a complete basic spell; it was merely converting magic power into kinetic energy. But studying its mechanism was very tempting, and it wasn't hard to imagine how crazy the mages of the Forest Tower would be.

Rorschach shook the sampling bottle; the small creature inside had been starving for a long time in his storage ring and was on the verge of death. Luckily, the dwarf's leftover broth from the miscellaneous pudding was still there, so Rorschach poured it in. Since it could hunt, the broth could theoretically serve as nourishment.

"It's such a waste to pour out the meat juices, let's bleed this fat man to make him healthy!" The dwarf kicked Crawp's beer belly.

Is he or you a cultist? Rorschach was speechless at the dwarf's idea. He wanted to try something else, so he separated out another part of the "living water" and added some flour.

The living water body became more active, waving its tiny, transparent tentacles with great joy.

Could it be that it prefers carbohydrates? Rorschach's interest was piqued, and he took sugar from Mr. Crawford's collection and sprinkled it into the "living water." Unexpectedly, a flash of inspiration struck, and the water became wildly active.

"Mr. Cropp's thinking was wrong from the start. Instead of forcibly stimulating them with powder, it would be better to release carbohydrates to let these things multiply wildly."

"Who called me?" The head of the religious group actually woke up, his eyes still groggy.

Singrev grabbed the sleeping powder from the table. It was the same kind of powder Klopp had used during the battle on the ship. Now he used it on himself, and it worked wonders. Klopp, who had just woken up, was back to sleep like a baby.

Rorschach looked at Klopp with a headache: "The Order will come back, and they will definitely find out what's going on here. We can't stay in the semi-submersible zone any longer."

"Then relocate? But there's still no news about the person you're looking for." Singhlev felt that the "mansion" in the Shadowlands, at least in the semi-submerged zone, was a good place to stay, much better than those caves.

"Let's treat this like we're in the wilderness, taking turns resting and standing guard." As he spoke, the sound of a poet playing music came from upstairs. Luo Xia sighed, "We can't rely on the great wandering poet, so let's just have the two of us take turns."

(End of this chapter)