A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 338 Alchemy Performance

In the far East, there is a rather eccentric way of spiritual practice—meditation beneath a waterfall to cultivate oneself.

Rorschach had this feeling too, but this was the garrison mage tower, and there was no waterfall; it was magic power washing over Rorschach's body from above. At this moment, guided by the magic circle, his "soul" became light and agile again, seemingly leaving his body.

Rorschach's experience of subjectivity was that while his physical senses were lost, his perception of magic remained, rising and expanding within a warm, comforting space.

Yes, it expands because the original soul is twice the size of a normal person's. So, after being freed from the constraints of the weak body and nourished by magic, it will naturally unfold.

However, he also felt that his soul had "thinned out," evidenced by his weakened control over magic, as if it were swaying arbitrarily with the winds of magic.

In his explanation, Humboldt warned that if one chooses meditation not driven by strong emotions, one should be wary of the state of the soul during ascension. There have been cases where the entire soul has left the "container" and never returned.

After the spellcasting accident, a person in a vegetative state appeared in the Forest Tower. His soul could not be found; it is unknown whether he became some kind of ghost or simply dissipated naturally.

Rorschach decided to stop there, as he hadn't prepared a second magic circle and computing core. He tried to suppress his spirit, but this led to a terrible experience—the ancient mage's memories carried in the impurities began to resurface, and Rorschach quickly stopped the attempt.

"Ouch! My headache is even worse after this." Rorschach collapsed into the bathtub. He adjusted his position, ready to go to sleep; he had negotiations to attend the next day.

The following morning, at the royal estate in Würzburg.

As Anglehorn savored the Valois pastries and enjoyed the professional service of the royal servants, he felt somewhat reserved and unreal.

Six months ago, his factory was ostracized by the textile dyeing guild and was on the verge of bankruptcy; now he has become a guest of honor of the Byrne royal family.

In fact, everything at the Bassef factory remained the same, except for the actual change of personnel and the arrival of stable orders. Until two days ago, he received a notice that he needed to go to Würzburg with Mr. Haase as quickly as possible.

In addition, at the request of his patron Rorschach, he also brought several bottles of raw materials for producing dyes.

"Sir, your luggage can be kept by us." The butler reminded Mr. Horn once again that he no longer needed to carry his suitcase. Although the inspection only revealed a few bottles of oily liquid, which he had smelled and one of which reeked of alcohol, this unusual behavior indicated a security risk.

"I've already said it, it's the alchemical material designated by Lord Rorschach." Only by pulling Rorschach's coattails could Horn get rid of the annoying butler.

Prince Otto sat diagonally opposite Horn, his attention entirely focused on Rorschach. This young man had come to the kingdom, thoroughly reformed the trade associations, and then disappeared for a while. What would he bring upon his reappearance? Right now, it seemed this young man was about to perform something for him.

"Your Majesty, please look." Rorschach asked Mr. Horn to be his assistant; this businessman was probably the most knowledgeable about chemistry in the room besides him.

Instead of experimental equipment, fine glass cups were used. First, two cups of ferrous sulfate oil were used, and then a cup of nitric acid was measured in a cup of the same size. The mixture was then placed in a larger dispensing vessel.

Are you mixing drinks?

"If you drink it all in one gulp, it will be difficult to find a mage or priest to stop you from reuniting with your ancestors," Rorschach replied as he made the drink, then added some degreased lint, a local fiber crop from Byrne that was nearing obsolescence due to its inferior quality compared to cotton from the South and Istani.

Rorschach felt the short fibers weren't fine enough, so he asked Mr. Horn to cut them into even smaller pieces.

Then he placed the cup of white, translucent paste in warm water and stirred it carefully and slowly.

Fifteen minutes later, the nitration of the fiber was complete. Rorschach used the "Mage's Hand" to pick up the fiber, put it into purified alcohol, and then added paraffin oil.

"What's the use of it if it's cloudy?" The prince patiently waited for Rorschach to finish, but all the other man did was ask for a large plate, pour the paste on it, and spread it out.

"We were supposed to wait for it to dry, but we can speed up the process." Of course, Rorschach wouldn't use heating to prematurely detonate the fibers. He began casting a spell, and everyone felt a strong wind sweep through the hall, which became increasingly dry.

Rorschach chose to use his own domain, first controlling the air in the space to circulate rapidly around him. He then released "energy deprivation" around himself to cool the wind and cause water vapor to condense, and then heated the air on the other side to warm it up, turning the entire manor hall into a drying box.

The passivated fibers quickly lost the ethanol solvent and formed a gray, cracked layer of solid on the plate.

"To be honest, everyone is standing too close. Your Highness, in order to demonstrate my alchemical achievements, please move outside." Having gone this far, even though it was utterly devoid of any visual appeal, Otto was still curious about what the other party was doing, so he granted Rorschach's request and brought over two soldiers armed with shotguns.

One was a small paper packet filled with black powder and loaded with bullets; the other, under Rorschach's guidance, used gray square pieces instead of traditional gunpowder.

"No, reduce the propellant charge by half, unless you want the barrel to explode." Knowing the power of the gun, Rorschach stopped the gunman's reckless behavior and told him to put less propellant in the gun.

The gunpowder-powered gun fired first, producing a loud bang and a burst of smoke, which hit the fence a little further away.

Next, the diamond made by Rorschach was activated, producing a crisp sound like a whip cracking in everyone's ears. More importantly, no smoke came out of the gun.

The prince's eyes widened, and he, who had been somewhat absent-minded, suddenly perked up. Hassai, Horn, and the others watched, along with the introducer Bart and representatives of the Baldorom Merchant Guild. They all realized the demonstration was complete and began to applaud.

"This is the alchemical product I wish to offer the kingdom—smokeless gunpowder, Your Majesty. Not only does it produce no smoke as its name suggests, but it is also more powerful, meaning the effective range of the projectiles can be longer. It's not a spellcasting material, and you, soldier, aren't exactly a spellcaster either, are you?"

"Is the factory you mentioned the one that produces it?"

Who are you looking down on? Rorschach painted a rosy picture for the prince: "That's just one of our products. There's also a new type of explosive that only requires a standard barrel-sized amount of charge, yet it's comparable to [Explosive Fireball], which is a seventh-circle spell!"

Otto's mind was filled with the words "Seventh Ring Spell, Seventh Ring," and he clenched his fists.

Rorschach loved watching the prince's face-changing performance, from his undisguised impatience at the beginning to his current frenzy that he tried to hide but couldn't, the twitching of his facial muscles was quite spectacular.

"Can it be mass-produced?"

"It depends on whether you are willing to invest money and provide support, such as approving our purchase of forests and farmland as factory sites."

Otto hated hearing such words. If Rorschach were merely a shrewd businessman, he would have had his guards intimidate him and force him to reveal his true colors in the chaos. Unfortunately, Rorschach wasn't. He could only grit his teeth and ask, "If we needed to equip two musketeer battalions to current standards, how much time and money would that require?"

"Starting with the infrastructure, we'll need 20,000 Golden Eagle coins, with at least half paid upfront in the first phase. The more money we have, the faster the products will be ready. If we can pay in full, I don't mind contributing to the kingdom and personally participating in the factory construction."

"You're robbing me!"

"Last year, the royal family sponsored the theater with 10,000 gold coins. Was that robbed by the theater troupe? And the castle, which has been under construction for nearly ten years, has an annual expenditure of at least 30,000 gold coins. Was that robbed by the craftsmen? How can you accuse a mage who wanted to share the kingdom's burdens before the war of robbery?" Rorschach gave a shocked yet innocent look, leaving Otto speechless.

(End of this chapter)