A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 355 Signing a Contract to Become a Magical Boy

Rorschach has completed the "upload spell" step; the next step is to establish a connection between the "host" and Andrei.

Just like the "host" and the "passenger plane" in the Barth Mage Tower, they are connected through a modified "spirit clone spell." Rorschach believes that Andrei and the host should also be able to communicate through similar magical principles.

First of all, it can be confirmed that this method is by no means intended to take over Andrei and treat him as an alter ego of "Talin".

Rorschach recalled a theory he had once read: when a sorcerer casts a spell, he draws upon the magical power of the environment to construct a special order, replicating the "magical texts" that exist in the symbolic world and bringing them down to the material world.

Luo Xia looked at his "Tower Spirit" body and storage unit. If his idea was correct, they would become "mini-primordial layers" existing in the material world.

In Rorschach's view, the threshold for "constructing order" in the general spellcasting process is too high, so it is difficult for spellcasters like Andre, who lack talent, to respond to the original text layer. He wants to simplify this process, further simplifying the spellcaster's complete reproduction of the "original text" to just being able to lock onto what kind of spell it is, while the complete reproduction of the spells in the storage unit is done by the tower spirit.

These machines will constitute the "spell library," and the "Tower Spirits," as librarians, will be able to understand the spellcaster's needs, help him find the "books," and then lend them to him.

Although Rorschach has only put "one book" in the "library" so far.

"First, we need to find a secret contract that points to the tower spirit and makes it understand that we need to find the spell next." The first thing that came to Rorschach's mind was the rune that pointed to himself, the totem with "benzene ring" as its main component. So he intercepted the frequency band of [Rorschach's Divine Exorcism Spell] that pointed to himself, recorded it into the tower spirit again, and informed it of his intention.

In fact, the Tower Spirit already possessed Rorschach's memories, so this inorganic intelligent entity quickly completed the setup required by Rorschach, generating a secret contract that could draw upon environmental magic and be outlined in the void. Its essence was consistent with the "order" in normal spellcasting, but it was more concrete and simpler.

The next step is to assign numbers to the spells stored in the tower spirit.

In Rorschach's vision, this combination of spells could be called "Major Accident Reversal Spell," and perhaps it would become a "must-learn spell for factory mages" in the future. And since the "library" currently only has one book, all that's needed is to mark it with a special magical shockwave band.

But instead of doing that, he broke down the spell string into terms based on what the panel showed, assigning a characteristic value to each term used. "Magic Concentration," "Repulsion," "Energy Deprivation," "Mapping"—each was encoded and arranged in a specific order.

While this would be more cumbersome, Rorschach values ​​the potential for better scalability in the future. If necessary, he plans to input all the terms he knows into the Tower Spirit, so that when most spells are input, the Tower Spirit will only need to record their terminology organization.

Rorschach gave it a try. Although the process of casting spells by combining keywords is relatively long, it still has advantages over casting spells completely without the help of the tower spirit. It is simpler, has a lower learning cost, and the spell effects released by different individuals are less different.

Unlike the previous "Secret Contracts," Rorschach recorded these as "Embodiments," which corresponded one-to-one with spell entries.

Since all "characteristics" are incomplete and disordered, they do not interact with the symbolic realm and therefore do not directly produce magical effects. Furthermore, they become ineffective spellcasting when the tower spirit is not functioning.

Of course, strictly speaking, if there are enough combinations of "characteristics," there is still a possibility of triggering direct spellcasting. Fortunately, the first thing constructed during the spellcasting process is a "contract" pointing to the tower spirit, so normal spellcasting is still not possible.

The spell was cast in an instant, a stark contrast to the constant preparations Rorschach had previously required; the speed of casting was now greatly increased. Since there was no explosion or destruction in the test scenario, the "Major Accident Reversal Spell" had no practical effect, but Rorschach clearly felt the magical energy fluctuate in the same way he did when casting the spell.

During the spellcasting, he completed an invisible bridge with the tower spirit, and then the tower spirit, through Rorschach, the "source" of endogenous magic, shook the magic in the environment to complete the spell.

Furthermore, Rorschach discovered something special: because the new method of casting incorporated eigenvalues ​​pointing to himself, Rorschach would also sense when the Tower Spirit assisted him in casting spells.

"In that case, wouldn't I be able to know whoever uses the Tower Spirit System to cast a spell?" Rorschach was startled, but then thought, "Then I'll know as long as Andrei uses 'Accident Reversal Spell,' which is a kind of safety precaution."

It's good that the security measures are redundant and interconnected, so Rorschach decided not to modify the system for the time being.

As for opening up the system to more people with magical talent and mass-producing mages quickly, there's no rush. It's foreseeable that there will be many problems to solve in the future, such as the tower spirit's processing ability still being limited by the machine, Rorschach not yet considering whether spatial distance will cause delays, and whether the two casting methods will conflict or interfere with each other.

"Sigh, let's just make do with it for now, and figure out how to iterate it after we find and solve some basic problems." He himself has too deep a connection with the soul in the tower spirit, and he is the developer of the spell. It is not very universal to use him for testing, so he still needs to find Andre to experience and provide feedback.

It was getting late, and Luo Xia, no longer troubled by the extra souls, yawned as he left the institution where the tower spirits were kept.

The next day, Andrei was inspecting the construction site when he ran into Rorschach and obtained a new learning scroll, but there was only one.

He unfolded it and found that the circuit layout was unprecedented, simpler and more chaotic than other reels.

"Teacher, what kind of magic is this?"

"This is the combination magic I'm trying to teach you. I thought of a name last night: 'Major Accident Reversal Spell'! Give it a try."

What a weird name! Andrei suppressed his urge to complain and activated the reel as Rorschach had instructed.

"Have you finished learning?"

"Hmm." Andrei hesitated for a moment. He felt that the magical fluctuations displayed by the scroll were strange, as short and fragmented as its geometric shapes.

"Also, it's best to visualize this symbol in your mind during the first part of the spell, and use magic to outline the 'secret contract' in the void." Rorschach showed Andrei his cane directly, pointing to the core of the pattern.

The common sense he learned in the Tower of Stars told Andre that secret contracts are dangerous; they may point to a hostile entity that is hostile to the caster. Whether the contract is drawn or destroyed, the target of the contract may sense it.

However, the apprentice ultimately trusted his teacher, and the rune's pattern was a regular hexagon, possessing a simple and rational aesthetic.

"Have you remembered it?"

"Yes."

As soon as Andrei finished speaking, a fireball slammed into the machine next to him.

The apprentice subconsciously cast the strange spell he had just memorized, and then he felt a surge of information flood his mind, stirring up his magical energy. Just like his teacher, Andrei successfully suppressed the destruction caused by the fireball.

I did it! Andrei was thrilled, but he realized that mastering "Major Accident Reversal" was different from mastering other spells.

The information that had just been instilled disappeared from his mind, as if knowledge was flowing in and out of his skull. Now, Andrei could only remember the strange, silent chant that began with a secret covenant.

Actually, a mechanical, soft voice also sounded: "Congratulations on signing the contract and becoming the first magical boy!"

The sound was so faint that Andrei barely heard it; he even thought it was just a hallucination caused by spending too much time in the noisy factory.

(End of this chapter)