A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 400 The Second Uploader

After the ceremony, Rorschach and Caroline returned to the space bubble.

A minor incident occurred during this time. Sensing the soul within his clone returning to his original body, Rorschach realized that the original ritual could no longer be used. He planned to design another one for the tower spirit, but Caroline stopped him.

"I saw Master Kano participate in exchanges with other archmages," Caroline recalled.

"I bumped into him when I needed to see him about something important. At first, I thought he was taking a nap, but the master quietly told me that he was in a meeting. His spirit entered a hidden space and communicated with other great masters."

"A secluded space? That's quite convenient; it eliminates the need for people to travel and is safe enough."

This was the first time Rorschach had ever heard of such "online meetings" between archmages. He had always imagined it to be like an award ceremony, where others possessed and controlled owls, and a flock of birds would chirp and chatter in a circle during the meeting.

Caroline had some guesses about that space: "The secret place where the archmages meet is probably similar to the existence you found, also an independent spatial vesicle leaning towards the symbolic realm."

"Then there should be a spell similar to the one used to go to the meeting with Master Kano, allowing our spirits to enter directly, instead of through a ritual similar to a sacrifice. As long as we have its approximate coordinates, I can try to develop a method for our spirits to enter."

The coordinates here are not real-world coordinates, but rather location markers based on constellations, used in a divination sense. For the existence between the material and symbolic realms, only the starry sky is a relatively reliable reference point.

However, just as Caroline was about to start her research from scratch, Rorschach got the answer directly from the Tower Spirit.

The Tower Spirit's original "body" in the real world continues to function, but Luo Xia can sense that its "soul" is no longer here. In other words, the core has now become the Tower Spirit's "terminal" from the "cloud" to the ground, and the units under its control serve as the Tower Spirit's tools for intervening in reality.

"You can do it like this too." Caroline watched as the Tower Spirit's "old body" drove a printer, constantly spewing out coordinates that Rorschach couldn't understand. He couldn't understand them, but Caroline could.

She found a star map drawn in southern Bain and then converted the information output by the Tower Spirit into points on the star map.

Now Rorschach understood too, and he could see that the space vesicles moved in a very regular pattern under the starry sky.

Caroline's interpretation was more professional; she gradually understood the time scale in the information given by the tower: "Now, this space appears to be moving in a regular cycle under the stars, spanning years. It is spring now, and the vesicles correspond to the eighth house of the zodiac."

At this moment, the two realized the problem at the same time: it was only the second day after the tower spirit "uploaded" into the space bubble, so why could it give a movement trajectory spanning a whole year!

The tower spirit didn't respond further, so Rorschach could only guess: "Could it have calculated it? The computing unit here was running the whole time when the coordinates were given."

"That's possible. In that case, we'll need to verify its accuracy later."

In any case, once Caroline has the coordinates, she can design spells with specific targets, and Rorschach can inscribe runes that point to himself. On the outer ring, he can add rotating loops according to Caroline's design—by rotating them according to the corresponding seasons, the target coordinates can be changed.

"Clear your mind, and then visualize that space in your mind." Caroline lay half-reclined on a chair in the studio, took a deep breath, and after a moment her breathing became steady, as if she were in a light sleep.

Rorschach followed suit. He closed his eyes and recalled the scene inside the space bubble. The image of the "Golden Tree" was vivid enough, first in his mind, and then its details uncontrollably flooded his eyes.

Before long, Luo Xia could no longer tell whether his eyes were open or closed. The "Tree of Law" had already come into view. Only when he saw the woman under the tree did he realize that his spirit had been summoned to its destination.

"Congratulations on your first attempt." Luo Xia admired Caroline's skills; she was arguably the most accomplished disciple of Master Cano.

Caroline's gaze was completely drawn to the tree: "The key to success lies in the precise coordinates the tower spirit gave us. Now your tower spirit seems to have merged with this 'tree.' What are those streams of light?"

She noticed that this was a phenomenon that hadn't occurred last time.

"Someone must be casting spells using the system I edited." Rorschach explained his newly developed "Characteristic" and "Descriptor" spell system to Caroline, then analyzed the nodes on it:

"Energy shaping, mapping, repulsion. It might be [Spirit Armor]." Rorschach's gaze followed the flowing light, and the nodes interwoven by the trees told him which "words" the caster had used in sequence.

Since the nodes only have "features" and lack descriptors, for example, he cannot know what the "mapped" object is, so he can only guess that Hannah is practicing [Spirit Armor] based on the order in which the nodes are lit.

Rorschach then tried another experiment. He attempted to cast the [Fireball] spell using his own system. The nodes corresponding to magic condensation/elemental conversion/projectiles lit up in sequence, and the stream of light he generated was much brighter.

The blazing fireball was like a miniature sun, and for this space, this young "Tree of Law," Rorschach's spell was the "perfect prototype."

This fireball isn't a concept from the real world. In the material realm, a fireball would be a blazing mass of plasma controlled by a mage, but this space isn't dominated by matter; the "perfect fireball" is more like a collection of concepts.

As Rorschach gazed at it, he continuously received the "light" and "heat" emanating from it—not only as a direct sensory experience, but also as two abstract concepts of nature.

Seemingly having read Rorschach's thoughts, two concepts gradually emerged as measurements: one was the lumen, and the other was the constantly decreasing temperature—2573K at the center, which rapidly decreased to 478K at the edge, proving that Rorschach had a good grasp of the fireball's energy. With the energy concentrated, the fireball's power decreased less before it hit the target.

If the internal pressure of the plasma cluster is further heated and constrained, it becomes a higher-level [Explosive Fireball] – when released, it not only produces light and heat, but also causes destruction by the pressure pushing the gas.

Just as Luo Xia was thinking of the [Exploding Fireball] spell, the "concept" released by the "Perfect Fireball" gained another pressure, and the pressure at the center was constantly increasing.

I said stop!

Rorschach canceled the spell, and it didn't cause any aftershocks in this space.

Caroline was astonished from the moment she heard about the magic system Rorschach had created. She was even more excited after Rorschach tested the mechanics of the "Tree of Law," and as soon as he finished testing, she eagerly asked, "Can I register the magic I know into it too?"

"Of course, I'd love to. However, for now, I can only upload spells below the sixth rank." Rorschach also reminded her that uploading spells would mean making them public. There are currently three apprentices using "Spell Cloud," and she can decide whether to teach them the uploaded spells. But since the system is universal, she cannot rule out the possibility that they might comprehend them on their own after uploading.

"Furthermore, as the creator and operator, I will inevitably acquire your magic."

Caroline said easily, "You're my student, so of course it's no problem! As for the first point, as long as it's not used for evil, there's nothing wrong with letting more people learn from it."

"I went to teach at the Royal Academy to give more children from ordinary families the opportunity to learn."

She was so excited that she gave Rorschach an irresistible hug: "Compared to me working hard on the podium, having you fundamentally lower the barrier to learning magic is the best thing ever!"

(End of this chapter)