A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 462 Design Competition Opens

Back when Luo Xia was an engineering student in his previous life, the most common way to promote industrial software was by sponsoring and naming various competitions. Hopefully, engineering students will remember this "familiar flavor" while they're still developing, forming user habits so everyone can happily use pirated software!

There's no way around it, engineering students are really tough guys, and Rorschach can attest to that, because he was one of them once too.

Regardless, this method is worth learning from. Essentially, it involves paying apprentices to study technical manuals and get hands-on experience, then building an ecosystem. Especially given the current severe shortage of qualified teachers, aside from Rorschach occasionally appearing on the podium, Caroline is in charge of the teaching, and the mage Valuwa, who entered Bain for refuge with Andrei, fills in.

Fortunately, spellcasters today still possess the tenacious spirit of self-learning fostered by the long-term monopoly of knowledge; as long as they have books to read, they will grit their teeth and start learning.

In short, just as the Kingdom of Bain was recovering from the minor "alchemy magic," the "Bain Stable Insurance Cup - First National Magic Apprentice Spell String Design Competition" officially kicked off amidst a massive publicity campaign.

This match successfully dominated Byrne's newspaper headlines for three reasons:

First, the organizers gave far too much; second, it can be said that almost all the property owners in Byrne, big and small, sponsored the competition, although it was involuntary and sponsored by insurance companies that harvested their money; third, the participants were in groups of three to five, and there had to be a non-spellcaster involved.

Teams composed entirely of mages will be disqualified from the competition.

The main force of the competition consists of apprentices who have recently joined the Mage Tower. Rorschach's Mage Tower is a disorganized structure, and the apprentices recruited from the Arcane Tower are simply housed with students from other schools. The only positive aspect for the apprentices is the availability of study rooms and brand-new alchemy equipment.

In addition to study rooms, the accommodation area also has a common lounge, which was deliberately designed in a classical style. Following Rorschach's strange instructions, a fireplace with a constant flame magic was lit in the middle of summer. Rorschach himself cast the spell in front of the other apprentices and said, "If you feel hot, try to put it out."

In the lounge, aside from those summoning ice and water and battling with the "Eternal Fireplace," everyone else was discussing the competition and studying the technical manual: "The standard frequency bands of features and the four connection methods of descriptors are as follows."

"Within the timeline, the essence of a spell inscription is a calibration point for the sequence of events."

An apprentice angrily threw down his precious manual: "What is all this nonsense? I give up!" Compared to the mysterious secret arts and metaphysical magical theories of the past, the apprentice who came out of the Tower of Arcane Arts found himself plunging into another pit, and this pit was filled with a "strange smell".

This strange flavor came from another world. Rorschach brought it out and coerced the new members of the Mage Tower to taste it, lying that it was "extremely fresh and extremely delicious."

His teammate immediately reminded him: "The team that wins first place in the group gets 8,000 Golden Eagle Coins, and the second place team gets 5,000. Even the participation prize means everyone can choose a scroll of a third-circle spell and get points."

The apprentice, who had angrily thrown his book after being overwhelmed by the strange smell, immediately changed his expression and carefully smoothed out the creases in the manual: "Oh, I was just venting. Keep going, keep going." Of course, not everyone could get a "water-ink screen scroll" that could be updated in real time like Richard. All the apprentices received ordinary printed materials.

Team participation is another insidious aspect of Rorschach's strategy. If someone participates alone, they're likely to give up easily when faced with difficulties. However, in a team, members support each other, and if someone shows signs of wanting to quit, other teammates will lend a helping hand to ensure their efforts aren't wasted. As for the possibility of a collective surrender, Rorschach can only prevent it through his "money magic."

Of course, there is also a situation where the "backbone" of the team is forced to complete a task that is not their responsibility.

"Back then, after I finished the process, I had to help revise the drawings. To call it revisions was practically the same as redrawing them! That damned teammate just patted his butt and took a break." In the dead of night, Luo Xia was so angry when he thought about this at his workbench that he smashed the "Spider Assault Construct Magic Circuit Layout Diagram (Draft)" with a hammer.

Meanwhile, Feuerbach was also holding a meeting with other professors from the Arcane Tower. The meeting room was cool, but most of the attendees were somewhat agitated.

An older, balding monk, who enjoys mountain climbing as a hobby, was the first to speak up: "Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"

There were many absurdities. First and foremost, what the professors at the Arcane Tower hadn't anticipated was that far more apprentices were willing to go to Rorschach's Tower than they had expected. Although they couldn't say it aloud, many mages in the tower shared an underlying thought: I can refuse to teach those less talented apprentices, but you can't steal my students.

If it weren't for this particular time, Rorschach might not have been able to poach so many people. But with the overall economic downturn, the pressure on families has been passed on to these students who have taken time off work, and Varang's meddling in the financial markets has greatly accelerated this process.

The mages of the Arcane Tower enjoy the best treatment and squander spellcasting materials. They only "focus on their studies and delve into advanced magical techniques," and are even unaware that the Magic Guild has already reduced their salaries.

Rorschach "broke a hole" in the Tower of Arcane Arts, allowing not only the apprentices trapped inside who could not advance to escape, but also letting these tower mages, who thought that Bain and the world had not changed, glimpse the truth of the outside world through the gap, a reality that made them ashamed and angry.

What's even more outrageous is that, in order to work together to achieve their goal, the apprentices in each team have started exchanging spells, including the students under their command who have begun learning first- or second-circle magic and even higher-level magic.

Previously, due to the learning costs and spellcasting difficulties, the magic exchanged between members of the mutual aid groups was limited to zero-ring and a few first-ring spells, so the teachers of the Arcane Tower could turn a blind eye. Now, under the guise of a competition, the magic personally taught by the teachers is even being directly spread to the new students.

For the sharers, this isn't a loss. Everyone has spells they're good at, and now they can exchange them. Plus, completing the competition and qualifying for the finals will earn them a third-level spell as a prize—it's a win-win situation. Most importantly, anyone with common sense can see that the emergence of "Spell Cloud" will lower the learning curve, making low-level spells less "precious."

What was most outrageous was that Rorschach stipulated that the group must include ordinary people, and even thoughtfully provided team-building suggestions, such as seeking out students from the University of Technology of America for those involved in Transfiguration or Evocation magic. Through this opportunity, many apprentices and ordinary university students learned for the first time what the other was studying and what they were capable of.

In Rorschach's Mage Tower, communication between students from both sides is very easy, but it's somewhat difficult for teams from the Arcane Tower to find ordinary teammates. Fortunately, the difficulty is temporary. Apprentices from the Arcane Tower only need to recruit in taverns in big cities, and many college students, driven by curiosity and longing for magic, will voluntarily travel over mountains and rivers to the small mountain village at the foot of the Arcane Tower.

For ordinary people, if they win a prize in the competition, the prize money is substantial. Even if they are shortlisted, they can get a second-level scroll (one level lower than the prize for a mage and they cannot choose a learning scroll). It's guaranteed to make money, provided that they are invited by an apprentice.

Merchants sensed an opportunity, and soon public carriages began to appear, new inns were built in the small mountain village, and even bustling trading markets emerged, with all sorts of questionable divination trinkets, amulets, and potions appearing on stalls, along with other small business groups.

Although the Arcane Tower's defenses remained open, preventing ordinary people from seeing it, the constant flow of apprentices meant everyone knew of its existence and location. The Arcane Tower had finally evolved from a "minor hideout in the forest" to a "major hideout in the city." Even with the Magic Guild's mandate to expel outsiders, the thriving temporary lodging and gatherings were merely a symbolic shift away from the outside world.

The outsiders were very bold, and the magic guild staff in charge of carrying out the operation were very lazy.

"Now that things have come to this, please give the order, Master! The apprentices in the tower must be banned from participating in that competition!"

(End of this chapter)