A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 56 Observing Last Night's Stars

After finishing his brunch at the Starlight Torch Tower, Kano didn't go downstairs, but instead went up to an elevator that wasn't open to the public.

The elevator scanned Kano's red-light mage badge and quietly and smoothly ascended to the top floor of the Starlight Torch Tower.

Aside from being used for other purposes on the king's birthday, this place is usually the magic guild's observatory.

"Have you finished compiling last night's astronomical data?" It's noon now, and the equipment, especially the stargazing lenses, has been cleaned and maintained. Another team is calculating and drawing last night's star map.

"Master Cano, you've arrived." The thinning-haired man approached and handed Cano a star chart with a blue background. "I was just about to report to you that last night's star chart deviated by at least five points from its normal value. We suspect there's a problem with the equipment, and it needs to be inspected."

Kano didn't agree immediately. He took the data, examined it carefully, and asked, "How was the weather yesterday?"

"It's as good as most days in winter. The clouds are thin and the visibility is excellent."

"Give me a timeline chart showing the location of a planet. I need it to compare last night's data with data from the same period last year."

"Yes, please wait a moment."

Location data shows that around 2 a.m., the celestial bodies began to deviate from their usual orbits, and the degree of deviation continued to increase.

"I've taken this image with me; the equipment should be fine."

Kano turned to leave in a hurry, but before he left, the person in charge couldn't help but ask him, "Master, what happened this time?"

"Transforming Dust Stream!"

Transmutated dust carrying celestial bodies floats in the void, usually only pulled back and forth by the gravitational and magnetic fields of the celestial bodies, and on an astronomical scale, it can be regarded as the entire layer of matter being stationary. But what if it starts to move?

Although it is still unclear what kind of power drives them, Kano's long-term research allows him to speculate that perhaps the world's large-scale teleportation magic will be disrupted.

Inside the research institute, Pascal was running around the lobby with documents in his hands when Kano was caught red-handed as soon as he entered: "Teacher, the Magic Guild's mail transmission matrix is ​​completely malfunctioning today. They want you to come and take a look."

"I know, I know, I'm not going. There are more important things to do now. It's the turbulent flow of metamorphosis."

"Transformation Dust Stream?" Pascal, who had participated in the research, understood what it meant: "The sub-plane where my junior brother resides."

Kano waved his hand and walked inside. He needed to find Snow, and many other people: "Where's Granor? Did you see that old man at the Magic Guild?"

"Master Granor should be in the Stonemasons' Guild."

"Bring him here! Bring the blueprints for that teleportation array!" Kano roared, "If you don't want his precious son to turn into a pile of mush in that wretched place! Tell him to come here right now! And Snow, Snow! Fill the boiler of the steam engine and get it burning!"

Within the subplane, Rorschach, along with all the spellcasters, clearly felt the ether concentration rise again.

They were as if they were in boiling water, the active environmental ether constantly attacking and disrupting their intrinsic magic, making many of them extremely uncomfortable. But Rorschach was an exception; he had already experienced this feeling, and with the blessing of "magic control," the environmental ether around him was "tamed" and kept very well-behaved.

The deer-headed god called us "spirit exorcists," which makes sense in that sense.

The rise in ether concentration was like the first wave before a tsunami. "Ugh—" Some apprentices felt extremely uncomfortable and began to dry heave.

"What's wrong with you all? Have you forgotten the first lesson of a sorcerer?" Ina's anger flared as she saw the apprentices' uncooperative reactions. "Maintain your breathing rhythm, and actively mobilize the ether in your environment. Don't let it wash over and invade your intellect!"

On the other side, François, as the only son of Archmage Granor, had already memorized the teleportation array for the return journey. He arrived at the huge array he had come from. Yesterday's construction had made the pattern somewhat blurry, so François quickly cleared the trajectory and filled in the missing parts.

"So intense?" The concentration of ether in the environment still exceeded François's expectations. As soon as the first loop was connected, an etheric vortex acted on it, attempting to tear space apart.

François used his own magic to neutralize the vortex and continued to draw.

"It's done, you two. Let's try it together."

Rorschach and Ina also stood on either side of François along the edge of the magic circle. Following the direction of the flow of environmental ether controlled by the loop, the magic circle gradually lit up and began to emit blue light.

"No, this isn't normal." François panicked. He had his apprentice stick a wooden stick into the blue light. Instantly, the stick was knocked out, and the part that had been inserted was pulverized.

"We've failed. Let's organize the people and prepare for evacuation first." Ina calmly assessed the situation. "Rorschach and François, you two organize the apprentices and workers, pack them with food, and try not to cause a riot. I'll try to contact the leader again."

"Okay." "As you wish, madam."

Meanwhile, Nemo also realized the seriousness of the situation. He and Ina had each cast spells and mastered half of the team's arcane marks, and their sensitivity to the brass cards was no longer sharp.

"Teacher, the ether concentration is still rising rapidly." Nemo's apprentice team members, who were also his own students, carried many surveying instruments, including an ether concentration meter, which was about to reach its range—a value that was impossible to achieve in this plane.

"Is anyone feeling particularly unwell right now? Please distribute some herbal candies."

"OK."

Nemo thought for a moment: "Rest for five minutes, remove all equipment, distribute herbal candy and water, and prepare for a forced march. Place any supplies that may slow our advance where they are."

The apprentice realized there was a big problem: "Yes." He then sped up everyone's movements.

Another apprentice, carrying communication equipment, received signals, transcribed them, and converted them into text: "Teacher, received signal from the base, severe interference."

Nemo took it, his brow furrowing: "A disaster struck from the sky, teleportation failed."

It wasn't hard to guess that they couldn't go back. Nemo looked around at their surroundings. They were in a valley with a huge crevice.

After considering it over, Nemo said to the communications officer, "Send the message as I said, three times."

Ina also has a receiver, which was originally kept in her cave, but has now been moved outdoors to get a better signal.

After gathering his apprentices, Rorschach consulted with Ina about their next steps. He noticed that the instrument, besides its intricate magical circuits, contained something very familiar to him—a clear, vibrating quartz crystal pillar. It was fixed at both ends and its entire body was wrapped in mithril wire.

"The product that the Alchemy Institute is testing."

The vibrating quartz crystal seemed to receive a signal, causing an extended mithril wire to tremble. Ina dipped its tip in ink and applied the trembling dot to the steadily spinning paper strip.

Taking down the translator, Ina frowned: "The background signal is too cluttered, and the ether in the environment is very agitated." After a while, she breathed a sigh of relief: "Nemo sent it three times."

Our team's location is in a huge cave, a place to take refuge, for two hours.

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(End of this chapter)