A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 572 Friendship and Bonds

Martin acquired a "spirit pet." Martin wanted to show it off to his girlfriend. Martin was in a hurry, and so was Rorschach.

"Don't go, where are you going? This isn't over yet." Rorschach used [Mage's Hand] to hold down Martin, who was trying to slip away: "We're here to test your spellcasting ability."

"Oh right, sorry."

The puppy leaped lightly onto Martin's shoulder, baring its canine teeth at the scoundrel who was restricting its owner's freedom.

Rorschach was furious. He glared at the little beast, which scared it so much that it quickly burrowed into Martin's arms, its tail between its legs and trembling.

"Coward," Rorschach scoffed. He first taught Martin Jaber the syllable of "Qi" in his native tongue.

After learning it, Martin silently recited it in his mind. From Rorschach's perspective, there was indeed a thread connecting the pet and himself.

Martin felt a surge of energy; he seemed to gain a different feeling, his senses were extended, and not only that, a warm current flowed slowly through his body.

Is this what it feels like to be bathed in magic? Martin's eyes suddenly welled up with tears.

Why is this kid about to cry? Luo Xia tilted his head: "Is something wrong?"

"No, no."

"If you don't have any, hurry up and learn a few spells to try." With that, Rorschach pulled out several scrolls and threw them in front of Martin, just like a parent who's been pushing their child to learn a lot of supplementary materials.

"Do I have to learn how to use so many reels?" Martin was taken aback.

"Bart and Andrei are the ones who received this treatment; you're the third. What's wrong? Is there something you're not happy about?"

Rorschach's tone was unfriendly, which frightened Martin so much that he said, "No, no, it's just that I've never been exposed to these things before, and I'm afraid I can't digest so much all of this suddenly, Professor Rorschach."

"Of course you can't digest it. When I graduated, I only mastered three spells. If you learn them all tonight, I'll find a pea and a sausage and smash my head against it right now."

Although the spell cloud reduced the difficulty, Martin was still a novice. He started from zero rings, and surprisingly, after testing many scrolls, the first spell he learned was [Repair].

They tore a small hole in the paper, and then the man and the dog stared intently at the tear, the dog even developing cross-eyed from staring so hard.

Then the edge healed with a small patch, perhaps two millimeters? Or three millimeters? Unless you were staring intently, you would never notice the difference before and after the spell was cast.

Rorschach hadn't expected Martin to be good at alteration.

During the casting of spells, Martin's magical dog takes over the role of the "contractee" in sensing, gathering, and manipulating magic. But most importantly, Martin is responsible for manipulating the magic and seeking help from the Tree of Law, requiring his brain to be constantly working.

So, like other mages, Martin also needs to constantly learn how to cast spells, even though the spellcasting process has been simplified by the spell cloud.

By the time his mental energy was exhausted and his temples were throbbing, the dog was panting heavily with its tongue lolling out. In the end, the paper was not restored to its original state.

"I was so close." Martin said with great regret, "And is [Repair] the only skill I can learn?" He felt it wasn't cool at all, and was even quite boring.

Rorschach also lamented the loss of a fellow psychic barbarian, and comforted him, saying, "This is just a test to see if you can begin to learn magic; it's only the beginning."

"The apprentices are about to take their final exams. You can join the tower as a transfer student starting next semester. I'll make arrangements with both the magic tower and the factory so you can take a paid long-term leave and study under a teacher in the tower."

"Thank you!" Martin, who had finally knocked on the door to a new world, rekindled his hope.

"Aren't you going to name your magical pet?"

"Well, never mind, I need to ask Hannah's opinion."

"Go ahead, go ahead."

Rorschach thoughtfully assigned him to Hannah's research group. Unaware of this, Hannah, seeing Martin for the first time in the magic tower, exclaimed with wide eyes, "What are you doing here? Where did you find this puppy?"

Hannah could hardly believe it when Martin finished explaining, until he demonstrated his clumsy [Repair] spell. The spell still couldn't fully work, but Hannah could sense the magical fluctuations—emanating from the puppy.

"Master Rorschach is incredible. Can a natural spellcaster also have a magical pet? It's so cute." Hannah teased the puppy with her slender fingertips, while Martin also felt a slight ticklish sensation.

"It should be possible, but it will take a lot of time, and I feel that the materials and goldsmithing tools used are quite valuable."

"That's not something we're considering." Hannah shook her head. "Come on, I'll take you to familiarize yourself with the lab. Also, you should use this time to study the manuals and textbooks. You should be able to take the first apprentice exam, which is in the latter half of the month."

"The content of the first term is very simple. You are a college student, there is no need for you to sit in the same classroom as a group of kids. If you pass the exam, you can join the second term class when the semester starts."

"Uh, only ten days?"

"Actually, it's less than ten days, but you only need to memorize some theories. Just look at thirty to forty pages every day. The rest, such as arithmetic and drawing, which are difficult for others, will definitely not be a problem for you."

No, no, no, this is a big problem. Martin recalled the time he spent cramming on accounting with Hannah before his internship. Back then, Hannah was very gentle: "Master Rorschach said that if you don't have time for the exam, you can just join the next semester."

The gentle Hannah was gone. She grabbed Martin's wrist and said fiercely, "Where's your ambition? Master Rorschach said that to avoid putting too much pressure on you, but you have to live up to his expectations!"

"I'll give you extra lessons starting tonight."

"Okay, fine." Martin and the dog, who still hadn't been named, trembled together.

Rorschach was still in the lab, feeling a bit of a headache. Martin was the first to try it, and so far it seemed to be successful.

As the first contracted recipient, he has special significance. On the one hand, even a magic insulator can gain the ability to cast spells through an "external cheat," which shows that others can do it even more.

On the other hand, he had been cultivating symbiotes for a long time, and this time he only proved the feasibility of Rorschach's idea, but it was still similar to the elves relying on biotechnology, and the cost was high.

That's still a long way from Luo Xia's ideal. What he wants is for his fifty-dollar good brother to upgrade to a seventy-five-dollar magical good brother, or even a hundred-dollar brother who is still my Dong-ge's, no, Luo-ge's brother.

But if everyone is an elite force built up with 500 yuan like Martin, then it doesn't make much sense.

Assuming Rorschach hadn't interfered with the subsequent developments, this technology would have been affordable only to the super-rich, making it Matthew's favorite episode.

"We need to reduce costs, shorten the cultivation cycle, and get rid of our dependence on organisms." Rorschach set the goals for the next stage.

However, to be fair, Martin's summoned creatures are quite interesting. Imagine a group of contracted individuals signing contracts with these beast-like summons, and then engaging in magical duels using their summons.

Then summoning gyms will open all over the world, and national tournaments will be held, allowing teenagers to shout about friendship and bonds and enjoy their youth.

"Hmm, not bad, at least it's much better than dating." Luo Xia nodded repeatedly, sitting alone in the lab.

(End of this chapter)