A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 68 Two Illusions

During his convalescence, Rorschach received many letters, all of which were "reader letters" to his published papers.

Kano temporarily handed over the History of Magic class to Pascal. After waking up in his dormitory, Rorschach picked up a letter, opened it, and read:

"Master Rorschach, your experiments and conclusions still seem flawed and arbitrary to me. My colleagues and the dwarf still insist on the caloric theory."

However, your design of a series of experiments, collection of data, and attempts to explain them using mathematical logic are inspiring. I would like to discuss with you the experimental design and statistical characterization methods for verifying the following conjectures.

He glanced at it quickly, then opened another letter:

"Respected Venerable Luo Xia:

I couldn't agree more with your conclusion! I was deeply inspired when I saw your attempts to extend the principle of equivalent exchange in terms of energy!

But allow me to point out that attempting to use general logic to deduce magical phenomena is unwise! Especially using mathematical tools is dangerous; its abstraction process distorts our intuitive perception of ether, hardening our intellect. Trust your keen intuition.”

What? Aren't these two letters completely opposite? He suddenly thought of exchanging mailing addresses so that they could have a friendly offline exchange.

Rorschach then opened a few more letters, briefly replying to some of the questions, and directly using the [Decomposition Technique] on the more aggressive ones.

In addition to the reinforced alchemy classroom, the rooms in the Tower of Stars also include dedicated practice rooms for mages and apprentices, equipped with protection and regular maintenance by intermediate-level mages.

There is a high demand for practice within the tower. New apprentices can only apply under the guidance of a teacher, while apprentices in their third year or later are allowed to apply in groups of three. Rorschach's authority allows him to book five hours per ten-day period, and the first ten-day period was used by his temporary assistant, the apprentice Pascal, as a reward.

"Mr. Rorschach, your reserved practice room time is almost over in half an hour." The tower spirit's voice rang out, and Rorschach subconsciously replied, "Thank you." The tower spirit actually became very polite: "Master Rorschach, you're welcome."

This tower spirit is pretty good; it would be great if the panel could have a voice assistant. Thinking this, Luo Xia took the reply with him. He had observed during his last mail pickup that, besides having materials purchased from the guild delivered to the mailroom, mail could also be sent through the mailroom.

Even after mailing the letter, Rorschach still went out to Stella's Gardens and found Gasd Yaz, whose fur was unusually colored, in the artificial lake. He took out the small fish and grain porridge he had left from the canteen from his storage ring.

"Guest, Guest?" Rorschach called out twice, planning to grab him if he ignored him.

"Caw! Caw!" Gested swam over quickly, its tail feathers swaying rapidly, and then...

Two more white ducks, even cuter than Gested, emerged from the reeds on the bank. They called softly to Gested while cautiously observing Rorschach and swimming at a distance.

Rorschach was about to say that Yaz hadn't lost weight but had actually gained weight when he saw its two pretty little followers.

"Could they all be female ducks?"

"Gah!" Gast reached the shore and tried to bite Rorschach's sleeve again.

Rorschach was furious and dismissed the guy with a fish and grain porridge: "You deserve to die! I was worried you'd lost weight, and you're here building a harem?"

"Quack quack!" Gasté herded one of the ducks ashore and pushed it in front of Rorschach. Rorschach then noticed that the duck's wing was injured, faintly red, and must have been broken. Such injuries are occasionally seen in birds that fly regularly, but in the artificial lake, such an injury to the duck was most likely caused by fighting.

Rorschach could indeed try the [Resurrection Technique], but he was testing it right now. He used the air to dry the duck, then picked it up.

The white duck was very fluffy, and the oil it secreted prevented the cold lake water from completely soaking its feathers. Whether out of fear or pain, the duck in Luo Xia's arms didn't quack, but just trembled uncontrollably.

The boy returned to the Tower of Stars and entered the room he had reserved. Its ceiling was significantly higher than a normal single floor, and all four walls had illuminated passageways. In one corner were piles of broken and brand-new straw figures.

【The Forest of Delyuats】 is activated, similar to the effect of the sub-plane, summoning a dense forest shimmering with blue fireflies in the training room.

However, unlike the blood-consuming rituals and the summons for the final battle against the divine corpse, the trees here are composed entirely of blue phosphorescence; no real trees sprout from the ground. As the panel's annotation states: it is merely a phantom of the forest god's homeland.

Rorschach ran his hand over the tree trunk, feeling its rough texture.

There were no real trees, but there were physical entities, which greatly consumed the magic power in the body. Rorschach recorded the situation after casting the spell.

The duck strolled into the forest, and glimmers of firefly light clung to its wings as it walked through the treetops. Rorschach picked it up and checked that its wound had healed, just as he had guessed.

[Magic Drive] Trying to absorb the magic of the environment into his body, Rorschach discovered that activating it in the "Deryaz Forest" was different from directly reversing the blue bar. If he directly absorbed the aether in the environment, Rorschach would enter a state of excitement or even on the verge of losing control, based on his experience. Now, absorbing magic, the fireflies were also absorbed into his body, as natural and easy as breathing.

Meanwhile, the forest's fireflies gradually faded away, slowly thinning outwards.

Rorschach activated the spell again, and the small forest in the room became bright and full once more. However, the drain on the caster caused Rorschach to sit down against a tree and slowly absorb the blue fluorescent light.

He took out a larger notebook from his storage ring and began sketching with charcoal pencils. Yes, he was sketching the forest in front of him. After roughly drawing it, he summoned a leaf to fall into his palm at his own will and depicted its shape.

Having done all this, he completely absorbed all the fireflies in the forest, then stood in the same spot and activated [Deryaz Forest] again.

Exactly the same. Rorschach's painting and the forest he had summoned again remained unchanged. It seemed this corner was a fixed location. Now that he was certain, Rorschach remembered his promise to the stag god and took out the beetle amber from his pocket.

The amber dissipated, and the beetle silently flapped its wings as it circled through the forest.

Whether it's to fulfill a promise or to find the remains of a deity's former residence, it's quite interesting. However, the Black Forest is vast, and it's difficult to pinpoint its location using only these materials. Rorschach then drew several more pictures of different kinds of leaves.

"Go on, go find that damned Yaz." Rorschach returned to the artificial lake and released the white ducks. The two swam around each other, wagging their tails. "Quack quack!" Yaz called out to Rorschach twice more.

"Consider this your way of thanking me." With that, Luo Xia turned and left. He was going to the library to look up natural history information and compare the specific species corresponding to the leaves.

At the Valuana Stock Exchange, the spacious hall was already decorated with signs. The traders were like soldiers on the verge of battle, and everyone in the room was quietly watching Necker in the center, while Varan adjusted his bow tie.

Although Varen was now the general manager of the Saliana Mining Company, he always treated his benefactor with the utmost respect.

"Are you done?"

"Perfect, sir."

"Alright, open the door!" The door swung open, and well-informed business managers and noble representatives rushed in, some carrying banknotes, some carrying gold coins, and others carrying checks and government bonds.

The crowd was bustling and noisy.

The exchange's bells drowned out all other sounds. Necker glanced around, his chest involuntarily expanding like a crowing rooster. He laughed inwardly: The Holy Kingdom's largest casino had finally opened!

Thank you to readers Icefield Traveler and 20220709213355712 for your monthly tickets, thank you to reader Tomorrow Wants to Eat Spicy Food for your 2 monthly tickets, and thank you to all the readers who voted for your recommendation votes, including Vae, Wind Dances Chongyang, Theorist (Traditional), and Infinite Rain!

(End of this chapter)