A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 123 Temporary Workers at the First School of the Holy Kingdom

Rorschach noticed that things always seemed to happen all at once. Just last month, he was able to manage his studies and life independently, but these past few days, the boy suddenly realized he needed magic to create clones.

To help Rorschach secure funding quickly, Master Cano thoughtfully informed him that his thesis proposal defense had been moved up. Rorschach was also reminded to prepare lessons and select or compile textbooks for the basic alchemy course at the Higher Normal School of Valuana. Well, the latter predicament was entirely due to Rorschach having completely forgotten about it.

With tears in his eyes, he expressed his deep gratitude to his mentor.

Since His Majesty the King did not contribute much money and the Tower of Stars was not very enthusiastic about the school, many seats on the board of directors of Valuwana High School were won by sponsors. Upon closer examination, many of these big bosses were backed by magic guilds, so the guilds were quite satisfied with the result.

Nowadays, many mage families plan to send their children to study at the High Master Academy if they do not inherit magical talent and cannot become apprentices. Merchant companies, on the other hand, will use the quotas they receive after sponsoring others to train successors, as well as to reward the children of middle-level partners or even small families.

Half of the three hundred students in this preparatory course were children of "insiders" from the aforementioned magic guilds, making the sponsors feel that their money was well spent. The remaining half of the students were selected from free schools and monasteries organized by the church. Although the guilds could no longer interfere with the students' beliefs, the church promised not to accept the graduates as clergy at the joint request of the king and the sponsors.

"The Church of Order would agree to this?" Rorschach was greatly shocked. There was such a thing as a reverse selection process?

Cano explained, "This was personally agreed to by the bishop of St. Miller's Cathedral. In exchange, he proposed that outstanding graduates would be given priority in receiving assignments from the kingdom."

In fact, Deplesi's view was consistent: if students who have been trained with such great effort all end up returning to monasteries to study scriptures, and they themselves cannot learn divine magic, then joining the church will only allow them to debate with people, grow peas, and brew wine, which will be of no benefit to the country.

Among the sponsors were newspaper giants. Even though the Higher Normal School had only enrolled its first batch of preparatory students, the opening ceremony was widely reported. These newspapers blew it up, with the slogan "To cultivate the best teachers for the advancement of human wisdom and art!" In the eyes of the public, it was as if the school was a holy kingdom, no, the number one school in mainland China.

Since returning from the secondary plane, Rorschach had had enough of the excitement and didn't attend the opening ceremony. He only entered the "Kingdom's Number One School" the next day, the day he was supposed to teach, carrying his lesson plan and classroom supplies.

The academy is now located in the same building as Rorschach's alma mater, a castle with courtyards. The courtyard structure is divided into two teaching areas, an office area, and a dormitory area. However, this year's students and their families are all native Valuana people, and not many actually live on campus.

"Professor Luo Xiafa, this is the teaching building. Your timetable should indicate your classroom. Do you need me to accompany you?" The school janitor introduced the college layout to Luo Xiafa. Since the teachers were currently borrowed from various places, there were only teaching and research offices and no teacher had a private office, so Luo Xiafa didn't go to see them.

I leave right after class, I don't need an office at all!

The classroom wasn't very large; Rorschach glanced around and saw about forty people sitting there. At the back sat the mage Snow, who nodded to Rorschach. Also listening was an old man, lean and upright, with a white beard, though he hadn't let it grow unchecked; it was neatly trimmed into a full beard.

Luo Xia had also sensed the air of an old man in the Chief of Staff; clearly, he was also a soldier, or rather, he used to be one.

Why would someone like this be listening in? But seeing that Master Snow didn't seem to notice anything amiss, Rorschach pretended not to see anything and continued lecturing the new students.

All the students sat quietly and upright in their seats. Their clothes weren't as nice as the apprentices at the Tower of Stars, nor were they as "greasy" as those of the middle and upper-grade apprentices. They weren't surprised to see a teacher who was their age, and their eyes were full of innocence as they looked at Rorschach. Let's just say they were eyes yearning for knowledge. Their discipline was better than the apprentices', which made Rorschach feel a little more at ease.

After introducing himself, Rorschach laid out his experimental props as planned. He intended to make a good impression in the first class, to lure these newcomers into his trap, using the methods his chemistry teacher from his previous life often employed.

"Before the class officially begins, we'll do a small experiment. Students near the window, please close your curtains. Thank you." After saying that, Luo Xia turned off the classroom lights.

The entire space darkened, and Rorschach struck a match to light the alcohol torch. Everyone's attention was drawn to the torch's pale blue outer flame and pale yellow inner flame.

"Please pay attention to the color of the flame." Yes, Rorschach was going to conduct a flame test, and he thought this little trick was easy to prepare and had a good demonstration effect.

He pinched the air bladder of the spray bottle, which was usually used to store perfume in Valuana, but the spray bottle Rorschach was holding now contained an ethanol solution of copper chloride. A small amount of the solution was sprayed into the flame of the alcohol lamp, where it was instantly vaporized and ignited by the high temperature, producing a beautiful bluish-green flame.

He also prepared spray bottles containing boric acid-ethanol solution and potassium chloride-ethanol solution. These things would take a lot of effort to make in this world. Boric acid was readily available, while potassium chloride was obtained by Rorschach from burning wood ash, leaching, filtering, and adding hydrochloric acid.

Unfortunately, my efforts don't seem to have yielded the desired results; why is the classroom still so quiet? Give me some feedback!

Luo Xia had expected the students below the stage to make "Oh~" sounds, but with the light of the blowtorch, the teacher on the stage only saw the expressionless students below the stage. They were still watching him operate with clear eyes, but now Luo Xia saw those eyes as blank.

To liven up the classroom atmosphere, Luo Xia, a non-teacher-training student from his previous life, thought of interacting with students.

"Look, we just successfully changed the color of the flame. Anyone want to try it too?"

Rorschach waited for a while before a student finally broke the silence, saying cautiously, "But we don't know magic, Mr. Rorschach."

So that's what these guys were thinking.

"What's your name?"

"Louis, sir." Was the teacher angry? The student began to regret answering. Louis had previously studied at a church-run school, where he had tasted the bitterness of punishment many times. Those monk teachers, in order to maintain classroom order, would brandish their illustrious canes at any time.

"Okay, Louis, please come up to the stage. Be careful not to trip."

After the student stood on the stage, Luo Xia handed him a spray bottle containing potassium chloride ethanol solution: "Please spray this lamp, but don't squeeze the air bag too hard, and don't spray it at the students."

Louis had no choice but to do as he was told. To his and his classmates' surprise, their operation also successfully changed the color of the flame. Although the interference of the yellow light from sodium ions was not completely eliminated, the purple light from potassium ions was still clearly visible.

A small commotion broke out in the classroom. But that was exactly what Rorschach wanted.

The color of potassium ions wasn't easy to observe, so Rorschach had Louis spray it again. Then, he picked up the last spray bottle: "Louis, you can go now. Thanks for your cooperation. Anyone else want to conjure up the third color?"

"Me!" "Me, teacher!" The class finally came alive; Rorschach had chosen a girl this time. The flame color of boric acid is also green, but compared to copper, it's more yellowish, a beautiful emerald green.

The classroom was lit again, and Rorschach tidied up the experimental equipment: "Louis said you didn't know magic, but as you can see, changing the color of a flame doesn't require anyone to manipulate ether. In fact, I haven't used any magic since I entered this classroom."

This is also why Rorschach deliberately lit the alcohol torch with a match: "In the first lesson, I want to tell you all that alchemy is a discipline that studies the transformation of matter and the creation of new things. I would even call it an art. Even if you are not spellcasters, you can do things comparable to magic with your own knowledge."

After that, a student raised their hand and asked, "Can we do things that magic can't?"

Upon hearing this, both the sorcerer Snow and the old man, who were listening in, waited with great interest to hear Rorschach's response.

Due to a fever, a splitting headache, and numerous other symptoms, I used up two large packs of tissues yesterday and today. My typing speed has become snail-paced, but there will be a second update tonight.

(End of this chapter)