A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 133 First Test of the Collector

"Another peaceful day begins!" Rorschach stretched and got up. Today was the day to assemble and test the prototype transmutation dust collector. As agreed, the Alchemy Department should deliver and install the parts in the morning.

"Master Luo Xia, Master Snow asked me to tell you that our appointment needs to be postponed to this afternoon because the Alchemy Department is closed this morning."

This was something Luo Xia hadn't expected. The Alchemy Department even had holidays, so he could only accept it.

Because the instrument was designed as a cylindrical shape, Rorschach's experimental field required a relatively high ceiling, so Carnot allocated him an unused area on the second floor of his research building to construct it.

At the very top of the device is a reversed teleportation array. According to Cano's findings, once connected to the etheric stream and activated, it will spew out transmutation dust, with the expected time being around three seconds.

The ejected transmutation dust will fall vertically within the cylindrical inner space, where it will be neutralized by multiple magic arrays. To test different magic arrays, Rorschach designed a prototype device that was not a single piece, but rather a double-layered structure:

The outer layer is a relatively solid brass protective shell. For safety, it is engraved with the series of magic arrays from the previous Cano crystal protective shield. Once activated, it will impact the ability released by the Ethereal Dust.

The inner layer is a segmented liner, each segment containing a spell chosen by Rorschach, allowing him to easily change or rearrange the order. It is installed by stacking from bottom to top, and the material chosen by Rorschach is ceramic.

The mainland already had a technique for making pipes using ceramic firing. Now, Rorschach's tower section and pipes are similar in shape, making it easy to find manufacturers to process them. In addition, his [Stone Shaping Technique] allows for fine-tuning. To improve the affinity with the ether, the Alchemy Department provided a solution to mix spiritual minerals into the raw clay.

The outer shell and the inner liner have a significant difference in diameter, creating a gap between the two layers. Rorschach uses this space to circulate alchemical ink to power the magic array on the inner liner, an idea inspired by the airbag protection system on airships.

In the afternoon, everything he ordered arrived, and the guys from the refining department came to install it. The main task was to install and secure the brass casing and piping; the rough blanks for the ceramic tower sections were left aside for Rorschach to process himself.

Snow also arrived, and looking at the device designed by Rorschach, he suggested, "Should we install stronger protection in the laboratory? It would be difficult to deal with if transmutation dust leaked elsewhere."

Luo Xia shook his head and smiled: "Master Cano must be heartbroken." The project's nominal "opening defense" has not yet been completed, and all the funds are coming from Cano's group's accounts, which means that all the funding is currently provided by Cano.

However, another factor is that, due to the characteristics of transmutation dust, the laboratory's protection is ultimately disposable. In the event of an accidental eruption, Rorschach himself can cast the [Deryaz Forest] protection, which should be more effective than ordinary protective magic arrays.

"Brother, the money belongs to Professor Cano, but your life is your own." However, Snow was just giving a heads-up and didn't delve into it. Anyway, Rorschach was already a mid-level mage whose level was higher than his, so he should bear all the consequences himself.

A large glass jar of alchemical ink was also filled. A quartz tube level gauge and an ether concentration indicator were connected to the lead jar. A mithril metal fork, similar to the "hot water heater" used by Rorschach in his previous life, was inserted into the liquid. After the ether of the alchemical ink was consumed, it could be connected to the ether for charging.

"When you're filling the jacket with fluid, you press this manual pump," Snow explained.

There was no water power or any "magic pump." The experimenter manually cranked the alchemical ink into the jacket. The inlet of the pipeline was a one-way valve, and the outlet could be adjusted by Rorschach himself.

"My suggestion is to have the alchemical ink enter and exit the cycle simultaneously during startup. If done properly, the magic circle's power supply will be stable."

"I know." As the designer, Luo Xia naturally understood how his equipment worked. It was just that the pump was a bit primitive. He had only indicated that he needed a circulating power, but it turned out to be a manual pump.

"Master Luo Xia, we've finished installing it. Please take a look."

Once the equipment was assembled, Rorschach used his Wizard Hands to stack the ceramic tower sections sequentially from bottom to top. The bottom layer consisted of a metal support, allowing for an opening at the base to remove any remaining transmutation dust. After confirming the installation was complete, Snow personally helped him pump the alchemical ink into the jacket.

Actually, I could use [Hand of the Mage]. But seeing Snow so engrossed in it, Rorschach didn't say much.

"Alright, the liquid level is established." Rorschach instructed Snow to slow down the amount of alchemical ink being pumped in.

He was about to open the discharge valve to start the circulation when Snow stopped him: "Wait a little longer. The first time, we need to wait for the ink to soak into the ceramic shards." None of the ceramic linings were glazed. The alchemical ink seeped into the tiny gaps in the ceramic wall, and together with the spiritual minerals mixed in with the ceramic, it allowed the ether from the outer wall to be conducted to the inner wall to power the magic array.

With everything in place, and the tower still under construction and the transmutation dust emission device activated, Rorschach stood on a makeshift platform and looked down into the tower. A faint blue light gradually illuminated the tower walls.

This is the protective light based on the power of Delyuats, and it is currently the strongest guarantee for restraining transmutation dust, a dangerous and unstable substance.

The next section of the tower needs to be equipped with a magic circle to slow down and stabilize the transmutation dust. Previously, Rorschach and Cano had tested and verified the [Levitation] and [Featherfall] spells together, but neither had any effect on the transmutation dust.

In fact, after learning these two spells and mastering their principles, Rorschach didn't have much hope. The reason was simple: both spells were added to the transmutation dust, which meant "adding" to the target. However, the dust itself contained a high density of mixed divine power, and applying these spells on top of it would only disrupt its stability and accelerate its outburst.

If "addition" doesn't work, then "subtraction" works. Following this line of thought, Rorschach recalled the spells he often used when drinking beverages: [Touch of Ice] and [Freezing Ray], the core of which is "energy deprivation".

"Energy Deprivation" is currently similar to the "Disintegration" entry in [Basic Disintegration], and can only be effective on non-magical energy and energy involving the concept of "life force". In "freezing" spells, its main form is to deprive molecules of their kinetic energy of thermal motion to achieve a cooling effect.

While researching, Rorschach noticed that the "freezing ray" could cause stagnation on damp objects. In his view, in addition to simply freezing to restrict the target's movement, "energy deprivation" should also reduce the macroscopic kinetic energy of the object in this process.

After debugging and discussion with Kano, the [Slowness Spell] was developed, which can only strip the transmutation dust of its physical kinetic energy. It is displayed on the panel as [Rorschach's Slowness Spell]. This is because the existing slowness spells are similar to [Feather Fall Spell] in that they "add" to increase the stickiness between the target and the environment, unlike Rorschach's idea which directly reduces the target's kinetic energy.

After confirming that the teleportation array was working properly, Rorschach closed the top cover engraved with the teleportation array and tightened the flange screws to secure it.

"Begin." Luo Xia turned on the switch, and under the watchful eyes of the alchemy department elders, the magic circle was fully activated. After a slight tremor, everyone stared at the window of the tower cauldron.

The cauldron is the space that receives the debris after the transmutation dust decays. Looking through the quartz crystal window, a spring scale is placed at the bottom of the cauldron. If the debris falls, it will land on the tray of the spring scale, and a weighing reading will be displayed.

Five seconds, ten seconds, fifteen seconds.

Luo Xia stared at the pointer. Seventeen seconds after the ether current was input, the spring scale showed a reading, which stabilized after a moment. "Success. Within a height of 1.5 meters, the transmutation dust fell and decayed in seventeen seconds, lasting for three seconds."

The device is now intact, without any explosion or mutation, and the delay effect has taken hold.

"Congratulations!" Snow had Rorschach sign for it and then led his buddies out of the lab.

Rorschach opened the discharge port of the tower and found a few blue crystals in the decaying dust.

Blue crystals? He used tweezers to pull them out and examine them closely. A familiar, crystalline color flowed within the tiny grains. Applying slightly more force to the tweezers, the grains were crushed, and Rorschach felt a surge of etheric energy emanating from them.

(End of this chapter)