A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 157 I Want a Gentleman's Staff

"What kind of props? You can tell me first. If there are any in stock, I can sell them to you on behalf of the teacher, that way it will be faster."

"You guys don't have any other business here, so you're focusing on efficiency so you can slack off?" Rorschach refined his requirements: "I need a staff that can store and instantly cast spells, preferably custom-made."

Cancelit scratched his head; his hair was naturally curly black, suggesting he had ancestry from the south of the kingdom—a race that was born with full citizenship in the old empire. "Alright, we really need to find a teacher. Please follow me."

The butterfly in the apprentice's hand flew away, spiraling upwards and about to hit the ceiling. At that moment, the hidden wooden door at the top opened, and a rope ladder was lowered down.

"Come on, it's best not to use magic to fly. Some impatient guests have crashed into the roof of the attic before." So Rorschach followed the apprentice up the rope ladder.

The attic was well-lit and filled with the smell of turpentine. This space didn't seem like a proper alchemy workshop; there were finished or half-finished works everywhere, mostly abstract.

"Did a postmodern artist travel through time?" Rorschach exclaimed in surprise. The painting before him was at least centuries ahead of any other art form in the world.

However, the technique of the work being painted by the shop owner, the alchemist Master Fourcanelli, is much more normal; he adds brushstrokes to the canvas one by one.

The visuals are incredibly realistic, featuring a table displaying human skulls and glass instruments. The main element is a raven perched on a skull, seemingly gazing at Rorschach. In the distance lies a vast blue desert and a monstrous statue gazing at the stars.

A strange combination.

"Welcome, please wait a moment." Fulcanneli, with his back to Rorschach, did not stop writing despite the arrival of his guest. He finished by sketching the raven's back, more like stroking its feathers.

There was also a sentence written in Jaberian on the screen, which Fulcanne saw in its entirety only after she finished her work and gave up her seat, and Rorschach unconsciously read it aloud:

"All things originate from one."

"Existing in One," Fulcanne interrupted Rorschach, taking over the conversation, "If there's one more sentence, what do you think it should be?"

This is an easy question: "Finally, one."

"Excellent, excellent. I'm sorry, my alchemy workshop is too small, so we'll have to open another one. Alright, what would you like to purchase, sir?"

Rorschach repeated his requirements, and the alchemist muttered "staff, custom-made" as he walked to a painting covered with linen.

He lifted the cover, revealing a painting just as exquisite and lifelike as before. This time, the scene depicted a compact machine with exposed gears. Fulcanelli gripped the lever—yes, he was gripping the object in the painting. Rorschach, standing directly behind the alchemist, regretted not standing to his side to see if the lever extended beyond the frame.

Fulcanelli was a burly middle-aged man whose thick beard made him look older. He seemed to have used a lot of strength to pull down the brass bar, as if he was using the weight of his hands and body.

As the joystick is pressed down, the machine in the painting is injected with driving force and starts running. Fine sounds come from the canvas, and all the unidentifiable gears, reeds, and other mechanical structures begin to move, making way for a door.

"We shouldn't have drawn all the parts in the first place, but it's necessary for protection." Just as Luo Xia expected, the boss wanted him to crawl into the drawing.

"Don't hesitate, sir. If you're just here to buy or repair a watch, come downstairs with Cancelitt!"

Rorschach also squeezed inside. The object in front of him was large enough as a painting, but it was a bit narrow as a door. He bent over and stepped into the real "Fulcanelli Alchemy Workshop".

Looking around, there were jars and pots, and running, steaming machines—all of which were not up to standard by the standards of the Alchemy Department of the Tower of Stars. If Snow were here, he would definitely have commented with disdain: "A small private workshop."

"I'm sorry, sir. After running around for so long, I suddenly realized I haven't asked for your name yet."

Rorschach had never heard such flamboyant language from any other Valuwanan, like an aria often sung by a nobleman of the old empire. He withdrew his gaze from the workshop and introduced himself to the master craftsman: "Rorschach, researcher at the Tower of Stars."

"Rorschach? The author of 'Examining the Efficiency Limits of Thermodynamic Conversion and Heat Engines'?" The young man was deeply moved that the alchemist could pronounce the title of his own article so accurately.

However, the boss's subsequent rambling was less pleasant: "But why didn't you continue your research on that brilliant paper? The blue light barrier is great, but it still falls short compared to grand, wondrous truths."

What, you science students look down on engineering students, huh? Aren't you an alchemist yourself? Rorschach was curious to see what kind of expression the other party would have when they read his "Divine Power Vanishing Spell," but according to what Kano revealed a few days ago, the guild might not publish the paper and spell publicly, and would only archive it in the Senate.

"Having read your first excellent piece, I've gained some inspiration." Fulcanneli took a piece of parchment from his workbench, cleared his throat, and began to read aloud with intonation:

"The universe! Our world is a thermodynamic machine, with a drop from order to disorder—free energy drives everything."

The structure of the universe arises from this in a linear fashion. Ah, the primordial unity is a mad dream, like a perpetual motion machine; it will only endlessly consume itself, like a planet burning, burning in a vacuum!

Eternity, beginning and end, has been given many names since ancient times. She is both the surging wave on the chaotic sea and the immortal serpent.

How silent time is, letting her glide aimlessly, both creating and devouring the universe, giving and taking everything away from us.

Is this a poetry recitation? Rorschach realized that many of the concepts he had proposed in his paper had been misinterpreted, or rather, borrowed into his own worldview. Rorschach was eager to start the transaction, so he clapped along.

Wait a minute, there's a blind spot: "You're referring to the final giant serpent as 'she'?"

"My child, the whole world has both masculine and feminine aspects. What I am describing at the end is the feminine power, an existence obscured by the blazing sun. Well, thank you for listening to my humble work. When I was writing, I never imagined that Rorschach of the Tower of Stars would applaud it."

Rorschach seemed to have excited the shopkeeper, who finally returned to the business: "Let's start talking about the staff. The basic model is 620 ronin, and custom-made or modified ones start at 700 ronin. I can give you a discount."

"I want it to look like an everyday cane, not too long, and the head not too flashy or ostentatious." Rorschach gestured, "Ideally, it should allow for instant casting of sixth-circle spells." That way, even if he carries it around town, people will just think that Rorschach is carrying an ordinary cane and is a young gentleman.

As for spells that can be stored and cast instantly, he was referring to the [Melting Ray]. If Rorschach were to unleash its full potential, the power of the melting ray and the amount of ether required should be enough for a sixth-circle player.

As for the strange and unusual spells he later mastered, their common rank is probably no longer worth evaluating.

Alchemist Fulcanne finally frowned: "My dear guest, you don't want an extravagant staff head, and the entire staff is limited to the length of the staff, which means that all the internal structures must be very compact. Yet you also want to be able to cast sixth-circle spells instantly. These two requirements are contradictory."

Luo Xia often heard this when he was doing engineering design in his previous life: the two performance indicators of a piece of equipment are often conflicting; you can't have both. Luo Xia was about to suggest finding a balance point and relaxing the conditions appropriately when he heard his boss say very seriously:

"It's impossible to do this elsewhere, but I can do it here, but you'll have to pay extra."

I don't have time to write the acknowledgments, so I'll postpone it to tomorrow's author's note after the first chapter.

I almost went over the time limit, oh my god!

(End of this chapter)