A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 159 Exploring the Second Technical Route

Since Rorschach had to carve the runes himself onto the alloy staff head, Fulcanelli also taught him some of the principles of the staff after receiving payment.

"Originally, I wouldn't tell outsiders, but you're different, Venerable Rorschach. I like your writings, so..." So at that time, after listening to his introduction of the staff head, Rorschach also listened to a long introduction of the staff core.

But it wasn't a waste of time. Rorschach was in a great mood. He had a quick meal after leaving the workshop and then headed straight to his laboratory.

Taking the initiative to go to the lab on rest days is a sign of a researcher's maturity.

"This can be applied to my collector, no, it should be called a refining tower."

As the first phase of the project, the prototype can indeed be called a collector—the final product is blue passivated transmutation dust, which can be used as a good spellcasting material. After Rorschach's subsequent optimization, the collection rate can reach 60%.

However, his current goal is to obtain a stable source of ether, as the current magic array still relies on the power unit to input ether intermittently for operation.

What? Why doesn't the research building have a huge chimney like a thermal power plant? The answer is that Master Kano solidified a teleportation array, so that all the flue gas recovers waste heat and is directly discharged into the gas element plane.

Rorschach vehemently condemned this direct discharge of pollutants. He wondered if the elemental spirits would ever discover the discharge point and confront the archmage, demanding, "How dare you!"

The same applies to the fuel for the steam engine; they're currently using the fire elemental plane as a heat source, saving on coal. However, the connection to this plane is very unstable, requiring constant maintenance from Kano and the alchemy department, and there's also the risk of magma bubbling up and flames suddenly erupting.

Moreover, the natives of the fire elemental plane are not as easy to talk to as the air elemental residents; their tempers and abilities are characterized by a fiery temper.

In comparison, if transmutation dust can be used to extract ether, it is practically a clean magical energy source.

Rorschach consulted numerous documents in his efforts to convert and capture the ether, inhaling countless amounts of dust and musty odors from the archives, but made little progress.

If the goal is to collect ether, it means that after banishing divinity, the transmutation dust needs to decay and absorb ether. However, the "blue light barrier" encasing the inner wall does not have the ability to absorb ether. Instead, it cancels it out and spreads Dryaz's divinity within the cavity to complete the assimilation.

Removing the barrier was absolutely out of the question. But now Rorschach could think of a different approach. There was no need to maintain the barrier indefinitely; instead, he could keep it in a ready-to-cast state, just like the core craftsmanship of the staff, ready to be activated at any time.

Rorschach had considered this approach before, but at the time he only understood the manufacturing process of the reel, and its response speed was insufficient to protect the entire instrument.

With the chatterbox master's friendly explanation, Rorschach gained a basic understanding of the principles behind the staff's instant casting. A spell's casting steps are numerous, but some are universal and remain in a semi-active state while charged by the mana crystal.

The crystal at the top of the staff records the spells inscribed by the caster. The crystal base has an extremely complex structure that allows the specific circuits of the staff core to be invoked according to the spell information stored in the crystal, in the order of casting. The remaining steps not included in the staff core are completed by the crystal and the base together.

Therefore, as long as the casting steps are preset in the staff core, they can be completed instantly, achieving instant casting. Furthermore, the greater the density and compactness of the circuitry within the staff core, the more preset and pre-charged steps a spell takes, and the shorter the casting response time.

Rorschach's new idea is to insert a new cylindrical wall between the inner and outer walls, inscribed with a blue light barrier array, and divide it into two layers—the inner layer is equivalent to the head of a wand, with the symbol of Delyuaz at its core, and once the inner lining is destroyed by the uncontrolled transmutation dust, the "head layer" will be activated, while the outer layer is always in a pre-charged state, achieving instantaneous response.

That's the theory, but the response time must be shortened as much as possible.

Another step is collecting ether. Rorschach had already conceived of this. He set up an air cannon array in the last section of the tower, which is equivalent to a fan. It gathers all the transmutation dust that has been stripped of its divinity by blowing it together. Although these substances no longer have impure divine power, they are still in a high-energy metastable state. By colliding with each other, they are stimulated to release ether.

Inspired by the staff, a mithril rod will be installed at the bottom of the tower, with a "magic concentration" circuit engraved on it. When the ether is released, it will activate these "antennae", which will be concentrated on the rod by the "magic concentration" and then discharged due to the properties of mithril.

When Rorschach started up the modified machine, he didn't ask his apprentice for help because it was essentially without any protective barriers, and the apprentice wouldn't be able to protect himself if something went wrong. Snow personally directed the installation as before, and then accompanied Rorschach to start up the second machine.

Are you sure you can do it?

"Give it a try."

When the new device was activated, Luo Xia sensed something was wrong. Suddenly, the shape of the outer wall began to distort, changing from a metallic color to an iridescent sheen like that of blued foil. This change happened in an instant, and the next moment, fragments carrying transmutation dust erupted out.

A broadsword mine strike enhanced by both physical and magical means.

"I f***!" Snow uttered a vulgar swear word popular in the suburbs. At this moment, everyone in the laboratory was under double protection: one was the blue light barrier directly cast by Rorschach, and the other was Snow's force wall spell.

"Is this going to work? It's so dangerous!" Snow removed the barrier and picked up a piece of the broken outer wall, on which grew disordered crystal spikes and was covered with decaying dust.

"Without the blue light barrier to desensitize it, we need to reduce the eruption volume, and the effect of the delaying magic circle also needs to be improved." Rorschach rubbed his eyes, which were now covered in tears. He had activated [Arcane Vision] to see what was happening inside, and the instant the transmutation dust erupted stung his eyes.

Fortunately, the mithril collecting rod wasn't installed in this test. If even super precious metals were to undergo transformation, then there would be another reason why Rorschach was in tears.

"Recycle the scrap. I'll ask you to do it again tomorrow, Master Snow." Rorschach had ordered three sets of prototype devices from the very beginning of his experiments. The first technical route had been going smoothly and hadn't been used yet, but eventually, what was coming had finally arrived.

If it doesn't explode, you can't even say you're conducting a dangerous experiment.

"Tell Kano to give me a raise!" Snow patted his mage robe, which was covered in dust and paint.

How to set the engineering parameters is a mysterious question. Because there are too many interrelated factors, theory can only provide directional guidance. There is no computer in this world that can simulate it. Only Rorschach (with his alchemy colleagues) risked his life to figure out the specific parameters.

Well, his life isn't in danger, since Rorschach has his own magic to back him up, but if he blows up the plane a few more times, the budget will be gone.

Fortunately, the prototype was eventually finalized. Exactly thirty days after the explosion of Unit 2, Rorschach, supporting himself with his heavy-looking ebony cane, gave the order: "Prototype, start!"

Simon shakily pulled down the first lever, and the device began to operate. After confirming that the barrier array was fully pre-charged, the astral teleportation array was also activated.

On the surface, nothing seems to be happening, which is the best-case scenario. At least it indicates that the device is operating smoothly. In Rorschach's own Arcane Vision, the mithril wires leading from the bottom of the tower gradually lit up, and a large amount of aether surged out. Some of the aether was used to replenish the energy storage of the elixir. From now on, the magic circle no longer requires external input to operate and can also periodically output energy.

The second technical route has been successfully implemented!

Snow, who was watching, quickly grabbed Rorschach's hand: "Can't we start mass production right away? Last time, a lava monster ran out of the power plant in the middle of the night and almost burned the alchemy team members who were working overtime to death!"

So you guys should just shut up in the fire elemental plane and stick to burning coal. Rorschach couldn't stop laughing: "The Alchemy Department can pay for it; making this thing isn't cheap."

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(End of this chapter)