A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 181 Starting from the Budding of Life

"I'll give it a try." Bart took the new seed from Rorschach's hand and rubbed the shriveled outer skin. Seeing how easily Rorschach made the seed germinate, he suddenly felt that he could do it too.

"Are they really not ripe seeds? I heard a fable when I was a child where a king tested a child's honesty by deliberately giving them..."

"Hurry up and practice, stop talking nonsense! Why would I mess with you?" Rorschach used [Flying Arrow Technique] to flick the bean onto Bart's forehead. This was only the first step; he still had to teach Bart the technique of "mapping"! This gave Rorschach a headache.

"It would be terrifying if you went back to the academy to be a teacher." Bart touched his forehead and began to try it out.

No response.

"Think about the process of learning to slow down the casting of a scroll; you still have one scroll left unused."

Bart used his last scroll, and because its casting speed was fast enough and it emitted a burst of blue light, it was just one step away from taking effect.

"Try it on the seed again. First, infuse it with magic, then activate it with the 'life force' obtained from the transformation, and imagine what it will look like when it grows roots and leaves."

From the moment life begins, dawn is breaking.

Luo Xia hadn't played any turn-based strategy games, but his mental energy was nearly depleted, so even teaching him step by step wouldn't be an easy task.

"I didn't expect it to take this long." Bart yawned; he had a bag of seeds, but now most of them were used up. "What level is this 'Rejuvenation Spell' again?"

"It should be the fourth ring?" Rorschach, a naturalist, didn't understand the ranking system very well and only remembered the general idea.

Bart's spirits lifted: "So I mastered intermediate magic in just one night, and it's even a nature-based one! Looks like I do have a natural affinity for magic!"

Bart's results were collected in a bowl. At first, there was no effect, but later it successfully sprouted, and the final result was a complete little bean sprout, all inside.

The spell itself doesn't consume much magic power, especially since the target is just a small bean. The seed itself stores enough nutrients and vitality, and it's only during the growth stage that Bart needs to infuse it with activated magic power.

Because Rorschach insisted on starting with seeds every time, saying that "it would allow him to witness Rorschach's progress," the two worked all night to get a large bowl of bean sprouts and bean shoots.

"What should we do with these?" Bart shook the bowl, thinking he'd use them to feed the livestock.

But Rorschach stopped him: "Blanch it in boiling water, then mix it into the salad."

"Good idea, it should go well with a light sauce." Bart smiled after saying that, "It's making me a little hungry, is there anything to eat?" It was barely dawn, and the city hadn't fully woken up yet, so it would be a while before breakfast could be served to Bart's chef.

Rorschach nodded and handed Bart the remaining half-bag of beans, much to Bart's anticipation.

"Just kidding, I have some candy here." Seeing the other person's face fall instantly, Luo Xia quickly took out his usual brown sugar cubes.

"No, I want this one." Bart, in a fit of pique, grabbed a handful of beans. "Let me show you the spells I researched during my time as a resident mage in the town."

He held it in both hands and then began to "exert his power." In Rorschach's perception, Bart continuously gathered magic power, keeping the magic-fire element conversion process at a critical stage, so that it only had a heating effect.

Before long, the beans were ripe and popping. Of course, he couldn't hold them all with his hands now, so he used [Mage's Hand] to gather them up, then grabbed a handful and threw them into his mouth, chewing them with a crunching sound.

Rorschach clapped as he hid the bag labeled "feed" behind his back. But inspired, he grabbed a handful of beans, just like Bart.

If he wanted to keep the cup sealed, he would find a tin cup, pour the beans in, and then seal the cup with a magic ball that had a "repulsive" property.

Heating needs to be fast enough and even. Rorschach thought about the conditions for seed expansion: there needs to be a certain amount of moisture inside, which needs to be quickly vaporized before the lid is opened. This way, the pressure inside the container suddenly changes from high to low, and the water vapor inside the bean will cause it to swell.

From Bart's perspective, Professor Rorschach was casting some kind of spell while shaking a tin cup, the beans inside rattling and then suddenly a series of crackling sounds, the popped beans filling the cup.

Rorschach sprinkled the crushed brown sugar into the cup, heated it up, shook it, and handed it to Bart: "Try it."

Bart picked up a bean that had swelled considerably, its hands still covered in syrup. He popped it into his mouth, his eyes lighting up. "This is great! Millie will definitely like it too, Mr. Rorschach, I want to learn this!"

Finally, Bart went to the top-floor office where he was supposed to be on duty. He took out a hammock from the locker, set it up, and started taking a comfortable nap. As long as he was there, he was on duty!

Rorschach yawned in the guest room. He picked up the cooked beans that Bart hadn't finished eating and casually picked one up to examine it.

Proteins denature due to heat dehydration. Reverse process. Vitality.

On a whim, Rorschach pinched the seed between two fingers, gazing at the already scorched yellow seed, and blue light slowly emanated from his fingertips.

New bean sprouts were born. Rorschach floated them in the air and continued to apply "activation" and "revival" to them. Seeing them sprout and bloom, Rorschach paused at this point, shook the plant, and then continued to catalyze the process.

The flowers withered and fell to the ground, and new seed pods grew, plump and swollen. Rorschach reached out and caught the falling beans.

A cycle was completed under his magic.

The boy casually urged it on again, adding the bean sprouts into the bowl.

Now I have the demeanor of a druid. Anyone who dares to call me a hypnotic barbarian will have their head blasted off with a fireball. Loschat thought this to himself and fell asleep contentedly.

The second night, Rorschach brought a whiteboard to the rooftop. Now it was Bart's one-on-one tutoring session.

"Professor Rorschach, I've learned the [Resurrection Technique]!"

"This is just the basics. I went to the magic guild in Wirtz and found the publicly available information on the [Blue Light Barrier]." Although it was written by Rorschach under Kano's guidance, it was easier to get a printed copy from the guild than to repeat it myself.

Bart flipped through the booklet, and the author's name was prominently printed as "Rorschach": "Did you write this?"

"certainly!"

Last night, after Bart learned the "Resurrection Technique," Rorschach explained the technique of "mapping"—applying one's thoughts to a target—but Bart's results were not obvious.

In an attempt to change the color of the bean sprouts using "mapping," Rorschach demonstrated and produced a crystal-clear, pure white plant, while Bart only managed to create a disgusting mess of white and green patches, as if it were infected with a disease, which he then burned clean himself.

Barth's excuse was that he was too tired and couldn't do it, but Rorschach suspected that it was because of the lack of intervention from Dryaz's forces.

His blue light seemed to possess many magical properties that were not present in Barth's spellcasting process.

Then teach me another spell, [Blue Light Barrier]. Learning a protective spell will give my friends and important business partners another way to save their lives.

"Professor Rorschach, I think your teaching method yesterday was quite good." Now the temporary teacher was speaking and writing on the blackboard, while Bart was frantically taking notes on the materials at his desk, making Bart feel that it would be better to use a learning scroll.

"This scroll is too complicated; I'd rather write it down for you on the blackboard now. Understanding the activation principle of blue light will help you cast spells successfully."

"I want to drop out of school, Mr. Rorschach."

(End of this chapter)