In the hospital room, Rorschach was zoning out. In reality, he was repeatedly examining the result on his panel—the very thing that had made him faint.

The rune was composed of many elements, but its main structure was instantly recognizable: a regular hexagon containing three alternating straight lines. That’s right... a benzene ring.

’Alas, this world has no Kekulé structure. Instead, after a series of names like "Rorschach’s Constant" and "Rorschach’s Equation," there will be a "Rorschach Structure" to add to the list—if he’s willing to isolate the "heavy carbon compound of the Lightweight Flammable Element" and tell everyone that this is more or less what it looks like.’

Kekulé discovered the benzene ring structure in a dream; Rorschach woke up after fainting and got a rune that pointed to himself. ’Great.’ "But where did I get this kind of authority? It’s not pointing to the panel, is it?" Unfortunately, he had no way to analyze the origin of the panel before him. ’As long as it works, it’s mine now!’

Rorschach could understand the meaning and mechanisms of the other circuit structures in the Magic Array generated by Rorschach’s Divine Exile Technique at a single glance. After all, the panel had clearly used his own brain’s "computing power" to construct them. The central rune, however, was far beyond his own expectations.

No, this mysterious Magic was also beyond his expectations. Although he had grasped a slight difference between the Divine Power and the Ether within the Transmuting Dust, the way the spell took effect was still a black box that just worked on its own. He was able to complete the Casting as if by instinct. ’Where did this strange "instinct" come from?’ Rorschach studied his right hand, as if trying to re-acquaint himself with who he was.

’There’s still so much to do.’ Rorschach shook his head and walked out of the room, carrying an empty cup. No one had changed his clothes; they had only taken off his Mage Robe and outer coat. Rorschach got dressed and discharged himself.

’If everything has a hidden price, the only thing I can do is work hard enough to afford it in the future.’

...

Several days had passed since the youngest Middle Level Mage fainted in the practice room. His time had run out, and the Tower Spirit, upon discovering him, notified his mentor Kano and had him sent to an absurdly expensive clinic.

In the research building, Master Kano happily announced to Rorschach that the Istani computing machine and the apprentices he needed were all arranged.

The machine was very expensive, so it had to be shared by the whole team and carefully maintained. A dedicated room was set aside for it. Counting the old and new research labs, Rorschach’s personal lab, and Kano’s office, the chief professor of the Tower of Stars had unknowingly used his position to cordon off five rooms in the research building. And that wasn’t even counting the public Meeting Room that Kano’s team had top priority for.

’So corrupt! Oh wait, I’m a core member of the research group. Never mind, then.’

"Melovinca? As in, Philippe de Melovinca?" Rorschach was looking over the list of apprentices assigned to him. One was an unremarkable fellow named Simon. The other was the scion of a Great Noble, Mr. Philippe—the very one he had punched.

"The very same. I originally wanted Cavendish to join our group, but he recently took a leave of absence to return to his island for some personal matters. Since Mr. Philippe approached me himself and had a good attitude, I agreed," Kano said, not seeming particularly concerned. He was still engrossed in the computing machine’s instruction manual.

"Fine. I’ll be the judge of how good his attitude is," Rorschach reluctantly agreed to take on the apprentice. But just to be on the safe side, he had to ask, "My authority to deduct points is still valid in the research building, right?"

Kano finally looked up, a sly smile spreading across his face that Rorschach found a little creepy. "As long as you’re in Valuva—anywhere in the city—even if you wake up in the middle of the night and scream, ’I want to deduct points from Apprentice Philippe Melovinca,’ the Tower Spirit will receive the command."

"It’s that powerful? How does it do that?"

"A secret," Kano said, gazing out the window at the Starlight Torch Tower.

And so, Rorschach gained two assistants. Nominally, they were all apprentices under the same master, but in reality, Rorschach was their direct superior.

"Mage Rorschach, I offer you my sincerest apologies. My impulsive actions that day were because I was provoked by the bastard son of my father’s enemy and lost my senses..." Philippe bowed to Rorschach the moment he saw him.

"What’s past is past. From today on, we’re fellow apprentices. But since Master Kano has assigned you to my project, you’ll be taking orders from me. No problem with that, right?" Rorschach smiled, helping Philippe straighten up as if the two had already reconciled.

"If you can’t even handle Philippe, how are you supposed to manage your own Magic Tower one day?" This was the challenge Kano had laid out for Rorschach.

"You let yourself be provoked and still can’t see your own mistake? How can you possess the mettle of our family? If you can’t accept this, then learn from and surpass that Empireist!" This was the admonishment from Duke Melovinca.

In short, the two young men had been pushed together by their elders, who enjoyed watching the drama unfold and weren’t afraid to stir the pot.

"Your day-to-day work will be assisting with my research. Of course, I will also guide you in completing the thesis required to become a fully-fledged Mage."

As he spoke, Rorschach took out two small booklets. They were transcribed copies of the *Optimal Form Analysis of the Force Wall Technique Deployment*. "My recently developed Blue Light Barrier has received considerable attention from the Magic Guild. You can use this article as a reference and write your theses based on this Magic."

The two took the transcripts and listened as their "boss" continued, "The Force Wall Technique and the Blue Light Barrier share some similarities, but their fundamental properties are different. Those differences are where you’ll find your opportunity for innovation..."

"I’ll explain the specific mechanics of the Magic. If you need other reference materials later, in addition to the Library, I can also grant you access to the archives on the second floor of the tower."

"Mage Rorschach," Philippe said, his brow furrowed. He realized this wasn’t so simple. "You intend to guide both of our qualifying theses, but you’ve only provided a single project?"

The current academic system gave credit to a corresponding author or advisor, but there was no concept of author order; as part of the qualification assessment, the thesis had to be completed by the Apprentice alone.

Rorschach gave them an amiable smile. "Of course, it means whichever one of you finishes first gets to publish the paper."

"But I’m not a complete monster. Master Kano and I have other topics for the apprentice who doesn’t get this one. It’ll just set you back a little, that’s all."

"Philippe, and you, Simon, if you feel this is unfair in any way, please speak up. We can have you start on two separate projects right now if you’d prefer."

"No, I think this arrangement is best." ’A proud Melovinca will not lose!’ Philippe’s immediate response made the other apprentice, who had been about to speak, fall silent.

’And he blames others, when he’s the one who’s so easily provoked...’ Rorschach turned away and rolled his eyes. "Alright, I’ll walk you through an experiment now."

He introduced them to the Transmuting Dust conversion tower (a temporary name), where the internal components were now arranged in the order of Slowdown Skill, Exile Skill, and Blue Light Barrier.

"Master Rorschach, shall we begin?" Simon asked. Rorschach nodded, giving Simon the task of flipping the switch to make him feel more involved. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

CLICK! As before, Ether was channeled into the apparatus, activating it.

After a strange, unprecedented humming sound, a fine, crystalline product once again drifted down into the crucible.

"First, weigh the total mass. Then, sort out the blue crystals and weigh them separately."

After directing the new assistants, Rorschach took the data and ran a quick calculation. 61.2%!

Just as Rorschach had theorized, most of the Divine Power had been expelled. He hadn’t yet found a viable method for collecting the pure Ether, so for now he simply continued converting it into stable, energy-rich blue crystals. Thanks to the processing from the Exile Skill’s Magic Array, the conversion rate had skyrocketed.

He held up a blue crystal, observing it closely. Some were perfectly translucent, their blue exceptionally clear. Others, however, still had flocculent impurities swirling within, as if other, more complex traces of Divine Power remained, bound within the crystal by Deryats’ stabilizing fluorescent current.

’As expected, the Exile Skill isn’t a panacea. It’s impossible to remove the Divine Power completely. This must be the result of both spells working in concert.’

’In any case, this first approach is viable. Now I just need to improve the efficiency and output.’

"You can try crushing these blue crystals and controlling the Ether that erupts from them."

Philippe was the first to try it. He crushed a crystal and immediately attempted to cast the Light Technique, producing a blindingly bright orb of light. The spell’s effect, so far beyond a normal Casting, startled even the Caster himself.

Rorschach wasn’t focused on the result. Through his Arcane Vision, he observed that Philippe had failed to utilize most of the erupting Ether; it simply dissipated into the surroundings.

’Hm?’ Rorschach opened his panel and saw that the proficiency for Rorschach’s Divine Exile Technique (White) had ticked up.

(2/12800)

’You’ve got to be kidding me. That counts, too?’ He looked at the apparatus, which had just completed a collection cycle. In his Arcane Vision, the rune that pointed to him was still glowing faintly.