"What kind of item? You can tell me first. If we have it in stock, I can sell it to you on my master’s behalf. It’ll be faster that way." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

’It’s not like you have any other business. Are you talking about efficiency just so you can slack off?’ Rorschach specified his request, "I need a Magic Staff that can store and instantly cast Magic. Preferably a custom one."

Canselit scratched his head. He had naturally curly black hair, which suggested he had blood from the southern part of the Kingdom—a race that was granted full citizenship at birth in the Old Empire. "Alright, you’ll definitely have to see my master for that. Please, follow me."

The butterfly on the Apprentice’s hand flew off, spiraling upwards as if to hit the ceiling. Just then, a wooden trapdoor on the ceiling opened, and a rope ladder was lowered.

"Come on up. It’s best not to fly using Magic. An impatient customer once slammed himself into the attic ceiling." So, Rorschach followed the Apprentice up the rope ladder.

The attic was well-lit and filled with the smell of turpentine. The space didn’t look like a proper Alchemy Workshop. It was filled with finished or half-finished paintings, most of them abstract.

’Did a postmodern artist transmigrate here?’ Rorschach was taken aback. The art before him was at least several centuries ahead of anything else in this world.

However, the technique of the painting currently being worked on by the shop owner, Alchemy Master Fulcanelli, was much more conventional. He was adding strokes to the canvas one by one.

The painting was incredibly realistic. It depicted a table with a human skull and glass instruments. The main subject was a crow perched on the skull, and the bird seemed to be meeting Rorschach’s gaze. In the distance was a vast blue desert and a statue of a monster gazing at the starry sky.

A strange combination.

"Welcome, guest. Just a moment." Fulcanelli’s back was to Rorschach, and he didn’t stop painting because of his visitor’s arrival. He added one final stroke to the crow’s back, which looked more like he was smoothing its feathers.

There was also a sentence written in the Yabu Language on the painting. Rorschach could only see it in full after Fulcanelli finished his work and stepped aside. He read it aloud unconsciously:

"All is from One,"

"And in One," Fulcanelli didn’t let Rorschach finish, continuing the phrase himself. "If there were one more line, what do you think it would be?"

’What a softball question.’ "And to One."

"Not bad, not bad. Apologies, my Alchemy Workshop is running out of space, so I have to open another one. Now then, what does my guest wish to purchase?"

Rorschach stated his needs once more. The Alchemy Master muttered, "Magic Staff, custom..." and walked over to a painting covered with a linen cloth.

He pulled off the cloth, revealing another painting as exquisitely realistic as the last. This one depicted a compact machine with exposed gears. Fulcanelli grasped a lever—yes, he was holding an object from within the painting. Rorschach, standing directly behind the Alchemist, regretted not standing to the side to see if the lever was actually protruding from the canvas.

Fulcanelli was a stocky, middle-aged man, and his full beard made him look older than he was. Pulling down the brass lever seemed to take a great deal of effort; he appeared to be using the weight of both his hands and his entire body.

As the lever was pushed down, the machine in the painting was powered on. Faint, grinding sounds emanated from the canvas as all the inscrutable gears, reeds, and other mechanical parts began to move, opening up a doorway.

"I shouldn’t have painted all the components, but it was necessary for security." Just as Rorschach expected, the owner wanted him to climb into the painting.

"Don’t hesitate, guest! If you’re just here to buy or repair a clock, you can go back downstairs with Canselit!"

Rorschach ducked and entered. The object was large enough for a painting, but it was a bit narrow for a door. He stooped and stepped through into the real "Fulcanelli Alchemy Workshop."

A glance around revealed jars, pots, and running, steam-spewing machines of all kinds. By the standards of the Tower of Stars’ Alchemy Department, none of the equipment was up to code. If Snow were here, he would definitely remark with disdain, "A private little workshop."

"My apologies, guest. After all that running around, I’ve just realized I haven’t yet asked for your esteemed name."

Rorschach had never heard another Valuvanan person use such flamboyant language. It was like an aria commonly used when playing the role of Old Empire Nobility. He pulled his gaze away from the workshop and introduced himself to the Master, "Rorschach, a researcher from the Tower of Stars."

"Rorschach? The author of *An Inquiry into Thermal Conversion and the Efficiency Limits of Heat Engines*?" To think this Alchemist could recite the title of his paper without a single mistake moved the young man’s heart.

However, the owner’s subsequent ramblings weren’t so pleasant to hear. "But why didn’t you continue your research based on that brilliant paper? The Blue Light Barrier... it’s great, but compared to grand, wondrous truths, it’s a bit lacking."

’What, is this the pure sciences looking down on the applied sciences? Aren’t you an Alchemist yourself?’ Rorschach was a little curious what expression the man would have after reading his "Divine Power Disappearance Technique." However, according to what Kano had revealed a few days ago, the Guild probably wouldn’t publish the paper and the Magic, but only file it in the Elder Council’s archives.

"After reading your first masterpiece, I had some inspiration." Fulcanelli took a piece of parchment from his workbench, cleared his throat, and began to recite with theatrical cadence:

"The cosmos! Our world, in its true form, is a thermodynamic machine. The fall from order to disorder—free energy—drives all things.

The structure of the universe arises from it in a linear fashion. Ah, the primordial unity is a mad dream, like a perpetual motion machine! It only consumes itself endlessly, like a planet burning in the void, burning!

Eternity, beginning, end. Since ancient times, She has been given many names. She is both the surging waves upon the sea of chaos and the eternal serpent.

How silent is time, that it lets Her glide aimlessly, both creating and devouring the universe, giving and taking all that we have..."

’Is this... a poetry recital?’ Rorschach realized that many of the concepts he’d proposed in his paper had been misinterpreted by the man, or rather, co-opted into his own worldview. Eager to get down to business, Rorschach clapped along politely.

"Wait a minute, I missed something," Rorschach said. "The... great serpent at the end, you referred to it as ’She’?"

"Child, the wholeness of the world has both masculine and feminine aspects. What I described at the end is the feminine power, the existence obscured by the brilliant sun... Alright, thank you for listening to my humble work. When I was writing it, I never would have imagined that Rorschach of the Tower of Stars would applaud it."

It seemed Rorschach had gotten the owner quite excited. He finally returned to the business at hand. "Let’s talk about the Magic Staff. The basic model in my shop is six hundred and twenty Lang, with custom modifications starting at seven hundred Lang. I can give you a discount..."

"I’d like it to look like a normal walking cane. Not too long, and the head shouldn’t be too flashy or ostentatious," Rorschach said, gesturing. "And it would be best if it could instantly cast a Sixth Ring Spell." That way, even if he carried the thing around town, people would just assume Rorschach was a young gentleman with an ordinary cane.

As for the spell he wanted to store for instant casting, he was referring to [Molten Beam]. If Rorschach were to unleash its full potential, the power of the Heat Ray and the Ethereal Amount it required should be enough to qualify as Sixth Ring.

As for the other strange spells he had mastered later, perhaps the common ranking system could no longer even measure them.

Alchemy Master Fulcanelli finally frowned. "My dear guest, you want a staff the length of a walking cane without a flashy head. That means all the internal components must be extremely compact. And yet, you also want it to be able to instantly cast a Six Ring Spell. Those two requirements are contradictory."

Rorschach had often heard this in his previous life when he worked in engineering design: two performance indicators for a piece of equipment are often in conflict. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Just as Rorschach was about to suggest finding a balance and relaxing the conditions slightly, he heard the owner say in a very serious tone:

"Anywhere else, this would definitely be impossible. But here? I can do it. It’ll just cost you extra."