"Let me try." Bart took the new seed from Rorschach and rubbed its shriveled skin. Seeing how easily Rorschach had made the seed sprout, he suddenly felt he could do it too.

"Are you sure these aren’t cooked seeds? When I was little, I heard a fable about a King who tested children’s honesty by deliberately giving them..."

"Hurry up and practice. Enough with the nonsense! Why would I trick you?" Rorschach used the Flying Arrow Skill to flick a bean at Bart’s forehead. This was only the first step; he still had to teach Bart the ’Mapping’ technique. The thought alone gave Rorschach a headache.

"You’d be a terrifying teacher if you ever went back to the academy." Bart rubbed his forehead and began his attempt.

Nothing happened.

"Think about the slow-motion Casting process from the Learning Scroll... You still have one Scroll you haven’t used."

Bart used his last Scroll. Since its Casting speed was fast enough and it even burst with blue light, he was on the verge of success.

"Try it on the seed again. First, infuse it with Magic Power, use the converted Vitality to activate it... Then, picture it growing roots and leaves."

...

From the first bud of life... to the break of dawn.

Rorschach hadn’t been playing a turn-based strategy game, but the drain on his Spirit was comparable. Even teaching someone step-by-step was no easy feat.

"I can’t believe it took this long." Bart yawned. There had been a full bag of seeds, but now more than half of it was gone. "This Resuscitation Skill... what Ring is it again?"

"Fourth Ring, probably?" Rorschach wasn’t too familiar with the rankings for Natural System Magic; he only had a rough idea.

Bart’s Spirit was instantly revitalized. "So I mastered a Middle Level Magic in a single night, and a Natural System one at that! Looks like I’ve got a talent for Natural Affinity after all!"

The results of Bart’s efforts were collected in a bowl. From his initial failures to his later successful sprouts, all the way to a complete, tiny seedling—it was all in there.

The Magic itself didn’t consume much Magic Power, especially since the Casting target was just a small bean. The seed already stored enough nutrients and Vitality on its own; Bart only needed to infuse it with activated Magic Power during the sprouting stage.

Since Rorschach insisted on starting from a seed every time, reasoning that "you can witness your own progress," the two of them toiled all night and ended up with a large bowl of bean sprouts and seedlings.

"What should we do with these?" Bart jiggled the bowl, thinking they’d be good for livestock feed.

But Rorschach stopped him. "Blanch them in boiling water, then toss them in a salad."

"Good idea. They’d probably go well with a light dressing." Bart smiled after he spoke. "All this talk is making me hungry. You got anything to eat?" The sky was just beginning to lighten, and the city had yet to fully awaken. It would be a while before breakfast was ready, even if he called for the Bart Family’s chef.

Rorschach nodded and, as Bart watched expectantly, handed him the remaining half-bag of beans.

"Just kidding. I’ve got sugar." Seeing Bart’s face instantly fall, Rorschach quickly took out the blocks of Brown Sugar he always kept on hand.

"No, I’ll have these." Bart, feeling defiant, grabbed a handful of beans. "Let me show you a Magic I researched during my time as Town Mage."

He cupped them in both hands and began to "channel his power." Rorschach could perceive Bart continuously gathering Magic Power, holding the conversion process from Magic Power to Fire Element at a critical threshold, creating a simple heating effect.

In a short while, the beans crackled and popped as they cooked. Of course, he couldn’t hold them in his bare hands now, so he used Mage’s Hand to gather them up. Then he grabbed a handful, tossed them into his mouth, and chewed them with a loud CRUNCH.

Rorschach applauded while hiding the bag labeled "Feed" behind his back. But he was inspired and, just like Bart, grabbed a handful of beans.

’If I can keep it sealed...’ He found a tin cup, poured the beans inside, and then sealed the opening with a clump of Magic Power imbued with the Repulsive Force attribute.

’The heating needs to be fast and even.’ Rorschach considered the conditions needed for the beans to expand. ’There has to be some moisture inside. It needs to vaporize quickly, and then I open the lid. The container will suddenly go from high pressure to low pressure, and the water vapor inside the beans will cause them to puff up.’

From Bart’s perspective, Rorschach was casting some kind of Magic while shaking the tin cup. The beans inside rattled against each other, and then, with a sudden series of CRACKLES, the popped beans filled the cup to the brim.

Rorschach sprinkled the crushed Brown Sugar blocks into the cup, heated it a little more while shaking, and then handed it to Bart. "Have a taste." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Bart picked up one of the beans, which had puffed up considerably, and got sticky syrup all over his hand. His eyes lit up the moment he popped it in his mouth. "This is amazing! Milly would love this! Rorschach, you have to teach me this!"

In the end, Bart went up to the office on the top floor where he was supposed to be on duty. He pulled a hammock from a storage cabinet, set it up, and began to comfortably catch up on his sleep. ’As long as I’m here, I’m on duty!’

Rorschach stayed behind in the guest room and yawned. He gathered the cooked beans Bart hadn’t finished, casually picking one up to examine it.

’Protein denatures from heat and dehydration... a reverse process... Vitality...’

On a sudden whim, Rorschach pinched the bean between two fingers. He stared at the browned, cooked seed as a blue light slowly seeped from his fingertips.

A new seedling was born. Rorschach made it float in the air and continued to apply Activation and Su Sheng. He watched it sprout and then blossom. At that point, Rorschach paused, shook the plant, and then resumed the catalysis.

The flower withered and fell to the ground as a new seed pod grew in its place, becoming plump and swollen. Rorschach reached out and caught the beans as they fell.

A full cycle was completed under his Magic.

The young man casually spurred its growth once more, adding the new seedling to the bowl.

’Now I’ve got the air of a Druid, too. If anyone dares call me a Shaping Power Barbarian, I’ll blast their stupid head in with a Fireball Skill.’ With that satisfying thought, Rorschach drifted off to sleep.

...

「The next evening.」

Rorschach brought a writing board to the top floor. It was time for Bart’s one-on-one tutoring session.

"Rorschach, I’ve already learned the Resuscitation Skill!"

"That’s just the foundation. I went to the Magic Guild in Wertz and picked up the public-domain materials for the Blue Light Barrier." ’Even though I’m the one who wrote it under Kano’s guidance, it’s less trouble to grab a printed copy from the Guild than to recite it all from memory.’

Bart flipped through the booklet. The author’s name was printed clearly on it: "Rorschach." "You wrote this?"

"Of course!"

After Bart had learned the Resuscitation Skill the previous night, Rorschach had explained the ’Mapping’ technique for imposing one’s thoughts onto a target, but Bart’s results had not been very impressive.

When they tried using ’Mapping’ to change the seedling’s color, Rorschach’s demonstration produced a crystal-clear, pure-white plant. Bart, on the other hand, only managed to create a disgusting, patchy green-and-white thing that looked diseased. He ended up burning it to a crisp himself with Fire.

Bart’s excuse was that he was too tired and couldn’t do it, but Rorschach suspected it was due to the absence of Deryats’s power.

Its blue light seemed to possess many miraculous properties that were absent during Bart’s Casting.

’Then I’ll just teach him the Blue Light Barrier. Having him learn a defensive Magic will give my friend and important business partner another way to save his own life.’

"Rorschach, I thought your teaching method yesterday was pretty good." His temporary teacher was now writing on the board while lecturing, and Bart was at his desk, frantically taking notes on the material. Bart felt it would have been better to just use a Learning Scroll.

"The Scroll for this one is too complex. I’d rather just write it out on the board for you. Understanding the principles of how the blue light is triggered will help you succeed in Casting."

"I want to drop out... Rorschach."