’Wait a minute, I was rejected before I even stated my terms!’

Rorschach was about to speak again to plead his case when, thankfully, the man continued, "For mages not of this Tower, we require the Chief’s permission. You can visit Master Feuerbach. I can help you request an audience."

"Thank you." After Rorschach spoke, the mage took out a small bell and shook it. A gargoyle from the very top floor spiraled down. Compared to the others, which were painted with colorful oils, this one seemed stronger and more imposing, its stone surface denser and darker.

"Please inform Master Feuerbach that Rorschach from the Tower of Stars requests a meeting. If the Master has time, please let me know when it would be convenient to visit."

The gargoyle nodded and shot back up to the top at extreme speed, vanishing from Rorschach’s upturned gaze.

’This method of summons is very characteristic of the Tower of Secret Techniques.’ The Tower Spirit of the Tower of Stars seemed to be everywhere; you could directly ask the Tower Spirit to contact other mages, or use the enchanted business card Kano had given him to reach that guy who was never in the tower. Here, however, gargoyles did the work.

"The visit is approved. Now." The gargoyle opened its mouth, but instead of a squawking voice, a deep, masculine tone emerged. As it spoke the last word, its thick, sturdy arms firmly grabbed Rorschach’s shoulders.

"Rorschach Mage, please relax. You can also cast a [Feather Fall Skill] on yourself to get there faster." The mage offered this final piece of advice as he watched Rorschach get carried skyward by the gargoyle.

...

The mage’s advice was necessary. When they first took off, Rorschach’s shoulders were pulled painfully. He cast a [Floating Skill] on himself, which made it much better. It felt like riding an invisible elevator upward. When they reached the top floor, the door to the Chief of the Tower of Secret Techniques’ office opened automatically for the young man.

"Chief Feuerbach."

"Rorschach Mage, I hear you’re interested in visiting our tower’s library?" The Great Mage had an exaggerated beard, but his hair was cut short with restraint. He wasted no time on pleasantries and got straight to the point.

"Yes."

"You should be aware that the library of the Tower of Secret Techniques is not open to the public because it contains too much forbidden knowledge—this applies to the Royal Magic Academy as well as the other twelve towers." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The Master invited Rorschach to sit on a plush sofa. He himself didn’t return to his desk, but instead casually found a seat and lit his pipe, as if the two were attending some sort of salon.

"Before I consider making an exception for you, I’d like to hear your reasons for applying twice. By the way, do you mind this? If you do, you can use an [Air Filter Bubble]." The Master held up his pipe.

’And here I thought if I minded, you just wouldn’t smoke...’

Rorschach shook his head. The young man immediately abandoned any thought of making a deal; he had been involved in too much business lately and was always thinking about "negotiating terms."

Facing the Great Mage who commanded an entire tower, he finally came clean. "Alright. Have you ever heard of the ’Divine Power Dispersal Technique’? I actually developed it based on a mysterious book."

On Rorschach’s panel at that moment, the experience points for [Divine Exorcism Technique] had already risen to over 6,700. Clearly, the "reactor" beneath the Tower of Stars was still functioning well.

The increase in experience points wasn’t just a simple jump in numbers. Rorschach could feel a connection between the symbol and himself. As the magic array purged the motley divine power from the Transmuting Dust, it seemed to be constantly providing some kind of feedback. Rorschach now had a vague, unrefined grasp of it.

Under these conditions, and now that he was in the Secret Technique Tower—a place renowned for its research into forbidden secret techniques—Rorschach saw a glimmer of hope for completing the [Reversing Beam (Gray)] on his panel.

He found it to be a very interesting spell. Although the author of the book had written long passages of mad ravings, the fact that it was included on his panel proved the value and feasibility of the research. The [Divine Exorcism Technique] was both a result of Deryats’s reward for his visit to the "Original Layer" and a credit to this mysterious person’s inspiration.

"Of course. In fact, that’s precisely why I was so eager to have you here for a discussion. Otherwise, even if you were the Prince Consort’s friend, or even Kano’s illegitimate son, I wouldn’t waste your time or mine." Master Feuerbach smiled and set down his pipe. A gargoyle immediately took it, skillfully clearing out the ash and refilling it with fresh tobacco in a well-practiced routine.

He continued, "However, I don’t think ’Divine Power Dispersal Technique’ is quite right." The Master took a blue crystal from his pocket—it was from the same batch Rorschach had sold to the Tower of Secret Techniques.

He nonchalantly took out a small, relatively intact crystal. Then, with a flick of his finger, the blue crystal didn’t shatter; instead, its blue color was washed away, leaving only a clear, transparent crystal that continuously refracted the light.

"In my humble opinion, naming it ’the Exile of Divinity’ would be more accurate."

Rorschach’s eyes widened in an instant.

First, there was the Master’s execution. He had undoubtedly performed a perfect casting. Rorschach himself wasn’t certain he could make the blue crystal fade so cleanly. Even though he had submitted the basic spell description and magic array schematics, replicating it was no easy feat.

Second, Feuerbach had accurately grasped two essential points. One, the core of the spell was the materialization of the conceptual magic of "Exile." Two, from just a small batch of samples, he had identified the Deryatsian divinity contained within the "Dulled Transmuting Dust."

"Your wisdom leaves me in awe." At this point, Rorschach confessed his desire to complete the [Reversing Beam] spell.

Feuerbach fell silent for a moment, then stood up and began to pace. The pipe returned to his hand, then to his lips. With each puff, the ember brightened and dimmed, dimmed and brightened.

"I remember now." He finally stopped and faced Rorschach. "I also know who invented this spell." He blew a smoke ring and revealed a name Rorschach never expected: "Faust."

"Isn’t he just a legend?" Rorschach quickly realized his slip of the tongue.

"There are many legends, but the man himself was real. That ancient Great Mage achieved incredible things and influenced many people... both those with magic and those without. In his later years, however, he went mad, mockingly dismissed by fools as the price for dealing with devils. Are you willing to follow in his footsteps?"

Feuerbach snorted with disdain. "Years later, his student’s student... Johann Wolfgang... rediscovered and compiled the mad master’s unpublished manuscripts, transcribing and publishing a few volumes. The text you saw in the Tower of Stars was most likely one of them."

"I see, so..." Rorschach was now unsure of the man’s attitude. ’Will he let me look through the materials or not?’

"Even if I grant you access, Rorschach Mage, searching the library would be like finding a needle in a haystack. How about you watch a demonstration from me first?" He began another practical display, first handing Rorschach a roll of parchment. The young man glanced over it; it was a rough draft the Master had casually written, containing both text and drawings.

"Remember what it looks like now." Feuerbach snapped his fingers. The parchment quickly caught fire. Just as the flames were about to reach Rorschach’s hand, a ripple of energy pulsed out and extinguished the fire. Rorschach watched with his own eyes as the burnt ashes reversed their course, and the parchment grew back bit by bit.

But something was wrong. After finishing the demonstration, Feuerbach said, "Take a look."

"It’s different." Rorschach could clearly tell that before being burned, the writing on the parchment had been clear. Now, however, it was blurry and illegible, blended in with the scribbled lines.