Feuerbach’s ideas made Rorschach feel like his brain was turning to steam. Thankfully, it wasn’t for naught. Recalling the long, fantastical speech, he posed a question:

"Master Feuerbach, what if that piece of scratch paper wasn’t yours? Could you still have restored it perfectly on the second Casting?"

Feuerbach blew out a smoke ring and nodded with a smile. "My demonstration was, in fact, a bit misleading. I knew you’d see through it.

"The Reversal Magic invented by Faust, ultimately, only dispels the state of a spell. In other words, whether it was the fire lit by a Trick moments ago or the cast ’Undying Bright Flame,’ it simply puts them out.

"Restoring the parchment, however, was my own innovation—a step beyond his original idea. I intercepted the target’s pre-combustion state from the timeline of my own interaction with it and reapplied it. This involves time, a domain of profound mystery.

Furthermore, restoring symbols requires me to have a deep understanding of them and to pay a higher price. For instance, to restore a book I’ve never read that was destroyed by Magic would require high-level magic from the Prophetic System and an enormous cost.

From this, you can also deduce that if a harmful spell injures a target, a Reversing Beam might be able to undo non-fatal wounds. However, injuries that shatter the Soul or extinguish sentience... whatever you want to call it... fatal wounds that take effect instantly cannot be reversed."

Rorschach nodded. ’It seems I had it wrong from the start.’ He had assumed the Reversing Beam could completely restore an object to its state before magic was cast upon it. Hearing the Master’s explanation now, it sounded more like a simple Anti-Magic Beam—though its effect was still incredibly potent. As for Feuerbach’s technique of "taking it a step further," Rorschach wasn’t sure if he could pull it off himself.

The Master wasn’t finished. He continued, "But you can use your own creativity. You don’t have to follow my exact line of thought. Instead, try applying the principles of the [Repair Skill]. While fusion complicates individual spells, it is sometimes necessary."

He had Rorschach deploy a [Blue Light Barrier] and demonstrated again. However, the [Reversing Beam] didn’t dispel it, only weakened the barrier.

"How about now?" It was still a [Reversing Beam], but Rorschach could feel a familiar fluctuation of Ether. It felt like the power of his own Divine Spirit. This time, the beam shattered the entire barrier with a single strike, leaving not even a mote of blue light behind. It simply collapsed into wisps of pure Ether.

The two spells shared a similar principle; one targeted Divine Spirits, the other targeted Magic. But the Master had fused them, achieving two effects with a single casting.

’He’s even more incredible than my Panel!’ Rorschach was in awe of the Master’s skill.

It was getting late. A Gargoyle reminded Feuerbach of his other appointments. Rorschach, having achieved his goal, took the opportunity to leave. However, since he had brought the Blue Crystals all this way, he couldn’t just take them all back.

Rorschach left a bottle of Dulled Transmuting Dust for Feuerbach and gave another to the Mage who had arranged the introduction. He would sell the rest.

"You two talked for that long?" The Mage was astonished. An entire morning had passed. This might have set a new record for visitor conversation time at the Tower of Secret Techniques.

’Would you believe I was here for a class?’ Rorschach patted the other mage’s shoulder with a pained expression. "I finally understand why it takes so long to graduate from the Tower of Secret Techniques."

As they passed through the dormitory area, they saw an Apprentice ensnared by a silk scarf in a May Tree. It wasn’t just wrapped around his hands; it was also tightening around his neck.

"Hey, who cast that magic? He’s going to suffocate!"

"I’ll try." Rorschach raised his hand, and a faint red ray shot toward the enchanted silk scarf, immediately undoing the prank. The Apprentice rubbed his neck and thanked Rorschach.

’That took more Magic Power than I expected...’ At that moment, his panel displayed a new entry: [Feuerbach’s Reversing Beam (White)]. ’Not Faust’s version?’ Rorschach was privately surprised as he continued toward the main hall.

...

"Ah! Natural scenery is so much more relaxing!" Visiting Great Mage Feuerbach felt like being dragged along by a whirlwind of knowledge and ideas. Rorschach was thankful that he had been able to study under Kano; solving practical problems was more his style.

Rorschach now recognized the location of the stables and found the mount he had ridden in on. He swung himself onto the horse and crossed a line off his small notebook: "Third visit to the Tower of Secret Techniques." Below it was "Investigate dye workshops."

His pre-wedding tour of Glass Town had been with Nixingen, and the two of them, being outsiders, had not gotten along. Although Rorschach had come out on top in the end, he was now determined to have Mr. Hasse accompany him instead.

In any case, the equity stake was settled, so there was no need to worry about interference from the Balderom Chamber of Commerce. Rorschach rode through the mountain paths all the way to Munich and rented a room at an inn.

As for why he didn’t return directly to Lanshite, it was, of course, because Rorschach didn’t know the way!

Motion is relative, after all. Rorschach found out there was a dye workshop right there in Munich, so he decided to write a letter summoning Mr. Hasse to him while he took a long rest in his room.

While Mr. Hasse was on his way, Rorschach went to the Magic Guild to buy some Learning Scrolls. Now, as a Middle Level Mage, learning a Low Level Magic only required a single scroll.

The two met in a beer hall to discuss matters. After hearing Rorschach’s intentions, Hasse grew worried. "Giving people dyes meant for wool and cloth to drink... is that all right?"

"Some of them are indeed toxic." Rorschach admitted that synthetic dyes were often dangerous, but there were also many colorants that were natural or derived from natural materials—things people ate all the time. It should be fine.

"First, the amount of coloring agent won’t be large. Second, we’ll do our best to select non-toxic or low-toxicity options." He kept the final reason to himself. ’The Kingdom currently has no laws about this. As long as it doesn’t make people keel over and foam at the mouth on the spot, no one will look into it.’

"We won’t use anything from minerals or coal, but even for natural pigments, we’ll need skilled technicians and basic solvents for extraction and mixing." Rorschach asked Hasse while eating a Sausage, "What new flavors are we preparing?"

Hasse immediately reported, "Apple and orange."

"Good." Rorschach recalled knowledge from his past life. For green, they could use chlorophyll, extracted from purchased pasture grass. The most economical option in his past life was to use silkworm frass—the little pellets of excrement from baby silkworms, which retained the chlorophyll from mulberry leaves. Of course, any green leaf had it, but as was well known, chlorophyll wasn’t very stable. Light and oxidation, especially through a transparent glass bottle, would cause it to denature and decompose. It needed to be processed into sodium copper chlorophyllin.

Rorschach explained briefly, giving poor Hasse a taste of the same dizzying confusion he had felt in Feuerbach’s office. "I’m sorry, Mr. Rorschach, I don’t understand a word." ’So extracting green from leaves is that complicated? Can’t you just juice them?’

Rorschach shrugged. "That’s why I said we need to hire a professional to do it."

"Orange is much simpler. You can extract lots of high-quality pigments from plants. For example, curcumin or the red pigment from beetroot would work. At this rate, they could gather all the colors for Fanta. And since they weren’t synthetic, they wouldn’t even hurt the average life expectancy of the Bayern Kingdom’s citizens."

So, the next day, the two took a carriage to a dye workshop near the capital. Before they even got close, Mr. Hasse smelled a strange mixture of excrement, grease, and rotten eggs in the air. It was a faint but complex stench, and just one whiff was enough to double the discomfort of the carriage ride.

As they crossed a bridge, he also noticed that the stream flowing into the Duma River was an ominous color.

"Ah! A familiar smell!" Rorschach took a nostalgic sniff, then cast a [Filtering Air Bubble] on himself and Hasse—this was the very spell he had learned specifically for visiting the workshop.