Mage? Magic Engineer!-Chapter 123 - 120: A Prototype of a Dangerous Magic
The panel that returned... was incredibly ornate!
In Rorschach’s view, it was no longer the cafeteria table, but a complex casting table.
At the center of the table was a blank Magic Circle, waiting to be filled with spell units. In its top-left corner rested a closed Magic Book—the very form it had when Rorschach first encountered the panel, except back then, it had been wide open. In the top-right corner were three circular slots, each with a complex design:
He had seen the first design when he was promoted to Middle Level Mage; it was the Magic Circuit from the Magic Guild’s emblem. Hues of blue, purple, and red light flowed through its lines. In this slot sat a hexagonal Amethyst;
The second was one Rorschach knew well. It was the totem symbolizing Deryats that he had been researching recently. An emerald and blue fluorescence alternated within it, and in this slot lay a deer’s skull;
The third slot was strange. Rorschach couldn’t see a design. It seemed to be locked, yet he could see a golden light emanating a holy aura.
’Why does this golden light remind me of the God of Light and Order...’ Rorschach shuddered.
Staring at the panel in the cafeteria wasn’t a good idea. From anyone else’s perspective, he would just look like a weirdo staring at a single page of a newspaper for ages without turning it. Rorschach hurried back to his dorm and opened it again.
’So after the big update, it’s back to a fantasy style, huh? Still feels a bit gaudy.’
As if sensing Rorschach’s thoughts, the casting table flickered, then flickered again, before shattering into motes of light and reassembling. It reformed into a CAD-style interface: a low-key, luxurious dark theme with a frosted texture; a simple, elegant flat design with clear lists and windows. It was far more intuitive than some "Magic Book."
The window flickered one last time, as if finally giving up the struggle and stabilizing. For some reason, Rorschach got the feeling that the panel felt quite wronged...
The magic returned to a list-style sidebar, the bottom bar still contained the term entries, and the top bar now displayed three Runes, with the last one a blur of golden pixels. These likely corresponded to the three slots from the previous fantasy-style interface. Rorschach tried, but the three Runes couldn’t be dragged, nor did they have any additional annotations.
The central operation area was no longer a frame, but a region defined only by guidelines. Unlike the default orthogonal grid of a drafting program, this was a polar coordinate network with its intersection point at the center.
’No instruction manual? So user-unfriendly!’ Rorschach couldn’t find a place to file a complaint, so he opened one of the spells he had already mastered to check things out.
He started with the Fireball Skill, the one that began his journey. Rorschach opened it. "Magic Control" was at the core, while "Elemental Transformation" and "Projectile" were on the same ring. The boxes for the three terms were linked by orange pathways.
As Rorschach observed closely, the three simple diagrams and their connecting lines began to slowly twist and transform. Overlapping curves and straight lines appeared until the geometric units finally filled the Magic Circle to form a Magic Array.
The [Fireball Skill] Magic Array appeared.
HISS— Rorschach felt a sudden drain on his energy during the transformation. He was not only much more fatigued, but his temples also throbbed with a dull ache. It felt just like finishing a difficult math exam—that feeling of breaking free from a state of intense, brain-burning concentration.
’So, it’s using my own brain to do the processing?’ Rorschach felt this function of the panel was very useful, but also a bit unscrupulous.
He transcribed the Magic Array from the panel onto a Scroll and then walked out of his dorm. Rorschach needed to verify one thing.
"You want to buy a [Fireball Skill] Scroll?" The Alchemy Shop inside the Tower of Stars was much like those in the Magic Guild; besides general consumables, it also sold Alchemy Potions and Scrolls—oh, and the current bestseller: Hercules Energy Potion.
"Yes, and not a Learning Scroll." Rorschach pointed to the nameplate on his chest: he was part of the faculty!
The clerk was still hesitant. "Sir, the [Fireball Skill] Scroll is a regulated item due to its lethal and destructive properties. It requires registration, and an assurance that you will not use it for..."
Any professor here, including Rorschach himself, had far more lethal and destructive potential than a single scroll. But right now, his head was still fuzzy, and he didn’t want to use the panel to draw another Magic Array—who would want to take a physics and chemistry exam right after finishing an advanced calculus final? "I need it for research. I’ll be using it in a practice room within the Tower of Stars."
Rorschach handed over his identification. The clerk took it and started the registration. "My apologies, Rorschach Mage. We’re just following the rules. You’re so young, I mistook you for an Apprentice trying to buy one... In any case, that will be 62 Lang."
The Tower of Stars had controls on [Fireball Skill] Scrolls, but the Empire Royal Magic Academy was the opposite. It encouraged Apprentices to learn lethal magic, which was how it churned out batches of "Shaping Power Barbarians" like the old Rorschach—who were damn useful when pulled into the army.
’The scroll was pretty expensive.’ Rorschach paid and requested a practice room from the Tower Spirit. It was class time, so the large practice rooms were being used for practical instruction, but the smaller ones were still free. Rorschach went right inside.
First, he compared the purchased scroll to the one he had drawn himself. The geometric units were basically identical. At his current level, Rorschach could completely understand the function of each geometric unit and the overall design philosophy. He could still see, however, that the differences between the two lay in the relative sizes of the activation unit and the conversion/energy-gathering unit, as well as variations in the relative positioning of each geometric unit.
Activating the purchased scroll, a Fireball gathered above the parchment as the Magic Array charged. Once it grew to a certain size, it flew out and struck the practice target.
Rorschach observed its size and speed, estimating its performance to be slightly above the passing line in an Empire College assessment.
Surprisingly, the materials used for this scroll were quite good. The circuit remained intact after activation; only the core area of the parchment showed signs of scorching from being overloaded. In his judgment, it could be used one more time.
’Time to try my own...’ Rorschach charged his self-made scroll. Ether instantly flooded the circuit. The Fireball coalesced much faster than the last one, and its color was closer to a yellowish-white, compared to the first one’s solid orange-red.
When it shot out, it not only destroyed the target but also smashed against the practice room wall and exploded. The expanding, superheated gas turned into a scorching wind that blew past Rorschach.
’This practice room is too small...’ Looking at the layers of the Protective Array that had been triggered, Rorschach judged that if his self-made scroll was sufficiently charged, its power would be on par with him casting the spell himself. However, the raw materials of his scroll hadn’t been specially treated. The parchment turned brittle and scorched, burning through along the Magic Circuit and shattering into pieces.
"Rorschach Mage, please control your spell’s power and take care of the tower’s facilities. If the testing environment cannot meet your needs, for safety reasons, please proceed to an open, uninhabited area to conduct your..." Having penetrated two layers of protection, Rorschach received a "yellow card" warning from the Tower Spirit.
The Magic Array constructed by the panel could replicate the effect of his own casting. Having verified this, Rorschach began to try out its other functions. He decided to construct a new magic.
He started with "Magic Control" as the core. For the First Ring, Rorschach inserted "Dissociation (Purple)" and "Frequency Vibration (Blue)," the latter of which came from the Communication Skill. He then placed "Projectile" in the Second Ring and linked all the diagrams.
Rorschach had previously noticed that the [Basic Level Decomposition Skill] seemed to be stuck at the "Basic Level Stage." In terms of its scale of decomposition, it could only sever a material’s intermolecular forces, like a macroscopic shearing action, breaking an object into multiple pieces. It couldn’t tear apart chemical bonds or split neutrons and protons...
From a metaphysical perspective, it was ineffective against materials or biological tissues that had traces of casting or strong Vitality. It could only "bully" things like flowers, grass, and chunks of meat.
Rorschach had an idea for this second issue. Whether it was Ether or the so-called "Vitality," the prerequisite for resisting decomposition was that these energies were moving within the target according to a certain order. It was highly likely that this "ordered movement" was what hindered the decomposition effect.
Therefore, following the logic of the [Forbidden Magic Roar], Rorschach planned to disrupt the orderliness of the target’s etheric movement at the same time as he "Decomposed" it, relying on a random "Frequency Vibration" accompanying the Magic Power to do so.
"Huh?"
However, when he completed the construction and began Casting, he sensed the Ether he had gathered tremble once and then collapse. Nothing happened after that.
