Mage? Magic Engineer!-Chapter 137 - 134: The Triumphant Rooster General
For several days after his defense, Rorschach worked on improving his equipment. In the residue from the decay, he discovered blue crystals that could be touched directly. When destroyed, Ether spilled out.
Rorschach realized this might be Dulling Transmuting Dust.
Although he didn’t fully understand why some Transmuting Dust turned blue or why it entered such a stable state, that didn’t stop him from trying to increase the conversion yield.
’Perhaps it’s an effect of infusion by Deryats Divine Power?’ In any case, Rorschach could now see a potential technological path for Dulling emerging first.
Since their work was now centered in the research building, Rorschach was the first to arrive at the Meeting Room for their group meeting. After setting up the demonstration board and lighting the fireplace, he sat down to redraw and design a Magic Array.
"Pascal?"
Rorschach looked up to see a long-unseen acquaintance walk in. He greeted him, then lowered his head to get back to work.
Pascal, like a rooster about to crow, puffed out his chest and circled the table. As he passed Rorschach, he deliberately coughed, "Ahem," in an attempt to get his attention.
Seeing that Rorschach was still absorbed in his project, sketching away, he had to prod him. "Ahem, Rorschach, notice anything different about me?"
Rorschach sized him up. Pascal was now wearing a blue Magic Robe, the brand-new badge on his chest shining brightly. Its blue glow indicated that a notoriously difficult problem for the research group had been solved. Now his senior was like a general returning from a great victory, waiting for his junior to spot the difference.
"Oh! I think I get it now!" Rorschach played along, putting on a show of sudden realization. He casually activated his own Mage Badge, revealing the purple light of a Middle Level Mage. "Congratulations, Senior, you’ve been promoted to a Basic Level Mage!"
"...Rorschach, you don’t need to emphasize the ’Basic Level’ part. And did you really have to go and activate your Mage Badge?"
"Whoops, I must have bumped it by accident." Rorschach blinked his clear eyes innocently. "Senior, now that you’re an Official Mage, shouldn’t you treat us to a meal to celebrate?"
"Rorschach, you didn’t treat anyone when you were promoted to Middle Level Mage, did you?"
"Right, right, right, I completely forgot!" Rorschach’s flair for the dramatic suddenly surged. He slapped his head with a flourish. "How about this? I’ll treat everyone in the research group to a meal at the Starlight Torch Tower. And Senior, if you’re going to treat everyone, your choice of venue can’t be any less grand than that!"
Rorschach was a little annoyed at being disturbed, but he could also understand Pascal’s excitement. So, as a bit of petty revenge, and banking on his own comfortable financial situation, Rorschach was willing to foot a huge bill himself just to raise the bar for his senior’s treat.
"On par with the Starlight Torch Restaurant? Rorschach, you might as well just kill me! I don’t have that kind of money!" Pascal quickly protested. In response, Rorschach pulled out his final trump card to settle the score with his slippery senior:
He pulled out the first issue of the *Gold Selling Guide*, which he’d bought from a general store. "I discovered this guide introduces a lot of great restaurants. Senior, do you remember that idea I came up with last year? I never thought some guy named ’Thor’ would turn it into a reality. Say, do you think I should ask this Mr. ’Thor’ about the source of his ’creative’ idea?"
Pascal’s expression turned dead serious. He patted Rorschach’s shoulder earnestly. "As your senior, I am absolutely treating everyone to this party. How about this: pick any place you all want, right from this guide."
"As for the source of the idea... well, the world is full of coincidences. Maybe you just have a talent in the Prophetic System that makes your wishes come true, Junior!"
"Pascal, you’re really treating? A fine idea. It’s always been you freeloading off me; now I finally get to enjoy a feast hosted by a student." Kano had arrived, followed by the new students. It was their second group meeting, but their first time seeing their most senior fellow student, and they curiously greeted the dashing Pascal.
"Greetings, juniors!" Pascal lost himself in the newcomers’ sincere cries of "Senior! Senior!" Compared to a certain Middle Level Mage whose use of "Senior" was dripping with sarcasm and utterly disrespectful, the words from these innocent Apprentices sounded far sweeter and more pleasant.
The last to arrive was Paulina. She did a double-take when she saw Pascal, looking him up and down three times over.
"Stop staring at me so intensely, you’re making me self-conscious." Unable to bear Paulina’s gaze, Pascal scratched his hair. So it seemed the "Triumphant Rooster" had a shy side after all.
Paulina raised an eyebrow and said softly, "Looks good."
"Th-thanks."
"Ahem. Let’s not waste time." The subtle sparks flying between the young people were as irritating to Kano as spring pollen. He cleared his throat and called the meeting to order.
Kano’s experiments were ongoing, though he was also designing and testing new methods. Rorschach suggested that, like Professor Poincaré, they could try bringing in Istani mechanical logic calculators, as well as equipment to measure the frequency of Ether fluctuations within a Magic Array.
"That’s certainly interesting. After your funding gets approved... that should free up some of my budget. We can consider acquiring them. Paulina, are there any other instruments you think we need?" Master Kano’s first sentence nearly gave Rorschach a heart attack; for a second, he thought his approved funding was going straight to the big boss.
Paulina considered for a moment before saying, "We’re running low on Mithril. The extended circuitry for the new equipment requires it."
"We can’t use only Mithril for the conductors; the cost is too high. I’ll discuss it with the Alchemy Department." With that, Kano finalized the next stage of spending.
For the newcomers, Fatima and Paul, Paulina again briefly reviewed the Mysterious Baron’s conversion theory. Rorschach also gave them a simple rundown of his paper on improving the Steam Engine and his current project, successfully leaving the two Apprentices completely bewildered.
"This is a prototype defensive core I’ve been working on. I’m planning to license it to the Alchemy Department’s direct commercial arm for mass production. It’s designed primarily against energy attacks." This "Blue Light Shield"—a by-product of a by-product of Kano’s project—had received unanimous praise and attention from the judges, much to Rorschach’s exasperated amusement.
But as a saying from his past life went, "You’d have to be a fool to leave money on the table." So he still carved out the time to develop a mass-producible Shield core. For the sake of secrecy, the Magic Array was designed to be hidden inside a round, opaque Crystal Ball. During manufacturing, the array would be carved onto the inner faces of two halves of the sphere; only when the two hemispheres were joined at the correct angle would the Magic Array be whole.
Once fused together using the Stone Shaping Skill, inputting Ether into the Crystal Ball would generate a blue, hemispherical Shield. Any attempt to open the Crystal Ball would destroy the central Magic Array in the process. If the Crystal Ball was made small enough, it would be perfect for embedding in armor or crafting into accessory-type Magic Items, making it an easy product to sell.
Rorschach was quite pleased with his design and was currently negotiating profit-sharing and production licensing with the commercial arm.
After listening to Rorschach’s report, Kano thought for a moment. "Do you want to recruit assistants of your own? You could take on a couple of Apprentices to mentor."
"I can do that." Rorschach was struck by the thought. ’As long as you produce enough good results, you can become a "little boss" in such a short amount of time.’
After the group meeting ended, Kano kept Rorschach and Paulina behind.
"What are your plans for the future? I’d like to hear your thoughts." Kano poured himself a cup of hot tea and took a sip. For Rorschach, the question gave him the distinct feeling of a professor asking a second-year grad student if they were planning to go for a Ph.D.
