"Another peaceful day begins!" Rorschach stretched as he got up. Today was the day to assemble and test the prototype for the Transmutation Dust Collector. As agreed, the Alchemy Departnt was supposed to deliver and install the parts this morning.
"Mage Rorschach, Master Snow asked to inform you that because the Alchemy Departnt is on leave this morning, your appointnt will have to be postponed until the afternoon."
’The Alchemy Departnt takes days off?’ Rorschach hadn’t expected that. He had no choice but to accept.
The device was designed as a straight cylinder, so Rorschach’s experintal site needed a high ceiling. Kano had assigned him an unused area on the second floor of the research building for the construction.
At the very top of the device was an inverted Teleportation Array. According to Kano’s findings, once connected to an Ethereal Stream and activated, it would spew out Transmuting Dust. This was expected to take about three seconds.
The ejected Transmuting Dust would then fall vertically within the cylindrical inner space, passing through multiple Magic Arrays in an attempt to neutralize it. To test different Magic Arrays, the prototype Rorschach designed was not a single piece, but had two layers:
The outer layer was a relatively solid Brass Protection Shell. As a precaution, he had inscribed the inside with the series of Magic Arrays from Kano’s Crystal Protective Shield. When activated, it would counteract the energy impact released by the Transmuting Dust.
The inner layer was a segnted liner. Each segnt was set with one of Rorschach’s chosen Magics, making it easy for him to replace them and change their order. During installation, they were to be stacked from the bottom up. As for the material... Rorschach chose ceramic.
The continent already had a craft for firing ceramic pipes. Rorschach’s tower segnts were similar in form to pipes, so it was easy to find a manufacturer. Plus, his [Stone Shaping Skill] could be used for fine-tuning. To improve its capacity and affinity for Ether, the Alchemy Departnt provided a solution to mix Spiritual Minerals into the raw clay.
There was a large difference between the diaters of the outer shell and the inner liner, creating a gap between the two layers. Rorschach planned to use this jacket space to circulate Alchemy Ink to power the Magic Arrays on the inner liner. This idea was inspired by the gasbag protection system on an Airship.
That afternoon, all the parts he ordered arrived, and the guys from the Alchemy Departnt ca to install them. Their main job was to install and secure the brass outer shell and the pipelines. The rough-cast ceramic tower segnts were set aside for Rorschach to process himself.
Snow arrived as well. Looking at the device Rorschach had designed, he offered a reminder, "Shouldn’t we install stronger protections in the lab? A Transmuting Dust leak would be very difficult to handle if it spreads."
Rorschach shook his head and smiled. "That would kill Master Kano." The project hadn’t even officially completed its "proposal defense" yet. All expenses were being paid from Master Kano’s team account, which ant he was personally funding the entire project for now.
But there was another factor: due to the properties of Transmuting Dust, any lab protection would ultimately be single-use anyway. If there really was an accidental eruption, Rorschach could simply cast [Deryats Forest] for protection, which should be more effective than a typical Protective Array.
"My friend, the money is Professor Kano’s, but your life is your own." However, Snow was just offering a casual reminder and didn’t press the issue. After all, Rorschach was already a Middle Tier Mage with a higher Level than him. He should be responsible for any consequences.
A large glass tank of Alchemy Ink had also been filled. On the outside of the lead container, a quartz tube level gauge and an Ether concentration indicator were attached. A Secret Silver tal Fork, similar to a "quick-heater" Rorschach rembered from his past life for boiling water, was inserted deep into the liquid. After the Alchemy Ink’s Ether was depleted, it could be connected to an Ether source to recharge.
"When you’re filling the jacket, just press this manual pump," Snow explained.
There was no hydraulic power, nor any "Magic Pump." The operator had to rely on hand-cranking to fill the jacket with Alchemy Ink. The pipe inlet had a one-way valve, and the outlet could be adjusted by Rorschach himself.
"My advice is to have the Alchemy Ink circulating in and out simultaneously during startup. If you operate it correctly, the power supply to the Magic Array will be stable."
"I know." As the designer, Rorschach of course understood how to operate his own device. ’It’s just that this pump is a bit primitive. I only ntioned needing a power source for circulation; I never expected it to end up as a manual hand pump.’
"Mage Rorschach, we’re done with the installation. Please take a look."
Once the equipnt was assembled, Rorschach used his Mage’s Hand to stack the ceramic tower segnts in order from bottom to top. The bottommost layer was a tal fra, leaving a space at the base that could be opened to clear out the residue left after the Transmuting Dust decayed. After confirming the installation was correct, Snow personally helped him pump the Alchemy Ink into the jacket.
’I could have just used my [Mage’s Hand].’ But seeing how enthusiastically Snow was working, Rorschach didn’t have the heart to say anything.
"Okay, the liquid level is established." Rorschach told Snow to slow down the rate at which he was pumping in the Alchemy Ink.
He was about to open the discharge valve to start the circulation when Snow stopped him. "Wait a mont. The first ti, you need to let the ink soak into the ceramic." None of the ceramic liners were glazed. The Alchemy Ink would seep into the tiny gaps in the ceramic walls and, in conjunction with the Spiritual Minerals mixed into the clay, would allow the Ether from the outer wall to be conducted to the inner wall to power the Magic Arrays.
Everything was ready. With its top still open and the Transmuting Dust eruption device not yet attached, the cylinder was activated. Rorschach stood on a temporary platform and looked down into the tower. A faint blue glow gradually lit up, covering the inner walls.
This was the Light of Guardian, based on the power of Deryats. It was also the strongest guarantee for containing a dangerous and unstable substance like Transmuting Dust.
The Magic Arrays set in the next tower segnts needed to slow down the Transmuting Dust and attempt to stabilize it. Previously, Rorschach had gone to Kano to test and verify [Floating Skill] and [Feather Fall Skill], but neither had any effect on Transmuting Dust.
In truth, ever since learning these two Magics and understanding their principles, Rorschach hadn’t held out much hope. The reason was simple: both Magics were applied directly onto the Transmuting Dust. In other words, they were "adding" to the target of the Casting. However, the dust itself already contained a high density of complex Divine Power. Applying more Magic on top of it would only destroy its stability and accelerate its eruption.
If "adding" didn’t work, he’d try "subtracting." Following this line of thought, Rorschach recalled the Magics he often used when chilling his drinks: [Touch of Frost] and [Frozen Ray]. Their core principle was "Energy Deprivation."
Currently, "Energy Deprivation" was similar to the "Dissociation" principle of [Basic Level Decomposition Skill]. It was only effective on non-magical energy and energy related to the concept of "Vitality." In "Frozen"-type Magics, its main function was to strip away the kinetic energy of molecular thermal motion to achieve a cooling effect.
While researching, Rorschach had noticed that [Frozen Ray] had a stagnating effect on moist objects. In his view, aside from simply freezing a target to restrict its movent, "Energy Deprivation" must also have the effect of reducing the object’s macroscopic kinetic energy during this process.
After so debugging, discussions, and design work with Kano, a [Slowdown Skill] Magic Array capable of stripping only the physical kinetic energy from the Transmuting Dust was developed. On his panel, it was displayed as [Rorschach’s Delaying Technique]. This was because the existing, common approaches to delay spells were similar to [Feather Fall Skill]—they "added" to the target, increasing the viscosity between it and the environnt, unlike Rorschach’s idea of directly reducing the target’s kinetic energy.
After confirming the Magic Array was running smoothly, Rorschach closed the top cover, which was inscribed with the Teleportation Array, and tightened the flange bolts to secure it.
"Begin." Rorschach flipped the switch. Under the intense watch of the guys from the Alchemy Departnt, the Magic Array fully activated. After a slight tremor, everyone stared at the viewing window of the tower’s collection chamber.
The collection chamber was the space that collected the debris after the Transmuting Dust decayed. Looking through the quartz crystal viewing window, one could see a spring scale placed at the bottom. If any dregs fell, they would land on the scale’s tray, which would naturally provide a weight reading.
Five seconds... ten seconds... fifteen seconds.
Rorschach stared at the needle. Seventeen seconds after he flipped the switch to input the Ethereal Stream, the spring scale showed a reading. A mont later, it stabilized. "Success. Within a height of 1.5 ters, the Transmuting Dust took seventeen seconds to fall and decay. Its duration was three seconds."
The device was intact, with no explosions or anomalies, and the slowdown effect had worked on the dust.
"Congratulations!" After having Rorschach sign for the delivery, Snow led the guys away from the laboratory.
Rorschach opened the collection chamber’s discharge port. In the dust left after the decay, he discovered a trace of sothing sparkling blue.
’A Blue Crystal?’ He used a pair of tweezers to pick it out and observe it carefully. A familiar, translucent color flowed within the tiny crystal grain. Applying a little more force with the tweezers, the grain was crushed into powder. Rorschach felt a pulse of Ether emanate from within it.
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