"When can I start learning Magic?" Hanna’s cheeks flushed with excitent.
Andre shook his head. "Sorry, but first you have to do the internship work like everyone else, or you’ll arouse suspicion. And don’t forget the non-disclosure agreent. As for when you’ll start learning... you’ll be notified." ’Before the Magic Guild gets involved in the war, we have to keep a low profile,’ Rorschach decided. ’If we start teaching Magic on a large scale, keeping it a secret will be impossible.’
"Of course." Hanna sounded a little dejected.
Seeing her disappointnt, Andre handed her an Alchemy Manual. "However, you can study so of the basic knowledge on your own. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can set a ti to et with each week, or with Rorschach Mage."
Then, Martin saw Hanna erge alongside the Mage, holding a beautifully bound book and smiling radiantly. His face instantly stiffened, and he clenched his fists.
Martin, who had forgotten how to relax his facial muscles, said to the girl in a flat, toneless voice, "Congratulations, Miss Vogel."
"You should call Hanna. But... Martin, you already know?"
"I do. So, congratulations on getting your wish..."
"That’s wonderful!" Hanna, still euphoric, didn’t notice his odd behavior. She reached for Martin’s hand. "I just signed the non-disclosure agreent and was stressing about how to tell you! Co on, let’s go check in together..."
Martin pulled his hand away. "No, Hanna. I have sothing else to do. You go on ahead."
He turned and left without looking back, making his way to an office tucked away in a corner.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. The muffled sound spoke to the door’s thickness. A well-sealed, steel-clad wooden door swung open for him. The air inside was thick with a pungent odor. The room was cluttered with glass jars, pots, and cages, all illuminated by the ghastly white light of a Magic Lamp, revealing a bizarre scene.
"Take one more step, and there’s no turning back," Rorschach’s voice echoed from within.
"I’ve given it a great deal of thought. You don’t need to test any further!" Martin stepped resolutely into the ominous Domain. The iron door slamd shut behind him, and a thick mist instantly enveloped him.
"Don’t panic. Hold your breath and count down from five." Martin felt a pungent odor flood his nostrils, and his eyes began to sting. He quickly followed Rorschach’s command, holding his breath and instinctively closing his eyes.
"Apologies. It’s a necessary disinfection asure. The components in the mist are harmful to living organisms, but they only kill creatures far, far smaller than a human." With a point of his finger, Rorschach gave Martin an Air Filter Bubble, and he imdiately felt much better.
This was a new laboratory Rorschach had developed. For now, it had only one ongoing project: the Living Aquatic Microorganisms experint.
Having learned his lesson from nearly causing an ecological disaster with a leak on the battlefield, Rorschach was being much more cautious this ti. This caution was necessary, as his next procedure was even more dangerous: Rorschach was thodically cultivating active microorganisms using flesh and blood. A mouse, held fast by his Mage’s Hand, had a small incision made at the vascular base of its tail, from which he squeezed out venous blood.
The mont the drop of blood fell into the glass petri dish, it reacted. Tiny tentacles writhed within the dish. In this state, the Living Water Body looked less like a tentacled creature and more like a rapidly growing fungal mass.
Martin watched, horrified, but the next step was even more grotesque. Rorschach put away the first petri dish and its corresponding mouse. Then he took out a second mouse, used a needle to draw up the microbial gel from a second dish, and injected it into the new mouse’s forepaw.
Soon, the small mouse began to struggle violently, and a fluorescent white foam frothed from its mouth and eyes. It let out two final squeaks, as if to say, ’Welp, so much for .’
Then, it exploded. Reflected in Martin’s dilated pupils was the test subject, now blown to pieces. Its blood vessels were ruptured, and a bizarre living mass was voraciously devouring its blood vessels and muscle, even coiling around its bones and snapping them.
Before Rorschach could deal with the ss, a bird darted out from nowhere and snatched the entire mass of the unknown organism. It pinned down the mouse’s mutated flesh with its talons, tearing it into swallowable pieces and gulping them down. Once full, it skewered the leftovers on a test tube rack.
This was the very bird whose body Rorschach’s avatar had once possessed. On the day his avatar’s Soul returned, Rorschach had watched it fly away, only to realize monts later that the bird might still contain living magical microorganisms. He had to get it back.
Luckily, it was already exhausted, so Rorschach caught it without much effort. After feeding the bird, he was astonished to discover it seed to have gained a Casting Ability—raw grains held in its beak would rapidly sprout into small seedlings. The bird itself, however, preferred to eat at, including insects. It developed a hobby of imitating his avatar’s past Casting: it would sprout stalks of grain, tuck them among its feathers, and then flap its leafy plumage at Rorschach.
So Rorschach kept the little bird, which was symbiotic with the microorganisms and could perform Magic. He nad it "Gaisde Ges" in mory of Yazi. But Ges proved useful. It inspired Rorschach to research the possibility of symbiosis between other creatures and the Living Water Body, potentially granting them Magic Ability. It also had another duty: disposing of failed test subjects.
He had first determined that it was his own blood that caused the microorganisms to transform, allowing them to form a subtle connection with him. Then, he began testing whether they could be safely transplanted into other creatures. So far, he had tried direct injections and mixing in the mouse’s own blood to increase affinity. But as of yet, he’d made no progress.
He needed human assistance. After all, in the Magic World, humans and other humanoid intelligent races were unique. They had a special affinity for Magic Power and a unique position in the food chain. Therefore, Rorschach decided to attempt to grant this miracle to soone with no Casting Ability.
’This was dangerous research, the kind that would never be permitted. But since he was chasing a thrill, he had to see it through to the end.’
’Rorschach still hadn’t figured out how to create the symbiosis, though. He wasn’t so 21st-century biologist from his past life; he couldn’t just perform genetic modification. His approach would have to be the sa one he used on the mice.’
"Your turn." To Martin’s ears, Rorschach’s voice was like the Death God’s summons. He stumbled backward until his hand hit the locked door.
’It’s over!’ He swallowed hard, silently repeating Hanna’s na in his mind as he forced out the words, "Am I going to die too? Don’t let that bird eat !"
"What are you thinking?" Rorschach called him over. He took out a small vial and separated off a bit of the culture. To ease his new test subject’s fears, Rorschach took the lead, dripping five drops of his own blood into it. The culture within remained surprisingly docile, showing no unusual reaction.
Seeing Rorschach’s demonstration, Martin cald down slightly. Following Rorschach’s instructions, he pricked his fingertip and let a drop of his own blood fall in. The instant his blood touched the culture, the microorganisms reacted. Just as expected, these tiny creatures were ek and obedient for Rorschach, but t everyone else with fists up.
"Now, you are to carry this vial with you at all tis. Every morning... at nine o’clock sharp, you will add three drops of blood. No more, no less.
"Too little, and it won’t survive, shattering your hope of gaining a Casting Ability. Too much, and the little things will beco over-activated and pose a threat." The point was to keep them barely alive, cultivating their dependence and affinity for their blood provider—much like taming a hawk by exhaustion.
With the rapid iteration rate of microorganisms, it was possible.
"Whatever you do, don’t spill it or let it leak into any water. If there’s an accident, find imdiately." Rorschach then gave Martin a failsafe: a necklace. Its pendant was a small alloy box engraved with a Magic Circuit, perfectly sized to hold the vial.
"If this box is destroyed, it will instantly generate intense heat to kill the microorganisms inside. In the unlikely event you get burned as well, I guarantee I can heal you. Co to this lab on the first and sixth day of every ten-day cycle for observation."
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