"Rorschach Mage, the Vibrating Quartz you ordered has arrived." The Tower Spirit’s voice rang out in Rorschach’s dormitory.
Vibrating Quartz, an alchemy material, could be ordered through the rchant companies affiliated with the Magic Guild. As a special courtesy, the Tower of Stars enjoyed the Guild’s door-to-door delivery service.
After picking it up from the mailroom, Rorschach went straight to the Alchemy Classroom. ’What’s going on with this place?’ For so reason, it seed no one at the Tower of Stars ever took any alchemy-related courses; the classroom was always empty. The last ti he was here, he had to wipe a thick layer of dust off the equipnt before he could use it.
The Alchemy Classroom had extra wards, making it the perfect place to verify the information Rorschach had found on the leather armor.
The Vibrating Quartz was a grayish-white, hexagonal crystal. From a box of crystals of varying sizes, Rorschach picked out a piece that fit perfectly in his grasp and began to infuse it with Magic Power.
The crystal in his hand turned from grayish-white to clear, but nothing else happened.
Infusing objects with Magic Power was sothing Rorschach did often. Normally, the Magic Power would saturate an object smoothly until it reached a limit, at which point the object would begin to glow. This crystal, however, was different. Rorschach felt the flow of his Magic Power into it was sluggish and slow. It was nowhere near the crystal’s absorption limit, feeling more like a bottomless pit.
’This isn’t going to work. I need to try a different approach.’
Rorschach picked out a small crystal column, one he could completely enclose in his palm. Using [Magic Power Drive], he guided the surrounding Ether to concentrate into the quartz. Finally, in addition to becoming slightly more transparent, the crystal began to vibrate.
It still wasn’t enough. Rorschach still felt the Vibrating Quartz was sucking up Magic Power like a bottomless pit. The mont he stopped infusing it, the quartz violently discharged all the Magic Power, and then... nothing.
’If I continue in this direction...’ Rorschach noticed so quartz powder in the box, created from the crystals knocking against each other. It looked like grayish-white sand. He tipped a corner of the box, poured a palmful of the powder out, and once again infused it with Magic Power.
At last, it seed to reach a limit. The sand in his palm trembled and churned as if it were boiling.
’This won’t work!’ Rorschach quickly cut off the flow of Ether. He found a silk cloth in the classroom’s cleaning cabinet to cover his mouth and nose, then used [Mage’s Hand] to lift the handful of quartz grains and try the experint again. Casting [Magic Power Drive] at the sa ti was extrely difficult, but thankfully, Rorschach’s proficiency was high enough that he could manage it with intense concentration.
Infusion, pulsation, "boiling," and then... an explosion.
In a corner of the classroom, the fine grains of sand erupted outward, accompanied by a powerful surge of Magic Power. To Rorschach, it felt like being hit by a silent yet sharp, piercing roar. Both his [Mage’s Hand] and [Magic Power Drive] were shattered by the "silent scream."
Dizziness and a stabbing pain washed over him, but Rorschach was thrilled. He had succeeded! He brushed the quartz dust from his clothes, then looked at the box of crystals. He separated the smaller, fragnted pieces and used his [Decomposition Skill] to mass-produce more sand.
’Now I need to test the range, and hopefully figure out how not to affect myself.’
He then found a Light Scroll that had an Energy Storage Circuit, making sure it was continuously activated. He repeated the procedure. As the Vibrating Quartz Sand exploded, the scroll, as expected, went dark.
After several more tests, Rorschach determined that the explosion’s magic-dampening effect covered a spherical area roughly five ters in diater, originating from the blast’s epicenter.
Just then, Rorschach felt sothing and opened his panel. As he suspected, a new spell had appeared: [Rorschach’s Forbidden Magic Roar (White)].
But the spell’s components were unusual. It was composed of "Magic Concentration" and "Vibrating Quartz Sand." The latter component was grayed out and could not be copied or moved.
The panel also displayed a long-awaited comnt: "Relying on external materials for casting is a sign of weakness. But it’s very effective. A spell that can backfire on the caster if they’re not careful with the distance. But it’s very effective."
’Say whatever you want, as long as it works,’ Rorschach thought. During cleanup, he repeatedly used [Air Cannon] to sweep the floor, gathering all the scattered quartz powder into a pile to dispose of it.
’Oh, right, one more thing...’
Figuring enough ti had passed, Rorschach took out so stationery and wrote letters to his parents and Teacher Caroline to update them on his situation.
In the letter to his parents, Rorschach described the situation in the Holy King’s Capital, Valuva, complaining about the sharp rise in bread prices. He also ntioned that he would soon be heading to a faraway place for an assignnt and talked about His Majesty the King’s plan to ennoble several Great Mages. The destination of his assignnt was, in fact, the future fiefs of these new elites. In his letter to Teacher Caroline, he discussed the progress he had made in Alchemy and so questions he had about Magic Power.
When he went outside, Rorschach found that it was becoming increasingly difficult to hail a carriage for hire.
When he finally got into one, he asked the coachman why. "Young master," the coachman replied, "fewer people are taking carriages, so naturally there are fewer drivers. Tis are tough. The custors who used to ride with us would rather walk now, and the truly wealthy lords all have their own private carriages."
The coachman was thinly dressed and sniffled mid-sentence. "My peers have all gone to the outer provinces to drive freight wagons. I can’t bear to leave my young daughter, so I’m just sticking it out here in the Royal Capital. Sooner or later, I’ll have to find sothing else to do."
At the Magic Guild, Rorschach mailed his letters with practiced ease. As expected of the Guild’s hub in the Royal Capital, there were eight separate Magic Array tables for sending mail, each designated for a different cardinal direction.
After leaving the Guild, Rorschach didn’t head back to the Magic Tower. Instead, he made his way to a comrcial street, where he found an outdoor seat at a teahouse. Diagonally across from him, a building bore the sign of the "Pachaluka Trading Company."
He waited for a short while before an employee walked out of the building across the street.
"Rorschach Mage? Did you bring the rchandise we agreed upon?"
Rorschach tossed over a rolled-up tube of parchnt. "Three [Light Technique] scrolls." The market price was about ten silver per scroll, but Rorschach was here to collect his "salary."
The man nodded, took the scrolls, and placed a small bag of Gold Coins on the table.
’One, two...’ There were only four Gold Coins, and they were Kingdom coins at that. "This is short. My price was eight."
"That’s the price."
Rorschach covertly used [Mage’s Hand] to grip the employee. "Eight. That’s what I agreed on with your boss." ’Theoretically, another twelve Golden Eagle Coins should have been sent to my dear parents,’ Rorschach thought, now starting to worry.
The employee’s expression didn’t falter despite the magical pressure. "Sir, that may be the price you discussed with the boss, but we employees have families to feed, and our manager has to keep the company afloat. Can’t you be considerate of the difficulties we grunts face?"
Rorschach felt a surge of disgust for this slick, well-dressed "grunt." "Then the deal’s off. When I get back to the Empire, I’ll discuss this directly with your bald boss."
The man, who had been so brazenly trying to short him, finally paled. "Sir, doing this will only put the company in the hot seat! We’re all on the sa side, why do this? Look, I really don’t have the cash on . If you want the rest of the Gold Coins, you’ll have to see our manager!"
Rorschach wasted no more words. Without taking the Gold Coins, he used [Mage’s Hand] to snatch the scrolls back and prepared to leave.
"Six! I can’t go any higher!" the man said through gritted teeth, stopping the Mage from leaving.
Rorschach sat back down, opened the coin pouch, and motioned for the man to add two more Gold Coins. "I understand your company’s position, and I know you have your ways. But cutting the paynt in half is a bit much, don’t you think?"
"Oh, my dear young master, you don’t understand the market conditions. Ai, I’m going to get an earful from my manager now."
Rorschach was unmoved by the employee’s performance. He simply sipped his tea and watched silently as the man returned to the Pachaluka Trading Company building.
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