Free Web NovelChapter 438: Chapter 435: It’s All the Gods’ Fault
After calming the exuberant Bart, Rorschach hurried to find Caroline.
The Meeting Room and the restaurant’s lavatory in the Central Tower each had a mirror in a classical style, with a crystal embedded above the frame to provide light. But when Rorschach stood before one and knocked on its surface, the spherical crystal would "open its eye." An artificial pupil would then focus, confirming the visitor was the master of the Mage Tower.
The lavatory wall rotated, and Rorschach stepped into his Mage Tower.
Part of the Mage Tower was located within the Central Tower, which was why the Meeting Room and restaurant could have such little contraptions. After reaching the entrance, there were still further checks and defenses. He had to open the next door to truly enter his tower.
’Teacher Caroline only said she was in the tower... but she didn’t specify where...’ Rorschach began his search.
Most of the people at the meeting probably thought Rorschach had completely sided with the Empire, and in the short term, that understanding wasn’t wrong. For the foreseeable future, his industries would have to rely on orders from the Empire Army and imports of certain raw materials. If he had sided with the Bayern Royal Family, the remaining market, demand, and supporting industries within the Bayern Kingdom would be insufficient to sustain his enterprises’ continued growth.
It was an unstoppable war chariot, a furnace that could not be extinguished. If it stopped, all his previous work would be for naught.
But that didn’t mean Rorschach would be satisfied with simply acting as the Empire’s hired muscle, crushing the Bayern Royal Family, dismembering Bayern, and turning his own domain into a Free State only to stop there.
A Free State under the Empire’s system, just as the Prime Minister told Bart, was a small step forward from a Kingdom controlled by the Royal Family and its old Nobility. If Rorschach were to say, "We will repeat the history of Valuva," more people would object or cower, unable to understand the benefit of transitioning from a Kingdom to a Republic.
But if he presented the Prime Minister’s promise, many opportunists would feel that with a powerful backer, the benefits were more tangible, the motivation for progress was greater, and there was less to fear. A Free State would seem slightly more acceptable than a Republic.
But only "slightly." He needed to go even further.
There was no need to explain all this at the meeting, but he had to make things clear to Caroline. She was a key partner in the "Spell Cloud" project. As for her feelings toward Valois, Rorschach couldn’t be sure.
’She’s probably in the workshop...’ Rorschach pushed the door open and walked in. Caroline was at a workbench, surrounded by numerous documents and manuscripts she had brought with her. The Rorschach Mage Tower’s foundation was weak, its library sparse, consisting mostly of materials he had written himself in his spare time. According to the original plan, duplicating a portion of their library was supposed to be part of the Tower of Stars’ support, but unfortunately, the war had interrupted such exchanges.
Caroline paid no mind to Rorschach’s arrival, completely immersed in her work. After a moment, she pushed a sheet of paper his way. Rorschach saw it was a set of unfinished calculations, so he found a charcoal pencil and started to help, letting the Tower Spirit complete whatever he couldn’t solve. Rorschach wanted to explain his decision, but he never found an opening.
Rorschach didn’t like being interrupted while conducting his own research, so he couldn’t bring himself to interrupt Caroline’s, especially since she was working on his behalf.
Rorschach wasn’t particularly skilled in Space System magic or mathematics. In terms of his long-neglected advanced math, he could handle basic-level assistant work. But as the calculations grew more difficult, he had to call upon the Tower Spirit with increasing frequency, until he was ultimately reduced to a mere I/O go-between for Caroline and the Tower Spirit.
In truth, the Tower Spirit could only handle the calculations by drawing upon Rorschach’s own memories of mathematics and combining them with its computing unit. In other words, this was all knowledge Rorschach had once learned, only to return to his teachers.
From his rudimentary understanding, Caroline was using the language of mathematics to describe a spatial position. She wasn’t trying to lock onto a simple coordinate, but a random cluster of coordinates confined to a specific stratum—one pointing to the Air Elemental Plane, of course.
Once the work was done, Caroline began to speak. "Legend has it that the [Water Creation Skill] was invented by a Great Sage wandering the Kingdom of Sand. The Kingdom of Sand was once a battlefield contested by the Sun God and the War God, and the Sun God’s followers occupied the land’s only great river. So, the Sun God had the scorching sun relentlessly bake the earth, causing all other streams and rivers to dry up."
"In places touched by the Sun God’s Divine Power, it was exceedingly difficult even for a Mage to conjure Water Elements. The common folk beyond the banks of the great river could only endure the drought or surrender to the river tribes and become slaves."
"The Great Sage could not bear to witness such a sight and traveled to the Water Elemental Plane. At that time, the plane was governed by the Valley God Ceres. She was a benevolent mother who presided over the harvest and was willing to share the Source of Life. Thus, She signed a pact with the Great Sage, weaving Magic Power and Divine Power into a powerful Secret Contract that could draw the purest nectar from the Water Elemental Plane."
"Most importantly, this Secret Contract was simple enough that the Great Sage could seek out children blessed by Thoth—those with Magic Talent—and teach them the method of summoning water. Out of deference to Ceres, the Sun God did not stop the people outside the river basin from obtaining water this way."
"Later, the Secret Contract was codified into a standard spell and passed down through the ages, becoming the First-Ring [Water Creation Skill]."
"That’s just a legend?"
"Yes, a legend. What the actual truth is, no one knows. But for now, we’ll use this as a template to create a [Qi Creation Skill]."
With the Divine Spirits having faded, there was naturally no "Master of the Air Elemental Plane" to be found to sign any kind of contract. The pact between the Divine Spirit and the Great Sage had also served to connect the two planes, using cross-planar faith as a conduit.
As this connection was utilized through repeated castings, the corresponding pathway on the "Tree of Law" gradually cleared. Like water carving and deepening a riverbed, the spell model for the [Water Creation Skill] slowly solidified, became standardized, and simplified. To this day, no trace of the Divine Spirit and a powerful Mage remains within it—it is merely a process of locating and summoning.
The first thing the two of them thought of to replace this connection was the "Boundary Land." This was related to the principles of all inter-planar travel. Compared to maintaining a Teleportation Gate to the various Elemental Planes, teleporting within the Prime Material Plane was actually more difficult.
This strange phenomenon was also the fault of the Divine Spirits of old:
The Main Plane was once the primary battlefield of the Divine Spirits, and Their power permanently altered the landscape and space itself. In other words, to get from one point on the Main Plane to another, one had to pass through many unknown interferences. In spatial teleportation, an error of a hair’s breadth could lead to a deviation of a thousand miles. These interferences were dangerous.
On the other hand, the various planes are connected by the Star Realm, an existence where the Material Realm and the Symbolic Realm intermingle. Divine Spirits, particularly those with authority over the elements, frequently summoned and teleported in order to draw power from the Elemental Planes and deploy Elemental Creatures as servants on the "main battlefield." They even used their Mighty Power to alter the pathways connecting the Main Plane, the Star Realm, and the Elemental Planes, facilitating the passage of Their power and servants.
Because of this dual influence, the difficulties of inter-planar and intra-planar teleportation became inverted, a situation that persists to this day.
"Finally, we register this Secret Contract with the Tower Spirit within the ’Boundary Land’ and have it link the two planes. In theory, that should work."
