Chapter 331: Chapter 328: Spoils Inventory
Rorschach took out his belongings, including the contents of his Storage Ring.
First was Balan’s Pearl. After its revelry in the Shadow Land, it had become a bit overactive, which Rorschach considered a potential hazard.
’If I advance to Great Mage, suppressing it should be a piece of cake.’
Next was a bottle of sticky, murky liquid. This was a sample of the Living Water Body collected from the Semi-submerged Area. Rorschach had never forgotten to feed it. Back when conditions were poor in the Shadow City, he fed it frog’s blood, and now he was feeding it white sugar and Fanta soda.
Since it wasn’t in running water, the substance in the bottle had become increasingly contaminated, turning it murky.
Rorschach carefully separated a small amount with Mage’s Hand and dropped it directly into a newly opened bottle of soda. Instantly, all the bubbles inside fizzed and were released.
He made up his mind and wrote a letter to Master Humboldt of the Tower of Forest:
"...
I discovered some very interesting subterranean microorganisms somewhere in Istani. They can absorb Magic Power to control small amounts of liquid, and they can gather into a collective, gaining instincts and mobility akin to an animal’s.
"Although the creature’s habitat has unfortunately been destroyed, I have obtained a sample. I imagine my colleagues at the Tower of Forest will be very interested.
"Note: It can decompose flesh and blood and ingest sugar... It possesses a certain degree of danger."
Rorschach was sending a portion of the sample to the Tower of Forest for two reasons. Firstly, every field has its specialists. Secondly, he had a favor to ask of the two Great Mages at the Tower of Forest:
"Additionally, I have a matter I’d like to ask your advice on:
I have a friend..." He described his current situation in the letter, omitting any details that were too sensitive to share, hoping to find a solution.
Rorschach felt that as long as he could cast off the burden of the immense memories and Soul impurities, his advancement wouldn’t be far off. The Soul, which didn’t belong to him and had been constructed by the Wise Man using Magic, had now become an impurity. It was hindering his own integrated growth and had become a burden that required effort to suppress.
Even if he wanted to digest the "gift" from the Ancient Mage, he first had to separate it and deal with it gradually.
Matters related to the Soul had always been taboo. ’Should I seek help from the Tower of Secret Techniques? Maybe they have a solution?’ Rorschach had already finished the letter to the Tower of Forest and was now hesitating, wondering if he should explore other avenues.
But his relationship with the Tower of Secret Techniques wasn’t good. Elizabeth Mage, who had been friendly with him, had left the Secret Technique Tower, and Rorschach was even worried he might be captured and studied.
’That Master Feuerbach doesn’t seem quite normal...’ Rorschach muttered, abandoning the idea of writing to the Secret Technique Tower.
Since returning from Istani, he no longer trusted the Magic Guild and the various Magic Towers as naively as he once had. He had become more cautious in his dealings.
Master Kano and the entire Tower of Stars were not skilled in the relevant fields of Magic, so asking them would be pointless. The core message of Rorschach’s letter to Kano was: "My journey went smoothly, and I am well. I’m preparing to build a Mage Tower in Bayern and hope my dear adoptive father can send funds and support."
The final piece of loot, and the most significant, was the blueprints for the super Analytical Engine.
They were sealed in box after box, having been shrunk by "Peak Rorschach" using the Magic of an Ancient Mage. Now, Rorschach’s own panel had lit up with the Sealing Shrinking Technique. This technique worked by manipulating the space occupied by the shrunken object, which also created a stasis effect.
When all the blueprints and documents were "unpacked," they not only filled the entire living room but also released a faint, briny smell of the sea.
’It’s actually called the "Truth Machine." The designer was certainly shameless.’ Rorschach now had time to take a proper look. The entire machine was as massive as a building, with over one hundred thousand parts listed.
’And here I was, thinking of building my own computer. My mistake...’ Realizing he had been too ambitious, Rorschach decisively gave up on the idea. Actually building it would probably drain the entire steel and brass production capacity of the Bayern Kingdom.
’Maybe I can contact the authorities and see if I can get a good price for this?’ Just as Rorschach was about to sell them, he noticed one box that was different from the rest.
Although it was also a crate, when he opened it, he found that the wooden planks were just a disguise. There was another layer inside, made of alloy steel.
Rorschach determined it was an alloy because he saw its silver-black color, like bare steel, yet it had an affinity for Magic Power. An alloy that could be used to create Alchemy Items was being used just to make a box.
’Alright, I finally found the real treasure chest!’ Rorschach’s curiosity was successfully piqued. When he removed all the wooden planks, a Secret Technique Lock was revealed.
’Eat my Decomposition Skill!’ Rorschach, who was about to brute-force it, stopped himself just in time. He realized that if the Secret Technique Lock was merely to protect the box, there would have been no need to make the entire container from an alloy with an affinity for Magic Power. A cheaper, sturdier metal would have been the logical choice.
In other words, the lock was only the first, superficial layer of security. The box itself must contain other Magic Arrays or magical mechanisms.
Looking at it with Arcane Vision, he saw that, sure enough, the entire box was suffused with a faint fluorescent glow.
Rorschach’s curiosity grew even stronger, and he began to study it carefully. First, there was no external power storage device. Without additional Casting to replenish it, a Secret Technique Lock naturally lasted for two years, and the ruins where it was found had been abandoned and severely corroded.
He pushed his Magic Mastery to its limit, actively injecting a tiny amount of Magic Power into the magical construct. He felt its flow within, carefully avoiding causing any changes.
’There’s a circuit for the Decomposition Skill... Looks like it includes a self-destruct program.’ Once Rorschach had traced all the circuits, he felt the wisp of Magic Power converge at the bottom of the box, where the power storage structure was located.
After confirming this, Rorschach immediately flipped the box over and pressed his finger against the alloy surface...
There was no sound. He simply used his Decomposition Skill to forcibly destroy the point where the Magic Power was most concentrated. Deprived of its power source, the self-destruct Magic Array failed, and the long-overdue Secret Technique Lock was finally released.
To Rorschach’s surprise, there was yet another layer inside. Fortunately, there was no more Magic, just a lead-lined box for insulation.
’Let’s see what’s in here...’
After opening it, he found more blueprints inside. These were no longer the engineering blueprints meant for manufacturers and construction teams, but rather something more like schematic diagrams.
Rorschach also found documents explaining the principles behind it. As he read, he gradually held his breath.
They described an "Open-Architecture Thought Core," which was the true driving core of the entire Analytical Engine.
The inventor’s idea was that the massive, mechanical outer parts—the simple computing units, memory storage, and so on—all served the core. The core was responsible for allocating the peripheral computing units and coordinating the calculation results, thereby achieving complex computations.
"This core was designed based on research into the ancient Tower Spirit of the Tower of Storms. It can achieve a degree of intelligence without the infusion of a Soul.
Through a special input-output interface design, it possesses the potential for expansion. If 2,048 or more ’Babbage Computing Units’ are run in parallel, it will produce a strong intelligent entity without relying on Forbidden Magic."
