Mage? Magic Engineer!-Chapter 56 - 53: A Sound Sleep With No Night

’This is... a spell I haven’t mastered?’ It was the first time he’d encountered such a situation, and Rorschach was both surprised and secretly delighted. ’Does this mean I can become like Kakasha with my panel?’

’No, it’s not that easy.’ Rorschach quickly calmed down. He had first used his Magic Control to perceive the details of Yina’s Casting process, meaning he had already grasped the first two steps of the [Stone Shaping Skill].

The panel’s convenience was that it summarized the two steps of Casting he’d observed and revealed the remaining two needed to complete the spell.

"So I just need to imbue the earth and stone with Ether?"

"Of course not. Mage Rorschach, you should know that simply injecting Ether will cause most physical materials to glow or release heat. We need to combine the Ether with the Earth Element."

The panel didn’t react. ’That last sentence must have been describing the "Enchantment" process.’ Rorschach continued to fish for information, "And then I’ll be able to control it as I wish, right?"

"It’s not that simple... Rorschach, are you my student? Why do I feel like I’m the one teaching a class?" Despite saying this, Yina continued to explain while Casting:

"To make the Earth Element active and mutable, you need to imagine it temporarily gaining a life force through the Ether, and then you must transmit a strong image of your intent to it."

As she spoke, another cave dwelling gradually took shape. Before Rorschach’s eyes, the entries with question marks on his panel slowly materialized:

[Stone Shaping Skill (White)]: Magic Control (Orange), Enchantment (Blue), Material Activation (White), Mapping (White)

The spell was successfully unlocked on his panel, but based on experience, a white-level proficiency didn’t guarantee successful Casting. By the standards of the academy and the Magic Tower, this didn’t count as having learned it.

Regardless, Rorschach had at least grasped the basic theory and could now practice, which was what mattered most.

"You truly are my teacher now. As the saying goes, when three people travel together, one is sure to be my teacher."

"Even three Goblins?" Mage Yina had already created three cave dwellings. Even though the rich Ether in the Sub-plane greatly reduced the cost of Casting, she still needed to rest. Meanwhile, the manual team had just finished their first prototype.

Rorschach was at a loss for words for a moment. "...Do Goblins count as people? Well, at least their digging ability is no weaker than that of a Dwarf with tools. That’s impressive."

"And you were just trying to learn how to dig holes from me. Am I a Goblin in your eyes?"

Never having expected Mage Yina to possess a talent for killing conversations, Rorschach changed the subject—or rather, returned to what he really wanted to say:

"Mage Yina, I’d like to try the [Stone Shaping Skill]. Since you’re resting, would you mind watching me Cast and offering some pointers?"

"Have you studied the [Stone Shaping Skill] before? For instance, have you ever used a Learning Scroll, understood its principles, or practiced its components separately?"

Rorschach shook his head. Yina placed a hand on her hip. "Alright then, let’s see what you can do." Previously, Yina would have stopped his attempt. In her eyes, trying to master a Middle Level Spell just by watching her Cast it three times was impossible—a complete waste of Magic Power.

However, Rorschach’s performance in creating water had left a deep impression on Yina, and she no longer judged this student of Master Kano by conventional standards.

After taking a deep breath and exhaling, Rorschach followed Yina’s steps and placed his hand on the earthen wall. His palm touched the rough, dry, orange-red soil. He channeled Ether into it, trying to make the Ether linger longer and be more stable, instead of dissipating as heat and light.

Maintaining this state was a first for Rorschach, and it proved somewhat difficult. Fortunately, his experience contemplating the [Light Technique] gave him a similar feeling. After the Ether had combined with the soil for a while, Rorschach could feel a portion of it slipping from his control. Correspondingly, the Earth Element became active. On a macro level, the soil beneath and around his palm seemed to liquefy and began to churn.

"To achieve this on your first try? Mage Rorschach, besides the Shaping Power Energy System, you’re also very talented in the Transformation System."

"You flatter me." Rorschach tried to expand the range of the activated Earth Element, increasing the Ethereal Amount he was inputting to spread it outward.

Yina leaned closer to carefully observe the Activation. "But don’t get too pleased with yourself. The hardest parts are bringing enough soil ’to life’ and then making the active Earth Element move precisely according to the blueprint in your mind."

Rorschach felt the Ethereal Amount for the Enchantment was sufficient and began to drive the soil to transform. It went smoothly at first, but halfway through, he felt the Earth Element spin out of control. The parts that were changing constantly disintegrated, the untransformed soil collapsed, and finally, all that remained was a small hole with an irregular surface.

"The shaping failed, just as I thought." Yina inspected the surface of the hole, breaking off a clump of earth to check its hardness. "Your activation of the Earth Element wasn’t thorough or uniform enough. That’s why when you made them ’execute your command,’ some parts moved faster, some slower, and there were deviations and errors."

"But all in all, for your first time using this Magic, and attempting it at the maximum range for your Level, failure is to be expected. Mmm, you did pretty well."

"Thank you for your guidance." Rorschach nodded, reflecting that his "Material Activation" step had been insufficient, which in turn caused the final "Mapping" step to fail. He thought for a moment, then raised his hand to the ceiling of the hole, narrowing the spell’s range to just the soil that needed changing and prioritizing the solidification of the arched roof.

He activated and shaped it again. The curve gradually formed. The process was perhaps far less smooth than Yina’s, but it was, just barely, a success.

"Congratulations, congratulations. If you had targeted something smaller, like a small rock, we could say you’ve mastered this spell, Mage Rorschach."

Rorschach worked in batches, using his clumsy [Stone Shaping Skill] to shape the ceiling, walls, and floor, until it could finally be considered a proper cave. Even so, by the time Rorschach finished his first "masterpiece," the "manual team" was still working away at their second and third cave dwellings.

’Huh? Why is it so lively over there?’ Rorschach looked over to see several foremen gathered around the cave entrances. Sprays of earth and rock flew out from the manual team’s second and third caves. It turned out that one was being dug by François, enhanced by [Burrowing Claw], while in the other, two brawny workers were digging furiously with picks and shovels. The two sides seemed to be competing. The workers who were supposed to be building walls were shouting excitedly, and they weren’t just cheering for their own; François had his own supporters rooting for him.

Watching François, his hunting gear completely covered in dust, utterly oblivious and filled with a competitive spirit, Rorschach gave a slight smile.

The bell tolled for the fourth time in this world. It didn’t ring hourly like a city clock tower, but once every three hours. The third bell signaled the end of the workday and time for "dinner," while the fourth meant it was time to rest. Everyone was assigned to either a cave dwelling or a temporary tent to prepare for sleep.

The sky of the Sub-plane was a bright, shifting expanse of pink. With no celestial bodies, there was no cycle of day and night; it remained perpetually bright. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Biologically, it’s difficult for humans to sleep properly without a night. Fortunately, the first day of major construction had been the most tiring. The felt cloth serving as a temporary door at the cave’s entrance was thick enough to block most of the light, and as Rorschach lay on the hard earthen bed, he was just on the verge of sleep.

Falling asleep on a nightless night... would it be a dreamless sleep?