Mage? Magic Engineer!

Rorschach had single-handedly done all the work for the team. Every member of the Tower of Forest watched his form hovering in the air, burning the sight into their memories.

As Rorschach slowly approached the hot air balloon, all the members aboard perked up. Did the Great Mage have another request?

"Move aside, move aside... make some room for me. Thanks."

Rorschach grabbed the edge of the large hot air balloon’s wicker basket with both hands. After a moment of effort, he managed to hoist himself inside and flopped down. "Man, that took a lot out of this old man."

Some of the apprentices present looked older than he did. Many of them wanted to roast him for his casual remark, but no one dared to say a word.

Rorschach was genuinely exhausted. These days, his total Magic Power wasn’t an issue. Unless he was in a Death Magic Area completely devoid of ambient Magic Power, he could channel as much as was present around him. The true limitations lay in the finesse of his casting, his area of effect, and the duration.

The last two acts—suppressing the strong winds and performing the large-scale [Natural Tuning]—were incredibly draining. Mobilizing Magic Power on such a scale would leave a Caster’s spirit and internal Magic Circuits utterly exhausted. Right now, circuits resembling a network of veins were faintly visible on Rorschach’s skin, distinguished only by their faint, ethereal glow.

Rorschach was quite satisfied with the results of his self-test. Even though his magic hadn’t covered the entire city and the uncultivated wilderness, its area of effect was still astonishingly vast. Of the Great Mages he knew, only a couple had demonstrated similar prowess: the Ancient Sage, who had permanently altered the climate of an entire region—a feat so incredible it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was on par with a lesser god—and Lord Isaac, who had worked with Rorschach to turn all of Storm City upside down.

For comparison, when Master Humboldt’s and Master Kuo Bo’s avatars had joined forces to alter the weather, they had only managed to create lightning, thunder, and hail beneath a single large cloud. ’Do Mages specializing in the Shaping Power Energy System have an advantage in their spell range? No, that old man is a polymath...’

He pulled out his Pocket Watch. "The rain fell for a total of twenty-one minutes. Even the last plots of land to get hit were washed for at least fifteen minutes. That should be enough, right?"

"According to our calculations, it’s sufficient. The actual effect remains to be seen from the tests," the Powerful Mage answered with great rigor. Rorschach nodded, then took an Energy Potion out of his ring. As he drank his own, he distributed them to everyone who had participated.

"Thank you for your hard work." Rorschach said this each time he used [Mage’s Hand] to hand a potion to a member. After all, the team had voluntarily worked overtime the past few days to plan this "ecological restoration project"—even if he seemed to be the one who did most of the actual execution.

"Thank you, Master." Each of the apprentices bowed slightly as they accepted the bottles, their postures somewhat stiff and formal.

’? You all weren’t like this at first.’ Rorschach felt a twinge of regret. He really wished they would just relax a little.

’These Purple Potions and sodas are loaded with sugar. The apprentices have been drinking them freely for days and have probably gotten used to it. As for their pancreases, if they’re not complaining, they must be fine.’

After dispelling the [Floating Skill] Enchantment, the hot air balloon, which was already overweight, began to descend slowly without needing to reduce the flame or open its vents. Once he had recovered a little, Rorschach cast a group-wide [Feather Fall Skill] and simply stored the balloon away.

After they landed, everyone could feel the fresh air left by the rain. The apprentices fanned out to collect samples, while Rorschach and Ella headed to the main drainage channel to retrieve the most important water sample.

One apprentice followed them. He noted that even with the root systems of the Seed of Illusion stabilizing the soil, the water in the channel had still grown murky.

"Won’t this just carry the undesirable substances in the soil downstream? Will it affect the residents’ drinking water?"

"I don’t think so? Based on my experience, [Natural Tuning] has a purifying effect." Ella sounded a little uncertain, but her past experience with the magic told her it would be fine.

Rorschach, who understood the principles behind this magic, was able to deduce its mechanism of action. "The concentration of nutrients and salts in the water is likely higher right now, but it will drop again soon.

"In the natural world, negative feedback loops are common. A boom in a prey population leads to a rise in predators, eventually returning the system to a dynamic equilibrium. [Natural Tuning] simulates and accelerates this process. When there’s an excess of nutrients or salts in the soil, the tuning energy promotes the growth of microorganisms that absorb them. Then, it causes those microorganisms to die off.

"After this process, complex compounds that might threaten the environment and human health are broken down into simple compounds already found in nature. Salts that can’t be broken down further are concentrated and washed away. They enter the water, flow into larger water systems, and are continuously diluted. Once their concentration drops, their environmental impact becomes negligible."

’Of course, this excluded plastics that take forever to decompose, heavy metals that bioaccumulate, and highly toxic or radioactive materials that are just plain harmful everywhere.’

The apprentice nodded like a chicken pecking at grain. Ella walked up and gave him a light karate chop to the head. "What are you nodding for? Hurry up and write down what the Master said. If you just replicate this on a small scale and clearly explain the mechanism of [Natural Tuning], that’s more than enough for an outstanding apprentice graduation thesis. It’s way better than that topic of yours... what was it? ’A Study on the Promotional Effect of Simulating a Mother Dragon’s Call on the Activity and Yield of Black Nightshade’?"

"I wasn’t planning on submitting for the ’outstanding thesis’ award! If it’s shortlisted, it has to be blind-reviewed by Mages from other Magic Towers. Other than Rorschach Mage, what Tower would ever look highly on us ’Earth Cultivators’?"

Ella delivered another chop. "Even if you’re not aiming for an award, you should use that dragon-dung-filled head of yours and think! Where the hell are you going to find a live female Dragon in this day and age? And another thing, have some self-respect!"

Rorschach silently took a step back, not wanting to interrupt the master-apprentice exchange of the Tower of Forest. He remembered Ella being so quiet and gentle back when she was an apprentice. ’What turned her into... this?’

After scolding her unmotivated apprentice, Ella returned to Rorschach’s topic. "Assuming the mechanism holds, that means it will still have an impact on the broader environment. We probably can’t see it since this is just a localized experiment, but if this new agricultural technology is widely adopted, I fear the problems could become common and severe."

"Yes. That’s why this is a long-term project. It will require continuous effort to ensure that the increased yield is sustainable." ’This is just the tip of the iceberg,’ Rorschach thought. ’Once industry takes off, nature is really going to have a rough time.’ He then said aloud, "I hope we can continue to work together for a long time. The future definitely belongs to the age of Natural Magic!"

’That last sentence was to encourage the apprentices. In reality, it was about as meaningful as the old saying, "The 21st century is the century of biology." Before he’d transmigrated, the century was already nearing its midpoint. And had biology’s big moment arrived? You bet... it was a no-show.’

’Studying environmental science was an even bigger trap. The career pit was so deep you didn’t even need to bury the graduates in it; they couldn’t climb out to begin with.’

Ella took the initiative and extended her hand. "Thank you. Your warm hospitality and the research value here are more than enough to make Kempson one of our most desirable fieldwork assignments."

The Tower of Forest had to travel all across the Empire every year. And just as apprentices secretly ranked their professors, they also had a ranking for all their fieldwork destinations.

The destination that the Mages and apprentices of the Tower of Forest dreaded most was the western part of the Marlin Kingdom. The Manor Lords there were arrogant and stingy, and retired Military Mages who thought they knew everything would always try to micromanage their work.

Even though Rorschach Mage could replicate [Natural Tuning] on the spot, he never got the itch to start bossing them around. He always approached them as a peer, offering reasonable suggestions and settling matters with a consultative tone.

"Mage Ella? Perhaps you should let go of my hand now?"

"My apologies, I was lost in thought."

Before Ella had the chance to pull her hand away, a spatiotemporal rift suddenly tore open behind Rorschach. A woman’s somewhat deep voice drifted out from it. "Master Rorschach, so you’re out in the fields. Have you forgotten that the opening ceremony is waiting for your address?"