Mage? Magic Engineer!

Bayern Lansite Space Center

From an abstract perspective, the structure here was remarkably similar to a Church.

A magnificent vaulted ceiling supported a vast, open interior space. Polymer materials stretched over it, shielding everything from the snow and biting wind. High above, Magic Lamps took the place of the sun, casting a cold light that blurred the line between day and night.

Innumerable parts were designed, manufactured, and assembled here, the interwoven sounds of mechanical collisions echoing and reflecting throughout. To step inside was to be awed by the developing Giant Beast, its metallic "bones," "flesh," and "nerves" still exposed.

This was a temple, a Church without a religion but with a substitute for one.

Rorschach and Andre walked through it.

Workers and foremen continually greeted them, and the two nodded in response each time. Whenever they reached a new section, Andre would quicken his pace to find the person in charge and bring them before Rorschach. Rorschach would then pause for a moment to listen to their report.

The workers here weren’t just Bayern people; there were also Valois people, Istanis, ordinary people, Mages, and Apprentices.

But all those identities were erased here. There were only technicians and engineers.

The Starship was currently lying on its side. The two walked its length from nose to tail. The section where the engine should have been was empty, revealing the fuel tank housing.

Today was the day of the engine test firing. They had decided to up the ante, aiming to at least double the thrust of the prototype.

Out on the test site, the test stand was embedded in a mountain hollow, with poured concrete platforms above and below. A steel frame reinforced the structure to prevent any accidents.

Then, as expected, the unexpected happened.

After ignition, a torrent of blue flame erupted. The cooling water turned into a massive cloud of steam. Under the immense power, not only did the man-made structure tremble, but even the mountain itself began to shake.

A grating, teeth-cringing sound rang out. Countless cracks spiderwebbed across the test stand’s concrete, and the steel frame visibly buckled.

The Apprentices from the Tower of Secret Techniques, the Dwarf Technicians, and the engineers from Valois all cried out in alarm, "It’s over!"

Fortunately, the engine didn’t take off into the sky with the fuel tank still attached. A Force Field enveloped the entire power system. It froze in place, the flames died out, and the whole test stand seemed to rewind, returning to the moment just before ignition.

"Master." "Uncle Rorschach." "Chief Engineer." Different people had different titles for him.

"What happened?"

"The thrust seems to have exceeded expectations." The person in charge frantically wiped the sweat from his brow. "Our current engine design has 34% more thrust than the Alpha model on Ship One, but the system became unstable at the 39-second mark... We’ll need to investigate the specific cause."

"Will this affect the schedule?" Rorschach asked, concerned about this point.

"The next test firing will be delayed by at least ten days." In truth, the person in charge was being optimistic.

Rorschach couldn’t accept that. "Then start troubleshooting now."

He stopped them from refilling the cooling water. Instead, he provided a Shield for the three Casters present, allowing them to withstand the exhaust flames and cast Frozen Spells to control the test stand’s temperature, preventing steam from obscuring everyone’s vision.

It wasn’t that Rorschach wanted to force a "baptism by fire" on the three—his precious apprentice Andre was among them, after all. He simply had a more important job to do:

Rorschach himself took the place of the Transmuting Dust, supplying power to the engine. He placed a hand on the engine’s surface, and all its circuits instantly lit up. An energy release no less powerful than that of Transmuting Dust started up the entire unit, making it roar to life once more.

The test stand was destroyed. They reset. It started up again. It was destroyed again...

After repeated experiments, the power systems team finally identified the problem.

For the test stand, the increased thrust meant the exhaust plume expanded, enlarging the high-temperature zone. The steel frame, already bearing a load near its limit, was seared by even higher temperatures, causing its rigidity to rapidly decrease.

"No, it’s not just the test stand’s problem. The top-left support column is the first to crack every time, which means the engine’s own thrust is uneven," a Valois engineer pointed out, identifying an issue with the engine itself.

The person in charge broke out in even more sweat. Rorschach, however, showed no signs of blame. He knew that any industrial "scaling up" was never a simple matter of proportional enlargement. He said patiently, "Then we’ll test and adjust again."

By this point, however, the three Casters responsible for temperature control were nearing their limit. The poor souls were enduring the high-temperature exhaust flow above them while simultaneously casting Frozen Magic to counteract it. It was a true trial of ice and fire. Even with the Protection of a Great Mage, the sheer exertion of Casting was becoming unbearable.

The two Casters from the power systems team shot Andre a hopeful glance. ’You’re close with the boss, tell him we can’t hold on much longer!’

Rorschach had been thinking of giving them a buff and continuing, but thankfully, the engine’s designer stepped in. He requested a complete, top-to-bottom re-examination of the problem, which meant it would have to be removed from the nightmarish test stand.

In this day and age, there was no computer-aided finite element analysis. Even the Tower Spirit was loaded with data on Magic, not simulation software. So, even though the Analytical Engine saved time on calculations, the designers and the experts who once studied Force Field configurations and geometry still had to burn through their brain cells.

Fortunately, there were Mages here, which allowed for faster and more extravagant physical verification.

The engine’s ducts were not uniform. To cast them as a single piece would far exceed current casting technology. Floating before Rorschach now was the conduit from the compression chamber to the combustion chamber; this single component was nearly as large as he was.

He began Casting. The metal started to flow and deform. The designer stared blankly, watching the component he had envisioned take shape in a single go in the Mage’s hands. He was speechless for a long moment, completely absorbed in the sight of the cold light glinting off the flowing metal.

"Will this do?" Rorschach prompted, reminding the designer that his work was finished.

"Ah... what?" The designer snapped back to reality. "Yes, thank you for your hard work. I’ll measure the tolerances right away."

After several fine-tunings, the sixth design revision of the day was completed.

"The margin of error in your transformations is getting smaller and smaller... Perhaps the next nozzle can be cast in one piece," the designer commented with praise.

Rorschach’s expression remained calm. "I’m just getting more practiced at it." ’I should put together a spell list,’ he thought. ’Once someone masters it, I can award them a "Level 8 Magic Fitter/Welder Certificate."’

Revisions that would have originally taken ten days at the minimum, or even months, were forcefully accelerated by Rorschach into a single day. The others were exhausted too; every one of them had worn themselves out, but at least they had results to show for it.

The new engine unit’s design was now finalized, with its individual output increased by another twenty percent over the original.

Rorschach was also quite satisfied. He blinked his weary eyes. The entire Casting process had demanded his complete concentration; shaping those special alloys was not only difficult but also required extreme precision.

Andre had disappeared ever since the engine was removed from the test stand for adjustments. Now, he finally returned to the Lansite Aerospace Center (having presumably been slacking off), bearing incredible news.

"Two special guests wish to see you. One is from the Dwarf Federation in the north, and the other is an envoy of the Elves."

Andre scratched his face restlessly. "She’s a beautiful older woman, and she says she knows you. I definitely didn’t tell Principal Caroline."

’Wait a minute, what the hell was that last sentence supposed to mean?’