Mage? Magic Engineer!

Under Rorschach’s direction, Prague launched a massive census.

It was not just a population census; the main focus was testing for Magic Talent.

Once word of the census got out, widespread panic erupted in the city. The surviving, die-hard opposition, seeing Pavel make such a "foolish move," seized the opportunity as if they’d struck gold, quickly fabricating and spreading all sorts of rumors.

In summary, the rumors claimed that the Bayern people and the traitorous, glory-seeking Pavel were going to snatch away everyone’s children for purposes including, but not limited to, consumption, medicinal use, ritual sacrifice, and research. The users were supposedly Pavel, the secret societies supporting his National Salvation Alliance, the Great Mages backing him, and various undisclosed, notorious cults...

The rumors were surprisingly well-crafted, but in truth, even without these people adding fuel to the fire, many citizens already thought the same.

Thus, a great panic spread like a wildfire across the plains.

To prevent the situation from deteriorating, Valon—that male lecturer... no, male devil who was an expert in human nature—took a multi-pronged approach. He cracked down hard on the remnants spreading rumors while, with a headache, carrying out Rorschach’s orders.

First, the census was not about to let people swarm the streets haphazardly, creating opportunities for gatherings and chaos. As a first step to control the situation, he had Pavel declare martial law throughout the city.

Under the threat of four-legged steel monsters and armed soldiers, factories and shops were closed. To reopen for business, owners had to organize the families of their employees and have their children tested one by one.

In other words, he was threatening their livelihoods.

Prague’s winters were brutally cold, and for many families, losing their livelihood meant no food or fuel. Accordingly, Valon had Pavel promise that any family participating in the test would receive relief grain and coal. The amount distributed would be based on family size—the more children who came to be tested, the more they would receive.

Finally, on the day before the census was to begin, the Governor’s Mansion suddenly released the details: the census was mandatory, and minors with Magic Talent would be given the opportunity to become Casters, but whether to take that opportunity was entirely voluntary. Adults could also volunteer to be tested.

This allowed the citizens’ frayed nerves to relax slightly. It seemed they weren’t so resistant anymore.

Although Valon had no idea what "PUA" or "Stockholm Syndrome" were, it didn’t stop him from employing the concepts with mastery. In his eyes, the common people were full of weaknesses. ’How could they not be easy to manipulate?’

On the fourth day after the new Bayern legion was garrisoned, the census began without any major incidents. It started in the industrial zone, organized by factory. As soon as a factory’s census was complete, it was allowed to resume operations.

The standardized test had already been updated. It was now based on the "Gestalt Granting" of the Tree of Law. The person being tested would touch a Crystal Ball, and the testing terminal would display the magic models for Zero Level Tricks corresponding to Shaping Power, Transformation, Curse, Illusion, and Protection, while partially opening their circuits.

If the person reacted to any of them and could intuitively connect the circuits, it proved they were capable of learning Magic.

For those without talent, they would only see the Crystal Ball changing into a myriad of colors, and then nothing else would happen.

Casting for the first time was like crossing a chasm of unknown width. This device was like a bridge, but it was only visible to those who had a chance of reaching the other side. For those with no talent, bridging the gap from physical reality to the dimension where imagination becomes real was still as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Once everyone was finally convinced that the test wasn’t about to eat their children, a sliver of anticipation began to grow. What if their own family produced a prodigy—a real Mage?

The tide of public opinion turned so quickly that, overnight, the rumors were replaced by snake-oil products like "Potential Development Potions." And yet, parents who dreamed of their children becoming Mages flocked to them.

"Is it over?" The young boy being tested retracted his hand when the Crystal Ball showed no reaction. The originally cool surface was now warm from his palm.

"It’s over. What were you expecting?" The Apprentice in charge of managing the area and registration waved his hand impatiently. "Next... Ah, wait."

That "wait" ignited a new spark of hope in the boy, but unfortunately, the Apprentice had only noticed the snot bubble in his left nostril and remembered a goodwill policy. "Go out the back. You can get a cup of hot sugar water at the door."

"Oh..." The boy’s final, drawn-out syllable was filled with unconcealable disappointment.

The Apprentice put an ’X’ next to the boy’s name on the register and muttered under his breath, "Tch, not even a ’thank you’."

After complaining, he picked up a megaphone enchanted with the [Amplification Technique]. "Next! Is Jacob Beneš here? The parents don’t need to come in..."

This testing station was set up at an intersection in the Prague Industrial Zone. A crowd of parents waited in line with their children as the testers called out names one by one from a list provided by the Workshop Masters.

Of course, to dispel the doubts of these working-class families, soldiers held the Workshop Masters and managers at gunpoint, forcing them to send their own children into the testing area first.

The other employees watched with a certain glee as the finely dressed "little princes" and "little princesses" were sent crying and screaming into the small hut. When these "second-generation rich kids" emerged, dazed but with all their limbs intact, the workers felt a mix of disappointment and relief. At least now, they were no longer afraid.

The Empire’s own Royal Magic Academy had already "creamed the crop" during the public schooling phase. Youths with extremely high talent, those who showed "abnormalities" without needing the current kind of guided test, had already been sent to the Imperial Capital long ago. Those discovered now were more or less the ones who had slipped through the net or been overlooked by the Empire.

But Rorschach took all comers, especially those aged fourteen and over, who constituted a Caster population that could be utilized immediately. Some of them were still in school, but many were already working to support their families or serving as apprentices in a trade.

The latter two groups were easy to handle. It was just a matter of offering a higher salary and a cash advance, and these young men would happily go along. Even for the young girls, poor families wouldn’t fuss too much; it was simply a question of how much money was offered.

They could be taken by train to Bayern for training and quickly brought up to the level of an Apprentice.

For the other age groups, Rorschach didn’t need to "volunteer" them. He could offer an opportunity, one they could never have dreamed of before: the chance to freely choose to study at any of the major Mage Towers.

Among the Thirteen Magic Towers, any within the Empire’s borders would be open to them; they could even go to those in Istani or Valois. And this was just for demonstration purposes. Like Rorschach’s Mage Tower, there would also be personal towers of Magic Guild members that would accept some of them.

This was an unprecedented "enrollment expansion."

On the one hand, in terms of student selection, this was the first time the Guild had conducted a national-level census with the support of a legitimate government.

Prague was just the beginning. It built upon the experience from Bayern, and with Valon adding his own talent for managing people, the campaign proceeded smoothly.

Next, other cities within Pomerania would complete the census as the new Bayern legions arrived, and they would receive assistance from the local branches of the Magic Guild.

On the other hand, the reason these Mage Towers were able to accept students without discrimination was not because they had a sudden change of heart, nor because Rorschach had mind-controlled all the Tower Masters and chief mages overnight. Rather, it was because at this moment, all their leaders were feeling an unprecedented... shortage of people.

They had finally and thoroughly realized that if they wanted to replicate the Rorschach Mage Tower-Bayernt District model, if they wanted to emulate the influence the Tower of Stars exerted over Valois, they absolutely needed a sufficient supply of Casters.

They were all just consumables anyway. Whether their talent was strong or not, whether they had a future hope of ascending the ladder of Magic Power or were destined to remain an Apprentice for life—what did any of that have to do with the Mages of today?

Take the Star Realm exploration project for example. The latitudes of both the Tower of Stars and the Rorschach Mage Tower were not ideal for launches, but they were able to lead the project’s current progress for one simple reason: they had enough "screws."

Whether they were made of steel, iron, Secret Silver Alloy, or human flesh. To put it nicely, it was called a material foundation and a talent reserve.