The Cheat That Can Change Its UI Is Here

"Damn, feels like my whole body got beaten up..."

When Rorschach was awakened by the ringing bell, his entire body ached. He struggled up from the floor.

He must have passed out after draining his mana, then spent the night twisted up on the floor. More accurately, he had been unconscious all night.

Then Rorschach discovered a hardbound book floating before him, open toward him. It was somewhat translucent and glowed faintly.

Sure. Very magical.

Rorschach waved his hand forward and confirmed that the book had no physical form. Looking closely, he found that its contents were actually Chinese characters written in different colors:

Rorschach · 16 years old · Fourth-Year Apprentice

Fireball (Purple)

Mana Condensation (Purple) / Elemental Conversion (Purple) / Projectile (Purple)

Water Creation (White)

Planar Positioning (White) / Elemental Summoning (Blue)

Basic Decomposition (Blue)

Disintegration (Blue)

"Only sixteen? Heh heh, what a young body." Then Rorschach noticed the colors of the text.

The three spells he had mastered were all basic magic, so the colors probably had nothing to do with the quality of the spells themselves.

Recalling the results of last night's experiment, Rorschach guessed that the colors corresponded to his proficiency, with white, blue, and purple increasing in that order.

"If I hadn't transmigrated, the original otherworld Rorschach might have become a precision mage specializing in Fireball—a humanoid Mobile Nuclear Bomb?"

There was smaller text beneath every spell, like tags. That made things even more interesting. The original owner's spell theory scores had been nearly perfect. Rorschach searched through his memories and found that the descriptions of these entries closely matched the spell principles he had learned.

Take Water Creation, for example. The widely accepted hypothesis in the magical world was that this spell did not create something from nothing, but summoned water from the Water Element Plane. Thus, the two entries, "Planar Positioning" and "Elemental Summoning," corresponded to the two fundamental steps of Water Creation.

The bad news was that Rorschach's mastery of both steps was extremely low. Judging by the standards of Decomposition Technique, they needed to reach at least blue rank for the spell to be cast successfully one hundred percent of the time.

However, the basic steps displayed for Fireball differed from the magical world's existing theories.

The magical world generally believed that Fire Element was also widely present on the material plane, existing in the form of phlogiston before being activated by mana. Fireball was supposed to gather phlogiston and activate it into Fire Element with mana.

Yet judging from the entry descriptions, the true process should have been gathering mana from the environment, converting it into Fire Element, then giving it the form of a Projectile and launching it.

Basic Decomposition had only one entry, "Disintegration." It seemed that some entries could become spells themselves.

"Come to think of it, this very magical spellbook is actually written in Chinese." Remembering that it had no physical form and floated before him, Rorschach had a thought—and the spellbook before his eyes scattered into motes of light before reforming into a panel.

It really could change themes?

Why did it look a little like the interface of CAD software now? The familiar feeling of being an engineering student instantly scratched at him. The white entries were much clearer now. Aside from the text, every spell and its entries had corresponding icons.

The spell icons looked exactly like skill icons in a game. The entry icons were much simpler, more like abstract runes.

Three empty slots had appeared in the center of the panel:

□→□→□

There was also a Generate button on the right.

Could it be...

Rorschach poked the spell icon, but nothing happened. Then he pressed and held an entry beneath the spell. To his surprise, it copied out a draggable rune, accompanied by an attribute panel.

Elemental Conversion

Purple · Proficiency 327/900

Converts mana into activated elements. Conversion efficiency differs between elements.

Current conversion target:

Fire Element

Holy shit!

A bold idea immediately came to him.

Mana Condensation (Purple) → Elemental Conversion (Purple)

Then he opened Elemental Conversion. Fire, water, earth, and air were available as target elements, while Positive Energy and Negative Energy were grayed out and unavailable. Rorschach changed fire to water and selected Generate.

After a ripple passed through the panel, a new icon appeared to the right of the slots. At the same time, Rorschach felt a slight swelling in his temples.

Rorschach had gained another spell.

Rorschach's True Water Creation (Purple)

Mana Condensation (Purple) / Elemental Conversion · Water (Purple)

Description:

The first spell created by Rorschach.

Converting mana into Water Element is difficult. Many great and brilliant mages have attempted it before, but all gave up, choosing instead to consume less energy by summoning from the Water Element Plane. Unfortunately, their understanding of Elemental Conversion and Water Element was not thorough enough...

However much mana, however much water. Spray it, mage!

(Can be renamed)

Looking at the panel, Rorschach noticed that some of its information had come from his previous life, such as this UI that was so unmagical and unlike an otherworld. Some came from knowledge mastered by the original owner. And some—such as the strange description of the new spell—seemed to contain information neither Rorschach possessed.

Rorschach quickly took out a bucket, aimed his hand at it, followed the casting process of Fireball, condensed mana, and began converting it...

"True Water Creation!"

A great stream of water quickly surged from his palm. Unbound by gravity, it gathered into an ever-growing sphere of water. Rorschach could clearly feel that it consumed more mana than Fireball and the previous Water Creation, but it was still acceptable, and the casting process was as smooth as Fireball.

Splash! The moment he stopped consuming his own mana, the water sphere immediately fell into the bucket.

It worked! He was so proficient that it did not feel like his first time at all! There was clearly more water than a pint!

Rorschach inspected his wet palm with satisfaction, then looked at the bucket and let out a pleased breath.

Bang bang bang.

"Rorschach! You still not coming out? Doing laundry at a time like this?" The voice outside the dormitory door belonged to Bart, the original otherworld Rorschach's friend. If things were the same as in his memories—

Sure enough, when he opened the door, Bart and Richard were standing outside.

It was strange for the sons of a farmer, a merchant, and a noble to form an iron triangle at the academy, but it had indeed lasted for nearly four years.

The generous Bart had inherited his merchant Guild Master father's shrewdness and social finesse, giving him the best connections among their peers. Richard, tall and pale blond, was a gentle and quiet youth, completely unlike the Vesain Family's current prominence in the Imperial Capital.

As for the farmer's son—steady, reliable, diligent Rorschach was the solid guarantee that the other two would pass their magic theory exams. Even their usual class notes always followed Rorschach's version as the standard.

"Why do you look so listless? Hm?"

Bart's smoky-blue eyes studied Rorschach for a moment before he pulled out a small paper packet from his pocket.

"You definitely skipped breakfast! Farmers, warriors, and those of us about to take an exam should all eat well in the morning! If there's no time, at least have a piece of candy!"

"Thanks." Rorschach accepted the packet. Inside was a piece of yellow sugar. It had no strange taste when he put it in his mouth, just pure sweetness. The sugar made him feel more awake.

Richard always spoke in a muffled voice. Others had to say three sentences before he said one. "Rorschach, are you ready?"

"No problem. In fact, I was just practicing Water Creation. It went fairly smoothly."

"Wonderful." Richard smiled sincerely.

No matter whose sons the two of them were, or what family the original owner had been born into, Rorschach no longer cared. But both his memories and the present made him feel that these two friends were worth having.

The three apprentice mages joined the other fourth- and fifth-year apprentices and headed for the examination hall that would decide their fates.