......

When Kemo Stole returned home, it was completely dark.

After dinner in the company of his family, he returned to his study and wrote the recipe and selection of crystal glass into his book, "The Alchemy Gate", which recorded his journey from apprentice to chief alchemist, as well as all the alchemy formulas summarized by the Alchemy Workshop in Chishui City over the years.

With this book, Kemo believed that he would leave his name in history, and that even thousands of years later, his name would be remembered by those alchemists.

It wasn't until the flame of the candle approached the base that Kemo put down the quill and prepared to undress for bed.

Suddenly, he remembered that there was still a letter from the prince that had not been opened, and glancing at the candle that was only the length of his fingernails, he decided to read it for the last moment, and to reply to the messenger verbally to-morrow—the small half of the candle's tail was only enough for him to write a few dozen words, but enough to read a worthless letter.

When I opened the envelope, there were three sheets of tissue paper inside, and the first page was a common polite phrase, introducing his title and territory, and Kaimo didn't even bother to read it, so he jumped directly to the second page.

The content of the second page surprised him slightly, it was neither a recruitment nor a reprimand, but a strange pattern of five elements, each of which consisted of three sentences if you looked closely.

Oh, it's kind of interesting, he smiled, no matter what the prince's purpose is, at least he will be able to play tricks.

He swept the first line of the formula.

"Saltpeter is distilled to produce nitric acid. 」

Saltpeter...... Distillation...... Acid is an alchemical term. Wait, Kaimo was suddenly stunned in his heart, isn't this one of the two-stone acid making methods in the alchemy workshop?

The acid from saltpeter's dry distillation must be collected in a special container, which looks like ordinary water vapor and is difficult to notice. But it is very corrosive, not only can it ablate the skin, but it can even dissolve some metals.

This...... Could it be that there is also an alchemist in the border town?

He quickly moved his gaze to the next line—

If the first sentence surprised him, the second sentence was incredible.

It consists of a bunch of inexplicably wonderful symbols, which are juxtaposed side by side, discharging two equations. Kaimo frowned, he had never seen such a strange symbol.

Further down, the third sentence seemed to be an explanation of the second sentence, including the names and meanings of the symbols - to be honest, he still couldn't figure it out after reading it, and the awkward words seemed to be made up, and he had to read them many times before he could connect them to the symbols, but he still had no idea what the whole sentence meant.

At that moment, the flame of the candle shook twice and went out.

Hell cursed in his heart, and without hesitation, he took out a candle from the drawer and lit it again.

......

When the second candle was halfway burned, the chief alchemist's hand holding the letter paper was trembling slightly.

The seemingly informative letter took several times longer than normal reading.

The five-element formula on the second page of the letter paper turned out to be all alchemical formulas!

If that's all it takes, it's not inconceivable for an outstanding alchemist to come up with five formulas on his own, but these five formulas, with the exception of the first acid-making method, all echo each other. Certain coined words are repeated repeatedly, forming a seemingly balanced cycle.

"Nitric acid reacts with silver to produce silver nitrate, water and nitric oxide. 」

"Silver nitrate reacts with iron to form ferrous nitrate and silver. 」

"Silver nitrate reacts with copper to form copper nitrate and silver. 」

"Copper nitrate reacts with iron to form ferrous nitrate and copper. 」

He also did the alchemy reaction of placing silver rods in acid, and some of them were obviously dissolved by acid and disappeared into invisibility - this is the property of acid, which corrodes everything. It is credible to say that because silver nitrate dissolves in water, it appears to be disappearing on the surface, but in fact silver only exists in another form, not annihilation.

How is this possible?

No...... Kaimo shook his head, obviously the other party had also anticipated his thoughts, and it was no accident that these formulas echoed each other, and he realized that the other party was giving himself a chance to verify - whether it was silver, iron, or copper, it was a common mineral. If the alchemy is carried out according to the following formula, the silver can be replaced again to prove that it is not annihilated, but still exists in the acid.

Seeing the neatly arranged formulas on the paper, he felt that it became difficult for him to breathe - if these alchemy formulas could be true, his years of accumulated experience, the efforts of his peers, and the "Alchemy Gate" under writing were all just a joke!

"You sleep with the child first, and I'll go to the alchemy workshop!"

Ignoring his wife's surprised gaze, Kaimo put on his coat and rushed straight into the night.

Rushing to the alchemy workshop, he immediately called three disciples who were on duty and told them to conduct an alchemy experiment, and asked them to light torches and candles, the more the better. The order was quickly executed, the long table belonging to him was illuminated by the fire, and the disciples shuttled between the material room warehouse and the refining room, preparing the test materials for the chief alchemist.

There are still a lot of ground acids from saltpeter dry distillation, and the verification can start directly from the second line of formula.

He took out some acid and poured it into a glass, then put in the silver rod. As the reaction begins, the rod body is gradually corroded, accompanied by bubbles.

In the midst of anxious waiting, Kaimo unfolded the third page of the letter.

There was only a short sentence on it: "I've just done a little bit of work, and if I want to know more answers, come to Frontiertown." 」

Damn, if he could verify what he said on the letter, he would have to meet this little-known alchemist no matter what. Otherwise, I will not be able to sleep well in the days to come.

It wasn't until the bubbles stopped coming out that he took out the broken silver rod and put a small piece of copper into the cup.

The unbelievable happened, and soon a little white shift appeared on the surface of the copper sheet, like the carapace of a ladybug, and the white spots expanded larger and larger, slowly covering the entire copper sheet, and the acid in the cup also changed from colorless to blue.

Exactly as described in the letter!

"The white precipitate is silver, and the newly formed substance, copper nitrate, is as soluble in water as silver nitrate, but its solution is blue. 」

Camo Strier stared at the results of the cup and froze in place.

......

The next morning, when Chames arrived at the alchemy workshop, he was startled by the chief alchemist with dark circles under his eyes and a haggard face.

"Didn't you sleep all night yesterday?" he was surprised, "for the second batch of crystal glass?"

Kaimo shook his head, pulled Chames to the long table, and asked tiredly, "You were my most proud disciple, I want to ask, what do you think about alchemy?"

"Uh...... Just like you taught me," he noticed a number of glasses on the table, several of which contained solutions of various colors, one of which was striking in a sky blue. Could this be the reason why the Chief didn't sleep all night last night?, although Chames was full of confusion, he still replied honestly, "I also feel the same way, the essence of alchemy is to find the truth of the world in chaos and chaos......

"No, no, no, Chames, I was wrong," Kemo interrupted, "everyone is wrong, alchemy is not. ”

Chames felt that the other party was really a little strange, first all-night alchemy, and now asked some inexplicable questions, but before he could ask any further questions, the chief lord had already said to himself: "Alchemy is more orderly than you and I imagined, and it can even be said to be rigid - just like one plus one equals two, no matter how it changes, matter will not increase or disappear."...... ”

"Won't it increase or disappear?What are you talking about?Isn't it what alchemists often do to sift and combine some common ingredients to create something incredible new!" he wondered.

"Yes, I thought so until the lord of Frontier wrote me a letter...... "Camo Storier patted him on the shoulder, and the words that came out of his mouth shook Chames, "I'm going to leave here soon and go to Frontiertown to find answers." You...... Would you like me to go with you?" )