New research
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On the morning of the second day, Dudian had come to the secret alchemy lab. At the time of his entrance, Snake and Mouse were already here. The boy, Mouse, was listening to Snake as he entered the lab. When he saw Dudian he asked nervously: “Dog… Did you, you follow, so…you…have seen me?”
Dudian didn’t want to deceive him so he nodded and said: “I’ve seen but I will keep it a secret.”
Mouse was depressed as he said: “I’m exposed.”
Snake snapped: “Who told you to engrave a tattoo on your wrist? Sooner or later you will be caught by the Holy Church… I hope you won’t betray us. ”
“I will not betray you.” Mouse frowned: “My family told me that I’m going to get engaged. I now want to quit alchemy as my level of understanding is low and it would be very difficult to achieve anything. Alchemist’s badge is a dream that won’t come true. ”
Snake shrugged: “If you want to quit, remember to strip the tattoo.”
“I was afraid of the pain that’s why I have been hesitant.” Mouse said reluctantly.
Dudian was speechless. He looked at the nightingale’s alchemy room, and asked, “She will not come today?
“Not yet….” Snake casually answered.
“Can I borrow her alchemy symbols book?” asked Dudian.
“That one should be alright but for the best don’t touch her other alchemy materials.”
Dudian nodded and went past the table where nightingale was doing her experiments over to the shelf where to books were stacked. Although he had a super-chip, which stored advanced chemical knowledge but the old does not mean backward. In this system, they still had many advantages worth learning.
Dudian as yesterday was silent all day in his room and was studying the alchemy symbols.
Another day passed.
Dudian studied about two-thirds of the book until the dusk. Snake was the first to leave but mouse stayed to be the last to go. As they didn’t trust the newcomer with responsibilities for closing the door.
Dudian came outside to see Snake hiding and trying to peep at him. He still used the method from yesterday to avoid him.
The third day when Dudian went to the alchemy lab, Nightingale was present. Finally, he was able to understand the experimental records written by nightingale and the others.
From the symbols, he could roughly guess what they were trying to accomplish. When he returned the book he quickly swept the Nightingale’s alchemy platform. There was a sun sign, two water droplets, and a spoon symbol. He was surprised in his heart as he didn’t expect Nightingale’s ambitions to be so high. Her research was focused on gold, did she want to directly create the ‘Philosopher’s Stone’?
The fourth day.
Dudian, as usual, came to the secret lab. Snake was absent but the nightingale and mouse were busy. Occasionally Mouse would come out to ask Nightingale about the problems he faces. It showed that her alchemy level seemed to be the highest one.
“Aren’t you going to read today?” Nightingale asked in a strange tone as she saw Dudian did not borrow books from her.
Dudian shook his head: “I won’t.”
“No?” Nightingale stared blankly: “What does that mean? Did you back down? ”
“Well,” said Dudian, nodding slightly, “I want to start experimenting.”
Nightingale smiled: “It seems you have studied well as it would be very hard to work on experiments if you have no idea about alchemy symbols. However, if you want to do experiments you gotta buy your own materials. I have a surplus so I’m going to lend you today but by tomorrow you have to return to me.”
“Thank you!” Dudian answered. He glanced on the raw materials on the shelves. He saw that there were raw materials that could be turned to black powder. These types of raw materials were commonly used by the other alchemists. Actually, black powder was one of the oldest and earliest inventions by the alchemist.
“This, yellow phosphorus.” Dudian pointed to one of the bottles. Naturally, he wasn’t going to manufacture black powder in here. In this era, black powder was definitely an ‘explosive’ find and would be misused if he showed them the formula.
Nightingale looked, nodded: “OK, I have more of these.”
Dudian pointed to rubber, red scales and some other raw materials. He cleaned his room and suddenly found a problem… There was no alchemy station… He lacked all the tools.
He was dumbfounded. He had the complete formula for gunpowder so he could manufacture it at any time. However, he intended to study the ignition of the powder. The last time, when he detonated the bomb he had faced many inconveniences. Especially timing and sparking of the bomb had put him under pressure.
Dudian found nightingale and asked curiously: “Where could I get the alchemy station from?”
Nightingale was in deployment of raw materials. As she saw Dudian she was stunned for a moment: “I have forgotten to tell you this. You look for Mouse and see if he has time at night. You guys should go to the underground market to buy one for yourself. But the price is a bit high, so you should prepare enough money. At least two silver coins or more…”
“Underground bazaar?” Dudian was startled. Suddenly thought of Rosyard’s notes and it seemed he had mentioned this place.
Dudian found the mouse and told the problem to him.
Mouse did not think much as he promised to take him in the evening.
Dudian said to them that he needs to get money so he left the secret chamber. Moreover, he thought that it had been three days and he should go and check Barton and the rest. He immediately hired a carriage and went to the slums.
Dudian came to the dilapidated square which they had an agreement to meet in advance. Barton had left the secret signs and he followed them. He went along the signals and soon came towards a remote small shack where refugees had gathered.
Dudian had reached the shack when he heard Barton’s voice from the shack next to the one signals pointed.
Dudian entered the shack to see Barton and others inside.
“We made the signs to show that shack while we rented one across for security reasons. ” Barton looked at Dudian’s expression and explained the details.
Dudian smiled: “Although you know that there is a very low probability of exposure, but I’m happy that you are so cautious and taking it seriously.”
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