The Alchemy University of the Island Republic is located near the port of the capital. It was built with funds allocated by a certain governor of the island republic for more than a hundred years. Since then, it has been expanded during the term of each governor. The university is now a very large building. Group.
Unlike ordinary schools, Alchemy University's admissions requirements are extremely strict. Alchemists like to hide the knowledge in their works in code words, allowing only truly intelligent readers to decipher it. The enrollment of Alchemy University also adheres to the consistent style of alchemists - it does not teach alchemy from the basics, but deliberately sets up difficult problems to test the alchemy level of everyone who intends to enroll. This difficult question is the level that separates the “experts” from the “laysmen”, and the passing rate is not even one percent.
After passing the test and enrolling, teachers and students no longer use code words but engage in normal academic communication.
The school is run by a committee of five people, two of whom are administrators of the island republic, and the other three are made up of the most famous alchemists. The school's teaching staff is composed of graduates.
However, there is actually no clear boundary between students and teachers in this school. Anyone in the school can apply to the committee for a venue to hold lectures with their own research results.
This open academic atmosphere stems from the decline of alchemy itself. After the Seven Hills Empire banned alchemy and burned alchemical books, the ancient art of alchemy was greatly impacted. No alchemist has yet been able to accomplish true metal transmutation or create a philosopher's stone. Rather than teaching skills, this university is more like an academic exchange center for alchemists, aiming to reproduce the ancient and mysterious skill of turning stone into gold through the collaboration of everyone.
When an alchemist holds three lectures that are attended and approved by one-third of the teachers and students of the school, or more than three committee members, he is qualified to graduate. Alchemists who successfully graduate can continue to teach at the university, and if so, they will receive subsidies and research funding; some alchemists will choose to leave the university after graduation, but they can come back at any time, and the school's door will always be open to them. open.
However, this alchemical university encountered a problem not long ago: their school building caught fire, affecting a quarter of the parish. In addition to a large number of documents being burned, the number of classrooms used for lectures was suddenly reduced, so that many lectures had to be held outdoors.
Right now, by the pool in front of the school, a small lecture with more than 20 people gathered was going on.
The students attending the lecture wore uniform black robes, with a golden badge hanging on their right chest, which was probably a student ID card. The man giving the lecture was about the same age as them, wearing the same black robe and the same golden badge. The only thing that impressed people was the left side of his face - there was a large red burn mark there, probably due to an operation error during alchemy. And caused.
"As you all know, the reason why the seven metals have different properties is because the ratios of sulfur and mercury in them are different. Mercury is composed of cold and wet materials, while sulfur is composed of hot and dry materials. So from a deeper perspective, the properties of the seven metals are produced by the combination of cold, hot, dry and wet materials in different ratios. When the four materials are combined in the most correct proportion, the most stable and The most perfect metal - gold. Therefore, the key to transforming base metal into gold is to adjust the proportions of the four materials inside the base metal."
The man with the burns on his face explained in a serious manner. But obviously, his words failed to arouse the interest of the listeners.
"Lazi, these are the foundations of the foundations." A person standing below raised a questioning voice, "The key to the problem is, how do we adjust the proportions of the four raw materials? To adjust the proportion of sulfur and mercury has already been It’s complicated enough, how do we adjust the four more basic materials of cold, heat, dryness, and moisture?”
"Compared with controlling the two elements of sulfur and mercury, I'm afraid it's easier to control the four elements of fire, air, water, and earth." Another person interjected, "We have never seen the true appearance of philosophical sulfur and philosophical mercury. But as long as By burning a branch we separate the four elements - fire is burned as combustible, gas is distilled as oil, water is distilled as moisture, and earth remains as a residue. Aristo Isn’t De’s four-element theory more intuitive than Jaber’s two-element theory of sulfur and mercury?”
"Indeed. But don't forget that the four elements are also composed of cold, hot, dry, and wet materials." The man named Lazi calmly defended his theory, "Water is composed of wet, cold It is composed of two materials. In this case, as long as we use wet and hot substances to destroy the cold nature of water, wouldn't we be able to get pure "wet"?
These words were like a revelation to the alchemists surrounding Lacy. They all took out the charcoal rods left over from the experiment and took notes on paper, strange metal plates, the inside of their clothes or on their arms. Most alchemists are a slovenly bunch - even if they dress themselves well, they will soon get dirty in their alchemical experiments. In the eyes of outsiders, these are a group of dirty guys, with an unpleasant sulfur smell all over their bodies.
Suddenly, a big chicken leg was raised high in the crowd.
"Old Shi, who is Ling and Shi? Mercury is also Ling and Shi, so who has anything to do with Mercury's Point?"
"Your Majesty! Can you swallow what's in your mouth first?"
The alchemists all turned their attention to the two girls who made sounds at the outermost edge of the crowd. Lacy's face twitched violently - she had noticed these two uninvited guests a long time ago, one was very hot, and the other was so petite that he could cry for a long time with one punch. The two girls were neither wearing black robes nor gold badges on their chests. According to school rules, they are not allowed to observe there.
——But the problem is, those two girls are followed by hundreds of strong men, all of them look like gangsters who just ran out of the mountains.
Lacy felt that one more thing was better than one less thing, so she kept pretending not to see it. But now that the girl has asked a question, he can't continue to pretend.
The petite girl suddenly stretched her neck, trying to swallow the big mouthful of chicken stuffed in her mouth, but she choked. Another more mature girl hurriedly handed her a bottle of water. The petite girl put her mouth to the edge of the pot and took a few sips before finally washing down the big mouthful of chicken.
As soon as the chicken was finished, the girl hurriedly asked again: "Teacher, water is cold and wet, and mercury is also cold and wet. So what is the relationship between water and mercury?"
"Kid, I can't answer you here." Lacy replied while carefully paying attention to the reactions of the group of strong men, for fear that if he said something wrong, the group of strong men would pick up axes and attack him, "You can Go further inside and see the tallest building? Go there and find the committee to register as a student of the school and pass the exam. That way, you can attend the lectures here - the exam questions are quite difficult, so you have to cheer up. .”
"Got it!" The petite girl hurriedly stuffed all the remaining chicken into her mouth, and then grabbed the hand of the girl next to her, "Amy, let's sign up quickly!"
"Your Majesty! You should finish your lunch honestly first!"
"There is no time for this, Amy. I love lunch, and I love the truth even more!"
