Chapter 115: 114: Experimental Proof and Unspeakable Secrets

In the living room inside the house, Pandora was still curled up in a wooden chair, looking a bit cold.Richard’s eyes flickered, and he found a blanket to cover Pandora.

No sooner had he draped it over her than Pandora opened her eyes and looked over.

“What’s the matter?”

“Hot!”

Pandora, clearly disgusted, threw off the blanket, twisted her body, and continued to curl up on the wooden chair, closing her eyes once again.

Richard shook his head, turning away with a somewhat strange expression and walked into the study.

Settling behind the desk, his gaze returned to the half-finished Papyrus Scroll in front of him. Picking up the quill and dipping it in ink, Richard prepared to finish writing the last few words.

“Ssshhh…”

Having explained the origin of energy through the projection of stars, the issue at hand was the relationship between Mana and Free Energy Elements. According to the methods described in the “Monroe Chapter,” after absorbing Free Energy Elements, one needed to melt and transform them into Mana before they could be used to release Spells.

Why, then, was this necessary?

Since Free Energy Elements were a special type of Superheavy Elements that could cause unique phenomena (Spell Effects) when combined, why should they be transformed into Mana?

A reasonable explanation would be for safety.

Exactly because the combination of Free Energy Elements could trigger special reactions, transforming them into stable components—Mana—was crucial to prevent premature reactions in the Magic Origin. Otherwise, inside a Wizard’s Magic Origin, an assortment of Free Energy Elements could potentially explode, freeze, or corrode at any moment, rendering the Magic Origin like an unstable bomb.

Mana must also be a high-order element, and it should be the most stable element within the ‘Stable Island,’ with the longest decay period. By melting Free Energy Elements and converting them into the singular stable element that is Mana, one can prevent reactions within the Magic Origin and ensure that Mana doesn’t vanish into thin air due to decay over a long period of time.

This method is evidently the safest.

Furthermore, it standardizes the process.

When releasing a Spell, one only needs to figure out a way to manipulate this singular element, Mana, to operate within the body, letting it transition into a special state to transform into other Energy Elements and initiate reactions, thereby manifesting a specific Spell Effect and unleashing power.

It’s for this reason that a Spell can be recorded and repetitively learned by others, forming the most fundamental mechanism of the Wizard Magic System.”

“Ssshhh…” Richard paused with his quill, narrowing his eyes as he continued writing.

Of course, all this is currently a hypothetical conjecture, akin to castles in the sky or sandcastles, lacking strong evidence to support it. One must prove a most crucial, fundamental part to turn the entire hypothetical conjecture into reality. That is, to prove that Free Energy Elements and Mana are indeed a type of high-order Superheavy Elements that truly exist and are not figments of imagination. The issue now is—how to prove it.

How to prove it?

Richard stopped his quill and pondered.

Proving, detecting, and discerning elements fall into the realm of analytical chemistry. Modern Earth has an entire set of complete sciences to do this, with many subcategories, such as spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, photometry and colorimetry, chromatography and electrophoresis, crystallography, microscopy, electrochemical analysis, etc.

Specifically for studying elements, spectroscopy is quite suitable as it involves examining elements through the light, sound, or particles they emit, absorb, or scatter. A common method used is the flame test.

The flame test is fairly simple to conduct, only requiring a platinum wire, an alcohol lamp, some dilute Salt acid.

Yet, considering some special circumstances, it would be best to also use Cobalt Blue Glass. Cobalt Blue Glass might not be easy to come by and might necessitate personally obtaining the raw materials and crafting it, which could take some time.

Richard stepped out of the study and saw Pandora still on the chair in the living room. The blanket he had earlier discarded had been picked up again; half was placed under her, half covered her body, and her legs extended out of the chair, dangling in mid-air…

Shaking his head, Richard walked into the adjacent room, preparing to refine the manufacturing process for Cobalt Blue Glass.

In the blink of an eye, morning arrived.

Lord Richard stood in the courtyard, taking a deep breath of the biting winter air, feeling the chill fill his lungs and spread through his entire body, revitalizing his spirit. By now, he had a complete plan for the making of Cobalt Blue Glass.

Cobalt Blue Glass, in the end, is a type of special glass made by adding cobalt blue during the glass-making process.

In the current world, similar to the Medieval era, the production of glass was fairly advanced. Although bulletproof glass and tempered glass were not yet invented, like those on modern Earth, the making of common types of glass and executing intricate shaping and carving were already possible.

The glass was not a worry; only the cobalt blue needed resolving.

Cobalt blue is a special kind of blue pigment, often used by painters for its high temperature resistance, lightfastness, weather resistance, resistance to acids and bases, and its vivid color. However, due to its cobalt content, it is rather expensive, and because of technological limitations, it was not utilized until the nineteenth century on Earth.

To obtain cobalt blue, for the time being, he would need to produce it himself, using raw materials like cobalt metal, aluminum oxide, and phosphoric acid.

As for how to acquire these materials, how to synthesize cobalt blue, and then how to create the real Cobalt Blue Glass, Richard had a complete plan. After all, Cobalt Blue Glass really can’t be considered a high-tech product; the production process isn’t hard but slightly tedious.

Should he find a temporary assistant to help out and save some time?

Richard couldn’t help but think.

Turning his head towards the living room, he subconsciously glanced over at Pandora who was still curled up in the chair, having wrapped the entire blanket around herself into a ball.

To have Pandora act as a temporary assistant?

Hmm, better not. As long as she didn’t cause trouble, that would suffice. For the short term, he should not entertain that idea.

Then whom to find?

As Richard was pondering, all of a sudden, the sound of horse hooves approached from outside the courtyard, followed by a knock on the door.

“Bang bang bang.”

Hmm?

Richard looked at the courtyard door and called out, “Who is it?”

“Lord Richard, it’s me!” From outside, Gro’s voice came through, tinged with barely contained excitement, as if he had some good news.

Richard’s eyebrows lifted slightly as he walked out, opened the courtyard door, and let Gro in while his retinue of guards waited outside.

“You’re early today, what brings you here?” Richard asked Gro as they walked into the courtyard.

“Ah, well…” Gro subconsciously rubbed his hands together, slightly embarrassed, “After meeting with you the other day, I didn’t give up trying to become a wizard. Instead, I continued meditating, wanting to prove myself.”

“And so?”

“And so, last night, I suddenly discovered that I really do have talent!” Gro couldn’t help raising his voice, a bright light shining in his eyes.

Richard’s eyes flickered, not voicing anything, but inwardly he couldn’t help but think: Sure about having talent? After just one night, without his help, wouldn’t the consciousness fail to separate from the body at all?

Wait, could it be because…

The next moment, Richard heard Gro speak excitedly, “You know, Lord Richard, my chances of successfully meditating weren’t very high before. I normally had to try many times just to succeed once, and each success only allowed me to absorb a small amount of energy particles.

But last night was different; it seemed like I suddenly understood something. After several failed attempts at meditation and astral projection, I suddenly felt a different kind of force acting on my consciousness, which allowed me to easily separate from my body.

Once separated, my consciousness felt like it could go much farther from my body and absorb more energy particles, just one time was equivalent to many of my previous attempts combined. To put it this way, the training I received last night was almost equal to all of my previous meditation sessions combined.

So, does this mean I’ve suddenly broken through some kind of barrier? That I actually possess a powerful wizard’s talent and potential, which just hadn’t been unearthed before? And now that it’s been uncovered, if I continue meditating, will I progress by leaps and bounds and easily become a real wizard?”

“So, you came to see me so early for this?” Richard looked at Gro, asking calmly, his gaze slightly odd.

“Yes, exactly because of this,” Gro replied. “Regarding my earlier conjecture…I’m not entirely certain, it’s just a guess. Considering that in the entire Jade Kingdom, I only know you, a Wizard Apprentice who is far more experienced than I am, I had no choice but to come and ask you, hoping I have not disturbed you. By the way, Lord Richard, what do you think…what’s really going on with me?”

“Ah, that…” Richard looked at Gro, who was full of hope, and couldn’t help but hesitate for a moment.

After all, should he tell him the truth?