Pillar of Yita

Camilla carefully soaked the blueprint in solution bit by bit before opening the lid of the machinery covered in copper pipes. Beneath it was a layer of dark marble with an emblem of the Tansnier Crafting Association etched on it and lined with gold.

She turned around, lifted the corners of the blueprint with both hands, and immediately pulled out one of the blueprints from the stack — strangely, the wet blueprints didn’t stick together, but rather separated smoothly.

Seeing this, Camilla explained, ”Mr. Ade, the component of Purple Pistil Flower powder in the Olfactory Guiding Agent has the effect of smoothing surfaces.”

Fang Hong nodded.

Initially, craftsmen would manually transcribe the blueprints, but manual transcription was inefficient and error-prone. Later, they gradually switched to mechanical transcription, and it wasn’t until the early part of this century that Magical Olfactory Guiding Agent and magical information entry methods emerged, quickly replacing traditional techniques.

However, no alchemy technique is perfect from the start; the components of the Olfactory Guiding Agent were surely added bit by bit, summarized by predecessors, to make it as convenient as it is today.

Indeed, this is true for any technology —

Camilla laid the wet blueprint on the obsidian, then inserted a crimson spodumene into the machine. Immediately, the crystals on both sides lit up, shooting out laser-like golden lines that slowly extended left and right on the blueprint. Fang Hong took a glance at it, silently estimated the speed in his mind, knowing the process of entering these blueprints was quite lengthy, probably taking at least a couple of hours.

Camilla stuck out her tongue, ”This old relic is so troublesome. I heard the latest machines are two or three times more efficient than this one.”

”It’s a pity. Chairman Aierna has applied for funds several times but never got them,” the little girl muttered, ”I heard other crafting associations are self-financed, so why is our guild so poor?”

Fang Hong recalled the image of Madam Aierna and couldn’t help shaking his head.

Behind the bizarre machine which Camilla called the ’Decomposer,’ in the direction of the counter, there was a round metal platform about the size of a human face, smooth as a mirror, with an orange crystal floating above it.

”Mr. Ade,” Camilla pointed at the crystal, ”This is the Information Crystal, which also functions as a Communication Crystal and connects to the Main Crystal of the Istania Artisans’ Guild — there are seven Main Crystals in total in Colin—Ishurian, all connected via ether routes to the one in Golande.”

However, the little girl frowned and patted the crystal, saying, ”Strange, the communication has been delayed frequently recently. Is this thing aging too?”

Fang Hong was speechless at this ’long-neglected’ artisan association.

However, without intending to, hearing Camilla’s words, he couldn’t help asking, ”Has the communication often been delayed recently?”

”Yes,” Camilla nodded, adjusting her glasses, ”this thing has been malfunctioning for one or two months now, but it’s getting more frequent recently, likely going to break down. If the Information Crystal breaks, we’ll have to apply for one from the Istania Artisans’ Guild, and there are no spare ones.”

Fang Hong was relieved to hear the situation had existed for two months before.

Indeed, it took over two hours to complete all the preparations after a series of operations.

The Istania Artisans’ Guild soon transmitted the verification results from the Golande Guild, transforming into a brief notification of a few lines, which came out with a ’grating’ sound from an outdated typewriter.

With a ’swish,’ Camilla tore off the paper, glanced at it, and with a delighted smile said to him, ”Mr. Ade, congratulations, your blueprint has entered the directory of the Colin— Ishurian Alchemy Guild. Since this is your first design, you can get double points as a routine —”

”Your blueprint was jointly evaluated by three masters as C+ Level, with a quality rating of excellent, medium to low practicability, high structural complexity, high cost index, and high manipulation difficulty.”

She recited from the paper, ”The design level is level eleven, basic points are one hundred and ten, and when multiplied by the above evaluation parameters, it is one hundred seventy-five points.”

Camilla looked up, her emerald eyes slightly admiring as she looked at him, ”Multiplied by two, it’s three hundred fifty points... This is Mr. Ade’s first work, and this score is quite high.”

After leaving Kapuka, Fang Hong spent some time as a ’wild alchemist,’ and wasn’t familiar with the standards of the crafting association. Although he later caught up on some basic knowledge at Ande’s place, in just a week, the other party couldn’t possibly speak comprehensively.

He couldn’t help asking, ”Camilla, is this score very high, and what is the general score range?”

Camilla thought for a moment, nodded, ”Generally speaking, if most people’s first work scores fifty or sixty, it’s considered passing. One hundred seventy-five is quite surprising. It seems the reviewing artisan master is quite optimistic about Mr. Ade’s work, doesn’t it?”

Fang Hong was intrigued and asked, ”Camilla, can you check if there are any ’Combat Fairy’ design blueprints?”

Camilla nodded, went over, and patted the Information Crystal again, causing Fang Hong to sweat profusely, fearing the little girl might break the crystal with her slap.