Release that Witch

Roland had known from his childhood experience back in the modern world, that DC generators were simple machines working on simple principles. He had disassembled a dozen of motors from his four-wheel-drive toy cars, including both ordinary whiteboard motors and legendarily high-performance Jinchaoba motors, and he had wound rotor copper wires by hand... All of them had been typical DC motors.

Based on his knowledge, DC motors had the same structure as DC generators, and they were basically the same thing. A DC motor, added a mechanism for driving its motor rotor, could double as a DC generator. The rotor, namely the conductor, constantly rotating inside a magnetic field and cutting the magnetic lines, would cause electric current to flow.

With the help of Mystery Moon and Anna, Roland spent only half a day building a simple DC motor in an easy, quick way. Besides the metal rotor part, he made a stator out of wood simply by asking Mystery Moon to add magnetism to it and chose a section of a log for commutator base. He embedded motor commutating segments into the log where there was a hole allowing itself to be connected to the rotor of a steam engine. Such formation was convenient to be built and ensured that segments were insulated from each other.

After that, it was Anna’s job to make the new type steam engine. Roland and Mystery Moon just stood by, watching her wondrous skills. Every time she needed to make large machine parts, she would start up by spreading her Blackfire to wrap up a pile of iron ingots. She would burn and melt them first, and then she would squeeze the Blackfire to press the metal into plates with demanded sizes. In the end, she would cut the parts she wanted out of those plates.

The next day, when Roland was going to test the generator in the calcination room, his guard brought him a piece of exciting good news. The Chief Alchemist of Redwater City’s alchemical workshop had arrived at Border Town, with lots of people following him.

***************

After reading Roland’s letter at the night, Kyle Sichi had made up his mind to leave for Border Town. The very next day afternoon, he had boarded a merchant ship to the town with his family and a dozen of his students. Unfortunately, Chavez, his best student, had refused to join him after a long period of hesitation.

Kyle had not leaked the content of the letter to the other alchemists, as the more alchemists knew about it, the more delayed his departure would be. He had also worried about the duke. Hearing the news about the success of crystal glass, he must want to hold the lucrative luxury goods business firmly in his own hands and stop him from leaving the city.

As payback for the duke’s generous investment in building the alchemical workshop, Kyle had left a parchment recording the formula and firing process of crystal glass in his drawer in the workshop. He had been so eager to find out those alchemical answers in Border Town that neither crystal glass nor alchemical workshop had been able to stop him.

Five days later, Kyle finally met Roland Wimbledon, the Lord of Border Town and the one who had written the letter to him.

In a reception hall of the lord’s castle, Kyle bowed to Roland and then hurriedly opened his mouth to make a request as soon as he sat down. ”Your Highness, if you don’t mind, I’d like very much to meet and talk with your alchemists.”

”My alchemists? There’re no alchemists in Border Town before your arrival. But now, you’re my alchemist,” Roland chuckled and said.

”You mean... those alchemical equations were written by you?” Kyle directly neglected the prince’s last sentence and turned a little pale. At the moment, another possibility struck him. [Prince Roland must have learned those alchemical things from his court mentors. Given that the prince knew that much, the Alchemist Workshop of the king’s city must have already mastered the rules of alchemy. If that’s true, it would be ridiculous to say that I wish to be ranked above them.]

”Well, not exactly. Those equations are recorded in ancient books which are over 400 years old. I just happened to find them. This knowledge seems to be called ’chemistry’ at that time,” Roland answered.

”Che-Chemistry?” Kyle felt much relieved, hearing that those equations were not written by the Alchemist Workshop of the king’s city, but he was still shocked at the prince’s reply. He wondered who had written those books 400 years ago, as even the king’s city’s Alchemist Workshop only had a history of nearly 200 years. He also found it hard to believe that the alchemists now knew even less than their predecessors.

”Yes. The authors suggested a hypothesis in their books, dubbed mass conservation law. The substances forming the world never disappear or increase. Instead, they only transform from one type to another. Take this piece of cake as an example.” Roland pointed to the cake on the long table and continued, ”When you eat it, part of it’ll be absorbed by your body and the rest of it will be excreted. The mass of what you absorb plus the mass of what you excrete equals the mass of the original cake.”

”Wait... Your Highness.” After a thought, Kyle continued, ”If I burn a piece of wood into ashes, no matter how to weigh, the weight of the ashes will be lighter than that of the wood. If the substances never disappear, where’s the missing substances?”

”The books explained it, too. The missing weight is substances that become gas and vapor during the burning. The residue left behind is the ashes you can see,” Roland explained with a smile.

”Gas?” Kyle caught a sudden inspiration in his mind and asked, ”does the air have weight?”

”Of course, each matter has a mass.” The prince nodded and continued to explain, ”It’s easy to prove this point. You can put some sawdust in a bottle and cork up it. Weigh the bottle on a scale. After the scale balances, burn the sawdust inside. You’ll see the scale remain balancing finally, as the gas and vapor can’t escape from the bottle. All the mass is still inside of it.”

”That’s... also recorded in the ancient books? Could you please let me read those books?” Kyle anxiously asked.

”Yes, as long as you can promise me a few things,” Roland said while spreading his hands.

”Please, go ahead.”

”First, you have to work for me. You’ll be paid as much as you were in the Alchemic Workshop of Redwater City. Second, once you accept the job, you need to comply with my confidentiality regulations. That means that you can’t disclose any details of your work to the other alchemists. Third, if you agree to work for me, we’ll sign a five-year contract. Five years later, you can choose to stay or leave. Besides, you’re no longer subject to confidentiality clauses and are able to show your work results to the other alchemists and alchemists guilds. Accordingly, if you accept these three conditions, Border Town will provide you a house and a chemical laboratory, and I’ll lend you the book, ’Elementary Chemistry’. If you find something in the book difficult to understand, you can come to ask me.”

Kyle thought, [Those conditions sound not harsh, except for some awkward terms like confidentiality regulations and chemical laboratories. But it isn’t hard to understand the general meaning. Five years isn’t too long. I thought the lord was going to ask me to stay in Border Town forever.]

In fact, Kyle was so determined and eager to read the book about the essence of alchemy that he was ready to accept any harsh terms.

Thinking of these, Kyle rose and slightly bent forward, saying, ”Your Highness, I’m at your service.”

The prince did not seem to care much about etiquette, either and directly said, ”Good, that’s it. Your workplace is by Redwater River. After we sign the contract, I’ll show you the laboratory and introduce the usage of the glassware and its operation regulations to you, and then you’ll know how to work in the lab.”

Hearing that, the chief alchemist could not help wondering why the prince sounded so skillful and confident while talking about alchemy after he was a common noble who just happened to read something in an ancient book. Knowing it was not yet the time to think about this, Kyle neglected his doubts and asked, ”Your Highness, what you need me to make for you?”

”Yes, an acid solution with a high concentration. Produce as much as you can,” the Prince replied.