Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 596 Is alchemy a magical skill?

After the initial awkwardness, Rorona chuckled, ignoring Alice's careless words, and said with a smile: "You all came to visit me so late at night, I think you have something very important to discuss with me, but now is not the time. Please wait a moment. I will come to discuss with you in detail after I finish this alchemy."

After hearing her words, Ling Ge subconsciously set his eyes on the dark golden alchemy cauldron in the middle of the room, with a strange look on his face: "Are you doing alchemy?"

"Yes."

Lorena replied with a smile, reaching out to take a transparent glass bottle from the stone workbench next to her. It contained some silver sand. She unscrewed the bottle cap and poured all the silver sand into the cauldron. Strangely, the silver sand, which was clearly weightless, did not flow away with the seawater. Instead, it drew a graceful arc in the air, like a river falling from the sky, and merged into the mysterious rainbow-colored substances. In an instant, a strange change occurred in the cauldron. The gorgeous rainbow color gradually dimmed and faded, and was replaced by a solemn silver color, which was looming in it. At the same time, a low and fine sound came from the inside of the cauldron, a bit like the breaking of glass, and the condensation of frost. The temperature in the sea water began to drop and gradually returned to normal levels.

The girl in the wheelchair put the glass bottle back on the workbench, raised the heavy metal stirring rod with both hands, and inserted it into the mysterious substance that was obviously undergoing some strange reaction. She stirred it back and forth with some effort, turning it into a vortex, and explained the principle to the guests: "Famira's Tears are a very special material. People who see it for the first time may mistake it for sand, but it is actually sea salt decomposed by dilution. Generally speaking, it can only be found in dry underwater caves. This type of terrain is very special, so its quantity is also very rare. Few people use it as a seasoning. It is usually used as a material for potions or for the preparation of medicines for some special purposes. If a small amount of Famira's Tears is added during the alchemy process, it can control the ingredients and extract impurities. In other words, they are good neutralizers."

This can be seen from the changes in the mysterious substances in the cauldron. As Rorona stirred them, their colors gradually became purer, looking like the color of mercury. The original rainbow-colored impurities turned into glowing little people with hands and feet, a bit like the dwarfs they had encountered in the Sosen Mountains. They popped their heads out of the cauldron, then grabbed the edge of the cauldron and climbed up, jumping out of it. The strange thing is that when they left the cauldron, they instantly turned into smoke, mist, or some other mess, and quickly dissipated in the sea water, leaving no trace.

This fairy-tale-like scene made Metien and Leticia open their eyes wide. They came to the alchemy cauldron and stared at it intently. When they saw them disappear, they exclaimed "Wow". Rorona, who was concentrating on alchemy, turned her head slightly and showed a gentle smile to the two curious and innocent faces: "This is the spirit of Gul."

"Spirit of Gul?" Metien and Leticia looked up at the same time, their eyes flashing with a strong desire for knowledge.

"Well, 'Gul' is Golur, which means 'redundant, superfluous' in the ancient language of our Mirror Elves. So as the name suggests, the Spirit of Gul means 'unnecessary elves'. This is the name I gave them, because they were born from those unnecessary impurities in the alchemical process... Well, I don't know whether they are fairies or elves, so let's just treat them as fairies. When those unnecessary impurities are diluted and extracted, the Spirit of Gul will also leave the alchemical cauldron. When no new Spirit of Gul appears, it means that the material in this cauldron is only the essence and there are no impurities."

As Rorona said this, she flicked away a Gul's Spirit that had climbed onto the back of her hand. She watched the latter roll around in the seawater with a smile, then dissipate in a puff of white mist. She added, "Gul's Spirits have a very short lifespan. It's better to say that they have no lifespan at all, because they will immediately dissipate and cease to exist after leaving the alchemical cauldron."

"Ah? How could this happen?" Metien heard this, looking lost and sad. He was lost because he couldn't play with them for a while longer, and sad that these cute little creatures were so short-lived, passing away quietly like a mirage: "Did they die?"

"Not."

Rorona smiled and said, "They just returned to nature. To alchemy, they are unnecessary and redundant substances, so they need to be eliminated. But to nature, their existence must have meaning. Therefore, the disappearance of the Gur spirits is not death, but a return to the place where they were born, waiting for the next time they return to the world. By then, they may turn into stones, trees, or shells... But no matter what, there will always be a place in this world that needs them."

Metien breathed a sigh of relief and said sincerely, "That's great." Linger listened to their conversation and watched the Gul spirits that kept crawling out of the alchemy cauldron and then dissipating. He commented, "They are really magical creatures, but I don't think I have heard of similar demons on land."

Apart from anything else, at least the proprietress Xiesta, who is also a fairy, has never mentioned it.

"Because they are not the original creatures of this world." Rolena blinked at Lingge: "The Soul of Gul will only be born when I use alchemy. So it should be said that I am the first person in the world to see them, and the only one who has seen them."

Lingge was silent for a moment before he spoke: "It is indeed a miraculous alchemy."

Not only can magic items be refined from ordinary materials, but a new kind of demon spirit is even born in the process. If the transformation of matter and the birth of living beings are not enough to be called a miracle, what other miracles exist in the world?

Rorona was not surprised that Linger knew her innate talent. She smiled and said, "Miracles are very complicated things, but the alchemy to create miracles is very simple. It just retains the necessary substances and removes the unnecessary substances. Just like your human chemical experiments, new substances are stimulated through the reaction between different elements. However, the essential difference between alchemy and chemistry is that in this system, which substances can react with each other, which substances will repel each other, when should they be precipitated, when should they be extracted, what method should be used to process this material, and in what order should that material be put in... All these will change according to what you want to create, and cannot be summarized by theorems and formulas. All you can rely on is your own-"

She pointed to her head and answered with two words: "Feeling."

Feeling? Although he is a magician of the priest path, Ling Ge still has to say: "This is the most unreliable thing in the world."

"That's right." Rorona said cheerfully, "So until now, I'm the only one who can use this alchemy. It's no wonder that mother and Lord Sandro regard it as a gift from Crystal Snow. In fact, sometimes I think so myself."

She suddenly stopped stirring, then took several materials from the workbench next to her and put them into the alchemical cauldron one by one, muttering to herself, "Five tentacles of moon jellyfish, 5 grams of the cuticle of the Moro giant turtle's shell, 20 grams of ground fluorite powder, a shell that can be found everywhere, an ice flower picked from the garden, and a handful of wall dust scraped from an unnoticed corner... Add all in, stir evenly, and wait quietly for three minutes, keeping the temperature constant during this process. After three minutes, add the rainbow neutralizer and the green neutralizer, and after one minute, add the universal blending agent. After the blending agent has completely evaporated, add the purple clay to absorb moisture and complete the shaping. Finally, use the Chax sponge to absorb the remaining moisture, and that's it—"

"It's done!" She looked at Linge and others with a bright smile.

At the same time, a dazzling silver light burst out from the alchemical cauldron, like moonlight that had been covered in dust for a long time, finally breaking through the darkness and falling into the silence of the ten thousand meter deep sea.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)