Chapter 526: Alchemist Association
The refining hall located in the eastern district was Lightning's favorite place to be on weekdays.
Apprentices and disciples moved back and forth carrying the necessary materials, the vessels emitted bursts of heat, the indoor air was filled with the lingering smell of sulfur and acid, and the occasional sound of glass bottles breaking and the high-pitched curses of alchemists, all of which made this place always full of life.
Although he had been promoted to one of the three chief alchemists two years ago and had his own independent alchemy room, the bustling and chaotic hall made it easier for him to come up with inspiration. Alchemy is like this busy scene, where various substances are mixed together, most of which become more turbid, and only a few can stand out and bloom with dazzling brilliance—crystal glass is like this, and so is violent snow powder.
After burning, melting, and mixing, no one knows that gray-white fine sand and pitch-black charcoal can be transformed into such wonderful things, which is the charm of alchemy. People are no exception. Every year, a large number of new apprentices join the Alchemist Association, but in the end, only a few can shed their rough and dull appearance and become dazzling pearls in the association. Lightning is one of them. It took him a full thirty-four years to be promoted from apprentice to chief alchemist, and now he is almost fifty years old and is about to reach the end of his life. But being able to comprehend the beauty of the philosopher's knowledge, he feels that his life has been fulfilled.
It's just that the things that have happened in King's City recently have made Lightning feel vaguely uneasy.
The biggest change was the change of the throne... After the Fourth Prince strangled Tyfico to death, he has become the undisputed heir. This originally had nothing to do with the Alchemist Association. No matter who the king is, they only need to be responsible for providing alchemical products. But when violent snow powder is handed over to Tyfico as war supplies, can they still stay out of it as usual?
Now that King's City has gradually returned to calm, the Fourth Prince has not come to visit the Alchemist Association, but went to the Astrology Platform first, which seems to be a bad sign.
"Are you still thinking about the Astrology Society?" Someone suddenly said beside him, "You're frowning and staring out the window, it doesn't look like you at all."
Anyone who can speak to him so unceremoniously must also be a chief alchemist. He turned his head and looked at Rayleigh, who also had gray hair, "What do you think... what is His Highness the Fourth Prince planning?"
"He thinks those guys who stare at the stars all day are wasting money, what else could it be," Rayleigh said dismissively, "It's just a pity that he didn't stick to his opinion, those people are not worthy of the name of sages at all, they should have been dismissed long ago."
As one of the two major sage disciplines, the Alchemist Association has its own informants in the Astrologer Society. They have heard a little about Roland's purpose in going to the Astrology Platform, but they don't know what the Chief Astrologer and the Fourth Prince talked about in secret, and what made him give up the idea of closing the Astrology Platform.
"What, are you worried that the Alchemist Association will end up like this?" He patted Lightning on the shoulder hard, "Don't forget how much profit our products can bring to King's City! As long as the production of crystal glass and perfume is released without xiànzhi, the gold dragons earned in a year or two will be enough to fill the prince's bedroom. Will he be willing to close the association?"
"But the association refined violent snow powder for Tyfico..."
"So what, can we disobey the king's orders?" Rayleigh scoffed, "If he has any common sense in his head, he won't use this as an excuse to accuse us. Besides, he himself has a lot of snow powder weapons, isn't the formula obtained from the escaped traitor Boer? Being able to successfully capture King's City can also be regarded as the credit of our Alchemist Association. Maybe if we give him a better mixed formula, we can get a reward."
"Hopefully," Lightning nodded, feeling a little relieved. Just as Rayleigh said, the Alchemist Association is, after all, a major producer of gold. The prince may not have been able to come at the first time because he was caught up in trivial matters.
Just as he was about to go down and give some pointers to the other alchemists, a disciple rushed into the hall out of breath and shouted at him, "C-Chief, Your M-Majesty is here!"
"What? Where is he?"
Following Lightning's exclamation, the noise in the hall instantly quieted down, and everyone's eyes were focused on the person who came.
"I-in the c-courtyard," the disciple swallowed, "His Majesty came from the sky!"
Lightning and Rayleigh looked at each other, and both saw the surprise in each other's eyes, "Quickly call Chief Achill over, and the others will come with me to meet His Majesty."
"Yes!"
...
Outside the Alchemist Association, the huge airship occupied almost half of the sky. Soldiers armed with snow powder weapons had surrounded the courtyard. After they searched the association inside and out, the airship began to descend slowly.
"That should be the witch-carrying device that the Fourth Prince used when he went to the Astrology Platform," Rayleigh whispered in Lightning's ear, "I didn't expect it to really be able to fly with people."
"No matter what, at least he's here," Lightning breathed a sigh of relief, then grabbed Rayleigh's arm and said, "It's okay for us to call him prince in private, but we still have to show respect when we meet him formally. Even if he hasn't held the coronation ceremony, he's still the King of Graycastle. Don't be too casual."
"Don't worry, I've always been measured," the latter smiled.
The gondola landed smoothly, and a spirited gray-haired man walked forward under the protection of guards. He was not wearing gorgeous clothes, nor did he wear a crown or scepter, but he had an unquestionable majesty in his gestures, which was completely different from the incompetent Fourth Prince in the previous rumors. Beside him was also an old man in a robe, and Lightning found that he was unexpectedly familiar.
"Your Majesty, Wimbledon, welcome to the Alchemist Association." Under the leadership of the three chief alchemists, many alchemists bowed together.
His Majesty smiled and said, "When I was still in King's City, I often heard my father mention you. Whether it is crystal glass or perfume, they are all very popular alchemical products, and they are even sold to the Fiord Islands, bringing generous returns to the palace. So after I was sent by my father to Border Town, I also built an alchemy workshop in the town."
"Pfft—" This made Rayleigh almost laugh out loud. Although Lightning was also trying hard to restrain himself, he never revealed it on his face, "That's not easy, Your Majesty. As the old saying goes, any alchemy workshop is built with an equal amount of gold dragons."
"Is that so? But I didn't invest much gold dragons... You should know how barren that place is. At first, I could only put up a few wooden sheds as refining rooms. Now it also produces many products, including glass and perfume," His Majesty said easily, "So I'm very curious, where do you spend the gold dragons you spend every year?"
"You... what do you mean?" Lightning's heart sank.
"This is my chief alchemist, Mr. Cymo Strale," Roland pointed to the old man beside him, "He will inspect your alchemical achievements. If there have been no innovative products in the past few years, I think it would be better to close the Alchemist Association. After all, King's City has just experienced a war, and many streets and houses need to spend gold dragons to repair."
This sentence caused an uproar among the alchemists!
"Your Majesty, I disagree!" Rayleigh couldn't help but stand up first.