Kaimo Strale walked into the alchemy workshop.

"Chief Mentor," the apprentices said, bowing as they saw Kaimo.

He waved his hand. "Continue."

The apprentices squatted down again, busy with their work.

The outermost part of the workshop was the washing and sorting room, where materials from all over Graycastle were cleaned, sorted, screened, and ground. The design of the washing and sorting room was also very clever, with a slate floor laid on a small stream. The middle was used for passage, and on both sides were gurgling streams flowing parallel to the slate path. Across an arm's length of the stream was the cleaning area.

At a glance, the long and narrow washing and sorting room seemed to be divided into three sections longitudinally by two streams. Light shone in from the window openings on both sides of the wall, reflecting on the slate floor and the streams, forming long stripes of light across the room. Light and darkness intertwined, like the markings of a snake.

Nearly a hundred apprentices leaned against the wall, processing the materials assigned to them. If the discarded debris was lighter than water, it could be thrown directly into the stream. If it was heavier than water, it had to be put into a basket, taken out of the washing and sorting room, and then discarded. Washing with running water was also much more effective than stagnant water in a wooden bucket.

They would study here for three to five years, until they were thoroughly familiar with the sorting and cleaning of various materials, and then they would have the opportunity to be selected as disciples by the mentor and go to the next room.

Kaimo stepped on the alternating patches of light and dark and entered the core area of the alchemy workshop—the refining room.

Pushing open the door, the view became suddenly clear. Twelve giant trees transported from the Misty Forest served as pillars, supporting this extremely spacious room. Windows were opened on all four stone walls, and even the roof was equipped with a patio and shades, making the room extremely bright. Six wide wooden tables were placed in the center of the refining room, and the tables were piled with various alchemical instruments: round-bottom flasks, glass cups, balances, mortars, stoves, crucibles... Each mentor was responsible for managing and using a table, and as the chief alchemist of Redwater City, he naturally used the longest table, which also had the most instruments.

This place was always full of mess and disorder, like alchemy itself, mixing various raw materials together, heating, distilling, passing through water, and burning. Its results were always ever-changing and fascinating.

If a clear direction could be found from these disordered changes and written into text, it would be an extremely rare alchemy formula. Anyone who could create an original alchemy formula could be called an alchemist. So far, he had summarized more than a dozen alchemy formulas, each of which seemed like a whisper from the gods—Kaimo believed that alchemy, when developed to a certain extent, could not only separate origins, but even combine all things.

"Chames, how is your imitation of snow powder coming along?" he asked.

A young man in his twenties walked over and shook his head. "Those damn alchemists in the capital must have added other ingredients. The powder is ground very finely, and it's really impossible to separate anything useful."

He was the youngest alchemist in the alchemy workshop—generally speaking, it was impossible to create an alchemy formula without a long period of accumulation and experimentation, and sometimes a little luck was also needed. Many people in the workshop remained disciples for life and found it difficult to make further progress until death. But Chames had an extraordinary talent for alchemy. Two years ago, he summarized the method of obtaining acid by distilling green vitriol, which won the unanimous approval of five alchemists, and since then there was another long table in the refining room.

"Don't worry, take your time," he said, smiling and patting the other person's shoulder to comfort him. As chief for years, Kaimo naturally understood the difficulty of finding truth from disorder and chaos. "But last night I did come up with something good that can give those arrogant guys a little color to see. Come with me."

He walked to his table and asked two disciples to bring over a storage box—the box was about half a person tall and made entirely of wrought iron, making it difficult to steal and difficult to damage. He took out the key and opened the first layer of the grid. A small piece of transparent crystal lay in the center of the grid.

"Cut crystal?" Chames, who was standing beside him, carefully pinched it in his hand and looked at it against the sunlight outside the window. "No, this is... crystal glass! My God! You did it!"

"That's right," Kaimo said smugly. "I'd really like to see what kind of wonderful expressions those guys will have on their faces when they see that I've successfully imitated their most proud alchemical product."

Chames's uncontrollable exclamation startled the other alchemists, who put down their work and gathered around.

"Is this the result of your staying up until midnight last night? That's great."

"It's so beautiful, almost like crystal."

"Congratulations, in this way, the status of our alchemy workshop in the Duke's mind will be greatly increased."

"How did you do it? Can you tell me?"

Kaimo nodded. "We all know that the composition of glass is very close to that of river sand. The color of glass burned from river sand in different places is different because they contain impurities. Either try to remove the impurities, or try to get purer sand. Everyone is trying in this direction, and so am I. This time the alchemy was successful to a large extent due to an accident. I selected fine white sand from Willow Town and sandstone from Dragonfall Ridge..."

Everyone gathered around him and listened quietly until he had finished speaking, and the alchemists all breathed a sigh of relief. "I see, you've thought it through so thoroughly."

Crystal is a rare and expensive gemstone, and colorless and transparent crystal is even rarer. Only the purest and brightest glass can be called crystal glass. The Alchemist Association in the capital relies on this product to steadily surpass the Redwater City Alchemy Workshop, and the gold dragons earned every year make the Duke of Redwater City envious.

Now, this situation will soon change. If Chames can figure out the ingredients of snow powder, plus the double-stone acid-making method, they will completely surpass the Alchemist Association in the capital. By then, those guys who only look at people with their chins raised will probably have to lower their rooster-like heads. Thinking of this, Kaimo Strale's mood became even more joyful.

Just as he was preparing to screen the second batch of raw materials for crystal glass, a disciple walked up to him in a hurry. "Chief Mentor, there is an envoy from Border Town in the Western Region who wants to see you. He has brought a letter from Fourth Prince Roland Wimbledon."

"Fourth Prince?" Kaimo frowned and thought about it. It seemed that there was indeed such a person in the Graycastle royal family. He knew very little about the affairs of the nobles. In his impression, these people were both ignorant and ignorant, and they only fought to the death for power and wealth. "What does he want from me?"

"I don't know. The envoy said that you will naturally understand His Highness's meaning once you finish reading the letter."

"..." The chief alchemist showed an extremely impatient expression. The content of the letter was probably either a generous offer to recruit himself, or a reprimand that alchemy was a demon trick. But since the other party was a prince, basic etiquette had to be maintained. "Take me to see him, and let him get out of here as soon as I get the letter!"

"Yes, Chief Mentor."