The mirror problem was eventually solved by Soraya.
Referring to the mercury taken from the laboratory, she directly painted a layer of bright coating on the back of the glass, similar to the effect of a mercury mirror, while avoiding the risk of mercury vapor poisoning.
Compared to mirrors pasted with silver flakes, the overall coating formed a better reflective surface. Roland simply freed up a batch of crystal glassware to make a small, portable mirror for each witch. This little gift that allowed them to clearly see their own faces made all the witches extremely happy. Even Wendy, who usually had a peaceful expression, showed a smile, making him sigh that although witches cannot give birth, they are still essentially women.
Unfortunately, this convenient daily necessity cannot be sold to the public at a low price for the time being. The price of crystal glass, as the base material, is expensive, and the laboratory also needs to consume a large amount of glass to produce colorless transparent containers. Camo Streel knows how to make colorless glass, but the laboratory is burdened with heavy tasks and cannot spare any manpower. Most of the apprentices are busy purifying the two acids and soaking guncotton, while the chief alchemist is focusing on overcoming the mercury fulminate barrier with two or three disciples. Before the industrial acid production method is researched, they can forget about manufacturing other things for the time being.
In addition to the reflecting mirror, the object distance adjustment method was also changed from moving the stage with fingers to moving the lens barrel with a knob. Roland only needed to give a few hints for Anna to understand. Under the processing of Blackfire, the new fixed bracket was quickly completed. After selecting two sets of lens barrels with the highest magnification, the first batch of complete optical microscopes was obtained.
Taking advantage of the sufficient afternoon sunlight, Roland summoned all the members of the Witch Union to the backyard of the castle, and the first natural biology class officially began.
……
When Lily walked into the backyard, she found that the plants here were even more lush.
The grapes on the wooden frame had turned into a bright purple-red color. She remembered that it had been less than a week since the last ripening. Lightning flew up from time to time, picking a bunch of ripe grapes and throwing them to everyone. And that big stupid bird who had just joined Border Town simply stood on the frame, pecking at the grapes one by one and swallowing them with its head raised.
Under the green shade in the center of the backyard, Prince Roland was chatting with Anna. They looked like a close couple, but Lily knew they were definitely not talking sweet nothings. If you listened closely, you would definitely hear a bunch of inexplicable nouns and confusing debates... such as what a small ball looks like, a cat that is both dead and alive, matter turning into waves, etc. Perhaps the reason why Nightingale kept a distance of more than five meters from them was also this - listening for a long time would definitely make people sleepy!
Wendy was always with Scroll, always with a smile and a gentle expression. Sometimes she even felt that the way the other party looked at her was like looking at a child. Lily sighed helplessly, glanced at Wendy's chest, and then looked down at her own, and there was indeed a world of difference.
Only when you become like that can you not be considered a child.
After all the witches arrived, Prince Roland placed two gray-black metal instruments on the table. That should be the microscope he claimed could see the microscopic world. Lily thought, perhaps things would indeed look different when magnified, but everything in the world is made up of small balls? She couldn't believe this point. How could round balls form a solid rock?
His Highness asked the guards to bring a bucket of water and took out a few drops to place under the microscope. Unlike what Lily had expected, the bucket of water was neither turbid nor dirty. It was crystal clear in the light, as if there was nothing in it. Could it be... that you can really see flowing small balls under the microscope?
"There's something moving in the water!" To her surprise, the exclamations of her sisters rose and fell for a while. "Ah, it ran away!"
"Not just one, there seem to be many."
"Oh my god, are these bugs? They don't all look the same!"
"This one looks like a transparent crab..."
Lily's heart was suddenly hung up. Not small balls, but bugs? His Highness was really lying! But... it's also strange to have bugs. Just now when I looked at the water, it was clear that there was nothing there! When it was her turn, the little girl couldn't pretend to be indifferent any longer and couldn't wait to squint her eyes and bring her head closer to the microscope.
Then she saw an incredible scene.
In the narrow aperture, many strange-shaped objects were swimming wantonly. Some were square, with soft hairs all over their bodies, some were like a mixture of beetles and crabs, and some were similar to wheat grains with legs. No matter how strange their shapes were, most of them were transparent, as if they had no shells or skin, and they could clearly see inside their bodies - of course, these bugs were almost empty inside.
"Your Highness, are these really bugs?" Scroll asked.
"What you see should be some protozoa or single-celled algae. It's not appropriate to call them bugs. They should be classified as microorganisms." Prince Roland explained.
"Microorganisms?"
"Yes, they are also a kind of living organism, but they are much smaller in size. In addition to the two types you see, there are even smaller bacteria and viruses. The current magnification of the microscope is not enough to observe these two types of microorganisms, and they are also the cause of food spoilage and various diseases." Prince Roland became more and more interested as he explained. "These tiny lives are everywhere and numerous. Fortunately, most of them are not resistant to high temperatures, so that's why water should be boiled before drinking, fish and meat should be cooked thoroughly, and bath water should not be reused."
Although it was hard to imagine that there were even smaller creatures, Lily couldn't help but get goosebumps when she thought that she had swallowed a bunch of bugs when she drank water before.
And His Highness said that these inconspicuous little things are the culprit for food spoilage?
If bread and rice porridge can be kept fresh, then water... should also be possible.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but release her magic power, covering the water droplets under the microscope.
An unexpected change occurred.
A part of the "bugs" trembled, and then quickly changed their appearance. Their skin was no longer transparent, as if they were wearing purple armor, and they grew tentacles all over their bodies, and began to devour the unchanged bugs around them. No... not devouring, Lily saw that they were assimilating each other at an alarming speed. The tentacles were like sharp thin swords, piercing into the bodies of other microorganisms, and then turning them into their own appearance.
Whether it was an illusion or not, she felt that these mutated bug swarms were also changing those invisible life forms. Soon, purple spots appeared in the water. After a few breaths, more and more light spots gradually connected into one piece, like a pale purple carpet spread over the field of vision. The tentacle bugs were arranged one by one on the carpet, as neat as an army. As if sensing her attention, their tentacles were all raised upwards, as if saluting.
She saw the true face of her ability for the first time.(。)