Er Mu - Release that Witch

Kyle could roughly understand what those people must be thinking, Chavez was the youngest alchemist of the refining room, so many people still thought that it had only been by relying on luck and Kyle’s appreciation for him as a disciple that he had been able to stand out of the crowd. But the chief alchemist could only snort disdainfully at that sort of view. Saltpeter and green vitriol were both everyday things, so why had it been Chavez and no one else who had discovered the double stone acid method? This point alone should already sufficiently explain this issue. Perception, memory, making assumptions without fear, and being diligent during experimentation were all indispensable elements, in the end this young man’s innate skill was even above his own.

At the end of the letter, Chavez had attached two alchemic formulas, claiming they were two of his recently discovered acids he wished to share with his mentor. But even at the first glance, Kyle could see that the essence of these two formulas was just the creation of salt when acids and alkali react with one another, this was the kind of recipe he could write down dozens of time in a single breath.

With a sigh, Kyle Sichi put the letter down and glanced at the “Elementary Chemistry” laying on his table.

Everything had changed with His Highness and his so-called “ancient books”. If it hadn’t been for them, he was afraid, that he would still be the same as Chavez, still aimless, and bewilderedly wandering through the primal chaos, hoping to find some clay on the surface and still regard it as some kind of treasure.

Taking the book, Kyle immediately went to the last page.

It showed a table which was neatly divided into a hundred square box.

Every time he looked at the table, he couldn’t help but get goosebumps all over his body and feel a hard to describe reverence… and fear from within his heart.

Every box had a small serial number in the upper left corner which without a miss arrived at 118 at the end. Beside the first two rows, the majority of the boxes were blank, except for some symbols in the middle. For example, twenty-six: iron, twenty-nine: copper.

The name of this table was: “Periodic Table of Elements”.

While holding the book in his trembling hands, the chief alchemist had asked Roland about the contents of those blank boxes, merely to receive the answer that they had originally been filled, but he was unable to remember them.

If at that time, the other party hadn’t been His Royal Highness, he most likely would had taken the book and thrown it into the other’s face.

According to the records in the book, this table contained all existing elements on earth. If there existed a Canon of Alchemy, there was no doubt that this would be the most dazzling chapter in the whole book. What scared him the most was the question, what type of person was able to draw such a chart? And if they had already done this before, what were alchemists then supposed to be regarded as? They seemed to be merely a gang of children sitting within the silt and piling up some rocks.

Kyle suddenly thought of His Royal Highness’ promise, in case he was also able to call Chavez over, and also pull over the group of recently recruited apprentice, maybe he would be able to fill those three new laboratories. In that way, his dream of laying his hands on the “Intermediate Chemistry” would become a reality.

Thinking until here, he immediately took out a piece of white paper and began to write his response.

In fact, at the meeting when His Royal Highness had asked him whether he had any clue relating to large-scale acid production, he hadn’t told him the truth. Because the content was complex and lengthy, it would have been a waste of time doing so. The most important matter was that he still didn’t know whether his program worked or not. After all, he had based his production method entirely on the elements and reaction principles written within the book.

Compared with the previous alchemy test, this hypothesis was like a child’s nonsensical mutterings in their sleep. Wanting to use materials he had never seen before, together with an unheard of reaction method, to create something which seemed to have no similarity with the raw materials, only because they had the same type of element.

But within Kyle’s heart he still had a faint premonition, it felt like this method might actually be feasible!

After all, within the previous hundreds of permutation experiments, there had not been one time which where the book’s statement wasn’t correct.

With the initial plan concluded, the next step was for him to complete a full set of theoretical tests within the laboratory. Since His Highness had said that the industrial method could be used for large-scale production, it should also be possible to reproduce the results in the laboratory.

Kyle soon finished the letter, he didn’t waste any words on consoling Chavez, and instead straightforwardly told his previously marvelous disciple about alchemic knowledge that was both available and measurable. Kyle believed that there didn’t exist any alchemist who was brimming with the interests of a wise man, that would let the opportunity to seek truth pass them by.

After folding the letter, placing it into an envelope and sealing it with wax, Kyle could do nothing other than wait for the next day to give the message to a traveling salesman who wanted to deliver it.

After all this, his line of sight once again moved to the periodic table.

Thinking about those blank boxes which would never be filled again, Kyle felt as if his life no longer had any joy left to offer him. But fortunately, His Royal Highness had said one short phrase which had made his heart surge, and until today those words were still pacing back and forth within his ears.

“Don’t put on that look, the periodic table arranges each element in a regular pattern according to an underlying law. You can fill it up by yourself.”

“Regular… pattern? Do you mean that those unknown elements can also be deducted, just like the derivation of an alchemical formula?”

“That’s right, even if you have never seen them before, you can still describe their appearance and characteristics.”

“That rule, what is it?”

“Do you want to know? It is written in the ‘Intermediate Chemistry’.”

The further down into the mine, the more humid the environment became.

Sylvie was holding up a torch and gingerly evading the drop of water falling towards her head as she led the group further into the mine. Even without any light, her Eye of Truth wasn’t something that could be stopped by the darkness. Thus she merely used the torch to save her magic power.

“There is another fork in the road,” Nightingale who was walking at the front said after she stopped, “Which cave is this already?”

“Twenty-third after passing the first fork from the entryway,” Lightning answered, as she took a look at the records.

“I hope this is the last one,” Sylvie grumbled, then completely opened her magic eye, “The left side… spreads away from the mining area, there is no ore there. The right side… is the same.”

Lightning wrote down the results then announced, “In that case, those caverns were also the last gates we had to inspect.”

“Come on,” Nightingale said and went from the front to the end, leading everyone back. It didn’t seem that her ability was as simple as invisibility, Sylvie could only see faint changes in Nightingales’ magic power, but was ultimately unable to capture her figure or movement. According to Lightning’s introduction, she was the strongest fighting witch.

This may also be the reason why Roland had her to follow them. There were rumors that the mine had once been a nest for ancient monsters, and there had already been several events of miners going missing. Before their departure, His Highness had also told them several times that they had to be careful and that in case they couldn’t determine the situation, they should first exit the mine and report back to him.

However, Sylvie couldn’t accept this as correct. There existed no monster which could escape the investigation of her magic eye, even those animal corpses, and the twisting soft-bodied snakes within the walls were clearly visible to her.

There were four people in the expedition team, herself, Nightingale, Lightning, together with a little girl called Lucia. Every time they found some minerals, she would convert them into a variety of debris, and after carefully classifying them she would put them into her pocket, which would later be handed over to His Royal Highness.

Lightning was responsible for drawing the map of the mine, since in her own words, there didn’t exist any adventure from which she could be excluded. Hearing her prideful speech, Sylvie couldn’t help but think of the captain who was temporarily staying on Sleeping Island.

The 23rd cave was at the lower level of the mining site and could actually be regarded as an enormously deep hole. After penetrating several hundred steps into the mountain, it divided into three paths again, and after following each to their end, they would once again split into several branches. However, since they were at the exterior area of the mining site, with only the rare possibility of find any veins, they had decided to end their exploration.

Returning to the first fork, which Lightning had recorded as “Gate of Life”, Sylvie cast her ability to observe the 23rd cave and the circumstances of those three pathways.

The further she spread the range of her Eye of Truth, the greater the magic consumption was, and the heavier the burden on her body. So she decided to observe one channel after another at each fork.

“Cave number three… yes, there aren’t any mining areas at the end of it. There are… ” she spent a moment frozen in shock, “There are five branches, including one that seems to lead further downwards while also making a detour.”

“Downwards?” Lightning repeated.

“It is indeed like that,” Sylvie confirmed while taking another look. It didn’t take long until the slender downwards leading path turned around a corner and pointed straight back at the mine. When she tried to further explore along the road, her mind suddenly became flooded with a strong sense of dizziness which interrupted her contact with her magic eye, “I think it may lead to a mineral deposit.”

But this interpretation was a bit far-fetched, the North Slope Mine’s tangled and complicated cave system was clearly not something which had been artificially dug out. Furthermore, if she hadn’t been specifically looking for ore, it would be unlikely she’d have discovered any unknown veins, even if they were hidden between two channels. If not for her Eye of Truth which was able to penetrate any obstacle, it would be simply impossible to find any minerals hidden behind rocks and under piles of mud.

“No matter what, let’s immediately go and take a look,” Nightingale said, and shrugged her shoulders.

The group entered the cave behind the third gate one after another, and about a quarter of an hour later they had already arrived at the end of the passage.

There the tunnel divided itself into five like she had seen it. One among them was even so narrow that it was impossible for people to walk through and so it could only be entered by crawling. However, the strange channel Sylvie had seen before was located in the middle of the five, and its topography changed dramatically, almost forming a deep slope when compared with the place they were standing now.

“It seems as if it is going straight down,” Nightingale said and held up the torch, “I feel as if this grotto is somewhat similar to the deep cliff of the Impassable Mountain Range.”

“Let’s quickly finish the inspection, then immediately turn back,” Lucia said in fright as she instinctively grasped on to Nightingale’s arm. “I do not like it here… I constantly feel as if something is staring at us from within the cave.”

“There is nothing in the cave, except for mud and stone,” Sylvie said, even though she didn’t like this quiet and moist place, her ability still told her that there was no danger. “The four on the left and right all contain no ore and are leading further away from the mining site.” She quickly finished the inspection of the leveled side roads, then moved her line of sight towards the front, only to immediately lose focus and release a faint, “…ah?”