"What's going on?"
Roy stored the "Shrinking Art" spellbook into his Spatial Ring and walked out, only to find Gold already waiting outside the door.
Atedia was guarding the outer gate and turned to look at him.
Roy waved his hand dismissively.
Compared to reading, he was undoubtedly more concerned about the mercury mine that Gold had mentioned.
Gold stepped inside: "Sir, the workers discovered some unusual red ore during the mining process and reported it to me.
After examining it, I confirmed that it was cinnabar, which can be used as a raw material for refining mercury.
I recall that when you previously arranged the quarrying operations, you specifically mentioned to keep an eye out for this kind of thing."
"Indeed," Roy nodded with satisfaction. "Do you have a sample? Let me take a look."
"Here you go," Gold anticipated Roy's request and handed over the sample.
Roy examined it and noticed that the samples were rhombohedral and short-columnar in shape, with visible penetration twinning and a vibrant vermilion color.
"It's high-purity cinnabar crystals."
This was a mineral material that could be used to refine mercury and had played a significant role in the history of Alchemy.
In alchemical furnaces, this substance was also a frequent guest.
"Good stuff. Quickly hire some centaur laborers to extract it...
As for the refining process after extraction, let me think... I'll issue a task for refining mercury...
Let's calculate it based on the time and effort required—100 Magic Stones per month!
See who knows how to do this and is willing to take on the part-time job."
After inspecting the sample, Roy handed it back to Gold.
Not long after, Andov, Winter, and others arrived one after another and learned about the matter.
"How should I put this job? It's simple, but it takes up time and effort.
I'll pass. It's more worthwhile for me to go hunting or take on some combat missions outside."
"I'm interested in doing this, but I don't know how."
In the end, it was Olinda who stepped forward: "I have some knowledge of this. I've tried various methods of refining mercury before."
Roy nodded with satisfaction.
Olinda had once been his private tutor, specializing in things like Enchanted Gunpowder.
Cinnabar was somewhat related to that, so it wasn't surprising that she knew how to handle it.
Olinda seized the opportunity: "By the way, could the payment be exchanged for Blood Mercury? How about 100 milliliters per month?"
Roy coldly refused: "I've told you before, it's 3 Magic Stones for 1 milliliter. After joining the team, it's 2 Magic Stones for you, but only 50 milliliters per month.
Moreover, I'll inspect the mercury production.
It's not easy to set a quota for now, but you must ensure quality and quantity and supply it on time to complete the task."
"Alright then," Olinda, who was quite familiar with Roy, had no choice but to give up bargaining.
Roy addressed the group: "You've probably heard that I know how to refine Blood Mercury.
In the future, if you need Grand Knight Enhancement, you can come to me.
Team members will get a friendly rate of 2 Magic Stones per milliliter.
But reselling is not allowed.
I'll keep track of each person's usage, with a limit of 5000 milliliters. Once that's used up, it will revert to 4 Magic Stones."
Everyone could only support this and praised it repeatedly.
Roy then turned to Gold: "Ensure that Olinda has an ample supply of fuel and other necessities. Provide good logistical support."
Gold quickly bowed: "Yes."
...
In the following days, Roy paid special attention to Olinda.
She had already directed the craftsmen to set up a simple refining furnace.
Cinnabar, also known as vermilion, is the natural ore form of mercury sulfide.
Since ancient times, alchemists and elixir makers have refined cinnabar to extract mercury.
The method is relatively simple: crush the cinnabar ore into powder, mix it with charcoal powder in a certain ratio, and then place it in a porcelain jar or furnace for calcination.
Then, collect the liquid mercury formed by the condensation of mercury vapor.
If impurities are mixed in during this process, further purification can be achieved through distillation.
However, under high temperatures, cinnabar decomposes into mercury vapor and sulfur gas, which are highly toxic.
Given the craftsmanship and educational level in Netherlands, even such a simple task might not be done well.
As for protective gear like gas masks, don't even think about it.
Gold quietly said to Roy, "Sir, we can just let the workers from Scarto handle this kind of work.
If an accident happens and someone dies, we can always replace them."
Roy replied, "There's no need for such unnecessary casualties.
Moreover, by distributing resources through these tasks, we're also finding ways to provide job opportunities for our team members.
They need various resources, but I can't just give them away for free."
Upon hearing this, Gold muttered to himself, "That's going to be really expensive!"
...
A few more days passed quickly, and the first batch of mercury refined by Olinda was delivered.
Roy immediately ordered the magical alchemy tools to handle the preliminary preparations.
At this point, the "Portable Small Alchemy Laboratory" once again demonstrated its great convenience.
Functions like automatic dust removal, cleaning, and ventilation were all handled by the wizard array without the need for further explanation.
Among the various alchemy tools inside, apart from the rather talkative beaker, most were reliable and mature instruments.
Although the primary focus was on "Potion Studies," these basic operations, which even apprentices could handle, were more than sufficient.
With these tools, it was essentially "automation of apprentice-level alchemy operations"!
Roy rested for a while in the small study within the partitioned room, using a book on the "Shrinking Art" as a pillow, and returned to inspect the work, nodding in satisfaction.
Then he began to refine the Blood Mercury.
To this day, this item remained one of the most important alchemical products he had ever created.
He quickly completed the process with ease.
However, he set it aside for the moment, resting his chin on his hand as he pondered another matter.
"The Biological Armor, the skin armor, needs to be considered as well...
This can genuinely enhance combat effectiveness."
In fact, he had already contemplated this idea in the past.
As a Wizard Alchemist in the Wizarding World, body armor was an essential piece of equipment.
But ordinary armor might not even be stronger than his own body, and wearing it could be inconvenient.
Moreover, with the effective use of Spiritual Materialization, which could be activated with a mere thought, he could easily neutralize most mundane attacks.
There were no particularly vulnerable spots on his body that required special protection.
Thus, the main concern was defense against other spellcasters, especially fellow official Wizards.
"Actually, with the Aegis Stone, it's already sufficient in combat.
But when it comes to armor, more is always better."
"I also need some means of daily protection..."
Roy pondered, thinking about the implants.
This was a technology derived from the Arcane Empire, akin to artificial skin that served as close-fitting armor!
The artificial skin he had been contemplating could finally be put to good use!
(End of Chapter)