Release That Witch

By the time Kyle Sichi returned home, it was already dark outside.     

After he had dinner with his family, he returned to his study and recorded the formula and the raw materials for the crystal glass in the book he was writing—"The Door to Alchemy". In it, he had recorded his biography starting from the day he had become an apprentice until the day he became a chief alchemist. In addition, he also included the alchemic formulas they had discovered over the years at the Alchemical Workshop of Redwater City.     

Kyle believed that with this book, he would earn a place in history. Thousands of years later, alchemists would still remember his name.     

Only after the candle had burnt out completely, did Kyle finally put down his pen and prepare to go to bed.     

Suddenly, he remembered the letter from the prince. Glancing at the soon dying candle, he decided to use the last of its light to finish the letter so that he could give a verbal reply to the messenger the next day. The tiny candle would not allow him to write more than a few dozen words, but it was more than enough to read this worthless letter by.     

He opened the envelope and saw that it contained three pages. The first page was the usual formal introduction full of titles and territory. Kyle did not even bother reading it and just moved straight to the second page.     

The content of the second page took him by surprise, and there was no recruitment offer or denouncing. Instead, there were five strange formulas written on it. After carefully examining them, he noticed that each formula was composed of the same three sentences.     

[Oh, this is interesting."] He smiled even though he still did not know what the purpose of the letter was. The prince was quite good at mystifying.     

He glanced over the first line.     

"Dry distillation of saltpeter produces nitric acid."     

Saltpeter… dry distillation… nitric acid, all these were terms used in alchemy. Wait a minute, Kyle's heart suddenly stopped. [Isn't this one of the double-stone acid-making methods of the alchemic workshop?]     

The acidic liquid produced by the dry distillation of saltpeter had to be collected in a special container. It looked just like water vapor, so it was hard to recognize. It was, however, very corrosive. Apart from skin removal, it could also dissolve specific metals.     

[This… is actually an alchemic formula? Does this mean that there's an alchemist in Border Town?]     

He quickly moved his sight to the next line.     

The first sentence had already surprised him, but the second sentence was even more incredible.     

It consisted of a bunch of weird symbols, one after another, forming an equation. Kyle frowned, for he had never seen such strange symbols.     

Looking further down the letter, it appeared that the third sentence was the explanation for the previous two. This line included the names and meanings for each of the symbols. However, these words were so difficult to pronounce that it almost seemed as if they were made up. To help him link the words with the symbols he read them over and over. Even so, he was still having trouble understanding the full meaning of the entire sentence.     

At this point, the candle flame sputtered twice and then flickered out.     

Damn it! Kyle cursed silently, and without hesitating, he took a new candle from his drawer and lit it.     

…     

By the time the second candle had burnt down halfway, the hands of the chief alchemist were shaking slightly.     

For a letter that appeared to mean nothing, it had taken him a very long time to read.     

The fives formulas on the second page were actually all alchemical formulas!     

It was not unimaginable that an excellent alchemist would manage to come up with five formulas on his own, but the amazing part was that four of them, excluding the first one for the acid-making process, were all connected to each other. Certain words would appear repetitively, creating what seemed like a balanced cycle.     

"Nitric acid reacts with silver to form silver nitrate, just like water with nitric oxide."     

"Silver nitrate reacts with iron to form ferrous nitrate and silver."     

"Silver nitrate reacts with copper to form copper nitrate and silver."     

"Copper nitrate reacts with iron to form ferrous nitrate and copper."     

He had previously also tested the alchemical reaction by putting a silver bar into the acidic liquid and part of the silver bar was clearly dissolved beyond recognition, which was an attribute of the acid. It would dissolve anything, but according to the letter, because silver nitrate was soluble in water, it would seem that it had disappeared, but in fact, it still existed in a different state and had not been destroyed.     

How was that even possible?     

No… Kyle shook his head. Apparently, the other side had already anticipated his doubts. The connection between these formulas was not coincidental and he realized that he was given the opportunity to personally verify them. He could try it with silver, iron or copper, and these were all common minerals. If he was to perform alchemy according to the later formulas, the silver would reappear, proving that it was not destroyed but still existed within the acid.     

Seeing the orderly and neatly arranged formulas on the paper, he started breathing heavily. If these alchemical formulas were proven to be real, his years of accumulated experience, the efforts of his colleagues, as well as everything he had written in his book "The Door to Alchemy", would be nothing more than a joke!     

"You and the kid can go to sleep first, and I have to go back to the alchemical workshop!"     

Disregarding his wife's surprised look, Kyle put on his coat and rushed out straight into the night.     

Arriving at the alchemic workshop, he immediately called the three students on duty and told them he had to conduct an alchemical experiment. He had them light the torches and candles, saying the more the merrier. Everything was soon arranged on his long table that was now brightly illuminated by the flames. The students began shuffling between the materials warehouse and the refining room, preparing the experiment materials for their Chief Alchemist Kyle.     

There was still plenty of acid, that had been produced by the dry distillation of saltpeter in storage, so he was able to start verifying the second formula right away.     

He took some of the acid and poured it into a glass. Then, he placed a silver bar into it. As the reaction started, the bar gradually dissolved, creating several bubbles.     

As he waited anxiously, Kyle turned his attention to the third page of the letter.     

There was only a short sentence on it, "This was merely a small part of my work, for more answers, come to Border Town."     

[Damn it! Writing this sentence is totally useless! Once I verified the formulas, I would definitely have to pay a visit to this unknown alchemist master.] Otherwise, he would not have been able to sleep again for the rest of his life.     

Once the bubbles dissipated, he removed what was left of the dissolving silver bar and put a small piece of copper into the cup in its place.     

Soon, something incredible started to happen. A thin white crust began to appear on the surface of the copper, much like a beetle's skin. The white crust continued to expand and soon covered the entire surface of the copper. As for the previously colorless acid in the glass, it gradually turned a shade of blue.     

Exactly as it had been described in the letter!     

"The white matter is the silver, and the newly created substance, copper nitrate, is soluble in water just like the silver nitrate. However, it'll turn the acid sky blue."     

Staring into the cup, Kyle Sichi stood there motionlessly.     

…     

The next morning, when Chavez arrived at the alchemical workshop, he was shocked to see the chief alchemist. He looked completely exhausted and had big black circles around his eyes indicating he had not slept.     

"Didn't you go home to sleep last night?" Chavez asked surprisedly, "Did you decide to stay up and wait for the second batch of crystal glass?"     

Kyle shook his head while dragging Chavez over to his table and he said tiredly, "You were once my most valued student, so I want to ask you, what do you think about alchemy?"     

"Uh… just like what you taught me." His attention was drawn to the table where a number of glasses had been placed, filled with solutions of varying colors. The most eye-catching one was the one that was sky blue. Was this the reason the chief alchemist stayed up last night? Although Chavez was confused, he still replied honestly, "Like you, I believe that the essence of alchemy is to find the logic within all the disorder and chaos…"     

"No, no, Chavez, I was wrong." Kyle interrupted him. "Everyone is wrong. That isn't alchemy."     

"Not true…?" Chavez felt that his teacher was acting strangely. First, he had spent the whole night performing alchemy, and now he was asking weird questions. Before he could ask for an explanation, the chief alchemist continued, "Unlike what you and I previously believed, there's more order in alchemy. An order that might even be considered a strict order, like in mathematics where one-plus-one will always equal two. No matter what changes are performed, the material amounts don't increase, decrease or disappear, for they just change forms."     

"Will never increase, decrease, or disappear? What're you talking about? Isn't that what alchemists do? They combine common materials, to create new and incredible things," Chavez asked confused.     

"Yes, that's also what I used to think, but after receiving a letter from the Lord of Border Town…" Kyle patted his shoulder, and what he said next shocked Chavez. "I'll soon leave for Border Town to find answers. You… do you want to come with me?"