Release That Witch

When the apprentices saw Kyle enter, they immediately bowed and said, "Respected Chief Mentor."     

He waved his hand. "Carry on everyone."     

The apprentices sat back down to continue their work.     

The outermost part of the workshop was the washroom. Here was where the materials arriving from all over Kingdom of Graycastle were cleaned, sorted, filtered, and ground. The design of the washroom was very clever, where there was a stone surface placed flat over a creek, acting as a walkway, leaving both side access to two flowing streams. Passing over the smaller creek, you would find a cleaning area at the farthest side.     

At first glance, the long and narrow washroom looked like it was divided by the two streams into three sections. The light coming through the side windows would reflect off the stone and the streams surface, sending long strips of light throughout the room. The overlapping of light and shadow resembled the skin of a snake.     

There were nearly one hundred apprentices leaning against the walls, dealing with the materials assigned to them. If the debris to be removed were lighter than water, it was just tossed into the stream. If the material sank in the water it was then placed into a basket and taken to the washroom to be discarded. Cleaning with running water was several times more effective than using the stagnant water in a wooden bowl.     

The apprentices would study here for the next three to five years. Only when they had become adept at sorting and cleaning all kinds of materials, would they get the opportunity to be selected as a disciple by an instructor, and then moved to the next room.     

Kyle, stepping on the dark and light stripes, entered the core area of the alchemical workshop, the refining room.     

When he opened the door, a large room opened up before him. 12 giant wooden pillars had been brought from Misty Forest to support this spacious room. Many windows liked the walls and there was even a skylight on the roof making the room bright. In the center of the refining room there sat six wide wooden tables. On them, there were all kinds of alchemical utensils: round-bottomed flasks, beakers, protective glasses, scales, mortar and pestles, furnaces, crucibles… Each instructor managed and was responsible for their own table. As for himself, being the Redwater City's Chief Alchemist, he naturally got the longest table, with the most tools on it.     

The room was always full of clutter and in disorder, just like the alchemy process itself. Mixing all kinds of raw materials together and then heating, performing dry distillation, watering or incinerating them, the results were ever changing and fascinating.     

After experimenting, if the combination worked out, that specific process would be written down as a formula. As long as a person was able to create their own unique, successful, formula they were considered an alchemist. He had already conducted 10 successful alchemy experiments, and each of them worked as if it were coming from the deities themselves. Kyle believed that if his alchemy was perfected he would not only be able to break things down into their separate parts, but also combine all things.     

"Chavez, how far have you progressed with your imitation powdered snow?" he asked.     

A young man around 20 years old came over and shook his head. "The damn alchemists in the king's city definitely added extra materials to it. The powder has been crushed too finely and it's near impossible to extract anything useful."     

He was the youngest alchemist in the alchemical workshop—generally, the creation of an alchemical formula required a long accumulation of knowledge and tryouts and sometimes even a bit of luck. Many people in the workshop had stayed as students their whole life, unable to ever progress further. Chavez, however, had an innate talent for alchemy. Two years ago, he had concluded how to obtain acidic liquid through dry distillation of green alum. From that moment, he won the respect of the five alchemists, claiming his own long table in the room.     

"Take it easy and be patient." Kyle smiled and patted the young man's shoulder, comforting him. Being a chief instructor for eight years, Kyle naturally understood the difficulty of finding true logic through disorder and chaos. "However, I did manage to create something good yesterday evening. We can at least show something to those arrogant people now. Come with me."     

He went to his table and asked two students to bring him a storage box. The box was about half the height of a person and made completely out of iron, making it nearly impossible to be stolen or destroyed. He pulled out the key and opened its first drawer. In the middle of the drawer, laid a small piece of transparent crystal.     

"Did you cut off a crystal?" Next to him, Chavez took the crystal carefully into his hand to examine it, holding it in front of the window. "No, this is… crystal glass! God, you succeeded!"     

"Correct." Kyle smiled proudly. "I can't wait to see the expression on their faces when they discover that their proudest alchemical discovery has been successfully duplicated by me."     

Chavez, unable to control his praises, drew the attention of the other alchemists. They all left their work and came over to see for themselves.     

"Is this what you were working on until late last night? It's incredible."     

"It's so beautiful, looking just like a crystal."     

"Congratulations. With this, the status of our alchemic workshop will once again rise in the eyes of the duke."     

"How were you able to achieve this? Can you tell us?"     

Kyle nodded. "It's widely known that the composition of glass greatly resembles that of river sand, but in the end when it's burned, the glass color will still vary because the sand contains impurities. So, we have to either find a way to remove all of the impurities or obtain purer sand. Everyone was trying it using these methods and so was I. However, the reason for this time's alchemical success was largely attributed to luck. I selected a fine white sand from Willow Town and the sandstone from Fallen Dragon Ridge…"     

Everyone around him was listening quietly, and when he had finished his explanation, the alchemists exclaimed together. "So that's how it was done, telling us that was very thoughtful of you."     

Crystals were both rare and expensive gemstones, but a transparent crystal was even rarer. Only the purest glass of all could be considered as crystal glass. This was the product that the Alchemist Workshop in King's City relied upon in order to dominate over the Redwater City's Alchemic Workshop. In addition, the gold royals it brought them every year had the Duke of Redwater City greatly envy them.     

Now, everything would soon change. If Chavez could also figure out the composition to create the snow powder, in addition to his method of creating the acid, they would finally be able to outrank the Alchemist Workshop in the king's city. By that point, the people who looked down their nose at them would have to bow their arrogant heads. Thinking about this greatly boosted Kyle Sichi's mood.     

As he was preparing to screen the raw materials needed for the second batch of crystal glass, a panicking student ran to his side. "Respected Chief Mentor, a messenger from the Western Region's Border Town wants to see you, who has brought you a letter from the fourth Prince Roland Wimbledon."     

"Prince Roland?" Kyle frowned, it seemed that there was indeed such a person in the royal family from the Kingdom of Graycastle. He did not know much about the noble, but as far as he was concerned, they were all uneducated and ignorant, always fighting for power and wealth. "What does he need me for?"     

"I don't know, the messenger said that once you read the letter, you'll naturally understand what His Highness want."     

"…"The chief alchemist revealed an impatient look, assuming that the content of the letter would be either an offer to recruit him for a lot of money or to denounce alchemy as a devil's trick. However, since the other person was a prince, he still had to maintain a basic level of etiquette. "Take me to him, and after I get the letter, send him on his way!"     

"Yes, respected Chief Mentor."