"Lord Andrew." When he appeared in front of Andrew's laboratory, Gong Hao appeared very calm.
"Ha, it's Grayer, come in quickly.”Andrew was very satisfied that even now, Shuiglaire still respected him very much. This was unlike other apprentices who only listened to Pierre.
"How do you feel about your new job?" Andrew asked.
"Not bad. Ivo taught me a lot of things. I found that my horizons have been broadened here. The feeling of opening the door to knowledge was really wonderful.”
"Well said. Knowledge is the sharpest weapon of alchemists. Tell me, how much have you learned?”
Gong Hao replied,"In three days, I've already learned how to make about 20 kinds of potions.”
"Not a lot." Andrew frowned.
"I mean the part that can be produced independently.”
"Oh, that's good. I knew you would never let us down. If that's the case, you'll be able to make all the potions independently in a few days, right?”
"I'm afraid it's still far from enough." "It's fine if we only learn one thing, but as the variety of potions increases, many times the materials we need will be confused in our minds. If it was just a matter of materials, it would be fine. After all, he could always look at the information in advance. However, it was not easy to control the temperature and dosage. " After all, the records can't be so detailed. We need to master and understand it ourselves, especially when it comes to some special potions. There are often unstable phenomena. How to deal with such a situation requires us to have an absolute wealth of experience. I think I still have a long way to go before I can fully master the production of these potions.”
"Oh, you're very clear-headed, Glaer. You've always been clear-headed. That's what I admire most about you. Alright, since you've come to find me, then I think maybe I can help you with something?”
"Yes, sir. I hope I can get some glass and Four Seasons Grass.”
"Oh? What do you want that for?"
"I just want to make some more convenient tools.”
"If that's the case, you should go find Pierre.”
"Sir, am I still your servant?”Gong Hao smiled at Andrew. If he were to go to Pierre, Pierre would definitely ask him why.
For the time being, Gong Hao didn't plan to let Pierre know about his tools.
Therefore, it was necessary to be arrogant at this time. Only with Andrew's help could he complete the work he wanted without worrying about anyone noticing.
Sure enough, Andrew agreed. It was a small matter to ask for some glass, and the Four Seasons Grass was not a precious material.
———————————————
The alchemy of the Windy Continent had never been used for civilian purposes.
This was determined by the characteristics of a hierarchical society.
In the world of magic, due to the existence of magic talent, there was a difference in bloodlines, which promoted and consolidated the hierarchy of the system. Due to the existence of the aristocratic social class system, the development of science and technology mainly served the upper class rather than the grassroots.
This was the basic characteristic of the feudal system-everything served the nobles.
However, it was precisely because of this that high-end alchemy often lacked support from the grassroots.
This caused the development of society to have a huge flaw: People didn't understand that basic technology was actually the cornerstone of high-end technology. Many high-end technologies were often built on sufficiently developed basic technologies. If high-end technology was the leader of basic technology, then basic technology was the accelerator for its development. Without this accelerator, high-end technology would have difficulty developing. It was very difficult to rely on this leader to drive the development of science and technology in the entire society.
It was very likely that a pen or a piece of paper that was very useful for experiments came from folk technology. However, due to the lack of folk technology, high-end technology was limited.
And the alchemy of the Windy Continent was actually in such a deformed state of development.
Therefore, one could imagine that alchemy could create cutting-edge existences like puppet warriors, but it could not create a thermometer.
This was not because they could not do it, but because they did not want to do it at all. Alchemists weren't inventor. They couldn't invent everything. Since no one had invented the thermometer, they could only use their brains and experience to replace it. And even if they thought of it, they might not invent it, because once it appeared, alchemists might become worthless.
This was just like how Chaplin was most opposed to talking movies. It was because of the invention of talking movies that Chaplin could no longer use the body language he was good at to express his unique artistic ideas. The emergence of many new technologies would cause a group of old workers with superb skills to be laid off, but a group of young people would emerge. This was the reason.
The alchemists were the same. They were clearly the ones who benefited, but what they opposed the most was precisely these things. This made it even more impossible for them to think about creating these basic tools.
However, Gong Hao didn't consider these things. As long as he could do it well, he would invent it himself. Wouldn't it be better?
Gong Hao made the thermometer almost easily.
A small sealed glass tube and a few drops of Four Seasons Grass juice were considered a success.
This thermometer didn't even have a clear scale because Gong Hao couldn't complete the precise temperature distribution. However, it didn't matter. When the processed medicine reached the target temperature, Gong Hao would directly make a symbol on the scale of the thermometer and then make a mark. For example, he would write the words 'grass' to indicate that when the temperature reached this index, the ingredients could be added.
This meant that a constant standard had been set.
Different potions could be used to make different thermostats, and many of them could be used together. In this way, he only needed a dozen or so thermometer to grasp the temperature changes of all the more than a hundred kinds of drugs.
Gong Hao even made the thermometer into a stirring rod. This way, it was more convenient to use. At the same time, he didn't have to worry about Ivo noticing anything.
Basically, with this thing, he would never have any errors in temperature measurement. Of course, before that, he had to conduct repeated experiments to confirm that the temperature recorded was the best standard. This required him to pay a huge price of failure.
Fortunately, it was normal for new apprentices to fail. Gong Hao's failure didn't surprise anyone.
After completing the thermometer, Gong Hao made a measuring cup. Similarly, Gong Hao didn't know how to determine the scale of the measuring cup, but it didn't matter. He just needed to arrange it according to the usage of the medicine.
The measuring cup was mainly used to determine the amount of materials to be added. In the past, when acolytes added materials, they would always add them based on their experience. However, now, Gong Hao directly used the measuring cup to replace the feeling, which greatly increased the accuracy.
He then engraved some special symbols on the measuring cup and thermometer to replace the capacity, so that no one could understand it. Of course, the best symbols were Chinese characters.
Under such circumstances, Gong Hao had thought that it would take him at least a month to roughly master the potion production and a year to fully familiarize himself with it. However, Gong Hao only used half a month to solve all the problems.
This was partly due to his own efforts, partly due to the thermometer and measuring cup he invented, and partly due to his days in the library.
When he was in the library, he had basically read all the records about potion making. He was already completely familiar with the proportion of ingredients, the dosage, the order of ingredients, and so on. It was just that he lacked practical experience. With the theoretical foundation and the theory to put into practice, it was extremely easy for Gong Hao, who was the assistant of a chemistry laboratory teacher, to do all of this.
Therefore, when other apprentices took a month to gradually master something, Gong Hao was able to use it so quickly as if he had learned it for several years. Even Heinz was surprised.
What was especially surprising was not Gong Hao's speed, but his success rate.
Other than the continuous failures in the beginning to determine the standard temperature and dosage of the medicine, Gong Hao's error rate had greatly decreased.
Generally speaking, a skilled acolyte only had a one-third success rate, while an alchemist's success rate was only two-thirds.
However, Gong Hao's success rate had already reached half. At least in terms of potion production, he only used a month's time and was already close to the level of a master.
This made Pierre very surprised, and he couldn't figure out how he did it.
Of course, he didn't know that Gong Hao had deliberately reported more mistakes. In fact, his chances of making mistakes were even lower. If he had reported everything truthfully, he wouldn't have been able to hide the potion.
The potions produced by Purgatory Island were rare in the entire continent. Basically, there were no recipes circulating outside. Most of the potions that could be made outside were low-cost and crude. Drinking a bottle of healing potion might not help you recover much, but it was entirely possible for you to have headaches and fever for a few days.
After all, the production of potions not only required formulas but also rare materials. In the entire continent, only Purgatory Island had such conditions. The 113 potions Ivo mentioned were all standard high-level potions. There were thousands of low-level potions on the continent, which couldn't be compared to the products of Purgatory Island.
With this opportunity, if Gong Hao didn't make good use of it, he would really be letting himself down.
The increase in success rate brought about an increase in work efficiency. Gong Hao could freely use the large crucible and refine ten bottles of medicine at a time, which greatly increased his refining speed. At the same time, due to the low failure rate, he could avoid repetitive work, further saving time.
In just 20 days, Gong Hao, as a new servant, completed the standard workload of an apprentice. He also greatly reduced the amount of materials used. This was even done while he continued to work as a clerk and hunt magical beasts. This kind of work progress surprised everyone.
Even though Heinz knew that this guy was a little genius, he didn't expect him to master it so quickly.
Of course, the greatest contribution was still the thermometer and beaker he made. With these two things, Gong Hao didn't have to worry about making potions at all. If time permitted, he planned to build a small test bench and make some more precise tools used in the chemistry laboratory in the past.
However, two months was probably not enough.
If he wanted Heinz to keep him, he had to make more contributions.
It was obviously not possible to rely solely on making potions.
No matter how good the potion was, it was just a skilled job. If he wanted to make Heinz give up the possibility of Gong Hao discovering his secret and let him stay in the Alchemy Tower for a long time and do whatever he wanted, he had to make Heinz realize his true value.
An irreplaceable value!
Gong Hao remembered that before he reincarnated, he had encountered such a thing:
A worker complained that he always did a lot of work, but his salary was the lowest. However, some technicians didn't need to do much, but their income was several times higher than theirs. At that time, he said to the worker, The value of a person was not determined by how much labor they put in, but by how irreplaceable they were. If you leave this position now, there will be a group of people who can take over at any time. You are the least irreplaceable, so no matter how much labor you put in, the return is limited.
However, if you were confident that after you left, there were many things that only you could do that others could not, then you would have the capital to bid.
Yes, irreplaceable. He had to make Heinz realize that he had irreplaceable value! That was why he took the risk to keep her here.
It was impossible to achieve this by just relying on the proficiency of making potions. To Heinz, the materials he squandered every day far exceeded what Gong Hao could save. He didn't care about this. For an alchemy madman like him, only the unknown, mysterious, and unaccomplished things were valuable.
Whoever could do this was irreplaceable.
To improve the potion formula! This was the only thing Gong Hao could think of and do.
———————————
"Lord Pierre."
Gong Hao came to Pierre's laboratory and bowed respectfully.
"What is it?"
"It's like this. The list of potions that the dynasty sent over has been completed.”
Pierre put down the experiment in his hand.
He looked at Gong Hao with interest.
For some reason, he felt that this was a kid that he could not fathom.
This kid was too smart. He was so smart that he could learn almost all the work quickly. He was so smart that he could always perform better than others expected. He was so smart that it was difficult for you to catch him in the wrong. He was so smart that you could hand over almost everything to him and then let go of it without asking.
It was said that after Ivo taught Shuiglaire once, he did not have any more opportunities to teach him. Soon after that, Ivo focused on his work and ignored Hughie.
And now, in less than a month, Hughie had even finished his work earlier than Ivo and came to ask for a new job.
Not only was he smart, but he was also studious and hardworking.
He did even better than Neil.
Logically speaking, he should be satisfied with such a person, but why did he always have a feeling of unease in his heart?
He could not figure it out.
Lowering his head and thinking for a while, Pierre said,""Then is there anything you want to do?”
"It's like this, sir. If you don't plan to assign me to a new job, then I want to try to use the materials I saved to see if I can further strengthen the existing potion formula.”Gong Hao replied.
"You want to modify the current potion formula?”
Gong Hao immediately replied,"The formula was developed by humans. Later generations will always carry out more innovation on the basis of their predecessors." Since the predecessors could research it, why couldn't the future generations make better ones? Also, I think I might be able to help the other apprentices, but you know I can't go anywhere else.”
"Don't you think you're too ambitious?”
Gong Hao immediately looked fearful."Milord, I just want to do my best to do more for Grandmaster and Milord.”
"Since that's the case, just be yourself. Alright, I still have things to do. You can go.”
"Yes, my lord."
Gong Hao returned resentfully.
This was the first time Gong Hao had been rejected by Pierre when he wanted more work.
He was indeed wary of him. This damned bastard!
After returning to his laboratory, Gong Hao frowned. It was much more difficult to work under such a guy who was always on guard against him than under Andrew.
Should he go to Andrew?
No, not good. Looking for Andrew for such a thing would only make Pierre feel more disgusted with him. This was not worth it.
However, if he wanted to come into contact with the deeper secrets of alchemy, he had to make Pierre realize his value.
Perhaps Heinz could help him.
Gong Hao's eyes lit up.
Yes, in the Alchemy Tower, Heinz was the one in charge. Just like how he had relied on Andrew's help to become the head servant in the servant circle and enter the library, he could also go to Heinz.
But now was not the time.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]