Walking into Hilov's pristine white laboratory, Jeanne couldn't help but wrinkle her nose slightly, despite having been there many tis before.
The sunlight outside was obscured by the heavy winter clouds, leaving the lab illuminated only by the ghastly light of fluorite lamps.
Rather than the light dividing the darkness, it seed more like the darkness was slicing through the light.
The air was thick with an acrid and pungent odor, with a faint whiff of sothing burning.
"Hilov? Are you in there?" Jeanne knocked on the door, "Madlan has baked Brother Horn an incredibly delicious cheese pie, and I brought it over. Do you want so?"
But there was no response from within the laboratory.
The guard had told Jeanne earlier that Hilov was currently working inside the lab, so she guessed she must be on the second floor.
But the Wolf Woman worked as if she were deaf, only hearing when her fur caught fire.
Jeanne had witnessed this firsthand, when the candle had almost singed the fur in her ears before she reacted.
"If you're not answering, I'm coming in myself."
Holding a cheese pie the size of a washbasin, Jeanne pinched her nose and entered the sowhat grimy lab.
Her gaze swept across the dense array of experintal equipnt and the colorful alchemy reagent bottles, the oppressive air nearly suffocating her.
To be honest, Jeanne never understood how Hilov could work in such a tense environnt.
Raising the pie high above her head, Jeanne sidled through the narrow gap between the tables, and sure enough, saw the orange light seeping from the door on the second floor.
"Hilov..." Jeanne had barely begun to call out when she felt a peculiar, electrifying sensation emanate from her waist.
Turning around, a glass bottle ca into view.
The glass bottle stood about 15 centiters tall, made from transparent crystal glass, its body glistening faintly in the dim candlelight.
It stood there quietly, plugged with a wooden stopper, clamped with an iron clasp, and affixed with a simple label.
"I wonder what this is..." Jeanne mumbled, a sense of doubt suddenly arising in her heart.
The bottle looked incredibly ordinary, and yet, for so reason, her steps faltered slightly as she approached the wooden table, her heartbeat quickening.
Even though Hilov had repeatedly warned Jeanne not to ss around in her laboratory, last ti when Jeanne had moved the crucible slightly, the two friends ended up not speaking for three days.
However, this ti she was just looking and not touching, so it should be fine, right?
Circumnavigating the corner of the table, Jeanne stretched her head forward, then widened her eyes.
In the dim light, it was sothing all too familiar—lightning!
Inside the bottle, there was a bolt of lightning frozen in place.
The lightning was serpentine, filled with a dazzling blue-white glow, as if trapped in that instant, unable to break free.
The jagged edges of the lightning emitted faint electric ripples, occasionally accompanied by a slight vibration from the bottom of the bottle.
Unable to resist her curiosity, Jeanne freed a hand to reach for the glass bottle.
"You didn't ss with my stuff, did you?" Hilov's chanical, emotionless voice ca from behind her.
"Nope, I didn't touch a thing." Jeanne imdiately held the cheese pie up high with both hands, smiling a wide grin, "Why would I touch your things?"
Hilov's ears perked up alertly, turning to the sides: "You'd better not have."
Wheeling over to the table, Hilov took a black cloth and draped it over the glass bottle.
"Shire, what is that?" Jeanne called out Hilov's nickna, offering the cheese pie in her hands as a peace offering.
"It's bottled lightning."
"Bottled lightning? What's that?"
"It's quite simple. According to the school of Mana, ether is the dium for casting spells, but once the spellcasting process is over, the ether returns to the astral plane.
So, I've personally defined ether as having two states: an activated state and a stable state.
And the alchemical substance Moon rcury, known for preserving ether, can indeed capture ether in its activated state in the form of lightning.
The technology of Moon rcury crystallization, derived from Dragon's Breath, can even lock lightning ether with minimal loss.
This is activated-state lightning ether stored in Moon rcury Crystals, almost as if lightning were bottled, hence why I call it bottled lightning."
"Ha, isn't this already a result?" Jeanne ran her hand over her chest, "You've achieved sothing, what are you so upset about?"
"You call this an achievent...? It's Horn who sent you here, right?"
"...I guess I can't hide it from you, hehe." Jeanne lunged forward, rubbing her face against Hilov's, "Brother was worried you'd be too anxious, but those cardinals keep pressuring you, so he sent to check how you were doing."
Placing a piece of cheese pie in her mouth, Hilov's stern and aloof wolf ears imdiately softened: "Do you rember the hand-cranked calculator Horn had Leonardo design?"
"Of course, it's the one that makes a creaking sound when you turn it, right?" Jeanne confird with Hilov, ensuring she was on the right track.
Hilov nodded: "That thing is useful for calculating ether turbulence points, and it can even simplify the spells of the Ethereal Tower.
Based on the notes in the Erald Record, I think the ether-connecting ti might not be fixed.
aning, if we can deduce the pattern, establish a mathematical formula model, and then drive it with a clockwork chanism.
We could turn the whole tower's ether-connecting mode from static to dynamic, allowing us to continuously shorten the ti interval, even channeling ether non-stop."
The Ethereal Tower connects to ether roughly every two weeks, mainly to recharge the starlit gears.
But the original connecting ceremony was static, aning predecessors only calculated one specific ti point and the arrangent position of the ritual instrunts at that ti.
When connecting to the ether, Hilov uses pulleys and tracks for fine-tuning these instrunts and rituals.
Now Hilov proposes a plan to first use the hand-cranked calculator to calculate a few characteristic points, then summarize into a formula or model function.
Finally, use clockwork or starlit gears to drive the ritual instrunts to change automatically over ti, ultimately achieving a continuous ether source.
In this way, a large amount of ether could connect through Moon rcury to the perpetual lightning furnace, making it possible for the furnace to operate continuously.
The only requirent might be that every ti the lightning furnace is started, a Lightning Mage is needed to ignite the lightning.
After finishing explaining everything, Hilov looked at Jeanne's blank, clear eyes, and could only sigh: "Just tell Horn when you get back that I'm fine, I just need ti to calculate."
"Forget about my brother, we haven't played together in a long ti. I'll keep you company. How long do you need for the calculations?" Jeanne asked cheerfully.
Hilov looked at Jeanne helplessly: "For the next two or three years, I'll have to work on these calculations..."
"Huh?" Jeanne was shocked, "What's so hard about that? Besides, why do you have to be the one doing it? We've found so many mathematicians, let them do it, and if that's not enough, isn't there the hand-cranked calculator?"
"The calculations are too complex, the calculator can't handle it..."
"Why? Just add a few more gears, and install the starlit gear, wouldn't that work?"
"Even with the starlit gears installed on the hand-cranked calculator, it still wouldn't work... hmm..." For once, Hilov's usually expressionless face held a hint of surprise, "Wait, yeah, why do I have to do the calculations myself? Replace the hand-crank drive with starlit gears, then add a few more sets of gears… yes, of course…"
"How long did it take to figure this out? Was it even three seconds?" Jeanne spread her hands triumphantly.
Hilov didn't respond to her, instantly forgetting about the cheese pie as she wheeled hurriedly up the ramp into her study on the little second floor.
Jeanne watched the cheese pie, of which only a bite was taken, thinking of following her, but saw a loyal acolyte rush past the guard and run towards her.
After a brief exchange of whispers, Jeanne's brow furrowed: "What is the envoy from the Shattered Stone Plain doing at Ry Court Barracks?"
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