coobybook Chapter 134 Azoth's Theorem Proof (Part 2)
Chapter 134 Azoth's Theorem Proof (Part 2)
The old guard shook his head. "We're still missing a few materials. I hope the assistant scholar from before can..."
As the old guard finished speaking, a strange man knocked gently on the office door. It was the professor. "I'm sorry, Mr. Guard, I was busy with experiments. I only received your message yesterday at midnight, so I came here just now."
The old guard huffed, "I hope you have all those ingredients ready."
The professor nodded. "I've brought all the ore you requested. Looking at the layout here, are you planning on doing any experiments?"
The old guard glared at the professor angrily and said, "You are the only assistant in the entire library now. The housekeeper resigned, Director Arya disappeared, and you went on a field trip somewhere. I am left alone to look after the library. It's really..."
The professor apologized repeatedly to the old guard: "I've rushed over here. Can you take a look? Are there any materials missing?"
"Anyway, you are the one who knows alchemy the most here, so I, an old man, won't get involved." After saying this, the old guard ran away to sulk.
The professor turned his attention to the others. "I'm an assistant scholar at the Azoth Library. I'm usually out on research trips and don't come back often."
Conan was horrified when he saw the professor's face. It was the professor's amazing driving skills that had broken his butt into eight pieces.
The professor seemed to realize that Conan recognized him, and he deliberately moved closer to Conan: "Little brother, do you want to see these beautiful minerals?"
Conan quickly hid back: "No, they will be used for experiments soon, I won't watch them."
Amuro Toru didn't know the professor. He carefully repeated their request: "We want to simulate the alchemical formula that Director Mars used here to confirm whether it is correct."
The professor nodded. "It's the refining process of the Philosopher's Stone, right? I remember that Director Mars only made a semi-finished product in the end."
The professor began to work. The ores were baked until they melted and stirred, and then the "magic water" was added to the crucible.
Conan leaned over to see the reaction in the crucible: "Yellow stone? It's very similar to the yellowing reaction recorded in the notes. Are we about to succeed?"
Amuro Toru shook his head. "From the formula Director Mars wrote down, the final product should be a sweet red liquid. He believes this red liquid is the liquefied philosopher's stone, capable of catalyzing other metals into gold. This appears to be just an intermediate product."
The professor explained: "The product we have now is an antimony glass."
Conan looked at the professor with his crescent eyes: "We are not professionals, so does Mr. Scholar have any professional insights?"
The professor ignored Conan's gaze and replied calmly, "You said the final desired product of this formula is a sweet red liquid, pure and non-toxic. This is simply impossible. There is no antimony compound that is soluble in water or alcohol, and none of them are red."
"Alchemy in the past only recorded surface phenomena, but today's chemistry tells us that the toxicity of poisonous elements cannot be 'removed'. This is just a formula based on past imagination."
The old guard, who had been withdrawn in the corner, immediately became unhappy when he heard this: "I didn't let you in to slander the director! Director Mars has created light red crystals before, and many people have testified to his success. The director failed only because he hadn't completely removed the impurities, and the elements he extracted weren't pure enough..."
"He was able to obtain those intermediate products because they contained impurities. The key to the formation of this beautiful yellow crystal isn't stibnite, but quartz—which can be melted at high temperatures to form quartz glass."
The professor chuckled. "Director Mars and I have been colleagues for many years, and I know exactly what he's pursuing. Unfortunately, ever since he became obsessed with refining the Philosopher's Stone, he's completely forgotten the advice I gave him. He's just that stubborn and obsessive, and of course, so am I."
[Fool's Gold: We all have ID personalities.]
[Novelist: Come to think of it, all five of us have some connection to chemicals.]
[Joker: How do you say that?]
Professor: There's no need to explain Orpheus and his potion. I'm a toxicology expert, Norton knows how to extract minerals, and Jack and Mike are both involved with acid.
[Acrobat: Ah this...]
The professor examined the experimental apparatus and continued, "As for the subsequent light red color, that's thanks to these instruments—see, they're iron. The red comes from the iron compounds separated here, not some transmuted antimony. A misunderstanding of the surface phenomenon makes the formula itself inoperable."
Conan nodded thoughtfully, while Amuro Toru sensed something was wrong. "So, this formula can't produce the Philosopher's Stone. Then the attempts of the subsequent directors must have failed without exception? Then why did Directors Mars and Philemon fabricate cases to make others think they were dead?"
Maori Kogoro also reacted: "If it didn't work, you should have kept trying. Why would you abandon the experiment like this?"
The professor scoffed. "Perhaps someone threatened them and stopped them from continuing the experiment."
Conan knew that the professor must know something, so he found an excuse to pull him out of the room: "Well, I have a lot of chemistry knowledge I want to ask you. In order not to disturb my uncle and the others' reasoning, can we go outside to talk?"
The professor glanced at everyone in the office. The old guard, who was already a little unhappy, said that he had nothing to do here, so he followed Conan out.
"Hey, what is your organization planning to do this time?" Conan's glasses reflected light.
The professor smiled and said, "Aren't you worried that I'm from the DM's side?"
Conan shook his head: "Judging from your previous behavior, you are at least not on the same side as them. At least you are a member who is trying to remain neutral."
"Smart boy, did you meet with Fool Gold yesterday? He complained to me last night that people from both sides were harassing him. He's probably hiding in the basement and doesn't dare to come out now, haha."
"It seems the Umbrella Soul sent the Puppeteer and the Night Watcher to try to win him over. You know them as Director Philemon and Helios. After all, these are the only two people in the library who have a good relationship with him. The DM sent the Sculptor and the Prophet. It's more of a threat than a win-over. Fool's Gold is far inferior to these two."
[Fool's Gold: My small hexagon can fight against the big hexagon and the hooded phantom? Is this true?]
[Sculptor: At least you have one more movement skill than me.]
[Prophet: I was banned and killed. Did I say anything?]
[Professor: Forget it. We don’t have a strong supervisor in our ID group.]
[Novelist: Stop talking.]
"Are there many people in your neutral camp?"
"There are still quite a few who wish to remain neutral. To avoid being threatened, many choose to band together for warmth. For example, there's the group of old friends who simply want to live a carefree and happy life, and there are those who travel together like magicians and adventurers. Then there are the fearsome Shadow of Time and Space, the Opera Singer, and the Lame Sheep. No one dares to disrespect these three. And then there are two quite ancient ones... I dare not mention their names casually."
"Fool's Gold is always unlucky. He even worked with Nightmare before. Now Nightmare is hiding, but he can't hide."