CH 113.1

The auction house is crowded.

Xia Zuoyi leaned on his chair and watched the rest of the people slowly walk inside and take their seats.

His legs were overlapping and his right hand wearing half-gloves was resting on his knees leisurely. After a while, he felt a gaze stuck on him, so he followed where it was coming from—

He found that the one staring at him was a tall man who was also sitting in the alchemist area.

The man has short, messy-looking dark brown hair. After meeting his eyes, the man’s own brown eyes suddenly moved away in a panic, turning to another direction.

He was curious, but he didn’t take it to heart too much.

After a while, he will naturally know the identity of this man.

And the young alchemists who can sit in the front row are only those who are famous in the alchemist association.

He had some conjectures about the man’s identity.

Then, he turned his attention to Chebman Norton, who could almost be said to be the leader of the Alchemy Association. Unexpectedly, his and Chebman’s sight met in the air. 

The master alchemist nodded to him with a serious face.

Xia Zuoyi immediately returned the gesture.

After the alchemist turned his head away, he whispered to Udit, who was standing behind him, “Note Chebman Norton in the list, highlight it, and let Walker focus on investigating his residence later…”

Speaking of which.

He paused for a minute before continuing, “In case he doesn’t agree, use force, but make sure that Walker’s movements are still gentle.”

“Yes, my lord.” Udit softly replied.

Udit clearly understood the meaning of Xia Zuoyi’s riddle-like words. Even Fernandi, who was standing beside him, did not show any doubts.

Because last night, he summoned them to have a small meeting in his room.

—Although he participated as an alchemist in this exchange meeting to showcase the results of his latest research.

But as a noble, he has to recruit talents back to his territory.

The rest of the nobles who also want to recruit talent are his competitors.

Since it is a competition, he can’t be polite. Especially to those who have great contradictions with him, such as the Ed Chamber of Commerce and Marquis Gary.

Xia Zuoyi wants to snatch away all the talents they value.

For this reason, he specially ordered Udit to prepare a blank book, and record the people he likes at the meeting. Then, Fernandi and Walker will do the following… 

—Those who have real talents and practical knowledge must be persuaded with reason and emotion.

If those two tactics don’t work, then resort to force.

Xia Zuoyi came back to his senses and surreptitiously glanced at all the people sitting in the noble area. There’s Orville, Archibald, Gena, the three princes of the empire…

An idea is brewing in his mind.

Soon after, when the door of the auction hall was closed, the emcee walked to the front, signifying the official start of the conference.

This is not an era with a rich cultural heritage.

The cultural desert is reflected in various places. Even if a piece of land is moistened by rain and a shallow pool slowly converges, there is still dry and cracked land all around, blocking the flow of water… Culture cannot be transmitted.

Gradually, even the puddle will gradually disappear.

The culture and research of alchemists are like a pyramid—the higher it goes, the more difficult it is.

Each alchemy school of thought is distinct and hostile to each other.

Not to mention the school of thought, the alchemists themselves don’t like each other.

Before becoming an independent alchemist, one must first start as an apprentice to suffer and work hard without complaint. Even if one really becomes an alchemist, it does not mean that they can stand out from the rest—money, equipment, and advanced and agile ideas are also indispensable.

Otherwise, how should one continue to study…

This bit specifically refers to civilian alchemists without power.

Although it is relatively easy for nobles to become alchemists because they have monetary support and tools, it’s still too expensive.

In the absence of various protective measures, some dangerous experiments may also cause skin and body injuries.

For example, one’s skin becomes sallow and rough due to alchemy experiments…

This is an intolerable thing for nobles.

Most importantly, when their steady stream of gold coins disappeared because of their obsession with the subject, but no effective results were obtained, the loss would be a great blow for them.

Moreover, the civilians and slaves living under such aristocracy will obviously suffer more ruthless exploitation…

Alchemy is not beautiful to a certain extent.

Many people will give up halfway and die prematurely, which leads to very few talents who can stand at the top of the pyramid.

Therefore, it’s very rare for an alchemist like Xia Zuoyi Desinia to not only have an enviable status but also to have a high level of accomplishment in the subject matter.

At a young age, he grasped the Thorns Chamber of Commerce that continuously generates money, and later developed many remarkable achievements that can earn a lot of gold coins… 

Let’s just talk about white sugar—sugar from beets.

Ordinary beets.

In the past, it was put in boiling soup, or chopped and mixed with other dishes. Even this kind of dish was excluded from the dining table of some nobles. It was only eaten by inferior slaves or livestock.

Who would have thought that beets can be used to make sugar? Not only are the raw materials easy to obtain, but also the production method isn’t that complicated…

What Desinia has is too enviable.

The Desinian Territory is the most distinctive place on the western continent.

This is like a piece of honey exuding a sweet smell in front of predators. Everyone wants to rush up and grab it.

If it weren’t for Xia Zuoyi to develop the army first in the territory, actively recruit civilians and slaves, improve the barracks system, and change ordinary cavalry into soldiers…

If it’s not for the cohesion and force deterrence that was slowly paved at the beginning.

—Conscription, the establishment of training camps, and clear promotion rewards in the army from now on that only depend on individual achievements… Those who have merits can even be freed from their slave status.

Among them, for the slaves in various places, the most obvious guiding sign is Commander Mike Andrew, who has become one of the four commanders of the black and white cavalry.

He used to be a slave.

If there were no black and white cavalry backing the Desinian Territory, everyone would take a bite of this “fat meat”.

Therefore, there’s a whole lot of reason for someone to envy and hate Xia Zuoyi Desinia. This is also the reason why a lot of people doubted everything about his alchemy experiments and slandered him in secret.

Xia Zuoyi never actively listened to these rumors about himself.

Although the system’s omnipotent library exists as his golden finger, something he can rely on and gives him the strength to survive in this world.

But no knowledge is innate.

He has to read through the books. When he understands it, with the current world development as a guide, he uses his own way to constantly dig and explore… Moving forward slowly, step by step.

Don’t be overly cautious, but don’t get too caught up in the details.

…

The Ed Chamber of Commerce probably made investigations and arrangements in advance—some lesser-known alchemists or doctors came up to the stage to show their results first.

But their experimental discoveries have little practical significance.

It’s just some useless things but they verbally exaggerate the effect and make false advertisements.

—This is just like modern products. It needs gorgeous and eye-catching packaging, enough to attract attention, and enough sensationalism to attract people to pay for it.

But some people do have preliminary research results in some places.

From time to time, Xia Zuoyi orders Udit to record the talents he was optimistic about. This includes Jacob Ken.

The genius alchemist developed a new type of medicine—suppositories.

This type is solid at room temperature, and when inserted into the cavity, it will gradually melt to release the drug to produce local or systemic effects.

It’s mainly used to treat patients with gastrointestinal diseases, gastrointestinal discomfort, and other symptoms.

Most notably, it can also be used to treat constipation and relieve pain…

In particular, after it enters the intestine, it turns into a liquid for easy absorption, so it can also play the role of lubrication and anti-itching in the cavity—this is a drug that is not suitable for oral administration.

Jacob Ken explained in great detail.

To finish, to a certain extent, the suppositories he developed are “similar” to the ointment developed by Chebman Norton to treat anal hemorrhoids.

The two complement each other and may be able to cure the disease quickly.

As for the confirmation of the treatment effect, he found several people in advance and asked them to personally talk about their experiences.

The faces of the nobles were serious and thoughtful.

Except for some ladies who also attended; they lightly cover the lower half of their faces with velvet fans or gloved palms to hide their embarrassment. The rest did not respond much.

Because this is a very valuable thing.

These aristocrats pay special attention to their physical health.

After all, once someone gets sick, it can directly turn into a life-threatening situation. However, some diseases are painful but not fatal.

For example, the unavoidable ones such as constipation and hemorrhoids.

In every ten people, there are at least nine suffering from this illness. Even if the last person is still well, it won’t be long before they get it too.

These are common yet painful ailments that aren’t easy to talk about.

Jacob continued, “I think these can effectively treat abdominal pain, hematochezia, and other symptoms, but this kind of medicine cannot be used casually, otherwise it will have a certain impact on the body.”

He honestly explained all the experimental results.

Then, he handed a suppository plugged by a cork to the attendant holding a tray—research results similar to drugs need to be tested again.

Xia Zuoyi reminded Udit in a low voice, “Record Jacob Ken and highlight it. Later, ask Walker to act on this person first.”

Jacob’s exposition makes perfect sense.

Unlike the previous alchemist who said he had developed a universal antidote.

—After he ground more than ten kinds of herbs, he made a potion through a complicated process.

The treatment should be accompanied by prayers to the God of Creation, a sprinkling of holy water, incantations, and so on… In this way, all poisoned patients can be released from the disease’s clutches and be cured.

Total bullshit.

Xia Zuoyi shook his head after thinking about the previous scene. Then he saw another person walk up to the stage.

This was the same dark brown short-haired man who had been staring at him just now. He was introduced by the emcee as Philipp Kiel.

Xia Zuoyi subconsciously sat up straight.

Oh, another genius of alchemy school. I don’t know what his research results are.

Translator’s Note:

Me, cackling like a maniac when I get to the “can be used as lubrication” part: Ohohoho, ML would be DELIGHTED someone created that HAHAHAHAHA (although Xiaxia can just create an improved and scented version XD)…

Anyway, I miss the usual update schedule but oh well, beggars can’t be choosers I guess *shrugs*. Really need that job if I want to support the family hahaha. I promise, the moment our school year ended and it’s our vacation, I will really pile up chapters for all my stories so we can return to our previous schedule *cross-fingers*.