The root of the word ether comes from the ancient Greek, which originally means the upper layer of the sky, supplying the air that the gods in the sky breathe, and the first to put forward the concept of ether in the history of scientific development was the famous ancient Greek scientist, philosopher, and probably an alchemist Aristotle, who defined the ether as the stream of consciousness that makes up space, The first and most basic substance created by the spiritual world when it created the material phenomenal realm, that is, in the so-called four-element creation theory of alchemy, the primordial substance of the four basic elements of earth, water, wind and fire was differentiated and derived.

Although this explanation has a lot of fantasy, mystery and even superstition, it is not difficult for us to see that the substance of ether is the cornerstone of alchemy in the definition of alchemy, and the theoretical development and scientific research progress of alchemy are all built on the basis of the actual existence of this mysterious substance, for a simple example, let's say "the god of alchemy" If zài really exists, then the ether is the air that the god lives on, and if he loses it, even the god will suffocate like an ordinary person......

But...... Otherwise, how could alchemy be ridiculed by the modern scientific system as a pseudoscience full of copper stench and unrealistic fantasies, and how could alchemists be considered crazy fools with brains smoked by sulfur vapor?

With these questions, I asked Mitch and Carl and the others, of course, to be more tactful, at least not to let these two foreigners hear the meaning of "I'm cǎo you're kidding me!".

"Yes, for centuries alchemy was nothing more than an entertaining topic popular at aristocratic banquets to set the mood, or a shoddy trick used in remote villages to deceive ignorant villagers," said the sentimental Mickey Mouse somewhat disappointed about the history of suffering at his own institute:" Although since the ancient Greek era, there have been countless predecessors who have devoted themselves to the study of alchemy, but it is unceremonious to say that the slightest progress has been made for ten centuries, and the reason is that although alchemists have been able to achieve some seemingly magical material transformations through basic chemical reactions, it took thousands of years to find the original substance that exists in the alchemy theory, and at the same time constructed the original substance on which the alchemy four elements transformation and its one qiē derivative refining theory are based, that is, ether. ”

"But this stagnation was finally broken in the fourteenth century!" Karl happily took over: "The great alchemist and founder of the Alchemist Guild, Nikolai Freman, finally extracted a mysterious substance that he named the Philosopher's Stone in a fortuitous research accident, and with the power of the Philosopher's Stone, Freman succeeded in turning lead and mercury into gold!"

I scratched my head: "This story...... It sounds familiar. ”

Karl coughed and explained in a slightly embarrassed way: "Nicolas Freman is French, and his name is naturally French, but you may be more familiar with the English pronunciation of his name, Nicol Lemay......"

"Oh~~~!I know!" I couldn't wait to interrupt Mickey and Carl's singing: "He also knows a principal surnamed Deng, who is always domineering!"

"Those are all stories that need to be made up in the plot," Carl also seemed to feel that his god-like predecessor founder could only let outsiders find zài from children's books, which was really a bit unreasonable, and quickly cleared up: "But Nicol Lemay found out that the philosopher's stone is real, and the philosopher's stone is the ether!"

"It is rumored that after Lemay's death, the philosopher's stone disappeared, and in fact, the ether was handed over to the Alchemist Association that was already on the right track for secret preservation and research," Mitchell continued: "But whether Lemay, the Alchemist Guild, or the current European Research Institute, they have tried all methods to successfully replicate the actual process of discovering and extracting the ether, so although the aether theoretically fills all the space of the cosmic void, the philosopher's stone made by Lemay is still the only aether that can be used by the European Research Institute!"

"In fact, since the fourteenth century, all our energy has been devoted to the ether, in addition to reproducing the process of Lemay making the philosopher's stone, more about using the ether to realize many ideas that alchemy originally only existed in theory, and to this day, all the scientific research projects of the European Institute are basically based on the alchemy with the ether as the core. "Now you understand why the Aether is so important to us, because without the Aether, all the rhetoric and whimsy of the Institute is nothing but empty talk and fanciful ideas," Carr said...... So, we have to save the ether!"

I nodded understandingly, I have been in the institute for several years, and I can better understand the thoughts of scientific research madmen like them, they may not be familiar with the world or may be withdrawn and arrogant, but they are a group of people who have gone far on the road of dreams that most people have abandoned, so far away that when this road collapses, they would rather give their dreams and stick to the funeral than retreat half a step......

"So what should we do?" This is the first time that Xie Erdong has taken the initiative to take responsibility, and he is also a freak, and this grandson naturally resonates more with his European counterparts......

Unexpectedly, Mitch and Carl had a hard time with this question, and the two looked at each other before Carl was pushed out and said: " In fact, we don't know how to protect the aether, because the aether itself is an efficient catalyst that can be converted between the energy body and the material body, which can not only consume its own energy to promote the alchemy reaction, but also supplement its own consumption by means of heat energy radiation, according to this, we built the Omega warehouse, but in fact, this warehouse is an energy cycler, so that the ether can maintain its energy state through the special energy pipeline throughout the castle, flowing and circulating between various research rooms, to maintain the normal operation of all alchemy equipment, at the same time, the energy state of the ether is very active, and if it comes into direct contact, it will be assimilated into the basic elements in an instant。 ”

"In other words, if Chen Xiaoshan's turtle son rushes up directly to grab something, he will be killed in an instant?" I asked with a glimmer of hope, but everyone responded with silence, so I thought about it a little and found that I had a whim: ether is the lifeblood of the European Research Institute, and it is naturally kept strictly secret from outsiders, even me, Black Dog, and Xie Erdong heard for the first time today, how did Chen Xiaoshan, who has been locked up underground for 70 years, know such a secret news? It must have been his chicken thief dad who sued him before the father and son turned their faces! With the urine nature of the old guy, he must have quietly planned how to steal the root of other people's lives for research, and maybe his cheap son was listening to it when he was planning......

"But, since he's going to snatch the key to the warehouse, we'll be able to block him by rushing to the handle door first!" said Xie Erdong as if he were afraid of being blocked by us.

But this is the only thing we can do at the moment, so I had to take a deep breath to calm down: "So now, I only have one problem left, there are no deformed dogs with three heads guarding the door of your warehouse......, right? )