I gently pushed the folding buggy into the kitchen, while the Turin doctor lay down in the cart and said to me, "So, as is customary, I'll show you how to prepare the medicine first." ”

After speaking, next to the umbrella cart, there seemed to be an invisible paintbrush brushing the air, and a ghost-like blue shadow appeared, which was the spirit summoned by the Turin doctor.

The spirit crept up to the stove, took out the soup pot with ease, added water to it, and turned the stove knob to light the fire.

When the water was boiling, it was driven by the doctor of Turin to take out one elixir after another from the sack that had been prepared next to the stove. Then in chronological order, one by one, put into the stockpot. Some of them are like animal and plant medicines, some are like metal minerals, and some are trivial things that I don't know how to talk about.

In some people's imagination, the preparation of the elixir was either the use of giant cauldrons and stirring sticks like the ancient wizards, or the use of precise glass equipment like chemical experiments, at least not as down-to-earth as it is now.

But in reality, the methods of preparing elixirs are ever-changing.

Some elixirs will require the pharmacist to carry it and successfully climb a certain mountain before he is willing to turn it into a finished product; Some elixirs require the pharmacist to sew all the materials under the skin, and after a certain period of time, they will automatically gather and form; Some elixirs even require the mature woman to eat all the ingredients into her belly, and then let the woman give birth to herself in the form of pregnancy, so that it can be considered complete.

In contrast, recoiling drugs don't have so many "weird tempers". All you need to do is prepare the "container" and the "flame". The "container" can be a glass measuring cup or a stockpot; The "flame" can come from an alcohol lamp or a gas stove.

"Just a little bit like this, and then put in the 'currency of the palm tree'." She reminded.

"I've wanted to ask before." I said, "A little while, how much time?" ”

"A little time is a little time."

"Can't really be accurate to the second?"

"I can't."

"So, how exactly do you manage the time?" This isn't the first time I've asked, "Is there any trick here?" ”

"Intuitively." She asserted, "I feel like it's okay, and that means it's okay." ”

That's why I couldn't study elixir in the first place. It's not just because of the myriad formulations.

I can't help but recall my previous experience of teaching myself the cuisine of my hometown, when I was often confused by ambiguous quantifiers such as "moderate", "a little", "a tablespoon" and so on. Add the right amount of water, how much exactly? Add a pinch of salt, and how much? How big is a tablespoon of oil? I can't wait to catch the author of the recipe, bī) They are all accurate to the gram. Later, I gradually became familiar with it, and I was no longer confused by similar quantifiers.

The problems I face at the moment may seem similar, but they are actually different. The reason why the hometown recipe uses ambiguous quantifiers is based on the objective fact that "it is difficult to reconcile everyone" and the subjective choice of "avoiding controversy". If there is a need for precision, it is not impossible. However, the ambiguity of elixirology is real ambiguity.

There is a great deal of mysticism and transcendentalism in this science. Pay more attention to the soul than to the material; More emphasis is placed on abstraction than on figurativeness. And even more absurdly, in this universe where supernatural forces exist, this notion seems to work.

As for the intuition she was talking about, it was also very different from the intuition I understood. My understanding of intuition is "the ability of the human subconscious to process information from the outside world", which seems incredible, but it can be interpreted by science. And the intuition she mentions is not scientific, it is a mystical experience based on the occult.

In order to truly enter the process of preparing elixirs, sometimes it is necessary to abandon reasoning and calculation. And that's too different from what I have in mind. If you want to become a true elixir scholar, you must even start from your own basic ideas such as values, worldview, etc. Although I didn't want to become an elixir scholar, I just practiced one of the recipes, but it didn't seem that simple now.

"It's not like I don't have equipment like glass measuring cups and alcohol lamps here, but with those devices, it's not easy to help you find your feelings." "But I use it a little bit more myself." ”

"What will be used in the preparation of elixir?"

"No, it's used in the preparation of ordinary medicines. I used to practice medicine everywhere, and the people I treated were basically ordinary people, and I rarely used elixirs. She shook her head and added, "Well, the 'Palm Tree Currency' should be put in here." ”

As soon as she finished speaking, the spirit put a thumb-sized green stone into the soup pot.

This is the "currency of the palm tree". According to my knowledge, this is a palm tree that grows in the dark, and it is necessary to initiate a transaction in order to buy more sunlight from the palm tree that grows in the light. And here it is one of the auxiliary materials of the retorting drug. Although it is not as precious as the "earthworm eyeball", just listening to the description, you know that it is "a material that cannot exist in the real world", just like the "earthworm eyeball".

And the source of these materials is "dreams".

Just as I was able to bring out the anti-psionic dagger from a dream, someone else was able to bring out some materials from a dream that would never have been born in reality. These materials are the basis of the elixir, and the elixir and the dream are inseparable concepts. This is why the Turin doctors are both elixir scholars and dream technologists.

After a few moments, the Turin doctor finished the presentation, and then it was my turn.

I tried to put in the ingredients intuitively like her, but I failed repeatedly, and the ingredients in the pot either didn't dissolve properly in the boiling water, or the color of the water didn't change properly.

"Could it be because I'm too slow to inspire?" I asked her.

She shook her head, "While a strong inspiration can help in the preparation of an elixir, there is no such thing as a failure if you are uninspired. ”

That being said, the next few times, I kept failing.

"It's okay." She said softly, "It will definitely be better next time." ”

I decided to give it another try.

After a few more failures, I began to think of other options. I wonder if it would be better to change the flame from "gas stove flame" to "psionic flame"?

Some time ago, Xu Shengxing used the "earthworm eyeball" to buy the flame hand from me, and handed it to me in the name of giving away defense supplies. In other words, I can now use psionic flames again. But if you take out the flame hand for the Faceling's sake, I'm afraid it's a little inappropriate.

The Turin doctor looked in my direction and muttered, "Maybe it's a matter of concept. ”

"I really don't agree with the idea of preparing elixir." I admit it.

"I have another idea here, I don't know if it can help you." She thought for a moment, "Although I think this idea is a bit problematic, it is very popular among other elixir scholars, and it is indeed beneficial for formulating elixirs. You can use it for reference. ”

"Please." I nodded.

She said slowly, "You might as well think of it this way: this world is actually a dream of yours. ”

I asked, "Dreams?" ”

"Everything you see externally comes from the reflection of your inner mind." She explains, "All matter, animals, plants, other people, even yourself, is not actually a physical matter, but a metaphor for you by your mind. You are a part of the world, but the world is also a part of you. ”

"As long as you accept this concept, you can increase the success rate?"

"There's no need to take it seriously. It's like flipping a switch, just temporarily switching it when the elixir is being prepared. She suggested.

I started trying to do that. Slowly, I remembered the metaphorical world I saw when I stepped into the realm of "turning parts into wholes". I feel like I've got the hang of it.

I trained late. In the middle of the night, I finally succeeded once.

The Turin doctor also relaxed, and said with a smile: "As long as you can succeed once, after that, it will be accumulated." ”

Although this is only the preliminary preparation process, since I can succeed, it means that I am not without talent in the preparation of elixirs. For this, I also breathe a sigh of relief in my heart.

I helped the Turin doctor by pushing the cart with her into the bedroom and putting her on it. As is customary, now is the time for me to read her a storybook.

But this time, she made a strange request.

"Can you open the drawer next to it and read the book in it for me?"

When I heard this, I opened the drawer of the front cabinet and found a booklet inside. The cover of the booklet looked quite old, the corners were tattered, the paper inside was yellowed, and it was all faded handwriting. It was about thirty or forty years ago, and the handwriting looked like that of an adult man. The content of the story is not very good, no matter how you look at it, it is used to coax the little girl, which seems innocent and naïve.

Maybe it's her father's relic, I can't help but think so.

"Is it okay to read it from the beginning?" I asked.

"Yes." She said.

I flipped to the first page and read it slowly. She listened fairly quietly, not like she used to, asking me about the details of the story from time to time.

After a while, her breathing gradually evened out.

Although her eyes had been covered by a black cloth and it was difficult to discern, she was probably asleep.

I closed the storybook, quietly put it back in the drawer, and walked up to the exit. However, the lubrication of the door shaft does not seem to work, and there is a slight movement when the door is opened. I turned my head and looked at her, but this time she wasn't awakened. It's the first time I've seen her sleep so soundly.