"Alright, that's it."

Mitsuki Haihara exhaled and put down the tools in his hand. The triangular column rests quietly on the workbench, with no anomalies to be seen.

He didn't think it would be a meaningless object, he had handled countless gems with his own hands, but this triangular pillar was something he had never seen before.

He believed that the triangular column must be something of great significance, so he spent a little time making it into a small ornament, and that was the purpose.

Since you don't know what it is, but you're sure it's important, it's best to keep it with you.

At that moment, there was a soft knock on his door.

He was already very familiar with this polite way of knocking on the door.

"Come in, the door is unlocked."

He took the necklace with the triangular pillar ornament and tucked it into his clothes before speaking.

"It's rude." With a soft and polite voice, the beautiful maiden walked in through the door. "Excuse me, brother."

"As I said, there's no need to be so reserved at home, Dono."

I don't know why, every time I see her, Mitsuki Haihara feels as if there is a kind of joy that makes people feel calm. She was holding a box at this time, as if she wanted to wait for an answer.

The box was sent to Haiyuan Guanggui, and she was very familiar with the label on the box. That's a brand owned by her friend's family.

This in itself was not too surprising, as she knew that Mitsuki Umihara was working part-time as a part-time job for her friend's family. But this time it was strange to her that the box was sent to her home as a merchandise. In other words, this time it has nothing to do with work, it was Mitsuki Umihara who bought the item.

To be honest, she was a little curious. Looking at her appearance, Mitsuki Umihara suddenly had some interesting thoughts.

"Would you like to guess what?"

"Any hints?"

She really tilted her head and remembered.

"Hint: Give someone a gift in return."

"For whom?"

"Sister Bi."

"Hmm." She handed the box to Mitsuki Umihara and replied almost immediately, "I guessed. ”

"So fast?"

This time, even Mitsuki Umihara was surprised.

"Because it's so easy." She deliberately made a confident look, "Since it is an unprecedented family-run brand, it should only be gemstones." Others may not be easy to say, but there must be only one kind of gem suitable for Sister Bi. ”

"Yes......" Mitsuki Haihara smiled helplessly, and opened the box with his hands, "'Ji Yan' is the surname of the object, and it originally refers to the rock salt minerals that rise to the surface of the river. And 'bi' naturally means green. The name of the senior sister itself represents a mineral gemstone. ”

Thousands of years ago, the ancient Egyptians discovered a hexagonal silicate gemstone containing cymbal aluminum upstream with the regular upwelling of the Nile. Since then, it has become famous all over the world for its crystal clear and delicate green color, and has become the oldest gemstone known and mined by mankind.

Needless to say, Mitsuki Kaihara's work in the gemstone industry is not to be mentioned, and because of his relationship with Hoshikawa, Dome actually knows a lot about gemstones. They have long known the hidden beautiful meaning of the seemingly eccentric name of the Yanbi.

The box that was opened was covered with a soft flannel cloth on which an emerald green hexagonal pillar was placed.

That is the rough of the oldest gemstone of mankind, the emerald.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

“Smaragdus…… Does it mean 'emerald'? ”

"Do you know what 'emerald' stands for?"

"Rebirth, regeneration, wisdom. In Christianity it is associated with the resurrection of Jesus. ”

"Hmph, Christian ......" the cyan girl snorted softly, and there was a certain disdain in her words. Remember, Crucivers are known for tampering with religion, and none of the symbols of Crucivers belong to them. When the New Testament wrote the word hell in Greek, it was already tampering with the concept of hell. Ironically, they have even tampered with the phrase 'unnameable' (Note 2). To know what emeralds represent, one must go back to the source, to ancient Egypt, where emeralds were first known and mined. That was the origin of Hermes Kabbalism and the place where alchemy was born. ”

"Hermes? That patron saint of commerce? ”

"No, it's not...... Although it can be said that it is, it is not what you think. The cyan girl shook her head slightly, "The truth is the opposite. In the mainstream of Hermeticism, Hermes is not a god. Rather, it was because he was so great that he was regarded by the Egyptians and Greeks as a god, as the son of Thoth or Zeus. Hermes is the ancestor of alchemy and is known as the 'Triple Great Hermes'. After Hermes was recognized as a god, he was considered a god with two serpent staffs, which became one of the hallmarks of alchemy. This concept has a long history, so much so that until the fourteenth century, the alchemist Nicholas? Flamel still uses the concept of the "serpent's staff" to construct his cross. Similarly, the double serpent staff is also a symbol of medicine, as there is no very clear dividing line between medicine and alchemy in ancient times. Interestingly, the image of the twin snakes is the composition of the symbolic DNA of life. Baron Rutherford, the discoverer of the atomic structure, painted the image of Hermes on his coat of arms, because in reality, his achievement was modern alchemy. The planet Mercury represented by Hermes in mythology also represents mercury, and the names of the two are derived from Hermes's Roman name "Mercury". As you know, these two are the symbols of alchemy. ”

Defloration reluctantly smiled bitterly. To this day, she still can't get used to this kind of symbolic dialogue, which is all too common in that world.

"But what does all this have to do with emeralds?"

"Don't worry, let's get started. In 332 BC, Alexander the Great, the conquering king of Macedonia, conquered Egypt and brought back a treasure from Egypt that he could not even understand. It was a stone slab of emerald gemstones, a priceless treasure in itself, but it seemed too ordinary compared to the words on it. Because what is recorded on this emerald slate is the key left by Hermes. It is the famous 'Jade Record' in the occult. It is worth noting that one of its translators is one of the great men I mentioned earlier, who represents the five stages of physics, Sir Isaac Newton. ”

Speaking of this, the cyan girl deliberately paused for a moment.

"I must emphasize that Hermeticism and Gnosticism are inextricably linked, as well as directly related to alchemy. Although they are closer to a philosophy in themselves, they all contain this certain concept. That concept is sublimation. Whether it is the sublimation of life, or the sublimation of metal. From base metals to precious metals is the sublimation of purity, and for life it is the sublimation from nothingness to perfection. The 'Jade Record' is believed to record this principle of sublimation. Not only rebirth and life, sublimated wisdom, high-level regeneration, this is what emerald represents. That is what Illuminati is after, the ideals of Hermeticism and Gnosticism. Similar point of view,You should be familiar with it.,That's the goal of School City"

Picking flowers Chitsuko felt stiff, which was almost unimaginable to her. The cyan girl seemed to convey a terrible, profound truth in soft words. Instinctively, she wanted to reject this statement.

"Isn't the core of alchemy mercury? Mercury can't have that function, that's for sure, right? ”

She barely managed to find a detail that could be considered a flaw, but the cyan girl shook her head.

"Yes. But there is a premise, and that is if the meaning is not misunderstood. What if the 'mercury' itself is a referent? Mercury has long been a metaphor for 'change'. There is even a proverb that says, 'Take precious stones as your eyes, and mercury as blood, and do not dwell on them.' It is generally believed that the term "mercury" here refers to the concept of "change". If you bring the true meaning of emerald into it, the meaning of the sentence will become: 'You should aim for a higher level, take change as an action, and not dwell on the ordinary.' ’”

“……”

It represents change and sublimation, which reminds me of defloration. She didn't talk for a while, and the cyan girl continued the conversation.

"If you think about it this way, the alchemy process in alchemy is also the process of change and sublimation. In alchemy, then, there must be a medium that is considered to be the dependence of 'change' and 'sublimation'. And the 'jade record' is also considered to be the inevitable principle of making it. Not only does the emerald become the carrier of the principles on which it is made, but the meaning it represents itself is also reflected in the process – or conversely, it is because of the emerald's meaning – that it is also known as the closest gemstone to it.

"This medium, its name you must have heard. That's the 'Lapis_Philosophorum'. ”

Picking flowers and Jitsuko stared at her deadly. She thought the cyan girl must be joking.

"The Philosopher's Stone? Are you sure? ”

The cyan girl nodded, her expression unusually serious.

"You heard me right, I'm talking about the Philosopher's Stone, the Holy Grail that alchemists have been seeking for a long time."

"This thing can't exist at all, right?"

This time, the cyan girl smiled gracefully.

"I don't remember saying that the Philosopher's Stone must be a physical object, but it was very common in history to refer to a master alchemist with the Philosopher's Stone. Changing the composition of matter is not impossible now. In School City,How many such experiments do you have to do every day? Speaking of which, only high-level regeneration cannot be done at the moment. Suppose there is such a method, an object, or a person. It will eventually lead to this path to the 'Philosopher's Stone', so what should this method, this object, or this person be called? ”

The cyan girl was bathed in the light, and the shadows of the vehicle kept flashing, making her look as if she were swaying gently like candlelight.

"What could be more apt than 'emerald'?"

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

"However, I don't think it would be possible for Senior Sister Yan to accept such a valuable thing, right?"

Dome hesitated for a long time, and cautiously put forward his thoughts.

It is true that their family is wealthy, but they do not like to boast of wealth. Speaking from the heart, Dome himself didn't like this either. And in her understanding, Yan Bi also doesn't have any good feelings about this style.

Mitsuki Umihara laughed as if he had expected it, and he stretched out his finger and tapped the tip of his sister's small nose. Dome made a motion to bite down and forced him to withdraw his hand, and then deliberately pursed his small mouth and put on an angry look.

"Okay, okay, I've thought of this a long time ago." Mitsuki Haihara raised his hands to admit defeat, "This is the so-called 'cultivated emerald', not a high-priced gemstone. ”

The so-called cultivated emerald is to improve the quality of the poor quality emerald rough by artificial means. The price will be much lower than that of natural emeralds, but the quality will be higher. This is the case with this emerald.

This is a type of cultivated rough, a rough that has been artificially created for some reason.

It is not the pursuit of monetary value, but just to discover the ultimate beauty of the ideal state of emerald, and the purest green obtained by cultivating inferior rough stones.

=======================================================

Note 1: Hades, i.e. Hades

Note 2: Qing is referring to the New Testament, which refers to Hades, the king of Hades in Greek mythology, as a reference to hell. In fact, in Greek mythology, Hades does not represent hell, but the underworld, itself a completely neutral word. Undoubtedly, this is an example of Christianity tampering with religion.

The so-called "unnameable" is a well-known tradition in Greek culture, and the name of the god of Hades cannot be called by his name. For example, for Hades, he cannot be called by his first name, but "Pulutong", which means "lord of wealth". In the same way, for Persephone, the queen of the underworld, he cannot be called by his first name, but "Corey", which means "maiden".

This rule is true even in rituals. Hades' sacrifices were few, but very important. During the sacrifice, the name of the queen of Hades should never be mentioned, and the phrase used is "dedicated to the male god, the goddess".

Note 3: Refers specifically to emeralds

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Uploader's words:

This chapter is the one that the author himself uses to reclaim the foreshadowing.

It is worth mentioning that although I set up a lot of characters, I didn't set the character of Yanbi. When I first saw the strange surname "Salt", the author told me that there was a lot to be done with this surname, so the setting of this character was completely done by himself. If you go back and re-read the character settings and plots related to her now, you will find a lot of foreshadowing that has been hidden for a long time.

Author's addition:

The timing of this chapter is staggered, which means that the dialogue between Aoi and Defloration and the dialogue between the Kaihara siblings do not occur at the same time. The conversation between Aoi and Defloration is about a day earlier.