As Merlin said, a few minutes later Lorenzo was placed in a steel cage.

It was more of a heavily guarded interrogation room than a cage, and Lorenzo and Merlin were separated by an electrified bar, and judging by the blood that filled the air, it was not a good place.

The two remained strangely silent until Arthur arrived, and the three of them were reunited, only this time Lorenzo was tied to the iron, pulling the machine, and the whole iron slowly folded so that Lorenzo could stand up in a seated position.

"So why the hell are you so nervous? Merlin. ”

Lorenzo said slowly, the successive events that made him a little irritable.

"You'll find out next, Mr. Holmes. ”

Merlin nodded at Arthur, and the two sat across from Lorenzo, looking frank and lenient and resistant.

"So ......"

"Mr. Holmes, can you tell us about your experience inside the original sin armor? ”

Merlin asked crisply, as if he knew something, straight to the heart of the matter.

"I went in and fell unconscious. ”

Lorenzo didn't say much, it was about Watson, that weird pseudo-chalice, and no one knew if the purification agency would really think of him as a guinea pig after learning about this.

"If you think about it, you are the only one who has fallen into a coma but has not lost control, this is a very special case. ”

Merlin said again.

“......”

Lorenzo remained silent.

He was absolutely wary of Watson as a false grail, something he could never trust.

Lorenzo was still hesitant to confide in the important report of [Gap], and for the first time, Lorenzo felt tricky about this thing.

"So let's change the subject. ”

Seeing that Lorenzo was silent, Merlin did not continue to ask, but asked Lorenzo a question from another angle.

"Do you know alchemy?"

"Alchemy?"

Lorenzo couldn't understand why this guy was mentioning this, if there was any of the most profound skills in this world, it must be alchemy.

A power that is beyond the reach of mortals, it is said to be connected to ghosts and gods.

Seeing Lorenzo's hesitation, Merlin continued.

"Alchemy...... In fact, it can be regarded as the prototype of modern chemistry, in the era of its birth, the productivity of human beings was far less powerful than now, just casting iron swords is a very difficult thing, so at the beginning alchemy can be regarded as a metallurgical technology. ”

Merlin said mysteriously.

"Understand a substance, break it down, and recast it...... Sublimate cheap metals into precious metals, and elevate them from the ordinary state. ”

"This technology has evolved over the years, building a mystical science, and a lot of strange and weird things are more or less related to it. ”

Merlin asked.

"Then do you know why alchemy is gradually disappearing into the world?"

"Disappear?"

It was like touching Lorenzo's thoughts, although there were already traces of that kind of thing, but now it was all clear, and the mysterious skill that once dominated was silently fading.

"Yes, the purification mechanism is also being replaced, the technology related to alchemy is slowly being phased out, and new technology is gradually replacing it, maybe not as efficient as alchemy, but under today's production industry, it is enough to support the operation of the entire purification mechanism. ”

Merlin said slowly, as the last alchemist of Old Dunling, in this situation, he seemed extremely calm and indifferent.

"Do you know how alchemy continues?"

The alchemist continued.

"Modern scholars are happy to share knowledge, unite friends, and build schools, but the alchemist is the opposite, and every alchemist pursues the ultimate in alchemy, the deepest soul, the philosopher's stone, the philosopher's stone, or the elixir, which is only the ethereal pronoun, and what they pursue is that kind of 'spiritual sublimation'. ”

"But in the world constructed by alchemy, this is a balance that must be paid enough to achieve another extreme after the scale, the sublimation of the soul, and it abides by the conservation of energy. ”

"That is, it is a finite ......"

Lorenzo replied subconsciously.

"That's right, only a handful of alchemists can reach that extreme, and therefore every alchemist is in competition. ”

Merlin replied affirmatively to Lorenzo.

"This is a taboo knowledge, like the erosion of demons, it magnifies the greed in your heart, your incomparable desire, your madness for it!

"Every alchemist is an enemy among themselves!"

His words became more and more fierce and angry, and Lorenzo looked at Merlin's empty eyes, and he suddenly felt an indescribable fear, fear of the strange mystery, fear of the incomparably abominable hollowness in Merlin's eyes, as if it were just a shell.

"Calm down, Merlin. ”

Arthur reminded him at the right time.

Merlin's words paused, as if he didn't realize his gaffe either, and after swallowing, his voice calmed down again.

"I'm sorry, I haven't talked about this for a long time, it's a bit of a gaffe, alchemy is like that, it has great power, but it can also inspire the most primitive greed of human beings, the greed for knowledge, the greed for sharing. ”

"So back to the continuation of the alchemist, we have a one-to-one apprenticeship system, all the knowledge is recorded on the note, passed on to the next apprentice, each alchemist in order to ensure that his skills are not obtained by other alchemists, will be equipped with a corresponding code book, even if others get the notes, they can't see anything. ”

"But this also leads to a very serious problem. ”

Merlin said with some sadness.

"Alchemy is very prone to technological discontinuity. ”

In the long period of research, each alchemist exists independently, and they all master different techniques, but once a lineage is broken, then the long research will be lost, and even a page or two of notes can collapse the entire alchemical system.

"The inheritance of alchemy is now a crumbling and dangerous building, and every time a tradition is broken, a stone brick is extracted, and modern science has shared everything, and scholars have spent their lives studying different directions to strengthen this building. ”

"It is even said that even if you die, there are books left, and some alchemy notes have different levels of erosion because they record knowledge about demons, so maybe you will become demons when you study them. ”

Merlin sighed as he spoke, and judging by the tone in his voice, he seemed to have suffered.

"Then why don't you expand your enrollment? Why don't you want to find a few more apprentices?"

Lorenzo didn't understand that the best way to deal with the break was to find a few more apprentices.

"I have been able to restrain my greed for knowledge, but what about my apprentices, not to mention the fact that there are only a few people who can reach the extreme in the construction of alchemy. ”

Merlin suddenly gave a strange smile, as if everything ahead was foreshadowing, for the next topic, Lorenzo sat behind the electric bar, feeling a little bad.

"And there is another point that leads to alchemy destined to be abandoned by the times...... You should know Mr. Holmes very well. ”

"I don't know anything about alchemy, Merlin. ”

Lorenzo shook his head, after all, the university in Old Dunling didn't teach this thing, and he couldn't skip classes if he wanted to.

"Remind you, the Gospel of the Gospel Church. ”

He smiled.

Lorenzo's pupils shrank, with an extremely wary gaze.

"You mean it...... It's actually an alchemical notebook?"

"No, how is that possible? I haven't even seen that book, but it has one wonderful thing in common with alchemy, and that is the 'core technology'. ”

Merlin slowly revealed the truth.

"The Evangelical Church loses the Book of Revelation and loses the secret blood technology, and once the alchemist dies, then the alchemy that sustains the whole society will be cut off...... Build a stable society that can fight demons, and use this kind of thing as a core technology...... Don't you think it's too risky?"

This is the current predicament of the Evangelical Church, when the night of Advent broke out, all the alchemists died, and the mysterious book of "Revelation" was stolen by Imam Lawrence, and the powerful secret blood technology was cut off for a while.

"This is the reason why the purification mechanism is gradually decreasing the proportion of alchemy, once I die, or there is no apprentice to inherit, this place will also fall into the same predicament as the Evangelical Church, but with modern technology, it is different, I die, and several excellent universities in the old Dunling will continue to send talents, even the whole of Invig, the whole Western world. ”

This is the advantage of promoting basic knowledge, even if there is a terrible war, the world will not go back to that ignorant era, even the most ordinary conductor will be able to repair basic machinery under the influence of many years.

"And that's not why alchemy is destined to be abandoned, in the old days, it was just right, but now it's different, it's a new era, the age of steam, the age of industry, we have the most powerful production line in the world, and the weapons are no longer the blades of the swords carefully crafted by craftsmen, but modern weapons that flow down the production line. ”

"Alchemy is destined to be abandoned, and I'm just speeding it up. ”

It's like a grand speech, and it's like a mournful funeral.

Alchemical funerals, funerals of the old times.

"So let's go back to how you drove the Armor of Original Sin. ”

For some reason, Merlin had pulled back the original sin armor again, like a deep trap, and now he was going to push Lorenzo in.

"You know, when I dragged you out of your armor, you were quiet and didn't react. ”

"A glorious reflection of the completion of the revolution?"

Lorenzo asked rhetorically.

"I can't be sure what you look like, but it's familiar. ”

Merlin ignored Lorenzo's beard, it seemed to him that the guy was trying to change the subject.

"What are you familiar with?"

"You look like your soul is gone, transferred, or ...... Sublimation?"

Another corner of the truth was wiped away from the dust, Lorenzo maintained the calm in front of him, but his heart was churning, if Merlin was not cheating him, then it was clear that the [gap] and the ultimate in alchemy...... sublimation related.

"Of course, you can't do sublimation, and it's a mystery whether sublimation really exists. ”

Merlin said.

There was a knock on the door of the cell, and I don't know who would have knocked on the door, but as if he knew who was coming, Arthur opened the door and took a black suitcase.

"So Mr. Holmes, it looks like the conversation can move on to a second phase. ”

"What?"

Lorenzo was a little dazed, sure enough, these people had premeditated, and his coma in the armor only made this matter earlier.

Arthur put his hands on it, then opened the suitcase, and took out something Lorenzo was familiar with, a piece of silver-white spine.

"The Bolt of Silver...... Did you know that this thing also has the art of alchemy?"

Arthur asked.

Lorenzo nodded naturally, not to mention the silver bolt, the power of the witcher is inspired by the engraved alchemy matrix.

"So going back to what I said earlier, you know?, Mr. Holmes, the alchemy technology of this silver bolt is far beyond what I know, and there are complex modern machinery on it...... There are even some delicate parts that we can't even cast. ”

Arthur's voice was tinged with trepidation.

"Do you know what this means? The modern technology and alchemy of the Evangelical Church is far more powerful than it seems, at least in terms of casting technology. ”

"But there's a paradox here, the Evangelical Church can't be productive to this extent, its basic technology is not up to par, it's like if you put the blueprint of a steam engine hundreds of years ago, they know how it works, but they can't even smelt the most basic metals. ”

Arthur gave Lorenzo a deep look, and he slowed down.

"Mr. Holmes, we have decided to reconnect with the Evangelical Church, right after the celebration of God's Birthday. ”

“......”

Lorenzo was silent, looking at Arthur in a bit of a daze, as if he didn't understand why he was doing this, or why he was telling himself.

"Wait...... You told me you wanted me to join in?"

Lorenzo finally began to laugh uncontrollably, first Medanzo, then Arthur, like a nameless hand tugging fate and throwing him into the center of the vortex.

"I just feel that as a partnership, coupled with your relationship with the Evangelical Church, I need to tell you, and you're a witcher after all, and you know where the Seven Hills are, perhaps...... It will be useful. ”

"No, no, no, I won't go back. ”

Lorenzo refused, he didn't even think too much about it, he looked at the cell, and it felt like a world that was gradually crumbling.

"I'm not going to force you, and it's just a share as a newspaper. ”

Arthur kept his cold sanity, weighing the pros and cons.

"Well, that's all for today, you don't have to worry about what we're going to do to you too much, this cell is only in effect for twenty-four hours, and we have to make sure you're in the state before we can let you leave. ”

Walking to the door, Arthur said again.

"Goodbye, Mr. Holmes. ”