If the castle is the capital of Purgatory Island, then the Alchemy Tower is the equivalent of a royal palace in the capital.

On this hierarchical island, if Hines is the supreme king, Andrew and Pierre are his ministers, Lancelot is his general, a large number of puppet warriors are his soldiers, his servants are his civilians, and his apprentices are his knights.

This is a typical representative of the middle class.

Having come to this point, it can be said that Gong Hao has crossed the most difficult level for him. Because this is a hierarchical leap, it is much more difficult to go from a servant to an apprentice than it is to go from a servant to a servant.

Early the next morning, Andrew announced a new appointment - from today, Huigler will enter the Alchemy Tower to take over the work of Neil's apprentice, and will work until the Liberty brings them a new apprentice.

In addition, Hue Glare will continue his original job, but will be removed from the post of head servant, and Andrew will pick another head servant to work with Gong Hao.

From today, Huyglare will be free to enter and exit the Alchemy Tower.

This may be the best portrayal of the frog becoming a prince, and Gong Hao's promotion makes all the servants happy. They seem to see a hope of promotion, so much so that they work hard.

"Congratulations, Gler, from today onwards, you are an apprentice, and you will learn the most mysterious and powerful alchemy spell on the continent. Andrew patted Gong Hao on the shoulder and said.

Gong Hao replied respectfully, "I believe that you must have contributed to this matter. I still remember that it was your decision to promote me to Chief Servant, and now, thanks to you, Your Excellency. ”

Andrew laughed, "I did say something for you, but in the end, it was because of your own hard work. The mentor appreciates you and I'm sure you won't let him down. ”

"I'll do what I can, my lord. ”

"Yes. Andrew looked around and whispered to Gong Hao: "But you have to be careful of Piye, after you enter the Alchemy Tower, he will be your new director." This guy is not a good thing, in addition to pleasing the mentor, he also has a lot of eyes, and he even suspected that yesterday's incident was all caused by you, if it wasn't for Lancelot to prove it for you, or he would have given you ...... Anyway, Xiuy, don't let him catch you with anything, that's not good for you and me, after all, you used to be my person. ”

Gong Hao's heart jumped, he looked at Andrew and said, "My lord, I thought I had always been your person. ”

Andrew was stunned, and Gong Hao had already said, "Didn't I temporarily replace Neil before the Liberty sent a new apprentice? Since I am a servant, I am still under your jurisdiction, so why should I listen to Mistress Pierre? Just because the place and content of my work have changed, but it does not mean that I belong to Mistress Piet, right? Unless he knows that I am an apprentice of the Alchemy Pagoda and does not intend to use a new apprentice, I am still only your servant. ”

Andrew's eyes narrowed, he thought for a while, and nodded appreciatively: "You're right, Xiuyi, you are still a servant, and you are still my man." I don't think Pierre will give you a definite apprenticeship, after all, once you have been given an apprenticeship, it can no longer be easily revoked, especially if you haven't made any mistakes. ”

"In this case, I still have to ask Lord Andrew to take care of it in the future. Gong Hao bowed to Andrew and pleaded.

"Of course. Andrew replied proudly.

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From Andrew's words, Gong Hao understood two things:

First, Pierre was suspicious of himself.

Second, Andrew was unhappy with Pie.

The former represents a crisis, the latter an opportunity.

Gong Hao had to admire his quick wit at that time, and immediately used the identity switch between the servant and the apprentice to trap Andrew. Without Andrew's backing, it would have been difficult for him to cope with the situation in the future.

Dealing with people, sometimes not only do you have to work beautifully, but also know how to make good friends with superiors, borrow strength, to put it bluntly, you must know how to find a backer for yourself. Before he was reincarnated, Gong Hao had an understanding of office politics, and if he wanted to be able to do things, he had to be a person, which was the only rule of survival in the workplace.

And on Purgatory Island, this situation is even more direct - if you don't do it well, you will die, and Gong Hao has no room to back down.

So in this case, Gong Hao immediately chose to continue to follow Andrew, and only in this way can he protect himself.

Of course, among the three giants in the alchemy tower, the real one is Patrick Hines, Andrew and Pierre are only equivalent to two department heads, one is responsible for technology, production, and the other is in charge of personnel and logistics, it seems that the status of the technical director is higher than that of the logistics director, which is also completely in line with the standard that the first-line status in the enterprise is higher than the second-line, so it is impossible for Andrew to fight against Pierre, so the person who has to be grasped is the general manager of Hines.

Although it seems that Hines has a fairly good impression of himself, this man is obviously an alchemist maniac, just think about the fact that he can stay at home all day and lock himself in the tower without doing anything but alchemy, it is understandable, and there is only one way to completely please such a person - to make enough achievements in alchemy.

In the end, Gong Hao realized that he still had a backer, that is, the daughter of the chairman Stricker VI, the little princess Avril.

Oh yes, and the head of the department in charge of purchasing, Commander Lancelot, will undoubtedly be on his side.

It seems that on this Purgatory Island, it is Pierre who is really alone.

At least for a short time, I don't have to worry about Pie. But sooner or later, this henchman must be solved.

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The above ideas are only long-term plans. Gong Hao didn't think he could kill Pierre right now, and if there were a series of accidents on Purgatory Island, Hines would definitely suspect him, even if he did it skillfully.

There are two things that are urgent and must be addressed immediately. One is that you must immediately familiarize yourself with the work of the Alchemy Pagoda and get started as soon as possible, rather than pulling others back. The other thing was even more important - no new apprentices could be sent to Purgatory Island anyway.

Gong Hao didn't want to be beaten back to his original form because of a new apprentice after he finally entered the Alchemy Pagoda.

I'm afraid that this matter will eventually fall on the gold-armored warrior Chakra who bought him back in the first place. Damn, I haven't had much friendship with Chakle in the past year, and I'm just making secret deals with Bailey.

Well, maybe Bailey has a solution to this.

But let these greedy guards do their thing...... It seems necessary to let them know that having an apprentice with whom they can trade is far more valuable than a servant with whom they can trade.

Thinking of this, Gong Hao understood what he had to do.

In fact, the work of an apprentice is not very complicated.

The apprenticeship on Purgatory Island is mainly a two-part job.

One is production, that is, the production of alchemy products that have been mastered, mainly according to the list sent by the empire every month. This part of the list includes the crafting of potions, scrolls, magic weapons, and puppets. Since the technology is already in place, the apprentices just have to follow the steps.

The other is to study new alchemy. This part was mainly carried out by Hines, Pierre and Andrew. Hines was responsible for the most difficult part, while Pierre was responsible for the middle part and Andrew was responsible for the lower part. The apprentices' task is to give the three men a hand and do the work they ask them to do.

After Gong Hao entered the Alchemy Tower, he said that it was the job of replacing Neil, but in fact, he definitely couldn't really do it. It is much faster to start with the known alchemy than to delve into the unknown.

"Hue Igler, from today onwards, you are doing things here. "The apprentice in charge of leading the way and introducing him is Ivo, who sent flowers to Lancelot in the first place.

"Yes, Master Ivo. Gong Hao replied respectfully.

Ivo smiled lightly: "There's no need to call me mage, now you are also half an apprentice, just call me by my name." ”

Gong Hao found that when they weren't killing, these apprentices were relatively cute.

"I see, Ivo. ”

This is a room on the second floor of the Alchemy Pagoda.

The first floor of the alchemy pagoda is mainly to place some raw materials that have been extracted and finished products, in addition to the library.

The second floor of the Alchemy Pagoda is mainly made of medicines.

Different rooms are used to craft different potions, from the second to the fourth floor, with two apprentices and ten puppet assistants on each floor. And on the fifth to seventh floors, there are the experimental layers of Hines, Pierre, Andrew, of which Andrew is on the fifth floor. In addition to Hines with two assistants, Pierre and Andrew each had one apprentice assistant and ten puppet assistants.

Puppet assistants were invented by Hines to assist in alchemy experiments, and their intelligence is higher than that of puppet warriors, but they basically have no combat power, and can only do some simple and heavy work according to orders, and they don't need special talismans to command them, as long as they wear school robes.

The second layer of the Alchemy Tower is potion crafting, and by the way, some blank magic scrolls are also made. The third floor is where the magic is attached to the weapon. The fourth floor is used to craft known puppets, such as the puppet samurai.

According to Gong Hao's estimate, the study of the magic pattern is likely to be on the sixth or seventh layer, and the demon spirit is estimated to be on the sixth layer. Andrew, who was often absent from the fifth floor because he still had to focus on managing the servants, estimated that that floor was mostly empty. From the analysis of the existing material entry and exit situation, it can also be seen that Andrew's layer is basically not needed, and it can also be deduced that he has no contribution.

For the alchemist Hines, this may be an important reason why Andrew's status is not as good as Pie. And the goal of his most promising future entry should be here.

The room Ivo had brought him to at this moment was full of bottles and jars, and there were slips of paper on them with the names of various potions.

On the other side of the room, the various materials provided by the servants were placed in a mess, and in the middle were multiple models of crucibles, and magic flames could be lit and heated at any time.

The place looks dirty and messy.

"In fact, the greatest mystery of alchemy lies in the unknown, and it is not so complicated for the alchemy that has been mastered. At this moment, Ivo explained to him what he was about to do.

Ivo took a potion from the table: "For example, this one, a bottle of healing potions, the most commonly used potions. The recipe for the required ingredients, the order of production, and the precautions are all documented. The next thing to do is to make it according to the recorded content. Gler, you've done it in the library, you've seen a lot of alchemy records, do you know how to do it?"

Gong Hao immediately replied: "Yes, I know, it requires seventeen kinds of demon plants and six kinds of demonic beasts, and the materials provided by three kinds of demon insects, and it needs to go through at least thirty processes to complete." If you use a large crucible, you can make about 10 bottles at a time. ”

"But you've never done it, have you? And there's a lot of things that you can't learn by reading a book. I'll do it for you right now. I hope you won't need me to teach you more than twice. ”

"I'll do my best to learn well. ”

"Good. Ivo began to work while explaining to Gong Hao the various issues that needed attention.

He lit a magic flame and infused a small cauldron with a strange gelatinous liquid.

"This is a stock solution made from the sap of the sap of the snake grass and manatee gum, diluted with twice as much water. After heating to the surface of the liquid, start to put the material ......"

"I remember stirring it up?" Gong Hao asked.

"Yes, but the records won't tell you that you can only stir in one direction, and you must not stir left or right. And in the process of stirring, we must pay attention to the uniform force, otherwise there will be signs of condensation somewhere, do not let the original solution coagulate, otherwise it is equivalent to failure. ”

"Yes, I see. ”

"When you put in the materials, you have to pay attention to the changes. The original solution will become thick due to the evaporation of water during the heating process, so pay attention to adding a small amount of water at this time, otherwise they will not be potions but medicine blocks. In the process of adding water, it is important to take care to let the water melt into the original solution, otherwise it is meaningless. But don't add too much at once just to be lazy. ”

"Is it because of the temperature?"

"Yes, if the temperature is not enough, the reaction between the materials is not enough, and the desired effect cannot be achieved. However, if the temperature is too high, it will also destroy the medicinal properties. ”

"So how do we determine the temperature? Can we only do it visually? I remember that there were a lot of times when the results were not accurate, and not every drug would react. ”

"Then you can only rely on experience and extrapolation about the heating time. So it's easy to learn how to make a potion, but it's very difficult to make it well. ”

Gong Hao smiled and didn't say anything.

It seems that he still has a good chance here, it is not difficult to make a thermometer, and there is no need to worry about the problem of glass, because the alchemist himself knows how to make glass, and there is no shortage of glass in the alchemy tower, but it is obvious that there is a lack of mature use of glass, because the main purpose of making glass is to make some utensils for holding liquids. For example, bottles for healing potions are made of this glass. Then now there is only a shortage of mercury.

Well, there is no mercury here, but there are items that can replace mercury. Gong Hao remembers that there is a kind of seasonal grass that has a clear response to changes in temperature. Maybe you can make your own thermometer, which is not necessarily accurate, or even needs to be measured in degrees Celsius, as long as it meets the needs of the test. If that's the case, it shouldn't be too difficult.

"Hey, Gler, you're distracted. Ivo's cry summoned Gong Hao back in thought.

"I'm sorry, Ivo, and I hope I didn't miss anything. ”

"It's okay, anyway, I always have to watch you become proficient before I let it go of you. Ivo said.

"So the amount of material used can only be based on experience?"

"Of course. This is the biggest difference between an alchemist and an apprentice. It looks like I'm lucky, and this potion has a good chance of success. ”

The potion in Ivo's hand was almost finished.

Extinguishing the magic flames, Ivo gently took the potion from the cauldron and bottled it while saying:

"The production of the potion seems simple, but before perfecting the formula, it has gone through countless experiments by alchemists. Among them, the most important things to pay attention to are: the control of temperature, the order of material delivery and the amount of material delivery. You have to be precise, otherwise you might not be making a bottle of healing, but a bottle of poison. Glare, if anyone were to ask me what the biggest difference between a servant and an apprentice is, I would not say that an apprentice is nobler than a servant, but that a servant who makes a mistake will only die himself. But if an apprentice makes a mistake, it is likely that a large number of people will die. Therefore, according to the rules, every apprentice must do a final check on his work after completing it. ”

As he spoke, Ivo winked at Gong Hao: "Do you know what to do?"

An ominous feeling rose in Gong Hao's heart.

Sure enough, Ivo raised his head and took a big sip of the freshly refined potion.

Then he looked back at Gong Hao: "The finished healing potion is transparent and colorless, but there will be a little sediment and a faint aroma. If you find that the color of the potion you have made is defective, or the purity is not enough, you have better throw it away immediately and refine it again. But if you are going to list a potion like this one, which seems to have no problems on the surface, you can only use one last method to prove that it is not problematic, and that is to take a sip. Poison yourself before you poison others, that's the rule. ”

"Yes, I see, Ivo, but is there no better way to test it?"

"Glare, there are many things you can trick yourself into, but there are many things you can't. Even if you have a hundred ways to prove the safety of a potion, you can't get out of it. ”

"I see, it's the easiest and most reassuring way to do it, right?"

"That's right. As he spoke, Ivo put his name on the vial. If something goes wrong with the flask he made, the Empire will be the first to arrest the Producer based on his name.

"So Ivo, what will the apprentice do if he breaks the potion?"

"This is not a servant area, and it is not uncommon for alchemy experiments to go bad. That's why we use different crucibles separately. If you are not sure, use a small crucible, and the loss from failure will not be too great. If you're sure, use a cauldron, and if you succeed once, you'll lose a lot. It's a pity, I could have used a medium-sized crucible, but I thought that I had a good chance of failing while teaching you alchemy, but I didn't expect it to succeed. I knew I would use the medium-sized one, which was five bottles at a time. Oh yes, don't use a large crucible until you're not sure enough, if you fail once, the loss of material is quite staggering, and the difficulty will be relatively increased. It is generally only used by apprentices or even masters with more than three years of experience. ”

Speaking of this, Ivo gasped. He put the bottle of healing potion in his hand and said:

"You know, in alchemy, the consumption of materials is ten times more often than the finished product they can produce. If eighty percent of the consumption is used to research new alchemy products, one becomes the finished product, then another achievement is the consumption caused by mistakes. Therefore, alchemy allows error, but does not encourage it. You can make a potion ten times in a row without making a mistake, after all, dozens of processes are not so easy to master, but if you can't always improve, you can't become a qualified apprentice, let alone an alchemist. ”

"Yes, I'll try. ”

"So, for an apprentice, there are two criteria for excellence. One: Make a better product. Two: Make more products at a smaller cost. Both of these points are important. ”

"Understood. ”

"At present, alchemy has mastered one hundred and thirteen kinds of potions, of which thirty-two are for recovery, including mana recovery potions, magic stimulation potions, various healing potions, and so on. There are also twenty poisons, and nineteen antidotes paired with it. ”

"Nineteen antidotes?"

"Yes, nineteen, there is a poison, and so far no antidote has been invented. Therefore it is a forbidden drug, but here we also need to make it. But don't worry, you won't be able to touch it anytime soon. ”

"I thought that if I tried to refine the healing potions, it would become poison. ”

"That's not a good idea, Gler, the first cost is too high, the second is not toxic enough, or even not necessarily toxic, it may just make you diarrhea for a few days. A real poison can kill instantly. ”

"Just kidding. Gong Hao smiled.

Ivo also laughed, and he continued:

"There are also eleven buff potions and eleven curse potions, their effects are also corresponding, and finally there are twenty other potions. And your job is to make all of these potions in a month according to the list sent by the Empire. Oh yes, and I'll do it with you. Of course, I'm going to make some blank magic scrolls by the way. ”

As he spoke, Ivo threw a book to Gong Hao: "Take it, and from today onwards, meditate for an hour every day according to the book record." ”

What Ivo gave him was a magic book that recorded how to develop elemental sense.

Gong Hao Daqi: "Do alchemists also want to meditate?"

"Of course, alchemists are also a type of magician, but most of those who become alchemists are people with smart minds but lack the talent of elemental sensing. If you don't have the talent of elemental sensing, it doesn't mean that you can't learn magic, but the effect will be much worse, and you are destined to have no future. But we still have to learn to meditate. Because there are many alchemy products that require not only materials, but also the support of spells. Like those scrolls. Do you know why alchemy can only make blank scrolls?"

"Because we can't use powerful spells. ”

"That's the problem. Therefore, the magic scroll was obviously invented by the alchemist, but in the end, due to the alchemist's own physical limitations, he could only produce some low-level scrolls. Eventually, it evolved into a blank scroll made by an alchemist, and a few magicians who knew a little about alchemy made their own magic scrolls. This can be said to be the alchemist's greatest helplessness. But there is no way to do it, if you can become a magician, who would want to stay in the laboratory every day?"

Ivo's statement fully illustrates his helplessness as an alchemist.

No matter how powerful an alchemist is, in the end all he can only achieve is to make a wedding dress for others, of course, maybe Padrik Hines doesn't think so, maybe he is really crazy about this science, so he can have such an achievement.

And now, Gong Hao actually likes alchemy very much, perhaps that is why he gave up running away and resolutely chose to stay here.

For Gong Hao, revenge is not necessarily the best reason to take risks, but strengthening oneself is.

From this day on, even if Gong Hao had worked in the Alchemy Pagoda completely, he soon discovered that even in this new and unfamiliar field, he also had room to show his talents.