Chapter 119

August 5th, morning, first experiment.

Attempting to replicate Lavaxi's "Twenty-Day Experiment," heating mercury in the curved-neck flask to produce mercuric oxide.

Measuring 100 grams of mercury, adding it to the curved-neck flask (thank you, mage tower, for using metric units, must be the legacy of a predecessor from another era), and heating it with a furnace.

One hour, no change.

Two hours, no change.

Three hours, no change.

Suspected that the heating temperature wasn't high enough for mercury to react with oxygen.

Moved the curved-neck flask closer to the furnace.

The curved-neck flask exploded...

August 5th, afternoon, second experiment.

Red powder appeared on the surface of mercury, suspected to be mercuric oxide.

The curved-neck flask exploded again...

Improper temperature control. Let me think of another way; the mercury thermometer is definitely not working.

August 6th, morning.

Bimetallic thermometer! Success!

The mage tower is truly extravagant; having platinum... a bimetallic element made with platinum and copper strips is the best!

August 6th, afternoon.

Continued the mercuric oxide experiment. Using the bimetallic thermometer to indicate temperature is indeed convenient... no more fear of the curved-neck flask exploding.

August 7th, morning.

Slipped while adding charcoal, and the furnace went out... luckily, quickly rekindled the fire. Really wish I had a furnace boy to watch over it.

August 7th, afternoon.

Continued burning.

August 8th, morning.

Continued burning.

August 8th, afternoon.

Continued burning. Come on, Lavaxi did it for 12 days, waited for 8 more days after noticing no change.

August 9th, morning.

Mage Elliott's crucible exploded, smashing the curved-neck flask...

"Garrett, sorry about that..." Elliott awkwardly apologized, "What are you doing?"

Garrett was busy cleaning up spilled mercury, no time to bother with him. Elliott carefully bypassed him, leaned over, and saw neat writing on the table paper:

1. Prove the existence of O.

2. Prove O + combustible material + temperature = combustion.

3. Introduce O into magical materials.

"What is this...?"

Elliott only glanced at it, found half of it incomprehensible, and immediately walked away. Garrett called out to him from behind, but he hurried away without looking back.

Experiment ideas, spell design, those are the secrets and wealth of every mage, not to be easily revealed! Especially when he saw the words "magical materials"...

Garrett's troubled experiment began again.

This time, he was more cautious, moving the experimental apparatus to the adjacent small room, striving not to be disturbed. Consider him lucky; the experiment went smoothly without any hiccups or accidental breakages.

Continued until late August, one night, the Mage Tower finally echoed with Garrett's cheer:

"I did it! I proved"

Indeed, this world's air contains 20% oxygen! Combustion of combustibles does depend on oxygen! Forget about the essence of combustion and the essence of fire elements!

"Garrett!" The Mage Tower's third floor opened a window with a bang. Mage Karlan stuck his head out and roared, "What are you howling about in the middle of the night! You interrupted my meditation!"

Ah... oh, meditation. Garrett apologized loudly and rushed back to the third floor, entering his room. Entering meditation, extending his mental power, sensing the surrounding world:

Among the four elements, earth and water seemed unchanged. Fire and air, however, underwent significant changes:

The ethereal power split into specks, some stable and silent, while others were lively and erratic;

And the lively and erratic part, intertwined with the former, sometimes mixing, sometimes darting into the area belonging to fire, stirring up specks of flames.

The essence of burning is the combination of combustible material and oxygen, emitting light and heat.

Garrett carefully felt it. His mental power didn't seem significantly stronger than yesterday. He extended his hand, flicked towards the candle holder, and a bright flame flickered out, landing gracefully on the wick.

The release was a bit faster than before, the spell's power was higher... but not enough, not enough...

Garrett spread out the paper under the candlelight. Following the content of Mage Gellman's lectures, each fire magic would have two basic constructs: one to gather "combustible essence," and the other to select the "good air" that attracts combustible essence

According to the theory of combustibles, when heated, combustibles don't automatically decompose; they require external air to extract them. And "good air" has the property of absorbing combustibles, enabling combustion...

So, pointing the construct used to gather "combustible essence" with mental power toward the combustible material; pointing the construct used to select "good air" toward the carried oxygen used as spell material

What would happen if done this way?

Garrett heard his heart pounding. He rushed out of his room, went up to the fourth floor alchemy room, and set up the alchemical apparatus for heating mercuric oxide and extracting oxygen once again. After the oxygen collection in the test tube was complete, he sneaked down the Mage Tower with the test tube.

"Garrett, where are you going?"

Someone spoke in the dark night. Garrett paused, slowly turned his head:

"Elliott? Sorry, did I wake you up just now?"

"No problem, I wasn't asleep anyway. Hey, in the middle of the night, where are you going without even turning on a light?"

Saying that, he snapped his fingers, and four light orbs floated up silently in front, back, left, and right. Garrett followed him down, answering in a low voice:

"I improved the Burning Hand and wanted to try it out..."

"Burning Hand? You learn so fast!" Elliott praised. He and Garrett walked into the dark night, arriving at a square behind the Mage Tower. This was the place mages used to practice magic. Elliott slightly focused and raised his hand

A cone of red flames spewed forward. Five meters away, a humanoid wooden target was engulfed in flames, immediately burning.

Elliott waved his hand, extinguishing the flames. He turned to Garrett, eyes shining with curiosity:

"Give it a try!"

"I might be a bit slow..." Garrett replied in a low voice. Holding his breath, concentrating, trying to enter a spellcasting state:

Meditate!

Recite the incantation!

Use mental power to outline the spell model!

Extend mental power, resonate the spell model with the surroundings, and pay attention, the construct for filtering air must be pointed towards the oxygen in the test tube!

Reach out, push forward

Boom!

A blazingly white flame sprayed out from Garrett's palm, bursting forward.

Within ten meters, a 60-degree fan-shaped area in front was engulfed by the bright white flame. Where the flames passed, the humanoid wooden target immediately turned into fragments, standing on a metal stake on the ground, bursting with bright and dazzling sparks like lightning.

Beside him, Mage Elliott slowly widened his mouth.

"Is this... the Burning Hand? It's twice as far as mine, and the flame is more than twice as strong! Garrett, are you really just a level 1 mage?!"

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