Chapter 158: Synthesizing
Felipe put his hands back into the pockets of his black coat. Although he still looked calm, there were countless thoughts in his heart. Either Professor was a real madman, or he must be very confident that his experiment would be successful.
Felipe started to feel hesitant. He was not sure whether he should make the bet with Professor, or just fight with him. After all, the Church commented Professor as "extremely cunning and dangerous".
In the end, Felipe could not resist his curiosity and, at the same time, his confidence in the theory of Life Force pushed him to make the decision. He had to admit that he also wanted to see if the fundamental theory of Necromancy would be overthrown just like the previous ancient theories.
Felipe was also an arcanist, and Lucien was exactly betting on his desire toward more advanced knowledge and also his curiosity.
"Except for apologizing... if you lost the bet, you would lose nothing, Professor." Felipe responded slowly.
The rest of the necromancers and apprentices were very surprised. It seemed that Felipe was really going to make the bet with Professor.
Although Lucien was very excited in his mind, he answered shortly and calmly, "My mission would fail, at least."
Felipe took out his left hand and clenched it into a fist. His tone became firm, "All right, Mr. Professor. I’ll make this bet with you. Let’s make the devil pact."
According to Astrology and Elements, magic pact is something seeking notarization from different great powers in this world. According to the levels of the covenanters, the notarization powers varied: from common magic power to the devil or even to the original power of the world. For middle-ranked mages, the devil pact was the most suitable. If a covenanter did not keep his or her promise, the person would be punished by the power of the pact.
"I trust Mr. Felipe, and I also trust myself. We don’t need a pact," answered Lucien calmly. In fact, he was not capable of summoning the devil, and even if the devil was summoned by Felipe, his true level of power would be recognized by the devil immediately, "If I was not reliable, I don’t think the viscount would even invite me to the gathering." Lucien looked at Viscount Carendia.
The viscount was a bit surprised that, all of a sudden, his name was mentioned. His guess was that Professor did not want to leave his real name on the pact, so he nodded and said, "I can be the witness, and all the people here are the witnesses as well."
Felipe nodded, "I agree. Then, start your experiment, Mr. Professor."
Lucien waved his hands, "In order to be fair. I tell you what to do, and Mr. Felipe, you conduct the experiment."
"Fair enough." Felipe nodded, "Give me a second to build the lab."
The reason that Lucien asked Felipe to do the experiment was because he was not capable of doing it himself.
Felipe took out a fist-sized golden cabin from his pocket and took out a bunch of mini-sized alchemy equipment.
As soon as this pieces of equipment left the cabin, under Felipe’s control, they grew back to their original size. Soon, a small but fully equipped lab was built.
Lucien hoped that he would have something like this as well in the future, but he had no idea how to get it.
When Felipe was building the lab, the necromancers and apprentices facing the stage started to whisper to each other again.
"Do you think Professor can really synthesize any ingredient for life?" asked Fatty with a mixed feeling.
"No way." Wine shook his head immediately, "The theory of Life Force is the eternal truth, which is built by many legendary archmages in the past."
"Yes. It is the eternal truth for us." A necromancer looked back at them and nodded seriously, "Or how could we successfully synthesize human body parts in the past?"
"But if Professor failed..." Fatty said in a low voice, "If he failed, we must join the Hand of Paleness. Honestly, I’d rather find the Church and be a night watcher if that’s the case."
"Maybe Mr. Professor is planning to attack Felipe when he’s conducting the experiment... to strike him when Felipe is unprepared." Bread also lowered his voice. He hated Felipe a lot.
"Contemptible..." Garrupa took a glance at Bread, "but I like it!"
"Naive..." The necromancer put on a cold smile, "You think Felipe would be that stupid? You think the viscount would be just an onlooker?"
On the stage, Sidney also whispered, "What does Mr. Professor want to do?" He was confused since he never thought the experiment would be successful.
"No idea. I’d rather put more thoughts into how to survive in the Hand of Paleness," Tess answered.
Cessy also shook his head, "I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to join the Hand of Paleness, no matter if his experiment works or not."
Sidney remained silent for a while and then nodded, "You guys are right. Joining the Hand of Paleness seems to be the best choice for us right now."
"Mr. Professor, let’s start." Felipe’s eyes looked a bit crazy.
Lucien quickly browsed through the journal Arcana that he once read and copied in his spirit library to make sure that the chemical elements he remembered were right, and then he said to Felipe, "Gather nitrogen and hydrogen and store them separately."
Lucien was trying to use the industrial way to synthesize carbamide, which was the first artificial synthesis of organic matter on Earth. The reason why Lucien did not go for the laboratory method was that some of the chemical symbols involved in this process were not familiar to him, and he did not want to give Felipe any reason to doubt his true power.
Also, at the same time, the industrial way was simple, and the several experimental substances were very common. Their chemical symbols were familiar to Lucien because he once read about them in the journal. As for the required environment of high temperature and pressure, in this magic world, it was not something hard to achieve.
Gas Separation was just a common magic for sorcerers. Felipe thought that the beginning of the experiment would be different.
"A piece of magnet..." Lucien made Felipe put the catalyst into the reactor, "Mix the gas according to the proper percentage, and then heat it to about five hundred degrees, and the pressure is..."
Following Lucien’s instruction, Felipe tried his best to turn on all the alchemy magic circles and meet the requirement of temperature and pressure.
After the reaction finished, Felipe sensed the container, "Nothing, Mr. Professor."
"Not yet," Lucien answered with patience. "Separate nitrogen and hydrogen, and keep the remaining gas."
"Ah... ammonia gas." Felipe shrugged, "You could’ve told me earlier. I have some previously made ammonia gas in my lab."
Lucien, in fact, did not know how to say ammonia in this world. He did not respond, but continued his instruction, "Cool it down and let it liquefy. Then, separate it to get carbon dioxide."
Felipe could already tell what Professor wanted to do here. He did not believe that this simple experiment could produce carbamide.
Following Lucien’s requirement, Felipe put the liquid ammonia and carbon dioxide into reactor again.
Again, high temperature and high pressure. But this time, the temperature was only about two hundred or so, and the pressure was lower than the last time.
"Keep the temperature and pressure, and let’s wait for a while." Lucien nodded.
Felipe, the viscount, the necromancers and apprentices were all waiting. They believed that this was still one step of the experiment. The theory of Life Force would not be overthrown by a simple experiment.
They were waiting.