Alien Knights

Todd rubbed his sore and astringent eyes.

Using the clairvoyance ability for a long time, looking at the dazzling metal solution in the furnace body, his eyeballs were overwhelmed, and even the tear glands were baked by the high temperature so that he couldn't shed a single tear.

In the previous life, I often saw in novels and movies, those time travelers brought scientific and technological achievements and industrial inventions into the new world. Everything seemed so easy and comfortable, but the real hardships can only be realized by actually trying.

In front of him was already the third furnace for slag smelting.

For the first time, due to the unreasonable construction method of the roof material, the bearing point shifted, and finally caused a partial collapse, which directly polluted the silver-lead solution, so the furnace had to be scrapped and restarted.

The second time, due to the lack of professional temperature monitoring equipment and unskilled operators, the furnace temperature fluctuated in a short period of time, and the material of the furnace wall has low temperature resistance, which directly caused a "fryer accident".

After the first two failures, the craftsmen and apprentices in the smelting field, even Huggins and Edgar had completely lost hope. Someone persuaded Todd to give up trying, someone took out the cross and began to pray to the Father, and someone even packed up their things and planned to go home and sleep.

However, the smelting is still going on, whether it is past life or this life, Todd's "dictionary" has never given up on this word.

Counting from the first opening of the furnace, the smelting continued until eleven o'clock in the middle of the next night. In the silence and darkness of the night, only the smelting yard of San Sidro Abbey was still burning brightly.

A full 30 hours have passed.

The soul who was used to working late at night in the laboratory in the previous life gradually felt powerless and on the verge of collapse in this young body. But now Todd can't stop, the whole "three-step ash blowing method" has reached the last moment.

In front of the furnace, there were only Todd, Huggins, Aiden Kom and a few of his apprentices.

Observing the situation inside the furnace with a perspective, Todd instructed the helpers to first add a small amount of saltpeter to the lead-silver solution to accelerate the oxidation of copper and other impurities, and then evenly sprinkle a thin layer of "bone powder" made from animal bones (the main chemical components are calcium and phosphorus), absorb the remaining slag and remove it. Finally, a layer of charcoal is added to the silver liquid to cover it, and the furnace temperature is further increased to 900 degrees Celsius, and the fire is extinguished to cool down to remove a large amount of oxygen absorbed in the liquid, and finally the finished solution is slowly poured into the mold.

At four o'clock in the morning, the bells of the monastery's morning class were heard in all directions, and the chant of the monks sounded in the main hall. At the foot of the mountain, a group of soot-faced, weary people witnessed a great success.

It took a total of 35 hours, after two failures, and consumed about three tons of silver ore waste. A "silver ingot" measuring 4 cm long, 3 cm wide and weighing 23.5 grams was finally released.

"Success...success!"

The first voice came from Huggins.

Soon, the sleeping Edgar and other craftsmen and apprentices rushed over after hearing the sound.

Touching the precious metal that was still warm in his hands, Todd had a lot of emotions, from mineral selection, chemical equations, industrial design, equipment drawings, to preliminary preparations, furnace modification, three smelting, two failures, and the final product. This is really an experience that made him feel very hard, but also full of sense of accomplishment.

However, when it comes to being in a good mood, someone is more excited than him.

Huggins, who had bet all his wealth on this small silver ingot, held up this precious bump, completely losing his former calmness and composure. He closed his eyes, rubbed his rough face and felt the cold touch, and from time to time he could hear bursts of extremely comfortable moans coming from his nasal cavity.

Edgar, who was behind him, jumped up and down like a monkey, grabbing the man's shoulder for a while, kicking the big man's knee with his leg for a while, and shouting in his mouth: "Hey! Let me see! Let me see!"

Ignoring the two yelling guys, Todd had more important things to do.

Calculation of smelting yield.

The entire silver refining process took a total of 35 hours. The time spent on removing the two failures, plus the time spent on removing slag, repairing the furnace body and blowing disk, can be carried out about six times a week. Assuming that the value of silver refining is fixed each time, the weekly income is about 140 grams of silver ingots.

Aside from the "holy coins" of the church used by the Papal States, the three most commonly used coins in the southwestern countries are generally the following three coins: the "golden sun" made of gold, the "silver moon" made of silver, and the "copper star" made of copper. The ratio is maintained at about 1:10:1000. Among them, the weight of the silver moon is about 2.2 grams, which means that the weekly smelting income is about 63 silver moons.

Of course, the final net profit also needs to exclude fuel purchase fees, equipment maintenance fees, spare material purchase fees, black market exchange fees, and the wages of craftsman apprentices. The net profit (weekly) attributable to the monastery three is about 38 or so.

Regarding the final expenditure, Huggins, Edgar, and Todd had disagreements. The former believed that there was no need to spend additional expenses on craftsmen and apprentices, but the latter insisted on his point of view. He not only gave all craftsmen and apprentices double the standard salary, but also converted the meal allowance into coins and added it.

The final result is naturally that the craftsmen and apprentices are grateful and happy.

After ordering the people, leave the man to take care of the stove. Covered in soot and exhausted, Todd fell to the ground from exhaustion on the way back to the monastery. In the end, it was Huggins who carried him on his back, took him back to the monks' dormitory, and put him on the bed.

When he arrived in his room, Todd slept in the dark, from early morning to late night, unaware of what was happening on the other side of the monastery.

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The moon climbed up the treetops, and the night insects of early spring uttered their first chirps.

Master Meris leaned against the fireplace, facing south, sitting in the north of the room, looking in the direction of the gate, motionless.

He, who has always been frugal, rarely lit three candles in the room, one on the desk, one by the main entrance, and one in the stairwell. The faint light of the fire filled the entire room, illuminating every corner so that no shadows could be seen.

Eight chimes sounded from the bell tower of the monastery, which meant that the light had come to an end and darkness was approaching.

Faint gray mist floated into the room along the gap of the window edge, gathered, condensed, and formed on the floor, and a figure slowly stood up straight from the misty smoke.

Master Meris looked at the face that appeared in the mist, his body did not move, his face was expressionless, he raised one hand and pointed to the opposite front door, and said in a deep voice: "You should know that the Heavenly Father taught his people how to use doors and windows, which is the true lesson to distinguish civilization from savagery!"

The man in the fog gradually stabilized his posture, his pale and sickly face lacked a trace of blood, his slender fingers took out a scorched broken sword from his pocket, and hissed, "Mr. Bourne, he is dead."