Ember Gun

  Chapter 147 Death of Alchemy

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

  It is not so much a cage as it is an interrogation room with tightly guarded forces. Lorenzo and Merlin are separated by an electrified iron fence. Judging from the blood in the air, this is not a good place.

The two remained strangely silent until Arthur arrived and the three reunited again. Only this time Lorenzo was tied to the iron bed, pulling the machine, and the whole iron bed was slowly folded, so that Luo Renzo can stand up in a seated manner.

   "So why are you so nervous? Merlin."

   Lorenzo said slowly, this series of events made him a little irritable.

   "You will know next, Mr. Holmes."

  Merlin nodded at Arthur, and the two sat opposite Lorenzo, confessing leniently and resisting strictly.

"So……"

  "Mr. Holmes, can you tell us about your experience in the armor of Original Sin? Be specific and detailed."

   Merlin asked simply and neatly, as if he knew something, he pointed to the center of the problem.

   "The armor experience? I went in and was in a coma."

  Lorenzo didn’t say much. This is related to Watson, the weird pseudo-Holy Grail, and no one knows whether the cleansing agency will actually treat him as a guinea mouse after learning about this.

  "Thank you to think about it carefully. You are the only case at present. You have fallen into a coma without losing control. This is a very special case."

  Merlin said again.

  "……"

  Lorenzo remained silent.

  He is absolutely vigilant about Watson as the pseudo-Holy Grail, something that must not be trusted.

  Lorenzo is still hesitating whether to reveal the important information of [Gap], and Lorenzo feels troublesome for the first time about this thing.

   "Then let's change the subject."

  Merlin did not continue to ask Lorenzo after seeing Lorenzo remain silent, but instead asked Lorenzo from another angle.

   "Do you understand alchemy?"

   "Alchemy?"

  Lorenzo can’t understand why this guy mentions this. If there is any deepest skill in this world, then it must be alchemy.

  A power unattainable by mortals, it is said that it is connected to ghosts and gods.

  Seeing that Lorenzo had some hesitation, Merlin continued.

"Alchemy... In fact, it can be regarded as the embryonic form of modern chemistry. In the era when it was born, human productivity was far less powerful than it is now. Just casting iron swords is a very difficult task, so alchemy was considered at the beginning. A metallurgical technique."

  Merlin said mysteriously.

  "Understand a substance, decompose a substance, and then recast it... Sublimation of cheap metals into precious metals, from the ordinary to the ascendant."

  "This technology has been continuously derived with the development of the times, and has constructed occultism. Many strange and weird things are more or less related to it."

  Meiling turned around and asked.

   "Then do you know why alchemy will gradually disappear in the world?"

"disappear?"

   seemed to have touched Lorenzo's thinking. Although there have been such traces, it is now clear that this once dominated mysterious skill is silently fading.

"Yes, the decontamination mechanism is also undergoing a replacement. The technology related to alchemy is slowly being phased out. New technologies are gradually replacing it. Perhaps it is not as efficient as alchemy, but it is enough to support the entire decontamination mechanism in today's production industry. Operation."

  Merlin said slowly, as the last alchemist of the old Dunling, under this situation, he seemed particularly calm and indifferent.

  "Do you know how alchemy continues?"

  The alchemist continued to explain.

"Modern scholars are willing to share knowledge, unite and love, and build academies, but the alchemist is the other way round. Every alchemist pursues the ultimate in alchemy, the deepest soul, the philosopher’s stone, and the sage’s Stone, or the panacea, these are just the illusory pronouns, what they are after is the kind of'sublimation in the soul'."

  "In the world constructed by alchemy, this is a balanced scale. There must be a sufficient price to achieve another extreme after the scale, the sublimation of the soul, and it obeys the conservation of energy."

  "In other words, it is limited..."

  Lorenzo replied subconsciously.

   "Yes, only a handful of alchemists can reach that extreme, and therefore every alchemist is in a competitive relationship."

  Merlin confirmed Lorenzo's answer.

  "This is a taboo knowledge, just like the erosion of a demon. It will magnify your inner greed, your incomparable desire, and be crazy for it! In order to pursue those that are enough to abandon everything!"

   "Every alchemist is an enemy!"

His words became more passionate and angry. Lorenzo looked at Merlin's hollow eyes. He suddenly had an indescribable fear, fear of the weird mystery, fear of the extremely abominable void in Merlin's eyes, as if it were just a shell. .

   "Calm down, Merlin."

  Arthur reminded him timely.

  Merlin's words paused, it seems that he did not realize his gaffe, and after swallowing, his voice calmed down again.

  "Sorry, I haven't talked about it for a long time. I'm a little gaffe. Alchemy is like this. It has great power, but it can also stimulate the most primitive greed of mankind, the greed for knowledge, and the greed that cannot be shared."

"Then going back to the continuation of the alchemist, we have a one-to-one apprenticeship system within us. All knowledge is recorded in the notes and passed on to the next apprentice. Each alchemist wants to ensure that his skills are not lost. When other alchemists get it, they will be equipped with the corresponding code book, even if someone else gets the notes, they can’t see anything."

   "But this also caused a very serious problem."

  Merlin said somewhat sadly.

  "Alchemy is very prone to technical dysphoria."

In the long research, each alchemist is independent, and they have different techniques, but once one of the inheritance is cut off, then the long research will be wiped out, and even the notes will be as few as one or two pages. It will collapse the entire alchemy system.

  "The inheritance of alchemy is still a crumbling building. Every time a heritage is broken, a stone brick will be removed. Modern science has shared everything. Scholars have spent their lives studying different directions to continuously strengthen this building."

   "Even if you die, there are books left, and some alchemy notes are eroded with varying intensity because they record knowledge about demons, maybe research and research will become demons."

  Merlin sighed as he spoke. Judging from his tone, he seemed to have suffered.

  "Then why not expand the enrollment? Under this situation, why don't you want to find more apprentices?"

  Lorenzo didn’t understand. Isn’t the best way to deal with the severance to find more apprentices?

   "I have been able to restrain my greed for knowledge, what about my apprentices? Not to mention that in the construction of alchemy, only a few people can reach the extreme."

   Merlin suddenly showed a weird smile. It seemed that everything in front of him was paving the way for the next topic. Lorenzo felt a little uncomfortable after sitting on the electrified iron fence.

   "Moreover, there is one more thing that leads to alchemy being destined to be abandoned by the times... You should have a deep understanding of Mr. Holmes."

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

  Lorenzo shook his head. After all, the old Dunling University didn't teach this thing, and he couldn't even miss the lesson.

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

  He smiled.

  Lorenzo's pupils shrank slightly, with an extremely vigilant gaze.

   "You mean it... is actually an alchemy notebook?"

   "No, how is it possible? I haven't even seen that book, but it has a very strange thing in common with alchemy, and that is the ‘core technology’."

  Merlin slowly revealed the truth.

"The Gospel Church lost the "Revelation" and lost the secret blood technology. Once the alchemist dies, the alchemy that supports the entire society will be cut off... To build a stable society that can fight against demons, use this kind of thing as a Core technology...Don't you think the risk is too high?"

This is the current predicament of the Gospel Church. When the Holy Night broke out, all the alchemists died, and the mysterious "Revelation" was stolen by Master Lawrence. The powerful blood secret technology was cut off for a while. .

"This is the reason why the decontamination agency gradually reduces the proportion of alchemy. Once I die, or if there is no apprentice to inherit, I will also fall into the same dilemma as the evangelical church. The use of modern technology is different. I am dead and the old Several excellent universities in Dunling will continue to send talents, even the entire Inervig, the entire 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 train crew will perform basic mechanical maintenance under the influence of many years.

"And this is not the reason why alchemy is destined to be abandoned. In the old age, its productivity was just right, but now it is different. This is the new age, the steam age, and the industrial age. We have the most powerful production line in the world. We no longer have weapons. It is the sword carefully crafted by the craftsman, but the modern weapon shed from the production line."

   "Alchemy is destined to be abandoned, I just speeded it up."

  Like a grand speech, and like a sad funeral.

  Alchemy funeral, funeral of old times.

   "Then come back to your driving the original sin armor."

  I don’t know why Merlin pulled back to the original sin armor again, like a deep-dug trap, and now he is going to push Lorenzo in.

   "Did you know that when you dragged you out of the armor, you were quiet and didn't react at all."

   "A look that reflects the glory of the revolution?"

   Lorenzo asked rhetorically.

  "I’m not sure what you look like, but I’m familiar with it."

  Merlin didn't care about Lorenzo's mouth-hustle. In his opinion, this guy was trying to change the subject.

   "What are you familiar with?"

   "You look like your soul is gone, transfer, or...sublimation?"

  Another corner of the truth was wiped away from the dust. Lorenzo kept the peace in front of him, but his heart was surging. If Merlin was not cheating him, then it is clear that the [Gap] is related to the ultimate...sublimation in alchemy.

   "Of course you can't achieve sublimation, and even whether sublimation really exists is a mystery."

  Merlin said.

  At this time, the door of the cell was knocked. I don't know who will knock on the door at this time, but just like knowing who is coming, Arthur got up and opened the door and took a black suitcase.

   "Then Mr. Holmes, it looks like the conversation can enter the second stage."

"what?"

  Lorenzo was a little dazed. Sure enough, these people had planned for a long time. The fact that he was in a coma in the armor just made the matter early.

   Arthur put on his gloves, then opened the suitcase, and took out something that Lorenzo was familiar with, a section of silver spine.

   "Silver Binding Bolt... Do you know that this thing also has alchemy skills?"

   Arthur asked.

  Lorenzo nodded naturally, not to mention the silver bolt, the power of the demon hunter was inspired by the engraved alchemy matrix.

"Then going back to the technical chronology I mentioned before, do you know? Mr. Holmes, this silver bolt's alchemy technology is far beyond what I know, and there are complex modern machinery on it... even some precision Even we can’t cast the parts."

   Arthur’s voice was a little horrified.

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

"But there is another contradiction. The productivity of the gospel church cannot reach this level. Its basic technology is not up to the standard. It is like you put the design of a steam engine hundreds of years ago. Know the principle of this thing, but they can't even smelt the most basic metals."

   Arthur took a deep look at Lorenzo, and he slowed down.

  "Mr. Holmes, we decided to reconnect with the Evangelical Church, just after the celebration of God’s Birthday."

  "……"

  Lorenzo was silent. He looked at Arthur in a daze, as if he didn't understand why he wanted to do this, or why he wanted to tell himself.

   "Wait... You told me that you want me to join it?"

  Lorenzo said that in the end, he had begun to laugh uncontrollably, first Medanzo, then Arthur, as if an unnamed hand was shaking destiny, throwing him into the center of the whirlpool.

  "I just think that as a cooperative relationship, plus your relationship with the gospel church, I have to tell you, and you are a demon hunter after all. You know the place of the seven hills, maybe... it will be useful."

   "No, no, no way, I won't go back."

  Lorenzo refused. He didn't even think too much. He looked at this cell and felt like a world gradually collapsed.

   "I will not force you, and this is just for sharing information."

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

   "Then, that's it for today, and you don't have to worry about what we will do to you too much. This cell will only take effect for 24 hours. We must make sure that you are in a state before letting you leave."

  Walking to the door of the room, Arthur said again.

   "Goodbye, Mr. Holmes."

  　 Go home, change first.

  (End of this chapter)