Old-time musicians

"What do you want to do?..." Qiong took it in confusion, "Actually, I want to tell you that although elixir science has a relatively large mysticism component, it has a relatively independent threshold and is inextricably linked to natural science... Could it be You said that as a musician, you are ready to enter the field of chemistry to develop your own business? "

She lowered her head and opened the layers of folded paper. She first saw some glass instrument styles or connection diagrams that although not complicated, she had never seen before.

"A vacuum distillation device with an air pump? I didn't buy this one. I don't use it much, but I remember that your school has an elixir refining room. You need a special-shaped flask and a mechanical rotor that can rotate? This one doesn't exist. I’ve seen it before, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to assemble.”

Qiong looked at each item one by one: "Such a slender glass pillar? What do you want to use it for? The upper end is frosted, and there are openings and plugs below that I haven't seen before, but it's quite simple. It won't be difficult for the manufacturer to burn it."

"A glass ball with openings at the top and bottom? I've never seen it before. It's not difficult to make."

"A small cylindrical glass bottle with a lid? I don't know what you use it for, but it's not difficult."

"..."

"The rest of the list...a lot of small test tubes, capillary glass tubes, glass plates, and flasks are all common things. At most, they can be adjusted according to your size requirements."

"Crystal ball? Gem altar? I have plenty of them at home, but with such a strong sense of spirituality, do you need such an object that is mainly used to assist the ignorant?"

Fan Ning asked: "I want to start using it before leaving for the imperial capital. Do I have time to prepare these?"

"It's Monday today and we'll leave on Friday. That's three days to prepare. That's enough." Joan thought for a while and said, "Although some of your requests are strange, they don't involve any complicated inventions or are unusual. Glass shape, or modify some parts of the existing machinery. Let’s go to the sales point of an instrument factory I often visit to have a look.”

But she still asked uneasily: "Caron, what formula did you get, are you going to refine the elixir yourself? If you lack experience before, it will be difficult to succeed at once. It will probably be a waste of precious extraordinary materials... Why don't you let me Can I try it for you?"

Refining the elixir is by no means a "stew in an iron pot" as many people imagine: just boil a pot of water, pour in the raw materials and auxiliary ingredients in the formula in the specified order, heat and boil, and you will get a sparkling pot of water. of liquid.

This is definitely a stereotype or pure imagination of ignorant people about elixir refining.

Fan Ning had communicated with Joan and Cyndia before. He knew the actual situation and could easily understand why it was so.

——Elixirs are often mixtures of extraordinary components and ordinary components that are transformed into each other and then dissolved together in a solvent. However, most substances with extraordinary properties and ordinary substances are physically repellent. For example, as common substances Water as a solvent has extremely limited applicability in the refining process, and many simple organic solvents are difficult to use.

Therefore, the first important issue in elixir science is to study how to combine the ingredients of the formula organically instead of mechanically mixing them, while at the same time avoiding unnecessary and uncontrollable additional reactions at the "chemical" level.

The essence of the mysterious realm is chaos. If it is 'stewed in one pot', the combination will be forcibly combined. However, in addition to the transmutation required by the knowledgeable, there will also be a large number of unknown "side reaction" components, such as elixirs. The final effect of taking it will definitely be strangely different from the original expectation...

Therefore, it is necessary to do a lot of complex pre-processing of the raw materials, and to match them with specific emotions, prayers or ritual vessels. It is also necessary to consider the impact of different phases of the evaporation ratio of the radiant spirit liquid on the refining.

The waters of this subject are very deep and the ceiling is very high. Extraordinary materials naturally have a deeper connection with migration. In theory, using them well can play an essential role in transforming human beings. However, there have always been a handful of knowledgeable people who are willing to delve into this field and have the talent to achieve real results. The official knowledgeable organization can only try to have one in each branch, while the elixir experts at the headquarters belong to the organization. A very high-status talent.

Although he was a chemistry dog ​​in his previous life, Fan Ning never expected to become familiar with the laws of material change in this mysterious world in just three or four days.

"I'm not preparing to refine it," Fan Ning said, "but I am preparing to try to separate the extraordinary components of the few suspicious substances I have on hand. I was in such a bad state some time ago that I didn't start this matter. Now I have calmed down a little bit. ”

"Separate the extraordinary components!?" Joan's eyes widened. Judging from her expression, this matter was even more unreliable than refining the elixir.

"Caron, I told you before that once the extraordinary components are mixed, it is extremely difficult to separate them. This field is already chaotic. Even if you try to refine it yourself, you only know the initial formula. As for the final composition of the finished elixir, Most of the time, it is a confusing account. If the sample is obtained from outside, it is almost impossible to analyze the components. At most, some targeted experiments can be done to determine its application properties in certain aspects."

As if she wanted to persuade Fan Ning to give up her thoughts, Qiong thought for a while and then said: "You know, as far as I know, in fact, there are quite a few elixir formulas handed down today that can theoretically slowly and permanently improve the human body or The spiritual function even helps to explore the migration or climb the Hui Pagoda."

"Oh?" Fan Ning became interested when he heard this. "The few knowledgeable people I have met so far who are involved in this field, including you, the refined elixir is basically used to heal wounds, stabilize sanity, repair spirituality, and assist In terms of temporary sleep, etc., I haven’t heard of anything that can permanently improve physical or spiritual functions. You mean, do you know some such high-level formulas?”

"I know a few things." Qiong recalled, "For example, the 'Oil of Black Skeleton' can delay aging to a certain extent, the 'Blood of Grey's Dawn' can improve the body's strength and reaction sensitivity, and the ability to target people when passing through doors. 'Pure White Holy Ointment' that protects the spirit body."

"These effects sound alluring, but why do they feel so rare?" He was a little curious at this time.

And he suddenly realized at this moment, yes...it's more than just changing human body functions? Some high-level magical elixirs can even be used as keys, such as the one that Dean Gould took during his lifetime. Although that key is indeed worse, it is not ruled out that there are other spirits that can allow people to pass through the door safely. agent exists.

He began to speculate on his own about the reason why this type of elixir was so rare: "Is it because these formulas contain extremely rare migration substances? Or is it that the process of refining them requires too much spiritual control from the knowledgeable?"

Qiong shook his head: "They do need some rare migration substances, but this is not the core reason. Although many migration substances are expensive, compared with the effect of the elixir after they are refined, those secret or official knowledgeable organizations It’s still bearable. The main problem lies in the difficulty of separating extraordinary substances that I just mentioned——”

"The refining principles of elixir and secret atmosphere are similar, but the difference is that elixir is used to apply, smoke or ingest, so the human body's reaction to it is more delicate and sensitive... and the finished products refined according to these formulas Mixed with a large amount of hallucinogenic or lethal substances produced by chaotic transmutation, these formulas are just a piece of waste paper if they cannot be separated and purified.”

"There are very few cases that can be successfully separated. They are limited to specific operations under a few specific situations and require at least high-level spiritual control capabilities. This leads to the extreme rarity of such elixirs. The thinking of most elixir masters They all improve the refining process to minimize the production of dangerous substances that undergo chaotic transformations. Elixir with fewer side effects is already expensive..."

When Fan Ning heard this, he completely understood that it was similar to an organic chemical reaction.

False organic reaction: A and B react in the bottle and finally become product X.

Real organic reaction: The reaction between A and B in the bottle requires solvents C and D, catalyst E, ligand F, oxidant/reducing agent G. After the reaction for a period of time, there are both unfinished A and B in the bottle, as well as The main by-products X, Y, Z, as well as A1, A2 produced by A itself due to a series of reasons such as hydrolysis, rearrangement, oxidation...A1 and B produce D1, A2 and B produce D2, and the by-products are not It must be stable, and it will immediately decompose into Y1, Z1... The above situation will also change randomly with different solvents, temperatures, pH, catalysts and ligands...

Especially for more complex reactions, you never know how many substances are in that small bottle of yellow-black reaction solution.

I heard that the essence of the mysterious realm of this world is chaos? Learn about organic chemistry.

If the refining process of the elixir is really similar, then what if you end up with a bunch of stuff in your stomach? ...Fan Ning probably understands why Dean Gould ended up like that after using the elixir to forcefully break through the Knower.

Follow the elixir recipe? Just have hands.

The difficulty is always the details, optimizing the conditions, minimizing the chaotic transmutation ratio, and how to purify the target extraordinary substance after the refining is completed, or to characterize and analyze the suspected target extraordinary substance.

"Anyway, I'll give it a try." Fan Ning felt more confident after getting this information from Qiong, "I want you to help me select a batch of common reagents used to adsorb and dissolve extraordinary substances. "

"Okay... If you really want to try it, you can try it. It's quite fun anyway..." Qiong smiled at this time, "The purpose in your words is so clear, you seem to have made some preparations... However, if your If the method is segmented distillation, recrystallization, centrifugation, etc., it is recommended not to have too much hope... Do you have any directional requirements for my primary selection? Maybe you can come to my house and sit down. Dad has asked you several times if you have any. It’s time to go see the exhibition…”

"Let's talk about it after we finish the concert." Fan Ning thought for a while and said, "The adsorbent needs to be solid, sufficiently dispersed, stable enough in the solvent without swelling, and the adsorption ratio should be as large as possible... Silica gel can be used ”

"I don't know what you need to absorb." Qiong said, "I usually use some silicone dumplings to dry the water..."

"What I need is silicone powder. Can it absorb the extraordinary substances in the elixir?"

"It doesn't work under normal circumstances. In order for them to accommodate each other, some special extraordinary substances need to be mixed into the adsorbent powder, such as fusiliated particles, such as the ash produced by calcining and grinding the black body's light spot glands..."

"Then silicone powder." Fan Ning nodded, "Then the solvent. First of all, it should have properties similar to ordinary organic solvents. It should have a low boiling point, strong volatility, and weak interference with spiritual senses. Then it is best to roughly divide it into two categories. Listed, one category has better and wider dissolution properties for extraordinary substances, and the other category has relatively poorer and narrower capabilities..."

Fan Ning just wanted to try to use the mystical version of "column chromatography" to separate the extraordinary components of the mixture.

The main reason why high-level spiritual potions are so rare in this world is not that the formula is hard to find, nor that the migration material is too expensive, but that their subsequent separation technology is too backward.

Drop a drop of mixed pigment solution on paper, and as the moisture spreads, you can see concentric rings appear one by one - this chromatographic phenomenon has been discovered by the ancients, but the real application of it in material separation, that is, "chromatography", did not appear until the early 20th century in Fanning's previous life, and it began to develop rapidly after the 1950s.

As for this mystical world, although the overall painting style is close to the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in the previous life, some technology trees are obviously not lit up in the direction of modern development, and chromatography is one of them.

If Fanning's conjecture is proven to be effective, then those "waste formulas" mentioned by Qiong may all be refined into high-level spiritual potions in his hands, and they are high-level spiritual potions with a very high safety factor - as long as the lethal byproducts brought by "chaotic transmutation" can be separated out.

In this case, he could "return to his old business" and then sell off the unused spiritual potions. Would he still be worried that the symphony orchestra could not afford to buy instruments and pay salaries?

The confidence he had previously announced about the orchestra's treatment mainly came from the short-term record sales and publishing share, as well as the long-term orchestra management and painting investment. Apart from this, is this a new potential way to make money?

Then Joan accompanied Fanning to several chemical instrument companies and reagent companies for customization and procurement. Under the expedited request, all his miscellaneous expenses did not exceed 100 pounds, which fully demonstrated that music is the most expensive thing.

And the various extraordinary reagents Joan provided him... Fanning gave her another large bottle of 100% pure Yaozhi spiritual liquid.

Then, to thank Joan for the consulting service she provided, Fanning invited her to have a meal on the first floor of the Woodpecker Consulting Office - in fact, this restaurant had long attracted her attention, and she had tried almost all the dishes, but this did not hinder her continued enthusiasm, and the speed of developing new dishes in the Guidance School was always amazingly fast.

The two fought until closing time, and the types of food they ate included staple food, snacks, desserts, drinks, and seasonal fruits and vegetables. After deducting the friendship, Fanning spent a total of 10 pounds.

It was Thursday, and after finishing the last rehearsal at school at noon, Fanning went straight to the spiritual potion refining area behind the training room on the third floor of the Guidance School.

There was almost no one here except Cynthia, and after Fanning had made a request before, he was directly assigned to a room equipped with common basic equipment.

At this time, on the operating table where he sat, in addition to the things he had purchased before, there were three samples on the table: the pigments used by the workers of the Jinlangnia Watch Factory to paint the dials, the pigments purchased by the poorhouse (yellow sticks), and the pigments knocked down from the underground buildings.

The latter two were okay, with large quantities, but the only pigment samples left in the watch factory were only as big as a pitiful toothpick box, and the "radioactive" extraordinary substances that Fanning suspected were only at a certain concentration. If you don't use a chromatographic column, it is basically impossible to separate them.

"Carlon, have you ever considered wearing a white coat like this to conduct on stage?" Seeing Fanning sitting upright, thinking intently, as if preparing for a performance, Joan, who was standing by, felt very curious.

"I understand that he knows oil painting, but when will he learn this skill?" Sheeran's tone was full of interest.

Fanning turned his head and looked at the two girls' sparkling and curious eyes: "Joan, Sheeran, you two are watching so seriously, why don't I give you a task?"

"What task?" Sheeran asked subconsciously.

Fanning quickly tied the mask, then snapped a few times, threw off the dark green rubber gloves, and skillfully put them on his hands.

"Wash the bottles for me later."