Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 528 Elements
The howling cold wind was mixed with scattered falling snowflakes and ice crystals. Spark City had just been heated for less than half a month, and even Harvey's castle's underground laboratory had already activated the heating device buried in the wall and ground.

Even in the daytime with plenty of light, the underground laboratory would continue to keep the illumination magic stone fully lit. Apart from the dozens of defensive alchemy beasts standing silently by the wall, there were only Harvey, Chris and Egno in the huge underground space.

"I say... will this really work?" This was the sixth time Chris asked. His nagging made Harvey resist the urge to expel him.

"We're only just getting started." Harvey stood up helplessly, handing the main control position of the lab table to Egno. "This is still the first step, the element separation stage."

The Stone of Life, which looks ordinary and no different from the cold pebbles on the riverbank, is now fixed by a metal base and bracket, quietly placed on a flat and wide laboratory table.

Next to it was a row of solution racks filled with test tubes, which contained the magic reducing agent extracted by Harvey from the living demon spirits.

Egno carefully took out a test tube, picked up a glass aspirator, and continuously dripped the diluted liquid into the surface of the life stone.

"Tsk... Logically speaking, the diluted reducing agent should be enough to make this magic stone with transformation properties react." Egno scratched his head, puzzled. "Is it because there are not enough variables? We can't soak the entire stone in the reducing agent, right?"

In the past, the three of them had conducted many groundbreaking experiments with the magic spirit extract, but the results were not satisfactory - this magical reducing agent was too unique, and the entire reduction process was uninterrupted, just like the life stone. Once the reduction reaction began... the final result was that the experimental target object completely precipitated all foreign impurities, becoming the most original and pure magic energy in the magic network.

Therefore, during the experiment, the reducing agent was repeatedly diluted with liquid magic energy, and the solution obtained according to the dilution ratio actually had a miraculous effect - at least in the preparation of magic potions, it could save the potion experimenters a lot of time waiting for the drug reaction.

"We're essentially starting from scratch, gradually increasing the reducing agent dosage. If we start with a high-concentration extract without dilution, and the Life Stone disintegrates... that would be a complete waste of precious golden tree heart and earth crystal core."

This is what Harvey earned with his personal reputation and verbal promise. It is just one part and is not inexhaustible.

Chris sighed, walked to the device rack by the wall, and with the help of the alchemist, assembled a set of mechanical tentacles onto his body. This was the second set of non-humanoid alchemical limbs made by Harvey after Reiner. While ensuring that the flesh itself is not damaged, it can be successfully installed on the human body through the torso prosthetic connection points. It is relatively lighter and more flexible.

"Your Majesty, if you insist on using reducing agents to change the properties of the Life Stone... For now, we can only use the exhaustive method and try all the ratios..."

Harvey saw what Chris did, nodded helplessly, walked to the lounge chair and picked up a cup of hot tea.

It is indeed slow and cumbersome for three people and six hands to operate it, so it is more convenient for Chris to have "eight hands" alone. After all, the mechanical tentacles are alchemical creations connected to the spinal nerves. In a sense, they are also the product of soul suturing technology. There is not much difference in using them from native limbs, and it feels like using one's own arms.

Harvey and Egno completely gave up their operating positions and simply sat aside with hot tea in their hands, watching the octopus-like Chris standing energetically beside the experimental table, completing the repeated experimental processes at a rapid speed.

It can also take into account multiple tasks such as experimental operation, reaction observation, and recording at any time.

Seeing that the diluted extract that was dripped onto the surface of the Life Stone but had no reaction was consumed more and more, the waste solution was sucked out again by the aspirator and drained into the waste liquid collection tank on the side.

Egno's heart sank to the bottom.

Without the ability to extract the natural elements contained within the Life Stone, there was no way to deconstruct its internal transformation model. Failure to fulfill the promise he'd made in front of the pure-blooded elves the day before would not only tarnish his personal reputation... it would also significantly hinder His Majesty Harvey's goals, hindering the entire Starfire City's grain production. "That shouldn't be the case... It clearly, clearly can absorb pure, scattered magical energy from other planes and transform it through its own unique properties. If it can absorb it, why can't it release it?"

The hybrid elf didn't care to maintain his composure in front of Harvey. He stretched out his slender fingers, dipped them in the teacup, and began to calculate directly on the clean and flat coffee table.

When Harvey saw this scene, his heart suddenly moved.

"Wait! Chris, stop the operation first!" He stood up suddenly, walked to the central connector, and instructed the alchemy beast, "Connect me to the central energy array. I want to enter the magic network."

Chris, whose experiment was suddenly stopped, looked confused. He subconsciously looked at Egno, who also didn't understand the situation, and hurried forward to assist Harvey in connecting to the magic network.

He put on the metal hood and activated the energy-gathering array, which instantly opened the magic network passageway...

The familiar feeling of dizziness came immediately, giving Harvey the comfortable illusion of being completely immersed in warm water. Ever since he swallowed and fused the magic core, every time he entered the magic network, he felt as if a baby returned to the mother's womb, with a strange feeling of incomparable comfort and warmth.

Sure enough! Beside the ever-expanding and contracting, irregularly shifting, mutated magic patterns, a ball of blue and white energy light quietly hovered within the magic network. A large area of energy lines surrounded it, deliberately channeled from them by Harvey. The living demon spirits, acting as sentinels for the magic pattern defense, swam freely and uninhibitedly, deliberately avoiding the ball of light hidden near the tiny lines.

The demons hated this ball of light, or rather, they were afraid of it... Harvey raised his hand and pointed, giving an order to a demon that had voluntarily swam to his side to approach. The demon paused, then reluctantly swam to the ball of light with its huge tadpole head.

The next moment, the quietly suspended ball of light suddenly extended a tiny bright tentacle, quickly and decisively grabbed the demon spirit approaching it, and slowly devoured it at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Is this... hunting? Is this how the Life Stone transforms pure magic?

It is impossible to absorb a large amount of magic power by just passively waiting for the evil spirits to approach. If Harvey had not given the order, how could it absorb a few evil spirits just by waiting like this?

With a lot of doubts in his mind, Harvey extended his mental tentacles again, trying to sense the demon spirit that he had just ordered to "die", but found that the other party was still alive. Although it was absorbed into the light ball... it was not immediately fused and was not transformed from a demon spirit form into natural elemental energy.

But Harvey could clearly feel that the demon inside the ball of light was constantly sending him response signals - lazy, expressing displeasure, praying to be freed, and an inexplicable feeling of helplessness.

The ball of light that appears as the Life Stone in the magic net is not an instrument for converting energy properties... but a cage and trap used to ensnare evil spirits!
Harvey suddenly realized that it actually relied on capturing and trapping the evil spirits, forcing them to do the "work" of magic conversion on its behalf, in order to achieve the generation of natural elements!
No wonder this thing can't control the catalytic process autonomously. It turns out that it's not operated by "me" at all!
……

Harvey quickly left the magic network space and returned to the real world.

As soon as he lifted the connecting hood, he stood up and laughed heartily, "I know the core of the problem!"

Their next experiment does not require "coding" the Life Stone, but rather issuing repetitive instructions to the demon spirits contained within it - and the Life Stone is essentially just a hardware carrier!

(End of this chapter)