Witch Troupe and the Undead

“Not completely, but we will recover some artifacts and ancient documents, which Instructor Livia is very interested in,” Roach said. “However, we may not participate in the exploration of the lost capital.”

“And if the barrier collapses further, we might have to leave even sooner,” Vilandella added.

"I see." Commander Augros got the best answer he wanted. He certainly hadn't thought that these big shots were really here to help the Empire solve the sealing problem for free. Those good people would have been overworked to death by the endless crises and messy affairs on the continent.

"Do any of the goods that the masters sell have samples?"

With a "thud," the little witch pulled out a small bottle and tossed it onto the table. Inside the bottle was a pink liquid: a "mild healing potion."

Used to accelerate wound healing and relieve pain, it is an external medicine and should never be put into the mouth. The first time Roach used this magical potion, he was influenced by his habit of learning from various fantasy works and poured it directly into his mouth, thus adding one more death to his list.

"..." Captain Augros had expected some earth-shattering, high-level potion, but it turned out to be a common potion that even an ordinary apothecary could make. There was nothing he could do; the cheap herbs available in the valley city were only enough to make this level of potion.

“I understand. However, for the safety of all the masters, it would be best to set up the stalls inside the camp.”

"Mmm!" Livia didn't really like being bothered by random people either, especially when she wasn't interested in them.

after one day.

The post station was a three-story brick and stone building. After being repaired by the survey team, it could be used as a barracks, inn, and medical center. A simple storage area for supplies was also built behind the post station.

The little witch's potion shop was located on the second floor of the post station building. The investigation team specially cleared out a storage room for her to use as a shop, and Roach had to squeeze into the same room with her. After all, the space here was limited, and being able to clear out a room was already the limit.

Most adventurers could only set up tents and camp in the surrounding open spaces, or sleep in stables and cowsheds. Even the head of the survey team, Augros, only had a room on the third floor that was not much bigger than Roach's storage room, which he used as his bedroom and office.

Considering the little witch's communication skills, the task of selling things was ultimately assigned to a certain useless mermaid, since she was the only one among the group who had nothing to do.

Alessina needed to serve as a guard; no one wanted to cause trouble or steal from a beastman warrior with keen senses carrying an unparalleled greatsword that clearly radiated magical light. That would be truly foolish.

Similarly, no one wanted to cause trouble at the witch's hut, even though there wasn't any defensive barrier around Livia's hut...

Don't forget, the one working in the field is a bull demon from the first level of hell, and the one supervising him is a high-ranking nightmare demon from the sixth level of hell. The difficulty of going in to steal things is such that, in Old Ma's words, it would be more reliable for them to choose to steal the treasure vault of the Dream Realm Lord than to have this idea.

At the very least, the lord's treasury is not guarded by sub-lord level guards. After all, demons of this combat power are all lord's assistants. In the future, the divine kingdom will rise from the status of gods and will not be sent to guard the gates.

There were quite a few potions for sale in the shop, but not many types. They were mostly things like "weak healing potion", "weak calming potion" and "stamina recovery potion". There were even fewer alchemical tools. They were mostly things like acid bottles and tripping pouches. The main reason was that Roach's signature products were really not suitable for this enclosed space.

Therefore, there was only one card on the shelf, which stated that for details, please consult Master Roach in person.

"The sales figures aren't very good." Leslie, who had worked as a sales clerk all day, said that she hadn't sold many potions, and Roach's alchemical tools had sold even fewer.

"Because adventurers won't go to the ruins to die in winter, the weather, the cold, or the demons could all wipe them out," Lums explained. "So it's normal that these kinds of potions don't sell well in this season." After all, if you don't go out, you won't get hurt, so it's reasonable that healing potions and stamina potions won't sell.

“However, disease prevention potions will be more popular this season,” Vivi said. Livia, who was standing next to her, tilted her head and thought for a while before pulling out a booklet and flipping through it. She quickly put her hands together, indicating that she had found a suitable formula.

The viscous green liquid swirled slowly inside the crucible. The little witch stood on a stool, holding a large spoon in both hands, vigorously stirring the potion inside. Only she could do this kind of mass production. If an ordinary potion master did this, it would probably result in an explosion or a pot of poison or some indescribable substance.

Only someone like Livia, who can precisely control the quantity of ingredients and the reaction rate, could make a large pot of potion at once, as if simmering soup.

The little witch, who looked like a housewife, had her blonde hair tied up in a white towel and wore a white apron. She dipped her finger in the potion, nodded, and waved her hand. The potion bottles on the workbench lined up and jumped in front of her. Then she poured the contents into the cauldron.

"Bang!" Livia kicked the furnace under the crucible, and the flames rose high. The green viscous liquid quickly bubbled up, and as the witch stirred it, the viscosity gradually decreased, changing from dark green to light green.

"Hmm!" The witch scooped out a spoonful of pale green liquid and poured it into the wooden box next to her, quickly obtaining a pale green, soap-like congealed substance.

"Antibacterial Stone" is the name of this alchemical potion. After it has completely solidified, it can be placed in any liquid for sterilization and disinfection, purifying drinking water, or used as a shower gel-like product. Just drop it into your bath water to effectively kill bacteria and suppress parasites such as lice.

The most needed thing for adventurers in winter is that taking a bath at will is a very troublesome thing in this season, and not bathing for a long time can easily lead to illness. In addition, well water will freeze, and water can only be obtained by relying on snow. Therefore, clean water is also a great need.

Soon, a wooden building appeared next to the post station, with thick curtains hanging at the entrance, from which billowing steam escaped. A wooden sign at the entrance read "Entrance fee: 10 copper coins." Next to it was a stall selling antibacterial stones, and Alessina was in charge of collecting tickets and selling magic potions.

Clearly, this idea came from Roach. In the northern winter, what's the most profitable thing? Answer: Bathhouses!

The water heating is powered by a rune device made by Roach, which uses the controlled conflict between water and fire elements to trigger steam explosions to provide heating and produce enough hot water. The only drawback is that the noise from these controlled explosions is quite loud, with hot steam constantly gushing out from the pipes at the back.

In a sense, Roach achieved the ultimate goal of the puppet automation faction's arcane sorcerer: he successfully created a magical version of an automation engine, although the engine's only function at present is to produce hot water.

Even after the little witch has drawn the arcane ritual field, there is no need to replenish the secret essence. It can be maintained for a long time by relying on the magic power of natural elements, which is comparable to a perpetual motion machine. Of course, it is not truly perpetual. In Roach's understanding, it is more like solar or wind power.

Once the environmental source energy is exhausted or depleted, its output will naturally decrease or even stop altogether. Before a certain energy storage mechanism is developed, this engine can only obtain enough fire source magic from the sunlight to operate when the midday sun is strongest.

The effect diminishes significantly by evening, producing only warm water for drinking, and stops completely at night.

"I've decided to name this device... Magic Energy Water Heater." Roach felt it necessary to change his bad reputation as the "Explosion Master," and this was a good direction for development, striving for the three modernizations of the other world.

Strive to become the "Father of Magical Electric Appliances" or the "Father of the Magical Industrial Revolution" in the future, rather than leaving behind strange names in history such as "the alchemist who killed the most people in history," "the father of dynamite," or "the blasting master."

Chapter 89 This is a small step for Roach

The magical water heater uses the conflict and explosion of water and fire elements to evaporate water and form large clouds of steam. This is actually a very common spell in arcane magic, which creates a large amount of high-temperature supersaturated steam to kill heavily armored enemies.

After all, even the most powerful super knight cannot guarantee that his internal organs are as tough as his skin and muscles. Once he inhales this supersaturated, high-temperature steam, his internal organs will be instantly scalded. Moreover, no matter how heavy the armor he wears, it is difficult to resist the damage from the ubiquitous steam.

In addition to simple high-temperature steam, there are also anti-metal spell effects such as high-temperature acid mist or high-temperature salt mist formed by mixing with earth elements.

"So, no one thought of creating such a simple elemental guiding system to continuously generate steam?" Leslie wondered if all the alchemists and occultists were idiots.

"Because the steam pressure and temperature generated in this way are too low," Roach had also thought of using this thing to make a magic-powered perpetual steam engine, but found that it was completely impossible. The steam pressure generated in this way was too low and the temperature was not high enough, so the work that could be done was too small. "It can only be used to heat and insulate the house and provide a continuous supply of hot water through the condenser pipes."

After several weeks of improvements, Roach upgraded the bathhouse, or rather the hot water supply, by injecting some of the hot steam into the frozen well, thus thawing the well water so that clean water could be pumped up manually.

This clean water is then added to the Magic Energy Water Heater, where elemental steam is converted into ordinary water vapor, which is then condensed into warm bath water and drinking water. At the same time, the condenser pipe is also responsible for heating and keeping the house warm.

So, those skillful adventurers and imperial soldiers put in 300% of their initiative and carried out a major expansion on the basis of the simple hot water shed built by Roach. Now it is a facility that combines a tavern, a meeting place and a bathhouse.

Of course, the main building materials came from the mermaid Leslie, affectionately known as the "shady merchant," and were cut down by Roach using his rune chainsaw. When Captain Augros first saw Roach chopping down those Black Forest logs, he wanted to remind him that these black woods were incredibly hard, especially in winter; even a steel axe would only leave a white mark when struck.

As a result, even the hardest black wood couldn't withstand the powerful magic of the rune chainsaw for long before being felled one by one. It took the little witch quite a bit of time just to process the logs into planks and building materials. Even with her magic, it was still quite difficult to break these logs down into planks and strips.

"To generate high-pressure, superheated steam, the arcane ritual field would need to be enormous, and the amount of magical materials consumed would be considerable." Roach explained why no one had invented a magical steam engine; after all, it was easier to just build a proper steam engine than to do that.

"In addition, I tested it, and the generation of magnetoelectricity here is a bit difficult..." Roach said something that no one present except the little witch who had accompanied him in the experiment could understand.

What is meant by mutual generation?

“It’s nothing,” Roach shook his head. In the process of converting kinetic energy into electrical energy, or electromagnetic force, there is an unknown intermediate factor at work in this world. In other words, the fundamental forces of this world are likely not four, but five. There is an unknown thing stuck between electromagnetic force and the other three forces.

As for further research, it's probably not feasible given his level of knowledge. However, if we disregard what this extra element is and simply bypass it or apply it, it's not impossible.

"Forget about that, let's not talk about that. Regarding what you wanted to ask, I have a sample here." Roach took out a spherical metal object. "It's a steam ball. As long as it's placed in the environment, it can continuously generate steam. However, the steam pressure is not high, so don't expect it to power any machinery."

"So, what's the use?" Leslie fiddled with the metal sphere, and a puff of warm steam came out of the nozzle on it, similar to the steam produced when boiling water. It would be fine to use it to make a windmill rotate, but expecting it to drive mechanical movement was really wishful thinking.

"Power generation," Luo Qi said succinctly. This world cannot generate electricity by using steam to drive a rotor to cut a magnetic field, but it can create a wind element field in a similar way, and then use the wind element field to create an electric arc.

Simply put, this is a device that uses magic to generate steam, converts the kinetic energy of steam into magic, and then uses magic to convert it into electromagnetic force. In the process of converting kinetic energy into electromagnetic energy, there is an extra magic in the middle that cannot be bypassed.

However, Roach couldn't understand the true nature of magic, a thing that could transform even the concept of nothingness and the human spirit. From the perspective of the Mystic Source Sorcerer's inheritance, magic is materialistic to a large extent and can be calculated and predicted through mathematics and the transformation of matter. But from the perspective of the Mystic Source, it also has many idealistic elements.

Ultimately, Roach could only understand that this world itself was a kind of materialism, or conversely, that materialism was idealism, completely different from his original world. Will and matter could be transformed and changed from each other. Matter could interfere with will, and will could interfere with matter. There was no distinction between idealism and materialism; it was a wonderful state of unity between the two.

"Huh? Lightning? What do you mean? You mean this thing can fire bolts of lightning?"

“No…” Roach felt it was a bit much to explain this to this illiterate mermaid, so he looked at Vivi, “In the refining science of alchemy, there should also be a part that extracts specific alchemical components through elemental effects, right? So what about electrolysis?”

"Is it extracted using lightning and wind elements? It's mainly alchemical materials classified as earth element."

"Actually, I think... the classification of the four elements is still a bit too crude..." Roach thought for a moment and decided that he should not challenge the basic principles of alchemy for the time being, at least not before obtaining enough experimental data.

However, it's strange that someone who studied history and archaeology is doing the work of a physicist and chemist here. You know, most of the physics and mathematics are learned in high school, and advanced mathematics is just a part of university courses for getting credits—you can't count scientific archaeology as archaeology, can you?

After all, the work I'm doing now is replicating what those big shots did two hundred years ago.

"However, this can stably generate electric arcs and stably extract corresponding elemental materials, but I still need to study the specific classification and research with Livia."

The little witch next to her squinted her eyes, looking at her with an expression that said, "My child is so successful that he can even help with the research project." Then she looked at Leslie with expectant eyes, and the latter immediately froze.

In this family, Vivi is a friend, Alessina is the cook and the doorman, Roach has risen to the level of a research assistant, so Leslie... should also have some special skills, right?

"If I had any special skills, I wouldn't be out here on land making a living." Leslie looked at the others with such pitiful eyes, but all she got in return was their indifferent and merciless stares.

The little witch patted the notebook in front of her, saying seriously, "You all need to read this." After a while, she added, "There will be a test!"

Vivi looked troubled, Alessina had a clear but foolish look in her eyes, and Leslie had a look of utter despair.

"Introduction to the Elements" was written by Livia after she was drawn to Roach's flaws in the theory of the four elements and the principle of the generation of magnetism and electricity. It was essentially a summary of their previous experiments, since Livia was far more proficient in mysticism and arcane arts than Roach.

Of course, she was also much less scientific than Roach. So, Roach was in charge of the scientific and materialistic parts of the notebook, while Livia was in charge of the unscientific and idealistic parts. The difference in worldview between the two parts was obvious to the naked eye. Vivi felt like she was going to have a mental breakdown after reading just a few pages.

On one side are cold, ruthless numbers and rigid rules, and on the other side are purely emotional perceptions and various conceptual resonances. But the most absurd thing is that the final results of both things actually match.

It's like this: on one hand, a flying machine was created through precise calculations, careful research, and control of various variables; on the other hand, I figured I could make this piece of wood fly by attaching feathers to it. In the end, both of these things flew, and their performance was exactly the same.

You tell yourself that one of these two completely contradictory things must be wrong, but in the end, reality tells you that the earth is fucking round, and these two things can actually converge.

Luo Qi thought it was normal for Vivi to have this mentality. He didn't think so when he was writing it, but after he finished writing it and compared the answers with the Little Witch, and summarized it, he found that even he couldn't understand what this nonsense was. He thought that when the scientists on Earth first came into contact with quantum mechanics, they were probably in a similar state to him now.

"I don't understand," Alessina displayed the reaction a barbarian should have. After carefully reading every page of the Introduction to the Elements, she calmly told the little witch that she didn't understand a single word.

"I think I understand now. This is saying that the wind element is not actually a single element, but rather formed from at least four elements, right?"

Livia stared blankly at Leslie, her large emerald eyes widening and dilating. After a long while, she angrily threw the book at Leslie. "I didn't understand it! Absolutely not!"

"Actually, it's wrong to think of the wind element as 'wind.' It's a collection of different manifestations of a certain elemental field. From this, we can deduce that the fire element and the wind element are actually different manifestations of the same thing. The difference lies in the energy level and form of their constituent elemental fields."

The little witch opened her hand, and the air swirled in her palm. As the speed of rotation increased, it gradually became red-hot, eventually turning into a blazing flame. Then the flame turned back into hot air, and the rotation of the air gradually decreased. When the movement of all the air particles was compressed to a certain limit, the moisture began to condense, eventually turning into tiny snowflakes.

“Simply put, I call this thing a ‘kinetic field.’ The wind and fire elements are actually different energy levels and manifestations of the kinetic field,” Roach added. “Therefore, it can be seen that the four elements may ultimately be one thing, or of course, they may be completely different things.”

After all, the kinetic field theory really can't explain the changes in material particles and the control of gravity under the earth element classification. Roach suspected that the difficulty was probably no less than having quantum mechanics explain gravity. He was already a national treasure-level scientist on Earth with that ability—what kind of scientific feat is the unification of four forces?!

Although he and the little witch successfully combined the wind and fire elements of magic in this world, which is probably no less than the achievement of combining electricity and weak force, at least his system really gave him a great achievement.

[Great Achievement: Elemental Celestial: Explain the essence of at least three elemental forces and complete the corresponding works.]

"So, you mean... you and Miss Livia, the two of you, successfully merged two elements into one, or rather, it is essentially a manifestation of one element?" Vivi was the only one here who understood.

“Yes, dynamic elements,” Livia said seriously. There is still a lot to study about this part. In addition to modifying the ritual part of arcane magic based on this, potion making, alchemy refining, and item making may also undergo a series of changes as a result.

"So where does this kinetic energy field come from?"

"I don't know," both Roach and the little witch answered in unison. Roach couldn't understand why a field imbued with kinetic energy could be created by visiting ritual items and some kind of spiritual connection. The little witch didn't understand how such a question, similar to why the sun is round, could be asked. She really didn't know, because creating a kinetic energy field was as simple for her as breathing.

Leslie's question caused Livia to fall into a state where her breathing was completely automatic and didn't require manual control. It took her a while to come to her senses, and she kicked her hard.

“Leslie, if I knew the answer to this question, they wouldn’t call me a master, they would call me a sage.” Roach was speaking the absolute truth.

Being able to name this thing a kinetic field is already the greatest achievement of his life. It might even be recorded in textbooks a few hundred years from now. Even if the theory is wrong, it is still a big step forward. Oh, provided that this thing is not lost, like the inheritance of a secret source sorcerer.

"So, I still don't understand what the purpose of this steam sphere and this Introduction to Elements is?" Leslie said, indicating that she still didn't understand.

“Stupid!” Vivi shook her head. “Steam spheres can be used to set up electrolysis arrays, so that alchemical materials can be mass-produced and the electrolysis process can be completed without secret rituals or essences, which means that the price of alchemical materials will drop significantly.”

"As for the introduction to elements, well, I don't know what it's useful for, although it makes some sense..." In terms of practical application, I still don't know what specific uses it has, after all, the transformation of theory into application is a specialized academic field.

Of course, everyone still gave the little witch some face and didn't say to her face that this thing was completely useless.

However, the steam ball had a much wider range of uses than Vivi had imagined, and it quickly became the best-selling product in Livia's alchemy shop. Almost every adventurer bought one, not to make alchemical materials, but simply to keep warm.

In winter, the usefulness of such a near-perpetually working tool that can provide hot water and steam every day is something that Vivi, a dragonborn who is not afraid of the cold or heat, cannot understand. With the help of the steam ball, the adventurers dared to take advantage of the reduced activity of the demons in winter to explore the outer ruins and made quite a few gains.

As for "Introduction to the Elements," frankly, the mystics and alchemists looked at Roach and Livia as if they were madmen and heretics. However, given their fighting prowess, especially Roach's guttural screams and the chainsaw-like cutting of blackwood as if it were driftwood, they didn't express their dissatisfaction or doubts openly. After all, what's more terrifying than a madman? A madman wielding a chainsaw.

"Hey, Old Ma, can you understand this?" Alessina asked curiously as the black horse collected the little witch's manuscripts one by one and copied them with magic.

“I don’t understand it, but I know this thing will definitely be a collectible in the future,” Black Horse said confidently. “Do you know what the safest way for long-lived species like us is to get rich?”

"Ok?"

"When you're young, you can just buy some handicrafts, blow up the workshop, and when you're middle-aged and need money, those things you bought back then have become rare antiques."

"..." Although it sounds reasonable, shouldn't immortal beings need to make money through such a heartbreaking method? They could easily make a fortune over several hundred years by learning or doing just a few things.

"Look at these young ladies' works. In a few hundred years, I'll bind them together and label them as mysterious magic books by powerful ancient witches. What do you think of that potential?"

As for what's written inside, that's not important; appreciation potential is what matters. It's like saying that all the demons in hell are geniuses. In reality, many demons don't know anything, but they know what things will appreciate in value, so they sign contracts to buy them in advance!

"So, who do you plan to sell it to?"

“There are plenty of fools in this world who are willing to spend money. Many of these fools can’t even understand a single word, but that doesn’t stop them from putting a few magic books on their bookshelves to prove they’re not ignorant fools.” Black Horse exhaled heavily.

Chapter Ninety: Livia's Mother (Charlie's face)

Rock Tower County is a frigid hell second only to the northern provinces in winter. It only had a few days of sunshine, as if giving people a sense of preparing for winter by getting fuel, before heavy snow began to fall. Even the Black Forest began to lose its leaves in the cold, leaving only branches like steel thorns and long streaks of frost.

In this weather, Livia unusually changed into a thick outfit: a cloak with white fur trim and a thick long skirt, with an extra white apron. Underneath the skirt, she wore something resembling thermal tights and a pair of thick boots made of three-eyed monster leather by Lumus.

"Master Roach, are you very afraid of the cold?" Everyone looked at Roach, who was wrapped up tightly. As a dolphin-type mermaid, Leslie's attire was not much different from her usual clothes, except that she had added a fringed cloak. It was unclear whether it was because of the amazing cold-proof ability of her subcutaneous fat or some other unique cold-resistant skill.

As for Alessina, it's simple. She deactivates her human form and attacks in her Fury 3 form. The severe cold is nothing more than a gentle breeze to her. Her fluffy, hollow, thick fur, like that of an Arctic fox, is like a thick down jacket.

"Aren't you all cold?" Roach felt that the cold wind was like a bone-scraping knife, making his bones ache, and he had to wrap himself up like a bulky snowman.

"To be honest, the climate here is not bad compared to the North," Lums replied seriously. Compared to the northern provinces on the plateau, Rock Tower County can be considered to have a pleasant climate. There, it is cold for eight months of the year, with only a short warm period of two or three months where some cold-resistant fast-growing crops can be grown.