novel-bin Chapter 61 The First Day of Work
Chapter 61 The First Day of Work
After finishing the business negotiations, Zag officially began his work.
Rowan's shop was much busier than Matthew's. From the moment she officially opened for business, many housewives came early in the morning. The best-selling items were some inexpensive but flavorful alchemical ingredients—which Rowan packaged as magical seasonings, the most representative of which was the dragon pepper.
Ms. Rowan somehow obtained yellow and purple dragon peppers and gave them special names to create a gimmick for selling them.
"This is Golden Dragon Pepper, a new variety from the south. That's right, the flavor is more pungent, and the magical effect is stronger. It's perfect for winter, it's in season!"
"The purple one? That's a Queen Dragon Pepper, a variety from Quen Island. It's milder and less pungent, suitable for those who can't handle spicy food but still crave magical effects!"
"Of course it will be several times more expensive! To be honest, I got these two special varieties through my own exclusive channels. They're the only ones in the entire Eastern Territory that have them. Even in other territories, probably only Holland and the royal family can easily get them. The price is definitely higher than ordinary dragon peppers! But if it's just for seasoning food in winter, it won't actually cost much, right?"
Zag was amazed by Rowan's sales pitch.
Ms. Rowan was a top seller; she sold a bunch of dragon peppers that looked no different from dyed peppers for exorbitant prices, while Zag's main job was bookkeeping.
He drew tables in the ledger, making information such as product names, prices, quantities shipped, and buyers clear at a glance. He even used this method to re-record the accounts for the first few days of the month in his spare time, much to Rowan's delight.
"Fantastic! This method is ingenious!"
Rowan flipped through the accounts made by Zag, extremely satisfied, and said, "If you have time, you can stay an hour later each afternoon, and I'll explain alchemy to you."
Zhage was naturally delighted: "Of course I have time, it would be my honor."
Compared to Matthew's flexible opening hours, Rowan's shop is very stable, opening at 10 am and closing at 3 pm every day from Monday to Friday, without taking a lunch break.
The short operating hours mean that Zag's working hours are also very short, which is much better than when he was a sentry.
Moreover, the weekly wage is as high as 45 shillings!
You can even learn alchemy for free!
This was his first formal and systematic encounter with mystical knowledge in this world. Zag was thrilled and waited for Rowan to finish organizing the shelves and checking the accounts before following her to the alchemy laboratory.
This is a completely enclosed space with no windows; even the room's door is a thick stone door.
Seeing that Zag was curious about the stone door, Rowan explained, "Alchemy doesn't require a high level of spirituality, but it does require a high level of stability in spirituality and magic. Therefore, all alchemy laboratories should ideally be completely sealed off, like this stone door. The bricks on the walls are made of white stone, one of the most typical materials that are immune to magic, which can isolate magic fluctuations."
Zag asked, "For safety?"
"Yes, for safety, but it's not just about safety; it's also related to the success rate of alchemy experiments." Rowan nodded, then continued, "You know, compared to the alchemists of ancient times who had very low success rates, modern alchemists have a very high success rate when performing alchemy. As long as there are no fundamental mistakes, they can almost achieve 100%. This is all thanks to these alchemy laboratories that can maintain a stable alchemical environment."
"I understand... Is this only true for alchemy? Or is it true for other fields as well?"
"Alchemy is not the only one with this problem, but it is the one with the highest demand for it."
As they spoke, the two arrived at the alchemy experimental table.
This is a round "table". The most eye-catching feature is a split glass bottle connected to a metal container. Next to it is a small glass bottle with a base. Then there are the runes on the table that are faintly shimmering.
In addition, there are two small concave plates embedded in the tabletop. The material looks like metal, and the color is silver-white with a barely perceptible iridescent luster, which is quite strange.
Or rather, the entire desktop was made of metal, the color of copper, but definitely not copper. Because Zag secretly reached out and touched it, and could feel that its texture was very special, with an indescribable, slightly vibrating sensation.
There were many buttons on the left side of the desktop, arranged closely together. Zag could only barely make out the words "Heat", "Stop" and "High", "Medium" and "Low" on some of the buttons.
Rowan pointed to the utensils on the table and began to introduce them one by one: "This is a distiller. The metal bottle on the left of the distiller is the collection chamber, and the split glass bottle on the right is the distillation flask and the condenser flask. This one next to it is a heating flask, and these two are heating plates. Their main function is purification, but different magical materials require different purification methods depending on their properties."
Zag asked, "What material is this tabletop made of? I feel a slight vibration when I touch it?"
"Mithril." Rowan looked somewhat surprised. "Your spirituality seems quite good. The stronger a person's spirituality, the stronger their connection with mithril will be. The simplest manifestation of this is being able to feel its 'vibration.' Don't worry, this is normal. Mithril is such a material; it has the effect of amplifying magic and elemental power, but at the same time, it is not easily affected and has high stability."
Zag observed the pale gold surface of the alchemy lab table and asked, "Mithril is actually gold?"
"The purest mithril, of course, is silvery-white, just like its name, like those two heating plates. But the higher the purity of mithril, the more expensive it is. Currently, only the Moonstone ore produced in the Silver Mountains of the Kingdom of Lunaran can be smelted into mithril. So when high-purity mithril isn't needed, people choose to add other metal components to create low-purity mithril. Although the effect is slightly worse, the price will drop to an acceptable range... For example, if this experimental table were made entirely of mithril, it would probably cost tens of thousands of gold pounds, which I can't afford!"
"Tens of thousands of gold pounds!" Zag gasped. "Even if it's mithril alloy, it's not cheap, is it?"
Rowan winked deliberately and replied with a smile, "Of course, this tabletop and the collection bottle are both 12% pure, plus these two 90% pure mithril heating plates, which cost me a total of 2280 gold pounds."
Zag clicked his tongue in amazement: "So expensive!"
Two thousand gold pounds—that's more than many people can earn in a lifetime!
Rowan nodded and sighed, "Yes, so alchemy and other mystical fields are games that only nobles and the rich can play."
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Mithril: A composite metal material smelted from moonstone ore. It is widely used in the fields of magic and mysticism. It can amplify the effects of magic and elements, but at the same time, it is not easily affected by magic fluctuations and has high stability.