The doors of the room burst open, revealing an energetic Roland and the man named Cheng Ye.
Nightingale stared in surprise, she had never seen Roland so enthusiastic since his first success in creating functional flintlocks. The two men strode quickly away from the study, both with sparkling eyes and constantly moving mouths.
"You're saying witches have supernatural abilities that can aid in the construction of modern technology?"
The Prince smiled widely in return, "Yes, and what's more, there are large deposits of materials lying around in this continent. The technology in this era has not improved enough to begin mass mining, meaning we have great amounts of materials to work with!"
Nightingale watched as they walked off, chatting like they had known each other for many years. Instinctively, she entered the Mist and followed the duo as they continued to discuss topics that would hurt her head just by listening to them.
'Tension, superposition, torque... only Anna and Scroll would be able to understand these two...'
The two men and Nightingale crossed the length of the castle until they reached one of the weapon research laboratories. Roland lead the way inside to the laboratory, there were a multitude of doors leading to several extra rooms, however he brought them into the main lab.
There stood an aged man with a deep frown upon his face. A thick book lay on top of the desk and several conical flasks and empty test tubes lay scattered across the table. Two vibrant coloured mixtures were situated in individual beakers quite close to each other and a copper wire, the ends dipped in both mixtures, connected the two.
"Why does this not operate? The theory is correct, however the reaction stops shortly after starting. There must be an issue here."
Roland coughed lightly, attempting to grab the man's attention, however he remained completely focused on the issue before him.
"Ahem, Kyle Sichi, could I have your attention for a moment?"
Kyle lifted his head is frustration before commenting quickly, "Do you need me for something? I'm extremely busy and I don't want to participate in another awards ceremony. It wastes a lot of time that could be used for studying!"
He turned his eye over to Cheng Ye before continuing, "And who's this man? If he's a new apprentice, couldn't you bring him over to one of my students. I don't have time for this."
Roland sighed once more at his Chief Alchemist's brash nature and his lack of etiquette before nodded gently to Cheng Ye.
Cheng Ye acknowledged the message within the nod and strode up to Kyle's work bench, "If I'm not mistaken, what you're making is a galvanic cell."
Kyle widened his eyes in surprise, "You're an alchemist as well? Where are you from?"
Cheng Ye smiled lightly before answering, "I'm from an extremely far place, however that does not matter." He paused slightly before diving directly in, "The problem does not lie in your current setup, rather, you need something to balance the excess electrons in the zinc solution. Try placing some potassium nitrate so that both ends contact the solutions."
Although Kyle was slightly sceptical, he did as Cheng Ye instructed and grabbed a small piece of salt peter, grinding it down to a C shape before inserting it into both beakers. Almost instantly, the failed reaction began to start again and the voltage testing device on top of the copper wire began to shift crazily before settling down at a point on the scale.
Kyle reached out his hand with respect, "Your understanding of chemistry is amazing! You must've understood all the concepts in Advanced Chemistry. May I know how I can refer to you, sir?"
Roland felt like puking blood, 'This man! You would never show respect to me despite my position however a random man that helped you do a basic part of a galvanic cell earned so much respect? How was this even fair?'
"AHEM, alright you two, I will be introducing you to each other. My chief alchemist over here is called Kyle Sichi, he's a sufficient researcher who has intense curiosities and a disregard for social etiquette. As for the newcomer, his name is Cheng Y... Kirit... Zhang Xua..."
"It's Janus my lord."
Roland turned in relief towards 'Janus' before continuing, "He's extremely accomplished in chemistry and mathematics and will be able to assist you in your inventions and daily research."
Kyle Sichi acknowledged the fact before returning eagerly to his work, this time adding different substances into the conical flasks and staring intently at the voltage measurement device.
"Rolan... Your Highness, may I see the current designs of your firearms?"
The Prince accepted the offer and lead Janus over to the military training area. Dozens of soldiers were lined up, parallel to a row of human shaped boards 100 meters in the distance. Each wielded a long, polished rifle, periodically reaching down for an ammo magazine and replacing the empty cartridges.
The targets soon became littered with holes and the instructor of the exercise blew a horn, "Alright! Take a break and have your lunch."
The soldiers saluted before relaxing and moving off towards several large tents, still carrying their revolving rifles upon their backs. Roland called out to one of the squads, indicating for them to come over.
The group of five jogged over and saluted to Roland, "Good day, Your Highness. Can we help you with anything?"
"My new assistant wishes to inspect the weapons," Roland gestured to Janus.
The soldier accepted with a smile, passing the revolving rifle over to Janus. Janus took out a notebook and pen, recording the flaws of the gun and improvements that could be made. Roland looked at the long list of defects, sighing in relief that he had finally found an experienced firearms expert.
Dozens of dot points had already been recorded by the time Janus finished, the soldier looked in surprise before taking the gun back. He saluted once more before jogging with his squadron towards the tents for a warm lunch.
"Do you know what I wish for you to do?"
"Yes, I understand."