novelonline Chapter 3333 Ink
Chapter 3333 Ink
Chapter 3333 Ink
The news of tomorrow's action will be passed on to the church by Miss Reinhardt's followers. The witch followers always seem to be good at doing this kind of thing.
And Shad was not idle that afternoon. The "Potion Merchant" had gone to his potion shop to pack up and had not returned yet. The meeting time agreed with Major Rades was next week, so he found some other things to do.
Shade had not forgotten what Luvia had mentioned in the morning about the ink for writing on snake sloughs. After lunch, he asked the two elders about it, but the elders said that although there were indeed some ancient documents written on snake sloughs, this tradition had long since disappeared, and they did not have any ink formula:
"But Claire's father has studied the composition of ink on ancient snake skins. He seems to want to determine the changes in the local writing methods. You can go ask him."
The witch had other things to do in the afternoon, so Shade went to visit the Rhinehart family alone. Today was Thursday, and Mrs. Rhinehart went to the town school, but the folklore professor did not go out and stayed at home.
He was not drunk today. After welcoming Xia De in and hearing about Xia De's problem, he invited Xia De to sit down and talk:
"Mr. Watson, have you ever heard of the changes in the way ink is made? Before the age of steam, most people used iron gall ink, which required soaking crushed gallnuts, extracting tannic acid, toning, thickening, and storing. The production process was very complicated, and the finished ink was corrosive."
He picked up the pen on the table again:
"As we speak, common inks are products of coal tar chemicals, which are cheap and easy to use. But according to my research, the ink on the ancient Fatu snake-skin texts is not the above two types of inks. It is mineral pigments. To be more precise, it is a product made of mineral pigments combined with other materials."
"Ore. Is it the ore from this island?"
The professor nodded:
"Very perceptive, yes. I spent half a year trying to find local minerals to compare and match the color of the ancient snake shedding text, but failed. Later, Elder Ursa told me that the unique dark brown color is like a mineral called 'snake scale stone' that is produced in the snowy mountains. This stone is named because the surface has patterns that resemble snake scales."
Xia De didn't expect to find the clue so easily:
"Then this kind of stone."
“To ordinary people, it’s just stone, but it seems to be some rare material to you extraordinary people. The snake scale stone produced in the snowy mountains is rare, and the Fatu people don’t have the habit of accumulating such useless stones.
So you can try your luck in the mountains, or look for it at the local black market.”
"Do you know about the local black market?"
Professor Reinhardt smiled and nodded:
“I’ve never been to the Clock Tower Black Market, but I’ve heard of it. I haven’t learned how to make pigments from ore, but I’m sure the pigments on the ancient snake skin texts are not just mineral pigments. There should be some special ingredients added to them.
But this is no longer within the scope of research for an ordinary person like me, so I did not continue to study it in depth. Perhaps you can ask some extraordinary herbalists or pharmacists. There are also snake shedding texts in the tribe. Maybe someone with extraordinary powers can use those ancient texts to distinguish other ingredients in the pigment. "
The best local pharmacist was, of course, the "potion merchant" Mr. Sargent. When he came back at 2:30 in the afternoon, Shade mentioned this to him. Mr. Sargent was of course willing to help Shade analyze the composition of ancient ink, and he even had "snake scale stone" in his collection.
"I rarely use this kind of stone. If you need it, just take it. I have never seen this kind of stone outside of Fatumonster Island. This stone should only be used by local ring sorcerers."
"This stone can also be used to prepare potions, right?"
The "snake scale stone" is not big and its shape is irregular, but its smoothest surface does have patterns that resemble snake scales.
"Yes, this is something I discovered only after living here for many years - adding some serpentine stone powder when brewing potions seems to help increase the success rate of brewing potions, but I'm not sure if this is due to psychological factors.
I am no longer the kind of pharmacist who cares about the success rate. I am more concerned about whether the effectiveness of all the materials is fully utilized. So I am just interested in this stone. It is useless to me to keep it here. "
"And what will the ring wizards of the island do with it?"
"When making alchemical items such as amulets, adding some stone fragments can make the amulet more effective, but the degree of improvement is not very large. There are many fortune tellers in the Principality of Lagerson, so there are also many ring sorcerers who can make amulets. The function of this stone has long been discovered, but the price on the black market is not high, which can well prove that it is not very useful."
As for distinguishing the composition of the ink on ancient texts, according to Mr. Sargent, every pharmacist who has achieved some success has his own unique method to distinguish the materials of potions, and ink can certainly be regarded as a magic potion.
Xia De then borrowed a copy of the ancient snake shedding text from the elders who were planning the All Souls' Day activities in the Snow Mountain Hall, and asked Mr. Sargent to identify it on the spot.
"Don't worry about breaking it. I have the ability to reverse time and repair things."
Mr. Sargent asked for a private room and spent half an hour telling Shade the result by the window:
"The main ingredient is indeed serpentine, but the other ingredients are a bit complicated. There are eighteen components in total, fourteen of which are considered common. I have listed them and you can find them yourself. Of the remaining four, one is human blood."
Seeing that Xia De had no expression, he continued:
"The content is very small, but I can't tell whether this human blood has any special meaning. After all, if the ink is made by ritual means, the selected blood may have symbolic meaning. For example, being born in a specific year or month, or having a certain bloodline.
The second is the solvent of mineral pigments. Before this year, I would have thought it was just water, but during my treatment, the elders generously prepared some snow mountain water for me. Yes, the solvent is that kind of expensive and rare snow mountain water. "
"Judging from your expression, the last two materials must be the most valuable."
"Yes, the third type is the root extract of a plant that is unique to the snowy mountains. The plant is called the 'tear gland fern', and its surface part looks like drooping teardrops. It only grows in the high altitude areas of the Fatumonster Snow Mountain. It can even be said to be the most famous and precious material on the island - it is one of the few materials that can enhance the stability of the 'bell potion'."
The awakening of the Ringmaster requires five steps in the regular process, namely collecting elements, ringing the bell, igniting, pushing, and singing praises. Among them, "ringing the bell" refers to shocking the soul and allowing the soul to undergo the initial sublimation. This step sounds complicated, but it is actually just drinking a potion.
Different organizations have different recipes, and the flavor, stability, and success rate of different recipes are slightly different, so potion materials that can enhance the stability of this unique potion are indeed very precious.
"Have you got any?"
Shade asked, and Mr. Sargent immediately shook his head:
"It used to exist, but it's long gone. The local Five Gods Church buys this material at a high price on the black market all year round. The price is really high, and you basically can't see it on the market. It is said that the church has studied whether it can be grown at high altitudes in mountains in other regions, but it turns out that the tear gland ferns can only grow on the snowy mountain outside the window.
The Fatu people must have lacrimal ferns. The potion made from this plant is a must-have for All Souls' Day. Every year, the elders prepare it six months in advance. But now that All Souls' Day is approaching, I'm afraid they don't have any extra materials to give you."
"I see. We'll talk about the herb later. What about the final ingredient?"
The potion merchant actually glanced nervously towards the door before lowering his voice at the window:
"It's incredible, but it's the Philosopher's Stone."
"what?"
"The amount is very small, and it is the material with the least amount of all the components of ink. I can guarantee that it is not a fake like the [Fake Philosopher's Stone]. It is indeed some fragments of the genuine sage-level relic [Philosopher's Stone]. It's incredible, right? It's just a text related to the history of the tribe, but the Philosopher's Stone was added to it. Were the ancient Fatu people very rich?
But the text itself has no special effect, so it's a waste. If I had the Philosopher's Stone, I would definitely use it to make a more precious potion."
But what Shade found even more incredible was that Mr. Sargent was actually able to identify the "Philosopher's Stone". This at least showed that this potion merchant who came here from other places many years ago had actually come into contact with and even had a deep understanding of the Philosopher's Stone.
So his origins must be unusual. Shade discovered that everyone on this island really has a secret.
However, although all the components of the ink were determined, Mr. Sargent was unable to determine the specific production process. According to him, the difficulty of identifying the ingredients of the potion, if it is like a limited competition between ring sorcerers of the same level, then guessing the production process of an unknown potion out of thin air is almost as difficult as containing an angel-level relic.
"Go find a fortuneteller and try your luck. This is the only thing this place is rich in besides watches."
He gave the best advice:
"Although the Prophet Association officially does not accept private work, as long as you have the connections, you can find almost any kind of fortune teller in the Principality of Lagson. Different fortune tellers have different areas of expertise. I heard that there are some who are good at helping people investigate emotional relationships."
Mr. Sargent even wanted to introduce some high-level fortune-tellers he was familiar with to Shade, but Shade refused. He did not want to have anything to do with the local fortune-tellers on this mysterious island for the time being. The first fortune-teller he met here, Mr. Mortis, was troublesome enough in itself.