Mac and I were treated to lunch by Nancy.
After lunch, we were in a room at the inn.
Nell took a nap after eating lunch.
Should I take a nap, too?
“Neko-san, after Nell-chan is my turn.
Please share whatever knowledge you have with me.”
[Why did you say whatever?]
The same applies to essays.
If you are asked to write freely about anything, you will not be able to do so.
Because there are too many choices.
It would be easier to write if we narrowed down the theme.
[Mac, you said you were an alchemist, right?]
“Yeah, can you show me something new about alchemy?”
There was nothing like that.
However, I was curious about alchemy.
According to some, the history of chemistry began with alchemy.
Having worked in pharmaceutical research, I naturally have more knowledge and interest in chemistry than most people.
[Let’s exchange your knowledge of alchemy with my knowledge of chemistry.]
“Chemistry?! What is that?!”
[Don’t raise your voice, you’ll wake Nell up.]
“Hmmm, Neko-san, not here.”
Nell talked in her sleep.
What am I doing in her dream?
“…Alright. My knowledge of alchemy it is.
By the way, how much do you know about alchemy?”
[You can use it to turn cheap metal into gold with the philosopher’s stone, right?]
“That was the old days. Now it’s all about generating and separating ingredients and accelerating reaction velocity.
For example….”
Mac takes out a bottle of water.
The glass bottle is very murky.
“This is where I will add the healing herb powder.
It usually needs to simmer for about three days before it becomes a potion.
[Kronos’ Blessings. Accelerated Alchemy.]”
The powder Mac threw in rapidly dissolved to form a reddish liquid.
“And that’s about it.
The reaction between the water and the healing herb powder is accelerated.
It requires chanting just like magic, but we can only use it on objects.
It doesn’t work on living things.”
Oh.
Mac, you’ve done a process that normally takes three days in a matter of seconds.
“All I can do is this accelerated alchemy.
The older ones can use denaturation and separation.”
Interesting.
This is fascinating.
Does it mean that it can accelerate chemical reactions?
Accelerated alchemy would be like using a catalyst in chemistry.
“Come on, it’s your turn now.
What do you have to teach me?”
Since we’re here, I’ll teach her the periodic table.
I write down the periodic table in the local language.
There was no immediate reaction from Mac.
Then I took out a pencil, said, [The graphite used in this pencil is mainly made of carbon,] and pointed to the carbon in the periodic table.
“Hmm, is that your own theory?
The main component of graphite is carbon, what’s that?”
[Carbon is also present in the components that make up plants, animals, and humans.]
“Huh. ……Wait, does that mean we can make graphite by using separation alchemy on plants?”
[Whether it can be made from plants, I don’t know. But where I’m from, they create artificial graphite from coal.]
In the modern era, pencils are made using a mixture of graphite and clay to make the lead.
There was a time when graphite was hard to procure, which was probably a last-ditch effort.
Although there is no such thing as a graphite shortage nowadays.
“Could we mass-produce graphite?
By understanding that periodic table, we can understand the true essence of an object.”
Mac, you are smart.
It will be worth teaching her.
I spent the next three hours until Nell woke up teaching her how to read the periodic table, its characteristics, and the representative elements.
Was that cat in previous life someone who could memorize the whole periodic table by heart? How come? That’s some savant ability, I guess you couldn’t find even one chemist among a hundred of them who can do the same.