Chapter 162 Invitation
Hisham was holding the book he had bought and was about to tear open the outer packaging when he looked at his hands and stopped. He wiped the table with his sleeves, put the book on it, then spat on both palms, rubbed his hands together vigorously, and then wiped them on both sides of his clothes, leaving two faint black marks. Only then was he satisfied and tore open the outer packaging of the book.
Seeing this, several other mercenaries beside him followed suit, and this action spread in the tavern like a virus. For a moment, the only sound in this small area was the sound of spitting, except for background sounds such as "Who stole my book!" and "I'm missing a master-level book!"
Dolly took out the second intention survey form and asked those who didn't get the book to fill it out. She sat at the bar and counted the Mora. Every time she took a Mora from the bag, she wrote down a number and then put it into the Eye of God.
Hisham carefully folded the torn outer packaging and put it into his coat pocket, then turned to the middle page. After reading the written content clearly, he showed a confused look, and Harun beside him had already begun scratching his head.
"...I recognize these ones here. How do you pronounce this one? Hey, Harun, do you know how to pronounce it?" Hisham patted Harun on the shoulder and pointed out the unfamiliar words to him.
"How should I know? Why did you turn over so many pages? Didn't you read the instructions? You should first look at the symbol correspondence table and deduce the pronunciation of the twenty-seven symbols and the pronunciation rules of the symbol combinations based on the characters we know.
The words in the table that help us deduce the pronunciation of the symbols are the most commonly used words..." Harlan read the booklet that came with the book, glancing at the symbol table from time to time.
Hisham quickly turned the book to the symbol table page, and after reading only two lines, he could not help but move closer to Harun, pointed at a word and said, "I don't know this word on the symbol table, do you know it?"
"This word should be pronounced..." Harun thought for a long time before vaguely remembering the pronunciation of the word.
"Oh, it means 'water'! No wonder it looks familiar." Hisham suddenly realized.
He pointed to the three symbols after the word and muttered them twice, then moved his finger up and found an identical symbol. He muttered a few words and said to Harlan excitedly, "Hey, I figured out the pronunciation of this symbol! It's /k/, right?!"
"That's how I read it just now, it should be correct," Harun was also excited, "We can really solve it... Let's quickly sort out the pronunciation of the remaining symbols, and we must do it before the captain and the others. Now the captain and the others will not say that we are stupid anymore, right?"
Hisham: "I figured out another one. The pronunciation of this symbol should be /t/. How did you figure it out?"
"Just like you."
Hisham was happy for a while, but then his expression gradually became confused: "Wait a minute, what was the pronunciation of that symbol just now? I seem to have forgotten."
"/k/, would you like to write something?" Harlan said.
"Good idea," Hisham quickly borrowed a pen and thought for a long time. He wondered again, "How should I write it?"
Harlan was also stumped by the question: "Why don't you read it a few more times?"
...
Similar conversations were heard from other mercenaries. The previous sounds of laughter, scolding, and clinking of wine glasses were replaced by the sounds of books being flipped and chanting.
There were also many mercenaries who wanted to see what the so-called children's enlightenment book was about, but after flipping through a few pages they were attracted by the exquisite illustrations and vivid stories inside. A group of adults who were nearly 1.9 meters tall gathered together and took turns acting as translators. They read with great interest and completely forgot that these were gifts they bought for their children.
Some mercenaries read faster and had already turned to the end of the enlightenment book. Looking at the line of revelation written by the author, they were thoughtful and could not help but connect the story with their own situation.
"This is a step that will change your destiny, so study hard! If there are one or two sages among you in the future, don't forget Master Dolly who is selling you books now!" Dolly finally finished counting the Mora she received, and jumped off the bar with great satisfaction, ready to go to the next tavern.
...
Harold received a letter from the glass manufacturer, saying that they had completed the improvement of tempered glass. Harold was very satisfied with their efficiency and asked Kavi to go to the glass factory together.
The owner of the glass factory, Bischel, welcomed the two men into the factory with a beaming face. The three of them stood in an open area, surrounded by many boxes as tall as a person. In the distance, they could see several low houses, from which the sound of machinery operating could be heard from time to time.
"Mr. Harold, you really came up with a brilliant idea! Such a simple method can greatly improve the strength and various properties of glass.
Now our products can be used in large quantities in the construction and chemical industries, and our factory's product sales will definitely increase several times! Really, I don't know how to thank you." Bischer smiled.
"You're welcome. You supply goods to Master Dolly, and we are partners. The master has already paid your remuneration, so you don't have to worry about this issue anymore." Harold said.
"Thank you, Master Dolly. She is so generous, kind and has a keen eye. I was wondering why you shared such a good idea with me alone. It turns out that I was benefiting from Master Dolly. Cooperating with the most famous businessman in Xumi will indeed bring me opportunities!" Bischel said with emotion.
Then, he turned his gaze to Kavi who was standing beside Haroldt. "And Mr. Kavi, you want to use our new product to design a greenhouse for Mr. Haroldt? That's great! If your work becomes a landmark building in Xumi like the lighthouse in Omos Port, our business will surely flourish!"
Kavi doesn’t want others to pay too much attention to the economic value of his works, but he still nodded and responded with a smile to the enthusiastic businessmen:
"Thank you for making this material so quickly. It's only been a month. What does it look like now? Can I take a look? Only when I see the real thing can I decide whether it can be used as the main material for building a greenhouse."
"Of course, please follow me." Bischel said, leading the two to a low house.
"This is where we store glass plates. The various colored glasses we produced were originally used to make glass windows. The Ordinance House particularly likes to use colored glass windows, which give the interior rooms a sense of fantasy.
But this kind of glass is fragile, and high temperatures and extreme cold can cause it to break, especially when it breaks, it will produce sharp glass shards, which is actually very dangerous for residents living in buildings with glass windows. "
Bushell picked up a pair of thick woolen gloves from the table in the corner and put them on. Then he took down a small hammer hanging on the wall and moved a piece of glass to the felt.
"Please stand back and I'll show you how to do it."
As he spoke, he raised the hammer and gently hit the glass plate. The glass plate instantly turned into thousands of pieces of varying sizes. The "crashing" sound of the shattering glass made Kavi feel his scalp tingling.
"This is the ordinary glass we produce," Bucher said, moving another piece of glass with a side length of 50 centimeters and placing it on the felt. "This is the tempered glass we get after quenching and alchemical synthesis."
"Hmm? It looks no different from ordinary glass." Kavi couldn't help but walk closer, bending down and holding his chin to take a closer look.
Büchel: "Its light transmittance is similar to glass, but it is actually a little curved, not straight like glass. It should be easier to see if you look at it from the side."
Kavi: “I see.”
"Mr. Kavi, please step back a little and be careful not to step on the glass shards on the ground. Now I will show you the strength of this tempered glass."
After saying this, Bushell raised the hammer high.
“——Wait, wait!”
Kavi covered his ears and stepped back a few steps. At the same time, the small hammer fell and hit the square tempered glass, but there was no expected sound of glass shattering around. Instead, the tempered glass bounced two centimeters because of the impact and fell back onto the felt.
"Ah? Is this possible? This is glass?!" Kavi looked at the scene and opened his mouth in shock.