Chapter 1009: Academic

"Good morning, Princess Lei Lei Qianya."

At 9:00 AM on Friday, at the entrance of the Great Hall of the Third National Mechanical Academy of the Delarion Kingdom in the Tobesk University District, Xia De greeted the Princess wearing a rabbit fur windproof cloak.

Princess Lei Lei Qianya was visiting this academy today and listening to several lectures.

Xia De was not originally invited, but Director Director Anluosi gave him a pass here on Monday. After a few days of "learning a foreign language," this Princess and Xia De became more familiar. She probably misunderstood the reason Xia De came here, thinking he was here to protect her, so after seeing Xia De from afar, she greeted him to come closer and say a few words, and then arranged for him to join the accompanying visiting team.

Higher academies in the steam age were also very fresh places for outsiders. The towering castle-style buildings and the garden-like academy environment made the inside and outside of the academy not look like the same era at all.

The ancient academy system followed the scenery of the old era, but in this era, civilians who passed the assessment were allowed to enroll.

Princess Lei Lei Qianya was dressed up today. Because she had inquired in advance, her itinerary today had nothing to do with history, folklore, and other majors, so Xia De was very relieved about the safety problem of this day. The Princess was mainly here to visit the academy's basic physics, mathematics, mechanical majors, and architectural majors, and the reports she listened to were all related to this.

In addition to the members of the visiting delegation, the accompanying personnel also included officials from the City Hall, reporters, and the academy's own accompanying personnel.

Everything looked normal. Xia De, wearing the winter warm formal wear sent by Miss Jia Lin Na's maids, followed at the end of the line and visited the school buildings of the Third National Mechanical Academy of the Delarion Kingdom, finding that the accommodation conditions of the students in this era were surprisingly good. Although there were no summer cooling devices, the size of the dormitory and the usable space were much better than the school when the outsider was in his hometown;

When visiting the laboratory of the Physics Academy, a professor who looked very excellent and bald demonstrated a simple pinhole imaging experiment and used a large steam engine to drive pulleys and levers in a darkroom to demonstrate a set of quite complex coal gas lamp projection devices. The filter used to maintain stable light source output was the most expensive part, and the stench of machine oil and lubricating oil mixed in the darkroom was the most unbearable smell;

In the laboratory of the Mechanical Academy, the local professors demonstrated a "vacuum cleaner" that had just been patented. The brass-colored vacuum cleaner body was abnormally huge, but the effect was very good. After using filter cloth and steam pressurization, the principle of which the outsider did not understand, the vacuum cleaner could effectively suck away most of the stains. Princess Lei Lei Qianya was even invited to try it out personally and took a few photos to be published tomorrow. Although it was currently limited by its size, this new type of machine could not be promoted on a large scale, but solving this problem would be a very economically effective invention.

But the visiting process also encountered some unpleasant things. When visiting the new type of milling machine in the academy's factory, the huge noise generated by the mechanical operation caused Viscount Bolangming, who was accompanying Princess Lei Lei Qianya—a 51-year-old old gentleman—to faint directly.

This small episode did not cause much chaos, but it was recorded by reporters, which made the gentlemen from the City Hall quite unhappy.

"The development of technology always has a price."

Xia De, who was mixed at the end of the crowd, was watching the Viscount of the Southern Kingdom being carried away on a stretcher, and a familiar voice came to his ears. Turning his head to look, it was a lady wearing a red-top and black-bottom long skirt, holding a silver notebook in her hand.

Xia De was stunned for a moment before saying softly:

"Long time no see, Miss Wei Te, since the card game at the Lake View Manor."

Actually, it was Miss Miss Pawo, the vice president of the Truth Society. Xia De didn't expect that she would dare to appear in such a place.

"Long time no see, Mr. Hamilton."

The Ring Mage asked with a smile, and then looked at the old gentleman being carried away just like Xia De:

"Don't worry, this should be a heart disease attack stimulated by the noise. I saw that the servant had just fed him medicine mixed with rum, so there will be no life danger."

If he didn't know her true identity, Xia De would definitely think this was a knowledgeable noble lady.

Although the Viscount's fainting had nothing to do with the factory, the visiting team still left here temporarily, preparing to visit the next destination, which was the model of the new type of locomotive being manufactured in the academy.

Xia De didn't think about reporting this dangerous Ring Mage now. She dared to appear, so she naturally had the confidence to leave, but Xia De didn't want to walk with her either. However, Miss Miss Pawo seemed determined to follow Xia De, so she walked with him at the end of the crowd, following the gentlemen and ladies in front toward the south.

"Science is so fascinating. Small steam engines are probably the most important invention in the last thousand years."

Miss Miss Pawo exclaimed. Xia De quite agreed with this, but just nodded, hoping that this lady could see his coldness.

But the Ring Mage didn't actually care about Xia De's attitude; she was just looking for someone to chat with:

"The Wei Te family has invested in some fresh inventions. In this era, if you want to change your class, reasonable investment is indispensable."

"Then what has the Wei Te family invested in?"

Xia De pretended to be curious and asked casually. It would be very strange if he didn't say a word.

"For example, the new type of locomotive engine we are about to visit, a unique steelmaking method, an interesting single-person two-wheeled mobile tool that relies on human pedaling to move, oh, and a four-wheeled vehicle driven by a small steam engine. I am very optimistic about the fourth one, but unfortunately, it is still only at the blueprint theory stage."

Miss Miss Pawo said regretfully. Xia De tried his best to control his expression and the urge to express his views on the above inventions.

"Mr. Hamilton, I know your main business is a detective, so have you considered investing your savings in new inventions?"

She asked Xia De again. A group of people were currently crossing the tower bridge between the towering buildings. This was the landmark building of this school and had a history of at least 300 years.

"Investing in inventions?"

Based on the idea of saying less and making fewer mistakes, Xia De blurted out casually. Somehow, he thought of what he saw and heard in the Fifth Era 5177, so he said:

"I have considered investing in the chemical field. The clothing we wear today is biological fiber biological products, silk, cotton, linen, animal fur, and so on. Although the improvement of textile machines has allowed the textile industry to rely on biological products to get great development, I am thinking, maybe we can try to synthesize and manufacture artificial fibers through the chemical industry."

"Chemically synthesized artificial fibers?"

Miss Miss Pawo raised an eyebrow and turned left with Xia De as the people followed. The two Ksenrik gentlemen in front were commenting on the academy's scenery, and the Ksenrik language with a local accent was criticizing that the glory of the nobility had been lost here.

"I have never heard that artificial can synthesize textile fibers, and even this kind of idea has not been thought of."

Miss Miss Pawo became interested, and she said with a smile:

"Knight, you have ideas. Although this sounds incredible, once successful, you can use artificial fibers to challenge the monopoly of biological fibers. If you can reduce the cost of chemically synthesized fibers to..."

"No, no."

Xia De immediately shook his head. He brought up this topic, not to let Miss Miss Pawo admire his wisdom, but to let the other party think he was an incurable person. The last adventure of the time key in the Fifth Era 5177 gave him inspiration:

"I didn't think so much. It's like this. The elasticity of the clothing material now is too poor."

He pulled his black coat and tugged at his scarf:

"For example, the initial stockings were worn by men. At that time, stockings were hand-knitted, requiring special materials and high manual costs. Later, ladies discovered the charm of stockings, and we invented efficient knitting machines decades ago, allowing most of the beautiful girls in the city to wear a pair of beautiful stockings."

Xia De nodded, and Miss Miss Pawo pursed her lips and looked at him suspiciously.

"But this is still not enough. Even if efficient knitting machines reduce the cost of stockings, the elasticity and transparency of the stockings themselves are still not enough."

"Hmm... transparency?"

Miss Miss Pawo was not an outsider and had not really seen the extravagance of the Ring Mage Emperor of the Fifth Era, so she could not understand Xia De's words for the time being. Her lady's long boots stepped on the stone road under her feet, subconsciously recalling what she was wearing under her thick long skirt.

"Yes, besides transparency, there is elasticity. Because the elasticity is not enough, the stockings of girls now still need garter belts to fix them to prevent them from sliding down while walking. But if the elasticity is sufficient, not only is no extra garter belt needed, but even for the surface of the stockings, as long as you gently pull... cough, cough."

Xia De paused and added:

"Of course, I admit that the garter belt itself is very good, but I think, since we cannot find a light and thin material with elasticity in biological materials, can we synthesize an artificial fiber material that meets the requirements through chemical means to show the beauty of girls' legs..."

Speaking of this, he seemed to have just noticed what he was saying, smiled and shook his head:

"Sorry, these words are a bit indecent. Miss Wei Te, just pretend I didn't say anything."

Xia De wanted to end the topic like this, and the Ring Mage indeed did not continue to talk about it. Although the values of Ringed Ringed Shushi were somewhat different from ordinary people, in such a public occasion, talking about the legs of ladies with a strange man, no matter who it was, would not open their mouths.

"Chemistry is indeed magical."

Miss Miss Pawo said, looking like her enthusiasm for talking to Xia De had decreased a bit:

"Synthesizing substances that have never existed before, this is something people in the past could not imagine."

"Maybe not never existed, just not discovered yet."

Xia De said in a relaxed tone, and Miss Miss Pawo nodded:

"I once thought, if chemistry can synthesize all things with basic materials, can it synthesize the components of the human body?"

She was very good at introducing the topic into a dangerous direction.

"This belongs to the legendary alchemy."

Xia De said with a smile:

"This is not a problem in the chemical field. Alchemists who study ancient alchemy also claim that they can refine coal into gold."

"Yes, the Philosopher's Stone in the rumors."

Miss Miss Pawo also smiled. The "Philosopher's Stone" had a great reputation even among ordinary people, and books on mysticism, true or false, always liked to add terms like "Philosopher's Stone."

After all, turning stones into gold and immortality represented the most fundamental desires of human beings. ===== CHAPTER 1010 =====