"Little Lin Ke... thank you."
Ove looked at his disciple, filled with emotion: "If it weren’t for you, I don’t know when I would have been able to break through to the Star-level."
Star-level, a level below the Legendary, the closest to Legendary.
Legends and deities are like stars, and Star-level signifies having a part of the Legendary might.
And after Star-level, comes Legendary.
From level twenty to twenty-one.
That’s a major hurdle that countless Star-levels and Sub-Gods are trapped by.
Once you cross that hurdle, it’s like the sky is the limit.
"Teacher, what I said just now wasn’t important. The important thing is the path you have walked before; those accumulations are the key to your promotion."
Lin Ke was truly happy that his teacher could break through.
Not just because of the teacher-student relationship, but also because it meant that Lin Ke’s backer was now even stronger.
Star-level, that’s really something!
One could say it’s the strongest below the Legendary.
"The path I walked before wouldn’t have been enough without your push..."
Ove was laughing happily, his face beaming with joy: "Well, let’s go for a walk, didn’t you want to make paper with plant fibers?"
Lin Ke was also happy, but there was something else bringing joy: "Teacher, I might have to trouble you a bit more... um, I mean, could you stop your meditation for a while?"
He was rather embarrassed.
Ove agreed without hesitation: "Sure, after reaching level fifteen, or even ten, meditation isn’t that important anymore; what’s important is gaining feedback from one’s profession."
Lin Ke sighed in relief: "That’s good. Teacher, I suddenly discovered something else that might be useful." He pointed at the crystals under Ove’s feet.
"Hmm? What’s up with this sand?"
Ove looked down, confused: "Just some shiny sand, not as hard as diamonds, just looks good, and not very useful."
Given the combat power of this world and the occasional fires and lightning, porcelain and glass should have appeared already.
If Lin Ke didn’t know about the usefulness of glass beforehand, he would have likely overlooked those shiny things too.
"Teacher, how about a bet?"
"Oh? What would the bet be?"
Ove looked at Little Lin Ke with interest.
"I bet that in research, this stuff is no less useful than diamonds, even more useful in many cases."
Lin Ke pointed at the mixture of sand and glass.
Ove looked at his feet, then at Lin Ke’s expectant eyes: "Alright, then what’s the wager?"
"Wager? If I win, teacher, you’ll agree to be a worker for four months, specializing in making this stuff. If I lose, um..."
What if he loses? He just wouldn’t lose!
But there has to be a wager.
However, Ove lacks nothing.
It is Lin Ke who needs Ove, not the other way around.
"If I win, you have to give me the first gold coin you earn." Ove chuckled softly: "Our Little Lin Ke should be able to earn money by himself, right?"
"Teacher!" Lin Ke immediately looked up, eyes full of gratitude: "Alright!"
"Tell me, what do you want to do?"
Originally, Lin Ke planned to go back and research how to make paper, but now that he had glass, he decided to build a glass factory instead.
However, he needed to go back and recall the process of glass-making thoroughly.
"Teacher, making this stuff requires some tools. Can we do it tomorrow? Today, could you trouble yourself to build another factory?"
Lin Ke pointed to the empty space next to the paper mill.
This area was extremely spacious, one of the reasons Lin Ke chose this site was because of the large ground.
Ove: "Exactly the same?"
Lin Ke nodded, so under Ove’s control, a similar building rose from the ground.
The processes of glass-making and paper-making are different, so the buildings shouldn’t be the same, but detailed adjustments can be made once the other materials are gathered.
After finishing this, Lin Ke and Ove returned to the castle rooftop.
The castle rooftop was extremely spacious, a circular platform where only the tops of the arrow towers were visible, with a panoramic view of the surrounding area, offering a great view.
The wind was just a bit strong.
If Garoce decided to take more wives and have more children, the platform would become the sixth floor, and they would build upwards like that.
Ove and Lin Ke landed as the arrow tower’s guard glanced at them, then continued to look into the distance, quite responsible.
At this moment, on the platform, there were some boilers, mats woven from tree bark, wooden sticks for stirring, and other tools.
The initial making of plant fiber paper wasn’t difficult; the challenge was in refining and evolving certain processes, eventually creating a modern-like A4 paper.
Paper-making requires boiling plant fibers to separate the raw material, then beating it to create pulp.
Finally, the pulp is formed into a slurry, scooped into mats to allow fibers to interweave into sheets of wet paper, then dried to make paper.
Ove immediately saw the feasibility of this paper-making method.
If developed, it might replace the tough and costly parchment.
This had continuously impressed Ove with Lin Ke’s mind.
After all, it’s just like a layer of window paper that requires a fleeting spark of inspiration to pierce.
And his apprentice Lin Ke happens to be a person full of endless inspiration.
The two of them landed and began working.
Ove went to steam some plants, with a total of eight small pots, each with some common coarse-fiber plants Lin Ke had gathered.
With just a light tap of his Thunder Staff on the ground, Ove summoned a massive Flame Bird from the sky.
It drew exclamations from the castle’s servants, members of the Azanen Theater Troupe, and arrow tower guards, who pointed and talked about the Flame Bird larger than the castle.
Lin Ke felt the heat; he couldn’t help but smile wryly: "Teacher, maybe we could use less magic power to summon a smaller flame bird."
"Sorry, having just leveled up, I’m a bit unsteady with controlling my power." Ove, though unable to see, still felt slightly uneasy with the attention his summoned creature received.
He immediately waved his hand, and the Flame Bird transformed into eight smaller birds, flying down to envelop the eight pots.
The intense flames gradually brought the pots to a boil.
Lin Ke prepared the rest of the work, then closely monitored the eight pots, inspecting them back and forth.
"Teacher, summon the Servants of Truth for stirring."
Lin Ke noticed the still water in the pots and spoke up.
Ove waved a hand to summon eight Servants of Truth, each grabbing a wooden stick with their lightning arms to start stirring.
Once the boiling was done, Lin Ke moved on to pulping, scooping, and drying each step.
With Ove’s involvement, these steps became much simpler.
Almost an hour later, Lin Ke examined the eight small sheets of paper before him to see if they had the properties of paper.
For example, whether writing could leave marks, whether the texture was too brittle or too hard, or whether the thickness could be made thinner, etc.
Regrettably, in the end, none of the experimental results were usable!
However, Lin Ke wasn’t discouraged; he recorded the advantages and disadvantages of each plant, then started testing the next batch.
After experimenting with over twenty kinds of plants, Lin Ke conducted mixed experiments again.
Using the recorded information, he recooked and crushed those with certain advantages, then dried them, repeating the process continuously.
With Ove’s help, the process became quick and convenient.
By the end of the afternoon, they finally had a bit of success.
"Papyrus, reeds, wheat, lucky flower all work, hmm... maybe they can be categorized differently based on their uses and grades."
Lin Ke looked at the experimental results in front of him, whispering to himself.
Beside him, Ove watched Lin Ke’s earnest and meticulous demeanor, a smile full of satisfaction on his face.
Ps: Awoo! Hand over your monthly and recommended tickets! ╰(⇀‸↼)╯