Lord: My Shop Connects to Modern Times

As summer arrives, the summer sun becomes quite scorching.

Especially in the Southern Territory, in places like Greyrock Town where the coastline lies just beyond the border, the temperature is unbearably hot.

However, as time has passed, most of the old residents of Huiyan Town have now replaced their old stone or wooden houses with uniform cement houses.

Just like the ever-growing wall: lay a good foundation, pile up the stones, build it up, and then repair and complete it with cement.

Although its strength cannot compare with modern reinforced concrete, it is at least much stronger than the houses of the past.

Moreover, it's cooler inside during the summer.

The walls began to expand outwards, and now Gray Rock Town is slowly moving away from the scope of a town and developing into a "city".

Lynn's residence has also been renovated. Although Lynn repeatedly emphasized that he didn't need to build himself a fancy castle, he couldn't resist the enthusiasm of his people.

Especially that old man Thorin, who is usually the most unforgiving with his words and frugal and reluctant to use materials, but when it came to building Lynn's castle, he put in the most effort.

Lynn stood by the window on the second floor of the newly renovated Grayrock Town lord's mansion, holding the account books that Martha had just compiled.

The accounts are clear—revenue is growing. The deposit from Sig Trading Company, the taxes from Ironstone Fortress, and the retail sales of goods produced in Grayrock Town all add up to a net surplus of nearly fifty gold coins this month.

The problem of currency circulation has been basically solved, but that is not the most important issue now.

Lynn looked at the public opinion points exchange shop in his field of vision, feeling somewhat worried.

Public opinion index: 4897

At this point, the number is still rising rapidly, much faster than when it first arrived, as the population has increased.

Although his subjects occasionally contribute some popularity points to him, the speed is not as fast as Lynn wants.

Because there is a gap.

The goods sold to Sieg previously deducted most of Lynn's popularity points, and a continuous supply will be needed in the future.

In addition, Lynn would occasionally put some unique items up in the Greyrock Town Treasury to enrich the market.

For example, when the height of summer arrived, Lynn simply waved his hand and exchanged enough cold drinks and popsicles for supplies to be stored in the public warehouse for residents to purchase.

These things aren't expensive, just like instant noodles, but as I said before, the biggest drawback is the large quantity!

In other areas as well, Lynn exchanged for a considerable amount of seeds and fertilizer in agriculture. In industry, he exchanged for many modern and handy tools, since there were now far more blacksmith shops than before.

These supplies are necessary to exchange. On the one hand, they can accelerate production and improve the happiness index. On the other hand, once residents put these things into their daily lives, they can also greatly contribute to improving public opinion.

But this will create a vicious cycle. If the supply of public opinion points can't keep up with the consumption of consumables, problems will inevitably arise sooner or later.

"Not only the blueprints, but we also need to find a way to replace the huge amount of consumables," Lynn muttered to himself.

He went downstairs and headed toward Ivan's laboratory.

This former alchemy apprentice is now a completely different person. His hair is messy, and he has heavy dark circles under his eyes, but his eyes are filled with an almost fanatical focus.

The laboratory was filled with various glasswares, and the air smelled of saltpeter and sulfur.

"Sir." Ivan saw him and quickly put down the beaker in his hand: "The third batch of tests on the granular gunpowder is complete, and its stability is improved compared to the previous batch..."

"Let's not talk about that now," Lynn interrupted him. "Evan, do you know anything about cement?"

Evan paused for a moment: "I know, isn't it that grayish-white material used for building walls?"

"I'll tell you the formula now," Lynn said. "The main ingredients are three: limestone, clay, and gypsum. The ratio is approximately 7:2:1. Grind the limestone and clay, mix them, and calcine them at a high temperature. Grind the resulting clinker into a finer powder, add gypsum powder, and you have cement."

Ivan's eyes widened: "You're just telling me that?"

He had been in Grayrock Town for a while now, and as an alchemy apprentice, he was actually quite interested in the cement, the "holy relic" of the town.

However, no one here bothered to study the composition of this thing. Although he, as an alchemist, was itching to try it, he also knew that this thing might involve some secrets, so he didn't pry.

Just like gunpowder, he only dared to start researching it after the lord told him about it.

"It's alright, it's already been sold anyway, and other alchemists will figure it out sooner or later." Lynn waved his hand, indicating that it didn't matter.

Ivan nodded.

What the lord says makes sense. Since the composition of this thing is not complicated, it's only a matter of time before the proportions are deduced after it's sold.

He had heard that many of the town's magical items came through the lord's unique channels, and this cement was no exception. However, it seemed that the lord now wanted to make it himself.

Before Evan could think any further, Lynn continued speaking.

"However, the proportions are just the most basic layer." Lynn walked to the blackboard that Evan used to record data, picked up the chalk, and said, "If you really want to understand this, you have to start from the basics."

He wrote two words on the blackboard:

substance

"When you studied alchemy, how did your teacher explain the composition of matter?"

This is a question that Evan and Lynn had a brief discussion about last time.

When it came to his area of ​​expertise, Evan instinctively straightened his back: "Everything is made up of four basic elements—earth, water, fire, and wind. Different combinations and proportions create different substances."

"What is fire made of?"

"Fire is the element of fire..."

"When water boils and turns into steam, does that mean the water element has transformed into the wind element?"

Ivan opened his mouth, but no words came out.

He asked his teacher this question when he was a child, and the teacher said he was "overthinking."

Lynn drew a small circle on the blackboard and wrote "H₂O" inside the circle.

"This is water," Lynn said slowly.

"What?" Evan exclaimed instinctively.

He was somewhat stunned. The lord had written a strange symbol and then said it was water.

He recalled that when he first met Lynn, Lynn had said some strange things about the alchemical realm.

At that time, Ivan thought the other person was talking nonsense.

Of course, he feels the same way now.

Even though the knowledge about gunpowder that the lord taught him was indeed amazing, he was still completely baffled when he looked at the strange symbol on the blackboard that he had never seen before.

"You heard me right, this symbol is water. The water element you're familiar with," Lynn added.

"This theory is called chemistry." He pointed to the symbol with chalk.

"It could also be described as an alternative 'four-element theory,' except that there are far more than four elements."

Lynn paused for a moment: "All matter in the world is composed of more than a hundred basic, indivisible elements—not elements like earth, water, fire, and wind, but real substances that can be weighed, measured, and separated through reactions."

Ivan stared intently at the symbols on the blackboard, his eyes glazed over.

"Water is not an element. It is composed of hydrogen and oxygen atoms in a fixed ratio."

Lynn then wrote down "H" and "O": "Hydrogen is very light and burns. Oxygen itself is not flammable, but it can vigorously support combustion. When these two gases are mixed together and ignited, they explode and produce water."

He glanced at Ivan: "Just like the gunpowder you've been studying. Saltpeter provides oxygen, and sulfur and charcoal are combustibles. Combustion—what you call fire—is essentially a violent reaction between matter and oxygen."

"The essence of alchemy is actually equivalent exchange," Lynn said, uttering this "golden quote."

Ivan's Adam's apple bobbed. Those words struck him like a hammer blow.

He had never heard of molecules, oxygen, or hydrogen before, and he didn't understand them very well.

But he understood the meaning of words like burning, combining, and reacting.

He recalled his experiments that nearly destroyed the shed, the bubbles that appeared when saltpeter was heated, and the fact that only a pinch of white ash remained after the charcoal had burned out.

It turned out to be the case.

It's not "fire elemental rampage," it's this thing called oxygen.

Evan seemed to understand a little.

That's why he's called an alchemist. People who do scientific research generally absorb knowledge quickly, and that's the same in any era.

If it were an ordinary person, they would probably think Lynn was talking nonsense and wouldn't even bother to think about it.

"These elements..." Ivan's voice was a little hoarse, "How many kinds are there in total?"

"Currently, we know of more than eighty elements. There are probably many more yet to be discovered," Lynn said. "I have a complete list of elements, arranged by atomic number, called the periodic table. Each element has its own position, properties, and patterns."

He paused, looking into Ivan's eyes: "If you master it, you won't just be making gunpowder or imitating cement."

"You can extract metals you've never seen before from ores, synthesize new materials from a few basic raw materials, and know why things burn, why they can cure diseases, and why they can poison people."

Evan gripped the stirring stick tightly in his hand.

The glass creaked in his palm.

"This...I...can I learn it?"

"I'm giving you the recipe so you can make it," Lynn said. "I'm teaching you the theory so you can create it yourself. If you'd like, starting tomorrow, come to me for an hour every afternoon. We'll start with the basics."

Ivan took a deep breath and then nodded solemnly.

"Sir, I will definitely learn it."

Lynn put down the chalk and got back to the main topic: "Are you clear on the cement issue now?"

Ivan composed himself, recalling what he had just said: "Limestone, clay, gypsum. The calcination temperature must be high enough, and the grinding must be fine enough."

"Temperature is key," Lynn said. "Ordinary kilns aren't enough; we need to build specialized high-temperature vertical kilns. Go find Hal and have him build them according to the blueprints—I'll draw him a simple diagram."

"In addition, the purity of raw materials directly affects the quality of finished products. Limestone and clay need to be washed. The gypsum ore has been found in Tieshibao, and the first batch will be delivered in a couple of days."

"I'll conduct small-batch trials first to determine the optimal mix ratio and calcination time before scaling up," Ivan said, already outlining the plan in his mind. "We also need to conduct strength tests, comparing them with the cement we're currently using..."

"That's right." Lynn nodded: "Just ask Martha for whatever you need, no need to skimp."