"Its purpose is to magnify things we can't see with the naked eye hundreds of times, letting us observe them clearly."
Wu Liang said.
"Magnify… hundreds of times?"
Alesha's breath caught.
Could something so wondrous exist in this world?
She recalled the telescope Wu Liang had given her earlier—that miraculous device that brought distant mountains into sharp view.
Now this thing called a microscope could let her see what had been invisible?
"The principle is similar to that of a telescope."
"Both rely on something called lenses."
Wu Liang explained.
"We need the purest glass, ground into convex and concave lenses of different curvatures, then assembled exactly as shown on the blueprint."
"C-can we really do that?"
Alesha sounded uncertain; this sounded far more intricate than grinding lenses for a telescope.
"Others might fail, but you can do it."
Wu Liang encouraged.
"The glassworks has already fired a batch of optical glass from the best materials."
"The rest—grinding the lenses and assembling them—is up to you, Alesha."
"I know you and your girls are the most skillful pair of hands in the entire Tribe."
Meeting Wu Liang's trusting gaze, Alesha felt a warm surge in her heart.
"Alright, I'll try."
She nodded firmly.
For the next fortnight Alesha became obsessed with this thing called a microscope.
She gathered her most capable assistants and locked themselves in the laboratory.
Grinding lenses was tedious work that tested patience to its limit.
Using the finest hide and polishing paste, they had to shape glass blanks into the exact curvature specified on the blueprint—
—without the slightest error.
By day they checked curvature and finish against the sunlight;
by night they worked under the magic lamp Annia had made.
At last, after countless failures and reworks, the first set of qualified lenses was finished.
Following the blueprint, Alesha carefully fitted the eyepiece and objective into a brass tube, then mounted it on the stand.
When the final screw was tightened, the world's first true microscope was born.
"We did it… we actually did it!"
The girls hugged one another in excitement.
Alesha, equally thrilled, placed a drop of pond water on a glass slide.
She drew a deep breath and pressed her right eye to the eyepiece.
At first there was only a hazy blur.
Following Wu Liang's instructions, she slowly turned the focusing knob.
Gradually the view sharpened—
and she saw.
Inside that seemingly clear droplet lay a microscopic world she had never imagined!
Tiny creatures of every shape darted and drifted before her eyes.
"G-gods above…"
Alesha's mouth fell open in a breathless whisper.
Her mind went blank.
So even a single drop of water could harbour such life.
"Sister Alesha, what do you see?"
a girl beside her asked curiously.
"See for yourselves…"
Alesha stepped aside, her voice unsteady.
The girls took turns at the eyepiece, and a chorus of gasps and shrieks filled the lab.
"Ah! What is that? It's moving!"
"So many! Dear heavens, how can water hold so many tiny bugs?"
"It's horrible! Do we drink these things every day?"
The girls turned pale.
Just then Wu Liang walked in.
"Looks like you've succeeded."
He smiled at the crude but functional microscope.
"Liang!"
Alesha grabbed him.
"Look at what's in the water—"
"Don't worry."
Wu Liang patted her back soothingly.
"Most of them are harmless."
"And didn't I teach you to boil water before drinking it?"
"High temperatures kill the vast majority of bacteria."
He peered into the microscope himself.
Hmm, magnification was only two or three hundredfold, but more than enough for basic research.
"Now do you understand why I asked you to establish a Medical School?"
Wu Liang looked at the girls and spoke slowly.
"These things are everywhere—entering our bodies through air, water, food—and the harmful ones cause disease."
"Your task is to use the microscope to observe them, study them, and find ways to defeat them!"
"I understand, Liang."
Determination flashed in Alesha's eyes.
"I will build the Medical School and train more doctors to protect our people's health!"
"Excellent."
Wu Liang nodded approvingly.
From his coat he drew several more blueprints.
"Here are basic methods for blood analysis, germ culture, and drug screening under the microscope."
"And this is an introductory surgery course—suturing, haemostasis, basic anatomy…"
He entrusted Alesha with the fundamentals of modern medicine.
He believed that with her intelligence and compassion she could build a powerful medical safeguard for Black Rock Tribe.
The birth of the microscope put preparations for Alesha's Medical School into high gear.
Meanwhile, research on explosives continued.
The Alchemical Firearms seized from the roland people's army still used black powder—
limited in power and unstable, prone to damp.
What Wu Liang needed was a high explosive capable of shattering rock.
He assembled a group of Artisans and formed a dedicated research team.
These men, long experienced with fire and minerals, were the best candidates for a chemistry lab.
For safety he had a heavily guarded compound built far from the Tribe's centre.
"From today you are Black Rock Tribe's first chemists."
Wu Liang came straight to the point.
"Your task is to learn and research chemistry—to perform experiments!"
Chemists?
The Artisans exchanged puzzled glances; another word they did not understand.
Wu Liang offered no lengthy explanation, only produced his prepared textbooks.
They were thick volumes filled with strange symbols and formulas:
Fundamentals of Chemistry, Introduction to Inorganic Chemistry, Survey of Organic Chemistry.
All compiled from the knowledge in his mind.
"I know you can't read these yet."
Wu Liang said.
"No matter—just follow my instructions exactly."
"First, I need you to produce three acids."
He picked up a freshly made stick of chalk and wrote three names on the board.
"Sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid."
These three strong acids were the cornerstones of modern chemical industry and indispensable for manufacturing high explosives.
Hydrochloric acid was relatively simple,
but it required electrolysing saturated brine to generate chlorine and sodium hydroxide,
then reacting chlorine with hydrogen to form hydrogen chloride, which dissolves in water.
Sulfuric and nitric acids, however, were trickier without existing industrial equipment.
"To make sulfuric acid we must first find sulfur ore."
"Burn the sulfur to obtain sulfur dioxide."
"Let the sulfur dioxide react with oxygen in the air to form sulfur trioxide, then dissolve it in water."
"To make nitric acid we need saltpetre."
"Heat saltpetre with concentrated sulfuric acid and distill off the nitric acid."
Wu Liang explained the lead-chamber process for both acids in the simplest terms.
"Lord Wu Liang, what is electricity?"
"Is it lightning?"
someone suddenly asked.
Wu Liang frowned at the question.
"Don't worry; I'll take care of electricity. For now, digest the knowledge I've given you."