In the end, Shen Qin was persuaded by Cyrus to accept the magic crystal chunks and other materials. Cyrus even sent people to help him carry the materials back to the alchemy workshop.
At Shen Qin's insistence, Cyrus agreed to collaborate with him, promising to provide various alchemical materials at market prices in the future.
After delivering the magic crystal chunks to the blacksmith's shop, Wagner immediately handed over his current task to his apprentice and personally helped Shen Qin produce two and a half kilograms of synthetic material powder. In the end, he didn't charge Shen Qin any Mora.
"Feel free to bring me any work in the future. I guarantee it'll be done quickly and well," Wagner said gruffly before returning to his work.
When Shen Qin returned to the alchemy workshop, the entire trip to gather materials had taken just over three hours, which even surprised Albedo. After hearing about what had happened along the way, Albedo remarked, "Sucrose mentioned earlier that your approach to alchemical research is quite different from most alchemists. You tend to focus more on how your creations can benefit ordinary people. Perhaps helping more people through alchemy is the true essence of its origins."
Then Albedo asked curiously, "What's your goal in researching the energy shield? Is it also to protect ordinary people from monsters?"
"Not exactly," Shen Qin said, somewhat embarrassed. "After being abducted by the Abyss last time, I just wanted to create something to protect myself."
"I see."
With that, the conversation ended, and they quickly turned their attention back to the task at hand.
Albedo took twenty grams of the synthetic material powder, heated it into a liquid, and then methodically added different ratios of amethyst lump powder, dried star mushroom powder, and luminescent spine. After thoroughly mixing them, he waited for the mixture to solidify but remain red-hot before quenching it in water infused with flaming flower extract.
Hiss—
As a large amount of steam rose, the new synthetic material rapidly cooled. Half a minute later, Albedo removed it from the water and tempered it again in the flame.
Once the tempering process was complete, he set the new synthetic material block aside to cool and took another twenty grams of synthetic material powder to begin a new round of experiments.
"He's testing different ratios. We've already calculated the approximate ratio, but it needs to be fine-tuned based on actual results," Sucrose explained to Shen Qin.
This was the daily routine of an alchemist conducting experiments—completely different from Shen Qin's experience of directly obtaining complete blueprints.
One approach involved knowing the general range of the answer and verifying the results within that range, while the other was like cheating to get the correct answer directly.
Albedo prepared five batches of synthetic material. By the time the first batch had cooled to room temperature, he manipulated it to float in the air and infused it with elemental energy.
Ten seconds later, with a bang, the synthetic material exploded into powder.
"The instantaneous energy limit it can withstand is roughly equivalent to five parallel-connected electro crystals," Albedo explained in terms Shen Qin could understand.
"Six and a half."
"Nine."
"Seven."
"Eight and a half."
None of the first five batches met the requirements. According to Shen Qin's design, the material needed to withstand instantaneous energy equivalent to twenty parallel-connected electro crystals to block a regular attack from a boss-level monster or a full-power attack from an elite-level monster.
To speed up the process, Shen Qin and Sucrose joined in the alloy ratio experiments.
Watching the three of them work tirelessly, Klee placed the dinner she had bought from the Good Hunter on the table and sighed. "Who's the child here? Why do I have to take care of them?"
"Dinner's ready!"
The three of them hastily ate their meal and then immediately returned to their experiments.
Early the next morning, as Sucrose was resting in the guest room, she suddenly heard excited voices coming from the workshop.
"Twenty-three and a half! That's three and a half above the design standard!" Albedo recorded the correct ratio on paper.
Shen Qin looked exhilarated. "Should we strike while the iron's hot and make the energy shield without the energy source first?"
"Sure. I've already looked at the blueprints. You want to make it into a bracelet, right? I'll handle the physical structure. You take care of the intelligent system?"
"No problem!" Shen Qin rolled up his sleeves, ready to start working on the miniature terminal embedded in the bracelet.
"Did you two stay up all night? It's almost dawn! Aren't you worried about overworking yourselves?" Sucrose stood at the doorway of the guest room, hands on her hips, looking annoyed.
The two young men exchanged glances, their excitement fading somewhat.
At this point, Shen Qin indeed felt both physically and mentally exhausted. He turned to Albedo and said, "Let's rest for a bit. We'll finish the remaining work in one go after we've recharged. It's easy to make mistakes when we're not focused."
Sucrose nodded in satisfaction as they went to their rooms to rest. She then went to the workbench to tidy up.
By the time Shen Qin and Albedo woke up, it was already lunchtime. After eating, the three of them immediately returned to work.
Shen Qin spent the afternoon writing the intelligent system, then joined Sucrose and Albedo in crafting the physical structure.
It wasn't until the next morning that the energy shield bracelet was finally completed.
The energy shield bracelet (prototype) was two centimeters wide and one centimeter thick, with a silver-white body adorned with light blue patterns.
In fact, those light blue patterns were extensions of the energy converter, which used the new magic crystal synthetic material as its core. Their function was to release energy outside the bracelet to form the shield.
On one side of the bracelet was a one-centimeter circular opening, through which several thin cables connected the bracelet to a parallel energy system composed of twenty electro crystals.
"The energy shield bracelet, Force, has a default mode that creates a shield with a diameter of five meters. Once the system detects an energy attack strong enough to cause harm, it will automatically release negative energy to neutralize the attack."
"Its second mode is the repulsion field mode, which uses high-intensity energy flow to block enemies and physical attacks. The shield diameter is also five meters. By default, both modes are activated simultaneously to defend against all energy and physical attacks, consuming standard energy units."
"Additionally, it has an overclocking mode that can expand the shield diameter of both default and repulsion field modes to ten meters, essentially a group defense function. However, it consumes four times the standard energy units!"
Shen Qin explained the bracelet's functions to everyone.
"I'll be the test subject and see how it works in practice," Albedo said, strapping on the bulky parallel energy system and putting on the bracelet. He activated its defense function and signaled to Sucrose and Klee. "Attack me, but slowly increase the intensity."
Sucrose manipulated the wind element to create a gentle breeze. At this point, the shield didn't activate, and the breeze ruffled Albedo's hair and clothes. But when the wind grew strong enough, a semi-transparent energy shield appeared in front of him, blocking all the wind.
Klee also threw a makeshift bomb made of fire element at him, but it was instantly neutralized by the shield.
Shen Qin picked up a piece of iron ore and hurled it at the shield. The moment it made contact, the ore lost all forward momentum and fell straight to the ground.
Albedo picked up the iron ore and examined it carefully. "The part of the ore that touched the shield has been shaved off slightly. It seems the shield also has a minor function of damaging enemy weapons or countering physical attacks."
Next, they tested the overclocking mode, but due to the energy limit of the twenty electro crystals, the results weren't ideal.
It seemed solving the energy problem was urgent.
After a moment of contemplation, Albedo turned to Shen Qin. "I have an idea."