"Ah, yes, Nick."

Tennyson replied somewhat dejectedly.

"How should I put it? My family... has something to do with the recent rebellion."

"Oh!" Nick opened his mouth into an O shape, his face full of surprise, "You're not in prison... some people I know."

"Ah, you still can't speak as always."

Tennyson knew that the other party had no bad intentions, so he didn't take this somewhat offensive sentence to heart.

He took the initiative to explain, "The lord asked me to study the mystery of the change in the nature of steel. If I succeed, I and my family will be pardoned."

"Ah, that's really lucky." Nick patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "I think with your talent in chemistry, you should be able to get it done soon."

Tennyson shook his head with a bitter face, "There's been some progress, but we've reached a stalemate."

Nick frowned. He had never seen Tennyson so distressed. Before, Tennyson was always innocent and carefree.

"Are you asking for a meal? I'm going too when I'm done. Let's go and tell me slowly."

In the college cafeteria, Tennyson told Nick about the progress of the experiment and the problems he encountered.

"You see, the problem now is like this. We want to separate the simple substance of phlogiston, not the form of fire, but we don't know how to achieve the temperature."

The food in front of Tennyson was barely touched, and he continued to talk about it.

Nick wiggled his knife and fork, poking the mashed potatoes on the plate with the tip of the fork, and patiently listened to Tennyson finish his sentence.

"Maybe!" He forked a mouthful of mashed potatoes into his mouth, "I can help you solve this problem."

"Oh?" Tennyson's eyes shone brightly. Could this student who had nothing to do with chemistry and alchemy help him?

"I'm now..." Nick put down his fork, and drew a circular trajectory in the air in front of him with his hands, "I'm making a special lens."

"lens?"

"Yes, lenses. Do you know a magnifying glass?"

"Ah, a magnifying glass? I know." Tennyson nodded.

"In our place... I mean in my company, hehe. We generally call it a convex lens." Nick continued: "Convex lenses have a very special property, do you know?"

"Isn't it just to enlarge the pattern?" Tennyson was a little puzzled.

"Did you burn ants with it when you were a kid?"

"Oh, you said that?"

"Yes, why can the convex lens burn ants? Because it gathers the scattered sunlight to one point, and the heat of the sun is also concentrated to an electric pole."

Nick explained the properties of convex lenses to Tennyson in this way.

"You...you mean?" Tennyson became excited, and Nick's description made him see the hope of solving his own problems.

"Yes, with the power of the sun!" Nick nodded and said with great certainty, he pointed to the sky, "The sun provides endless heat to everything in the world every day, if even a small part of it can be gathered , that would also produce terrible heat."

"It's a magnifying glass...the one as small as a convex lens..." Tennyson suddenly became suspicious.

"We can try to make a bigger lens!" Nick said with great confidence: "As long as the lens can be enlarged all the time... I mean, in terms of its shape, the amount of sunlight we can gather is theoretically infinite."

Hearing Nick's words, Tennyson's heart surged. He looked at him and said, "I beg you to help me make such a lens!"

Nick smiled. "Of course, my friend. It's an honor to be part of an interdisciplinary study."

--------------------------------------

The sound of hurried footsteps sounded in the corridor. After a while, the door of Paul's office was slammed open.

"Oh, Bernard! Is there something urgent?"

Paul didn't even look up—he was reviewing a document right now—he judged from the sound of footsteps that it was his secretary, and he was the only one who could open the door of his office without knocking.

"Master Graham! The Exploration Team... The Eastern Exploration Team is back!" Bernard replied out of breath.

Paul stood up with a jerk, his heart filled with great joy.

"I want to see the members of the expedition right away."

Berner said: "I think they are already on their way to Huxin Town. The messenger from Fulan Port told me that the exploration team will send people to Huxin Town after a short rest in the port area. There must be Captain Mr Nigel."

Paul clasped his hands excitedly.

After waiting anxiously for more than three hours, he finally found the person he wanted to see, there were five in total, Nigel, his first mate, two other captains, and the firearms manager on the flagship—the second lieutenant Allen.

"Master Graeman, my team members really need to relax, so I decided to give them a vacation. I don't think you will blame them for not coming to Lake Town to see you."

Nigel smiled and said to him that when he set off, he must have been through many vicissitudes of life and his face was full of stubble.

"Oh, of course!" Paul said. "The Warriors need to rest."

He patted Allen on the shoulder, "You've grown taller, Lieutenant!"

Allen saluted him, "You have also grown taller, Master Graman."

Ha ha ha ha! Everyone laughed.

After exchanging pleasantries with the other two captains, Paul invited them to sit down.

"Now, please tell me about your experiences in the far east."

The five sat down in the lord's drawing room, and the servants brought them delicious wine.

As the commander-in-chief of the exploration team, Nigel told them about their journey slowly.

"We drove the ship, crossed the Naxal Peninsula where the Holy See is located, and continued sailing to the far east..."

"There is a vast world there. According to our communication with the merchants on the shore, it turns out that the Gabela Empire is not far away inland. I swear, there has never been an Aldo who arrived at Gabela by sea. South side."

"We continued to sail eastward, and UU Reading encountered a narrow isthmus..."

"Isthmus?" Paul asked.

"Yes, just like a strait that separates two lands, an isthmus is a narrow land that separates two oceans."

Paul asked: "Or, a long and narrow land connecting two continents?"

"You can say that." Nigel nodded.

He went on: "The people there call the land to the south where the isthmus joins—the Emerald Forest, and yes, it is covered with dense forests. Do you know what lives there?"

"What?" Paul's curiosity was aroused.

"Elf!"

"Elf?" Paul jumped up.

This is the second fantasy race he identified to exist in this world after the dwarves. Oh, this is talking about civilized races, those disgusting goblins don't count.