129: Chapter 129: The Old Alchemist's New Application

Jiang Ning's public lecture was like a bomb, shattering the old notions in everyone's minds.

Especially for the group of old alchemists led by Sun Siyuan.

Looking at the cold steel pipes and reactors on the construction site now, their gazes had changed.

These were no longer just crude lumps of iron.

They were sacred halls shining with the brilliance of "science" and "efficiency."

And those "ancestral methods" they had previously clung to seemed so primitive, backward, and even... ignorant in the face of the system Jiang Ning had described.

After the lecture ended, Sun Siyuan was the first to find Jiang Ning.

He no longer called her "Chief Engineer Jiang," but instead, like the students at Kunlun Academy, he respectfully called out, "Instructor Jiang."

"I... I have a question." His posture was very humble.

"Speak."

"According to your theory, since all processes can be calculated and quantified, does that mean our 'experience' and 'insight' as alchemists are completely useless?"

This was not just his question, but the final doubt and reluctance in the hearts of all the old alchemists.

If everything about a human could be replaced by a machine, then where would the value of human existence lie?

"Who said they were useless?" Jiang Ning glanced at him and retorted.

She walked to the other end of the workshop, where a technical research team led by Lin Yuan was gathered around a core component, looking troubled.

That component was the "heart" of the entire reactor—the Spiritual Energy Catalytic Core.

Its function was to inject a highly precise, constantly changing frequency of spiritual energy into the reactants under high temperature and high pressure to catalyze the final fusion of medicinal properties.

This process was the most delicate and difficult step in the entire alchemy workflow.

"Instructor!" Seeing Jiang Ning approach, Lin Yuan hurried up, a trace of shame on his face. "I'm sorry, we... we're stuck."

He pointed to the semi-finished core component.

"We assembled all the hardware according to the blueprints. But whenever we run the simulation test for spiritual energy injection, problems always arise."

"The central processor gives instructions to vary the spiritual energy frequency at 3,600 times per second. However, our spiritual energy output module is completely unstable at such high frequencies, and the margin of error is too large. The best result we can achieve is controlling the error to about one percent."

"Don't underestimate this one percent error." Lin Yuan said with a bitter face, "In actual production, it will cause at least ten percent of the finished products to fail purity standards. This is completely inconsistent with your requirement for 'perfect production'."

Jiang Ning nodded; this problem was within her expectations.

Although Earth's industrial level had seen a leap forward with her help, some things could not be built just by having blueprints.

Especially core components involving the combination of "spiritual energy" and "machinery," where the requirements for materials and craftsmanship had already exceeded the current limits of Earth's technology.

Machines, after all, are inanimate.

They can execute instructions perfectly, but they themselves lack "spirituality."

And the catalysis of spiritual energy is precisely what requires that little bit of "spirituality."

"This is where your value lies."

Jiang Ning turned her head and said to Sun Siyuan, who had followed, and the other old alchemists.

She pointed to the problematic core component.

"Machines have their limits. Their precision is built on stability and repeatability."

"However, in certain extreme situations that require instantaneous adjustments and perception, they cannot compare to an experienced 'human'."

"Sun Siyuan." Jiang Ning called his name.

"Here!" Sun Siyuan subconsciously straightened his body.

"Come over here."

Jiang Ning had him stand in front of the core component.

"Now, forget that you are an alchemist. Imagine yourself as a part of this machine."

"You are the... central processor of this machine. A living, human CPU."

"A human CPU?" Sun Siyuan was stunned.

"Yes." Jiang Ning operated the control panel next to them a few times. "I have turned off the automatic control of this module and switched it to manual mode."

"Now, you replace the machine and complete the final step of spiritual energy catalysis."

"All parameters and requirements are on the screen. All you need to do is use your divine sense to perceive the most subtle changes within the reactants, and then use your spiritual energy to adjust the injection frequency and intensity in real-time."

"You are no longer practicing alchemy by feeling. You are executing a highly precise command."

"Can you do it?"

Jiang Ning's gaze fell on Sun Siyuan.

Sun Siyuan looked at the complex machine in front of him, flashing with various indicator lights, and then at the string of data on the screen that made his eyes dazzle. His palms were full of sweat.

This was countless times harder than any batch of pills he had ever refined in his life.

But he did not back down.

He saw a kind of trust in Jiang Ning's eyes.

A heavy trust that placed the most core component of the entire factory into the hands of a person from the "old era" like him.

He took a deep breath and nodded.

"I... I'll try!"

He walked to the machine, reached out both hands, and pressed them onto the two special spiritual energy conductors.

He closed his eyes and probed his divine sense into the small reaction core without reservation.

In an instant, countless pieces of information flooded into his mind.

Changes in temperature, fluctuations in pressure, the collision of medicinal particles, the vibration of spiritual energy frequencies...

These were all things he could only vaguely perceive when refining pills in the past.

And now, through this machine, they were magnified countless times and clearly presented in his divine sense.

He felt as if he had truly merged with this machine.

His divine sense was the most sensitive sensor.

His spiritual energy was the most precise actuator.

"Frequency too high, lower by 0.3 Hz."

"Intensity insufficient, increase by two units of spiritual energy."

"Medicinal property fusion on the left side is incomplete, inject a trace of 'spiral force'..."

His brain was operating at high speed, processing massive amounts of information.

His hands, subconsciously, made the most delicate adjustments.

This process was extremely mentally exhausting.

In less than a minute, his forehead was covered with sweat.

But he did not stop.

His gaze was focused to the extreme.

He felt that he was opening the door to a new world.

A brand-new world that perfectly combined human "insight" with machine "precision."

Below, everyone held their breath.

Those old alchemists watched Sun Siyuan's focused expression, watched the aura of him merging with the machine, and their eyes were filled with shock and... excitement.

It seemed they had also found the direction for their own future.

Ten minutes later.

When the last bit of medicinal property was perfectly catalyzed and fused.

The indicator light on the core component finally jumped from yellow, representing "debugging," to emerald green, representing "complete."

"Success... I... I succeeded!"

Sun Siyuan collapsed to the ground, his whole body soaked in sweat, but his face revealed an unprecedented, brilliant smile.

It was a joy from the bottom of his heart, the joy of finding his true value.