DK – Ch 322

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The Dark King – Chapter 322

Faces of other people reddened in embarrassment as they heard the crooked nosed middle-aged man’s words. Tiffany looked at the man and whispered to Dudian: “He is Gustavo. Don’t be offended it’s just his character is so.”

Dudian smiled in return. He thought that it was actually a very good character with a simple disposition which was normal for a scientist.

“Since everyone is here let’s begin the seminar.” An old man around sixty years old wearing a red cotton jacket called out.

The attendees turned serious after his words.

“We will continue to talk about plants this seminar too. The last time we discussed blueji. This time we will focus on ‘cassia’ which is the fifth ranked in toxicity within thorny awns. I’ll hand out basic information regarding this toxic plant. After you get familiar with it, you can express your opinions.” There was a pile of documents in old man’s hand which he distributed down.

Dudian received his share. He was surprised as this ‘thorny awn’ was very familiar to him. Actually recently when he was studying about plants through the super chip he had learned about plants which were located in north and northeast of China. The former name of the plant was known as Xanthium and it could be seen only in the north of the China.

“If there is Xanthium in the giant wall then its location is in the former lands of Russia which is close to the northeast of China …” Dudian’s eyes lit up.

Tiffany was the first to speak: “‘Cassia’ contains toxins but as far as I know there was a report from a remote area of the residential area that a doctor used it to treat patients. His child has brought back cassia’s thorn and he had mistakenly put into the drug. However, the patient wasn’t poisoned after taking the drug but didn’t need treatment for leprosy for many years.”

“So effective?” a 50-year-old architect said in surprise.

Dudian nodded as he was aware that use of Xanthium was an efficient way in the treatment of leprosy. Although the plant is toxic but there are other economic values to it. Its positive merits outweighed its negative side-effects.

“If small amounts of its poison are used then it could be a cure for dizziness, nausea, abdominal pain… Moreover, it may be used in the war too. Especially against the barbarians. We can dry them and use the dried powder to poison a large area!” The crooked nose man’s voice echoed slowly.

Dudian was quite moved as he heard the man’s opinion.
The old man who was wearing red jacket clapped: “Good idea. Even if there is a lack of wind then we can use windmills to enlarge the effect of this method.”

Windmill was the latest invention from an architect from the wood faction. It was a four-star item and the inventor was a master from the wood faction.

Dudian nodded but knew that using cocklebur (Xanthium) powder in the war wasn’t feasible. First of all, a large amount of time had to be spent to get enough powder for use. The second problem was the range. These two points were key to the war. Moreover, in this case, those would be the core factors which would affect the battle. Usage of cocklebur powder seemed like a good idea, but its effect would be very negligible in actual practice.

Tiffany shook her head: “The cassia’s powder would be difficult to control within the battlefield. If it’s too small then the wind can push it back. If the particles are larger, then the drifting distance would be reduced. In that case, the enemy will arrive close to our forces. In melee combat, the powder will hurt our own forces.”

Her teacher was good at military inventions. Moreover, she was also majoring in this area. So she was well aware of the ‘range’ problem in wars. That’s why she replied the moment she heard the crooked nosed man’s opinion.

The other architects nodded in agreement as they heard Tiffany’s words.

“Yes, it is too risky to use powder to fight the enemy.”

“Not feasible.”

Gustavo added after he heard everyone’s opinion: “What if we mix the powder with the water? The water isn’t affected by the wind. Is it?”

The old man wearing red jacket spoke up: “Yes! Ah, the powder is too light but if we mix it with water and put it into packages then it would be a miraculous weapon on the battlefield. ”

“This is a good idea!”

“Geez! If we use this method then wouldn’t be easy to kill the barbarians in the war? ”

Tiffany thought that there was something wrong with that method too but she couldn’t find out the exact problem. She remembered the boy sitting close to her. She turned towards Dudian. The others looked at him too. But his background was too shallow at this point so they didn’t expect much.

She whispered: “Dean what do you think? Do you have any ideas?”

Her voice was low but everyone’s gaze was attracted towards the teenager.

Dudian wanted to listen to their ideas and hoped to stimulate the inspiration of others. He didn’t think that Tiffany would suddenly push him to the front. He regretted in his head as he sighed. However the next moment there was a smile on his face: “I was inspired by the opinions of the predecessors and I would like to speak up my opinion too. I hope you won’t make fun of me.”

“Haha! You are way too polite. The wood elements are too profound and nobody in here dares to claim that they know everything. There won’t be any harm in listening to you.” The old man wearing the red jacket laughed.

“Yes.” The other’s confirmed his statement.

Dudian nodded: “I think we can assess the value of cassia from three different perspectives. The first is the economic field. The fiber of its stems can be used to make sacks, ropes and so on. Essential oils can be extracted from its seeds which can replace the wood oil (check Wikipedia). Moreover, it can be used as raw material for many high-grade spices. The other things can be found out after intensive research. The second field could be its medicinal value. Tiffany previously said the report about it being a treatment for leprosy. Moreover, it is undeniable that this thing contains toxins. If an in-depth study is made then I believe its effects won’t be limited to just leprosy but also to many other diseases.”

“The third field is its usage in war. Whether it’s used directly as a weapon or using the first two perspectives to stimulate the war. So it has big effects.”

Dudian talked in one breath and looked around the crowd.

The conference room was silent.

In addition to his lengthy story, the people had delved into deep thoughts after his words.

The old man wearing the red jacket was the first to recover. He clapped: “Good!”

The other architects reacted too. They accompanied the old man as they cheered together. Some of them looked at the teenager with a trace of fear in their eyes. They admired the past achievements of Dudian. In addition, they knew that there was a difference in mentality with the teenager. The boy was smart and had strong co-ordination. He could see many things which they were blind towards.

Some of them in the conference room were immersed in this road of research for decades. They were aware that they have been stuck in the same position for a long time. The reason wasn’t lack of knowledge but their mentality!

Knowledge was something that could be learned as time passed but mindset and mentality weren’t something easy to change.

“It’s much clearer to me after the classification.” Tiffany looked at Dudian. There was a glimpse of admiration and appreciation in her eyes.

Dudian smiled and was aware that there would be an impact on the social environment after he voiced out his opinions. For example, the systematic classification of things will make procedures much more clear. The boundaries between many things are very vague and details are difficult to classify. That’s why there weren’t strong concepts of this in the medieval era. It seems that with the development of society and technology the science would get more advanced. This way the research would delve from macro to micro levels. Likewise, the social system would also progress.

“Mr. Dean’s thinking is very agile. Could it be that you have studied the cassia in depth? I have never thought that its stem could be used to make a sack or hemp rope. Most of the people say that it is just a thorn but its body is a treasure!” A sixty-year-old man sitting opposite to him exclaimed.

Dudian smiled: “I’m flattered.”

“I didn’t expect that such a small thorn would have such roles. If we follow Mr. Dean’s argument and mindset then there are infinite roles which the other plants have. No wonder Mr. Dean has such a success at such a young age! I give up!” Another middle-aged person laughed.

The old man wearing a red jacket added: “It’s the end of today’s seminar. I think the ranking of the cassia should be increased. Mr. Dean has easily solved most of the problems.”

Dudian was helpless. He had come today to learn interesting things instead he was the one to be complimented. He sighed in his heart while there was a smile on his face: “I made this points because I listened to all of you.”

Old man with the red jacket added: “You don’t have to be modest. We are senior architects. Does anyone have something to add?”

Everyone looked at each other. The man with the crooked nose took a deep breath and slowly said: “The idea which I proposed to adding powder into the water should not be thrown aside.”

“Yes.” The man heading the seminar nodded.

The other senior architects agreed too.

Dudian never agreed with this point in his heart. The so-called its role in the war he said was incidental. After all many people had pointed out that out so he couldn’t completely overturn the idea. In that case, he would be having a lot of people as enemies just because of disagreeing with them. He didn’t want to confront them and offend others because of unnecessary things. Moreover, in real life, it didn’t matter how powerful you were. If you didn’t give face to others, they will hate and try to harm you!

Therefore he needed to have a sense of proportion to his performance.

The crooked nose middle-aged man saw that Dudian didn’t have any objections. The coldness on his face seemed to loosen a bit: “Since there are no objections then we can submit the results of this seminar to the Temple. I believe that this paper will be appraised highly by the Temple.”

The old man wearing red jacket said: “Mr. Dean has come up with the concept so he will earn lots of points. According to our old rules, the one who made the conclusion will get the most rewards. The rest of people with no comments or opinions will get 10 percent of the total points for participation. This time we will submit three points which are in the three areas proposed by Mr. Dean. All members please sign if you don’t have anything to add.”

“I don’t have objections.” Tiffany was the first to agree.

Others agreed too.

The middle-aged man with a crooked nose said: “I have nothing against the first two theories proposed by Mr. Dean. But the third theory about use in war was put forward by me in the first place. In addition to just naming it, Mr. Dean didn’t have any instructions for its actual use. This shouldn’t be registered as his theory. Right?”

The old man wearing red jacket was slightly startled. He looked at Dudian who had a smile on his face. It seemed that he didn’t care at all. Dudian had greater potential in comparison to the crooked nose middle-aged architect. However, he didn’t want to offend the latter.

“Mr. Dean, what do you think?” The old man asked.

Dudian laughed: “I have no objection.”

The old man sighed in relief: “Then it’s time to end the seminar.”

Others greeted Dudian other as they left.

Tiffany laughed as she looked at Dudian: “You are really a genius. You can earn points so easily while it’s way more difficult for us. The previous time it took a few hours to finish the seminar while this time it ended in less than half an hour.”

Dudian wryly smiled. He whispered in his heart: “You have earned but I lost. I lost nothing but time…”