Chapter 2: Dream

"It seems I can't get through this mirror." Ian's palm was pressed against the mirror, which rippled like water.

"Hey! Little brat! Are you listening to me? Don't ignore me!" the girl on the other side shouted.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Ian and I work on the farm, but although I say it's a job, I'm actually a slave and was sold to the farm." Ian sat down cross-legged with his hands on his knees.

"Forget it." The girl suddenly calmed down.

"This, it's probably a dream, really, even dreams are so weird, wake up quickly, tomorrow I have an appointment with Mr. Kaji."

"Mr. Kaji?" Ian felt the name was familiar.

"You're obviously a product of my dream, and you forgot Mr. Kaji?" The girl held her forehead and sighed.

"Fine, I'll tell you very mercifully that Mr. Kaji is the person I like, mature, handsome, very talented and an ideal gentleman."

"And what does Mr. Kaji think, does he like you?"

"It's too early to say that, and when I also become a mature woman, Mr. Kaji will definitely fall in love with me!" The girl lifted her face and said confidently.

'Is she Asuka..?' Ian felt that the girl's voice and appearance were very similar to those of a woman he knew.

That woman is one of the heroines of the famous anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion," Asuka, pilot of Unit-02, though she has a bad temper, but is a true genius girl, a character Ian is very fond of.

Perhaps he was dreaming due to too much pressure.

But is it really a dream?

Indeed, there is a vague feeling when dreaming, but it's strange to dream with such lucidity.

"I'll just say it's a dream." Asuka confessed her identity.

"Because if it's not a dream, how can you know my name?"

"You're right." Ian responded.

This should be the EVA No. 2 pilot he's familiar with, in his opinion, it's better to treat Asuka as well as possible, otherwise things could get very stiff and they might fight.

He didn't want to fight with Asuka, he just wanted to know what the situation was at the moment.

"System?"

"Status?"

"Mission?"

He tried guessing randomly, but there was nothing, he had no dashboard, no task, and no starter pack.

"What bit you?" Asuka frowned and looked at the boy on the other side of the mirror.

He's just a little boy who hasn't developed at all, childish, with a Western face, and the eyes are quite beautiful, like blue gems, and his appearance is fine.

But he was too young for her to be interested in communicating with him.

"I'm talking about you, your name is Ian, right?" Asuka looked cruel.

"Please, be quiet, since it's my dream, you should listen to your master!"

"I'm sorry." Ian gave up the idea of calling the system.

"Asuka, I want to ask you a question, do you know the formula for gunpowder?"

Ian wanted to confirm something, whether it was a dream or not.

If it was a dream, there was something that could never be invented.

That is knowledge, and it is impossible for him to know what he doesn't know.

As a leukemia patient who grew up in a hospital room, his knowledge reserve was quite limited.

He didn't know all the familiar formulas for gunpowder, soap, etc., which was really embarrassing for him as a communicator.

It's been a few years since he studied and he's basically half illiterate.

"Of course I do, but why should I tell you?" Asuka snorted at Ian.

"Please." Ian was not at all polite and sat directly in front of Asuka.

"I really need it, I beg you to tell me."

"Stop." Asuka snapped her lips.

"Forget it, it's not a secret anyway."

"To make gunpowder you need saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, the most precise mass ratio is 0.7464, 0.1185, 0.1351, which even high school students have learned, though it seems you haven't gone to high school."

"About seventy and a half, one out of ten and five out of five?"

"Rather, the first humans tried to discover the optimal ratio little by little, and it wasn't until the 15th century that Europeans gradually determined the optimal gunpowder ratio."

"That, I'd also like to ask, where should I get these three materials? In the case of the 15th century as people collected raw materials."

"You're annoying, why do you ask so many questions?"

"Please, Asuka-sensei, please teach me." Ian sat down again.

"That's why I hate kids, it's really annoying."

Asuka pouted, but she answered Ian's question anyway.

"Saltpeter is the soul of gunpowder, in places like India there is natural saltpeter in the soil, but Europe doesn't have as much, Europe is congenitally deficient, there isn't a large surface of nitrate resources, nitrate is collected from all corners of the world, roots, cattle corrals, public baths...

Anyway, where the smell is strongest, that's where the most abundant white nitrate is found, after all, that stuff is solidified nitrogen, and there's a lot in feces."

"In other words, how does it look in a bathroom or something like that?"

"White powder."

"Master, what about sulfur? Is there anything special about charcoal?"

"Don't call me master!" Asuka scolded angrily.

"Sulfur is found in most minerals, natural sulfur, pyrite, and marcasite, etc., as for charcoal, it's generally better to burn it with alder or sea buckthorn and willow."

"Willow." Ian nodded, jotting down the materials and ratios.

"You're remembering it so clearly, what do you want to do?" asked Asuka.

"As I said before, I'm actually a slave on a farm and, in a while, I may face a crisis that endangers my life, so I want to make some gunpowder, maybe it will work." Ian said.

As a slave, he couldn't leave the farm without permission, and the housekeeper was responsible for getting supplies on the farm, and if he left, if they found out, they'd probably execute him.

I think the reason they bought a child like him to work on the farm is also to work confidentially, he was born very clean, has simple interpersonal relationships and has been cultivated from a young age, which is very suitable for caring for the illegitimate children of the Langley family.

"Yes."

Asuka didn't bother to worry about these details, but perhaps it was a whim, and she said a few more words.

"In the past, when Europeans mixed powder, they had to add water and wine, make 'cakes' with 'flour' and then crush the cakes, and then use bronze or stone mills to break them into the size of grains, and then sieving, they separated the gunpowder particles of various specifications, and that thing was called wheat gunpowder, it was made that way and was much more stable."

"Thank you, I see." Ian thanked her.

Both felt a strange sensation, everything around them turned into fog, the mirror faded, and darkness slowly arrived.

"Goodbye! Nice to meet you! Asuka!" Ian shouted into the darkness.

"Whatever."

In an instant, Ian woke up from a dream and saw the sunlight shining through the slits of the window.