After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World-Chapter 1250: Alchemy Wing

On the other hand, when the party ended, Althea and Garan approached Hoffen. "Master…" she said. "I can guide you around…"

"Nono, don't waste your time on useless things," he said, dismissively shooing her away. "Go study the skill scroll I sent you."

Althea held back a chuckle. As expected from an obsessive alchemist. "Ah, yes…"

However, as his new apprentice, how could she really just let him be when he was on her turf?

"Master, what about your accommodation?" She asked. She felt guilty letting him stay with the Golds when, technically, he was her half-parent now. "I can book you in our Grand Hotel for an indefinite stay…"

"Hmn, I think I did hear a few people mention that," he said. "Go do what you want," he said, but then he paused, looking at her.

"Do you have a laboratory at home?"

She thought about it and remembered his house was practically a giant lab. Would he want something like that again?

"Well, yes…" she mumbled after a moment. She wondered if she should get the Master live with her, but she went against it in the end.

If they did live together, it was estimated she'd have little time for anything else.

The best she could do, for now, was to book him in the hotel and then reserve him a house in the next developments.

She reserved a house for him in the new mountain villa development. The houses themselves were still custom buildings (though with very heavy customization), though the one master would get had extra very sturdy and reinforced walls fitting for the Master's explosive experiments.

If he still wanted to use his own lab when he saw Alterra's of course.

Speaking of this—

"We have a much bigger laboratory here, as it served the entire territory," she said with a smile. "Would you like to see?"

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…

Now that both of them had taken their oaths, Althea had few reservations about what areas of the Research Center to show him.

She took him straight to the Research Center's newest building—the four-storey Alchemy Hall. It was a new building built perpendicular to the existing Research Center. They added a shared plaza in front of them, and there was space for another wing on the other side.

It was finished a few months ago, created when the demand for potions and the studies of various items had reached a new peak. Each System Pharmacist was also granted their own rooms and laboratories, and they also needed a place to mass produce certain potions.

While there was already a building dedicated to mass producing some potions—for instance, healing potions, sprite, and so on—there were also plenty that could not be handled there. For example, potions that had to be created by System Pharmacists.

The Original Research Center building, which housed dozens of other teams, simply could not accommodate the creation of hundreds of potions daily.

They could also foresee the awakening of more pharmacists, and the migration of others, so naturally they needed a lot more space specific to the profession.

Hoffen stared at the building. He wasn't saying anything, but the fact that he was standing in front of them, eyes sparkling, was telling enough.

Althea giggled and led her master inside, and a comfortable and spacious lobby greeted them.

There were only a few people and a lot of places to wait and sit. An interesting feature was a few walls, which exhibited alchemical history and some modern applications.

There was also a small, quiet, cafe on one side for quiet discussions in a different environment.

These were not just for guests who weren't allowed to enter the upper floors. Even pharmacists would sometimes go out of the lab and discuss here. A different setup could open up the mind, after all.

The rest of the ground floor was dedicated to the group workshops and supply rooms where the alchemists could request tools and materials from the alchemy warehouse, also located on the ground floor.

The warehouse here was the same for the entire Research Center, just different access as they were in different buildings.

The majority of the second and third floors were laboratories that could serve both modern experiments as well as the local ones, though they didn't know much about it, so only provisions were made.

On the uppermost floor, there was a large hall filled with texts related to the field. Even those from other sciences were found here. On the same floor, there were also lecture halls, classrooms, and multipurpose halls.

Althea stepped forward and turned to face her Master, who was definitely impressed.

She smiled, quite proud, and also happy that he approved.

"Welcome to the Alchemy Wing, Master."

…

Hoffen was surprised by the building as Althea guided him around. She took him to every space the building could offer.

First was the ground floor. He ended up reading the walls and displays, which were written in both Terran and Xeno languages. Of course, the history of the latter was extremely limited.

"It's a work in progress. We're still learning a few things," she said.

"I have books from my master in my space, I'll lend them to you," he said.

Her eyes widened a bit, and she smiled. "That'd be amazing, Master."

Then, they passed the cafe to get a few snacks while walking around (the old man couldn't pass it). After that, they went to the supply room. The warehouseman was separated by glass, and there were only a few holes where they'd pass out the items—after logging, of course.

At this time, two scientists were requesting some raw material, dried leaves, and the like, and after logging, they would take them in small baskets.

Hoffen blinked and looked over, realizing some of the materials were things he didn't recognize!

"So these must be some of the things from your old world, then..." he mumbled, making the men shiver at the sudden breath behind them.

"Who...?" the asked, puzzled, but flinched when they saw Althea.

"M-Miss Althea?"

Then they looked at the old man, wondering who he was.

Not everyone was invited to her ceremony, after all, and it was natural they couldn't recognize him.

"This is my Master," she said. "He's just curious. I'll show him around. You can be excused."

"T-Thank you, Miss Althea!" they said, and also gave Hoffen a bow before leaving.

They then headed to the various separate laboratories on the ground floor. Some were completely separate rooms, while most were like large rooms with separated working spaces.

In these areas, each cubicle was separated by sliding walls, but they were characterized by the communal discussion areas for more cooperative work.

Most of the setup was like this. This was so each team member could ask others for their insights and the like.

At this time, a team seemed to be working on something. Some were working in their cubicle while some would go out with pieces of paper. "Help me out here!" he yelled, and those available would look over his shoulders.

Sometimes, they'd drag someone peacefully into his cubicle because apparently the subject was their specialty or something.

They watched as the person asking was enlightened after a couple of minutes, running back to his cubicle after thanking his companions.

Hoffen had worked for more than a hundred years, and he hadn't quite appreciated cooperative work—at least not until today.

His lips twitched, his heart feeling quite alive.

"Ah, so… Alchemy Wing, indeed."