American: Native Empire

Chapter 168: Aluminum.

Swift Wing was once a slave in Joseon. 

Back then, his name was Makdol.

He had been very talented since he was young. 

But what good was it for a slave to be talented? 

It only made him suffer more, like Swift Wing.

“You bastard! How dare you act like a noble!”

“Oh, please! Master, I have committed a grave sin!”

“Shut up! Look at him, tie him to a stone and whip him!”

Even though his father begged the master, nothing changed. 

Swift Wing closed his eyes tightly.

He had expected this to happen ever since he was caught secretly studying letters.

After that, Swift Wing, who was still young, was wrapped around a stone,

Thwack! Thwack thwack thwack! Thwack!

and mercilessly beaten with a club.

“Ugh! Ugh…!”

His vision was completely blocked, making it even more painful. 

But fortunately, the stone was very thick, so he was not seriously injured.

Of course, he suffered for a long time.

But what was more painful than his body was that he could no longer study letters. 

Studying letters was his only hope in his hard life as a slave.

Then, something happened that changed his life.

His master was involved in a conspiracy. 

As a result, all the slaves in the house, including Swift Wing, became public slaves.

And coincidentally, this was the time when public slaves began to be emancipated.

Joseon had actively embraced the spirit faith. 

It gave the king a powerful justification that he was the descendant of spirits, and it made it easier to modernize Joseon by bringing down the noble class.

To do that, equality from below was also an essential element. 

Of course, they could not achieve this overnight, so they gradually reduced the number of slaves.

“Emancipation…!”

Swift Wing could not believe this situation easily. 

He thought he would live as a slave for his whole life, but he was emancipated, so it was understandable.

But even though he was emancipated, the discriminatory eyes toward him still existed. 

So Swift Wing decided.

“Let’s go to the Empire.”

It had been such a long time since Joseon started trading with the Empire, and the rumors about the Empire were very rampant. 

Swift Wing also heard them frequently.

And the cultural products that came from the Empire were very dazzling. 

He wanted to live a new life in the Empire rather than being treated badly in Joseon.

Swift Wing did not hesitate. 

He immediately went to an Empire merchant who lived in Joseon and made a contract with him.

He would pay back the money for his fare and living expenses by doing a designated job for a certain period of time after arriving in the Empire. 

Fortunately, the wages in the Empire were so generous that the period was not very long.

“This is…”

The first place he arrived was California. 

It was a very bustling place as befitting its nickname as the center of the West Sea.

After that, Swift Wing worked as a dock worker for a while and paid off his debt. During that time, he completed the mandatory Empire standard language class with excellent grades.

“This should be enough.”

The work at the dock was very hard. 

The natives avoided it, so the salary was very generous.

Thanks to that, he saved enough money in a short time. 

Swift Wing started to pursue his long-time dream, studying hard.

And he soon showed his talent. 

He had learned basic knowledge through books while working, so he was able to finish middle and high school courses quickly.

Eventually, in just five years after settling in the Empire, he entered Sunset University, the best university in California.

***

Time passed, and Swift Wing became one of the most prominent chemists in Sunset University’s chemistry department with various papers and achievements.

“Are you really not interested in going to Imperial University?”

“Yes. I appreciate your offer, but no. I’m happy with where I am now.”

“Hmm. That’s too bad. Imperial University needs someone like you.”

“Thank you for your high regard.”

The Imperial University’s chemistry department had been famous for its talent hunger since they tried to recruit him from when he was a warm hat seller, but it was still an amazing thing to receive a direct scout offer from them.

: A warm hat seller is someone who sells hats made of fur or wool that are popular in cold regions.

But the Swift Wing refused without hesitation.

Although it had diminished a lot, racial discrimination still existed among the elite groups such as high-ranking officials or the Imperial University. 

Only someone like Karl Meyer, who had overwhelming skills and reputation, could be free from the unfavorable eyes.

Of course, the Swift Wing had confidence that he could build up his fame to that level, but…

‘It’s too bothersome.’

He didn’t want to leave the Sunset University, which was relatively free from such matters, and go to the Imperial University. 

He could do enough research on what he wanted here.

For him, exploring the academic fields was much more important than his ambition for fame. 

He didn’t want to waste his time on anything unnecessary other than the experiment he was doing right now.

“Hmm. How can I refine this metal easily?”

He turned the small bead around in his hands, pondering over and over again.

The identity of this bead was none other than aluminum.

In fact, the history of aluminum was quite long. 

Aluminum was one of the eight major elements that made up the earth’s crust, and it was the third most abundant element after oxygen and silicon.

Especially, the total amount of aluminum reserves was estimated to be 1.6 times that of iron ore.

However, aluminum was a metal that was more expensive than gold at this time.

A method of making aluminum by reacting sodium with aluminum chloride extracted from clay had been developed long ago, but this method was too costly.

As a result, aluminum was currently a luxury item for the rich. 

But the Swift Wing saw a lot of potential in aluminum.

‘Aluminum is very common.’

If the production cost could be drastically reduced, there would be no need to worry about the output, since it was more abundant than iron.

‘More importantly, it’s very light.’

The specific gravity of aluminum was only one-third of that of iron or copper.

This was very important. 

There were many problems in the transportation sector due to the weight limit of steel, such as ships, airplanes, cars, railways, etc.

If high-strength aluminum could be made cheaply, the transportation sector would succeed in taking a leap forward.

There were also other advantages. 

But unless he found a cheap production method, all this was just a pie in the sky.

For this purpose, the Swift Wing stubbornly tried various methods to refine aluminum.

‘The answer is electrolysis after all…’

Alumina had a very strong bond with oxygen. 

It meant that he couldn’t get aluminum by simply heating it like iron production through reducing iron oxide.

The only way out was electrolysis.

The problem was that he had to melt bauxite, which contained impurities of alumina, to do electrolysis. 

But to melt it, he had to apply a heat of nearly 2000 degrees Celsius.

This was impossible, so he had to melt it in another substance and then do electrolysis. 

But unfortunately, this guy didn’t melt well in other substances either.

He had to solve this problem in order to refine aluminum.

***

“Are you going to keep holding on to this thing?”

“Yes. I don’t have any other research plans yet.”

“Hmm. I see.”

“Then I’ll be going.”

He had been conducting research on aluminum for too long, so he was called to the department office. 

But the Swift Wing didn’t care.

It had been a common atmosphere in the Empire since ancient times that they didn’t say much even if someone held on to one research topic for a long time.

There were quite a few cases where researches that seemed doubtful whether they could be realized or not, such as Sharp Teeth’s steam engine research, eventually succeeded.

The Swift Wing also believed in the possibility of aluminum, so he continued his experiments without caring about anything else.

He brought various substances into his laboratory and tried to melt aluminum with them.

One day,

The Swift Wing brought a white mineral into his laboratory. 

He had tried to bring in all possible substances, so it was possible.

“Where did you get this from?”

“Where was it… Ah! It’s a mineral that was recently discovered in a place called Greenland. But they say it has no use.”

“I see.”

The Swift Wing nodded indifferently at his assistant’s words. 

He had gone through so many trials and errors that he didn’t feel any special emotion even when he saw these rare substances.

“It was as white as snow.”

“That’s why it’s called ice crystal.”

“Ice crystal…”

The swift wing nodded as he heard the name. 

He had never seen this mineral before, but he felt that it had a very fitting name.

He then proceeded to analyze the properties of the ice crystal.

“It melts quite easily.”

As he heated it up a bit, the ice crystal turned into a molten state without much difficulty.

But apart from that, there was nothing remarkable about it.

After he had a rough idea of its properties, he added bauxite to the melted ice crystal.

Then something astonishing happened.

“…Ahh!”

The swift wing’s eyes widened in an instant. 

At the same time, a suppressed moan escaped from his mouth without him realizing it.

“It, it melts!”

His assistant was equally shocked.

“Get out of the way!”

The swift wing pushed his assistant aside and closely examined the bauxite that was gradually melting.

He rubbed his eyes to see if he was mistaken, but the result did not change.

Bauxite was definitely melting!

“Haha…”

He laughed hollowly as he saw the sight that he had never dreamed of. 

Then he looked up at the ceiling and muttered briefly.

“I did it.”

A faint smile appeared on his lips as he spoke.

***

He finally succeeded in electrolysis. 

He still had to separate alumina from bauxite, but compared to finding ice crystal, this was nothing.

He managed to produce aluminum by electrolysis. 

At a much cheaper price than the existing method.

This was enough to shake up the academic world.

“Hahaha! I knew you would succeed. A chemist should focus on one thing and research it thoroughly. Well done!”

The department head praised the swift wing heartily, as if he had given him a hint. 

And many chemists who were interested in this news visited Sunset University and expressed their admiration.

“Aluminum will no longer be more expensive than gold. You have done a remarkable thing.”

“I think aluminum will be widely used in the future. Congratulations, Mr. Swift Wing.”

“Thank you for your kind words.”

His Swift Wings received the natural praise of the chemists who visited him every day. 

He was proud of his research, after all.

But he also heard a nagging remark in his ear.

“Hmm. The problem is, it takes too much electricity to produce this aluminum.”

“That’s right. Until we solve this, we can’t lower the price enough to make it as common as steel.”

“Hmm.”

They had a point.

The nature of electrolysis required a large amount of electricity.

But his Swift Wings shrugged.

“That’s not my job, so I don’t care much. As time goes by, things will get better as always.”

The chemists agreed with his words.

And Kim Ki-woo also received news about aluminum. 

He stroked the lump of aluminum that came from the west and smiled.

“This thing is really solid.”

He knew how important aluminum would become for human life as time passed, so he couldn’t help but love the aluminum in front of him.

“The problem is electricity…”

The current electricity price was quite high. josei

If they produced aluminum at this rate, it would surely form a high price range.

Given the abundant hydropower resources of the Wacantanga continent, the problem would be solved to some extent over time…

“But I can’t wait until then.”

There was no need to do that when he knew a better way.

In Kim Ki-woo’s memory, there was a region that could produce cheap electricity in large quantities.

He spread out the map and stared at that region.