Seminar

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 its just his character is so."

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

"Since everyone is here lets 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 surprsied as this 'thorny awn' was very similar 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 spea: "'Cassia' containts toxins but as far as I know there was a report from a remote area of 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 treatment of leprosy. Although the plan is toxic but there are other economic values to it. It's positive merits outweighted its negative sideeffects.

"If small amounts of its poison is used then it could be a cure for dizziness, nausea, abdominal pain... Moreover it may be used in war too. Especially against the barbarians. We can dry them and use the dried powder to poison a large area!" The crooken nosed man's voice echoed slowly.

Dudian was quite moved as he heard the man's opinion.

The old man who was wearing red jacked clapped: "Good idea. Even if there is lack of wind then we can use windmills to enlarge the effect of this method."

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

Dudian nodded but knew that using cocklebur(xanthium) powder in war wasn't feasible. First of all a large amount of time had to be spent to get enough powder to use. Second was the distance problem. These two points were key to the war. Moreover in this case 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 its 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 'distance' problem of wars. That's why she replied the moment she heard the crooken 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 everyones opinion: "What if we mix the powder with the water? The water isn't affected by the wind. Does it?"

The old man wearing red jacket spoke up: "Yes! Ah, the powder is too light but if we mix it into water and put it into packages then it would be a miraculous weapon in 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 at 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 first. He regretted in his heard 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 by listening to you." The old man wearing the red jacked 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 tung oil. Moreover it can be used as raw material for many high-grade spices. The other things can be found after an 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 that it won't be limited to leprosy many other diseases."

"The third field is its usage in war. Whether its used directly as a wepon 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 same position for long time. The reason wasn't lack of knowledge but their mentality!

Knowledge was something that could be learnt as time passed but mindset and mentality wasn't something easy to change.

"It's much more clear to me after the classification." Tiffany looked at Dudian. There was a glimpse of admination and appreciation in her eyes.

Dudian smiled and was aware that there would be an impact on 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 in this medieval era there weren't strong concepts. 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. Like wise 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 jack added: "You don't have to be modest. We are senior architects. Does anyone has 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 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 nosed 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 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 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 smile on his face. It seemed that he didn't care at all. Dudian had greater potential in comparison to crooked nosed 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 its 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 which is way difficult for us. The previous time it took 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..."