Chapter 70: The Birth of Mahjong!

Alan looked at the generator in front of him and was filled with mixed emotions inside. As expected, smart people were everywhere. He had only provided the blueprint and the generator was produced in just half a month.

Ai Xiaohei and Lolita brought Xiao Bai to watch from the side. Although they did not understand the importance of the generator, they could sense that Alan was paying a lot of attention to this strange fellow and the joy he felt of having the generator being manufactured successfully.

“Bart, since the generator has been created, have you tried making the incandescent lamp for the other blueprint?”

Alan looked at him earnestly.

Bart pondered for a moment and replied, “I’ve seen the blueprint. It’s not difficult to make an incandescent lamp, but there’s one thing that’s poses a challenge to me. I have not found the right material for the lamp wick yet.”

Alan was deep in thought. He only knew that the wick was made of tungsten wire, which had a high melting point and high electrical resistance.

“When the lamp is lit, the electricity passes through the thin wire and as it gets heated, it will start glowing. As the amount of electric current passing through the wire increases, the lamp will also get brighter. During this process, the temperature of the lamp will continue to rise, so when it comes to the choice of material for the wick, it will need to fulfil two criteria. The first one is that it must be able to bear high temperature and does not melt easily; and the second one is that it has a relatively low electrical conductivity.”

After Alan finished expressing his opinion, Bart fell into deep thought.

Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and said excitedly, “I know! There’s an alchemy material which has properties that completely satisfy the requirements. Most importantly, this material is very common!”

“Tungsten crystal!”

Alan didn’t know much about the various materials in this world, but when he heard the word ‘tungsten’, he had a rough idea. It was probably similar to tungsten wire.

Bart was thinking while muttering to himself.

“If we were to consider their characteristics, tungsten is the most suitable material. After all, it is easy to mine and produce in mass quantities…”

Alan didn’t interrupt him. He quietly waited for Bart to finish what he wanted to say.

“Alan, I’ll go back first. I’ll come and find you after I’ve made the light bulb.”

Bart didn’t wait for Alan to say goodbye and hurriedly got up to leave the tavern.

Alan could only sigh helplessly. He wrapped up the very first generator of this other world and moved it to the backyard. He believed that the tavern would soon be completely powered up and the energy structure would be completely changed.

Bart had just left when Uncle Wayne rushed into the tavern. He pulled Alan to his side and told him in a mysterious tone, “Little Alan, guess what I have for you.”

As he looked at Uncle Wayne’s sneaky expression, he kind of guessed what it would be, but seeing that Uncle Wayne didn’t have anything in his hands, he was a bit uncertain…

“It is made from mahjong!?”

“Not only is it made from mahjong, it’s also an improved version.”

Right at this moment, Abraham also entered the tavern.

Alan was a little surprised. In what ways could mahjong be improved? Moreover, from what he had heard, it seemed that the improvements done to it were very good.

Uncle Wayne’s had a smug expression on his face. It seems that he wanted to boast about his treasure and was just waiting for Alan to pop the question.

“Uncle Wayne, just show me what your improved mahjong has become!?”

The excitement on Alan’s face was Uncle Wayne’s source of motivation. He waited with bated breath before saying, “Look at this!”

He proudly opened his palm and right in the middle of his palm was a small ball. Alan could vaguely see the glittering metallic luster on it.

“Is this it?” Alan asked with a puzzled look.

Ai Xiaohei recognised this as something interesting and his cattish face was full of curiosity. He stood at the side of the table and stared intently at Wayne’s palm.

Lolita and Xiao Bai arrived a little later. They didn’t know what had transpired prior to the selection of the blueprint. They were just curious to see everyone gathering together.

“Little Alan, watch carefully!”

As Uncle Wayne said this, he casually threw the small ball on the ground. When the ball touched the ground, it seemed to have triggered a switch.

In an instant, the small ball underwent a transformation, its metallic luster shimmered brightly under the light, and it changed into a table with four legs and stood upright.

Alan was dumbstruck. This wasn’t mahjong, it was like witnessing a Gundam transformation. This mahjong table was certainly impressive!

Within that mere five seconds, what looked like a peanut-sized ball in the palm of someone’s hand had evolved into a mahjong table.

Lolita was also shocked by this. After all, she had never seen such a table in the abyss. Although she had no idea what use it has as of now, but the fact that it can transform itself is already a killing point.

“Uncle, Uncle, quickly tell me how your table can be used after it has been modified!”

Alan felt that his mecha dream had been ignited once again. Uncle Wayne’s modification design was simply brilliant!

Uncle Wayne said proudly, “Ahem, then let me tell you. This is my modified automatic mahjong table. It’s convenient to carry around, easy to install, and you can bring it anywhere at any time in your hand.”

He continued, “I used memory metal as the main material for this mahjong table, and I included a space array. The mahjong tiles are also placed within the table. When you want to play mahjong, you just need to pull up the drawer from the middle of the table and you can start the game.”

Uncle Wayne started to demonstrate while explaining. When he saw Alan’s shocked yet adoring eyes, he felt very proud of himself and that half a month’s time spent on this was worth it.

“Oh right, has Bart completed his project?”

Wayne pretended to ask casually.

“It’s done, and it’s a success. He just left before you guys came in.”

Alan looked at the shocked faces of the people in front of him.

The appeal of mahjong was that it was suitable for people of all ages.

Even Lolita was attracted by this game and she sat around the table and watched it with great interest.

“Alan, how do you play this game? Teach me, I want to play too.”

Upon hearing Lolita’s request, Alan felt troubled. How was he going to teach her how to play mahjong? She was still a child…

Uncle Wayne didn’t care much about these things. When he heard that someone wanted to play mahjong, he was extremely excited.

Ever since he had gotten the blueprint, he had studied the rules and methods of playing for quite some time. After making this table, what he wanted to do the most was to find three companions to play a few rounds together.

During this half a month, Abraham had been forced to play mahjong by his landlord. It was very interesting, and he was very familiar with the rules.

As long as he taught two more people, he would be able to gather enough people to start the game Thus, Uncle Wayne began to explain happily.

Uncle Wayne was teaching a small mahjong class. The students who were attending the class were Lolita, Ai Xiaohei, and Xiaobai…

“There are a total of 136 mahjong tiles, including honors tiles and suited tiles. Suited tiles are divided into three suits: dots, bamboo and characters. Each player will have the same number of chips in their hands.”

“If you have two or three identical tiles in your hand, and someone discards another identical tile, no matter which position you are at, you can declare a meld and shout out ‘Pong’ to the other players. At this point, play may be interrupted. If you hold three matching tiles and then draw a fourth piece from the end of the wall to get a complete set of four, this is known as a Kong.”

“The important thing to take note is, the next person will continue to draw and play tiles after the previous player.”

“If all the tiles belong to the same suit, then this is called a flush. The points can be quadrupled. For example, if you have character tiles such as 1112345678999 in your hand, then this is considered a flush, all tiles in one suit. After careful inspection, since you have tiles from 1 to 9, you can choose one of it to win the game.”

Alan was quite shocked when he heard this. He never thought that Uncle Wayne already knew the rules of mahjong so well?

“If you have three identical tiles and two identical tiles, the points will also be doubled.”

“When you have formed melds with all thirteen tiles in your hand, you only need to add the fourteenth tile to get a winning hand. If the three melds consisting of Pongs or Chows have already been exposed, then there’s only one tile left. If you have the wining hand, the points will be doubled.”

“The general criteria for a winning hand is to get four melds consisting of Pongs, Kongs or Chows, and a pair of identical tiles known as Eyes.”

“The points for each hand need to be converted into chips and handed to the winner. At the end of the game, the winner or loser will be determined according to the number of chips he has.”

Alan listened with confusion as he was not well-versed in the rules of mahjong. However, Uncle Wayne had figured it out in such a short time. It seemed that he had the potential to become a gambling saint…