Chapter 196: In the Garden Villa
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
In Douglas, Jerome's garden villa.
"Your name's also Lucien Evans?" a black-haired young man wearing a casual white shirt and a black vest grinned. "K has always said that his name is very common, and I did not believe him. Now I see… haha."
This young man was Rock, a second circle sorcerer. Rock was good at the school of Element and mathematics, and he was a cheerful young person who loved playing jokes a lot.
Before Lucien responded, Rock continued, "I'm gonna introduce you to K. No worries, Lucien, K's very easygoing, although he's quite introverted. Unlike some people from Electromagnetics, K's diligent, talented, and always willing to help!"
When Lucien was about to open his mouth to say something, Rock cut him off again, "I know you must wonder why I say some people from Electromagnetics are arrogant. Trust me, Lucien, I'm not biased. In the last issue of Arcana, since Mr. Brook has proved that light is a special electromagnetic wave, those Electromagnetics people claim that spiritual power is also a certain kind of wave, and are laughing at us every single day, because we insist in the theory of particles! Come on… There are still quite a few magic experiments that cannot be explained by waves, and the president hasn't responded to Mr. Brook's theory yet!"
Lucien was amused, and he quickly cast a glance at Lazar. Lucien thought that Lazar was already very talkative, but now he realized that Lazar was not even close to Rock. From Rock's words, Lucien got to know some new research trends in the congress, so he was listening quite patiently.
Lazar commented, "Rock's always like this. Well, since the last issue of Arcana was released, sorcerers like Rock who live in Allyn all the time and who insist to use Particle Theory in discovering spiritual power are facing quite a bit stress from the new theories. I have mixed feelings toward the new and old theories, sorry and proud at the same time."
Jerome and his beautiful wife were just listening and smiling.
It seemed that elemental sorcerers were naturally supporters of Particle Theory. Without the great pressure from the Church, there might be an intense internal strife among the supporters of different theories.
When Lazar and Rock finished their discussion, Lucien and Jerome were sitting on the couch and having black tea made by Vera. Although the brown-haired, ordinary-looking man was not talkative, happiness could be found in Jerome's eyes. His wife Vera was a red-haired pretty girl, probably around twenty-three or so.
"Mr. Evans, enjoy the tea. I'm going to prepare dinner," said Vera politely and left the living room.
Rock sighed with emotion, "How could you find such a nice lady, Jerome? The girls I know have no idea how to be a good wife…"
Jerome grinned shyly.
"Rock, how's your project going?" asked Lazar.
"Rejected. The board thought I was joking," said Rock with a bit dismay.
"What project?" asked Lucien curiously.
"A great project!" explained Rock excitedly, "As a sorcerer from Tower, I think everything can be represented by numbers. What we can do is to figure out a standard number system to represent how powerful a spell is, or the level of a sorcerer's defensive power. By measuring and recording, in the future, when two sorcerers want to fight, numbers can directly show the result, and no one will be hurt."
"Then what if both of the two sorcerers have their advantages and disadvantages?" asked Lucien confusedly.
"That's right." Rock took a pile of paper and started writing, "For example, the total amount of my spiritual power is… 105, and Lazar's is 96…"
"Hey… Why mine is lower than yours?" Lazar was not happy with the set value.
And then they started arguing.
"They're just like this, like kids." Jerome smiled to Lucien.
"That's why they're good friends." Lucien nodded. Those "bad" words Lazar used to describe Rock were also quite suitable for himself.
Ignoring Lazar and Rock, Lucien and Jerome started discussing the school of Astrology and Element, and they enjoyed their conversation very much. The two people regretted that they had not known each other earlier.
"Dinner's ready." Vera came back to the living room, followed by servants pushing dining carts.
Putting down the tea cup, Lucien turned around and saw that Lazar and Rock were still playing their card game.
"Magic Missile, Power 5." Rock put down a piece of card.
"Flame Shield, Defense, 7." Lazar pulled out a card seriously.
"What are you two doing here?" asked Jerome curiously.
"I have to admit that this isn't a very good project." Rock frowned a bit and then grinned, "But it can be turned into a great card game! Wait… I need to find a sifter."
Lucien was speechless. He could not understand Rock's way of thinking.
However, Rock had already switched to another topic, "Steak and grilled fish… The smell's so beautiful… By the way, Vera, why did you choose to stay with Jerome?"
Without doubt, all the three single sorcerers present felt quite envious of their sweet marriage.
After dinner, Lucien and Rock said goodbye to Lazar and walked together back to their shared villa.
The magic school only provided married teachers with a whole villa, since there were quite a few teachers in the school. Before Lazar left, Rock talked to Lucien's roommate and exchanged their places to live together with Lucien.
Lucien planned to make a potion called Stone tonight to help himself upgrade to second circle, however, he felt quite tired today, so he decided to make it tomorrow after work.
…
Thorn Tree class.
"Do you know today's Ancient Languages class will be taught by Mr. Evans?" Heidi asked Layria and Annick mysteriously.
"Mr. K? He's a level two arcanist and second circle sorcerer, so I thought he only taught senior apprentices…"
"No idea. I heard it from Grant." Heidi shook her head.
Hearing the students' discussion, even Sprint, who usually did not like speaking to other apprentices, sat up a bit straighter, as the name triggered his memory.
The bell rang, indicating the beginning of the class. All the students stopped talking and looked more serious. To Layria, Heidi and Annick's great surprise, it was actually their previous teacher who came into the classroom.
Lucien Evans was wearing a black double-breasted coat and a soft hat today.
"It's really Mr. Evans!" the three apprentices blurted out together, regardless of the classroom disciplines.
Other apprentices in the class were very curious, looking at their new teacher.
Seeing Lucien, Sprint and Katrina had mixed feelings. They felt both excited and also a bit worried.
Lucien took off his hat and put it on the desk. He nodded to the three apprentices first, and then turned to the whole class, "I'm Lucien Evans, your Ancient Languages teacher, and you folks can call me Mr. X if you want. In my class, you can do whatever you want, including doing your own homework or sleeping, as long as your behaviour doesn't disturb other students who want to pay attention to the class. However, you gotta be responsible for your own choice. If you're so talented that you can pass the course without listening to me, go ahead, and it's totally fine, but if you're not, you'd better behave yourself and study hard, or I'm afraid that you'd be taking this course again in next term. For students who work hard and finish homework on time, extra score will be given."
It was the first time these apprentices saw a teacher like this, and they felt very excited.
Then Lucien took out a pile of paper, "So, the first class… We'll be having an assessment today."
"Test again…" Annick, Layria and Heidi recalled their bad memories. In their eyes, Mr. Evan's smile looked like the devil's.
The other students did not know what to expect.
Chapter 197: First Encounter
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
When the bell was ringing for the end of the class, Lucien directly collected all the test papers and left the class. Then, the students started their heated discussion, "You guys know Mr. X?" asked Grant, the head boy of the class. Grant had black, curly hair and deep-set, black eyes.
As Grant was asking, more students paid attention to Annick, Heidi and Layria, trying to get more information about their new teacher.
Annick nodded, as he really respected Grant, who was hard-working and talented, "We knew Mr. Evans before. That's right."
"Great! He looks pretty cool!" Grant was very impressed by Lucien's words, "I've never met any teachers like him! Mr. X's not like these stubborn teachers at all. Sometimes I already understood what was being taught, but I was still not allowed to do my own stuff… What a waste of time!"
Heidi's face twitched a bit, and then he said seriously, "It's true that Mr. Evans doesn't really care about whether we pay attention to his class, and he keeps saying that we gotta be responsible for our own choices and the consequences if we do not work hard, but this is just one aspect of his teaching, and he's still got another side…"
Lucien's words were very direct, and they won support from most of the apprentices. The students felt that Mr. X was someone who really understood them, and he was a cool teacher that possibly could become their good friend.
"What's the other side?" asked Grant curiously.
"You'll see," answered the three apprentices together. They all remembered what they had experienced with Mr. Evans before.
"Hope you guys won't hate Mr. Evans," said Heidi meaningfully.
The rest of the students were very confused, yet also curious. Then the bell of the next class, Basic Magic Potion, stopped their discussion.
…
In the teachers' office.
Carrying the test papers, as soon as Lucien entered the office, five teachers, three being men and two women, smiled and nodded to him, while another seven remained quite cold, burying themselves in their own work.
Lucien also nodded to the teachers who were nice to him, knowing that these five teachers were all friends of Rock, who had already told them everything. As for the other seven teachers, they did not get along well at all with Rock, so they decided to ignore Lucien, a sorcerer who only had seven arcana credits and no arcana level.
"Teaching Ancient Languages and Magic Creatures shouldn't be challenging to you, Lucien." When Vilnia, a blond female sorcerer, walked by Lucien's desk, she kindly reminded him, "You'd better spend more of your time on studying basic arcana."
Vilnia was about twenty-five or six, a level one arcanist and second circle sorcerer, specializing in Illusion and Force. As a lady who got both mature charm and the beauty of youth, she was already married and her husband was a viscount. Every morning she took the magic train to come to work from Rentato, capital of Holm.
Because Rentato and Allyn were very close to each other, the commuting time was only ten minutes, and as a sorcerer and a noble lady, a round-trip ticket only cost Vilnia two Nars.
"Thanks for your reminder, Ms. Vilnia. I'll keep it in mind." Lucien smiled politely.
"Polite and good-looking young man." Vilnia joked, "When you visit Rentato, feel free to come to my place and be our guest."
Among all the female teachers in this school, which accounted for one third of the whole teaching staff, some were beautiful, some were charming, and some looked terrifying because of some failed experiments or magic powers which could erode one's appearance.
When Vilnia left the office, Lucien first checked the test papers to know the basic level of the class, Thorn Tree, in Ancient Languages. Then he took out a pile of paper and his quill and started reviewing a second circle spell, Mirror, which had been successfully analyzed before.
Lucien was very interested in this spell once used by the murloc mage, which could help the caster confuse his or her enemy. As the knowledge involved in this basic Illusion spell could also be found in Astrology and Elements, Lucien decided to turn Mirror into his first second circle magic, and thus to make his next breakthrough to become a second circle sorcerer.
…
Douglas, in the magic lab tower.
Finishing the first lesson of Introduction of Magic Creatures in another class, Blood Bird, Lucien hurriedly arrived here.
"Hello, may I have an alchemical laboratory?" Lucien politely asked the old sorcerer managing the tower.
The old level one arcanist, second circle sorcerer, Ines, responded seriously, "Sorry, Mr. Evans, all the magic labs have been borrowed. Please come earlier tomorrow."
"All of the labs?" Lucien looked up at the five-story magic tower. Although it was not very spacious, there were at least ten magic labs on each floor. Lucien could not believe his ears.
Ines calmly replied, "Mr. Evans, we have to reserve twenty labs for our students and the several level two arcanists. For the rest of the labs, you know, first come, first served."
"We have this many teachers who need to do experiments?" asked Lucien, feeling a bit frustrated and surprised.
"No all of them are doing experiments," said Ines. "Some are making potions and some are testing their summoning rites. Everyone knows that one of the best things working here in this school is that one can use the labs for free."
"I totally understand, Mr. Ines." Lucien did not want to give up easily, "Can I use one of the reserved labs first? Then I can leave when the person arrives."
Building a well-equipped lab here was very expensive, and Lucien could not afford it right now.
"No." Ines shook his head, "We have rules, unless you're a level two arcanist who enjoys privileges."
When Lucien was feeling quite frustrated, a low voice came from behind, "Are you Lucien Evans?"
Lucien turned around and saw a tall, ordinary-looking man wearing a black jacket, looking like a strong bear.
"Yes, I'm Lucien Evans… Uh… X. And you?" Lucien nodded.
"I guess so." The tall man smiled, "You don't look familiar to me. Nice to meet you, I'm K."
"So we have the same name." Lucien looked at K curiously.
"Rock was about to introduce me to you this afternoon, but I wasn't in the office," said K a bit shyly, "You're looking for a lab?"
"Yes… but I think I'm too late." Lucien nodded frustratedly.
"Then what about sharing one with me?" suggested K sincerely. "What are you gonna do today?"
"That'll be awesome!" said Lucien excitedly, then with a second thought, he asked politely, "I'm making a magic potion today. Will I disturb your work?"
"Not a problem. There are plenty of alchemical circles in the lab. We can share." K was very generous.
"Thank you, K. Like Rock said, you're really a nice person," said Lucien sincerely.
"I've received lots of help from others as well. Let's go." K was quite shy, which did not agree with his big and tall figure.
With K's permission, Ines let the two people walk upstairs without saying anything.
Chapter 198: Second Circle
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
When the lab door opened, the whole lab was slowly lit up with warm yellow light. Although the lab was not as mysterious and grand as that of the Prophet, Maskelyne, which Lucien used in the magic lock, its cleanliness, tidiness and the great amount of equipment was impressive to Lucien.
K pointed at one of the operation platforms, "You can use this one, Lucien… It feels like I'm talking to myself. I'm gonna start doing my experiment as well."
"Thanks, K." Lucien did not ask anything about K's experiment, as someone's experiment was always a secret, and that was how plagiarism came from.
It was hard to prove that someone plagiarized other people's research outcomes, unless the person's thoughts could be investigated by certain spells. However, as for the sorcerers who dared plagiarize, they often had some powerful groups secretly supporting them from behind, thus they could easily avoid being investigated like this when there was not enough evidence, and finding other excuses to exonerate themselves was also not difficult.
What was worse was that some sorcerers would kill other people from whom they stole research outcomes by using different means.
All of these was introduced by Lazar, and when Lucien first heard it, he was quite shocked.
Stone was not difficult to make, and Lucien was quite good at making potions. After three times, a tube of brown turbid liquid was produced.
Still having some time, Lucien took out a tube of purified material and was about to test it following the papers he read. At this time, K, who was standing with his back to Lucien, said to him, "You have other experiments to do, Lucien?"
"Yes?" asked Lucien.
"I'm not trying to steal your experiment, Lucien," said K in his low voice, sounding very reliable, "but I can tell you how to open the secret lock of this lab. If you have to do some urgent experiments, you can use this lab even if I'm not here."
"It's really nice of you, K. I'm still new in the field of Element, and I want to see the nature of all kinds of elements in person by doing many experiments. You know, as a first circle sorcerer, I could not discover many characteristics of the elements by using magic, thus doing experiments is the most reliable way to me," Lucien turned around and said to K sincerely.
Seeing K was still doing his experiment, Lucien turned his back to K again to avoid seeing what he was doing.
"I totally understand. I'll tell you how to enter this lab later," said K, standing with Lucien back to back. "However, I'm leaving this school in a few months. You won't be able to use this lab for long."
"Why are you leaving?" asked Lucien, confused. As he was asking, Lucien turned on the alchemical circle to turn the purified element into vapour to test its gas density.
"Mr. Larry from our group, the Will of Elements, likes my previous paper, and he told me that when I become a middle-rank sorcerer, he would like to have me to help him with some studies. Recently, I've been feeling that I'm approaching this higher level, so I want to have a magic item by accomplishing a task given by the congress to help myself upgrade." K had no intention of showing off his accomplishment and tried to stay humble.
Among the current generation in the Will of Elements, Larry, student of Gaston, was the most promising one who would grow into a senior-rank sorcerer. Right now Larry was a level five arcanist, fifth circle sorcerer, who was even more powerful than Timothy or Ulysses. Only six or seven sorcerers from other groups and organizations could compete with him, including Felipe, who was younger than him but was already close to level five in arcana.
Lucien slightly nodded, "Congratulations. May I take a look at your paper?"
"It hasn't been published yet. The paper's going to be on the next week's issue of Element. Teachers in the school can read it for free." K was quite shy. He did not tell Lucien the name of the paper directly but switched the topic, "Hope you can complete your experiments as soon as possible, Lucien, otherwise when I'm not here anymore, you need to find other places."
Lucien chuckled, "No one ever mentioned that we have a teacher from our school who's gonna publish his work on Element. You're really good at keeping your secret, K. Well, I'll make the best of my time to finish the experiments. K, you're such a nice guy."
"This is nothing. We're supposed to help each other," K answered with a smile.
Back to back, Lucien and K chatted occasionally, but they spent most of their time on doing experiments.
…
It was already early morning when Lucien went back to the place where he lived, and Rock was sound asleep.
Surrounded by the light floral aroma, the quietness of early morning soothed Lucien's soul. Feeling prepared, he opened the glass tube and drank down the brown turbid potion named Stone.
Spicy, sour and bitter, the potion went down from Lucien's mouth and burnt his throat and gullet, making Lucien want to throw up, but inside his body, his soul felt calm and powerful.
When the taste faded a bit in his mouth, he closed his eyes. Lucien soon went into the world of meditation. His consciousness went back to the starry sky, in which his Host Star of Destiny was shining, and the three basic powers, fire, wind and water, were contributing to the existence of the meditation world.
Lucien's consciousness separated from his soul, and started directing the soul. Shining lines extended out from the power of Lucien's soul and started to construct a relatively complicated spatial model.
Since the model had not involved any complex math theories such as curve, and with some new basic knowledge in arcana, Lucien handled the whole process pretty well.
When the model was completed by the last line of soul, the model burst out dazzling light which dragged Lucien's consciousness back into his soul, and covered it.
At this time, Lucien noticed the subtle changes happening around him in this meditation world!
Colourful light spots were appearing in the starry sky in a sophisticated and mysterious order, and each of the spot was showing a complicated model. It seemed that these models themselves were new spells that Lucien had never seen before! However, the structure of the models were in such a chaos, and when Lucien was about to take a closer look, his consciousness was overwhelmed by his own great spiritual power brought by this second circle spell in his soul, Mirror.
Like a small boat trying its very best to survive between the furious waves, like a warrior fighting for his hope, Lucien struggled to stay lucid and keep himself in control.
Thankfully, Lucien's great spiritual power and will passed the test in the end. A shining crystal showed up in his soul, and the level of his spiritual power reached a new record.
"Finally… I'm a second level sorcerer," said Lucien to himself. As he was saying, Lucien activated Mirror, and a clone was produced beside him.
Mirror, a second circle spell from the school of Illusion. Before it was cracked by any detection spells, such as some spells in Astrology, Mirror could protect its caster until the clone of the person was destroyed.
After testing the spell, Lucien removed the magic and looked back at the starry sky. The colourful particles were now all gone, as if it was just Lucien's illusion.
However, Lucien was sure that this was definitely not his illusion, so he ventured a guess:
The meditation world was created and also affected by his own knowledge. When he knew more of the truth in the world, correspondingly, more would show up in this meditation world.
Lucien was learning how to arrange elements recently, and although some elements here were different from those of Lucien's original world, he still could notice some possible orders. Lucien wondered if this was why the meditation world changed when he upgraded. Maybe when Lucien successfully completed the periodic table of elements in this world, the colourful particles would turn into someone else, say, a new magic. However, Lucien had no idea what the magic could be.
…
Heidler, the main tower of the Hand of Paleness, in a dark room.
"Mr. Rogerio, good afternoon." Felipe took out his hands from his jacket and bowed with his right hand on his forehead, "What can I do for you today?"
Felipe was being this respectful, because Rogerio was not only one of the leaders of the Hand of Paleness, but also the member of Affairs Committee, directed by the highest council.
Rogerio was wearing black suit and white, loose-sleeved shirt, looking the same when he was in Aalto, but now there were three badges in front of his chest: level seven arcana badge, eighth circle sorcerer badge, and a black-fired badge representing the Affairs Committee position.
Unlike many necromancers, Rogerio looked more easy-going, "How's your experiment going, Felipe?"
"Not bad, but still needs time." Felipe sat down in front of Rogerio.
Rogerio slightly nodded, and then said, "I've got some news… about Professor."
Chapter 199: Professor and the Musician
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
Felipe's pale face suddenly looked more serious. In his mind, Professor was his enemy, and also a genius, who was probably even more promising than Larry.
"He's in Allyn now?" asked Felipe in low voice.
Rogerio just smiled, but did not say anything. Instead, he changed the topic, "My study investigating electromagnetic interference with soul was supposed to be the leading paper in the next issue of Arcana, but the day before yesterday, the chief editor came all the way to Heidler and apologized to me that my paper would be changed to the second position. Too bad… I've been looking forward to the glory all the time."
Staying quite calm, Felipe did not keep asking about Professor, but looked a bit confused and then asked, "A new paper? Where's the new paper from?"
"Yes, a new paper," Rogerio nodded, feeling a bit sorry for himself, "from Lord of Storm."
Even Felipe was a bit in awe of this name. Fernando Brastar, Lord of Storm, besides his great accomplishment in arcana and magic, was also known for his bad temper. No one dared present arcana theories with any deficiencies in front of him, regardless what level the person was of, since Fernando would directly refute the person's proposition and ruthlessly jeer at it. Even members from the highest council often wanted to stay away from him.
"What's the paper about? Do you have any clue?" Felipe was very curious.
Getting a cup of water for himself, Rogerio turned around, "I'm curious, too. So I went to Common Arcana Library and checked this paper which just passed the board's review. The paper's about the application of electromagnetic wave. And I have to admit that it's very insightful and creative. It'll be available the day after tomorrow."
Felipe did not say anything, but listened to Rogerio carefully.
"Of course, the reason why I asked you to come here today is not to recommend this paper to you, but because of another paper that inspired Mr. Fernando to develop his paper," Rogerio said seriously.
"A paper… inspired Mr. Fernando?" Felipe frowned a bit.
Rogerio nodded, "The paper's hasn't been published yet, and it's about a small experiment investigating high frequency sound wave, conducted by Lucien Evans X, a sorcerer with no arcana level who just arrived in Allyn a week ago."
"Lucien Evans… The musician? It's a common name though…" Felipe was being very unsure.
Professor and the great musician arrived at the land that originally belonged to Wilfred at the same time, so the Hand of Paleness felt suspicious. Felipe thought that it was Natasha who sent Professor to protect the musician, so he connected the musician and Professor together.
"The broken ring, made of seven-element alloy… Princess Natasha and the famous musician… I wonder if we can say that the ring that Viscount Carendia saw on Professor's hand was the very ring of Holm Crown prize…" There was a mysterious smile on Rogerio's face, "From another perspective, when was Professor's name first heard? It was when some apprentice tried to approach the famous musician, Lucien Evans. Who could benefit from the Hand of Paleness' plan of kidnapping being interrupted? Lucien Evans, the musician."
Rogerio was a bit in awe when he called Natasha's name, not because of Natasha's title, but her ties of blood with an influential person from the congress.
"So…" Felipe touched his chin a bit, "they were even closer than we thought?"
"Why not? A musician has fallen under the lure of an evil sorcerer, and they've formed a close bond. Without the support of the Will of Elements, how was it possible that Lucien could become Princess Natasha's music advisor that fast?" Rogerio's hands were holding together, "I think by building a closer bond with Princess Natasha, Lucien Evans also got closer to the Will of Elements and Holm Royal Magic Academy. Perhaps this is the very purpose of the Will of Elements, and they took advantage of our plan!"
"This makes sense," Felipe slightly nodded, "but something's still not right."
It seemed that Felipe and Rogerio knew something secret.
"Princess Natasha is in her three-year penance now, and for the next three years, the famous musician, Lucien Evans, will be studying arcana here in Allyn to improve himself to respond to their future challenges. This is how I view the whole thing," Rogerio continued.
Felipe's left hand missed a finger, but he still used that hand to rub his chin, "But there's no solid evidence showing that this Lucien Evans X is the very famous musician, right?"
"There is." Rogerio put on a sophisticated smile, "Remember I encountered the famous musician in Aalto once? To confirm my guesses, I went to Douglas, and I saw him there!"
"For sure?!" Felipe was surprised.
"Completely," said Rogerio. "Lucien Evans X is for sure Professor's good student. From him, we can lift Professor's veil!"
"That's right… That's why Lucien Evans's first paper ever could be directly cited by the grand arcanist!" Felipe agreed.
"Good point." Rogerio knocked at the desk confidently, "Mr. Fernando's paper talks about the application of high frequency sound wave, and do you remember the mechanism of Professor's symbolic magic?"
"According to the viscount and Amores… low frequency sound wave." Felipe recalled seriously, "Now I see the connection."
"Yesterday, I secretly observed Lucien's class. It was… pretty interesting and creative." Rogerio quite appreciated Lucien's teaching style and his talent, "It feels like his music style, creative and always about something new."
In their discussion, Felipe and Rogerio were sure that Lucien was Professor's outstanding student.
They did not know Lucien as well as Natasha did, besides, since Natasha did not know how powerful Professor was, it was easier for her to directly connect Lucien to Professor. As for Felipe and Rogerio, they would never consider that Professor, the arcanist who sucessfully designed the experiment of synthesizing carbamide, was just a beginner in arcana.
That was the blind spot of their thinking.
"Shall we somehow get Lucien here in Heidler and check his thoughts?" Felipe wanted to know what was the next step.
"No." Rogerio shook his head, "Quite possibly, Professor is working on some important research, and if we touch Lucien right now, it would definitely alarm him. We shall keep an eye on Lucien to see what experiment he's working on and what people he's meeting, and this work is on me. Felipe, you focus on your research. If you can publish some great research results before Professor, we won't have to adopt any violent means then."
Felipe frowned his brows, "What I don't understand is why Professor hasn't published the paper on synthesizing carbamide. This is definitely a very debatable topic that could earn him tons of credits."
"Maybe he's still waiting for the final answer of his research." Rogerio smiled, "Felipe, what about you develop the paper on carbamide synthesizing yourself? Representing the Hand of Paleness, the paper can prove our great inspiration as necromancers."
After some improvement in magic rites, now Rogerio also agreed that synthesizing life ingredients was doable, but he could not find any definitive proof yet.
Felipe shook his head seriously, "My self-esteem won't allow me to do this, Mr. Rogerio, and I believe that you won't do this as well. Besides, not all the sorcerers in the Hand of Paleness are as open-minded as you, sir. If I really did this, I would be in big trouble."
Rogerio smiled, "I see. What a coincidence it is which leads us to find Professor…"
…
Douglas, headmaster's office.
"Mr. Donald, what can I do for you?" asked Lucien.
"Are you getting along well with K?" Donald did not get to the point immediately, "It's also quite troublesome for me to share the same name with the famous arcanist from the highest council."
There was another Donald, from the highest council, who was a ninth circle elemental sorcerer and the winner of Holm Crown prize for finding a new element by using spectral analysis. He was also one of the two presidents of the Will of Element.
After a bit casual chatting, Donald looked more serious, "Lucien, some teachers jointly complained that you've breached the school rules since you're telling students that it's okay not to listen to a teacher. After verification, the complaint has been proved, so I need to punish you by suspending your course for a month. I hope you can learn from it."
Chapter 200: Feeling Unsafe
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
Facing the unexpected punishment, Lucien was quite unhappy and frustrated, as he thought that he was maintaining quite a low profile and trying to avoid any possible conflicts with other teachers who did not like him. Still, now he was in trouble.
However, Lucien never gave up easily, "Sir, I've been receiving quite a few positive comments from my students from both Thorn Three and Blood Bird, and that proves that my way of teaching's efficient. As you can see, my students' scores have improved as well."
"I know," answered Donald directly, and his answer surprised Lucien.
"But you've still broken the rules, Lucien." Donald continued and changed his tone, "In Douglas, teachers should be authorities and should always be respected. Telling students that they don't have to listen has severely violated our tradition. Regardless how effective your teaching method might be, the tradition of the school can never be breached. I hope you can realize your mistake, Lucien."
Lucien was speechless. He knew that the improvement of his students' academic performance could not help him, since the headmaster valued the rules of the school more than anything else in this world, where the sense of order and class was highly respected.
Seeing that Lucien did not respond, Donald smiled to comfort him a bit, "Lucien, I know young people are always full of ideas, and among those ideas, some are good and some not. Say, I like the part where you increased the amount of exercise and homework that students should do, and now we're promoting this part in your teaching practice all over the campus."
Lucien rubbed his head a bit but still did not say anything. He felt that students in this school would hate him for sure.
…
"Yes?" Rock patted on Lucien's shoulder to comfort him, "What happened?"
"Suspending my teaching for a month. Salary cut by half. Can still use the labs, libraries and buy experiment materials for lower prices. Next time I violate the rules, I'm fired," said Lucien expressionlessly.
Rock swore a bit in low voice, "Must be those bastards from Electromagnetism… you know, the guy named Beate…he must be the leading one! They also teach Thorn Three and Blood Bird, and the students prefer you way more than them!"
"I see… That is the reason, then." Lucien finally understood where did all of these come from. In Lucien's mind, Beate looked like a quiet person, and he never expected something like this from him.
Beate had black hair and black eyes, and was an ordinary-looking man. He was pretty good at Electromagnetism, and currently, he was a level one arcanist, second circle sorcerer.
Walking downstairs, Rock said to Lucien half joking and half serious, "Lucien, although you always give the students quite a bit of homework, you're the coolest and the most popular teacher in their mind. However, I gotta remind you that there's something in this school that cannot be violated. You can have your ideas, and you can also do what you want to do, but you're never supposed to speak it out."
"Now I understand." Lucien nodded, "Thank you, Rock."
Rock grinned, "Actually, orders and traditions are all created by those big men. If you were a grand arcanist, Lucien, I bet no one would accuse you of breaking the rules, but speak highly of you that you're creative and bold, and we should all follow your practice."
"I think you're right, Rock." Lucien smiled.
…
During lunchtime, in order to comfort Lucien, Jerome, K, Vilnia, and some other teachers came to Lucien's place and had lunch with him.
After lunch, hearing the bad news, Annick, Layria and Heidi also came to visit Lucien. Surprisingly, Sprint, Katrina, Grant, and another green-haired girl were also there. The girl with dark green-hair was strange to Lucien, being around seventeen or eighteen.
"We're always on your side, Mr. Evans!" Having no idea what was proper to say at that moment, after a while, Annick, Heidi and Layria finally came up with one sentence together.
Sprint still did not say anything, but he was slightly nodding to show his support. Katrina and Grant also waved their fists and said, "Your teaching's great, Mr. Evans!"
And then Grant mumbled a bit, "Could be better without homework."
"I'll be coming back soon. Thank you all." Lucien did not encourage the students to fight against the school for him, since he did not want the students to be in trouble.
After a bit casual chatting, Heidi said to Lucien, "Mr. Evans, as students coming from the other side of the strait, we've been feeling quite challenged in basic magic and arcana. So we wonder… whether you would be willing to spend some time on tutoring us this month, Mr. Evans?"
"We can pay!" added Layria hurriedly. "Some of our experiment products were bought by the school, and we made some money from it!"
"Arcana tutoring?" Lucien was surprised, and felt this a bit strange.
However, the apprentices were pretty serious.
K decided to help the students, "They're hard-working and brave young men and ladies, Lucien. If you have time, maybe you can help them a bit, and when I'm free, I can join you."
"I see… then what about every Saturday afternoon?" After receiving K's help, Lucien also wanted to be nice to other people, "And there's no way that I'm gonna charge you students. The tutoring is free. So… who's in?"
"Me, me!" Heidi hurriedly raised her hand, followed by Layria and Annick.
Katrina's face blushed, but she was being quite decisive, "I'm in, Mr. Evans."
Sprint's face also went red, including his ears, "Me… too…"
As one of the leading students in the class, Grant smiled and said shyly, "Mr. Evans, I think I'm fine so far."
The strange young girl was looking at Heidi, signalling to him.
Heidi hurriedly nodded and said to Lucien, "Mr. Evans, this's Chely, our roommate, from Sea Gull. She can't follow most of our courses, and she wants to join us as well."
"Chely…?" Lucien repeated the name a bit, as the name sounded very familiar to him, and the colour of the girl's hair was also very unique. If the girl was the same Chely that Lucien encountered on the ship, then the relationship between Viscount Wright and the congress would be very complicated.
It seemed that Chely understood why Lucien was a bit surprised, so she slightly nodded, "Yes."
Chely was a quiet girl, so she did not say much.
Another example of a knight falling in love with a sorcerer, and although it was going to be very difficult, Lucien sincerely hoped that they would not copy Natasha and Silvia.
When Lucien agreed that Chely could also join them, Rock came back and said to him excitedly, "Lucien! Your paper has been cited by Mr. Brastar! Fernando Brastar! The grand arcanist! The first paper on Magic!"
Although Rock's expression was quite messy, all the teachers in the living room stood up out of great surprise, including Grant, who understood the importance of Magic and how influential Fernando was.
Even Lucien was very surprised, as his paper was published only a few days ago.
"This one!" Rock handed the journal to Lucien, "Take a look yourself!"
The first thing came into Lucien's eyes was the title – Discussion over the Application of Electromagnetic Wave, followed by the author's name and his rank – Fernando Brastar, grand arcanist, legendary class: level three, Lord of Storm.
The beginning of the paper did not comply with the standard format at all:
"My student Thompson is the member of Affairs Committee, and he found an interesting paper during his reviewing work, which conducted a series of simple experiments to study how bats use high frequency sound wave to sense things in darkness. When I read the paper, I was inspired, hence I developed this paper investigating some possible applications of electromagnetic wave from a broader perspective, and the differences in application between high and low frequency electromagnetic waves. Moreover, if sound wave can carry information, what about electromagnetic wave?"
Lucien was very impressed by the grand arcanist's great imagination. The grand arcanist got ahead of Lucien in investigating the field of application, and Lucien was about to use this to earn more credits later.
Lucien could already see the prosperous future of the application of electromagnetic wave.
After feeling impressed, Lucien suddenly felt unsafe with being directly mentioned by a grand arcanist in his paper. Without doubt, lots of unnecessary attention would come to him.
Chapter 201: Monitoring
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
Holding the journal in his hand, Lucien was a bit lost in his own thoughts.
If anyone was interested in the young sorcerer who had no arcana level, and thus decided to investigate him in Sorcerer Administrative Department, the person would find out that the young sorcerer came from the continent and shared the same name with the great musician in Aalto.
It would be even worse if anyone in Allyn had ever seen Lucien in Aalto before, and if he was recognized by someone from the Hand of Paleness, it would definitely be a great trouble for him. Because of what happened in Djibouti, Lucien was afraid that many people would directly connect him to Professor.
Thinking of these, Lucien started feeling unsafe. He was regretful that he carelessly used his real name when he submitted the paper, as he never expected that his first paper ever would be cited by a grand arcanist and thus gained that much unnecessary attention. Now, he felt that he was standing under a giant spotlight.
He knew he was being overly relaxed and incautious ever since he arrived in Allyn. Again, he drew an important lesson from it.
In a couple of seconds, lots of thoughts flashed through Lucien's mind.
"Hey… Hey!" Rock nudged Lucien lightly, "Are you being too excited?"
The last junior-rank sorcerer whose paper got cited by a grand arcanist was Ulysses when he was about twenty. Although Felipe's paper on the relation between cell memory and healing divine power spells won the Immortal Throne Award jointly set up by Colette Royal Magic Academy and the Hand of Paleness following Holm Crown Prize, at that time he was already a level two arcanist, third circle sorcerer. As a sorcerer having no arcana level, Lucien's achievement was definitely very impressive.
"Ah… a bit…" Lucien forced a smile on his face. "Quite surprising…"
Then, Lucien hurriedly read through the paper from Lord of Storm, and he was deeply shocked with the grand arcanist's great intelligence:
"Summarizing all the experiments and statistics, we can draw the conclusion that electromagnetic wave can for sure be used in searching and locating, and it's much faster than high frequency sound waves. However, since the feedback is not clear enough, a special magic structure needs to be produced to filter and emphasize information received. The structure requires lots of calculation, thus I would consider this future magic as a forth of fifth circle spell, and here I name it beforehand – 'Eye of Thunder'.
"At the same time, we can also see that when the vibration of electromagnetic wave reaches a higher frequency, with enough power and energy, internal molecular of the experiment target start colliding with each other and high heat is thus produced. This experiment phenomenon could be turned into another powerful spell to defeat someone who is skilled in defence from inside. I expect it to be a fifth or sixth circle magic, and following the tradition, I call it 'Fernando's Lightning Smelter'.
"Improving the frequency to the next level, using the great heat produced in the reaction, another powerful magic can thus be created, which is also a fifth or sixth circle magic. I call it 'Invisible Crematory'.
"If we wanted to improve the frequency to an even higher level, we would enter the field of light."
Lucien was very impressed, as the grand arcanist basically found all of the major applications of electromagnetic wave at different frequencies. If the grand arcanist had not stopped in front of the world of light, Lucien was sure that Fernando would come up with more spells!
Without doubt, grand arcanists were great geniuses. Even when they made mistakes, it was not because of their lack of intelligence, but very often they were deceived by their previous experiences, and as long as they were inspired, they would have the ability to change the world!
"Bye bye… my future arcana credits and points." Lucien sighed, "The grand arcanist did not leave me much to further explore in the application of electromagnetic wave."
Lucien handed the journal back to Rock.
When the other teacher started carefully reading the article, in the corner, Lucien was still bothered by the thought that his identity had already been exposed.
However, feeling anxious could not do much help. Right now the best solution for Lucien to take was to gain the attention of the Will of Element. If the Will of Element could see the great value in Lucien, they would definitely protect him to stand against the Hand of Paleness.
When Lucien came to himself, he saw Rock, Jerome, Vilnia and other people present were looking at him with a mixture of emotions. Only K was still reading the paper.
"Yes?" asked Lucien confusedly.
Vilnia frowned a bit and then put on a wry smile, "I can imagine what Beate and other sorcerers in the school of Electromagnetism would say. They will proudly announce that the future of the world is in the hand of Electromagnetism. However, it is you who inspired Mr. Fernando Brastar, the author of the great paper supporting their assertion…"
Lucien understood what she was trying to say. If felt that it was Lucien who handed the decisive weapon to win the battle to their enemies, but Lucien was also innocent.
The other teachers also felt the same way.
"I don't really mind it," said K in his low voice, trying to comfort his colleague. "Lucien did a great job, and the progress does not belong to a certain school, but to the whole congress. The truth of the world won't be changed by the meaningless arrogance of some people."
Jerome smiled, "Sorry, we just don't like people like Beate, and it's not your fault at all, Lucien."
"Come on, Lucien can publish more great papers exploring the world of elements as well!" Rock waved his arms and cheered up.
The teachers got more relaxed now, and they started discussing some related academic topics heatedly. The apprentices were listening to them carefully, as if they were enjoy some exciting stories.
When it was early afternoon, some teachers left Lucien's place, followed by the apprentices. Only Chely looked quite lost in her own thoughts.
"Hey, Chely. Time to go." Heidi patted her on the shoulder.
Chely suddenly came back to herself, and then she said shyly, "Watching Mr. Evans and the other teachers' discussion brought me back to the days when I watched my father discussing with his knights in our place. The teachers' conversation was passionate and insightful, and it's not like how people in Sturk describe sorcerers at all. Since the first day I arrived in Allyn, I am deeply touched by what I've seen… This place is like a dream, but I'm also afraid…"
"Communication…" Lucien responded. "Communication's always very important when people face difficulties."
Lucien believed that if Natasha and Silvia could have communicated in a better way, they would not end up like that.
Chely nodded but still felt quite depressed.
Seeing this, Lucien walked to the piano sitting in the living room. It was the school who sent the piano, since Lucien was also teaching music.
The music Lucien started playing was very familiar to most Chinese kids – Two Tigers.
"Cheer up; Cheer up; little Chely, little Chely! The bell's ringing; the bell's ringing; Don't be late, Don't be late."
Lucien sang the young girl a cute song. A smile jumped on Chely's face, and Heidi, Layria and Annick behaved the same. The apprentices all burst out into laughter.
"Thank you, Mr. Evans. Your playing's wonderful." Chely stood up and said sincerely.
After the apprentices left Lucien's place happily, Lucien walked to his study with a smile on his face, however, he felt a bit stressed in his mind.
Since some elements here in this world were different from what he had learned in his original world, Lucien was now having a hard time grouping them in order. As he could not identify some of the elements, Lucien could only temporarily consider them as some strange isotopes, however, currently he could not go any further.
He must hurry. He must win enough attention from the Will of Elements.
Sitting in front of the pile of cards representing different elements, when Lucien was about to continue his research, he suddenly felt something hot in front of his chest.
The heat came from Sun's Corona! It was alerting Lucien that some undead creature was approaching him!
Lucien's facial expression did not change even in the slightest, but quickly he thought to himself, "There must be some powerful undead thing staying right beside me… but why it hasn't launched its attack? Is it trying to see what I am doing?"
Sun's Corona was the undeads' invincible opponent!
Chapter 202: The Power of Belief
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
Since only one layer of the seal had been unlocked, right now Sun's Corona could only sense the very strong smell of the World of Souls, and the thing it sensed must be very powerful, which meant that a horrible undead was right now staring at Lucien.
However, Lucien stayed relatively calm, and when he secretly scanned the whole study, he found no one else but himself.
Although the winter sun was nice and warm, Lucien felt cold inside.
Trying his best to behave as usual, Lucien picked up a card and pretended that he was reading the notes about an element written on the card carefully.
Sun's Corona was getting hotter and hotter. Staring at the card, Lucien felt that there was a big white skull with bloody red-light eyes reading the notes right beside his face with him.
However, in the mirror, Lucien was the only one in the study.
Lucien wondered if this thing was sent by the Hand of Paleness, but he was also quite certain that they were still suspecting his relationship with Professor, instead of equating him directly with the mysterious sorcerer, or what he was facing now would be way more than just being watched.
Although there were lots of thoughts going on in Lucien's mind, he did not show any different behavior. Like most researchers who were dedicated to their studies, Lucien kept working on his study over the elements.
In his mind, he knew that he really needed to hurry up and create his next arcana paper.
In the early evening, Lucien put down his cards and walked out of the study. The heat produced by Sun's Corona was now hard to notice, but still relatively warm, which meant that the creature was not leaving the place yet.
Lucien relaxed a little, as he knew that it was just watching him. The only thing he needed to do and could do now was act as normal as possible.
…
After dinner, Lucien came to the lab tower as usual. As soon as he entered the tower, the heat from Sun's Corona totally disappeared.
Lucien was very glad to see that the powerful magic circles protecting this tower could also prevent the undead from following him here.
At this time, K walked to him, "Lucien, I thought you wouldn't come here today."
"I'm stronger than that." Lucien smiled, and then walked with K side by side, "By the way, what's your paper on this issue of Element, K? Sorry I forgot to ask you earlier."
K scratched his hair a bit and answered shyly, "It's about the phenomenon that elements always bond with fixed number of molecules in alchemical experiments. In other words… something like valency put forward by Mr. Larry."
"That's the foundation of the school of Elements. Now I see why Mr. Larry appreciate your talent, K." Lucien sincerely nodded.
K was very shy. He did not respond but just smiled, lowering his head.
At this time, several people walked past and saw Lucien and K.
"Good evening, Mr. K, Mr. Evans." greeted an ordinary-looking, black-haired young man. Lucien was not sure if that was a smile on his face.
Keeping a poker face, K responded, "Good evening, Beate."
Then he turned around and walked upstairs to the fourth floor, followed by Lucien after a quick nod.
"You don't like us, Mr. Evans." Beate smiled, "It seems that you haven't realized what you did wrong."
K turned around again and said to him angrily, "You don't have to do this, Beate. Even if Lucien did break the rules, he's new here, and you could have talked to him first."
"Well… well… Our Mr. Nice's angry now. That's rare," said Beate's friend. Then, his long face looked more serious, "Mr. Evans needs to receive this lesson to realize how acceptable it is to break the school traditions here."
Before Lucien said anything, Beate cut in, "Now I don't care who broke the rules. The most important thing to me is the development of the school of electromagnetic wave. If you keep sticking to your wrong theories and believing that atoms are the basis of the world, K, I'm afraid that your head is gonna explode as you think too hard, ha. Now we're gonna study the application of electromagnetic wave following Mr. Fernando, and good luck to you element guys."
Beate was usually not a very talkative person, but now he was feeling great, and so were his friends.
Lucien was pissed off, but there was nothing he could do right now. After they walked away, Lucien asked K confusedly, "K, what does that mean by… one's head… explodes?"
K answered in his low voice, which echoed in the space, "This is not a formal theory, and this's an assumption put forward by the president of the congress. He believes that one's meditative world is a reflection of one's own understanding of the nature of the world, and one's own ideas and knowledge.
Lucien nodded, and in his heart, he agreed with Mr. Douglas.
"In addition to the more than ten common meditations that suit most meditation environments, each of the other meditations has to work with its specific environment. If not, or if the environment is not stable enough, one's spiritual power is likely to explode, and that may do damage to one's soul and brain structure, or, directly blow up one's head," said K seriously. "If a sorcerer's belief was proved wrong by some new theory, and if he or she could not accept or understand the new one, his or her meditation environment could hardly change. As you may know, Lucien, changing one's ontology and understanding of the nature of the world can be very, very difficult, thus failing of adjusting oneself to new knowledge can greatly disturb a sorcerer's way of doing mediation and the stability of the mediation world. At the same time, losing confidence and belief is fatal to a sorcerer as well, consequently. People could die from it. Only few sorcerers can overcome this and come back to the right path."
Lucien was deeply shock. He could not understand why Felipe became that angry and emotional when Lucien synthesized carbamide right in front of him, but now he got to know the reason. Fortunately, his experiment was not able to fully overthrow the theory of Life Force, or he would have been killed by the crazy necromancers right on the spot.
Intelligent and hard-work as Felipe was, Lucien was sure that the necromancer belonged to the group of the few people who could switch their mindset fast enough, as mentioned by K. Lucien also guessed that Felipe was right now working on overthrowing the theory of Life Force himself in order to leave no chance to his enemies, which would make a huge difference.
No wonder the Hand of Paleness sent that powerful undead thing to watch Lucien.
Without noticing Lucien's reaction, K continued, "But all the existing theories are still under heated discussion and facing all kinds of criticism, hence they're not solid enough to completely destroy many sorcerers' beliefs. Therefore, spiritual power explosion was something very rare. Recently, however, in the past several great discussions, when electromagnetic induction was verified, a few senior and middle-rank sorcerers died as their beliefs were destroyed. It is said that recently when light was proved to be of the form of electromagnetic wave, several pastors in Holm got killed by the holy light in their bodies when they were praying. All those things prove that the president's assumption is correct, and people who can withstand those great shifts are going to become stronger."
"The development of arcana and magic comes with blood and tears." Lucien nodded, looking rather serious. He believed that the reason why he could change his meditation environment so easily was because he actually had the correct knowledge from his original world, but here he needed to verify this knowledge first.
"So, the biggest challenge for sorcerers here who originally followed the ancient magic system is that they have to switch their understanding of the world. Many of them don't accept it, and they can never make further progress," K nodded to Lucien. "But you're different, Lucien. You're not only growing together with the apprentices when you're teaching, but also even doing experiments to verify some of the arcana theories. You were born to be an arcanist, Lucien."
…
In the following month, under the watch of the Hand of Paleness, Lucien completed his verification experiments of the nature of all existing elements in this world. However, he did not show the correct order of his element cards in his study. In order to hide his findings, Lucien did the key part in the lab and his spirit library.
Then Lucien started to develop his second paper, and its title was:
The Periodic Relation between the Nature of Elements and Prediction of New Elements.
Chapter 203: Submission
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
"The original purpose of me doing this research was very simple. As a beginner in arcana, I was seeking a method to better remember the atomic mass of each existing element, so I started playing with cards. I wrote down the features of the elements on the cards and put them in order.
"Surprisingly, during my practice, I found a periodic cycle of repetition of these elements, and the periodic cycle also exists in Valence, discussed in the latest issue of Element. My assumption is that the cycle is created by the mass of the atom, following the order from small to large, and I wondered whether the nature of an element is decided by the mass of its atom, as well as whether we can find more hiding elements following this order. In order to verify my assumption, I did a series of experiments."
This was the introduction part of Lucien's research. After verifying that elements in this world could also be arranged following a periodic table, Lucien was almost certain that these elements similarly also consisted of protons and electrons. However, he did not have solid evidence to prove it. Therefore, Lucien decided to stick to atomic mass so far, or people would find it very suspicious when a young sorcerer was exploring something beyond his arcana level.
Following the introduction part, Lucian explained his methodology and theoretical framework for the arrangement, taking elements' physical and chemical properties, the nature of their compounds, as well as the nature of their alchemical products into consideration, and then he put forward a table listing sixty-five elements in order and summarized.
"In this periodic table, each vertical line of elements have similar characters."
…
"I left some table cells blank, as there is no proper elements to fill in. Here, I suggest two possible reasons: one is that the mass of some atoms are wrongly weighed, or they are new elements that have not been discovered by us yet."
…
"As for the new elements that have not been discovered, here my bold hypotheses is that they are aluminum-like element and silicon-like element, and they can be possibly found in…"
…
"Further researches need to be done for verification of my theories and assumptions."
Lucien put down his quill and read the paper several times. Then, after giving the parchment a slight blow, Lucien put it in his storage pouch.
Lucien did not expect that the mistakenly weighed elements could be identified and corrected soon by other sorcerers, as most of them were contributed by quite complicated reasons, such as those isotopes that could not be separated properly. Although Lucien had figured out these elements' true atom mass, he did not talk about it in this paper.
When he left the lab, it was totally dark outside as they were already in winter. Pocketing his hands in the jacket, Lucien walked back to his villa slowly, thinking of the next step of his plan.
At this time, someone behind him called his name, "Mr. Evans, are you ready for next week's teaching?"
It was Beate, who also just left the lab tower, and his tone was still not friendly.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Beate." Lucien sent him back a calm smile, "I'm not going back next Monday, and I already asked for the day off with the headmaster, as I need to renew my arcana badge on that day… You know, to put some more credits and points on it. Since Mr. Fernando cited my paper, I've got quite a few points now from other people citing me. Oh… sorry, I forgot that you never experienced something like this."
Beate took a deep breath as his face turned purple, and then he said sarcastically, "You'd better wish your good luck's always gonna be there then, Evans."
He was pissed off by Lucien's show-off. After saying that, Beate left by the side way in the garden.
Looking at Beate from behind, Lucien slightly shook his head. Compared with the undead thing, in Lucien's eyes, Beate was nothing important.
When Lucien came back to his place, his six students were still busy with doing their exercises. The lights in his place were all on, and in front of the apprentices, there were piles of paper.
"Mr. Evans… Ah… Good evening." The apprentices' eyes were red and their faces blushed as they were thinking so hard.
Lucien nodded, smiling, "How's everything going?"
"The questions are super difficult!" Heidi hurriedly answered, looking quite emotional.
The other apprentices all agreed.
"Those questions all require some skills in thinking." Lucien grinned, "Do it smart, not do it hard. All right… Let's call it a day. Take the rest as the homework for this week and give it back to me next Saturday."
Hearing that they were okay to leave, the apprentices were all quite happy and excited. While some showed their excitement right away, some tried to hide it.
Pretending that he did not see the students' reaction, Lucien asked the housemaid to walk the young kids out.
When they passed through the gate of the villa, the apprentices looked back. The villa in the darkness was like a hiding monster, waiting for its prey.
Heidi shivered slightly and looked at the test paper in her hand, "It's almost too much for me… I'm feeling a bit regretful now for seeking Mr. Evans' tutoring."
"Mr. Evans' method works well, though." Surprisingly, it was Sprint who made this comment, "We're not real sorcerers yet. We should work hard like this. And Mr. Evans is a great teacher."
Katrina and Annick nodded beside him.
Heidi whined, "I know… I know… But I just want to have a real weekend! Mr. Evans is such a demon. I like him, I respect him, but I also hate him."
No one opposed this comment from Heidi.
…
On Monday morning, at nine, a coach slowly stopped in front of the headquarter of the Congress of Magic.
Wearing white shirt, dark brown vest, and long black jacket, Lucien put on his black top hat and stepped on the stairs calmly. As soon as he got off the coach, the undead creature totally disappeared.
When Lucien walked past the gate, Prospell greeted him in a dull tone, "Welcome… You'd receive my warmest welcome if you made a female tower Djinni."
Lucien did not respond, as Prospell said the same to every single sorcerer who passed this gate.
He went straight to zone four, to the Sorcerer Administrative Department.
Seeing Lucien, Cindy was a bit surprised. As she winked her beautiful brown eyes, she said to Lucien half joking and half complaining, "I wonder who's this gentleman… Ah, this is Mr. Evans, who was absent for a whole month!"
As Lucien was still in Allyn, Cindy felt that, as friends, they should see each other more frequently.
"Wow… This is our famous Mr. Evans, whose paper was cited by Mr. Fernando!" Dona also welcomed Lucien in a bit joking manner, "We're so lucky that you still remember us!"
Lucien smiled nicely and also felt a bit sorry, "I've been overwhelmed in this past month, mostly developing papers. Please, don't make fun of me, ladies. By the way, is Lazar here today?"
Seeing that Lucien was still this easygoing as usual, Cindy and Dona cheered up, and they hurriedly shared with Lucien what happened in the past month in the congress.
Lazar was in Rentato now, preparing an upcoming conference of the Will of Elements in next month. The grand arcanist, Mr. Brook, who proved that light was actually a kind of electromagnetic wave, recently won his third Silver Moon Medal, jointly awarded by Brianna Royal Magic Academy, Moonsong League and Tower, which was the highest award in the school of Electromagnetics, Light-darkness and Astrology.
Besides Holm Crown prize in the school of Element and Alchemy, Immortal Throne Award in Necromancy, Silver Moon Medal in the school of Electromagnetics, Light-darkness and Astrology, there was also Sorcerer Laurel, established by Calais Magic Academy and Family of Sorcerer in traditional Transformation, Illusion and Summoning, Ice & Snow Medal set up by the far northland and the Cabin of Palmeira, and Arcana Staff founded by Tower to recognize one's achievement in Field Force, Astrology and Mathematics.
These awards all appeared following Holm Crown prize, and the congress only played a role of supervision there.
After chatting a bit with Cindy and Dona, Lucien got to know some latest news of the congress. Then he visited Eric's office.
There was an imperceptible smile on Eric's face, "Evans, you must be here to renew your badge."
Lucien nodded and smiled, "Yes, please, Mr. Eric, but before that, I also have something else to do. First, I want to submit my arcana paper, and second, I'd like to take the assessment of basic arcana."
Eric was not surprised that Lucien had already come up with his second paper. In his eyes, the young man would definitely work even harder after his first paper was cited by the grand arcanist.
However, he was very surprised to know that it was an arcana paper, and Lucien was already prepared to take the test, "Really? Are you sure? As a beginner in arcana…?"
"Three months," Lucien said confidently. "I feel I'm quite talented with arcana. And after all, Mr. Brook passed his test when he was only eleven."
"At that time, Mr. Brook had already studied arcana for two years, not three months!"
"I have solid foundation of magic theory, and I've got cognitive competence as an adult." Lucien smiled, "And I know how to study."
Eric's light gray eyes stared at Lucien seriously. Seeing that Lucien was this confident, he finally nodded, "All right, then. We'll see if you can pass the test."
Before they headed for the test room, Eric sent Lucien's arcana paper to the board using the iron cage again in his office.
…
The same spacious room, the same bells ringing.
"Necromancy… To Mr. Pesor and Ms. Tina-Timos…
"Element… To Mr. Gaston and Mr. Overee.
…
Then, in a room where there were lots of bottles of purified elements, an Earth Elemental picked up Lucien's paper and quickly scanned it, "The Periodic Relation between the Nature of Elements and Prediction of New Elements… Hum… again, periodic relation…" murmured it. "No arcana level… Let me not bother Mr. Gaston then… Probably Mr. Larry's available right now."
…
When Larry got the several papers for that day, after a quick glance at the papers, the man with rough yellow beard did not read them immediately but put them aside casually.
"Mathew, pick them up in three days."
The brown owl named Mathew nodded and then flew away.
Chapter 204: Comments
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
Sorcerer Administrative Department.
"All A+…?" Eric looked the young and good-looking man from head to toe several times, and said incredibly, "How's that possible…? Your reasoning ability and your arcana way of thinking are similar to that of a middle-rank arcanist. Did you really just start three months ago?"
"I swear, Mr. Eric." Lucien grinned.
"I trust you, Evans." Eric rubbed his face a bit with his right hand, "There's no way one could cheat in this test, unless they had some legendary level magic item. So, Evans, here I announce that you have passed the test. After the department director signs it, you will get one basic arcana credit. Please wait a little."
There was one main director and three vice directors in Sorcerer Administrative Department, and the main director was also the member of Affairs Committee.
Watching Eric sending the test result to the director, Lucien asked expectantly, "Mr. Eric, when do you think I can get the result of my arcana paper?"
Calm as Lucien was, he still definitely looked forward to it.
Undoubtedly, the periodic table of the elements played a very important role in the whole history of science development, symbolizing the end of human being's disorganized exploration of elements, and it inspired countless further important studies.
Moreover, what was hidden behind the periodic order was an amazing, unimaginable, brand new area. In-depth study in this field could greatly shake the past knowledge of physics in Lucien's original world, and might also overturn some major theories currently supported by the congress.
Therefore, it was not improper to compare the periodic table of the elements to the cornerstone and the throne in the world of element study. However, important as it was, when Mendeleev first put it forward in Lucien's original world, no one paid attention to his research, and people even commented that his work was a total waste of time, including his teacher. Even at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the importance of his work was finally commonly acknowledged, Mendeleev still failed to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry by one vote.
Thinking of this, Lucien was inevitably a little nervous. He knew that his paper required the support of further researches, to be done by other sorcerers.
If no one was interested in his research, or the theories that Lucien brought from his original world did not work here in this magical world, his work would never pay off.
Even if there were arcanists who could see the importance of his finding, verification still needed time, but Lucien needed attention from the Will of Elements right now, or before that, he would be killed by some powerful group, say, the Hand of Paleness.
The best way to get enough feedback as soon as possible was to publish his paper on a very influential journal, but before that, the paper needed to get through the review of the board.
"It depends…" Eric answered, "For an arcana paper, I would say that it varies between three days to a week or even a month. Your last paper was an exception, Evans. But there's nothing to worry about as well, as your paper will be saved by the board, and no one could take your research result."
"I see…" Lucien nodded. In a short period of time, Lucien believed that he was still safe, and the undead thing would not easily attack him. Although he did plan to somehow borrow the power of the congress to find who sent this thing to watch him, Lucien decided to be more cautious as he was still very new here.
A while later, the document signed by the director was sent back. Eric then renewed both of Lucien's arcana badge and magic badge.
"Evans, you've got your basic arcana credit, while at the same time, in the latest issue of the journals, a total of nine papers cited your experiment and research result, including the one from Mr. Fernando, so that's a total of nine arcana credits." Eric looked at Lucien's arcana badge and said, "Now in total, you have seventeen arcana credits. Congratulations, Evans, you're a level one arcanist now."
Eric shook hands with Lucien, and handed Lucien's arcana badge back to him.
There was a shining silver star on the black badge, looking mysterious.
Then, Eric gave Lucien's magic badge back to him, "Because Lord of Storm cited your paper, many arcanists are interested in studying your new magic. As it is an apprentice level magic, you get one point for each exchange. In total, you've got seven hundred and sixty-nine arcana points. Good for you, Evans."
Lucien was very surprised with the points he had earned. He knew that this number meant that close to one tenth of the sorcerers in Allyn bought his magic!
The grand arcanist was definitely influential. As a teacher in Douglas, Lucien had to at least work for six or seven years to earn this many points.
As soon as Lucien got excited, he realized that when he stepped out of this building, the undead thing would be following and watching him around again, so he quickly calmed down.
Wearing his new badges, Lucien came back to the department hall.
Cindy and Dona congratulated Lucien sincerely and felt surprised that he became a level one arcanist so fast.
After having lunch with Cindy and Dona, Lucien went back to Douglas to wait for the review result of his paper.
…
On the fourteenth floor of Affairs Committee, in an exclusive lounge.
Holding a glass of wine with his pale hand, Rogerio was quietly listening to the report of the tall undead spectre.
The spectre was wearing a black robe with a hood, which was different from the ancient style, and there were many mysterious white patterns on it. The eyes of the half-transparent spectre were shining with intimidating red light, and it's thin skin was deadly pale.
"Adol, so you're saying that Lucien's just a normal, hard-working sorcerer, and he's not seeing anyone who's suspicious?" Rogerio's tone speaking to the spectre was relatively respectful, as if the spectre was not something he summoned, but his partner.
"That's right." Adol's hood moved slightly, "His current research interest is elements, and he has just passed his basic arcana test. I did not find anyone else who was secretly watching or protecting him. You can trust my ability of traveling between the two worlds, Mr. Rogerio. No one except legendary sorcerers or level nine cardinals could sense my existence."
"I see… It's getting more complicated now." Rogerio's left hand covered his right hand holding the glass, "Maybe the Will of Elements is using Lucien Evans to distract us, or how would this new sorcerer dare to use his original name in Allyn… It seems that we need to do something now, in order to make some progress…"
…
Larry's study.
Larry did not stop his own work until the owl, Mathew, came to remind him that it was close to the deadline of reviewing the several papers sent to him a couple of days ago.
As he was reading the papers, Larry found a familiar name, Lucien Evans, but after taking a second look, he noticed that the author was actually Lucien Evans X.
Because of the name, Larry started reading Lucien's paper carefully.
In Larry's eyes, although the periodic table of elements put forward by this Lucien Evans X was quite clear, nothing could verify whether the table was right or wrong unless some new elements were discovered. The discussion and exploration of the periodic order among elements was not something new, and the previous guesses had all proved to be wrong later.
As a level five arcanist specializing in the school of Element, when Lucien boldly pointed out that the measurement of some elements could be wrong because they did not fit the table, Larry slightly frowned, as Larry himself actually did some of the weighing several times and he found no error there.
Larry was about to directly fail this paper, but with a second thought, he murmured, "I should verify the rest of the atomic weighs as well. Now I'm preparing the paper for the next month's conference in Rentato… I'd better write this down and do it when I'm back…"
Then Larry started to write down his comment on Lucien's paper.
At the same time, in another place, Timothy, a level four arcanist and a fifth circle sorcerer, who was the student of the seventh circle sorcerer, Overee, was also working on his comment for this paper.
…
Three days later, Lucien asked for a leave again from the school and came to the Sorcerer Administrative Department. Eric was not here today, and Lucien visited a plump lady named Lucy, who was a level three arcanist, forth circle sorcerer.
"Ms. Lucy, I submitted my paper several days ago, and I wonder if the result is available now?" asked Lucien politely.
Although there was no smile on Lucy's face, she had no intention to give Lucien a hard time. She nodded and took out a folder, "First, the paper passed the review. According to Mr. Gaston and Mr. Overee, the paper put forward a new periodic table of elements for further exploration of new elements and boldly pointed out the possible mistakes that might exist in the measurement of atomic weight, however, at the same time, there is no solid evidence supporting that the author's assumption is valid. As a paper worth of further discussion, one arcana credit and one arcana point is given."
Although Lucien was relatively prepared, he found the result still quite disappointing, or say, ridiculous. He believed that this paper would be of great importance in the history of magic and the school of Element, but this paper only earned him one credit.
Chapter 205: Invitation from Woods
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
"Congratulations, Mr. Evans. You are the only junior-level arcanist I know whose first two papers passed the board's review," said Lucy politely.
Lucien had to admit that he was already lucky that this paper could be approved by the board. If he had not attached his experiment report in the end of his paper, the board members might have directly rejected the paper. Now that the paper had passed the review, Lucien needed to find ways to help it get more attention.
This required that other arcanists could discover new elements following the ideas in his paper. Lucien tried to elaborate the ideas as clear as possible. He suggested to use spectrum analysis to study the aluminum-like element and to discover silicon-like element by investigating certain alchemical reaction, and Lucien even included the possible character of some mineral substances.
To have more arcanists who were interested in the paper, and to verify its correctness, Lucien needed to let more arcanists read this paper, and he would also conduct further experiments himself. Lucien was hoping that more sorcerers and arcanists would carefully recheck the ores they had.
Among all the influential journals, the ones which accepted papers of the school of Element were Arcana, Element, Alchemy, Holm Journal, Colette Arcana Theory and Common Arcana. However, among them, only Arcana, Element, Alchemy and Common Arcana accepted individual contribution.
Lucien would not consider other journals since they were not influential enough, and his ideal journal was of course Arcana, although he knew that his chances there were slim to none. Nevertheless, Lucien still wanted to give it a try.
"Thank you, Ms. Lucy." Lucien nodded and then left the office.
After chatting a bit with Cindy and Dona, Lucien got to know where the headquarter of the journal, Arcana, was. It was on the tenth floor.
Taking the magic elevator, Lucien stood on the silver round platform and smoothly rose up. Staring at the main hall down there, Lucien felt nervous and expectant.
When the elevator reached the ninth floor, Lucien pressed the button covered with yellow and green light. Then the silver platform started absorbing the light.
When the light was gone, the silver platform suddenly shook a bit and then stopped at the tenth floor.
Stepping out of the elevator, Lucien came to the main hall on this floor – the reception hall of the journal, Arcana.
The hall was grand but also quiet. The floor was paved with fine tiles.
Lucien walked to the reception desk, behind which there was a lady and a man. Lucien asked them politely, "Excuse me… I wonder how I can submit my paper here?"
The man stopped talking to the beautiful lady and turned to Lucien. After checking the badges Lucien was wearing, he looked serious, "May I ask if it's your own paper? Or your friend's or teacher's paper?"
Both the man and the lady were wearing two-star arcana badges, their own nameplates, but no magic badge. Here in this place, everything was about arcana.
"Mr. Garvin, it's my own paper." Lucien took a glance at his nameplate. The name, Garvin, was even more common than Lucien.
Garvin looked even more serious, and he said cut and dry, "Sorry, sir. We do not accept contribution from junior-rank arcanists."
"Is that right?" Lucien insisted, "I did not find this rule in the contribution regulation of Arcana."
Garvin was slightly pissed off. Although the journal did not make this rule explicit, the requirement did exist. In Garvin's eyes, there was no way that a junior-rank arcanist could compete with other senior-rank arcanists or even grand arcanists.
"We did publish several papers from junior-rank arcanists before, but all these papers, when they were passing through the review of the board, were all rated as of great significance, and then we sent them our contribution invitation letters," explained the lady beside Garvin. "We never accepted any individual junior-rank arcanist's contribution."
"But I'm not breaking the rules, right?" Lucien did not give up easily, "At least Arcana should review my paper first. If my paper was not qualified and thus got rejected, I would be totally fine with it."
"Then, sir, give me your paper, and since we're only on the fourth day of the month, you'll know the result right away," said Garvin swiftly, as he was already fed up with talking to Lucien.
"Thank you, sir." Lucien handed his paper to Garvin.
As soon as Garvin got his paper, he walked away and came to a quiet and empty corridor. Then, he started reading Lucien's paper.
He was going to check Lucien's paper himself first. If he could not be certain of the actual value of this paper, he would send it to the reviewing department, but otherwise he would directly turn the paper down himself.
At the very beginning, Garvin was reading very carefully, as the periodic table of elements looked very persuasive, but later, he sneered,
"Kidding… the atomic weight of Termirick is wrong? It was already corrected by several senior-rank arcanists several years ago, using different experiment methods. I can't believe this paper even passed the review of the board…"
Termirick was an special composition element of soul.
Garvin stopped reading and came back to Lucien. As he handed the paper back to Lucien, he said, "The arcanist who reviewed your paper could not see any value in your paper, as the paper is full of problems! He could not even see how the paper passed the review!"
Lucien puckered his mouth a bit and knew that he had tried his best. He had no choice but to go back to the first floor, and there he sent his paper to the headquarter of Element in Rentato.
…
As Garvin said, at the beginning of month, the journals were not very busy. Three days later, Lucien received the letter from Element.
It was on Saturday, and the apprentices were studying in his place. After giving them more exercises to do, Lucien stood in the corner and opened the letter.
"Mr. Lucien Evans X,
"Your paper is worth of further discussion, but since there will be a conference in Rentato at the beginning of next month, our journal is going to publish all the conference papers. Therefore, we are sorry to inform you that we cannot publish your paper.
"Element, Friend of All Elemental and Alchemical Sorcerers,
"Jan. 6th, 817"
It was Lucien's first rejection letter, and it was quite polite. Lucien knew that the conference was mainly their excuse, or the the journal would offer to publish the paper on the next issue.
Lucien had been through quite some difficulties recently, after the new year, so he carefully checked his Host Star of Destiny, but found it still remained quite blurry.
After assigning the apprentices with more work to do, Lucien headed for the headquarter of the congress and there he submitted his paper to Alchemy.
This time, the reviewing was much slower. Two weeks later, after Lucien's failed experiments of discovering new elements had cost him two hundred points, he finally received the letter from Alchemy.
However, it was still a rejection letter. The journal even told Lucien not to submit this paper again as Lucien's argument about atomic weight did not make sense.
Holding the rejection letter, Lucien felt a bit nervous. He was running out of time. If he could not publish the paper soon, Lucien would need to wait for another month.
Then, he visited the headquarter of Common Arcana in Allyn, and, for the third time, directly submitted the paper.
To his surprise, four days after, he received neither a rejection letter, nor an acceptance letter, but an invitation from a level four arcanist named Woods.
…
The headquarter of Common Arcana, in a bright office.
"I'm one of the reviewers of your bat experiment paper, Evans, and it was me who sent that invitation letter to you," said Woods sitting in the chair, smiling. Woods had light yellow, handlebar mustache.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Woods, for speaking highly of my paper. Otherwise, my paper would never be noticed by a grand arcanist," said Lucien sincerely.
"Then, that would be the great loss of the whole congress." Woods nodded kindly, "Mr. Fernando has already come up with the basic model of Thunder Eye, Fernando's Lightning Smelter and Invisible Crematory. The three spells are amazing and powerful. As the models are still very complicated, Mr. Fernando is right now working on simplifying them."
Lucien's success also earned Woods great reputation, so Woods was really fond of Lucien.
"The grand arcanist is surely very intelligent." Lucien stayed humble, "Mr. Woods… the reason you asked me to come here… is it because of my new paper?"
"Yes, that's right," said Woods. "I've read your paper, and it is worth of further discussion. If it didn't contain so much of your personal assumptions, the paper would be outstanding."
Having Lucien's paper in front of him, Woods politely pointed out the parts that he did not agree on.
"Even though," Woods continued, "it is still a good paper, and it offers arcanists a new perspective. So Lucien, are you okay with publishing the paper on our next month's issue? For this month, the papers are all set."
Apparently, Woods decided to publish this paper because of his appreciation of Lucien. And the reason he asked Lucien to come to his office was because he wanted Lucien to know who was helping him and who he should feel grateful towards. If one day, say, Lucien became the student of Lord of Storm, that would be a successful investment for Woods.
But on next month's issue? Lucien was a bit hesitant.
Chapter 206: Persistence
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
For other people, publishing a paper on this or on the next issue of a journal might not make any difference, as long as the journal itself was influential enough. However, for Lucien, the reason why he forced himself to complete this paper at the beginning of this month was that he wanted it to be read by most arcanists as soon as possible.
"Any chances that my paper can still be published on this month's issue?" Lucien was still looking for some hope, "What about putting my paper at the end?"
"I'm sorry, Evans, but I can't. We've already informed the sorcerers that we're gonna publish their papers,"said Woods decisively. Although he thought Lucien was a promising young man, it was not enough for him to run the risk of pissing off other more important sorcerers because of a level one arcanist.
Lucien's back was straight, and there was still a smile on his face, "Mr. Woods, I know you're still feeling hesitant with my paper, but I hope the appendix of my experiments' record at the end of the paper can make the paper more persuasive. Although I haven't been able to prove that all the atomic weight of the several elements mentioned in my paper are wrong, my experiments' results have showed that some are definitely not accurate, as implied in my periodic table."
Woods shook his head, "Even if your experiments could prove that, there's still not enough evidence showing that your paper is reliable. I'm sure that several of your assumptions are not correct."
In Woods' eyes, this paper was like one of the many papers from before, that studied the order between the elements. There was nothing special here in Lucien's paper.
"Maybe it's because…" Lucien stopped himself from calling these elements isotopes, but said it in a more implicit way, "because of some reasons that we haven't discovered yet, thus we're not able to measure the elements properly using our existing methods…"
A pair of isotopes were two elements with the same number of protons, but different number of neutrons. As they were similar in nature, isotopes could be quite confusing. However, Lucien didn't dare to put forward the concept thoughtlessly, as the understanding of elements in this world was still at the stage of atoms.
"You're a level one arcanist, Evans," said Woods. "Those who measured the elements were arcanists of at least level five."
What Woods was trying to say was very obvious.
"Then… I'm sorry, Mr. Woods, I'm afraid I need to turn Common Arcana down, as I believe in my research." Lucien bowed to Woods politely.
Woods did not feel offended, as he had seen many young people stubborn, or say, persistent, just like Lucien Evans. So he stood up from his chair and said, "I don't blame you, Evans, but if you cannot find other journals to accept the paper, you're always welcome here."
Lucien picked up his paper on the table and nodded sincerely, "Thank you very much, Mr. Woods."
He knew that he still had one last option, and that was taking the risk of seeking help from Holm Royal Magic Academy and the Will of Elements using the ring. After all, he was being quite suspicious in the eyes of the Hand of Paleness anyway, and of course, no one knew what would happen if Lucien decided to do this.
Now, Lucien was even a bit taller. Wearing black top hat and long coat, his persistent look left Woods with a deep impression.
…
Around ten days ago.
On the fourteenth floor of the magic tower, in an exclusive lounge.
Looking at the paper in his hand, Rogerio smiled and shook his head, "Young people are really full of the spirit of challenging authority. They're brave, fearless, and crazy."
Although Rogerio did not know what Lucien was doing in the past month very accurately, since Adol could not follow Lucien everywhere, he knew that Lucien's recent paper passed the review of the board but was rejected by some journals. So he went to Common Arcana Library and bought a copy of the paper.
It did not take Rogerio long before he stopped reading the paper, since he was one of the arcanists who measured Termirick. At that time, he adopted several different measures to come to the result, and the result was supported by several influential arcanists, so he never doubted his research outcome.
Putting down the paper, Rogerio's fingers were tapping the desk. He was considering how to let Lucien show up in front of some middle-rank sorcerers in the Will of Elements, so he could watch their reactions if they recognized Lucien to find more about this mysterious newcomer.
…
Before heading to the branch of Royal Bank of Holm in Allyn, which, according to what Natasha mentioned to him before, was the highest bank in this world, Lucien came back to the school first. As once he showed the ring to the Will of Elements, he might not be able to come back very soon, therefore, he needed to inform his friends, students and the schoolmaster in advance.
"Did your paper get accepted?" Rock, Jerome and K asked Lucien as soon as he came back to school.
They knew that Lucien's second paper had been rejected by Alchemy and Element.
"No…" Lucien put on a calm smile, "It's turned down by Common Arcana as well."
"Come on… Then why they invited you there?!" Rock was a bit angry.
Jerome took a glance at Rock to stop him, and then he comforted Lucien a bit.
When Lucien was about to find a some excuses for a short-time absence, K said to him, "Evans, I know an arcanist who's one of the editors of Element, and his name's Igna. He's a nice person, and I'm thinking whether you're willing to go to Rentato with me, so we can have dinner together."
Although K was not sure whether this would work, he still offered his help. K hoped that someone could carefully read his colleague's paper again without any biases.
Lucien was very surprised, but very quickly Lucien took a deep breath and said, "Thank you, K! I'm leaving for Rentato with you!"
Lucien wouldn't let any opportunities slip away.
…
After lunch, Woods took a little break, and then he walked into his lab in the magic tower vigorously. The following two hours was his own experiment time, and it wouldn't be disturbed by any of his work.
Somehow, when Woods turned on the alchemical circles and was about to continue yesterday's experiment, Lucien's words appeared his mind, and he picked up a bottle of purified element in front of him.
"He was being quite stubborn… Maybe I can take a look if the measurement is right… Anyway, it won't take too much work." Woods murmured to himself.
If he could find any mistakes in the current record of atomic weight of the elements, he would still be getting quite some credits.
According to the regulation of the congress, as for basic statistic such as atomic weight of an element, the first sorcerer who correctly measured it and the following five sorcerers who proved the statistic was right shared the total citation credits by a ratio of 3: 2: 2: 1: 1: 1 within one year.
As an experienced middle-rank sorcerer, as expected, Woods finished his first experiment measuring the atomic weight of one element that was pointed out in Lucien's paper that was measured wrongly.
"Umm… Evan's right with this one. There is some slight mistakes in the previous method of the atomic weight." Woods nodded.
After using two other methods, Woods was sure that the previous measuring way was not right, and Lucien was right.
Then Woods continued to measure other elements.
As time went by, his face looked more and more surprised. If one right answer could be just Lucien's good luck, he did not know how to explain why the following experiment results all proved that Lucien was right, as they fit in his periodic table of elements perfectly.
Lucien's persistent look and what he said appeared in Woods' mind again.
Hurriedly, Woods stopped walking back and forth in the lab and rushed into this office. He quickly picked up a quill and started writing,
"Dear Lucien Evans,
"We think your paper is of great value, and we hope that Common Arcana can publish your paper on this month's issue…"
Suddenly, he stopped writing, balled the paper up and threw it into the waste basket. Grabbing his coat and hat, Woods rushed downstairs.
"To Douglas," said Woods to the coachman.
Flying was forbidden in Allyn.