Chapter 344: The Arrangements
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
A few days later. On the 18th floor of the headquarter of the Congress.
The No. 7 lab was spacious and bright. Divided into different sections, the lab was provided with all kinds of alchemical operation desks and mysterious magic circles, and their light turned the lab into a dream-like place.
However, in the lab, there were only four sorcerers, Lucien, Lazar, Rock, Jerome, and the several apprentices. There were no guests here for a celebration. After all, for the sorcerers in the Congress, they did not see a newly-started research project without any solid findings as something worthy of celebration, and Lucien's unique-named institution was also not an exception. Meanwhile, Lucien was also happy with it because right now he did not want too much attention at all.
As the leading arcanist, Lucien cleared his throat a bit and said to the project members seriously, "Our research hasn't started yet; we have very few companies so far, and our findings haven't revealed themselves. In front of us are things that have been discovered, a new world that has never been touched. It's waiting for us. I believe that we'll see more and find more on our way marching forward. Today, we see the Congress as our honor; Tomorrow, the Congress will see us as its honor!"
In the end, Lucien spoke to his friends and students in a half-joking way.
His listeners were pretty surprised. They did not expect that Lucien was such a dreamer.
Lucien nodded to them and continued, "I need to attend the regular monthly meeting later. So Lazar will be responsible for managing the institution. Jerome, you take half of the apprentices with you and set about studying the changing properties of materials under low temperature. Let's start with the common materials such as coal, iron, Mythril and Adamantine… I need you to take down all the records every time when you change the temperature by one degree. It's an experiment requiring a lot of patience. Jerome, you're the ideal person for it. Do be careful when working in the extreme low-temperature environment though."
So far, the Congress's research on ultralow temperature still remained on studying liquid hydrogen, which meant that the Congress was still about ten degrees away from the temperature required for achieving superconductivity. In the world that Lucien came from, the problem had not been solved until helium was discovered. So Lucien was not planning on making them find the phenomenon of superconductivity.
What Lucien was trying to push them toward was to find the fact that charcoal would be able to absorb air very easily at lower than minus 180 Celsius degree, which could be used as a very handy tool for creating a vacuum environment. In the future, it would be very useful for Lucien's upcoming experiments.
Jerome nodded and accepted the task.
Lucien turned to Rock and said, "Rock, you take the other half of the apprentices to study gas discharge under different pressure conditions. Larry and K have basically fully developed the theory of ionization, and they have proved that it is the ions carrying positron and electron that enables electricity to conduct in a solution. So we're now switching to the other question — how and why gas discharges?"
Ions… That was the name from Larry and K.
Rock also nodded and took the job.
In the end, Lucien said to Lazar, "You're the coordinator. Whoever needs help, you go there. In your free time, you can do your own thing."
"I'll keep a close watch on them." Lazar grinned, "I wonder how many things are there in your mind. You can always connect seemingly-unrelated things together."
Only Lucien himself knew why he could do so, but, of course, he would not speak to anyone.
…
After making all the arrangements, Lucien left the lab.
"Evans?"
"Mr. Evans?"
In the corner of the corridor, Lucien ran into Isabella and Rachel again.
After greeting each other, Isabella seized the chance and hurriedly asked, "Evans, I've read your formula and the papers from the five grand arcanists. Neither of them can explain the meaning of the formula. There's only one possibility, right? You know what I'm talking about."
This was the question that had been bothering every arcanist who understood the papers published in this month's Arcana.
"In fact, I've got some clues. And I'm working on it, although it's tough." Following Fernando and Douglas' words, Lucien gradually revealed the truth.
"Really?!" Both Isabella and Rachel asked very surprisedly, as they never expected that Lucien could really offer them the answer.
But as soon as they asked, the two ladies hurriedly apologized, saying that they did not mean to pry into Lucien's research.
Lucien did not mind it at all, "My tough job is almost done, and Mr. Fernando also knows what it is about. So it's totally fine to share."
"Then please, Mr. Evans." Rachel smiled. She knew that her teacher, Isabella, would feel shy and restrained from asking, so she, as the student, should be the one to take the initiative.
"Follow the perspective of molecular movement put forward by my fellow, Cole, and introduce probability into the analysis of the formula." Lucien basically opened the gate for them.
Isabella nodded thoughtfully and said, "It's been more than ten years since Cole first put forward the theory. Since the theory was first developed, arguments and criticism were always around it, until the theory's explanation for the second law won Cole the Ice & Snow Medal. However, many arcanists are still holding a negative attitude toward it. So, even if they're trying to explain your formula, not many would consider Cole's theory as a possible path."
Feeling excited, Isabella wanted to try it out as soon as possible. This was not for publishing any papers or winning any honor, but for the sake of her passion for arcana and curiosity. Furthermore, Rachel felt the same way.
At the same time, Lucien's casual tone and relaxed manner made Isabella and Rachel believe that he had figured out how to explain the formula, and he was going to submit the paper very soon.
…
In Fernando's study.
When Lucien arrived, the rest of his classmates were all there, except the crystal dragon, Alferris.
"Where's our little crystal, Thompson?" Ashikana liked to call its nickname.
Thompson slightly lifted his gold-edged glasses and said, "I haven't seen it for a month. Maybe Alferris sold itself again because of money…"
Thompson sounded quite uncertain, but he was not worrying for Alferris. The little crystal dragon should be safe as long as it was still within the five hundred miles range from Allyn. As a dragon, Alferris could protect itself properly.
"Alferris is safe. No worries," said Fernando directly. "Let's start the discussion, from Cole."
Cole was pondering over something when Fernando called his name. He first looked at his teacher and then Lucien, and then he started the sharing, "I went to an underground magma cave last month…"
Finishing his sharing of his findings in the cave, Cole looked at Fernando and Lucien again, "After reading this month's Arcana, I have developed a great interest in your formula. I tried several different methods but all failed, and then I tried to use my molecular movement theory. It seems to be working, but it's going to take a few more weeks to be proved. I'd like to share with you, Evans, so hopefully you can get some useful ideas from it."
Although Cole had won Ice & Snow Medal and was a member of the Review Board, his personality was still very cautious and even a bit coward. Cole was more like a poet than a sorcerer. Although he was totally entitled to say that this was his own finding, he was worried that Lucien might see him as an enemy who was trying to steal the research outcome, therefore, he tried his best to tell Lucien that he was just trying to help.
"Using molecular movement theory… You're not stupid." Fernando, as usual, was quite cheap on giving his students praise, "But Lucien has already figured this out using this method. Let's see how he did it."
The rest of the students were all very surprised. If Lucien already had some clues before Arcana was released, the journal would have for sure postponed the publication to wait for his findings. It meant that Lucien had found the correct direction and finished all the challenging work only within the few days after this month's Arcana was published. That was incredible!
"Thank you a lot, Cole, for your theory has inspired me so much." Lucien nodded and briefly shared with them how the work was done. But when making the presupposition for the formula, Lucien purposefully skipped the most fundamental assumption. Because the rest of the students were still busy with taking down all the details from Lucien's words for their own analysis later, neither of them noticed the problem.
Later, the rest of the students also shared their researches. In the end, Fernando said something about his several major pieces of research and discussed some of the problems that he encountered with his students.
After the meeting, when the students were leaving, Lacie Carter said to Lucien half-jokingly, "Evans, I see another winner of Ice & Snow Medal."
At this time, the door of the study was pushed open fiercely and Alferris came in. In its child-like voice, it asked in surprise, "The meeting is already over?"
"Yes, it's over," answered Ashikana, feeling a bit amused. "Where did you go?"
Covering its eyes with its claws, Alferris peeked at Fernando from the gap, "I overslept…"
"So what kind of research made you so tired?" Thompson tried not to laugh.
"I'm studying dreams," said Alferris in a serious way that sounded very funny.
"I see. So you've slept for almost a month? Haha…" Thompson laughed hard.
Lucien also grinned. It seemed to be true that dragons indeed loved sleeping.
…
In the quiet night, everything was immersed in silence.
Sitting in his study, Cole wrote down the experiment details shared by Lucien earlier today. He read every single word very carefully and from time to time wrote down his own thinking.
Akashina, Thompson and the rest of the students were doing the same thing. However, they still had their own focuses, so they did not have much time for this, especially when the answer was already available. They were not in a hurry.
Isabella and Rachel started to work on studying the law behind the formula following Lucien's words.
In his study, Lucien stood behind the desk. It took him quite a while to write down the title of the paper: The Energy Distribution of Black-Body Radiation.
Chapter 345: The Impact
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
In the administration office of the Sorcerer Administrative Department.
Looking at Lucien across the desk, there was a funny smile on Eric's face, that usually looked serious, "Evans, are you here to submit your new paper again?"
It was unbelievable how fast Lucien could develop a new paper. It had been just about a month since the last time he submitted the paper which had stirred the debate between the five grand arcanists. And now, here was Lucien again.
Most arcanists could never imagine producing high-quality papers in such a speed, and many arcana and magic researches often took years to be completed, while Lucien's papers still managed to keep the standards high.
"Yes, Mr. Eric. It's connected to my previous paper. I've finished explaining the formula from the perspective of arcana." Lucien handed the paper to Eric and smiled.
Eric looked very surprised, "You've found the explanation? You mean explaining the formula that all of the five grand arcanists have failed to analyze from every single perspective?"
"That's right," answered Lucien straightforward.
Eric slightly opened his mouth but failed to speak any words. After several attempts, Eric said to Lucien, "You know… Your formula has been under heated discussion everywhere in the Congress. Even my friends who are outside of Allyn are also deeply concerned about it. However, no one has got any clues… It's been bothering lots of people, including myself, so much that the formula which fits the data of black-body radiation so perfectly fails to match any existing theories or explanations. Maybe just like how the grand arcanists put it, we have to make some subversive assumptions to find the right path. And all of these only took you a month. You're really the most outstanding genius among the younger arcanist generation."
Eric also tried to explore the meaning behind the formula after reading Arcana, however, he failed just like most of the arcanists. And the formula became just a popular topic for most of them.
"I'm not the only one who's found the direction. Another student of Mr. Fernando, Cole, has found the right path as well. I just finished the work earlier than him."
Eric knew that Lucien and he were in the two totally different circles of arcanists. Eric's serious-looking face now had a curious look on it and he asked, "So, Evans, have you really made a subversive assumption?"
"Of course. It's very shocking, but it's still an assumption, and currently, it cannot be proved." Lucien purposefully emphasized.
Eric did not dig into Lucien's answer as it was not polite to ask the author too much about the paper before the review result was available, although he knew that Lucien, as the student of the Lord of Storm, would not really mind it.
"Subversive… cannot be proved…" Eric murmured to himself. He put Lucien's paper in the small cage and pulled the bell rope.
…
In the study of the magic tower.
The magic candles in front of Cole had burned to their ends. The morning light sneaked into the study and gradually drove away the darkness.
Without being affected, Cole stared at the piece of paper on the desk, frowning. He pondered why he was still unable to explain the formula even if he had adopted Lucien's method. There must be something important missing.
Cole decided to start the work over again after recalling his conversation with Lucien.
…
On the fifteenth floor of the major magic tower of Allyn, in the hall of Arcana Review Board, the bells were ringing, and the complex magic circle started to glow with a white light. When the light disappeared, piles of documents appeared at the center of the magic circle. Long metal arms picked up the documents and a cold, mechanized voice read:
"Necromancy… To Ms. Tina-Timos, Mr. Haggard."
"Element… To Mr. Overee, Ms. LockLynn."
"Thermodynamics…" at this time, the mechanized voice paused and read the title out, "The Energy Distribution of Black Body Radiation…"
After a few seconds, the voice said, "To Mr. Cole, Ms. Sonya."
Lucien's paper was duplicated into three copies. One for the record and the other two were sent to two different magic circles…
…
In the study.
Using Lucien's method, Cole's calculation was fast. After a few hours, the formula gradually came into being.
To make the formula work, Cole knew that he had to make a hypothesis. Uncontrollably, Cole's thin face was written with fear, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He could not help murmuring, "This… this goes against the classical equipartition of energy theorem!"
Equipartition theorem was another outstanding achievement from Cole, developed based on Mr. Brook's theory. However, when Cole used his own newly-developed molecular movement theory and introduced the concept of probability and entropy into the formula, the conclusion went against the important premise of the equipartition theorem—the continuity of energy! Cole's head buzzed as if he just got a slap on the face. He felt that his body and soul were divided into two parts, with an angel on one side and a devil on the other!
Cole all of a sudden could not see well. He shook his head fiercely and denied his conclusion.
"Impossible! It's impossible! There must be other explanations!"
In his meditation world which had started to substantialize, the countless little black dots started to move around disorderedly like they were being boiled in water.
"There must be something wrong here!" Cole shouted at himself, trying his best to calm down a bit.
At this time, someone was knocking at the window. Cole was pulled back to reality and he hurriedly turned around. An alchemical servant made of gas was floating in the air holding several papers.
"Master, these are the papers that haven't been reviewed. You want me to send them to your students?"
Cole wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead and said in a weak voice, "Let me take a look first."
Taking over the papers, he saw the title which had been bothering him for several days—The Energy Distribution of Black-Body Radiation.
Cole did not expect that this was the very first paper he was going to review today.
Cole's breath became faster. Nervously, with his shaking hands, he unwrapped the bag and pulled out the paper, which, not surprisingly, began with a familiar name: Lucien Evans X.
Scanning the paper from beginning to end, in one of the lines of the paper, he saw Lucien's statement:
"To make the formula work, it must be assumed that the emission and absorption of energy are discontinuous, but in portions."
Boom!
Cole was too afraid to give much thought to it, but now at this moment, Lucien's conclusion on the paper became the only thing he could see in this world.
"…it must be assumed that the emission and absorption of energy are discontinuous, but in portions." Cole, as if he was enchanted by the line of words, felt totally lost and he could not help shaking his head. To him, the line was like a curse from the demon.
In his cognitive world, the little black dots suddenly moved around fiercely like they were all crazy! The whole world had reached the ultimate disorder and fell into a complete chaos!
Bang!
Cole's brain suddenly exploded! The pieces of paper, books, desk, and chair around Cole were covered in red and white…
…
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
Cole suddenly woke up. Both of his hands directly went to his head. Until Cole's hands felt that his head was still there safe and sound, he looked around out of panic.
He was still in his study. In front of him was a pile of the manuscript written with messy words. All of them were the derivation of Lucien's formula.
"Maybe I was too tired so I had such a horrible dream…" Cole was still haunted by the thought of that nightmare.
However, when Cole recalled how clear the calculation and derivation were in his dream, his hands started to tremble slightly again. When he picked up the manuscript again, he somehow felt more prepared for the final answer that he was subconsciously trying to avoid.
After a while, Cole said to himself in a low voice, "Do I really have to make the assumption? It's just a hypothesis…"
At this time, the gas servant knocked at the window. Cole saw his gas servant drifted in exactly like what happened in his dream. Taking a deep breath, he took over the several papers. And within his expectation, he saw the paper titled, The Energy Distribution of Black-Body Radiation.
After sitting there still for almost half an hour, Cole pulled out the paper. Although he did not have to do this himself, as an arcanist, he could not help because of his curiosity. He wanted to see it with his own eyes.
"To make the formula work, it must be assumed that the emission and absorption of energy is discontinuous, but in portions."
Cole closed his eyes and leaned against the back of the chair. Again, his cognitive world started to become messy and disorganized. But this time, it was far from being a chaos.
"It's just an assumption… Still an assumption…" Cole's voice became weak. His eyes, nose, mouth, and ears started to bleed.
Although he was prepared, the subversive answer still hurt his soul and had greatly shaken his meditation world.
"It's still an assumption…"
Outside of the window, the Lord of Storm wearing the bright red magic robe released a long sigh and disappeared in the air with the crystal dragon, Alferris.
Among all of the senior-rank arcanists, the Lord of Storm worried about Cole the most. The analysis of the formula was based on one of Cole's own theories, but it went against another. This was very dangerous to his cognition world.
After three hours, Cole started to feel less dizzy. Staring at the paper on the desk, he looked intimidated as if he was facing a terrible enemy.
He paused for a while, picked up the quill, and started to write down his comment.
Chapter 346: The Ignored Paper
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
"Based on molecular movement theory, introducing entropy into the explanation of the formula, Lucien Evans' has provided us with a relatively complete analysis of the meaning of the formula, and thus solved the problem that has bothered many arcanists. The thermal radiation law is of great meaning to arcana research, so the outcome can be called as a breakthrough. The explanation is vital in improving the spells in the field of Thermodynamics, and the explanation itself is definitely worthy of profound discussion."
Cole paused for a moment and he could not help writing, "However, the premise of the paper is still an assumption. When using Evans Constant, it's better not to dig into the arcana meaning of it. We can only use it as a constant to help us solve problems. The assumption has not been proved as the one and only explanation to the constant."
If the first part of his comment was indeed written by him in the tone of a member of the review board, what followed it was produced by Cole's fear deep in his heart:
"In conclusion, it is recommended that forty-five arcana credits and four hundred arcana points should be given as Lucien Evans' reward."
The suggested reward was even greater than that of Lucien's last paper about brainwave, which showed the great value that the arcanists saw in the formula. However, compared to the credits and points that Lucien obtained from putting forward the periodic table of elements and the paper on synthesized carbamide, the reward was not decent enough, which showed the fact that Cole, as an orthodox arcanist, was feeling afraid, unpleasant and resistant in front of such a bold and shocking assumption especially when it had not been verified yet.
If the theory that the formula based on was not from Cole himself, the suggested reward might be even lower.
…
In a luxuriously decorated office of the Arcana Review Board, the floor was covered with the dark brown carpet imported from the other side of the ocean, the magic crystal light hung onto the ceiling, and in the walls, there were fine figures carved in relief. In the corner of the room, there was a private bar counter, behind which bottles of precious liquor were placed on a wine rack—the Lace from the Duchy of Violet, Berne wine, the Gold Rum from the Kingdom of Syracuse, the Black Metz and the Gold Lega from Schachran Empire.
Behind the desk sat a lady of wine-red hair. Tasting the golden liquid, she casually leafed through the papers to decide which ones she was going to keep for herself to review and which ones should be sent to her students or the arcanists working with her.
She was for sure nice-looking. Gulping the liquor, her eyes were even brighter. She was not drunk at all.
"The Energy Distribution of Black-Body Radiation?" murmured Sonya, a level seven arcanist and eighth-circle sorcerer from the Cabin of Palmeira. She wondered if the paper was about the explanation of the black-body radiation formula published recently on Arcana.
As an authority in studying snow and ice magic spells, Sonya put great emphasis on the formula of thermal radiation. Not only were the high-temperature spells related to thermal radiation, but also the spells using snow and ice. As an arcanist who was for sure capable of exploring the meaning of the formula, she had been so bothered by the problem recently that she even canceled her trip going back to the far Northland.
Meanwhile, she had also found some clues. She knew that Cole's new theory should be helpful.
However, she still had to overcome a lot of difficulties and problems before reaching the final answer. She was expecting to spend another two weeks to finish the tough task. When seeing the title of the paper, her great curiosity was lit up.
Pulling out the paper from the bag, she became certain that the paper was about the meaning of the formula when seeing Lucien's name on the front page. To her surprise, Lucien Evans had solved the problem which had been bothering the several grand arcanists for so long within this short period of time.
After reading the first part of the paper and seeing that Lucien also took the same perspective, there was a triumphant smile on her face. Gulping the liquor in her hand, she believed that all the great arcanists often shared the same opinion.
But a while later, the smile on Sonya's face gradually froze.
"To make the formula work, it must be assumed that the emission and absorption of energy is discontinuous, but in portions."
The golden liquid in her glass started to became frozen from her spiritual power.
"What a subversive assumption…" Sonya sucked in her lips and her mind was full of all kinds of thoughts and emotions. There was anger, sarcasm, and also fear.
Sonya's cold cognitive world in which the countless black dots moved slowly started to became even colder, and the snowstorm grew much stronger.
Fortunately, from the five arcanists' papers, Sonya was more or less mentally prepared for such a conclusion. To be more specific, this was only Lucien's assumption so far. She could handle it.
However, soon the temperature of the whole office dropped. The carpet, the desk, and all the places without the protection of the magic circles started to freeze, including the wine bottles on the rack.
"He did it! He explained the arcana meaning of the formula!" Sonya could not help but speak it out in high volume.
In great fear, she reread the line:
"To make the formula work, it must be assumed that the emission and absorption of energy are discontinuous, but in portions."
She murmured to herself, "That being said… the assumption is possibly correct!"
Grabbing the quill on the desk, Sonya started her own calculation and deduction using Lucien's method. She could not believe it!
In the office, heavy snow started to pile up, and the cold wind blew. Being close to the ninth-circle, the changes in Sonya's cognitive world were powerful enough to affect the physical world.
"Demon!" Sonya sprang to her feet from the chair and threw away the quill. Her mind was occupied by the great fear.
All of the wine bottles exploded on the rack. The liquor of all kinds of colors spilled onto the floor and the colors shaped great contrast with the snow.
Then, Sonya collapsed back into the chair and murmured repeatedly, "It's just an assumption… Just an assumption…"
Her eyes and face started to be covered by a thin layer of ice-blue crystal.
Although her situation was way better than that of Cole, and she would say that she was more or less prepared for something big, Sonya was still unable to accept the assumption properly. If she nodded and conceded that the assumption made sense, she was, in fact, admitting that the foundation of the whole arcana system was an error, which was basically a denial of her life.
Unavoidably, Sonya's soul was hurt when her cognitive world was greatly shaken. Fortunately, she still managed to maintain her world of cognition and would still be able to progress further.
"Assumption, just an assumption so far…"
Sitting there, letting time pass by, Sonya finally slowly recovered and looked around.
"My wine!"
She had spent a lot of effort on collecting all the bottles of nice wine. However, right now, they were all on the floor!
Sighing, Sonya shook her head with a bitter smile, "Working for the review board can be very dangerous. I shall have the board compensate for my loss. I wish I could directly have Lucien Evans pay for this!"
Taking a glance at the paper, there was still fear in Sonya's eyes, as if in the document bag was sealed a demon that was powerful enough to destroy the whole world.
Rubbing the corner of her forehead, Sonya started to write down her review comment,
"This paper has defined the arcane value of the Evans' Black-Body Radiation Formula and has solved the problem that has been troubling many arcanists for a long time. Although the premise of the explanation of the formula has not been confirmed, the fact that the formula is explainable is still of great value. It's an important paper in the field of Thermodynamics that is worthy of in-depth discussion."
Like Cole, Sonya could not help but continued to write:
"Before the assumption is verified, it is not wise for one to put too much thought into it. Use Evans constant like the other common constants, and I suggest that, for the time being, the comment should be put at the beginning of the paper, so more arcanists could be more or less mentally prepared and previously warned. For the whole paper, I recommend that thirty arcana credits and three hundred and fifty arcana points shall be given as the reward."
If Lucien had not also said repeatedly in his paper that the premise of the explanation was just an assumption, and the paper was very logically developed and clearly presented, Sonya was very likely to reject the paper or make it fail to pass the review.
…
After the review result was available, many senior-rank arcanists had soon got the news and borrowed the paper to read.
In the headquarter office of Arcana, Drummond threw the paper fiercely on the desk. Although he was previously warned, his soul was slightly hurt, and his eyes turned red from the anger.
"It hasn't been verified!" roared Drummond angrily.
…
Isabella, with the paper lying open in front of her on the desk, murmured to herself as if she was totally lost:
"Continuity… discontinuous… in portions…"
She saw illusions. She saw demons, devils, angels, gods, goddesses, as well as the stars of destiny. Her arcana world in her cognition now had cracks on it.
Wiping off the blood from the corner of her lips, Isabella comforted herself, "There might be another explanation…"
A long time later, Isabella told her student, Rachel, "When using the constant, I hope you can ignore the absurd assumption for now…"
…
The senior-rank arcanists' response was within Lucien's expectation. He knew that they would feel greatly shocked and terrified, and then they would tell themselves that only using the formula itself should be enough and they should for now ignore the assumption.
The grand arcanists offered most of the other arcanists some buffering time.
Without the support of firm and solid evidence, the assumption that rebelled against the orthodoxy and was powerful enough to destroy the existing arcana world system was doomed to be ignored and exiled by the ruler.
That was the path that every new ruler had to take before reaching his or her throne!
…
"Based on the comments from the two members, the overall comment on Lucien Evans' paper is: groundbreaking and worthy of in-depth discussion. The paper was of great value, but its premise has not been proved, and the conclusion of the paper goes against the current understanding accepted by the public. Therefore, the paper is not persuasive and convincing enough. Therefore, thirty-five arcana credits and three hundred eighty arcana points are given to Lucien Evans as the reward."
Lucien had expected the result. He was already happy with the fact that the two members of the review board still had their heads on their necks intact.
At this time, Rock, who was responsible for the project of studying gas discharge walked in, and he said to Lucien in the office, "We've found something strange. You might want to take a look at it."
Chapter 347: The Regulations
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
"What is that?" asked Lucien while knowing the answer. He would now call himself a better actor.
The finding was discovered way faster than Lucien expected, which was to his surprise.
Rock said to Lucien excitedly, "We've probably discovered something new! It's f**king awesome. Come on, Lucien! Come and take a look!"
When Rock got all excited, he would not mind his words.
It was very rare that a young sorcerer managed to grow into a level five arcanist from scratch within only a couple of years like Lucien. Although the finding might not be something outstanding to Lucien, as every single one of his papers had received very high comments or had triggered heated discussions, to most arcanists below middle-rank and the apprentices, a new finding meant at least ten arcana credits and more citation earnings, which was a lot to them. A new finding could help them become a level two arcanist in a few months and lay a solid foundation for their further progress.
"Rock, calm down." Lucien stopped his work and followed Rock into the lab next door.
"Now I feel that I'm a f**king genius, not because I'm talented in arcana or something, but because I chose to work with you, the real genius!" Rock was right now very talkative because of his excitement, "Without you, we'd have never thought of studying gas discharge from the conductivity of solutions. After several months, when I can wear the level two arcana badge back at school, the idiots from the School of Electromagnetics will for sure drop their chin!"
The sorcerers from the School of Electromagnetics had never put too much thought into this because they were too used to the fact that lightning could be produced in the air.
Lucien slightly twitched the corner of his lips. Although Lucien for now still had no idea whether what Rock had found was cathode ray (stream of electrons) or plasma, in Lucien's eyes, Rock was obviously being overly excited. If Rock knew what was still waiting for him up ahead, Lucien was afraid that Rock might get too thrilled to retain his right mind.
However, at the same time, the arcanists below middle-rank, such as Rock and Lazar, could be Lucien's good potential supporters because their meditation world had not been completely built, therefore, it was easier for them to accept new theories.
Mr. Planck, the scientist on the Earth who first put forward the assumption of energy quantum once said, "A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."
Of course, however, for the Congress, every senior-rank mage was very precious. Avoiding the explosion of even one single senior-rank mage's head could be a great victory to the Congress.
After the refurbishment, the new lab was shining in metallic luster. The countless cold lines formed the many complex magic symbols and circles. The arrangement of the lines and pipes was almost like an abstract picture. The claws made of metal or cut from the real magic beasts hanging down from the ceiling could help the apprentices avoid some dangerous operations.
Lucien had applied for it that all the alchemical operation areas and magic circles should be protected by the counter-curse spells because many sorcerers had died from doing the experiments unprotected. Meanwhile, Lucien was clearly aware of the fact that the several counter-curse magic circles that he had carefully chosen all contained some amount of lead, or the radiation would sooner or later kill him, which was for sure not fun.
"Show what happened to Lucien. Do the experiment again." Rock led Lucien to the discharge magic circle, and asked the two apprentices, Sprint and Heidi, to repeat the process. Lazar was also there.
Sprint and Heidi, because they were not steady and calm enough, were not picked by Jerome and did not manage to join the experiment group studying ultralow temperature, but now they had found something new with Mr. Rock, so they were also very encouraged, as if they could already see the picture that they were putting on the arcana badge.
Sprint first activated one magic circle and pumped out most of the gas from the discharge magic circle. Then Heidi turned the discharge magic circle on to produce a high voltage.
The gas started to discharge and give out light, however, what was strange was that, on the piece of glass opposite to the cathode magic circle, green light also appeared. When Heidi turned the magic circle off, the green light disappeared.
"The cathode magic circle did not have anything directly projected onto it. Nothing similar like this can be found in the papers. Maybe… maybe we have found a new kind of invisible ray." Rock looked expectantly at Lucien, feeling a little nervous waiting for his answer.
In most of the middle and junior-rank arcanists' eyes, Lucien was already an authority in arcana and thus he should be able to tell what this phenomenon meant.
Lazar, Heidi, and sprint were also holding their breaths, waiting for Lucien's response.
The atmosphere became somewhat frozen, like how Lucien felt in the face of the Lord of Storm. Lucien knew that, sure enough, what they had discovered was cathode ray. Lucien was a bit relieved.
This was a kind of electron current, through which the existence of electrons could be found, and thus the fact that an atom could be further divided and it also had its own inner structure could be revealed. The finding would overthrow the current theories on atoms!
However, there was still a long way in front of them to prove that a cathode ray, in fact, consisted of electrons, which were the internal particles of an atom. They still had to do lots of experiments to reach the final conclusion.
Lucien shook his head with a smile, "It's only our hypothesis until it's proven experimentally. The only thing we can be sure about is that no one has noticed this phenomenon before in doing discharging experiments. However, we can't rule out the possibility that this ray is some kind of electromagnetic wave or streams of particles that we're already familiar with. We now have to design different experiments to verify this. All of you should put your hands on the research. You design the experiments on your own, so you can publish your own paper."
As Lucien was saying, he turned on the discharge magic circle. When the green light appeared on the glass on the other side again, Lucien put an object in between. The corresponding shadow of the shape of the object appeared on the glass immediately, which showed the fact that the green light was from the discharge magic circle.
"Got it!" All the arcanists and apprentices answered excitedly. Their mind was full of hope, and they were also grateful to Lucien's kindness. To their surprise, Lucien allowed the institution members to publish papers on their own. Unlike other projects, no matter if the leader was involved in the design of the experiment in person or not, the project leader should always be the first author of the paper.
If they had really found something new, their papers on the designed experiments would for sure be cited very frequently. Although the credits they would earn would never be as high as the major paper announcing the existence of cathode ray, the gain would still be very decent.
The arcanists and apprentices all agreed that Lucien should be the first author of the major paper, not only because he was the leader of the institution, but also because he designed and arranged the whole experiment.
Seeing that all the institution members were quite excited, Lucien smiled. "I'll join you, too. Jerome's group can also try to design the experiments during their spare time. By the way, here I want to announce a couple of regulations in our Atom Institution. First, I'll never steal the idea from you if you come up with the new research design on your own. As the exclusive author, you'll have your own name on the paper. Second, for the rest of the research findings, no one can publish them personally without permission. As the leader of the institution, I have to sign my name on the paper and endorse the findings first, and this is the regulation of the Congress. Third, on the Monday of each week, there should be a regular meeting to discuss the progress and the current stage of each experiment."
Lucien changed the monthly meeting to weekly because they were working on the specific projects. After saying this, Lucien was amused by himself because now he felt himself like a mentor or a boss.
The arcanists and apprentices all agreed on the regulations put forward by Lucien. In fact, they were already grateful because of the space Lucien left to them.
…
Because of the great stir caused by the last month's Arcana, although Lucien's new paper was not yet published, many senior and middle-rank arcanists had found their own ways and managed to borrow the paper explaining the arcana meaning of the formula.
Heidler, in the Kingdom of Holm, in the headquarter office of the Hand of Paleness.
After becoming a senior-rank mage, Felipe had been working on building magic structures in his soul. Right now, he was standing beside the window looking out with his hands in the pockets of his black long coat.
Felipe never expected that there was such a big secret in the Hand of Paleness—they had found the World of Souls in another dimension and not even the Congress had any clue.
Talented and full of potential as Felipe was, he soon became a core member of the Hand of Paleness and got to know the existence of the World of Souls. Felipe now knew that it was a creepy dimension which was more or less like a projection of this world. Also, many souls and spectres in there were, in fact, intelligent, and they also had their own language. The name, the World of Souls, was actually translated from their language.
Because connecting to the World of Souls could help the necromancers summon even more powerful spectres and thus strengthen the power of the group greatly, the Hand of Paleness concealed the secret and took their time exploring the dimension.
At this time, when everything appeared to be rather dim and gray, a colorful parrot landed on Felipe's right hand with a roll of parchment on its neck.
"Mr. Felipe, this is the paper you wanted," said the parrot.
Felipe nodded slightly and grabbed some fine rice grains to feed the bird. He wondered whether his competitor had really figured out the meaning of the formula.
After the parrot left, Felipe unrolled the piece of parchment and his face became even paler when seeing the level five arcanist title in front of Lucien's name. Although in the past couple of years his experiment on synthesizing life substances had earned him decent credits, he was still a thousand credits away from reaching level six. Right now, they were both of level five, and there was not a very big difference between them.
When reading the paper, Felipe frowned. He wondered if Lucien had ever thought of the possible criticism and attacks from the sorcerers supporting Energy Essentialism when making such an assumption.
As a necromancer who also studied elements, alchemy and illusions, whether the form of energy was continuous or discontinuous did not matter to Felipe that much, after all, his cognitive world did not require his understanding in the form of energy to stay stable.
In fact, for Felipe, it was very difficult for him to read the paper on thermal radiation. He just did not want to miss the information from his competitor, Professor, or he would never touch a paper like this.
…
In the Kingdom of Brianne, a sorcerer with a mustache now looked rather pissed.
"How can such a paper pass the review? Are those members of the review board afraid of Fernando that much? Ridiculous! The assumption is total nonsense!" The archmage, Lauren, talked to himself angrily.
His hands behind his back, Lauren walked back and forth. Then he sat down behind his desk and grabbed the quill. He needed to write a paper to point it out that the assumption was absurd.
However, the point of the quill paused above the paper. After all, Lucien also said that this was just an assumption which had not been verified yet. Furthermore, Lauren totally had no idea what the other possible explanations would be.
Lauren put down the quill. He had decided to just let go of Lucien's paper and let it just be gradually ignored by the arcanists.
Chapter 348: Everything Is Ready
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
On the first day of September, the latest issue of Arcana was released.
As they were working for Atom Institution, Lazar, Rock, and Jerome could now afford to buy every month's Arcana, and they did not need to go to the library to borrow the journals to save money anymore.
"This assumption is completely beyond my imagination! But I have to say that the formula indeed can be explained based on the assumption." In the meeting room, when the institution members were waiting for Lucien's arrival, Lazar exclaimed. However, because of his arcana knowledge in thermal radiation was not adequate, and also because of most arcanists' attitude toward Lucien's assumption, Lazar believed that this assumption would sooner or later be replaced by another explanation which made sense.
Only those arcanists who had once derived the formula in person and who had seen that all the possible explanations failed to serve the formula could see the rationality of Lucien's assumption, which could push their cognitive world into a great chaos since the assumption conflicted with the fundamental belief of the arcana world and the theory of Mr. Brook. Meanwhile, for those who did not have this profound understanding of this topic, on the contrary, they would not be affected in the same way.
Rock stood up and walked back and forth excitedly in the classroom, "Lucien's awesome! He's the only person who could make this incredible assumption! I love the subversiveness! I shall hug him when he arrives! I shall hug my idol! The study of arcana should not be like a stagnant pond, but full of storms!"
It seemed that Rock wished that he was the one who came up with the assumption.
Jerome's face looked a bit pale, but soon he calmed down, "This is just an assumption, and we don't have put too much thought into it for now. Just use the formula. Leave the tough problem to the grand arcanists."
"That's very typical of Jerome. Always calm." Lazar grinned. He did not really mind the assumption, maybe purposefully.
Meanwhile, the apprentices were sitting on the other side of the meeting room. They did not really understand what the arcanists were talking about.
At this time, Lucien walked in with a thick pile of paper and a copy of Arcana. He smiled and said to the institution members, "Now let's see what we have done in the past week."
…
In Allyn, be it in the magic towers, under the trees, in the grand coaches, or any other place, countless arcanists were greatly shocked when encountering Lucien's bold assumption in the latest issue of Arcana.
However, soon, the same comment—"This is just an assumption"—could be heard in every corner of the city. When they were saying so, there was fear and worry in their voice. They would only need the formula and the constant for improving the spells…
And they also wondered what the term, cathode ray, mentioned in the paper, meant.
…
In Rentato, the royal magic tower of Holm, the headquarter of the Will of Elements.
K was reading Arcana carefully, and his hands were shaking slightly. There were already three silver stars on his arcana badge, and the tiny silver dots surrounding the stars were quite numerous, which meant that he was close to becoming a level four arcanist.
The citation of the theory of valence and ionization had brought him a good amount of credits.
"Evans is really a genius without restraint," said someone next to the door after releasing a heavy sigh. The words woke K up from his nightmare.
"If it was me, I would never be able to put forward such an assumption. I would never be able to jump out of the fundamental arcana system," Larry said to K and entered the office. There were five silver stars on his arcana badge.
K responded in his deep voice, "Although it's just an assumption, it's still beyond thrilling. If somehow the assumption can be proved as correct, there will be a great storm in the Congress. And I dare not imagine how great a pressure Lucien would be put under if that was the case…"
"Don't think too much. We shall focus on our own research." Larry knew what K was talking about. He was well aware of the fact that even the most open-minded middle-rank arcanist still had to spend a long time to accept Lucien's idea, not to mention the grand arcanists up there, "By the way, the grand arcanists have decided to grant me the Holm Crown Prize for my contribution to the theory of valence and ionization, and the name of the ring will be Ionization. K, I'm sorry that I failed to persuade them to let you share the prize with me."
Because the improvement of the theory of valence and ionization was a process over time, Larry first did not recognize their value. Thus, he did not mention K's name in many of the related papers. On the contrary, K, as Larry's student, strictly stuck to the tradition and always put Larry's name before his.
But what was more important was that Morris, the president, was being cheap again as the budget of the Will of Elements became quite tight again after giving out Holm Crown prize three times in succession. There was no way that Morris would agree on spending more money on another ring.
K did not mind it. After all, it was just a special case that Isabella and Rachel could share the honor. He scratched his head a bit and grinned, "It's okay, sir. What is confusing me the most is why the different ions can carry electrons and positrons… What's the explanation behind it?"
"You also start to ask why now, like the person who has the same name as yours." Larry touched his brownish-yellow beard and joked, "What's bothering you is going to be our next research focus, and also, we can reproduce Lucien's cathode ray experiment."
…
In the far northland, in a crystal clear, ice palace.
As if the palace was in a totally separate world, it was not affected by the heavy storm at all. Meanwhile, it seemed that the palace was connected to some other strange dimensions.
In one of the studies in the palace, the elf-looking beauty, Hellen Price, was reading a letter. Beside her was the latest issue of Arcana.
"… I think Lucien Evans' contribution to the field of thermal radiation research well deserves Ice & Snow Medal. Although his assumption that energy comes in potions has not been verified, it can still be regarded as an explanation. His formula and constant are so accurate that they can for sure improve the researches in thermal radiation… Of course, I have to admit that I like how they call every potion of energy – quantum.
"Your friend, Derrick Douglas"
After reading the letter, Hellen pondered for a while and then picked up the quill,
"… As far as I know, Lucien's explanation has not been accepted by the public, or, I should say, barely anyone would agree with the explanation. Right now many will not agree on granting Lucien Evans Ice & Snow Medal, or the reputation of the award would be severely damaged. Also, because Evans was Fernando's student, we should be even more cautious… In ten years, if no new explanations can be found, and when Evans' formulation and constant are widely applied, at that time, it wouldn't be too controversial to give him the honor…"
…
In the meeting room of Atom Institution.
"… So, from the previous experiments, I found that cathode ray can only march a few centimeters in air, and that's why we ignored its existence before." Lazar's face was glowing with excitement when sharing his findings with the other members. Behind him was the piece of glass reflecting green light.
Under Lucien's instruction, in this month, Lazar, Rock, Jerome and the apprentices had all devoted themselves to the study full of passion. Every single one of the sorcerers had finished at least seven papers, and the apprentices also did four. As four Lucien himself, he had developed ten papers. The papers were about the absorption of the ray, its penetrating property, and the change of the shadow positions in the strong magnetic field and electric field.
Their conclusion was that cathode ray was probably a negatively charged particle stream. And they had figured out the design of an isolation device for casting pure rays to determine the charge mass ratio through the ray's trajectory in the electromagnetic field. So they could tell what kind of particle they were.
Since the cathode ray could penetrate the foil, Rock and Jerome also put forward their opinion that it might not be some kind of particle stream, but they currently still had no idea what it should be. The measurements of the velocity of the cathode ray shattered their initial thought that the ray was a kind of electromagnetic wave, as it was proved that the speed of the ray was much less than that of light.
When Lazar finished, Rock also shared his work, "…No persistent deflection of the cathode ray has been found in the strong electromagnetic field, and thus we might be wrong in saying that it is charged. As for the previous experimental results, they are probably misunderstood by us because of the complex gas environment within the magic circle…"
Both Jerome and Lazar agreed.
Although the apprentices were capable of doing the specific researches and developing the experiment reports, when the arcanists were talking about serious arcana knowledge, they were still having a difficult time understanding their words.
"I think there might be some other interference factors… I need some time to redesign the experiment." Lucien expressed his opinion.
The pressure from the thin air would make it impossible for small particles to deflect, which would require the vacuum environment. And so far, Lucien was well aware that none of the congress's magic circles could do this. As cathode rays were in fact streams of electrons, they were still some distance away from the discovery of electrons and seeing the internal structure of an atom.
The belief that an atom was an indivisible unit would remain unshakable for a while in the world of arcana.
The grand gate of the world of microcosm was looming, but it had not been pushed open yet!
Lazar, Rock and the rest of the arcanists were all happy hearing that Lucien was going to handle the challenging, theoretical task himself. They would rather focus on conducting the specific cathode ray experiments because these experiments could bring them the real arcana credits. They did not want to waste their time on such a vague topic that they could not find a direction at all!
After submitting the paper announcing the discovery of cathode ray, Lucien got thirty arcana credits and each of the arcanists got five. The apprentices were not yet qualified to put their names on the paper.
Although the reward was already very decent to most of the junior-rank arcanists, what the institution members got was even more than that. On average, each of their paper had brought them four arcana credits. Among them, Lazar was the most outstanding one—in the past month, Lazar had got thirty credits in total with the papers he published, which made him only ten credits away from becoming a level three arcanist. Rock and Jerome were also level two arcanists now.
And they would also be expecting more citation credits later. They loved their experiments so much!
The apprentices also had thirteen to fourteen credits now. Although they had not found the time to get the badge, or they would have already become real arcanist.
Most arcanists would drop their chin at how fast the institution members made the progress.
…
In a monastery in Rentato, Holm.
A bishop was introducing the foundation of divinity modified and improved by the popes to the several pastors in training.
"The Lord first created different atoms, and they are the tiniest units in the world that cannot be further be divided. The Lord then created all the things with the atoms…"
…
Today's discussion of cathode ray was over. Jerome started to share the progress they had made in their ultralow temperature experiment.
Jerome looked quite cheerful, "Lucien, we've found that at minus 185 Degrees Celsius, the property of charcoal changes dramatically and it becomes very easy for it to absorb air."
"Excellent." nodded Lucien. Although there were other ways of creating a vacuum environment, using charcoal was the best way for sure.
And their next step would be redesigning the magic circle to measure the charge mass ratio of cathode ray!
Chapter 349: The Finding of a New Particle
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
On the top floor of a magic tower in Douglas Magic School.
Sitting in the classroom for senior apprentices, listening to Vilnia's Basic Elements, Chely's mind wondered a bit. Basic Elements was part of a series of courses introducing the apprentices to the world of elements.
Chely heard that both Heidi and Layria had now become real arcanists with their more than ten arcana credits.
"…This is all for today's introduction of the ancient element theory. Now let's move on to the contemporary system of elements built upon Her Excellency Hathaway's atom theory. What is an atom? An atom is the smallest unit in the world, that cannot be further divided. Each kind of atom is an element, and the properties of different atoms vary. Atoms can react with each other and thus create all the matters in the world. Atom theory is also very important to courses including Potion and Alchemy."
"If I had arrived at Allyn a year earlier and graduated, I would not have to waste my time here listening to things that I already learned a long time ago. If that was the case, right now, I should be woking in Mr. Evans' Atom Institution and putting my hands on the wonderful arcana experiments to become an arcanist." Chely was a bit upset, feeling that she was wasting her life. So far, she still needed to pass the basic arcana test first.
Vilnia's course continued, and she was happy with the positive attitude that the senior apprentices showed—they were well aware of the importance of learning arcana and magic, as their study was directly related to power and status.
In fact, very rarely did senior apprentices get kicked out of the school in the past many years.
"I've brought you some pure elements. Take a look at them first and then get to know their properties and the corresponding alchemical reactions through conducting experiments." Vilnia took out some bottles and turned on the magic circle, turning the platform into an alchemical operation desk.
Teachers in lower-level apprentice classes rarely talked so deeply about the nature of elements but made the apprentices recognize the elements, know their basic properties, remember the equations, and the teachers mainly focused on developing the students' hands-on skills.
Chely's thoughts were drawn back by the dazzling light that burst out of the magic circle and she saw that Vilnia was holding two bottles of elements in her hands, "These are the two kinds of carbon element of two different structures. Atoms make up elements, and carbon is the main component element of the human body…"
Looking at the two bottles, one contained small crystals of diamonds and the other had opaque small pieces shimmering in the metallic light of dark grey, Chely was deeply shocked, even though Lucien had told her about this before.
In Chely's eyes, the difference between the two bottles was like that between an angel and a devil.
The young apprentice slightly looked down at her own beautiful hands and it was hard for her to imagine that the pieces inside of the bottles were the main component element of her body.
Turning around and looking out of the window, Chely saw the world full of lots of things going on: the tall and lush trees, the birds, the sky… She was still having a difficult time convincing herself that the world was in fact made by the tiny, indivisible atoms.
…
In Atom Institution.
Lucien had improved the magic circle for creating the vacuum environment, so he started to redo the experiment.
After confirming that the cathode rays were always deflected in the electromagnetic field, Lucien took a deep breath and began to adjust the magic circles for creating the magnetic and electric field.
After a while, he had finished recording the data, and his mind began to calculate the charge mass ratio of the particles in the cathode ray.
Unlike the great tension that Lucien felt when he was calculating Planck's constant, this time Lucien was as calm as a machine. Without being affected by the noises coming from the different corners of the lab, Lucien figured out the answer very quickly:
"The charge-to-mass ratio is… 1.76 ×1011"
Bang!
Lucien's meditation world suddenly changed again! The light spots representing the many elements quickly grew bigger and they started to revolve in a mysterious manner.
This was the electrons!
The existence of electron could destroy the misbelief that atom was the tiniest unit in the world! The micro-world was far more complex, wonderful, and bizarre than the arcanists could imagine!
…
In the monastery in Rentato.
A pastor in training, after hearing the cardinal Abidal's words, asked confused, "Your Excellency, then why the Lord wanted to create atoms?"
"Daniel, that's not what you should ask. The Lord must have a reason!" scolded Abidal severely.
If it had been in the later period of the War of Dawn, Daniel would have been sent to the inquisition already!
Seeing that the other pastors in training all looked a bit nervous and terrified, Abidal softened his voice, "The indivisibility of atom shows the divinity of the Lord. It shows the Lord's ultimate power over the world. And those so-called arcanists can never understand this."
All the pastors in training were listening to him respectfully.
Abidal nodded with a triumphant smile. Those common pastors did not have to know more than this, since if they dug deeper, it would easy for them to step onto an evil sorcerer's path, and thus they were very likely to be devoured by the sacred light.
That was why the church was not affected at all by the recent theory put forward by the Congress that the energy was actually delivered in portions. The clergy did not care whether the form of energy was continuous or discontinuous, after all, the energy came from the Lord!
…
From the trajectories, Lucien had found the wonderful magic symbol which could help him with building the order of the elements, but the symbols system was still not complete.
Although he roughly knew what the symbol was, Lucien did not force himself to change his cognitive world right way because he had to first finish the process of assuming, reasoning and verifying.
Despite the fact that the two constants were the same, Lucien could not take everything for granted based on his knowledge learned from the Earth, or very likely, his head would explode if anything unexpected happened.
The practice was the sole criterion for testing the truth!
After memorizing the magical symbol, Lucien redid the experiment by changing the composition of the metal and the low-pressure gas used in the core of the cathode magic circle.
…
In Radiance Church in Holm.
Cardinal Philibell was holding the message from The Holy City, Lance, and read, "It has been confirmed that Fernando's new student, Lucien Evans X, is the musician, Lucien Evans, who 'died' in Aalto. Sard has sent several night watchers and they're on the way to handle this."
The Lord of Storm, as a grand arcanist, has always been one of the Church's main focus. As his student, the attention that Lucien got from the Church also increased. Soon, his background information was all clear.
"Is he the Lucien Evans who wrote the Ode to Joy?" Vaharall asked in an unbelievable way, "Is he a psycho or something? Does he have two souls—one's an angel and the other's a devil?"
Varantine looked rather cold, "What do you mean? Are you saying that he's an angel trapped in hell?"
"There's a possibility. His assumption on the form of energy shocked many senior-rank mages and almost destroyed them, which is way more impressive compared to the achievement of the most of the night watchers and red-robed cardinals," said Philibell in a half-joking way, "Anyway, the musician has died. The musician will never come back again."
"So we're not planning on killing him?" Varantine was being very aggressive.
Philibell shook his head, "He's not yet that important. We'll talk about this when the night watchers arrive."
…
It was already deep night when Lucien finished all the experiments. He had decided to live in the office tonight so he could finish developing the paper on the experiment.
"It has been proved by the experiments that all the negatively charged particles produced under different material conditions have the same charge-to-mass ratio no matter if the particles are brought by the cathode or produced in the tube. This suggests that many substances, in fact, contain the same particles…"
"…Its charge-to-mass ratio is about two thousand times that of the hydrogen ions in the electrolyte."
"… Through rough calculation, we can find that the mass of this particle is about two-thousandths times that of a hydrogen atom…"
"… As we all know, the atoms consisting of Hydrogen are the lightest and smallest, which makes Hydrogen the first place on the periodic table. Then how do we understand this particle?"
"Is it a new kind of 'atom'? Or something else?"
…
Around eight o'clock in the morning, Fernando was pondering about a problem in his study.
At this time, he saw Lucien, who arrived half an hour earlier than usual.
"Sir, I've conducted a series of experiments and developed a new paper. Please take a look at it," said Lucien with a casual smile.
Fernando knew that there was something in Lucien's smile. He took over the pile of paper and saw the title,
"The Finding of a New Particle"
The look on Fernando's face became more serious. He started to read the paper very carefully. After a long time, Fernando looked up at Lucien's face without saying anything.
"… Yes, sir?" Lucien felt very insecure being stared at by Fernando's red eyes.
Fernando rubbed the corner of his eye and smacked his lips.
"I think you'll demolish the world one day."
Chapter 350: The Small Gathering
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
After joking, the Lord of Storm said to Lucien seriously, "Hathaway and I have made some achievement in removing the impurities from the elements and we've found some elements of similar properties like twins, triplets, and even quadruplets. The biggest difference between them is their atomic weights, which resulted in the inaccurate measurement of atomic weight data. After removing the impurities, the weights of the elements have perfectly matched the data provided in the periodic table of elements. Now both of us no longer doubt the accuracy and validity of the table."
Lucien wondered why all of a sudden Fernando wanted to talk to him about the isotopes. The smile on his face was a bit confused, "So it seems that my previous proposal worked, right?"
Since Lucien put forward his assumption that energy was in fact delivered in portions and thus solved the problem in the experiment of thermal radiation, Lucien had been very busy with his work in his Atom Institution. Therefore, Fernando had changed his way of teaching. Instead of asking Lucien to read the letters for him, he gave Lucien some tasks every week, say, reading the books in different arcana fields, or analyzing a fifth circle spell, and then he would solve the problems that Lucien encountered in the process.
As for Fernando's progress in his own project, he only shared it with his students on their monthly regular meeting, thus it was Lucien's first time knowing that Hathaway and Fernando had made such great progress in separating isotopes.
"No, it almost led us to the wrong path," said Fernando a bit unhappily. "Hathaway suggested that we put the similar elements—we temporarily call them equivalent elements—into the same position on the periodic table of elements for now. The finding has made us completely abandon the belief that atoms are not further divisible, or there would be no explanation for the existences of the equivalent elements. We were planning on publishing our paper on the next month's Arcana to make most of the arcanists to be mentally prepared for the theory shift. However, now you've found the new particle that is way smaller than an atom by messing around. So now no one can deny the fact anymore."
Fernando still did not give any high comment on Lucien's finding, instead, the words he used were "messing around". However, Fernando looked very serious. "Your finding is going to be a huge shock to a lot of arcanists, especially those who study elements. So right now you shouldn't submit this paper. We shall seal it for now temporarily. Hathaway and I will find some open-minded arcanists first to gradually spread out your idea, so they can have some buffering time."
This paper was different. What was in the paper was not just an assumption, but a final conclusion with solid evidence support.
"No problem." Lucien nodded.
After Lucien left Fernando's study, the Lord of Storm walked back and forth with his hands behind his back, wondering what he should do. The senior-rank arcanists who he was looking for must have already noticed the problem with the old theory and thus be ready to accept the new one. Ideally, they should be from the Will of Elements. The Lord of Storm should be very careful not to let the Hand of Paleness and Moonsong League know this, or it would be their great chance to weaken the Will of Elements.
Among the six major organizations in the Congress, the most powerful ones were the Will of Elements, the Hand of Paleness, and the Cabin of Palmeira, and each of them had a grand arcanist and a legendary archmage behind as their support: Yaroran Hathaway Hoffenberg, the Lord of Elements and Davy, the Creator, behind the Will of Elements; Vicente Miranda, the Thanatos, and Congus, the Demigod-lich, behind the Hand of Paleness; Hellen Price, the Witch of Iceland, and Hull-Chulia, the Lord of Gas, behind the Cabin of Palmeira.
As for Moonsong League, it was Chelsea Holt, the Moon Scholar, the legendary archmage, standing behind it. Chelsea was very close to Brook, the Emperor of Control. And as for Family of Sorcerer, the two legendary archmages, the Eye of Curse and the Master of Transformation built it up from the very beginning.
The Prophet, who led Tower, was a scholar dedicated to his researches and was the closest to the Congress.
The rest of the grand arcanists and legendary archmages were all on the same side with the Congress.
After a while, Fernando became more impatient. Lucien, his student, was causing him troubles all the time, and his ability to cause troubles had almost surpassed his ability to study arcana and magic!
Lucien definitely brought the Lord of Storm a good headache.
…
A few days later.
When Lazar, Rock, and the apprentices were being very passionate conducting the experiments, they somehow got a day off from Lucien. However, they believed that they did not really need it, except Jerome.
Jerome was married, so he finally could spend some time with his wife, which made the two bachelors, Lazar and Rock, feel quite envious.
While in the institution, the powerful and influential arcanists and archmages all gathered here.
There was Mr. Douglas, the president of the Congress, Hathaway, the Lord of Elements, Mr. Fernando, and also Mr. Oliver, the Hand of Annihilation. This was Lucien's first time meeting Oliver. He looked rather elegant and well-mannered, although he was already close to forty.
Except for the Emperor of Control and Thanatos who did not get the invitation, and Hellen, who just left Allyn a few days ago, all the grand arcanists were here.
There were also a few legendary archmages here. Kloss, who always had the cunning smile on the face and was always carrying a blond little girl puppet around, was also the inventor of the magic steam train. The Eye of Curse, Atlant, whose eyes never opened, was also here but he did not say a single word so far. There were four legendary archmages present in total.
There were more than forty senior-rank arcanists here, including Morris, Raventi, Gaston, LockLynn, and other arcanists who had already doubted the theory of atom. Some senior-rank mages and archmages famous in other fields of magic also attended the meeting.
The meeting room of the institution was completely filled. Lucien could not help thinking to himself that if something terrible happened to the meeting room, that would basically mean the end of the Congress.
"Lucien Evans, so this time your experiment was going to show us the discontinuity of the form of energy?" When Lucien was about to enter the lab behind the mirror, a tall and thin elder man of a quite good manner asked him in a slightly bit aggressive way.
Lucien just heard Fernando mentioning that this elder man was an archmage, Lauren, the major supporter of Energy Essentialism, the winner of Silver Moon Medal and Ice & Snow Medal, the member of Arcana Review Board, and he specialized in the School of Electromagnetics, Light-darkness, Thermodynamics, and Force Field.
Some other senior-rank mages also looked at this direction. It was also their question to Lucien.
"I've found a new particle," answered Lucien briefly.
"Inside of an atom?" asked Gaston a bit emotionally, although he had been suggested in advance by Hathaway and Fernando and thus he was more mentally prepared.
"We'll see." Raventi watched Lucien stepping into the lab.
Morris looked rather serious, "I have the feeling that something not good is going to happen."
The experiment was not challenging, and once the vacuum environment was created, Lucien adjusted the electric and magnetic field. Then the arcanists started to calculate using the data.
Soon, Raventi growled, "The weight is… two thousand times smaller than that of a hydrogen atom!"
Even the heavy elements at the back of the periodic table had a way bigger atomic weight than that of a hydrogen atom. Therefore, it could be preliminarily determined that the particle was not an atom, but a smaller particle, unless there were a thousand more undiscovered elements in front of hydrogen on the periodic table.
Except for Raventi, the rest of the sorcerers were all a bit absent-minded. Although they had doubted the atom theory, and that was the reason why they were selected to attend the meeting, they still felt lost, as if something beautiful in their memory was broken.
Lauren watched the entire experience and said aloud, "A great experiment!"
Lucien was surprised. He never expected that Lauren, who was just being so aggressive to him, would congratulate him like this.
"It is a radical repudiation of atom theory. It has confirmed that energy constitutes everything and that atom doesn't even exist!" Lauren's eyes looked a bit crazy.
The biggest enemy of Energy Essentialism was the theory of atom!
Ignoring how Raventi and the rest of the arcanists stared at himself, Lauren said to Lucien excitedly, "Congratulations, Evans. You've brought people a step further toward the truth of the world!"
Before Raventi started his roaring, Lucien said seriously, "On the contrary, I think the discovery of the even smaller particles further shows the physicality of atoms. Inside an atom, there is probably a unique structure…"
When Lucien was about to further explain his belief, Douglas raised his hand and stopped their argumentation.
Looking around in the meeting room, Douglas was gratified to see that all the selected arcanists had lived to their expectation and had basically accepted the existence of the new particle, thus he said a bit emotionally, "We've witnessed this great experiment – an experiment that leads us to the real micro-world and a brand new research field! Although the more specific measurement of the particle's electric charge and its relationship with an atom requires more studies, Atom Institution's and Lucien's great contribution to this is enormous. The whole arcana world has marched forward in a big step because of it!"
…
"To handle this kind of subversive research outcomes, I think it's good to inform some arcanists and sorcerers first just like what we are doing right now. We can use this as a regular method in the future," said Douglas.
As the subversive findings emerged one by one in the past very short period of time, Douglas had made up his mind that a coping mechanism must be built up.
Oliver agreed but he soon came up with a question, "So who should be the one judging what is subversive and what is not?"
As soon as Oliver put forward the question, most arcanists turned around to look at Lucien.
Lucien had some sense of foreboding.
Chapter 351: The Board Member
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
Oliver also looked at Lucien and adjusted the gold-rimmed spectacles on his nose, "So… Lucien should become the member of the review board and be responsible for deciding what kind of findings can be regarded as being subversive, right?"
"His way of thinking is pretty subversive." After about a minute, Hathaway commented short and brief.
Morris also added, but in a bit unhappy way, "Recently we've got quite a few pieces of shocking news all from Lucien. Obviously, he has his own unique understanding in the current arcana system and he is not restrained in his own thoughts and beliefs. He's capable of putting forward these subversive points of views and thus it's reasonable for us to believe that he will also be open-minded enough for the job. Also, he's not a senior-rank yet, and this makes him even more suitable for this position."
The reason why Morris was unhappy was that he clearly knew that this finding would again win Lucien another Holm Crown prize. Morris needed to raise the rewarding standard of the prize. Morris had no idea since when the old standard—making a breakthrough contribution to the field of Element and being able to leave a footprint in the history of element magic—became so easy to achieve?
The vault of the Will of Elements gathered its wealth from the gains of the grand arcanists, legendary archmages, archmages, and senior-rank mages when they explored the other dimensions. Although the wealth came from the parts that the powerful sorcerers did not need, the value was still very considerable, plus the Will of Elements' additional income from their alchemical industry and the rewards from the daily tasks, Morris was able to give out the prize once a year without digging deep into the vault, as long as the prize-giving did not happen two to three times a year.
Hearing that, the other senior-rank arcanists all nodded silently. Obviously, they could not do the job. Although this time they were fine with accepting the new idea, it was because before today they had already doubted the atom theory.
Therefore, choosing a young and creative arcanist was a good option.
Being stared by the many arcanists, Lucien felt that he deserved this.
"I agree. But as for Lucien's rank and reputation… I'm not sure…" Oliver shrugged.
Lauren also had the same concern, "He's only a level five arcanist, fifth-circle sorcerer, I don't know if he's capable of reviewing all the papers, and whether his judgment is reliable enough."
Fernando responded, "Although he still has some problems in mathematics, in Element, Thermodynamics, Light-darkness, Electromagnetism, Force Field, Alchemy, and Astrology, he's no inferior to other senior-rank arcanists. People think he's not qualified simply because he's too young. He can be the one judging whether a finding is a breakthrough and whether it's subversive, and then the paper can be handed to other arcanists for further review."
Arcana level was an important standard, but not the only one.
"If his arcana level is six, it shall be good enough," Hathaway said all of a sudden. The look on her face was still cold.
A level six arcanist was a senior-rank arcanist.
Lauren doubted again, "Your Excellency, Lucien Evans' paper hasn't proved that the newly-discovered particle is part of the inner structure of an atom, so the paper was only going to bring him four hundred to six hundred arcana credits. With all the citation credits, I have to say that he's still far away from becoming a level six arcanist."
The finding of a new particle was very valuable and it deserved a very considerable reward. Compared to the periodical table of elements, the discovery of the new particle brought the arcanists and sorcerers one step closer to the truth of the world. According to the tradition, the reward should equal that of Brook's finding which proved that light was a kind of electromagnetic wave. Brook got a thousand credits, and Lucien would probably get half because his paper had not proved the relationship between the new particle and an atom.
"You've forgotten our recent discussion?" Raventi roared at Lauren, "The influence factor of Arcana has been decided to be three. It will be put into effect next month!"
Currently, Lucien had four papers on Arcana, and the influence factor meant that the citation credits that Lucien got would be three times more than what he was gaining right now by the end of next month. It was very hopeful that Lucien could get more than two hundred credits every month.
"Raventi, you'd better remember that right now there's a trend, and that's why the citation of Lucien's paper is bringing him this many credits. I don't think the trend will last long. Even if it can, it's still going to take Lucien Evans another four to five months to become a senior-rank. We can't make him a review board member right now! People won't believe in him!" Lauren refuted.
Knowing that the trend of the heated discussion on Lucien's new findings was actually going to last for a quite long time, Lauren was just trying to postpone the decision and make it end up with nothing definite.
Many arcanists and board members agreed. The tradition that the board members must be senior-rank arcanists should not be broken.
Raventi also calmed down a bit and nodded. In his eyes, Lucien becoming a member of the board was just a matter of time.
"He can reach level six right now," Hathaway said to the rest of the room.
All the people present, including Fernando, were a bit confused. They wondered where Lucien could get eight hundred to nine hundred credits right now.
Morris was the first one who understood what Hathaway meant. He turned to Lucien, seeking for his opinion.
Lucien also understood what Hathaway was suggesting, and he nodded seriously.
Morris turned around and there was a forced smile on his face, "The designer of Miracle Experiment is Lucien."
Arcana's above. That meant another Holm Crown Ring, or probably plus an Immortal Throne award!
The meeting room was completely shocked. Many arcanists and board members were right now staring at Lucien as if they had never known him before.
"He… designed the experiment?!" Lauren could not believe his ears.
The fact that the experiment could produce the life ingredients in the synthetic primitive environment naturally was a great shock to every single arcanist, including the ones who did not stick to the theory of Life Force—every arcanist wanted to dig into the secret of life.
Facing this kind of response, Lucien could see his rank on Cleansing List rising like crazy.
"Morris! You can't speak it out!" Raventi was very angry.
Although he saw Lucien nodded, Raventi did not think that Lucien was ready enough to handle the great threat from the Church.
Morris smiled, "Although the discovery of the new particle can't strike the Saint Truth as severely as Miracle Experiment, it is still subversive to the improved divinity system. No matter whether Lucien is the designer of Miracle Experiment, Lucien is going to be stricken by the Church either way. Also, when Felipe's name got into the top hundred list, he was only of the fifth-circle. I don't think Lucien was inferior to him at all."
"Hathaway has kept the secret for a really long time," said Douglas very kindly to Lucien. "Today, I finally got to know who designed the experiment which I really liked. The experiment has revealed many things to us. You're the most outstanding young man I've ever seen, and I think you're qualified enough to be a member of the review board."
Fernando rubbed the side of his forehead, and he felt that his student was pretty much a big trouble.
As the member of the board in the field of Element and Alchemy, Gaston grinned, "The credits for Miracle Experiment should be around six hundred. Plus all the citation credits, Lucien should be able to get close to a thousand credits at once. Also, Lucien has the new paper on the newly-discovered particle. Basically, Lucien's a level six arcanist already, and the only thing he needs to do is to update the badge. You still have any problems?"
"None," Lauren said in a bit pissed manner.
Lucien was very likely to be the one who was going to win Holm Crown prize for three times, and also likely to be the future winner of Immortal Throne award. And right now he was of level six. Lucien was definitely qualified to be the member of the review board!
Oliver slightly nodded and agreed. Douglas announced, "In the future, when submitting papers, the author has to note whether the paper contains any subversive findings or viewpoints and whether the finding conflicts with any currently existing theories. If yes, Lucien shall be the one reviewing the paper."
"Congratulations, Mr. Evans," Morris said to Lucien with a bitter smile.
He was the youngest member of Arcana Review Board in the history ever!
Chapter 352: The Truth
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
After the warm applause, Douglas smiled. "In the past month, many arcanists, including me, have proved the existence of cathode ray based on your findings, and the experiment you just showed us is of good validity. We can say it preliminarily that it's a new particle smaller than an atom. As the one who discovered it, you've got the right to name it."
Although Lucien's paper on the finding of cathode ray would not be published on Arcana until the month, the arcanists and sorcerers present had all read it.
"Let's call it… electron." Lucien decided to stick to the name that he was familiar with.
"Good. Pretty nice name. The electron will lead us to take our first step into the microworld, and it's a great progress for us to approach the truth of the world."
Douglas lectured to the senior-rank arcanists, trying to turn this great theory shift into the glorious victory of arcana, "But we shouldn't just be proud of it. We want to take a step back and think: why gas, when discharging, can produce the stream of electrons? What kind of properties does an electron have? What is its precise mass and charge? Is it related to an atom? What is the inner structure of an atom? Can an electron be further divided? We need to keep working on it."
That was very typical of Douglas, and Lucien found that hearing Douglas' lecture was bringing him some slight headache. Now he had realized why Fernando had given Douglas the nickname – Hundred Thousand Whys. From Fernando, Lucien had got to know that, when conducting Miracle Experiment, Fernando and Douglas were also present watching him from upstairs, and thus they had heard Lucien's response to the hundred and thousand questions.
Lucien turned to look at Fernando. Fernando slightly lifted his chin.
At this time, Oliver grinned and said, "Mr. President, let's give Evans some time. He's the main character today."
Douglas laughed, "My apology. I am being too excited. Let the young man take the stage."
"Evans, I'm very curious, and I'd really appreciate it if you can share with us how you jumped out of the cage of the current arcana system." Oliver smiled elegantly, "You know, Florencia's a firm supporter of atom theory and I need to spend time on gradually changing her viewpoint. Don't take me wrong… I'm not forcing you. If you want to keep it to yourself, I'm fine with it."
Oliver was not the only one being curious. Even Fernando slightly straightened his back, wondering how his student's way of thinking was like. Hathaway was the only one who remained the same cold and quiet.
Standing in front of the grand, senior-rank arcanists and legendary archmages, Lucien was very confident, "In fact, I do have a personal philosophy belief that I would like to share with your Excellencies. In my opinion, there are also differences between truths. Some are absolute truth and some are the relative truth. Absolute truth refers to the essence and the law of the world. It does not change because of the proposal of any new theories, and, that is, the truth we always endeavor to seek for."
The easy smile on Oliver's face slowly disappeared. Frowning slightly, he looked more serious.
"But due to the limitation of our knowledge, our way of thinking, the ways we explore the world, and our physical and mental capabilities, we can only get close to the absolute truth as possible as we can, but finally obtain the relative truth in the end which applied to a certain range. This kind of relative truth can only serve our needs within this certain range, and when the range is exceeded, the relative truth will turn itself into an error."
Fernando's red eyes squinted, while Douglas' body leaned backward, trying to find a more comfortable position to rest. Hathaway posed her chin on her right hand, and unconsciously and gently rubbed the arm of the chair, just like how Natasha usually did when she was thinking.
"Therefore, many of the theories that we have overturned are not simply meaningless, as they are the relative truths under certain conditions. However, with the development of arcana system, the range of our exploration has exceeded the conditions when they were first established, so now they have turned out to be wrong, and even absurd. For example, in the most ordinary alchemical reactions when producing the most common potions, based on our observation, an atom is indeed the most fundamental unit, and it is the relative truth in this condition. Also, I once asked myself why the ancient magic empire still managed to develop itself into a great power and had produced so many legendary archmages despite the fact that many of their beliefs have been criticized by us right now as being completely ridiculous. I am convinced that it is because their beliefs are some relative truths that work under some certain circumstances."
All of the arcanists, even including Raventi and Lauren, never expected that such a young arcanist like Lucien would have this profound and well-developed insight. They thought that Lucien's accomplishment was from his energy of youth, intelligence, and courage.
"As we explore further, the real world is getting closer and closer to us, the range that the truth should serve also needs to be expanded, and the relative truth is approaching the absolute truth. However, the world is so big while we are so tiny. It is definitely safe to say that, for a very long time, we can never obtain the absolute truth, but the relative truth is getting closer to it step by step. And thus we have to be mentally prepared that our truths can turn into errors at any time. Therefore, we should always keep in mind that the truths recognized by us right now are not the ultimate answer that we are looking for. We can use them, and we can trust them, but we should also know that the truths only work within a certain range. Therefore, we can be more ready when facing the subversive findings."
When giving the speech, Lucien was also working on solidifying his own philosophy belief, and also preparing himself for the future cognition shifts. Also, he hoped that his sharing could inspire some of the arcanists and sorcerers.
However, he was also aware of the fact that it was very hard to change one's belief once it was established, which was especially true when it came to sorcerers and arcanists. There was no way that their belief could be transformed by Lucien's single speech. If one could restrain one's subconscious and completely control one's body and mind, in the world of the Earth, the person would not be regarded as a common human being anymore.
Therefore, in the future, there were definitely going to be more sorcerers who would have their heads exploded from the collapse of their cognition world; there were still going to be sorcerers arguing with each other or even killing each other because of the conflicts of their beliefs; and there were also going be sorcerers who would fail to use the new theories and philosophy belief to guide their own practice. Lucien was just hoping that what he was saying could help some of them.
After the speech, silence presided in the meeting room for a while.
Then, Douglas first applauded, "Very good point! Very good philosophical belief! Lucien's words explained why the ancient magic empire managed to grow successfully and how the Congress has come all the way. We've grabbed some of the truths in our hands, but we cannot follow them blindly. We should ask more questions, more whys. Lucien, you are more mature than I thought. I'm not talking about age, but here."
He pointed at his head, "I have nothing to worry even after you became that member of the board."
It was obvious that Douglas loved philosophy very much.
The words discussing the absolute truth and the relative truth made many senior-rank sorcerers think, but also, they still felt more or less suspicious towards the claim, because many theories and laws in the arcana system looked so valid and solid that it was hard for them to doubt it.
After a round of short discussion, the senior-rank arcanists started to leave, as they needed to go back and tell their students and friends the problem of atom theory as soon as possible, and thus gradually enabled Lucien's new finding to spread out, hoping that the most of the sorcerers could change their viewpoint slowly.
"Lucien, when your paper is published… I will talk to the senior levels… about your next Holm Crown prize," Morris said to Lucien word by word. And the look on Morris's face was sophisticated, but there was definitely sadness in there.
"I am totally fine with it." Lucien did not want to further upset him.
Morris nodded, and when he saw that Raventi had already left the meeting room, he put on the smile again and said, "In fact, Miracle Experiment is enough to win you the Immortal Throne award… I mean, you don't really need another ring, right? Ha, I'm just joking. Don't mind me."
Morris hurriedly walked away when noticing that the Lord of Storm was approaching.
…
A few days later, in Cole's magic tower.
A gas servant was about to give its master a letter, but found the message left by the latter, "I'm doing an experiment with my teacher. Leave the letter following the keywords."
Therefore, the gas servant opened the envelope and started to read the letter to get the keywords:
"…Cole, it's really hard to believe that my teacher, Lauren, has discovered the conflict between the periodicity of the elements and the atom theory. He said that there was going to be something even smaller than an atom, which goes the opposite way with your belief! Atom is very possibly not the most fundamental unit of all of the substances. In fact, the substance is just people's illusion. Energy should be the essence of everything!"
…
In Heidler, the headquarter of the Hand of Paleness, over the meeting among the senior levels.
"Recently, there are rumors spreading out that the theory of atom is problematic, and many senior-rank arcanists have pointed out many problems in atom theory." Rogerio gently knocked on the table with his knuckles, "It is weird."
Pesor sneered, "What is weird about it? Obviously, there has been a new experiment showing that atom theory might be wrong. The Congress is trying to slowly change the viewpoint of the arcanists. We have done the same things before."
"Very possibly. Unfortunately, we don't know what kind of experiment it is, or we could really teach the Will of Elements a harsh lesson," said a senior man in a venomous way in the corner.
Felipe, sitting in another corner quietly, looked up and said sarcastically, "Mr. Sousa, you think right now we could really do this without letting the Congress know? You think they are all idiots?"
Under the great pressure from the Congress, at least in Allyn, the conflicts between the powers and parties remained relatively reasonable.
"But if somehow we get to know what the experiment is, it is going to be their fault." Sousa put on a cold smile.
The meeting ended earlier after the task of figuring out what the experiment was given out.
When getting back to his own magic tower, Felipe said to his servant directly, "Bring the recent papers from Lucien Evans to me."
When Felipe started to read the papers again, the look on his face became more and more serious, "They are all about cathode ray… Particle stream… negatively charged?"
…
In the Radiance Church in Holm.
A secret piece of information was sent to the room where the several red-robed cardinals gathered.