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Chapter 166: The Darkness underneath the Explosion

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

It was dark inside the museum. As the wax statues standing along both sides of the aisles were very vivid in the glass covers, many of the visitors were both impressed and a bit scared.

"Great work! The only difference is that the statue has a skil slightly darker than mine!" Viscount Wright laughed. "Great art skill, Mr. Saugus! If I stand together with him here at night, I bet no one could tell who is real."

Because of the attack earlier, Saugus' face looked quite gloomy. Hearing the viscount's praise, Saugus cheered up a bit, "My lord, the statue was customized for you when you just came back from Holm. At that time, your skin did look a bit darker."

"Haha… Saugus, you just won't give me any chance to say that your work is not perfect, will you?" Viscount Wright laughed again, even louder, "You reminded me, and that's true. When I came back in July, my skin was quite tanned."

"Yes, yes… I almost could not recognize you at that time." Granneuve followed the words of the viscount in a flattering smile. Then, he took a glance at Harrison Brown and said to Wright, "My lord, it was Harrison Brown who was the target of these attackers. I wonder if I should stay away from him. After all, I'm not a knight."

Wright tidied his clothes a bit and answered, "No worries. Although those sorcerers want to kill Brown, they cannot afford losing more of their people, especially their important members, or they would just directly send a middle-rank sorcerer here and easily kill Brown. However, if that was the case, the sorcerer would be caught later for sure. So, even if there are still more attacks, they would not get close to us."

"I see… That definitely makes sense, my lord," answered Granneuve, although still feeling concerned.

"Just appreciate Mr. Saugus's artworks. If anything really happens, you'll have my protection." Viscount Wright added.

"Thank you… thank you, my lord!" Granneuve, who always claimed to be the most loyal servant of the viscount, hurriedly showed his gratitude.

Hearing the viscount's words, the rest of the nobles also felt a bit more relieved.

On the other side of the museum, with the black suitcase in his hand, Lucien calmly walked toward the end of the corridor.

After a couple of turns, Lucien found a corner where there was no one, except only a few empty glass covers that were waiting for the upcoming wax statues.

Quickly calculating the distance between Brown and himself, Lucien carefully hid the suitcase after taking away the Thales inside and opening the secret layer.

Underneath the layer, there were ten tubes of Flame Gel and a pack of gunpowder, as well as a very long rope piling in circles.

Furthermore, these tubes of Flame Gel were way more powerful with regards to the explosive compared with their original version. Lucien had got sulphur, nitric acid and some other equipment and made nitroglycerin out of them. Then he added it into the pre-made Flame Gel.

The reason why Lucien did not directly use nitroglycerin only was that he would need the power waves produced by the Flame Gel later on.

On the previous night, Lucien had calculated the speed of the rope being burned. After placing the rope and the extra pack of gunpowder properly, Lucien lit the rope on fire with a flintstone.

Even the rope was specially treated by Lucien. He soaked the rope in a chemical liquid in advance to make sure the burning was steady and stable.

After finishing all the work, Lucien lowered his black top hat and walked back to the crowd in a swift but calm pace.

The tiny sound of a rope burning in a secret corner was almost impossible to hear.

The process was slow, but it was steadily going on.

Two minutes later, Lucien came back to the crowd. He saw the nobles were still chatting, walking around and appreciating the artworks.

"One minute to go," Lucien thought to himself.

…

Brown was hoping that one day his own wax statue could be made by the city museum.

Close to him, Mr. Saugus was busy with talking to a couple of nobles, discussing the issue of making more new wax statues for them.

Brown also wanted to talk to Saugus. When Brown was walking to him, he saw a black-haired and black-eyed young man who was observing a wax statue very carefully. The young man was wearing a black top hat and an elegant-looking monocle, which was a typical popular dressing style from Holm.

"The fashion of Holm is now influencing Sturk," thought Brown to himself, "Indeed, many young nobles in Sturk are following this trend."

Brown felt that probably he should try this style some day as well.

As he was thinking, Brown was already beside Saugus.

The adventurer-looking night watcher closely followed Brown on his left side to protect him from any sudden attack.

Fifteen seconds, fourteen seconds …

Lucien left the showcase and walked toward Brown.

Six, five…

Lucien brushed past Brown.

As Lucien was walking, he counted silently in his mind, "Four, three…"

"Mr. Saugus, I wonder if…" Brown talked to the owner of the museum.

"Two, one…"

Bang! There came a thunderous sound of explosion!

The great explosion brought a fierce blast, and the whole museum was shaken by it!

The horrible sound actually consisted of a few waves of explosion, and together with it, the power of magic waves were also very powerful.

The explosion happened one second later than Lucien's expectation, probably because the change of wind or something else, but since Lucien was on high alert, as soon as the explosion happened, he quickly took action.

The first circle spell: Charm Person.

The target of the spell was Brown.

After obtaining the Book of Necromancy and analyzing the necromantic way of meditating, Lucien found that the shared principle of most necromantic spells was to affect human being's hormone secretion and sensorial judgement by using some kind of special brain waves.

Based on this, Lucien developed two new versions of Charm Person. One put more emphasis on the influence of the magic on the individual's soul, which in exchange would reduce the power from the intervention of brain waves. Thus, it worked better on sorcerers, but would also produce stronger magic waves and was hence easier to be noticed or identified. Meanwhile, the other one was the opposite version, which was more for common people.

As the latter was very hard to be noticed, it worked perfectly right now. And also because Brown's power was awakened by the potion, his willpower was not as strong as those knights who made this achievement on their own.

At that moment, the tiny magic waves produced by Lucien's spell were impossible to be noticed, specially because the explosion blast was totally overwhelming!

No one present noticed Lucien's casting.

The white light burst out again from Brown's amulet for the third time, only one second slower than Lucien's movement. However, Brown suddenly looked very confused for a second before he was covered by the feathers.

The great explosion made the whole museum shake fiercely, and the strong magic waves indicated that it was likely that a middle-rank mage was launching that attack. At the same time, the night watcher, Viscount Wright and other knights immediately took action: some of them took a defensive stance, while others rushed to the place where the explosion originally happened.

Noble ladies were screaming. Most people present terribly panicked. Everything here was a great chaos.

And they started to flood out of the museum, pushing and shoving.

Seeing that Brown protected himself well with the feathers, the night watcher alertly looked around when most of the grand knights were away to check the place which got exploded.

Anyone dare set a step close to Brown would be killed by the night watcher right on the spot.

As the night watcher was checking around, he saw the young man wearing the black top hat was also pushing other people to hurriedly get closer to the gate to escape. His elegant monocle was now hanging on his ear awkwardly.

"Useless…" thought the night watcher out of contempt.

And then the young man got out of the museum hall together with the crowd.

Chapter 167: The End of Brown

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Although the sound of the explosion faded and the museum stopped shaking, the ears of many were still tingling badly, as if thousands of flies were buzzing around, and they could hear nothing clear.

"One wall and several pillars are completely destroyed… One fourth of the museum is severely affected," reported a knight to the night watcher. "Fortunately, no one is hurt. And the viscount sent me to tell you to not lower your guard. According to lord Wright, the attacker might be a fourth circle sorcerer who could use Fire Ball or something of equivalent explosive power."

Although the level of a magic spell was fixed according to the different levels of power of the casters, the effects varied greatly, even if the difference was only one level.

"I won't." The night watcher nodded. "I'll call up more night watchers to come here to assist the viscount as well, and to protect Mr. Brown."

The night watcher also felt quite pissed off by the fact that the attacker hasn't been found yet.

"Good. The viscount is furious right now." The knight nodded and walked toward Saugus to send him the comforting words from the viscount.

"Haulies, I want to leave this place, right now." Brown's voice trembled.

"I'll send you back home when more night watchers arrive." Haulies, the adventurer-looking night watcher nodded. He of course understood Brown's nervousness.

After all, nothing was more horrible than this kind of unknown danger, when the attacker could actually still be anywhere in this place.

"Why? How long do I still have to wait here?" Brown urged the night watcher out of anger and fear, "Just let the pastors and cardinals nearby come here!"

Haulies shrugged, "These holy pastors and cardinals won't show up right now, and they will only arrive when we actually besiege the attackers."

"I don't want to stay here anymore. Haulies! Let me go!" cried Brown, "I don't want to be the bait anymore! I'm leaving Sturk as soon as possible!"

"Calm down, Mr. Brown… Please calm down." Haulies tried to comfort him, "More night watchers are on their way."

"Please hurry!" Brown started to walk back and forth within a small area, and his great fear was torturing him.

"You gotta leave… You gotta leave right now… You gotta go…" Brown murmured to himself. He was going crazy.

As he was moving around, most of the feathers fell on the ground and disappeared.

"You gotta go… Leave here… Leave forever…" The voice in Brown's mind grew louder and louder. The voice was like Brown's own voice, but also like someone else's.

Finally, brown broke down mentally. He suddenly turned around and rushed to the gate as fast as he could. He was fast, and his speed came from his great fear.

As soon as Haulies noticed that Brown ran away, his heart sank. He had a bad foreboding.

"Wait! Don't go!" shouted Haulies.

When Brown was almost at the gate, he suddenly sensed great danger, and he quickly woke up from this fear and panic.

However, it was too late. A fireball with the size of a head directly hit the upper part of Brown's body!

In the last second of Brown's life, in the corner of his eye, Brown saw a young man wearing a black top hat hidden beside the gate. The young man pushed up his monocle with his left hand while, at the same time, the light of fire was still lingering on his left wrist.

Bang!

Together with another explosion from the fireball, the upper part of Brown's body exploded, and the fierce fire stopped his body from regenerating.

Brown was killed.

…

"!!" Haulies was shocked when he heard the other explosion.

That was the end of Brown, Haulies realized desperately, although he could not believe the fact that Brown was still killed despite the close protection from the night watchers and knights.

When he rushed to the gate of the museum, what Haulies saw were only pieces of Brown's body, and only the lower parts of the body could still be recognized.

Haulies' heart suddenly sank, and in the next second he yelled at the other knights and guards out of great anger, "The attacker is there! That way!"

He could tell the direction where the attacker launched his attack based on the position of Brown's remains. Haulies' eyes were bloodshot.

A bunch of people rushed to the corner of the museum.

However, there was no one there.

Even the whole street was empty since all the passersby were frightened away by the explosions.

The attacker, the bastard, also erased all his traces using magic, which showed that he was not even in too much of a hurry.

"Go get him!" shouted Haulies. He would not give up. He must catch this guy!

However, as the canals and the streets on the island waved together like a complicated spider web, it was very hard for them to trace based on the slight trace of magic wave left by the attacker.

After a while, when Haulies led the rest of the people to the other side of the island, even that slight trace of magic wave disappeared.

Countless pointy-headed boats were moving on the water. Haulies lost the attacker.

"F**k!!" swore Haulies.

Although he was only of level two, because of Haulies's special Blessing, he could shortly burst out the power equivalent to a level three grand knight. However, despite that, the attacker still managed to escape.

Haulies would not let the attacker just flee away like this. He started to contact the leader of the group of the night watchers as well as the cardinals, and also was ready for a thorough searching.

…

Alongside the canal behind Haulies, there was a fancy restaurant, and Lucien was in one of the booths of the restaurant's washroom.

A small cluster of fire appeared above Lucien's fingertips, and then he burnt down the clothes and hat that he was just wearing.

Now he was wearing a dark-red shirt, black trousers and leather shoes.

This was how Lucien dressed when he first went out from his hotel room in the morning. Last night, he hid all his outfit in this washroom.

After the burning smell was gone, Lucien quickly threw the broken monocular and the shoes that he was wearing into the canal through the washroom window.

Then, he tidied himself up a little bit, walked out of the washroom and entered a balcony of the restaurant.

In the balcony, Grace was walking back and forth nervously. Seeing that Lucien finally came back, she hurriedly asked, "Mr. Evans, did you hear the explosion?"

Grace was too nervous to notice that it took Lucien more than fifteen minutes to come back from the washroom. And, of course, it was not a big deal either that one spent fifteen minutes in washroom.

"I heard it as well. It was horrible." Lucien closed the balcony door from behind, "I tried to look out from the washroom window but did not see anything. We can ask the waiter later what happened over there. Don't be nervous. We're fine, Grace."

Grace nodded and took a couple of deep breaths, "You're right, Mr. Evans. Let's continue. You just mentioned that my fingerings were…"

Lucien already switched himself back into his music mood, after he did all these things to fulfill his mission within fifteen minutes.

"Yes, that's right… You're still sticking to your previous practice to some degree," explained Lucien, "But this is not necessarily a bad thing. As a pianist, you gotta find your own style…"

Lucien was definitely an authority in piano playing, and he had a very profound understanding of it. Grace frequently nodded as she was listening to him very carefully.

About more than half an hour later, a waiter knocked at the door gently.

"Yes?" Grace was not happy that her lesson was interrupted.

"Ms. Grace, two knight squires from the Church need to search the place," answered the waiter politely.

The balcony was booked under Grace's name.

"Well… let them in, then," said Grace. Although she was already quite well-known in Sturk, she still needed to respect the Church.

Chapter 168: Mission Complete

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

When the two squires from the Church walked into the balcony, they did not feel suspicious at all. After all, this restaurant was a place only for people of high social status in the city, and searching this place was just a routine part of their work.

"When did you arrive at this restaurant, and did you temporarily leave this place just now?" asked the two squires.

Although a boatman passing by reported to the Church that he witnessed a young man wearing a black top hat and monocular summoning a big fireball, the boatman could not describe the attacker's physical appearance in detail.

As soon as the witness mentioned the black top hat, Haulies realized who was the attacker. However, the information these squires had was still too limited for them to realize that the noble young man standing right in front of them was the very attacker wanted.

"Nine forty. I arrived this restaurant at nine forty," Lucien answered calmly, "I have an appointment with Ms. Grace today, and I never left this restaurant."

Lucien said the word "restaurant", instead of "balcony", in order to mislead Grace.

"Mr. E… Emm… This gentleman is my friend, and we were discussing piano playing just now." Grace was for sure on Lucien's side, and she also had no idea that Lucien actually did so many things within the fifteen minutes during which he was away in the washroom.

"Your words is for sure trustworthy." One of the squires nodded. "I really like your piano playing, Miss Grace."

And after a casual searching in the balcony, the two squires left.

When the balcony door was gently closed from outside, Lucien smiled, "Shall we continue now?"

In fact, killing Brown was never a super challenging task. However, how to kill Brown but also manage to escape from the besiege of the night watchers and knights was the toughest part of the whole mission.

And letting Brown himself run out of his own protection was the best way!

"Of course," answered Grace eagerly. She never imagined that she could have a precious chance like this to be taught by Lucien Evans in person.

Lucien taught Grace very patiently until it was about noon. When they were waiting for the lunch, he said to Grace, "Any plans for your future?"

Grace lowered her head but did not answer immediately. Although Grace kept telling herself that it was the difficult situation that forced her to steal Lucien Evans' name and live in a big lie, she knew that, despite all these reasons, what she was doing was because of her own greed.

"I'll do whatever you want me to do, Mr. Evans," Grace opened her mouth with great effort.

"You did me a favor. You helped me solve the problem between my friend and Mr. Granneuve, and I really appreciate it," said Lucien sincerely. "If you really want to be a good musician, go to Aalto, together with your family. I can write a letter for you to the president of the Musicians' Association there, as your instructor."

"Oh… Really?" Grace was very surprised.

Lucien nodded and continued, "Or, if you want to keep stealing my name and stay in Sturk to enjoy your reputation, I will not admit neither deny it. Up to you."

Grace stared at the clean white tablecloth and remained silent. She had lots of thoughts going on at the same time in her mind. She knew that, without a real solid foundation in music knowledge and hard practice, her fake reputation of being Lucien Evans' student would turn into a heavy burden for her sooner or later.

However, thinking of the luxury lifestyle she was living right now in Sturk, it was very hard for her to say goodbye to it.

Lucien did not urge Grace. No matter what option she chose, her choice did not really have anything to do with him anyway.

A couple of gentle knocks at the door dragged Grace's thoughts back.

She sat a bit more straight, and when the waiter left the balcony, she said to Lucien with determination, "I'll go to Aalto, Mr. Evans."

Lucien spread the napkin on his lap and started to cut his steak, "I'll write letters for you to Mr. Victor and Mr. Christopher."

When Lucien and Grace were chatting about the Musicians' Association in Aalto, someone knocked at the door again.

"Yes?" asked Grace in a cheerful tone. After making this hard decision, Grace felt way more relaxed now.

"It's us, Grace." It was Green, the violist of the band.

"Why are you guys here?" asked Grace again, confused.

"We need to practice this afternoon together, don't you remember? Let's go together!" It was Piola.

Grace did not respond immediately.

"Grace, open the door," said Green. "You agreed with us. You agreed on doing this. And we gotta do it."

"Yes, we have no choice," agreed the other band members.

Hearing their words, Grace forced a smile on her face and whispered to Lucien, "After the night when I met you in the restaurant, I was very nervous and anxious, so I did not attend our regular practice. They thought that I wanted to quit."

Lucien did not really care. He put a piece of meat in his mouth and then said, "Deal with it however you want."

Grace nodded and then walked toward the door, partially opening it.

"No worries. I won't give this concert up," Grace said to the other band members. "But after that, I'm going to Aalto to learn music."

"Are you kidding?" Green looked a bit pissed off, "Now you got money and reputation, and you want to keep away from us."

Although the other band members were quite famous in the city as well, they were not even close to Grace, because she was the only one in the band who played piano. Of course, they did not feel that it was fair.

Therefore, gradually, these young people who got together because of the same music dream started to lose their focus and even themselves.

"Grace," said Sharon, who was not looking at her but staring at the floor, "You know we can tell the newspaper what you are doing right now."

Although Grace was still feeling guilty, after hearing Sharon's words, she released a long sigh and responded, "Go ahead, Sharon. No one will believe you."

"Does this one-month-role-playing really make you feel you're a student of Mr. Lucien Evans?" said Green sarcastically.

Grace opened the door completely, "I got someone who supports me here."

"Mr. Evans?!" The band members were all shocked.

They had no idea when Lucien Evans arrived in Sturk or when did Grace developed such a good relationship with him.

Lucien put down the knife and fork, wiped his mouth slowly, and walked to Grace, "I'll send the letters to you later. When you're in Aalto, bring the letters to Mr. Christopher."

"Thank you, Mr. Evans… No, thank you… my teacher," said Grace excitedly.

Lucien nodded, and when he walked past the other group members, he said to them, "Hope you folks never forget your music dream. You cannot rely on someone else's fame for the rest of your life."

That was also what Lucien wanted to say to himself.

When Lucien's figure disappeared in the corridor, some of the band members lowered their heads out of shame.

…

It was sunny and hot the second day.

Lucien and Ferryman were standing side by side in the back of a small boat, moving along the canal.

Lucien puzzedly looked at Ferryman. He could not believe that Ferryman would just show up in public like this in the city.

"No worries, my friend. My blood power came from a special creature, and I'm very good at disguising myself, That's why I'm here." Ferryman grinned. "Thank you, Mr. Evans. You're fantastic. Did you make the explosive yourself? Out of the materials I gave you?"

Ferryman did not link the stone bridge thing to Lucien. He thought it was only an accident, after all, Lucien was on the boat at that time.

Lucien realized that the current physical appearance of Ferryman might not be real, but he did not want to bother himself with this topic too much right now.

"Yes, I made it. It's a unique, ancient formula," answered Lucien casually.

"I see." Ferryman looked ahead. "Given that you successively fulfilled the mission, now it is my turn to fulfill my promise. I'll take you to the place of a scholar later. And before you leave Sturk, I suggest you do not go outside."

"Scholar?" Lucien was a bit confused.

Chapter 169: Astar

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Ferryman grinned. "Xelloss Astar, the famous playwright who have already produced six popular operas in Sturk."

He did not avoid the boatman paddling in the front, since the boatman was also one of the core members of the Congress of Magic in Sturk.

"He's a sorcerer as well?" asked Lucien. Astar's identity for disguise was basically the same as his own.

"Yes, he is." Ferryman nodded and said in respect, "He is a Shadow Mentor."

"Mentor?" Lucien was surprised.

In the ancient magic empire, anyone who could be respected as a mentor would be at least a senior-rank mage.

"Of course. Although I'm not sure about Mr. Astar's specific level, without doubt, he's of senior rank. Actually, we have a couple of senior-rank mages in Sturk, but some of them are out of town right now, and they would rarely carry out tasks themselves," explained Ferryman.

"The more powerful the congress is, the more secure I feel," answered Lucien honestly. Ferryman's words also verified Rhine's comment on the Congress of Magic that it was growing strong very fast.

Moving along the canal, the pointy-headed boat turned at the corner and came to a beautiful and quiet residential area in the city.

…

The boat stopped in front of a big, luxury three-storey house with a spacious garden. Lucien and Ferryman stepped on the stone stairs in front of the property after getting off the boat and came to the gate of the house.

"Tom." The guard standing behind simply greeted Ferryman and opened the iron gate. Obviously, they were acquaintances.

Lucien was somehow expecting a different name for Ferryman, at least more unique than "Tom".

As Tom and Lucien slowly walked through the garden and the lawn, Tom said to Lucien casually, "Tom is a very common name, I know, but my job also does not draw much attention anyway."

"That's right, but sometimes people take the opposite way, for example, Mr. Astar." Lucien nodded and looked around this place curiously. He saw nothing special yet with this place.

"Mew!" An orange tabby cat suddenly appeared in front of them and spoke to them in a husky voice, "Astar wants you guys to go to the second floor. He's studying arcana right now and got no time to welcome our new friend."

"Yes… Ms. Mercedes," responded Tom with awe.

Then he introduced the cat to Lucien, "This is Mr. Astar's familiar… no, partner, Ms. Mercedes."

"Very nice to meet you, Ms. Mercedes," greeted Lucien to the cat politely.

The cat made a short "hum" from her throat to respond, and then elegantly walked into the garden nearby.

Before Tom and Lucien walked into the hall, Lucien looked back and saw that the arrogant cat was jumping around to catch a butterfly. Obviously, she was having fun by herself over there.

"Sometimes animals know better how to enjoy life," said Tom gently and opened the wooden gate.

Lucien turned around and smiled, "But happiness is not everything that a person can enjoy in one's life."

…

The sunlight made the second floor pretty bright. However, when Lucien was following Tom walking through the corridor, he always somehow felt that this place was covered by shadows, and he had a feeling that this was because of Sun's Corona he was wearing.

"It's us, Mr. Astar," said Tom in a low voice as he gently knocked at a black wooden door.

"Come in. The door is unlocked." A husky voice came from behind the door.

Tom pushed the door open carefully and asked Lucien to go in with him.

The first thing that jumped into Lucien's eyes was the messy wads of paper on the thick gray carpet. And, amazingly, there was a quill writing fast on a piece of white paper on its own, without anyone holding it, and, from time to time, the quill was dipping itself in the ink bottle cheerfully.

But Lucien did not see Mr. Astar.

Seeing that Tom was bending to the ground and picking up the paper wads from the floor to throw them at a trash bin, Lucien hurriedly joined him.

Out of curiosity, Lucien took a quick glance at a paper wad as he picked it up and saw messy formulas and numbers on it.

In order to show his respect, Lucien did not carefully read the paper neither tried to steal it, and, of course, he dare not as well, but he could be certain about was the foundational role of math in arcana study.

"Give me a moment," said the same husky voice coming from every dark corner of the room. Taking a closer look, Lucien saw a silhouette between the curtain and the desk, and, gradually, an elegant black-haired man appeared. At first glance, Lucien thought that the man was only in his early twenties, but later, he thought that the man might be over forty.

The black-haired man was sitting in his armchair and reading a black hard-covered book very carefully. Around him, in the shadow, it seemed like there were countless quills writing and calculating busily. Lucien could not see them clearly.

About ten minutes later, when Tom and Lucien still remained silent, the quill on the desk finished its work and jumped into the quill pot itself, and the shadow quills in the darkness also disappeared completely.

Closing the book, the black-haired man turned to look at them and greeted, "Welcome, our new friend. I'm Astar."

"Great pleasure to meet you, Mr. Astar." Lucien slightly bowed to him. As he was bowing, he saw the name of the book, which was printed in silver ink, Arcana.

Lucien saw the font before, and he got excited and murmured, "Arcana…"

Astar lifted the book a bit and asked, "Have you ever read this before?"

"Yes… but a very old one." Lucien was very curious, "Mr. Astar, is this the latest issue of Arcana? Can I take a look?"

Astar stood up from his armchair and smiled, "What you've been studying is the ancient magic system, and hence this might be a bit too much for you. And if you can't read Arcana, you cannot understand all kinds of new magic structures published in the journal called Magic." Astar pointed at another book on his desk with a Hexagram on it, "However, you're the only sorcerer in the past ten years who wanted to borrow Arcana from me, and I'm impressed by your thirst for knowledge. So feel free to read it, but don't feel depressed when you cannot get it."

As he was saying, Astar handed Lucien the book.

And then he turned to Ferryman, "How shall I call our new friend, Tom?"

"Evans… Mr. Evans. A first circle sorcerer," answered Tom, feeling a bit nervous still.

Lucien opened Arcana and glanced at the content page. Immediately, he was shocked, since the title of the first article in this journal was:

"A Special Complex Function that Describes and Calculates Spiritual Power Field".

Lucien never expected that the congress's study of Complex Functions was this advanced. Although some of the books unlocked in Lucien's spirit library were about the knowledge of Complex Function, it was too complicated for Lucien to understand since he came from neither math nor physics academic background. Also, Lucien thought that the study progress of the congress might still remain close to that of Earth in the late 18th century or the early 19th century, which mainly focused on calculus, hence he never put too much thought into this field. Lucien realized that he was falling behind and he needed to catch up with the congress as soon as possible.

A complex function was one in which the independent variable and the dependent variable were both complex numbers. Based on the theory of Complex Analysis, many study achievements were made, for example, the measurement of planar field and Riemann Surface. And then, Riemann's looking into the space curved surface based on Non-Euclidean geometry Theory provided the tool of developing the General Theory of Relativity from Einstein.

Seeing that Lucien was totally shocked, Astar grinned, "Aren't these articles edge-cutting? Since Mr. Brook, the grand arcanist, found the relation between electricity and magnetism and put forward the concept, Electromagnetic Field, the studies looking into all kinds of 'fields' are thriving. And thus many complex functions came out as a tool for us to calculate the intensity of a specific spot in a spiritual power field. And my research interest, Shadow Field, requires a thorough understanding of it."

Lucien nodded. In this world, the need in arcana research accelerated the birth of complex functions, which was different from that of Earth.

"Anyway, talking about those theories to you right now does nothing but greatly confuses you. When you get to Allyn, Evans, the congress will provide you with lots of basic books and materials for learning arcana. And if you have an open mind, you can switch yourself into a sorcerer who believes in the contemporary magic system in about two to three years… It depends on your own effort," continued Astar.

"They just… give the books and materials… for free?" Lucien was concerned that the congress would have extra demanding requests for him just like the Hand of Paleness.

"Just some little requirements… not anything dangerous." Astar assured Lucien, "We hope that sorcerers under middle rank can focus on their own study and grow stronger, and that's the best pay from you folks to the congress."

Then Astar turned to Ferryman, "Tom, could you show Evans his room on the third floor?"

"Sure." Tom nodded.

"On the third floor, there are a few apprentices with quite good potential living here and learning after me right now. And they'll be sent to Holm together with you. If you feel not ashamed to learn from apprentices, you can start studying arcana learning from them," said Astar.

Leaving Astar's study, Lucien and Tom walked to the third floor.

Chapter 170: The Apprentices

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The arrangement of the third floor was very different from that of the second. Lucien saw a spacious blue and white living room. On eash side of the living room, there was a row of big windows, through which the sunlight came in and brightly lit up the whole place.

Although the living room was still quite smaller than the hall on the first floor, everything there looked rather lively and energetic – couches that could move around; small-sized tea tables everywhere; small black writing boards hanging on the wall; green plants, etc.

There were some teenagers in that place. The oldest might be around fourteen or fifteen, and the youngest might be only twelve. Some of them were sitting in the couches, calculating and writing something down in a very dedicated way, while others were standing in front of the small blackboards, discussing something seriously. In a second, Lucien thought that he was visiting a study hall or something.

Because of the unique design of the place and the thick carpet on the floor, Lucien and Tom's arriving did not attract the teenagers' attention at all.

"Annick, I found this book, Math Principles in the Philosophy of Magic, very interesting. Although the three fundamental laws of force field look quite simple, when you think about it, all of them are very close to our daily life when we cast a spell," said a young girl in a low voice to her friend sitting in the couch beside her.

Another teenager boy with blond curly hair looked up and said, "Layria, I agree with you. You know once Mr. Astar mentioned that Math Principles in the Philosophy of Magic is one of the two major theories supporting the contemporary magic system, and if you can have a thoroughout understanding of it, probably you can become a real sorcerer soon!"

The girl with linen-colored hair sitting beside them joined the conversation, "Annick, Layria, are you two still reading the first chapter? The other day I took a quick glance at the book and found the third chapter was beyond imagination. The third chapter tries to explain all kinds of movements happening in this world, including stars and tides, by introducing the concept of gravity, a force that exists between the stars and the land. And that is why star trails can actually be predicted. I believe that it's very important to our further study in Astrology."

Layria's lovely ponytail slightly jumped up and down as she was nodding, "Yes, yes… but I cannot understand the derivation here, and I also don't understand the mathematical method called…calculus. What about you two, Heidi and Annick?"

"No idea… I cannot get it at all," answered Heidi casually. "But just like what Mr. Astar told us, before we become real sorcerers, we only need to remember a few principles and formulas, instead of understanding why."

"Still… We need to read a lot of books according to Mr. Astar…" Layria sighed. "Basic Geometry of Magic, The Mapping of Magic Principles and Model Building and… and…"

"And The Significance of Modelling, Element Equation behind Magic Formula, Basic Element, Common Algebra, Classification of Low-rank Meditations, Simple Analysis of the Essence of the Cold and the Heat, Motion and Force in Magic." Heidi took over the words and listed all the books they needed to read.

"You see, I cannot even remember the books." Layria shrugged. "Although Mr. Astar said that if we could fully understand Math Principles in the Philosophy of Magic and then spend a year on studying calculus, when we got enough spiritual power, we could work on becoming a middle-rank sorcerer, I don't know how long this whole process would take me without a teacher… maybe fifteen years…"

As Astar said, all these apprentices in this living room were more talented than the average, and for sure, they had their own targets.

Annick scratched his hair a bit and said, "We're not gonna be on our own for long, right? Mr. Astar said that we would have mentors teaching us in Allyn. Maybe four or five years later, we can become real sorcerers, and at that time…"

"At that time, we'll be councillors of the city council. We'll have servants," said Heidi full of hope.

"At that time, we can meet our families as well," added Layria.

The three apprentices remained silent for a bit and then sighed at the same time.

There was a rare smile on Ferryman's face while he looked at the three teenagers, "Those three, together with Sprint, Oimos and Katrina, they were the most gifted kids in the last test. Especially Sprint and Katrina, they both have quite potential spiritual power and talent in arcana."

As Tom was saying, he pointed at the the teenager boy with dark red hair, the other teenager who was sitting in the couch calculating, and the blonde girl who was discussing seriously with her peers.

"All promising young people," responded Lucien in a real sorcerer's tone.

Their conversation seized the apprentices' attention. They turned around and bowed politely, "Mr. Tom."

Tom apparently looked way less gloomy than usual when he was in front of the teenagers. He nodded and smiled, "I'm very glad to see that all of you're working so hard, but at the same time, I want you ladies and gentlemen to understand that the author of Math Principles in the Philosophy of Magic, and also the inventor of calculus, Mr. Douglas, is the president of the congress, and the greatest arcanist ever, hence there is still a long way for you folks to go. Work hard and be patient."

"Thank you, Mr. Tom. We will." Sprint took a step forward and said with pride, "Becoming an arcanist has always been my target, and I finally became a junior apprentice yesterday."

Some of the teenagers were very surprised. It did not take Sprint long to make this breakthrough.

"You're gifted, Sprint." Tom nodded, feeling quite surprised as well, "And I saw you were helping your peers as well."

"Of course, we're all friends," answered Sprint cheerfully like a kid. Then, he took a glance at Lucien, "Is this our new friend, Mr. Tom? He looks a bit older than us."

Then Sprint turned to Lucien, "Do you know anything about arcana? I can provide you with some help if you want."

"Yes, you can ask me as well," said Katrina. This fourteen-year-old girl was wearing a white dress and already looked like a beautiful young lady. "And I'll also become an apprentice very soon."

Both Sprint and Katrina arrived here recently, and when they were chosen, neither of them was an apprentice but just talented kids. Now Sprint already made his breakthrough, and it seemed that Katrina was on her way as well. Without doubt, Sprint and Katrina were the most potential two among all the apprentices and the other young kids who were working on becoming one.

And just like all the smart people, Sprint and Katrina were competing with each other all the time.

In Katrina's mind, this young man, who was probably only twenty or something, should be no more than a senior apprentice who knew nothing about arcana.

Tom was a bit amused, "This is Mr. Evans. He is a real sorcerer."

"A real sorcerer?!"

"But he looks so young?!"

The teenagers were very surprised.

Although they heard that from time to time there were very talented teenagers who could become real sorcerers after turning eighteen when their souls became more stable, they never met a sorcerer who was this young as Lucien. They suspected that probably this Mr. Evans was using some kind of magic to maintain his young appearance.

"When you arrive at the congress, you'll see sorcerers who're only fifteen or even fourteen." Tom slightly shook his head and smiled, "In my eyes, Mr. Evans is rather smart, and I'm actually not surprised with his achievement."

"Mr. Evans." All the apprentices bowed politely with their right hands on their foreheads.

This was the tradition that an apprentice should show great respect to a sorcerer.

Lucien smiled, "We're peers now."

"You want to study arcana with them?" whispered Tom to Lucien.

"I want to start from reading the books they just mentioned," answered Lucien, "We can discuss if it's necessary." Lucien believed that his arcana knowledge was no inferior than most middle-rank mages.

"Then you have to fulfil a task from the congress in advance," Tom grinned, "since the books are only for the apprentices. Sorcerers can only get them when they arrive the congress."

"What task?" asked Lucien.

"You gotta be the teacher of an apprentice," explained Tom patiently. "In order to get the books and all kinds of support from the congress, a sorcerer needs to help an apprentice to reach his or her senior level. Due to the limit of the environment here, the hope that they can leap forward to reach this level is slim to none, but you can try helping an apprentice in training to become a junior one. How does this sound? Fulfilling half of the congress's task in advance right here?"

"Then what will happen after we arrive in Allyn?" asked Lucien, "Will I still be the teacher?"

"No worries." Tom waved his hands, "All the apprentices will be sent to the secret schools to study at that time. They won't bother you."

"I see. Sounds very reasonable." Lucien nodded. He agreed on the emphasis that the congress put on training apprentices.

Tom clapped his hands to draw the teenagers' attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, I've got an opportunity for you. Because Mr. Evans needs to study arcana, he wants to work with some of you. Who wants to volunteer? You folks gotta know that the chance of working together with a real sorcerer is precious!"

The reaction of the apprentices varied. Some got quite excited and started to whisper to each other, while others remained quite doubtful toward a sorcerer who knew nothing about arcana.

No one knew how much this young sorcerer could help them with their arcana study.

Besides, according to the tradition of the ancient magic empire, some sorcerers were quite strict with training new apprentices. Those apprentices who had other teachers before would not be taken into their consideration at all, hence they might miss the chance of becoming the students of some more powerful sorcerers. And that was the thing that concerned them the most.

"Who volunteers?" asked Tom again.

Sprint responded first, "I'm afraid that Mr. Evans cannot provide me with enough guidance with regard to arcana. I'm sorry."

"Me neither. Sorry, Mr. Evans." Katrina lowered her head, "I want to stick to my own study schedule."

The other six or seven apprentices who were close to Sprint and Katrina were also very hesitant.

Chapter 171: Instruction

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Facing the apprentices' attitude, Tom realized how rebellious these young teenagers could be in this age, so he hurriedly clarified, "I want you folks to understand that the Congress of Magic is not like the past ancient magic empire, and most of the sorcerers in the congress will still be willing to accept you as his or her apprentice even after you have studied under Mr. Evans, as long as you're not Mr. Evans registered apprentice."

Hearing Tom's words, a few apprentices raised their heads.

"I know many of you once heard from Mr. Astar that lots and lots of sorcerers, because they could not keep an open mind toward arcana, failed to make the breakthrough upward to middle or high-rank mage level. However, as you folks can see, Mr. Evans is a real sorcerer already before his twenties, and this talent is quite precious even in the congress. Compared with those old-school sorcerers, Mr. Evans might be able to provide you folks with great new insights, and maybe one day Mr. Evans will become a mentor!"

The title, mentor, was especially used to respect those high-rank mages. Across the continent, high-rank mages were very rare, even in the Duchy of Violet.

Tom's words clearly showed that he saw the great potential in Lucien, especially because of the task had Lucien perfectly fulfilled before.

As many of them were quite shy, some young apprentices started to whisper to each other again.

At this time, Sprint, who clearly viewed himself as the leader of the apprentices, responded in a quite firm attitude, "I still prefer to study arcana on my own."

"I agree. We've all got our own schedules." Katrina nodded.

Tom's face looked a bit gloomy now. He rather felt awkward for Lucien.

When Tom was about to say something else, Lucien finally started to talk to the apprentices, "Everyone needs to make their own choices, and I understand. What about the others? Anyone wants to study arcana with me?"

The six or seven teenagers standing close to Sprint and Katrina exchanged a look among each other and lowered their heads again, and the rest of the apprentices went back to silence as well.

Even the teenagers who wanted to give it a shot felt quite hesitant again.

At this time, finally, one teenager boy took a step forward and said in respect, "Mr. Evans, can you be my teacher?"

"Annick?!" The rest of the apprentices were very surprised.

"You sure, Annick?" Lucien smiled.

Annick was a plain-looking teenager boy, however, at this time, his blue eyes were shining with hope.

"Yes, Mr. Evans," answered Annick sincerely. "I come from a family of magic, and I've been infused with all kinds of exciting legends of the great sorcerers since when I was a kid. However, it has been a hundred years since our family produced the last real sorcerer. I believe in your talent in magic, Mr. Evans… You becoming a real sorcerer at such a young age makes me believe in your wisdom. I hope that I could have the pleasure to become your student, even for only a short period of time."

Annick's family had been falling in the past years. Annick's spiritual power potential was greater than his family peers, and hence he was burdened with the great hope from his parents and relatives. However, Annick's arcana talent was not as impressive as that of his spiritual power, so he understood that he needed to seize every possible opportunity that he encountered.

"Well… Welcome, Annick." Lucien nodded, "Let's work together."

Then, following Annick, another two teenager apprentices volunteered.

"Mr. Evans, I want to learn from you as well." Layria's voice was crisp, and her big eyes looked very sincere.

"Me, too. Mr. Evans." Heidi joined them as well with his slightly chubby face with few freckles on it.

As they were speaking, both of them slightly pulled Annick's shirt from behind, as if they were showing their support to him.

Lucien was a bit touched by their pure friendship. He smiled and said to Annick, Layria and Heidi, "No problem. Three students is enough. I cannot handle teaching more."

Subconsciously, Lucien used the word "teaching", since he never felt that his understanding toward arcana was inferior to most of his peers.

Hearing that, a few more apprentices who did not seize the chance fast enough started to feel a bit regretful.

"Congratulations to you three." Tom gently applauded, "The rest of you folks should keep working hard."

"We will, Mr. Tom." Sprint took a glance at the three Lucien's students, turned around and continued to do his study again, and so did Katrina.

Tom shrugged to Lucien, "Young kids… Anyway, Mr. Evans, please just pick a room on the third floor, whichever you like, to stay for the week. In seven days, we'll leave for Allyn. During the seven days, avoid going out as much as possible."

Lucien nodded, "I'm looking forward to the trip in seven days."

After Tom left, Lucien asked his three students to sit down in a half circle-shaped couch and started to do his own introduction, "I'm Evans, from the west side of the continent. I'm more into the School of Element and Astrology, but no mastery yet. Feel free to discuss any questions you have with me, please."

"Mr. Evans, nice to meet you," said the chubby-faced girl, "I'm Heidi, and I come from Syracuse. I was recommended by a sorcerer in my country to Mr. Astar and then arrived at Sturk. Within a couple of weeks' study, I'm already an apprentice in training. I'm currently with Element Meditation, but also studying the rest of the schools as well."

Heidi was the most outgoing one among the three apprentices, so she introduced herself first. As a young teenager, she could not help showing off a bit of her talent.

Following Heidi, Layria said to Lucien in respect, "Mr. Evans, I'm Layria from a common family in Gusta. Since my referrer is a gentleman from the congress, I'm currently practicing Magnetic Resonance Meditation. Mr. Astar told us that, no matter which school we choose to specialize in, basic arcana knowledge is always indispensable, so I'm very looking forward to your instruction."

"I'm from a small town in the Duchy of Violet, Mr. Evans," said Annick. "I study Astrology and Element, too."

Then, before Lucien asked for the arcana books, Heidi already carried all her books to him, "Mr. Evans, can you understand all of them? In most cases, I have no clue at all."

"Me neither," agreed both Layria and Annick.

Taking over the books from Heidi, Lucien started to leaf through them.

The first book was The Significance of Modelling, and its preface wrote:

"In the ancient magic empire time, the belief that prevailed is that understanding the different meanings of the corresponding parts of a magic model is unnecessary and inappropriate, instead, copying the models existing inside of the magic creatures is enough. However, as long as there is myth, there should be an answer; as long as there is an answer, there should be a way to discover it. And if we cannot find the way, it is because we are not on the correct path."

Lucien strongly agreed with the author of the book. He believed that the basic principles of science should be shared by both Earth and this world. Although there must be differences, there should always be ways to identify the differences, as long as one was willing to bravely make hypothesis and carefully verify them.

Lucien turned the book to the front page again, and he was very surprised to find the familiar name on there: the author of the book was Yaroran Hathaway, the maker of Natasha's Thunder.

Since his three students were still waiting, Lucien did not spend any extra time on exploring who was Yaroran Hathaway. In a reasonable speed, Lucien browsed through all the books and copied them in his spirit library.

"Mr. Evans, how do you think?" Seeing that Lucien put down the last book, both Heidi and Layria asked at the same time.

Lucien found that, despite the fact that all the content was about the magic world, the basic science principles and knowledge lying underneath was about junior high school or high school level, so he nodded slightly and explained, "The reason why you three could not understand is the lack of the corresponding basic knowledge, since the knowledge in these books is built upon other more basic books. And among these basic books, you three should work on Basic Geometry of Magic and Common Algebra first."

"Are these two books also hard to understand?" Layria asked a bit concernedly.

"I'll read them with you." Lucien tried to encourage them, "The two books should not be too difficult if we're willing to spend lots of time on the exercises."

"Lots of time on… the exercises…?" murmured Layria confusedly. Clearly, she did not really get the idea "exercise", and neither did Annick and Heidi.

As a university student who had experienced the nightmarish college entrance examination in the country in his original world, Lucien started to pray for the three teenagers out of sympathy.

Obviously, they still had no idea of how much work they would be asked to do soon.

Chapter 172: Study Helps One Progress

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Seeing that Mr. Evans was being pretty serious, Annick, Layria and Heidi all nodded, although unsure of what exactly they were going to do. However, they definitely sensed something not that good.

"Mr. Evans, since this is the first time you are reading those arcana books, we will just leave you alone right now to let you stay focused. When you have a better understanding of them, please provide us with some direction." Annick stood up and said to Lucien politely, "We can practice meditating right now."

Although Lucien was actually capable of teaching them something about science, or, using this world's expression, arcana, right now, he decided to make the whole thing more reasonable, since it would be very queer if his instruction started immediately after he just leafed through the pages.

"Good suggestion." Lucien smiled and nodded, "Probably tomorrow around this time, I should be able to start teaching."

"Tomorrow? Wow… That's so fast." Layria was very surprised.

"I will teach you folks tomorrow what I will have figured out by then," Lucien answered. "That's my way of teaching. I study and then I teach the knowledge to you three, which's also a good way of giving myself some pressure."

"That's so nice of you, Mr. Evans," answered Heidi cheerfully.

When the three apprentices went back to their own rooms to practice meditating, Lucien picked a quiet corner to focus on his own learning.

The book Lucien was reading now was Math Principles in the Philosophy of Magic, which read quite similar to one of the most well-known works of Newton. According to its content page, the book also focused on discussing all kinds of forces in this world by using calculus, while the major different feature of the book was that, within expectation, the researches mentioned all served for the purpose of developing magic, such as solving some questions in the school of Astrology.

Then, Lucien turned the book to the preface page and started to read the words left by the author:

"… We make all the effort of conducting all kinds of researches in order to seek the ultimate answers for some abstract questions, such as: What is 'I'? What is the essence of the world? Where does the world come from? How all the things in this world developed and integrated themselves into a beautiful system? What do 'I' have anything to do with the world? And that is why I decided to use the word 'philosophy' to name the book.

We explore the word, trying to summarize and conclude laws from common phenomena, and based on the laws, we explain, construct, and create magic.

Your friend,

Douglas"

Lucien was not at all surprised that calculus was invented in this world, since all the complicated magic structures required accurate ways of calculation.

When Lucien started to read the book carefully, a quill on the desk jumped up on its own and started writing down something on a piece of paper automatically following Lucien's thoughts.

Lucien found that, compared with those similar books written in his original world, this book was even more systematic and clearer, and hence it was easier for Lucien to understand.

Time flew past, and when the sunlight started getting dimmer and dimmer, Lucien realized that he already skipped his lunch. He found the book very fascinating since what this masterpiece was attempting to do was connecting magic and the laws of the world together.

If it had not been because of the inadequacy of the strength of Lucien's soul, Lucien would have been able to start analyzing some second or even third circle spells already after reading a few more of these books. Lucien really wished that he could learn the better meditation way mentioned by Felipe that was only accessible to high-rank mages sooner rather than later.

As he stretched his body a bit in the couch, Lucien stood up and looked around.

"Good evening, Mr. Evans," greeted some of the apprentices in awe. After all, Mr. Evans was a real sorcerer who they were supposed to show respect toward.

Lucien casually burned down the draft of his calculation and nodded, "Where I can have dinner please?"

"The dining hall, on the first floor," answered Katrina respectfully. She already saw how hard Mr. Evans worked, and she always respected people who worked hard. She wished herself would become a sorcerer soon, so she could help her parents who had been in trouble for quite a long time.

…

The dining hall on the first floor.

"Evans, I've heard your diligence. No wonder you are a real sorcerer already before twenty," commented Astar. "After you become a middle-rank mage, and if you have a quite good understanding in shadow and light, I will definitely consider you to become one of my research assistants."

Although Astar was saying this, he was not very serious, since even throughout the whole congress, only very few arcanists could meet his requirements right now.

Beside Astar, Mercedes was working hard on her pan-fried fish in the plate with a piece of white napkin surrounding her fluffy neck. From time to time, Mercedes would mew and brushed Astar's arm with her tail.

Lucien smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Mr. Astar. Arcana is still very new to me, and all I can do right now is work hard."

"Although your attitude is surely great," Astar changed his tone, "hard work doesn't solve all the problems. You gotta make progress gradually, Evans. What I mean is… Math Principles in the Philosophy of Magic and calculus might be too much for you right now. I'd suggest you to start with some basic arcana books, plus The Encyclopedia of Magic Creatures."

"Actually… I've finished reading most of the content in Math Principles in the Philosophy of Magic, and, of course, like what you just mentioned, I will start reading Basic Geometry of Magic and Common Algebra to better direct my three apprentices tomorrow," answered Lucien in a polite tone.

In Lucien's mind, he still had lots of questions unsolved, but he also had this feeling that these questions actually involved the ultimate secrets of the world.

When Lucien compared the two books, Basic Geometry of Magic and Common Algebra, in his spirit library earlier today, he was certain that both of them were books introducing Euclidean geometry, analytic geometry and equations, and the principles of the concepts were basically the same with that of the knowledge on Earth, except the fact that Euclidean geometry was called Tower geometry in this world.

However, at the same time, Lucien still found many unexplainable things if he tried to understand this world based on his knowledge, for example, soul, spiritual power, those missing stars, and the unique element named Tai. Lucien was guessing that something micro or macro in this world was quite different from his understanding.

The latest issue of Arcana, of course, had been copied and saved in Lucien's spirit library. The thirty articles in this issue were mostly about the assorted application of complex function in different "fields", for example, how to divide the sphere of spiritual power into multiple plane fields, while a small percentage of them were about finding new elements by spectrum analysis. Obviously, these topics had been gaining great interest of arcanists.

Lucien was well aware of the fact that the ultimate secrets of the world were still very far from them, so he asked Astar one of his most practical questions, "Mr. Astar, I wonder if I can learn the meditation promoted by the congress in advance?"

Lucien wanted to upgrade himself, for sure.

"I think I have the right to do so, yes, as a high-rank mage." Astar smiled, "But you gotta show me your potential, so I know it's worth breaking the rules for you."

"What do you want to see specifically, Mr. Astar?" Lucien was not surprised. He was already used to trading and bargaining.

"I know you have pretty good spiritual power potential." Astar put down his knife and fork elegantly, "If you can do a good job on directing the apprentices, or make good progress on studying arcana yourself, I can consider teaching you Brook Meditation in advance before you arrive at the congress."

"I'm quite sure I can do it." Lucien smiled confidently.

"Show me, then." Astar nodded.

…

Ten o'clock in the morning, the second day.

In his own room, Lucien said to the three apprentices with a smile on his face,

"Are you three all following me?"

Annick nodded out of excitement, "Yes! Yes, Mr. Evans! It's much better now!"

"I feel the same way, too, Mr. Evans!" said Layria in an admiring tone, "You're a genius, Mr. Evans!"

"It's hard to believe that you just started studying arcana yesterday!" agreed Heidi aloud.

"Okay… Okay, I'm flattered, and thank you all." Lucien nodded with his gentle smile, "These are some exercises for enhancing understanding."

As he was saying, Lucien took out a stack test sheet and handed them to the apprentices.

Then Lucien took out Math Principles in the Philosophy of Magic and continued to read the rest of it.

As time went, Annick, Layria and Heidi looked more and more serious as they were working hard on their exercises.

When it was close to noon, Annick first stood up and said to Lucien with a relieved face, "Mr. Evans, I finished all of the questions."

"How do you feel, Annick?" asked Lucien.

"These questions are surely tough, but now I feel like my understanding of the knowledge that I learned earlier has been enhanced like you said," answered Annick, quite excitedly.

Then, both Layria and Heidi put down their quills almost at the same time and handed their works to Lucien.

And they both agreed with Annick's feedback.

Lucien put down the book he was reading and checked the apprentices' work. He pointed out some details that they should have put more thoughts into.

After that, the three apprentices exchanged a look between each other and then asked together, "Mr. Evans, lunch time?"

"Sure. Time to eat." Lucien smiled.

Hearing that, the three apprentices released a long sigh at the same time.

"And I got more for you three after lunch." Lucien took out another stack of work sheet, "Study helps one progress."

The three apprentices, for a second, thought that they saw an evil smile on Mr. Evans' face.

Chapter 173: The Grand Arcanists

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Seven days later, in the evening.

When Astar was listening to Lucien's explanation of his understanding of the books that he read in the past week, Astar casually patted the cat, Mercedes, who looked rather relaxed and was making a low gentle grunt in her throat.

After Lucien finished his words, Astar elegantly applauded and nodded, "Good, very good, Evans. Within only seven days, you can already apply the principles to real life and draw the connections between the laws and some magic models. That's impressive. I'll give Brook Meditation to you, as I promised."

After dinner, since Lucien and the rest of the apprentices were about to leave later tonight, Astar asked Lucien a couple of arcana questions, and Lucien's perfect answers really impressed him.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Astar." Lucien smiled.

He never tried to hide his talent, since once he arrived in Allyn he knew he would try his very best to improve.

A piece of paper and a quill jumped out in front of Astar and the quill started writing on its own. Astar was just sitting there with his fingers crossed. Very soon, the piece of paper was fully written and it moved on its own toward Lucien.

While Lucien was reading the paper, Astar explained, "Brook Meditation is developed based on the Theory of Psychic Wave, by the grand arcanist Mr. Brook, and is widely applied. Brook Meditation fits into the two meditation environments that you're familiar with—Starry Sky of Destiny, which belongs to the school of Astrology, and the Four Elements, belonging to the school of Element. Currently, Brook Meditation can help you a lot with strengthening your soul and improving your spiritual power during your junior-rank period, but after that, you will have to switch again."

The core idea of Brook Meditation was closely related to the concept of Psychic Wave. If it worked for Lucien, as how Astar and Felipe promoted it, he should be able to improve to a higher level within one or two months by starting to analyze and construct some second circle spells.

Lucien burned down the piece of paper and asked Astar sincerely, "Mr. Astar, since we're leaving for Allyn tonight, I have some questions for you."

"You want to know more about the congress, Evans?" Astar smiled.

"Yes, Mr. Astar. The unknown is always terrifying. As a sorcerer who's going to become a new member of the congress, I'd like to know what's the difference between an arcanist and a sorcerer, how many organizations are there in the congress, how many legendary sorcerers and grand arcanists are there in the congress?" asked Lucien eagerly.

He had been thinking about these questions for a long time.

Astar looked a bit surprised, "The sorcerer who introduced you here didn't tell you anything?"

"Not really…" Lucien wondering whether Felipe could be viewed as his referrer.

"All right, since the president of the congress put forward the concept of arcana, the levels of arcana gradually took shape… from level one to nine. In order to move to a higher level, one needs to publish researches and get cited, create or improve spells, or create new potions to gain arcana credits."

Lucien nodded to show that he was following.

"The congress is very strict about giving out the credits, and doing research is definitely not easy. Therefore, in most cases, a sorcerer's magic level is often higher than his or her arcana level. Although it seems like arcana level doesn't mean much, in the long run, a sorcerer's arcana level determines how far he or she can go. For example, my current arcana level is five, which means my knowledge is not enough for me to move on to the archmage level, so I'm still a senior-rank mage."

"I see." Lucien listened carefully.

"Therefore, in the congress, one's arcana level is more respected than his or her magic level." Astar leaned backward on his chair, "But also, no one would respect those sorcerers who have high magic level but low arcana level there."

"So… If one's arcana level is over nine, he or she is respected as a grand arcanist?" asked Lucien out of great curiosity, "How many grand arcanists are there in the congress then?"

"Grand arcanist is a title of honor, and only those who make great contribution to magic research could be dubbed as grand arcanists. Most of the grand arcanists, before they got the title, were already legendary archmages, or at least very close to becoming legendary archmages, especially with the full support of the congress after they won the title. So we can basically equate the title, grand arcanist, with the great level of legendary archmage. Even though some grand arcanists are still not legendary archmages yet, they will be soon in the future."

Lucien's eyes were full of respect and curiosity.

"And currently, there are only seven sorcerers in the whole congress who could afford the title, and be respected as grand arcanists." Astar grinned.

"Who are they?" Lucien got a bit excited.

Astar bent his fingers and started counting, "Mr. Derrick Douglas, the founder and the promoter of Arcana and contemporary magic system, co-founder of calculus, the president of the congress, the Emperor of Arcana, the Selected.

"Mr. Edwyn Brook, the founder and the promoter of the School of Electromagnetics, the definer of 'Field', the Poem of the Goddess"

The ancient magic empire respect the essence of magic as a goddess.

"Both Mr. Douglas and Mr. Brook are the most powerful men in the world. Their power can control the direction of which the world will go toward, and they're second only to the pope, who can borrow the power of 'God'… although only by a bit," explained Astar.

He took a sip of his tea and continued, "The Hand of Annihilation, the person who re-defined the four major elements and linked them to Force Field magic and Electromagnetic magic, Oliver Constantine.

"Ms. Yaroran Hathaway Hoffenberg, one of the co-founders of calculus, the Lord of Elements, the person who redefined and categorized elements, explained most of the Element magics, and also found another seventeen rare elements. Although the title of her legendary class never changed since the ancient magic empire, the meaning the title contains is totally different now because of arcana.

"Mr. Fernando Hudson, the founder of the school of Thermodynamics, Lord of Storm.

"Ms. Hellen Price, the discoverer of the law of energy conservation, the promoter of calculus, the Witch of Iceland.

"Mr. Vicente Miranda, Thanatos, the grand arcanist who has revealed part of the secret of soul, whose human body research is moving toward a micro-level world."

These were the seven grand arcanists in the congress.

"Also, at the same time, these people are the most powerful seven among all the eighteen legendary archmages in the congress right now," concluded Astar. "It seems that becoming a legendary archmage has already become a premise for becoming a grand arcanist."

"There are only eighteen legendary archmages in the congress?" murmured Lucien.

Astar burst out a laughter, "Only eighteen? Even in the South Church, there are only nineteen legendary casters, not including the legendary knights, and the South Church is already the most powerful organization in this world and even in other dimensions? Of course… There are several legendary archmages who refused to join us because of their belief in their inherited ancient tradition."

"I'm surely very ignorant." Lucien smiled a bit awkwardly, "I take that it is the eighteen legendary archmages who lead the whole congress?"

"Not exactly," Astar shook his head. "Seven grand arcanists, eleven legendary archmages, six ninth circle archmages who have high arcana level… They form the highest council of the congress and make all the final decisions."

"I see. What about the different schools there?" Lucien asked eagerly.

"I'm getting there." Astar smiled and gently waved his hand, "The eight traditional schools, which I believe that you already know, are the school of Force Field, Element, Necromancy, Summoning, Alchemy, Astrology, Illusion and Transformation. And now we have a few more: the school of Electromagnetics, Thermodynamics and Light-darkenss. Before one reaches the senior rank, it's fine if he or she wants to pursue all of the schools, but after this stage, due to the explosion of the knowledge one has to master, most sorcerers would choose to focus on a couple of them. My suggestion is that, Evans, if you are really uncertain, you'd better choose your focuses before entering the senior-rank level."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Astar," answered Lucien politely. Although he wanted to become an all-school master, Lucien knew that listening to a senior-rank mage's advice was important.

Astar's introduction of the congress kept going on until it was late in the night. When Astar noticed the time, he started wrapping up, "There are many different groups in the congress, as what you heard, big and small, formal or informal… There are a few big groups: The Royal Magic Academies from each of the four major countries, Family of Sorcerer, Tower, the Will of Elements, the Hand of Paleness, the Cabin of Palmeira and Moonsong League. Each of them, more or less, owns the rites for upgrading toward different legendary classes, and some of the rites are secret, which means even the congress does not know much about them. However, keep that in mind, Evans, follow the congress and focus on your own study and research."

It seemed Astar was completely on the congress' side.

"I will." Lucien grinned, "I don't like trouble, either."

"Very good." Astar nodded, "Now it's time for you to prepare for your trip tonight. Later, Tom will be leading you and the other apprentices to set off for the congress. When you get there, Evans, you can buy most of the journals, common materials and even spells with money, but if you want to get more special and valuable stuff, you have to use arcana points, which is gained together with arcana credits, or from selling information or magic item to the congress and fulfilling the congress's tasks."

The corner of Lucien's lips twisted a bit.

"Virtual currency…" Lucien thought to himself.

Then he bowed to Astar politely, "Thank you for your throughout explanation, Mr. Astar. I have to go and check how my three apprentices are doing now before we leave."

Chapter 174: Boarding

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The candle light shining through the magic silver lampshade brightly lit the whole room, and the three apprentices were still working on their exercises regarding the apprentice spell, Acid Splash.

By enhancing the understanding of this apprentice spell, the three apprentices would gain a better knowledge of the symbols of some elements and practice the basic application of geometry.

The three teenagers, although looking a bit tired, were still working dedicatedly.

At this time, there was a knock on the door.

Annick suddenly stood up straight and started to look around confusedly.

"Is that Mr. Evans?" asked Layria, a bit worried. Both Layria and Heidi dropped their quills.

Within those seven days, Lucien had been pushing them to do exercises and to practice casting every single day. All of the three teenagers felt so exhausted that simply hearing Lucien's footstep made them feel nervous.

However, at the same time, they also saw the great progress they had made. The joy of seeing themselves successively casting a challenging spell was definitely exciting and encouraging.

"No, Mr. Evans would just directly come in." Annick shook his head, "Let me see."

When he stood up, Annick felt a bit dizzy, and he saw that it was already dark outside.

When he opened the door, he surprisedly found that it was Sprint who was knocking the door, and beside him stood Katrina.

"Hi…" Annick was not sure why both of them were there, so he greeted with a bit hesitance, "Anything that I can help you with?"

Despite the fact that Annick did not want to admit, when he saw Sprint and Katrina fluently casting spells, he admired them. Also, Annick also had to acknowledge that Sprint and Katrina were indeed smarter than him, since their fluency and mastery did not require much of their effort.

"Ha? What are you talking about, Annick?" Sprint was very surprised but also amused, "Did these exercises mess your brain up? We're leaving for the congress tonight!"

"What… Wait… Is it today that we're leaving?" Annick looked completely shocked.

"The first exercise… the second…" Heidi hurriedly counted the worksheets piling in front of her, and then she suddenly raised her head and said out loud, "Oh my… Yes, we're leaving today! I can't believe that I just totally forgot it!"

"Neither can I…" agreed Layria, who looked a bit pale from being buried by the great amount of exercises.

"Annick, Heidi, Layria… Look at yourselves right now," said Katrina out of both pride and sympathy, "Arcana is a brand new thing for Mr. Evans. If he's not on the correct path, you have to tell him. Don't let him torture you like this."

"Are you guys making any progress? Sorry, I really cannot see," said Sprint arrogantly.

"I don't agree with you, Sprint." Layria shook her head, "If I would say, seven days ago, that I had absolutely no idea what arcana was, now I feel like I'm actually taking the right path."

"That's right. Mr. Evans is a real sorcerer, and he knows what he's doing. We've progressed a lot." Annick nodded.

"Oh really?" Sprint quickly gave them a snort of contempt.

"Really? Don't tell me that you cannot see, Sprint," said Heidi seriously. "The other day, in the practice room, you saw how we cast the spells. Our progress is all because of Mr. Evans!"

Inside of the three teenagers' mind, they all agreed that, despite their great respect toward Mr. Evans, it would be perfect if their workload could be a bit less.

"Stubborn…" Sprint turned around, "Keep suffering then, guys."

"Ten o'clock sharp, in the study, we'll be meeting there and leaving together." Katrina still remembered why Sprint and she came here, "It's okay that you three are falling behind a bit. When we arrive at the congress, we'll be sent to schools for systematic arcana and magic study."

Then both Katrina and Sprint left the room.

"They just won't believe us!" complained Heidi.

"It's okay… One day they'll see." Annick encouraged his friends, "Now, no time for feeling angry or frustrated. We have to finish the rest of the exercises before we go."

Both Layria and Heidi quickly sat up straight and said at the same time, "Let's do it!"

…

When Annick was fully dedicated to his exercises, someone gently patted on his shoulder.

Before Lucien came to check the apprentices, he could not help practicing Brook Meditation in his room a bit first.

The core idea of Brook Meditation was seeking a specific frequency of vibration of spiritual power, which did not have much to do with a specific mediation environment, and thus it could be applied to other ways of meditation as well, including Lucien's Astrology Meditation and Element Meditation.

After the short period of time of practicing, Lucien found that Brook Meditation was indeed way more helpful than the ancient ways of doing meditation, at least ten times. Lucien believed that, as long as he stuck to it, he would be able to meet the requirement of spiritual power level and soul strength to become a second circle sorcerer.

"Mr… Mr. Evans." Although Lucien looked quite kind and gentle, Annick often felt very nervous in front of him, "It's… almost done."

"I still have a couple of pages…" said Layria nervously as well.

Lucien was right now in a pretty good mood since he just got Brook Meditation, so he gently waved his hand and said, "No worries. I know that you three were working hard. Since we're leaving tonight, you can hand the exercises in tomorrow night."

"Awesome!" Heidi grinned.

Both Annick and Layria also looked quite delighted.

"There's still half an hour to ten. Let's have a conversation." Lucien sat down in the couch, "Honestly speaking, do you three feel that the exercises are too demanding?"

"Although all of us feel tired, I think that's worthwhile!" Annick answered immediately. He could obviously see his own progress within the seven days.

"It's not too bad… I know that we gotta work hard to gain a solid foundation for learning arcana." Layria face blushed, "But if the workload could be reduced a little bit…"

"But if the workload could be reduced a little bit, we'd be more than happy!" continued Heidi.

"The beginning stage is the hardest. In the future, there'll be more practice and relatively less exercises." Lucien smiled, "And when you three become real sorcerers, you'll find out that the knowledge that you're learning right now is not complicated at all."

"Really?" asked Heidi worriedly. "I'm already trying my best…"

"I believe so, and knowledge is always advancing. I think that, maybe a hundred or two hundred years later, the knowledge that high-rank mages will need to grip is going to be very abstract and difficult, say… something on both micro and macro levels."

"Is… is it still possible for me to become a knight?" murmured Annick subconsciously.

And both Layria and Heidi almost felt the same way.

Lucien jokingly took a glance at Annick's slim figure and shook his head, "Not very likely to happen, I'm afraid."

The three teenagers all giggled, including Annick.

"We'd better just stick to our own magic path," said Heidi to her peers. "You know that the real sorcerers are often very wealthy and powerful in Holm?"

"All right, all right…" Lucien cut in, smiling, "It's almost ten. Let's go to the study."

…

In the darkness, two pointy boats were moving along the canal, heading for the wharf.

After arriving at the wharf, the two boats continued to go out to the ocean.

Soon, a three-mast sailboat showed itself in the darkness.

Tom turned around and said to Lucien seriously, "This trip's probably gonna be tough. Because of the traitor we had, several of our secret routes have already been found by the Church. We need to rely on the back-up plan."

"What the Church is doing now? What's our back-up plan?" asked Lucien. He needed to have a throughout understanding of what they were facing there.

"Divine airships… In the air, the Church's using precious airships to patrol above," explained Tom, quickly. "On the sea, there is a regular fleet belonging to Saint Helmet Knights. At the bottom of the sea, there are Kuo-toans who changed their belief and chose to serve the Church. We indeed bought off some Kuo-toans, but they should be on the fire gallows now."

"Basically all blocked then… Luckily, there's no radar in this world yet." Lucien murmured to himself, "What shall we do right now?"

Tom pointed at the three-mast sailboat not far away from them, "That vessel belongs to Viscount Wright, and we have a quite solid business relation with him. Thus, we are going into the cabin on that boat."

"Is that boat safe?" asked Lucien.

"No knight and pastor would really go down into the filthy cabin and carefully check all the smelly sailors and slaves gathering together there. If we're lucky and careful enough, we should be fine. And I'll be providing water and food to you all," said Tom.

Chapter 175: Departure

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The three-masted vessel on the ocean was like a monster hiding in the darkness.

As soon as the two pointy-headed boats stopped beside it, two rope ladders were quietly dropped from the deck.

"Stay quiet." Tom whispered to the apprentices.

They were still teenagers. Now, suddenly, they felt very nervous. They were well aware of the fact that what was waiting for them was either their wonderland or the gallows.

Then Tom turned to Lucien, "I need to get on the ship to check first. After I make sure that the ship is safe, you arrange them to get on the ladder. Is that okay?"

"No problem." Lucien nodded, "Be careful."

Tom, who was a level two knight, patted Lucien's shoulder, gripped the ladder and swiftly got on the ship like a shadow.

No one on the small pointy-headed boats said a single word. They were quietly waiting for Tom's signal.

After a while, Tom dropped a white handkerchief over the rail on the boat that Lucien was on. That was their agreed symbol — it was safe.

"Spring, Katrina, you two go first," directed Lucien calmly.

The existence of a sorcerer calmed the apprentices down and also encouraged them. One by one, they secretly started climbing.

"Then Oimos and Heidi," Lucien turned around and said to them. He heard that the brown-haired teenager, Oimos, was a gifted in spiritual power, but Lucien never really paid much attention to him since the teenager boy was always very quiet.

While Oimos walked to the front of the boat and started to climb in a quick and stable way, Heidi was having a bit of a trouble there.

The fierce ocean wind was shaking her ladder relentlessly. She didn't dare to look either upward or downward. She felt that the ocean below her feet was roaring to devour her. She wanted to scream, but she could not.

Lucien was just watching. He wanted Heidi to experience it and get the task done on her own.

Following Tom's direction, the apprentices getting aboard quickly hid themselves.

Heidi was totally exhausted when she finally got on the deck, but thinking back to what just happened, her heart was full of pride and courage.

When all the apprentices were aboard, Lucien carried his black suitcase in his left hand and used his right hand to grasp the ladder, climbing up quickly and landing on the deck.

"Good job, Evans." Tom and a dark-skinned sailor walked to Lucien.

Lucien nodded to them and followed them into the cabins under the deck.

When walking down the stairs, an intolerable stench of sweat mixed with other smells overwhelmed Lucien. It was very dark down there, and the only light in the space came from the candle that the sailor was holding.

At this time, other two sailors came their way from the corner.

All the apprentices and even Lucien got suddenly very nervous.

Just when Lucien was about to cast Charm Person regardless of the divine power circles for detecting magic on the ship, the two sailors walked to them and nodded to Tom.

"Everything okay?" asked Tom.

"Yes, as usual." The two sailors turned sideways to let them keep going forward.

Seeing that Lucien and the other apprentices were rather confused, Tom smiled and said to them in a low voice, "I'm the boatswain here."

The teenagers were now even more surprised.

"There are many divine power circles on Viscount Wright's ship, and even pastors." Tom explained, "If the ship was totally strange to me, how could I get you guys in and get you food and water? It's a trip that will last close to one month…"

Just like its name suggested, the Storm Strait that they were going to cross was not too wide. However, the thunder and lightning, together with the outraged waves and wind, often prevented a ship from going on its full speed, and sometimes, a ship had to stop to wait for a better condition.

Although many sorcerers tried to explore why the strait was full of thunder and lightning and strong wind, no conclusion was made yet.

Hearing that, Lucien could imagine how bad Viscount Wright's merchant fleet had been permeated by Granneuve, who was predominantly in charge of the labor maket in Sturk. Lucien was thinking whether the viscount, as a grand knight, was aware of this problem.

Then, following Tom, Lucien and the apprentices came to the cargo section, which was on the second lowest floor of the ship and was full of assorted stinky smells.

In a secret corner, however, there was a line of very small and narrow cabins, which did not look like they were originally built for people to live in there, but now they were relatively clean and there were hammocks in the cabins.

"Two apprentices will share one cabin. Mr. Evans will have his own cabin," arranged Tom. "You can't leave this floor during the trip. No magic, and only meditation is allowed. When you walk around on this floor, be careful, because from time to time some sailors will come down and check the cargo. When we get to Holm, the suffering will pay off."

After Tom left, the apprentices went back to their cabins with candles.

Layria and Heidi shared one cabin. As soon as they opened the cabin door, the two girls exchanged an excited look, and then they noticed that Annick was walking past, "Hey, Annick! You heard that we cannot use magic on the ship, didn't you?" asked Heidi excitedly.

"Yes, of course." Annick nodded, "We all have to bear that in mind, or we'll be in great trouble."

"I mean… we finally can take a rest from continuously practicing magic casting!" Heidi happily raised one of her brows.

"And sleep late!" celebrated Layria.

"We… we should still practice…" Although he was saying that, Annick also grinned out of joy.

"What are you three talking about?" There came a familiar, gentle voice.

"Nothing… Mr. Evans." The apprentices hurriedly bowed to Lucien, but the smile was still on their faces.

Lucien nodded, "Since we can't practice casting right now, then we shall work on some exercises. Tomorrow afternoon, arcana and magic basics."

"What…" The smile on the three apprentices' face totally disappeared in a second.

…

Although Lucien was planning on teaching the apprentices more on the ship, his schedule was completely messed up by the reality. After the sailboat went back to the wharf and then sailed toward Storm Strait together with the other ships of the fleet, both Layria and Heidi bitterly suffered seasickness and the situation got worse when they entered the strait.

Layria and Heidi were not alone on that situation, and even Sprint and Katrina were no exception. Most of the apprentices were sick, and often they threw up in the cabins.

Surprisingly, however, the skinny, always silent Oimos appeared to be fine.

Luckily, the several deaf and dumb slaves sent by Tom who were responsible for bringing them food and water and fruit were also cleaning the vomitus.

This day, Lucien and Annick were hiding among some wooden boxes and talking about building magic models.

During the break, Annick asked worriedly, "When do you think Layria and Heidi can get better, Mr. Evans?"

"Maybe in another two days." Lucien was leaning against one of the wooden boxes to keep balance as the ship was shaking fiercely again from the storm, "Spiritual power can help, and so does the herb oil sent by Tom. I feel like they're getting better already, aren't they?"

When Annick was just about to answer, his mouth was quickly covered by Lucien.

And their candle was also put out.

"Shoo… Someone's here," whispered Lucien.

Annick nodded.

Through the gap between the two wooden boxes, a young man's voice came, "My dear Chely, you're my sun! Without you, I am in endless darkness, even praying could not save me!"

"Jacques, me too!" Next came a lady's sweet and gentle voice, "But recently my father is always around, and the maids are also watching me closely…"

Lucien relaxed a bit. It was just a pair of lovers.

"I don't get it, Chely." The young man sounded sorrowful. "Why does the viscount want his daughter to go all the way to Holm to study in a convent… There're lots of them in Sturk!"

"The viscount… Viscount Wright?" Lucien was quite surprised. "The viscount is on this ship?"

Then, the terrifying thunder started to grumble again.