207 - 215

Chapter 207: Another Invitation

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

At the beginning of the first month of the year, the Month of Beginning, while the cold weather was still dominating Allyn, the trees around Douglas still looked dark green.

In front of the black iron gate of ancient style, Woods asked the gatekeeper eagerly, "I'm Woods, from Common Arcana, and I am a friend of the headmaster. I'm looking for Mr. Lucien Evans."

"We have two Mr. Lucien Evans here, but neither of them is in the school right now," answered the gatekeeper, an iron golem, in a mechanical manner, "They left for Rentato together."

"Then when did they leave and when they'll be coming back? I mean… I'm looking for Lucien Evans X, when will he be coming back?" Woods hurriedly explained, "Why they're headed for Rentato?"

"They left about an hour ago," said the iron golem. "No idea when they'll be back."

Hearing the gatekeeper's answer, Woods pressed his black top hat a bit annoyedly, as he knew that Lucien would be already in Rentato by now. As the capital of Holm, Rentato was a big and a very busy city, which meant that his magic could not really help him find Lucien with limited information.

"If Mr. Evans X is back, please tell him that Common Arcana wishes to publish his paper on this month's issue, and we're eagerly looking forward to his reply. If he doesn't mind, we want to invite him to visit our headquarter again." In the cold wind, as Woods was speaking, his breaths produced white gas in the air.

Then, he went back to his coach and left.

…

Rentato, on the second floor of the restaurant called Oak.

In the vip room, Lucian looked through the window at the beautiful night with countless snowflakes falling down from the sky, and watched the people walking by in the snow. Some of them were in a hurry, some were walking slowly side by side, some were trying to catch some snowflakes, and others bent over to make some snowballs…

Igna, a tall and thin level four arcanist, fifth circle elemental sorcerer, was sitting opposite to him. He had defined facial features and some white hair above both sides of his ears.

If K had not told Lucien first, Lucien would think Igna was fifty something, however, in fact, Igna was well over a hundred years old.

When Igna was seventy, he spent all his savings on some very expensive magic rite and expanded his life. It looked like now he was doing pretty good, despite the fact that he had already been staying at middle-rank stage for sixty years.

"Cheers, for our wonderful dinner." Igna raised his glass, as his light brown eyes first looked at Lucien, and then K.

After finishing his drink, K excused himself and went to the restroom. Apparently, he did not do well with alcohol.

After K left, Igna looked at Lucien and said, "Evans, I've read your paper before dinner, and I gotta say that this paper has both advantages and disadvantages, and it's definitely insightful. Unfortunately, Element this month cannot accept any more papers except those ones from the conference."

Before Lucien opened his mouth, Igna gently shook his glass and added, "However, as K is gonna be Mr. Larry's student soon, and because Mr. Larry and I are good friends, I have to do something for you, young man. So I'm planning on suggesting to Mr. Rava, the chief-editor of Element, to make this month's issue a special edition, so we can still accept papers from elsewhere. I'm not sure whether he will listen to me though. Obviously, it's not easy."

Hearing that, Lucien found his hope again, but he felt that Igna was implying something to him.

As he expected, Igna looked outside of the window and sighed, "Being young is surely nice, especially in an old man's eyes. Now I have very slight hope in further upgrading myself with coming up with some groundbreaking papers, but some powerful ancient rites might still be able to help me. However, the materials required by these rites are very, very expensive."

Then he stopped but started sipping the wine with a smile on his face.

Lucien understood that he needed to pay for what he was asking for, so he said carefully, "Sometimes getting some arcana points isn't very difficult, and sometimes we just need some good luck… Say, I earned quite a few points with my last paper."

Igna took a glance at Lucien satisfactorily, "Such a good young man, and I'm falling behind now… I'm still struggling with the last three hundred arcana points to buy Crown Stone."

"I venture to ask…" said Lucien, trying not to feel disgusted with himself, "if you're willing to accept my points, Mr. Igna? I don't want to see a great sorcerer be bothered by money and thus not be able to go further."

Lucien knew that publishing his paper on Element could bring him a way better chance than on Common Arcana.

"Then wish both of us success." Igna elegantly raised his glass again and smiled.

K was happy to see that Igna and Lucien had a great conversation when he came back.

…

Maybe it was because Igna was really doing his job, or maybe it was because Element was already preparing a special edition, when Lucien and K were about to leave the hotel on the next day, Lucien received the letter from Element, informing that his paper had been chosen.

"Thank you, K. Without your help, there's no way that I could publish my paper." Lucien thanked K sincerely on the platform.

K scratched his hair a bit shyly, "Your paper's valuable."

He could not make his comment more specifically, as he never read anyone's paper before it was published.

"Yeah… three hundred points…" Lucien thought to himself, but as long as the paper could be read by other arcanists as soon as possible, Lucien knew it was worth it.

"You're not coming back with me?" asked Lucien, as he was going back to Douglas to continue his experiments.

K shook his head, and he looked a bit sad, "I've already left the school, actually, and before I become Mr. Larry's student, I need to go back to Granlin to get something done first, my hometown."

Granlin was the most remote one among the eight counties of Holm.

"I see. I bet we'll see each other again very soon." Lucien nodded, "Do you need any help when you're back?"

K shook his head, "Nothing big."

"Alright… If you need any help, K, just send me a letter," said Lucien. Seeing the train coming, Lucien waved to him.

Before K got on the train, Lucien said to him vaguely, "When you have the time… you probably want to measure some elements again…"

K was quite confused, but he still nodded before he left.

…

In the headquarter of Common Arcana.

"What a pity…" murmured Woods regretfully, "Element finally got your paper, uh…"

Right now, Lucien was standing in front of him in the office. Knowing that Mr. Woods had visited the school in person, Lucien came to thank him, "I'm sorry, Mr. Woods. If I had known it, I definitely would not go to Rentato."

He did not mention that he could have also saved three hundred points.

"It's okay, and if I were you, I would choose Element as well. For your paper, Element is only second to Arcana," said Woods generously. "Although Common Arcana has always been progressing in the past ten years, we're still not even close to Element in this specific field."

Lucien slightly nodded. In most cases, he would choose Common Arcana because of Mr. Woods' appreciation towards him, but this time, it was different.

"Hope I can have more opportunities with Common Arcana," said Lucien.

"Welcome." Woods responded politely, "By the way, Evans, I want to publish my paper with regards to the corrected atomic weight of the elements on this issue's Common Arcana as well, and of course, I'm gonna cite your paper… Do you mind?"

"Of course not." Lucien smiled, "My pleasure."

After going back to the school, Lucien wrote letters to Rock, Jerome and Lazar and told them which elements could be measured wrong.

Lucien was doing this not because he wanted his friends to get some credits, but also hoped them to better support his own paper. That was why Lucien had to make sure that his paper needed to be published first.

…

On friday evening, Lucien came back to his place after several more unsuccessful experiments trying to find new elements from many different ores.

When he opened the door, Lucien saw a letter on the floor.

"Who's writing to me?" Lucien carefully checked the letter and then opened it curiously.

"Dear Mr. Lucien Evans,

"As a junior-rank sorcerer, your contribution to the field of Element is impressive. Therefore, we would like to invite you to the Annual Conference of Element and Alchemy at Rose Garden, located beside the beautiful Swan Lake, at nine on Saturday morning, January 27th.

"The Will of Elements & Holm Royal Magic Academy"

And the letter was sent three days before.

Lucien was very surprised. He wondered whether his paper had already got the attention of the Will of Elements.

Chapter 208: A Mistake

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Rentato, Hexagram Station.

Seven in the morning, Lucien, dressing formally, got off the train in the cold wind.

After receiving the invitation, he hurriedly verified the credibility of the letter with the school and then took the very next train to arrive in Rentato.

Getting on the coach he hired, Lucien's hands warmed up a little. After telling the coachman where he was heading for, Lucien's heart was still beating quite fast.

After a while, hearing the wheels rolling, he gradually calmed down, and the tone of the invitation started to bother him slightly. In Lucien's mind, if the people from the Will of Element and the academy really appreciated the great value of his second paper, his treatment should be better than that. However, if they did not understand the importance of the periodic table of elements, why would they even bother sending the invitation…?

An hour and a half later, the coach stopped in front of Rose Garden. On its left side, the beautiful Swan Lake was covered by a thin layer of ice. Snowflakes were coming down from the sky.

Two blond young knights were safeguarding the gate, looking rather serious.

But Lucien could tell that they were not real knights, as they used the potion, and that was why they were willing to serve the Will of Elements.

In the field of magic potion making, the schools of Element, Alchemy and Necromancy were the best.

"Morning, sir. Can we take a look at your invitation and arcana badge?" asked a knight politely.

Lucien nodded and showed them to him.

After using a mirror-like magic item and carefully verifying the badge and the invitation, the knight slightly bowed to Lucien, "Welcome, Mr. Lucien Evans. The meeting will be starting soon, and all the guests are in the main hall."

The other knight turned around and opened the gate.

Seeing that everything went on well, Lucien was a bit relieved. So, he followed the garden path patiently and then pushed open the grand gate of the house.

In the hall, people were talking to each other in low voices, and there was neither music nor quarrel. The arcanists were exchanging their studies politely, and many were lost in the world of knowledge.

Around two hundred and ten arcanists were invited today, and among them, they were mostly middle-rank arcanists, but there were also some accomplished junior-ranks as well.

All the chairs and tables were surrounding an elevated platform. Above the platform, there was a magic circle for amplifying the speaker's voice, and there was a waist-high rostrum in the front of the platform.

Not many noticed that a new arcanist just entered the hall, but when more and more of them realized that they had never seen Lucien before, they started staring at him.

Lazar, at this time, was standing in the corner of the hall, feeling relieved that the long-prepared meeting was finally about to begin, and when he saw Lucien showed up here, he was more than surprised.

He hurriedly threaded through the crowd and grabbed Lucien's arm, "What are you doing here?" Lazar asked him in a low voice. After all, this was the annual meeting of the school of Element and Alchemy, and Lucien was not even a member of them!

When Lucien was feeling slightly nervous seeing all those strangers in the hall, Lazar's appearance comforted him.

"I'm attending the meeting…" Lucien quickly waved the invitation in his hand in front of Lazar, "You sent this to me?"

"Wait… You've got an invitation?!" Lazar hurriedly took over the invitation from Lucien and checked it. As he frowned, Lazar murmured, "What have you done when I was absent? Is this because of your letter asking me to remeasure some of the elements? I did, and they were indeed not correct!"

When Lucien was about to say something, a young lady's voice came from the magic amplifier, "Excuse me, has Mr. Lucien Evans arrived? Please come over to the gate. Mr. Larry is looking for you."

All the arcanists stopped their conversations and looked around curiously, wondering who was this Lucien Evans.

"Rebecca! Mr. Evans's here!" Hearing his friend's name, Lazar answered proudly and loudly. Then he pulled Lucien's arm and walked toward the gate.

Many arcanists made way for Lucien, and in their mind, they wondered why such a young arcanist was invited to this important meeting.

There were three man and one woman standing close to the gate. The green-eyed lady was wearing a red long dress, looking rather pretty, but also a bit exhausted from arranging the meeting. A thirty-something, round-faced man was talking to her.

"Mr. Larry, Mr. Evans's here." Lazar bowed to the round-faced man politely.

When Lucien was about to put on a smile, Larry put on a confused look and asked, "Who are you?"

His voice was not high but deep, and his question was heard by many arcanists. More and more arcanists turned around and looked in that direction.

Larry waved his hands a bit, "…I'm sorry, sir. I mean… I'm looking for my student, Lucien Evans… ummm, Lucien Evans K."

Lucien realized what was going on here, and he felt that the whole thing was funny.

"Mr. Larry, we only have one Mr. Evans, and he's here." After a few seconds, Rebecca nervously explained.

"What do you mean?" Larry looked at Rebecca.

One of the two men standing behind Larry said to Rebecca harshly, "It was you who was in charge of filling out the invitations, Rebecca. I asked you to invite Mr. Larry's student, Mr. Lucien Evans, who developed the paper of atomic valence! Look what you've done?!"

The man took a quick glance at the badges on Lucien's chest, and got even angrier. The man himself was a level three arcanist, third circle sorcerer, and his face was covered with wrinkles. It seemed that his arcana level was mostly developed by the years.

Then he bowed and apologized to the old man with half white hair and a slightly hooked nose.

Rebecca had tears in her eyes, but she could not figure out what was wrong.

"Mr. Leandro, we have two Mr. Lucien Evans in Douglas…" Lazar's face flushed as well from embarrassment, but he still tried to speak for Rebecca, "Maybe that's why…"

However, Leandro was still pissed off, "Then why didn't you specify that it was Mr. K who was invited? Why didn't you specify the person's arcana level? This guy's only got level one in arcana! Just like you!"

He pointed at Lucien's chest.

"But… but Mr. Leandro, I checked… There's only one Mr. Lucien Evans in Douglas," Rebecca almost burst into tears, "or I'd have definitely been more specific…"

"Mr. Leandro," Lucien cut in calmly, "K left the school before the invitation was sent."

What Lucien meant was that it was the person who made the mistake was the one who gave Rebecca that information, not her.

"But it's still her mistake for not putting the arcana level on the invitation!" Leandro then turned to Lucien, "And you, use your brain! How is it possible that you're invited to this meeting?"

Talking to an arcanist whose level was lower than him did not require too much politeness.

"No… no… It's my mistake." Larry raised his hands a bit, "I asked K to leave the school, but when the meeting decided to invite K in the last second, I forgot to tell Mr. Leandro about it."

"Larry, why didn't you invite K yourself, then?" asked the old man.

"I could not find him." Larry shrugged a bit, "I did not expect that K would leave the school so quickly."

This old man in black suit with strange-looking eyes was Larry's teacher, the director of the Will of Element, the member of Arcana Review Board, a level seven arcanist and seventh circle sorcerer, Gaston.

The arcanists in the hall finally understood what was going on here, and some were amused.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Gaston." Leandro hurriedly bowed to Gaston in a pleasing manner.

"Not really her fault." Gaston nodded mildly, "Stop giving her a hard time."

Leandro nodded, and then he said to Lucien, "As everything's clear, you can leave now."

Calm as Lucien was, hearing this, he still felt humiliated. At this time, Gaston raised his hand and stopped Leandro, "Evans, are you interested in arcana of the school of Element?"

Lucien hurriedly nodded.

"Stay, then. Don't be shy." Gaston smiled, "This is our annual conference. Although you might not be able to understand much, it can still be very helpful to you. Maybe one day you'll become an influential arcanist."

Lucien was very surprised, and nodded again.

…

The headquarter of Common Arcana.

After submitting his paper about the remeasurement of the elements, Woods now was sitting in his couch cozily. This paper should be published on this issue's journal.

Feeling quite relaxed, he picked Lucien's paper again and started to read the latter part with regards to Lucien's guesses of undiscovered elements.

Woods never realized that Lucien's guesses were so in detail that he even put forward some possible ores with which some undiscovered elements might be found. Then his heart missed a beat:

The features of this ore described by Lucien were actually very familiar to him!

Chapter 209: Shocking Finding

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

"Wait…" Woods slightly raised his chin, "Black Bear recently found some special ores in the south. I remember… they have similar characteristics."

As he pointed at the hangers, Woods' black top hat and long jacket directly flew toward him. Today, he was even more rushed than last time.

After taking the elevator and then the coach, Woods finally arrived in front of the strange-looking magic tower with two horns on its top.

Black Bear, whose name was actually Odonkor but Woods often secretly called him Black Bear in his mind, was a fourth circle sorcerer specializing in Transformation and Summoning. His grandfather was a very wealthy archmage who liked travelling and collecting all kinds of special things, despite the fact that he seldom had interest in conducting any serious researches.

Woods hurriedly jumped off the coach and rushed toward the gate of the tower.

"Hey, buddy… Why are you rushing?" Odonkor's magic circle informed him that Woods came to visit him in a hurry.

Odonkor surely looked like a black bear, as their family tradition in studying Transformation originated from observing bears, and his relatives all looked a bit like bears.

Gasping, Woods responded, "Black Bear… No, no… Odonkor, sell me a couple of Flashes, the strange ore that you found in the south!"

…

In Rose Garden.

After Gaston's arrival, more senior-rank sorcerers gradually arrived, including Raventi, a ninth circle sorcerer, member of the Arcana Review Board and vice president of the Will of Elements, and Overee, also a member of the Arcana Review Board and director of the Will of Elements, aside from other three authorities.

Of course, there were way more than five people who were qualified with reviewing papers in the field of Element, but they were the most specialized ones.

Besides the six senior-rank arcanists on the top, the leader level of the Will of Elements still had another thirty-two senior-rank sorcerers. However, among them there were only twenty whose arcana level was above level six.

On legendary level, only Raventi attended today's conference, as this meeting was mostly a chance for middle-rank sorcerers to exchange their ideas and thoughts. Nevertheless, the great power that the people had who were present at this conference was still enough to destroy a whole country. The school of Element was known for its destructive power.

Raventi didn't look like anything other than a plain-looking old man, and today he was wearing a black robe embroidered with sixty-five symbols, representing the current existing elements. After his short and straightforward opening speech, the conference officially began.

The first one who gave the speech based on his paper was Timothy, the famous genius in arcana from the Will of Elements.

Timothy had black hair and blue eyes. Wearing gold-rimmed spectacles on his nose, he looked profound and elegant. In sharp contrast, the topic of his paper was rather violent: Explosive Cascade. By simplifying the fundamental alchemical formula of this magic, Timothy improved the power of the spell by fifty precent.

"Wow… That's really something…" Lazar was very impressed and excited.

Lucien, as a guest who was mistakenly invited, could only carefully listen to the speech beside the platform, while those arcanists were sitting on their tall chairs, listening and referring to Timothy's paper for more detailed statistics and explanation. However, he could still see the great value of Timothy's paper. Facing Explosive Cascade, if someone still tried to use common strategies to avoid the attack based on their past fighting experience, the spell would turn into their nightmare. Lucien paid extra attention to the alchemical part, as he knew that this was his shortcoming in his study. If he had a deeper understanding in this field in the future, he could start trying to use nitroglycerin to create more spells.

…

After getting some Flashes, Woods borrowed Odonkor's fancy lab and started doing his experiments immediately.

Very quickly, Woods extracted the substance he wanted from Flashes and then he put the substance in a spectroscope magic circle.

The magic circle slowly started working. Woods held his breath.

When he saw the beautiful, dream-like spectral lines that he had never witnessed before, Woods' breath became heavy, and his face flushed.

New element! There was new element in there!

Beside the magic circle lied Lucien's paper. As if the author already knew what Woods could find here, the paper wrote: "This aluminum-like element can be found by spectral analysis" .

Woods was right now staring at the paper, and he could not believe his eyes. This was not a speculation, but a prophecy! And the prophecy was based on the period of elements put forward by Lucien!

Woods' head was buzzing.

Then he took a deep breath and started turning on more magic circles. He was going to try possible ways to purify the new element out of the extracted substance.

Odonkor's fancy lab definitely worked very well, and before lunch, there was already a pile of silver-coloured crystals sitting right in front of Woods.

There was no time for lunch. In the next second, Woods started measuring this new element and testing its characters.

…

"Atomic weight… 69.8…" After adopting several methods, Woods was sure that the number that he came up with was correct. All of a sudden, he felt intimidated looking at the paper lying on the table beside him.

But deep in his mind, he remembered the paper clearly. The paper wrote:

"The atomic weight of this aluminum-like element should be between 68 and 70."

Woods could hear his heart beating so strong and so fast that his ears were drumming. With his lips closed tightly, Woods continued his experiment to measure other features of the new element.

"Specific weight… 5.94…" Woods murmured voice trembled.

On the paper, it wrote:

"Specific weight, between 5.9 and 6.0."

…

"Non-volatile… Can slowly dissolve in acid and lye." Woods' voice trembled.

The paper wrote:

"Non-volatile in normal temperature. Acid and lye can dissolve it."

…

All the predictions put forward by Lucien Evans were right.

Woods felt thrilled. He was too shocked to say anything. His mouth was partially open, and his hands shaking.

What did this mean?

What did this mean!

At this point, Woods had no more doubt or hesitance. He knew that this paper would be a milestone in the field of element… no, in the history of the whole magic world!

With shaking hands, Woods completely wrote down the experiment data record, and saved the sample of the new element safely in a magic container. Bringing them, Woods subconsciously grabbed his black top hat and rushed out of Odonkor's magic tower.

"Hey, buddy! Your coat!" Odonkor called Woods from behind.

The cold wind sobered Woods a bit and he realized that his coat was left in Odonkor's place, but Woods still jumped directly on the coach waiting for him and hurriedly he said to the coachman,

"To Douglas! Be quick! As quick as possible!"

The coachman was taking a nap before Woods jumped on the vehicle, and now he was driving the coach like crazy.

…

In front of the iron gate of Douglas.

"What?! Evans is out, again?!" Unutterable frustration struck Woods.

"Yes, Mr. Lucien Evans is out," answered the golem calmly and peacefully. "He should be in Rentato now, but I don't know why."

"What the fu*k…?!" Refined as Woods, he could not help swearing, "Rentato again?!"

Standing in the cold wind, Woods did not leave until his face got numb. When he calmed down and then came back to his office, he spent an hour and developed a simple report on the finding of the new element and the comparison between the new element's features and the corresponding predictions made by Lucien in his paper.

Then, he arrived at the Sorcerer Administrative Department and handed the report in.

Although he was very excited with sharing the great finding with all the sorcerers, before that, he needed to make sure that there was a guarantee that his own work could also be recognized.

…

"Element… To Mr. Raventi, Mr. Gaston."

The alchemical life was still following its daily routine, having no idea how important this report would be.

…

A brown-colored elemental being picked up the report in Mr. Gaston's exclusive lounge.

"From… a level four arcanist. Mr. Gaston's not in the office today… and his students are also in Rose Garden today together with him…" the elemental life talked to itself, "Well… I shall just send it directly to Mr. Gaston to let him decide who should review this paper."

And it was the same situation in Raventi's office.

Chapter 210: Who's Lucien Evans X?

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

In Rose Garden, beside Swan Lake.

It was already the second half of the conference, and every speaker all received warm applause. After they gave their speech, there were rounds of discussion and comments from senior-rank sorcerers to further inspire the speakers.

After lunch, Larry's study on Valence brought the most heated discussion so far, and after Larry, there were more arcanists waiting for their turn to take the stage, even if it was already four in the afternoon.

Stalwartly-built Ulysses walked on the stage and turned on the magic circle functioning as a projector for presenting scenes. He shared his most recent study with the arcanists present: he discovered that when he tried to created a new form of a fifth-circle spell, Gaston's Poison Cloud, above a certain temperature, no matter how much the pressure was increased, gas could not be turned into liquid.

Many arcanists agreed that this finding was creative and could be of good instructional meaning. Although Lucien had knew this theory before from his original world, it was good for him to know that this principle also worked in this magic world, and Lucien was also very interested in how to apply this finding to actual construction of magic models.

At this time, a light-brown owl flew in from the window and landed on the desk in front of Gaston. Seeing that Gaston was too dedicated to Ulysses's speech, the owl gently pecked at his hand.

The guardians outside did not stop Mathew, as it was probably the most famous 'postman' in the Will of Element.

Gaston was a bit amused by that, and then he gently patted on Mathew's feather on its back. Then Gaston took down the several papers from Mathew's leg and put them aside. He planned to handle the papers later after the conference.

Following Mathew, Raventi's budgerigar also arrived. After circling two rounds above his master proudly, the budgerigar landed, also carrying several papers.

Then three more different birds brought papers to the other three members of Arcana Review Board present. However, all those arcanists were not in a hurry to review the papers, not only because reading others papers right in front of Ulysses was surely not polite, but also because they knew well that the review of some complicated papers could take months.

As Ulysses' explanation of his research went deeper, the other arcanists got even more attentive, except for Raventi, the level nine arcanist and ninth circle sorcerer, who was the teacher of Ulysses, as Raventi had already carefully read Ulysses' paper before this meeting, after the paper passed the review from the board.

So Raventi casually picked up the several papers brought by his pet bird, and started reading the titles of the papers.

At this time, a marked title jumped to him,

The Features of a New Element Discovered Based on the Periodic Table of Elements.

He frowned. As someone who once tried to find the law existing among the elements himself, Raventi knew what did this title mean: this meant that there was a Periodic Table of Elements that had gone through verification, and the table had led to the discovery of a new element!

Pulling out the paper, Raventi started to read it carefully. After a while, the look on his face suddenly changed.

Ulysses' voice faded away from his ears. Raventi was shocked with this paper.

Even after he finished reading the last page, Raventi's eyes were still focused on this paper. Then, he did his best to control himself as he turned around to ask Rebecca to come to him.

At this time, Rebecca was listening to Ulysses' speech carefully, and she also needed to pay attention to what was going on in every corner of the hall. After being scolded by Leandro, she was even more cautious now, afraid of making more mistakes.

As soon as she saw Raventi's gray eyes, Rebecca felt that she was struck by lightning, having no idea what she did wrong again. Then, she nervously walked to Raventi.

"Find me a paper titled The Periodic Relation between the Nature of Elements and Prediction of New Elements, from Lucien Evans X," said Raventi short and directly.

This name again! Rebecca sneaked a peek at Lucien beside Lazar. Fortunately, the title of this paper did leave her with a bit of an impression, and it was simply because the title was pretty long.

"Mr. Raventi, you can find this paper on the last several pages on this issue of Element right in front of you." At the same time, Rebecca felt relieved that her help was available right away.

Raventi quickly turned to the last article of Element, murmuring, "It isn't always true that all the editors in Element are idiots."

This comment was actually from Lord of Storm. Sarcastic as it sounded to be, this was actually a praise from this odd-tempered arcanist. Speaking of being odd-tempered, Raventi did not fall too far behind Fernando.

Rebecca was waiting aside, as the vice president did not ask her to leave. When she felt quite curious with the paper from Lucien Evans X, Rebecca saw Raventi's face suddenly got even more serious.

Was anything big going to happen? Rebecca had no idea.

"If not taking the several atomic weights without accurate experimental data into consideration…" Raventi murmured again, then he quickly turned around and said to Rebecca, "I need these several purified elements…"

Then Raventi listed a few that he did not have right now in his alchemical lab.

After that, Raventi commanded Harry, the budgerigar, "Get several Flashes from Odonkor, the grandson of Gray Bear. Don't be lazy… Make haste, Harry."

"Was Harry ever being lazy?" Harry mumbled a bit unhappily and then flew away.

Although she did not understand what Raventi wanted to do, Rebecca still had to follow the vice president's command. After asking her colleagues to take care of the conference, she hurriedly headed for the second floor above the main hall.

No one noticed what was going on there, as they were all listening to Ulysses's speech very carefully.

…

When Ulysses finished his speech and his Q&A part with other arcanists, warm applause was given to him, as most arcanists felt that they learned a lot from Ulysses's sharing.

Ulysses bowed to them, and left the central platform.

When Leandro was about to invite the next arcanist to step on the stage, he surprisedly saw that the vice president suddenly stood up and walked toward the platform hurriedly.

Of course Leandro could not stop this influential ninth-circle sorcerer, and he could do nothing but watch Raventi quickly jumping onto the stage, turning on the magic circle for presentation, taking out his downsized alchemical lab from his magic pouch, and then casting to turn it into a well-equipped lab of normal size.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please forgive me for interrupting the conference." Raventi tried to sound calmer, after all, the true result still needed to be double-verified by his own experiment, "Please turn to the last paper on this issue of Element."

When all the arcanists present opened the journal and found the paper, Igna felt very nervous, and his heart was beating fast. He was afraid that Raventi was going to say that his paper was not qualified for being published on this issue of Element, but he could not understand why Raventi would do it right in the middle of the conference.

The arcanists found the paper titled The Periodic Relation between the Nature of Elements and Prediction of New Elements. Both Larry and Timothy frowned a bit, since they were the ones who reviewed this paper before it was published.

What did Raventi want to do?

At the same time, Larry turned around and took a quick glance at Lucien, looking meaningful.

Lucien was quite confused, feeling unsure as to what was going on there. However, with a second thought, maybe Raventi found a new element that fit his periodic table, and thus Lucien suddenly started to feel very expectant.

"Creative and well-organized as this periodic table may be, Mr. Raventi," said LockLynn first, a level eight arcanist and eighth circle sorcerer, who was also a member of the Arcana Review Board, "its latter part claiming that there are mistakes in the measurement of atomic weight of the several elements does not make sense to me."

And the other arcanists basically all agreed.

Seeing that all the arcanists had all roughly gone through the paper, Raventi said aloud, "Let's skip the discussion over Termirick and the other several elements first, and please take a look at this."

As he was saying, Raventi took out several bottles of purified element and started to measure the atomic weight of them with his own magic lab right in front of the arcanists present.

Although the arcanists were all very confused, no one wanted to stop an authority.

As the atomic weight data of a few elements were corrected one by one, Gaston, Overee, LockLyn and Lydia looked way more serious and they started to write something down with their quills, while other sorcerers now looked shocked.

It was not surprising that there might be mistakes in some atomic weight data, but the fact that the corrected data could be perfectly put into the periodic table of elements put forward by this paper was unbelievable.

Larry and Timothy rubbed their foreheads at the same time, feeling regretful that they did not finish reading the whole paper, and now they wanted the right ore to see if they could find a new element out of it following the paper so bad that their hearts were beating fast.

Ulysses stared at the periodic table in a daze. He just decided to give up working on periodic table of elements three weeks ago and turned to the topic that he just presented.

After Raventi's forty-minute experiment, most arcanists started reading the paper in the hands carefully, however, they were still confused.

Ulysses commented on it first, "Mr. Raventi, your experiments are something, but even the corrected atomic weights could fit in the table, it's not a decisively evidence showing that the whole periodic table is right, as there's no evidence showing that the data of some elements, say, Termirick, is not right."

"My idea's that the measuring methods that we are using now are not able to report the accurate data," said Raventi.

Overee shook his head, "This is just an assumption."

Without the most direct evidence, most arcanists would not be persuaded.

Leandro for sure did not like Lucien, "I agree, Mr. Raventi. This is just a fairy tale from a level one arcanist."

When Raventi was about to fight back, Harry, the budgerigar, came back with a magic container hanging on his neck.

Raventi grinned, "Ladies and gentlemen, let the experiment tell us the truth."

Taking the Flashes out of the container, Raventi quickly purified the needed substance from them following the method suggested in Woods' paper.

Then Raventi said to all the arcanists, "This is very similar to the mineral substance described in Lucien Evans X's paper."

Gaston, LockLynn, Garry, Ulysses and other arcanists had the feeling that something was going to happen, and they held their breath, watching Raventi put the pure substance in the spectroscope.

It was already dark outside, and that made the beautiful spectrum in front of all the arcanists even more clear and charming.

It was a beautiful spectrum that they had never seen, and the spectrum was like a cluster of fire, burning their eyes and hearts.

A new element was found! A brand new element from this world!

Raventi did not say anything, but continued his experiment to extract the white crystals.

When Raventi started to measure the atomic weight of this new element, every single arcanist present was waiting for his data.

"Atomic weight, 69.8," said Raventi seriously. He had confidence in this paper.

All the arcanists looked down at the paper, and the paper wrote,

"The atomic weight of this aluminum-like element should be between 68 and 70."

It was like lightning to them, and more lightning bolts were arriving. The paper predicted everything from Raventi's experiment. As arcanists who were qualified for the annual conference, they knew what this meant!

Their faces were burning, and their blood boiling.

Raventi literally shouted at the arcanists, "I'll not waste my words on emphasizing how important this paper is. Now, who is Mr. Lucien Evans X? Where is he?!"

Chapter 211: A New Beginning In the School of Element

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Raventi's roaring was in every arcanist's ear. They were totally shocked, together with quite mixed feelings. Even the four members of the Arcana Review Board were no exception.

The finding of Periodic Table of Elements showed that the discovery of new elements was no longer blind and scattered or, as described by many, like a blind cat running into a dead mouse, but something that had theoretical guidance!

From now on, there was a way to proceed in the study to find new elements!

Exploring the world, finding laws among phenomena, and using the laws to explain other phenomena, this was the spirit of arcana!

"Lucien Evans X… Lucien Evans X is here!" The excited but nervous voice of a man resounded, and then one more time, this time louder, but still with certain control.

Gaston and Larry, as they were so shocked with the finding, did not realize that the young man they met before the conference began was the very author of this paper until now.

No one could believe that this great finding was from a level one arcanist, first circle sorcerer!

On the platform, Leandro, who was standing not far away from Raventi, felt supper dizzy all of a sudden, as his head was buzzing.

All the people present turned to look at the direction where the voice came from. It was Lazar who raised his hand and answered Raventi's questions, and right now, he looked rather excited.

Lazar was deeply shocked. Every time Raventi announced the result of an experiment, his heart missed a beat. And when Lazar heard that familiar name, he was totally unable to believe his ears, since although he knew that his friend Lucien Evans was quite smart, he had no idea how Lucien could put forward the periodic table and make this prediction as if he had already seen the new element before, with his own eyes!

Behind Lazar, Lucien closed his eyes. When he heard that his paper was right on the atomic weight of the new element, Lucien knew that all his hard work paid off!

For sure Lucien felt rather excited, and deep in his mind, he was wild with joy. Meanwhile, although Lucien was relatively confident, he also found himself very lucky as he celebrated in his heart that this new element was not some strange isotope, or his paper would not be found valuable this fast. And if that was the case, this paper would bring him more trouble than reputation, as most arcanists who were regarded as being blindly arrogant with their previous papers would have a really hard time publishing their next papers, and at that time, maybe the ring of Holm Crown prize would be Lucien's last protection.

Since the paper was finished, Lucien kept feeling quite nervous. Finally, Raventi's experiment proved that he was right.

One would not imagine that finding the law was too difficult, however, not many could really stick to the effort if it didn't pay off in a relatively short period of time.

Raventi, Timothy and other arcanists saw the young man standing beside Lazar. Wearing black bow and long double-breasted coat, Lucien looked handsome and elegant, and his black eyes appeared to be rather deep.

"You're… Lucien Evans X?" Raventi could not believe that he was this young.

It was the same with other arcanists present. Except for Gaston, Larry and a few other sorcerers who had already seen him, the rest of the people all thought that this author only of junior-rank should at least have many years of experience in studying elements.

However, this was not true.

Lucien tried to stay calm, and he smiled, "Yes, Mr. Raventi."

Squinting a bit, Raventi secretly used a magic and read the information of Lucien's arcana badge. Then he nodded to Lucien. "Evans, come up here. I think your paper should be the last and best play of today's conference. The great meaning your paper is of is clear to every arcanist present, and using even a single word to explain it is a waste of time. This conference will be remembered by history because of your paper!"

"Before that, Mr. Raventi." Gaston stood up, "I need to apologize for my negligence when I reviewed this paper. So I would like to petition the board together with Mr. Overee for a reevaluation of this paper, so Evans could earn all the reputation, praise, arcana credits and points that he truly deserve!"

Overee also stood up and nodded.

Gaston and Overee were not stupid. After seeing Raventi's experiments, they quickly talked to each other and made this decision. On one hand, they needed to be responsible for the mistake that their students made, since it was their students who ignored this paper, and on the other hand, they would not leave their enemies any time to take advantage of this thing and thus to kick them out of the board.

Now they made themselves look rather fair and humble.

Lucien took a deep breath and then started walking through the audience toward the platform.

No one is sure who started it, but many arcanists stood up one by one to show their respect to Lucien from both sides of the aisle as he was walking.

"I'm deeply regretful that I missed this paper," apologized Larry sincerely. With his hand on his left chest, he bowed to Lucien.

Timothy adjusted his glasses a bit, "Evans, if you had not put your experiments of correcting the atomic weights in the appendix, I might have visited you the very night you sent the paper to the board. Anyway, you taught me a lesson, Evans. Your paper and what happened to your paper will definitely become a famous story in the world of magic, while Larry and I would be two idiots in this story, in contrast to your great accomplishment."

Timothy had a sense of humour and he was very straightforward, which sort of explained why he loved explosive magic so much. However, regarding appearance, Timothy looked quite gentle and elegant.

"At least my paper passed your review," Lucien did not really have a bad impression of them.

When Lucien walked past Ulysses, the latter released a sigh and said to the former with a slight frustration in his tone, "There might still be some people who are gonna doubt your finding, Evans, but I totally believe in your periodic table. In fact, I was once very close to the finding, but I gave it up because of the several atomic weights that I could not explain. I'm restrained by my own sense of authority and experience."

Lucien smiled and nodded, "Mr. Ulysses, without your paper discussing the possible law existing among the elements, I would not dare make such a bold assumption when I was developing my paper."

At this time, someone who did not like Leandro said to Lucien, "Mr. Evans, you're definitely qualified for this conference! Besides Mr. Raventi and all the committee members, you're the most qualified one!"

Hearing that, Leandro wanted to directly disappear of the platform.

"Mr. Evans, welcome!"

"Mr. Evans, we're looking forward to your speech!"

Although these arcanists were not familiar with Lucien, after witnessing the experiment and carefully reading the paper, they all showed their respect to this young sorcerer, which was pretty rare.

Stepping onto the metal platform at the center of the hall, Lucien first bowed to Raventi respectfully and then took the rostrum from him.

"Mr. Evans, I've got a question," Leandro cut in before Lucien started his speech. "Finding the new element's such a coincidence. I wonder if it wasn't you who first found this new element beforehand, and then following its data, you figured out this periodic table. This seems to be the only reason that your 'assumption' could be this accurate, but if this is true, the finding of the new element wouldn't be able to prove that your periodic table of elements is correct, as you used its data as a basis when you developed the table."

A few arcanists in the crowd slightly nodded.

Before answering Leandro's question, Lucien activated the magic circle for presentation first, and then he calmly explained, "Let's ignore the new element first and just look at the elements discovered before my paper was published. I don't think it's too hard to see that my finding could logically be drawn upon the features and data of the elements that we are previously already familiar with. Besides, feel free to check my purchase record with the congress if I've bought any ores that contain this new element."

The arcanists present stared at the table carefully, and Lucien continued, as he pointed at the blank spaces on the periodic table of elements, "As for those undiscovered elements, I'm confident that even though their atomic weights might not be exactly the same with what are on the table because of the limit of our current measuring methods, their characters should follow my prediction. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure that you've all collected some pretty unique ores. Why not check them again to see if there're any that suit the description in my paper. Try to find new elements out of them, and I'm waiting for your papers. Either prove me right or wrong."

Lucien's confidence influenced most of the arcanists. They started to feel very excited.

When they were considering to end this conference earlier so they could go back and do their research, Lucien said to them, "Actually, even if no new element could be found for a while, even if there're still some tiny problems with my periodic table, ladies and gentlemen, should we just ignore this periodic law existing among all these elements?"

Staring at the periodic table, which contained so many profound secrets of the world, all the arcanists present fell into silence. They had to admit that the periodic feature truly existed.

Lucien raised his head slightly and said to the people seriously, "The finding of the periodic feature in arranging the elements represents a new beginning in the School of Element. According to me, I do not think that the most significant function of the table lies in leading us to find more new elements, but reminding us to take a step back and ask why is there a periodic feature among elements? This is the question that I've been asking myself since I've figured out this table."

Hearing his insightful words, Lucien's audience was deeply shocked, especially those senior-rank arcanists like Raventi and Gaston. Staring at this young man speaking on the platform, they recalled the great figure of Mr. Douglas, the president of the Congress of Magic, when he was giving the most influential speech in history of magic.

Chapter 212: Reevaluation

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

"I believe that nothing in this world is of periodic pattern for no reason. Why stars follow certain tracks all the time? The answer is gravity. Then what's the answer for the elements?"

Lucien's deep and serious voice lingered in the hall, and his question directly hit every arcanist's heart. Yes, the never-ending pursuit of truth and the endless curiosity of asking why was the major drive of the development of arcana!

Lucien did not go too deep with this topic. Before the arcanists could respond to his question, Lucien put on a gentle, humble smile, "Of course, as a beginner who just started his exploration in arcana and the contemporary magic system, in most cases, I can only ask questions, not having enough knowledge to answer them. I hope that my questions can be helpful to all arcanists who are striving to move forward in this area."

Any shifts happening in one's knowledge and understanding of the world should proceed step by step. The last thing Lucien wanted to see at this point was the members of the Will of Elements having their heads exploded in front of him on the conference, simply because his speech was too shocking for them to handle.

Lucien was even a bit amused by the thought that he might be able to beat his future enemies by simply giving them a speech.

Raventi started applauding first, bad-tempered as he often was, this time he said to Lucien nicely, "Very rarely, I see a not stupid question here. Evans, although your speech isn't long, it's the most valuable one on today's conference, and this might turn into a new research direction in the school of Element."

Following Raventi, all the arcanists present started applauding excitedly, as this conference was totally a surprise to them!

"All right Evans. I have to go now. I'm gonna check my collection of ores, and hopefully I can provide your periodic table of elements with more support," said Raventi to Lucien, and then he took back his alchemical lab and hurriedly left the hall.

Within five minutes, following Raventi, Gaston, Overee, Timothy, and Larry, almost all the arcanists left the hall to start their experiments, for no one wanted to miss the great opportunity to be remembered by history.

Lazar walked to Lucien and said with emotion, "The major reason why those senior-rank arcanists can have great achievements should be their passion and dedication towards arcana and magic."

Lucien smiled and nodded, "One doesn't have to be super smart, but he has to be diligent."

Some junior-rank sorcerers, including Rebecca, were still here, and were looking at Lucien from afar with curiosity and admiration. However, they did not have the courage to talk to him.

"Congratulations, my friend." Lazar hugged Lucien sincerely, "I can see a future Holm Crown prize winner standing in front of me."

Lucien patted Lazar on the shoulder for encouragement, and then he asked, "By the way, Lazar, do you know if there is any lab here?"

"What do you mean…?" asked Lazar confusedly.

"I'm looking for a lab to continue my studies. I've bought quite a bit of ores." Lucien rubbed his chin.

"What a monster… You're surely like those senior-rank arcanists." Lazar was a bit speechless, but he still told Lucien where the spare labs were.

When Lucien left, Lazar murmured to himself, "Lucien… I was about to celebrate with him a bit tonight. This kind of guy would never be popular among girls!"

"Hey, Lazar, can you tell us some stories about Mr. Evans?"

Turning around, Lazar found that Rebecca and a couple of pretty girls were standing behind him and waiting for more information about his charming and talented friend, with their faces slightly flushed.

"Oh jerk…" Lazar could not help swearing.

…

When the news arrived to Rogerio, he was pissed off, "What am I doing here?!"

He had spent so much time on watching Lucien but didn't find a single clue suggesting the possible relationship between him and some important middle-level leader of the Will of Elements, but now, Lucien was definitely under their protection!

More importantly, just by playing with those cards, this young arcanist worked out such an influential paper, and Rogerio had the feeling that this finding would lead to the fast development of the Will of Element.

At this point, Rogerio did not really care whether people would doubt his measurement of Termirick because of Lucien's finding.

After closing his eyes to calm down for a while, Rogerio opened them again and sighed, "What an arcana genius… But this makes sense, or Professor would not have this young man to be his student."

Then he turned around, "Adol, you don't have to follow Evans anymore. He might be soon getting some attention from the grand arcanists from time to time, and if they found you, we'd be in trouble. You know, Hathaway doesn't like what we're doing."

Adol made some noise as if he was giggling, "Glad to hear that. After all, it's quite boring following a little boy around."

…

It was still early in the morning when Lucien arrived at the main hall on the second day. He did not get much sleep last night, and neither did many other arcanists who were already in there.

"Any findings, Lucien?" As soon as he showed up, Lazar hurriedly asked.

"Not really…" Lucien shook his head, "I'm not there yet. My power isn't enough to allow me to do many researches within a night."

"I'm the same…" Another arcanist joined their conversation.

After a while, Gaston, Overee, Larry and Timothy all arrived, and then the arcanists found their seats and sat down.

Despite the fact that Leandro really did not want to do this, he still added a seat in the second row for Lucien.

After a long wait, the seats belonging to Raventi and Ulysses were still empty.

Many arcanists looked back at the hall gate from time to time, looking a bit irritated.

"Mr. Raventi and Ulysses might have stayed up too late with their experiments last night." Gaston stood up, trying to comfort the people, "Maybe we can send someone to find them…"

Obviously, no one wanted to go, as the whole hall suddenly quieted down. Some junior-rank arcanists quickly took a step backwards with their back against the wall, as they knew how pissed off Raventi could be if he was disturbed, either with his experiment or sleep.

"Well… Then, Evans, how about introducing to us how you found the periodic law among the elements?" Gaston switched to Lucien, "And we can patiently wait for Mr. Raventi."

Lucien nodded, but as soon as he reached the rostrum, he heard Raventi's roaring,

"Evans! I found the silicon-like element predicted in your paper!" Raventi shouted at him at the top of his lungs, followed by Ulysses, "Exactly the same… Atomic weight and features!"

Instantly, as if some strong, bright light lit up the whole conference hall, all the arcanists saw the extremely promising future of the periodic table of elements.

After a short time of silence, thunderous applause took over the hall. All the arcanists present were applauding for this young arcanist, and for this great finding that would be forever remembered by the world of magic!

All of them were so excited to witness this great, historic moment, and the applause did not stop until Gaston tried to calm them down with his gesture for the third time.

Gaston looked around, and he purposefully looked at Leandro for a bit longer. Then he said aloud, "I believe that there's no reason to doubt the correctness of the periodic table put forward by Lucien anymore! Arcana Review Board's going to reevaluate his paper, and my comment on Lucien's paper is ready!"

Then Gaston looked at Lucien, smiling, "Go ahead… Share with us how you did your research, and your story with publishing this paper. I'm sure that everyone's curious."

Raventi nodded and quickly went back to his seat with his student, Ulysses. Meanwhile, Igna, the editor of Element, suddenly got very nervous.

Lucien introduced to his audience how he carefully checked the previous papers, raised questions and worked with his cards. In the end, he came to the part when he was having the extremely difficult time with his contribution.

"After my paper passed the review, I wanted to get attention from more arcanists. So I encouraged myself and visited the headquarter of Arcana, but I was turned down, and they commented that they had no idea how the paper passed the review."

"Idiots!" Raventi was pissed off, "They only carry their brains when they eat!"

Some editors from Arcana were now very embarrassed, but there was nothing they could do when facing Raventi, who was only half a step away from the highest council.

"Then, I turned to Element…" Lucien continued.

All the arcanists from Element suddenly got nervous, especially Igna, whose hands were shaking and face turning pale.

"Element made an offer that they would like to publish my paper, but only on their next month's issue," said Lucien.

"Still stupid, but better than Arcana," Raventi commented in a low voice.

More than a dozen sorcerers present released a long sigh together, and they all, including Ravana, the chief-editor of Element, felt grateful toward Lucien.

"Then, after being turned down by Alchemy, Common Arcana made the same offer that they could publish the paper next month, but I did not agree." Lucien paused a bit, then he looked at Igna, smiling, "Fortunately, at this time, my friend introduced me to Mr. Igna…"

All the arcanists turned to look at Igna. He was sweating and could not breathe. In his eyes, Lucien's smile was very meaningful. He could already see the picture where Raventi was scolding him bitterly and crazily.

"… who nicely told me that Element was going to do a special edition this month and accepted my paper."

"Ah?" Igna was more than surprised. With a long sigh of relief, probably because of the great mood swing, he suddenly passed out.

"Igna… Mr. Igna…!"

"He got too excited… with Mr. Evans' thankfulness."

"Yeah… He's not young anymore…"

When Igna returned to consciousness, he heard Raventi shouting, "Put Evans' paper at the very beginning of this issue of Element, followed by those papers reporting findings of new elements and correcting the atomic weights!"

…

On monday morning, Eric entered the hall of the Sorcerer Administrative Department in a pretty good mood.

"Morning, Mr. Eric. Here's the latest issue of Element," greeted Cindy and Dona.

Eric pressed his top hat a bit and asked confused, "But the conference still has several days to go."

"We've got no idea, Mr. Eric. The journal just arrived." Cindy handed the latest issue of Element to Eric, and the cover of the journal was a picture of more than sixty different element symbols.

Out of curiosity, Eric opened the journal right in front of the girls, and the smile on his face froze.

"Mr. Eric?" Cindy and Dona called him as they noticed the difference on Mr. Eric's face, but they got no response from him. When they took a glance at the first paper themselves, their beautiful eyes suddenly opened wide.

The title of the first paper was:

"The Periodic Relation between the Nature of Elements and Prediction of New Elements.

"Author: Lucien Evans X, level one arcanist, first circle sorcerer."

Between the title and the content of the paper, there was a long inserted comment:

"As for the great meaning of the paper, we, editors from Element, cannot describe it properly, so we directly cited the comments made by Mr. Gaston and Overee, the members of Arcana Review Board:

"This is a great accomplishment in the history of magic. The paper unveils the shocking law existing among elements from countless messy and scattered data, and the law, from now on, will direct every step of our discovery of the world. We can foresee that the periodic table put forward by Mr. Lucien Evans X will become the foundation of future study in the school of Element, and it will lead us to a broader new world of arcana.

"This is a great paper of significant meaning, which is worth a large amount of discussion and means a historic breakthrough. May I show my respect to the author here first. After discussion, the board has decided to award Mr. Lucien Evans X three hundred arcana credits and two thousand arcana points."

Chapter 213: Argument

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

As if time stopped in the hall of the Sorcerer Administrative Department, Eric was lost for a few seconds. Eric finally regained his composure when some other sorcerers entered the hall and he hurriedly started reading the paper right in front him, on the counter.

He remembered this young man, Lucien Evans X, who just started studying arcana three months ago. Eric could not believe that it was this young man who developed this groundbreaking paper!

Furthermore, it seemed even more unrealistic that the extremely generous reward, three hundred credits and two thousand points, had been given to a level one arcanist, first circle sorcerer.

Both Cindy and Dona were also eager to see why their friend Lucien could gain such a reward.

Although Eric was really excited with the first half of the paper, he got confused with Lucien's points claiming that the atomic weight of a few elements were mistakenly measured, and so did the two girls. It was not surprising that the data of some elements yielded by studies conducted many years ago might not be very accurate due to the limit of the techniques, but they could not believe that even the atomic weight of the lately discovered elements were also not right. After all, these newly discovered elements had been examined by many arcanists every time when a new measurement method came out.

"But Mr. Gaston and Mr. Overee made similar comments speaking highly of the paper…" Cindy said to Dona, "I mean… this kind of paper discussing the periodicity existing among elements could usually get one or two credits."

Cindy had been working here for almost two years, and she knew the standards.

"That's right." Dona nodded, "Publishing a paper without having any decisive evidence supporting it… This is not the common practice of Element."

"Wait…" Eric turned the page and saw Lucien's experiment report on how he reexamined the atomic weights of a few elements and proved the previous data wrong. Reading while nodding, Eric had to admit that this paper was of higher value than those which only talked about the authors' assumptions.

However, Eric still could not figure out why three hundred credits should be given to this paper.

"The Features of A New Element Discovered Based on Periodic Table of Elements… from Woods, level four arcanist, forth circle sorcerer…" Cindy did not read Lucien's paper as carefully as Eric. Out of curiosity, she took a glance at the second paper following Lucien's, "What does this mean… Mr. Eric? A new element… discovered?"

"What?!" Eric was shocked, and he quickly found the paper from Woods. After reading the abstract, he fiercely grabbed another copy of Element with his shaking hand, and started to compare Woods' paper to Lucien's.

Cindy and Dona could see that Mr. Eric's face turned red as he was reading Mr. Woods' paper, and the blue veins on his forehead were very distinct.

"How is it possible…" Eric slightly shook his head, "This is not a paper… it's a prophecy…"

The great value of Lucien's paper was further endorsed by Mr. Raventi's finding of another new element and the papers reporting the corrected atomic weight of some elements from Lazar and a few other arcanists. Many authors put forward their assumptions and thoughts regarding why the data of some elements were mistakenly measured.

Turning the journal back to the periodic table page, Eric stared at the table for a long time, having no idea what to say.

Cindy and Dona, the two apprentices, could not understand the great meaning lying in this table, so they were less shocked when compared to Eric.

"The periodicity looks so amazing." Cindy was still quite excited, "It shares the similar beauty with that of Brook Equation, the Poem of Goddess."

Dona agreed, "Yes. I wonder if gods controlling everything like this really exist, or why there's such beautiful periodicity in the world."

Although the power of the Church was suppressed by the Congress of Magic, it was still relatively influential among common people. The two common girls, one from a farmer's family and the other from a small town, before they were selected as apprentices, were to some extent influenced by religion. However, after witnessing how amazing and powerful magic could be, religion never again worked the same way for them.

"No wonder those comments speak so highly of this paper, and such generous reward was given." Eric slowly calmed down and released a sigh, "Except for the paper from Mr. Brook demonstrating that light is a kind of electromagnetic wave which won him even more credits than this, I could only recall very few papers in recent years which can compete with Lucien's paper. Even Mr. Donald's paper putting forward that spectrum analysis can be used in discovering new elements and Lord of Storm's paper on electromagnetic wave won them only about a hundred credits or something."

Most senior-rank arcanists never relied on winning credits from the board from their upgrade, and the way from which they could gain way more credits was citation. And this was why, in most cases, their arcana level was lower than their magic level, and only really influential and powerful arcanists could reach the balance between their arcana and magic level.

"Lucien…" Cindy paused a bit and then corrected herself, "Mr. Evans' arcana level is now way above his magic level… Wow.. I remember that there are only eight people who were like this in the three-hundred-year history of the congress, and more than half of them are now grand arcanists or legendary archmages."

Cindy now felt a bit nervous with directly calling Lucien's name.

When someone was still of junior-rank, it was not very hard for him or her to gain a higher arcana level compared to the person's magic level, as from time to time, a junior-rank mage might be able to publish some good papers and thus earn some credits. But Lucien's case was still very rare, since his arcana level was now way above his magic level.

Among the eight people, now there were two grand arcanists and one legendary archmage, another one died from disease and two died in battle. The last two became mediocre later, and now they were just like everyone else.

Eric's gray eyes looked around and finally stopped on Lucien's paper again, "Now he's a level four arcanist, and he did this within less than three months… What a young man."

It took Eric thirty years to become a level three arcanist.

Then there was an imperceptible smile on his face, "This young man won't need to put an X behind his name anymore."

…

Headquarter of Arcana, chief-editor's office.

Drummond, the chief-editor of Arcana, was not happy at all. Looking rather gloomy, he threw the latest issue of Element on the desk. The fact that Arcana did not seize the chance to publish the influential paper was humiliating to him, and also damaged the top reputation of the journal.

Drummond was a level seven arcanist who specialized in Force and Astrology. If he had not chosen Arcana, he would definitely be qualified enough to be a member of the Arcana Review Board.

Right now his anger was burning his guts. Although he knew that it was not really his mistake for missing this paper, Drummond completely lost his face when he ran into Gaston and Overee, who made fun of him and told him that the author actually came to the headquarter of Arcana in person to contribute his paper but was scolded away by the staff here!

"Who did this?" Drummond's cold eyes looked around, "I asked… WHO, DID, THIS! If you were not certain about the value of a paper, you're supposed to hand the paper to the special editors! Or to me!"

As the most influential journal, Arcana had good bonds with most senior-rank arcanists, who would become the journal's special editors mentioned when there was a need, in order to avoid the chances of Arcana missing those really valuable papers as much as possible.

Under his watch, all the editors were very nervous. No one dared to speak a word.

After a while of silence, someone said in a low voice, "Not me…"

And more editors followed, "I didn't see the paper…"

"Interesting…" Drummond sneered.

Behind the reception desk outside, Garvin's face was as pale as a piece of paper.

Heidi shook her head a bit, "You could've just followed the rules and let him hand in his paper. One's never supposed to do more than their job duties. Here, we strictly follow rules, as the more we do, the easier we make mistakes."

Garvin looked at Heidi confusedly. He never knew that Heidi was this familiar with office politics.

…

Standing in the Noble District of Rentato, there was a grand magic tower in the style of the Palace of Tria. On the facade of the tower, golden words wrote:

Holm Royal Magic Academy.

On the ninth floor, more than ten senior arcanists from the Will of Element and Holm Royal Magic Academy gathered here in the early Monday morning.

After one became a senior arcanist or sorcerer, it went without saying that they could enter the higher level of their organization. However, only those authoritatives like Gaston and Overee who made great achievement in their own fields could become one of those who could actually make decisions.

Raventi arrived here from Rose Garden even earlier. Seeing that everyone was already there, he said to them aloud, energetically, "Ladies and gentlemen, after reading Evans' paper and those papers supporting his findings, I think everyone agrees that Evans should be the winner of this year's Holm Crown prize!"

"Well… not really…" frowned Morris Hoffenberg, the chairman of Holm Royal Magic Academy, the president of Holm branch of the Congress of Magic, one of the presidents of the Will of Elements, level eight arcanist, ninth circle sorcerer, "I mean… I'm not denying the importance and value of this finding, but, in my eyes, this finding does not come from a solid and profound foundation of arcana knowledge. It's more like… an inspirational flash."

Some arcanists slightly nodded.

"Besides, Evans has just passed his basic arcana assessment. If he was awarded with Holm Crown prize, I'm afraid that this might have a negative impact on the reputation of the prize," added Morris.

Morris Hoffenber had silver-gray pupils which was something typical in the royal family of Holm, and his face profile looked somewhat like Natasha. He was a good-looking, middle-aged man.

Raventi definitely did not care. Staring at him, Raventi suddenly flared out, as he shouted, "Just an inspirational flash?! Morris, are you kidding me? Are you trying to say that all the arcanists who tried to find the law in the distribution of elements but failed are all idiots? Are you saying I'm an idiot, or Lord of Storm is?!"

Gaston and Overee grinned silently. Every time when they needed to argue for something, if they could get Raventi on their side, their job would get way easier, as they just needed to stand aside and watch Raventi snarling at other people.

Chapter 214: The Youngest in History

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Facing Raventi's spittle, Morris leaned back a bit and hurriedly said, "Calm down, Raventi, calm down. This isn't what I mean. What I'm trying to say is that the discovery of the periodic table of elements can definitely show Lucien's talent and his unique way of thinking, but it cannot reveal Lucien's knowledge of arcana. His arcana level cannot qualify him to become the winner of Holm Crown prize."

Facing Raventi, whose arcana level was even higher than himself, Morris was a bit under pressure. He knew that if he had not come from the royal family and specialized in the school of Elements, Raventi would most likely be the president of the Will of Elements.

Raventi's bad temper, although he was a level nine arcanist, ninth circle sorcerer, definitely had prevented him from becoming a member of the highest council, and comparatively speaking, although Lord of Storm was also known for being easily irritable, Mr. Fernando's great academic competence could shut up the mouth of anyone who did not like him.

Some senior arcanists present moved on their seats a bit, as they all had been in the same position before like Morris, having Raventi's spittle dropping on their faces.

As long as Raventi believed in something, no matter who he was facing, of high or low status, he would speak for what he believed in very directly. There was rumour saying that Raventi and Lord of Storm once shouted at each other furiously face to face because of an academic question, but unfortunately, Raventi was defeated in the end, and Lord of Storm gave him a really hard time.

Nevertheless, Raventi never changed his temper, "Come on, Morris, don't be cheap! You know well enough what's the purpose of setting up Holm Crown prize—to honour sorcerers who've made great contribution to the development of the school of Element and whose contribution should be remembered by history. Then, dare you tell me again that you don't think Evans is qualified?! And if you think he's not, what about Ms. Meredith?! Do you think she was not qualified as well?!"

Morris was a bit embarrassed, as the true reason for him being this uncooperative was directly revealed by Raventi in front of many people—he felt reluctant to use those precious materials to make another Holm Crown Ring, a level seven magic item.

"Yeah… I hear you…" Facing Raventi's roaring, Morris hurriedly covered his face with his hands, "I mean… all the previous winners of Holm Crown prize have discovered some epoch-making research methods, theories or outcomes, but the periodic table of elements is more like something… you know, drawn from existing findings."

Before the scenario got worse, and before Raventi continued his snarl, Gaston slightly coughed and said, "Mr. Morris, we've seen your point, and I believe that you can see the great value in the periodic table. If we take a look at the previous prize winners, we know that Ms. Meredith won the prize because she introduced electrolysis and thus she found a new element, and Mr. Donald, who's not in Allyn right now, introduced us spectrum analysis and thus he found a new element. As Lucien's periodic table's also led to the discovery of two new elements, honestly speaking, I cannot see any reasons why Lucien Evans should not be awarded with the Holm Crown prize. By the way, Ms. Meredith was also a level one arcanist when she first won the prize."

Morris was speechless. When he looked around and tried to seek support, no one stood out for him. Florencia, from Affairs Committee, who was supposed to be Morris' ally, nodded her head decidedly.

"Alright then…" Morris leaned back against his chair, "I agree then. Let's vote."

Raventi looked around and saw most arcanists raised their hands, except several from Holm Royal Magic Academy.

"Well…" Morris slightly lifted his eyebrow on one side, "The decision has been adopted: The Will of Elements and Holm Royal Magic Academy will honor Mr. Lucien Evans with Holm Crown prize. Then… let's talk about the name of the ring for Mr. Evans, and what magic the ring should be permanently enchanted with as the gift for the prize winner. As for the design of the ring… Florencia, I know you're good at it."

Florencia was a blond beauty. She took a glance at Morris, "Yes, I am, and I'm also more than willing to be the designer, but my dear teacher, I know you just don't want to pay a professional jewelry designer."

Florencia was right now a level six arcanist, eight circle sorcerer, who specialized in Element, Summoning, Electromagnetics and Force, and she was also especially interested in curse magic. In terms of her achievement, Florencia was actually pretty "young", as she was no more than seventy. She became Morris's student after Morris upgraded to ninth circle, and Florencia also turned herself into a senior-rank sorcerer within only thirty years. She was right now the member of Affairs Committee and Holm Royal Magic Academy.

"…" Morris looked serious, "As the president of the Will of Element and Holm Royal Magic Academy, I have the responsibility to watch our budget."

"I hear you, my teacher." Florencia grinned, "Then what should be the name of Evans' ring? What about… Periodicity?"

Gaston looked at Florencia with his weird-colored eyes, "Not clear or unique enough to the school of Element."

"Foresight?" suggested LockLynn.

"It's more like a name for Silver Moon Medal prize, Lynn, and I think Law is not bad," said Lydia, another female member from Arcana Review Board, who looked quite gorgeous with her succubus blood.

"No. It doesn't have anything to do with elements." Florencia shook her head.

The several ladies present were almost arguing, and the male sorcerers started feeling a bit awkward. They looked at Raventi, hoping that he could come up with an excellent name.

However, Raventi was not interested in naming the ring at all. Despite the fact that he did have bad temper, he usually did not interrupt ladies' talk.

At this time, Morris stood straight and looked more serious. After a few seconds, Morris knocked at the desk and said to all the sorcerers present, "Her Excellency, Ms. Hathaway, just told me that the ring should be named Element, as Lucien's finding covers all the elements."

As a lady, Hathaway was also interested in naming the ring.

Those senior-rank arcanists had to admit that this was the right name, but they also felt that this name might be too much for Evans, as even Constantine and Hathaway did not earn the name, Element, when they were awarded with this prize.

However, as this was a suggestion from Hathaway herself, there seemed to be no reason for anyone to say no to the name.

So Raventi hurriedly concluded, "Then Element should be the name of the ring. Morris, you decide which magic should be given to the ring."

There was no more time for the ladies to discuss.

Morris was not only a master in the school of Element, but also in Alchemy.

"And there's one more thing." Florencia added, "Lucien's a level four arcanist now, so, technically speaking, he's already a middle-rank sorcerer. So I'm feeling concerned that someone might use this as an excuse to give him tasks through Affair Committee. I mean, although this is not very likely to happen, since Lucien's under our protection now, we shall leave no chances to our enemies."

Gaston crossed his fingers and nodded, "Lucien's only a middle-rank arcanist, not a middle-rank sorcerer. We should be firm that Lucien could only accept tasks related to researches, but not fighting or adventuring. Florencia, I want you to give Evans an easy research task first to keep him occupied. However, I also want to make sure that we're doing this because Evans is willing to join the Will of Elements."

Florencia nodded and smiled. Then she asked, "Then is here anyone who's willing to be Evans' mentor?"

Most of the arcanists present shook their heads immediately. How dare they be the teacher of a Holm Crown prize winner when they themselves were not even close to the prize?

Since Holm Crown prize had been set up, a total of twenty five rings were given out. Among the twenty five rings, six belonged to the grand arcanists and legendary archmages from the highest council, and among the rest of the nineteen winners, eight died because of all kinds of reasons in the past two hundred seventy years; three never went any further with their researches; one was so dedicated to the studies that the person refused to join any group. Donald, Morris, Raventi, Gaston and another three arcanists were the rest of the seven people. Now, except for Donald and Morris, the former being a member of the highest council and the latter one of the presidents of the Will of Element and a chairman to Holm Royal Magic Academy, the rest of them were all members of Arcana Review Board.

Therefore, a winner of Holm Crown prize might still not be able to join Arcana Review Board, but anyone who specialized in the school of Element and joined Arcana Review Board must have the ring from Holm Crown prize.

Gaston gently rubbed the blue-diamond ring on his left hand and said, "Evans' still young, and he's got a long way to go. Although I do appreciate his talent and way of thinking, I still want to wait a bit more to see how everything goes with him before making this decision."

Gaston worried that Lucien's achievement might just be a flash in the pan.

"I agree." Raventi nodded, "You gotta be careful with arranging the task for Evans, Florencia. And I'll pay close attention to him as well."

"Then… Congratulations to the youngest Holm Crown prize winner in history! A young man who's not even twenty-one!" Morris stood up and started applauding first, "Now I gotta leave to work on making the ring. The warehouses of the Will of Elements and Holm Royal Magic Academy are gonna suffer a great loss because of it."

Actually, Lucien was not even nineteen.

…

Because of Lucien's paper, the annual conference turned out to be much longer than it was planned to be. Five days later, on Saturday evening, Raventi finally declared the closing of the conference.

"I believe that what happened and what was presented by a young man during this annual meeting is definitely unforgettable to everyone who participated in this conference in person. So, the Will of Elements and Holm Royal Magic Academy have made a decision: we've decided to award Mr. Lucien Evans with Holm Crown prize in order to honour his great contribution to the school of Element! Please come over to the stage, Evans!"

Although they knew that this would happen sooner or later, Larry and Timothy were still quite surprised with how fast the two groups made the decision.

Lucien stood up, and warm applause surrounded him.

When Lazar watched his good friend walking toward the stage confidently and calmly, he felt that the recent two months were like a dream. He could not believe that the young man standing on the stage right now was the same person who was strange to everything when he just arrived in Allyn a bit more than two months ago.

Raventi nodded, and then he said, "Now, we're honored to have Mr. Morris Hoffenberg, the president of the Will of Element and Holm Royal Magic Academy, to present Evans with the award."

The arcanists did not expect that the president would come, and now they were all looking at Morris.

Leading the senior-rank sorcerers from the Will of Element and Holm Royal Magic Academy, Morris then walked onto the stage himself and stood beside Lucien, smiling, "Congratulations, Evans. Before I present the award to you, I'd like to know how do you feel right now. Can you share it with us?"

The arcanists started applauding warmly again. Lucien first looked at the arcanists down the stage, then he lowered his head, smiling.

When he looked up again, Lucien started his speech seriously, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Chapter 215: Ring of Holm Crown Prize

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Hearing Lucien's words, most arcanists first felt a bit confused, then they smiled and started applauding again. What a humble but appropriate beginning!

Raventi, Ulysses and other arcanists who once studied the distribution of elements smiled, as they felt satisfied to know that their work was never a waste, and it was their work which laid the foundation for Lucien's great finding.

"Elegant, humble and direct," Timothy said to Larry when he was applauding. "I have the feeling that what Evans just said will be remembered by the world."

Larry touched his chin a bit and grinned, "Come on, this is Holm Crown prize, and Evans' the twenty-sixth winner in this more than two hundred seventy years. Whatever he sayd would be remembered. But… well, yes, what he just said definitely showed the charm of his personality, and maybe it would even inspire some poets."

"Unfortunately, Larry, we played some quite stupid roles in Evans' impressive story. And we'll be remembered as well in this story, although not for such a nice reason." Timothy patted on Larry's shoulder.

Larry smiled and shrugged a bit, knowing that Timothy was only joking. Both Timothy and he never really minded, as they were more confident than this and would never hate a person only because of their great accomplishments.

But when Timothy looked at Lucien standing on the stage and watched him being surrounded by the warm applause, his desire for Holm Crown prize was greater than ever.

Lucien's success definitely inspired many young, ambitious arcanists.

However, among those pairs of eyes filled with passion and admiration down the stage, there was one pair that was calm and cold, "Although he's being humble, is he also trying to salute Professor, his teacher, when he said the word giants?"

However, only Lucien really knew who he wanted to salute.

After a few seconds, Lucien continued, "If Mr. Douglas had not raised the ten questions leading us to explore the truth of this world, we would not be present here. If the arcanists before me had never revealed the truth that the elements are composed of atoms, we wouldn't be able to go this far in the study of elements. If the arcanists had never introduced us all the new methods of doing experiments, it would be impossible for me to study the distribution of elements. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, without you all, I would not be able to present you the periodic table of elements."

All the arcanists present were touched, and again, their warm applause cut in Lucien's speech.

"However, knowing the fact that we are standing on the shoulders of giants does not mean that we can just enjoy this glory and reputation, but we need to see further and dig deeper," Lucien said to the arcanists sincerely. "As what I said the other day, our most urgent need right now is not to find more new elements following the periodic table, but to take a step back and seriously think about why there is a periodic order in the distribution of elements. I have this feeling that the discovery in this field will lead to a great storm in arcana, through which we will be able to get closer to the truth and the essence of the world."

Watching Lucien giving the speech on the stage, Lazar could not stop thinking of those great masters in history. In the world of music, someone like Christopher could be called a master, while in the world of magic, only those very influential arcanists could be regarded as masters. Right now, Lucien was on the stage and he was being so elegant and confident, as if he was already very used to the occasion.

"Where shall we start then?" Lucien paused a bit, then continued, "I believe that everyone has noticed the most obvious problem in my periodic table: why the atomic weight of the several elements still do not fit the law of distribution? The discovery of the two new elements can support my assumption that the measurement of these elements are not correct, but why?"

Standing beside Lazar, Rebecca's eyes were shining when she was looking at this young man on the stage.

Seeing that most arcanists were nodding, Lucien smiled, "I have a guess, actually. I think that it is because the measured samples of the elements were not one hundred percent purified, but, at the same time, those impurities won't affect the characters of the elements, which is also why the impurities were hard to be found and separated. In order to do a better work on refinement, I think we should focus on the fact that there's a difference between the atomic weight of the element itself and the impurities."

All the arcanists including those very talented ones were shocked, as they would never expect any arcanists to just directly share with others his or her ideas or inspiration like Lucien just did. It seemed that Lucien did not feel concerned at all that this idea, which might lead to another great finding, might be stolen by any arcanists present.

In addition to this, what impressed them as well was Lucien's strong logical thinking ability. Although he did not have very in-depth arcana knowledge, his guess sounded very reasonable.

While many arcanists were still feeling frustrated with those wrongly measured elements in the past several days, Lucien was already again way ahead of them!

This time there was no applause because all the arcanists present were busy with taking notes and writing down their thoughts with their quills. Raventi and Morris frowned, and they felt like starting to build new magic circles to better purify those elements right away.

Lucien raised his voice, "I am just a beginner in arcana, and designing a magic or alchemical circle to serve this purpose is beyond my capability. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that we can march forward in this field together in order to become giants for our later generations! To promote the school of Element to a new peak!"

Then Lucien put his right hand on this forehead and slightly bowed to the audience.

The arcanists suddenly awakened from their great surprise and shock, then, they started applauding crazily, and even the roof was slightly trembling. They were applauding for Lucien's sharp thinking, and also for his generosity!

It took Morris quite a while to calm down the arcanists. Then, he turned to Lucien, "If the way of refinement that you just suggested gets successful, it would be another great accomplishment which could probably win another Holm Crown prize. And you just shared it with us straightforwardly like this?"

Lucien smiled, partly because Morris looked slightly like Natasha, "Even if I did not want to share this idea with anyone, I'm sure that, sooner or later, there would be other arcanists who could think of it. As I always respect and believe in the intelligence and wisdom of all arcanists, I think it's better just to share my idea with everyone, especially when I'm not capable of doing this kind of researches right now, so I can hopefully be a giant, ha. The continuous exploration of this world needs the effort of every single one of us."

What Lucien just said again led to a thunderous applause. And Lucien was not just being humble, this was literally how he felt. He had been hearing lots of arcanists discussing this topic several times in the past couple of days, thus he knew that, in the future, no matter who found the method for separating isotopes, it would never be a bad thing to Lucien.

Besides, figuring out a way of separating isotopes still required a period of time, and Lucien believed that he should be able to utilize their research outcomes by that time to further develop his studies.

Morris put his right hand on his chest and slightly bowed, "You deserve my respect, Evans."

Then he took out a crystal box in front of Lucien, inside of which there was a shining silver ring, etched with mysterious patterns. The design of the ring was simple but very graceful. On the front side of this ring, there was a big light purple gem, and the dream-like glory of the gem was amazing and eye-catching.

"To thank you for your great contribution to the development of the school of Element, here the Will of Elements and Holm Royal Magic Academy award you with the twenty-sixth Holm Crown ring, Element!"

There was an indrawn breath of great surprise among those arcanists present. Under the gaze of everyone, Lucien accepted the ring.

Beside the light purple ring, the word, Element, was engraved in common tongue. When Lucien gently stroke the inner side of the ring, he noticed that there was also a small line of words,

"817, Holm Crown prize, to Mr. Lucien Evans."

Soon, directed by Morris, the maker of the ring, Lucien left his spirit mark in it.

"Holm Crown prize, level seven perfect rank with one layer of seal. When the owner's spiritual power reaches the level of senior-rank sorcerer, the power of the ring can be completely released."

Three magic effects were permanently enchanted within this unique ring. First, improving the efficiency of doing meditation in the school of Element by thirty to sixty percent—eighty to a hundred percent when the seal was gone; valid before level nine; the lower the owner's level was, the better it would work. Second, increasing the power of elemental magic by twenty to forty percent—fifty to seventy percent when the seal was gone; valid before level nine; the lower the owner's level was, the better it would work. Third, increasing the recovery rate of the owner's spiritual power and vitality to the level of a fifth-circle sorcerer and a level two knight, respectively—rising to the level of an eighth-circle sorcerer and level four grand knight when the seal was gone.

Besides, this amazingly beautiful ring also contained terrifying magic power. The person who wore this ring could use Powerful Fire Shield, a fifth-circle magic, twice a day, Gaston's Poison Cloud twice a day, and Elemental Swirl, a seventh-circle magic, three times a day. However, this last spell was also sealed, and although there was one opportunity to use it before sixth-circle, the user would be seriously hurt and the person's spiritual power would be exhausted.

The maker's message left in this ring was:

"Mr. Lucien Evans' finding of the periodic table of elements is of great significance to the school of Element. We award Mr. Lucien Evans with this ring in order to show our respect to him, the person who shall be remembered by the history of the school of Element.

"The crazy Elemental Swirl dispels most elemental spells and destroys everything that is made of elements.

"From: Morris Hoffenberg."