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Chapter 326: No Need for the Ceremony

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Hearing the short elder man's words, Lucien thought to himself that his future teacher was quite cheap with giving compliments.

However, Lucien still responded very politely, "Yes, sir, I still have a lot to learn and to improve." Lucien decided to show his respect to this legendary archmage who was qualified to sit beside Hathaway.

Gaston smiled and introduced, "Evans, this is Her Excellency, Hathaway, a grand arcanist."

"Arcana's above, Your Excellency's glory has lit up the whole world of elements." Lucien put his left hand on his chest and his right hand on his forehead, using the most formal manner to greet Hathaway, the Lord of Elements, the member of the royal family of Holm who was a relative to Natasha although she was probably several hundred years elder than Natasha. There was a unique, short greeting piece for each legendary archmage according to the Congress's tradition.

When Lucien greeted Hathaway, he felt a bit nervous, not because she was an archmage, but because she was a senior member of Natasha's family.

Hathaway did not have much expression on her face. She lightly nodded, "On the path of arcana to the truth, one can never stop making progress."

Then Gaston turned to the short elder man wearing the bright-red robe, and there was a bit of fear on his face that Gaston himself did not even notice. He was worrying that he might say something wrong and thus piss the legendary archmage off.

"Evans, this is… His Excellency Fernando Brastar, a grand arcanist." After weighing his words, Gaston decided to use the simplest way to make the introduction.

The Lord of Storm? This little old man was the Lord of Storm? Lucien was very surprised. According to the rumors that he had heard about the Lord of Storm, Lucien thought this grand arcanist should be a serious and fusty scholar with a very bad temper. However, the little old man sitting in front of him looked quite pleasant and easygoing, and one could still tell the good-looking features on his face when he was young. When Lucien first talked to him, this little old man's humor even left Lucien with a deep impression.

Anyway, Lucien still carefully greeted the Lord of Storm with great respect, "Arcana's above, Your Excellency, you're storm, lightning, and the master of the sky."

Lucien was very cautious to make sure that every single word that he said was correct.

"You don't have to be afraid of me. I only argue with people when it comes to arcana or magic. Say, when Oliver was saying something about paintings and dramas, I never said a word." Fernando provided an explanation for himself to make Lucien feel more relaxed.

However, other people did not think so. Florencia mouthed the words to Lucien, "That is because he knows nothing about paintings and dramas."

Before Gaston made further introductions, Fernando said to him directly, "Lucien, when Thompson read your first paper, he recommended your paper to me, and I was thus inspired. I was interested in you so I went to the library to meet you there in person. It turned out that you were a pretty interesting young man, and I like people who are not boring. Your following two papers were also not bad, which was quite impressive considering your age. You know, some papers from the Highest Council members even have made some ridiculous mistakes!"

Although Fernando was giving him a pretty good comment, the tone and the way that Fernando talked to him made Lucien feel a bit strange. Also, it seemed that Fernando totally did not care about the fact that there was a member of the Highest Council present.

"How you handled things in the castle and how you carried out the task bringing the letter to the Dark Mountain Range have revealed some of your qualities that the Congress appreciates. I hope that you can stick to them." Fernando continued, seriously, "Lucien, I think your talent goes beyond the school of Element and Astrology, and you should enter a way broader domain. So, I'd like to have you as my student and I'll teach you arcana and magic. What do you think?"

According to what Lucien knew, although the Lord of Storm was a grand arcanist mainly specialized in the school of Thermodynamics, he was also good at the school of Element, Electromagnetism, Force Field, Illusion, and Light-darkness. Among all the grand arcanists, Fernando was definitely one of the most energetic ones. He had won the highest award in four different fields: Ice & Snow Medal, Silver Moon Medal, Holm Crown Prize, and Sorcerer Laurel.

Therefore, a second later, Lucien nodded firmly, "It would be my great pleasure to be your student."

"Good. You're my student now," answered Fernando seriously.

"What?" Lucien, Gaston, Morris, and Florencia were all very surprised. Only Hathaway and Thompson still looked the same calm.

Fernando grinned, "Yes?"

That was it? Lucien felt it so unreal that all of a sudden he had become the student of a legendary archmage. Gaston, Morris, and Florencia were also very surprised because, according to the tradition of the ancient magic empire and the Congress, taking a student was a very important and solemn thing, and a complicated and very formal ceremony was always required.

They knew that Fernando was always in a rush and he hated complex procedures a lot, but they did not expect that he would just skip the entire ceremony!

Seeing that Lucien looked confused, Fernando slightly frowned, "This is between you and me. Since we have both agreed on it, why do we need those troublesome procedures?"

"No, we don't." Lucien also disliked the tedious ceremonies, so he answered directly. He believed that the teacher and student relationship did not have to rely on all the external forms.

Gaston now felt that Fernando had really found the right student.

Fernando grinned, "Very good. Today my students will gather together to exchange their findings in arcana and magic. You should join them later as well. It is good for you to know more about the latest research focuses so you can find your own research interest. I still have to talk to Hathaway. You and Thompson can wait for me outside."

When Lucien left the room with Thompson, the latter smiled to the former and said, "Mr. Fernando rarely speaks highly of someone. The comment Mr. Fernando just made on you was already very good."

Lucien put on an uneasy smile. He still had to take some time to get used to the fact that he had become a student of a legendary archmage.

Noticing the awkward smile on Lucien's face, Florencia smiled, "Mr. Fernando is strict with his students, but we all know that he takes good care of them. If it was someone else who wanted to be your teacher, Her Excellency Hathaway might not show her approval. In fact, at the very beginning, Hathaway preferred Mr. Raventi to be your teacher."

"Mr. Raventi?" " That would not be a bad choice either" , Lucien thought to himself.

Gaston still had the same strange expression on his face, "I heard that Mr. Raventi found the Lord of Storm and talked to him. And they had a big argument. When Mr. Raventi left the office, his face was completely pale. Now every time when someone mentions this, Mr. Raventi would still be quite pissed."

…

Aalto, in the Inquisition.

Waldorf, the Executor, grabbed the report in his hand and growled in great anger, "Lucien Evans… Lucien Evans is a bloody sorcerer! He fooled the Church and the whole city playing a fake death! And we were acting like a bunch of idiots! We must catch him and put him onto the gallows!"

"Has it been verified?" Vila Amelton, the red-robed cardinal, asked calmly with her eyes half closed.

The Censor's deep voice contained great fury, "John reported this to us. And we have questioned the people involved using divine power. We've confirmed that Lucien Evans is still alive. What happened in the villa was a trap set up by Lucien Evans and Professor. Together they managed to send away the sorcerers to the Congress of Magic, killed the traitor, and also framed Clown up, because Clown had found Lucien Evans suspicious."

"Is Natasha involved in this? Was she deceived? Or did she help Lucien Evans?" Amelton opened her eyes. And the light in her eyes was terrifyingly cold.

The Censor shook his head, "According to the depositions, Her Highness did not know the truth at that time. Also, when Waldorf arrived, she stopped chasing after Clown, but instead, she agreed to let the night watchers chase him down. If she was part of this, the princess would try her very best to kill Clown directly, leaving no chance for us. After all, it was possible that the night watchers would find Clown and send him back to the Church to cure him. Therefore, most possibly, Lucien Evans lied to the princess. But later, according to what Lucien Evans told John's family, he tried to seek for her forgiveness. So the princess might have already known the truth."

"Good," said Amelton briefly. "Compared to Professor, Lucien Evans was still too young. He wanted to bring the whole family to Holm, and the family turned him in."

The Executor said in resentment, "We shall tell the people the truth! We shall break his undeserved glory into pieces and tear down his sinful, fake tomb. Everyone in Aalto should hate and despise him!"

"Then what?" responded Amelton coldly. "Telling everyone that the Church is completely idiot? We told the public that Ode to Joy was the glorious hymn to the Lord, but are we going to tell them that it's actually a piece of work from the demon? What a joke… We can never let this happen."

"So…" asked the Arbiter thoughtfully.

"The great musician is dead. The vicious sorcerer disguised himself as the great musician and deceived everyone. They are two different people," said Amelton.

Then she added, "Tell the parish in Holm what Lucien did. Let them keep a close eye on him. Also, send a few night watchers there. The night watchers shall be glad to have the chance to see their 'old friend' again."

Chapter 327: Lucien's Classmates

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

On the thirty-third floor of the Congress of Magic, in a not very big room, the large windows let in the sunlight, covering all the desks, chairs and shelves with a thin layer of golden halo. The place looked rather clean and quiet.

Fernando received a letter from one of his old friends after bringing Lucien and Thompson back here. So, he entered a small separate room to carefully read the letter, leaving Lucien and Thompson outside waiting for the arrival of their other classmates.

"Mr. Thompson, thank you for allowing me to work in Douglas Magic School. It really helped me a lot when I first arrived in Allyn." There were only the two of them in the lecture room. To be friendly and polite, Lucien found a reason to talk to Thompson.

Thompson slightly lifted his gold-rimmed spectacles and smiled, "You're welcome. Actually, it was your own papers that helped you with getting that job. I can say that most arcanists could see the inspiration and value in your papers."

"But Mr. Thompson, you also recommended my paper to our teacher." Lucien looked around the lecture room which was like a study but also like a small meeting room and asked a bit confusedly, "I thought our teacher would bring us to his demiplane magic tower for the gathering."

Thompson smiled, "According to the regulation of the Highest Council, at any time, there must be at least one grand arcanist staying in Allyn. So the grand arcanists have agreed that they would take turns every five years. By the way, we're both the students of the Lord of Storm, so just call me Thompson. Also, your arcana level should have reached level five, and mine is only level six."

Thompson took a glance at the badges that Lucien was wearing on his left chest. Lucien had not had the time to upgrade his badges, so they remained at level four and the third circle.

"It's probably still gonna take three or four months for my arcana level to reach level five." Lucien answered uncertainly. When he left Allyn, he only had eight hundred and fifty arcana credits. He was away from Allyn for the mission for about a year and a month. Usually, Lucien could get ten credits from his papers and the magic spells he invented every month, therefore, Lucien guessed that he had not become a level five arcanist yet.

Thompson shook his head and sat down on a random chair, "You know better than me how great influence the Periodic Table of Elements has on the researches in the field of Element. This year is the year of elements. Many papers developed in this year are about valence state analysis, and the Periodic Table of Elements is the foundation of these researchers. So, based on the number of papers in the field of Elements I have read, I believe your credits should have gone over a thousand several months ago. However, many arcanists are certainly jealous, so they applied to the commission that there should be a time limit for those fundamental findings such as your Periodic Table to earn points."

Thompson stopped here after triggering Lucien's curiosity. Thompson specialized in the school of Elements and Thermodynamics and was an expert in casting spells using explosion, flame, and high-temperature. However, he was not a member of any organizations. Like the Lord of Storm, Thompson was a pure supporter of the Congress. Thompson appreciated Lucien's talent in the school of Element and he would love to be Lucien's friend.

"So… What did the commission say?" Lucien asked as Thompson hoped. Lucien also felt happy for K, as he knew that K was right now delving into the field of valence state analysis with his teacher, Larry.

Thompson smiled, "There's no way that the commission would say yes. Although there are a lot of papers citing your findings right now, after about two years, most of the following papers will not directly use your paper as part of the reference but other later researches based on the Periodic Table of Elements. So your credits gained from it will drop significantly, but it'll also become more stable."

"That makes sense." Lucien nodded. Actually, Lucien had a plan for this. He was going to modify the Periodic Table of Elements from time to time, so his gaining of the credits could be more sustainable. Due to the limited conditions, Lucien left out some details when he first published the table, but now things were different.

Then Lucien and Thompson started to talk about valence state analysis.

A while later, someone knocked at the door and then a young man walked in. His face was very thin, making his cheeks look rather protruding. His eyes were as blue as the summer sky, clear but looked a bit sad. In Lucien's eyes, he was more like a poet than a sorcerer. However, the badges in front of his chest revealed his power: there were seven silver stars on his arcana badge and seven black rings on the magic badge. Also, he was wearing the badge from Arcana Review Board, on which there was a hand holding a quill, as well as another badge drawn with lots of ice-crystal patterns.

"Lucien, this is Cole, another student of the Lord of Storm. Cole is a member of Arcana Review Board and an expert in studying molecule movement in Thermodynamics. Right now, he is working on further investigating in the second law of Thermodynamics using Probability and Statistics," introduced Thompson.

The second law of Thermodynamics was first put forward by Fernando and some other experts in order to refute a hypothesis developed years ago. When Phlogiston Theory was abandoned, more and more sorcerers started to realize the connection between heat and energy. They also came to understand that when the temperature of an object dropped, energy would be released, thus many believed that they could use the heat from the endless ocean water to run the magic circles forever, but they kept failing.

Then Thompson turned to Cole, "This is our new classmate, Lucien Evans, the winner of Holm Crown prize."

Cole put on a friendly smile, "Hi, Evans." He was not very talkative. After greeting Lucien briefly, Cole sat down in the corner and stayed in his own world, as if he was the only one in the lecture room.

Later, another two seventh-circle sorcerers arrived. The female sorcerer was Ashikana, and the male named Lacie Carter. They both looked not too young and also not too old. When it came to their achievement in magic and arcana, they fell behind Cole.

When Lucien was about to talk to them, someone knocked at the door eagerly in a rude manner. Lucien's classmates all smiled, and then Thompson stood up and opened the door.

It was a dragon, with a beautiful layer of scales like crystal.

It was Lucien's first time seeing a dragon this close. He could not hide his curiosity.

The dragon also took a glance at Lucien curiously and said to him in a child-like voice, "I know you. You're the sorcerer with that good-looking ring!"

Then the dragon stared at the ring, Element, on Lucien's right hand, and it could not move its eyes away. He said to Lucien, "Can I have it? I can sell myself to you for a hundred years!"

"Alferris, that's enough," Thompson said to the dragon and then turned to Lucien, "He has sold himself, and he can't do this again."

Lucien was a bit startled by the dragon's words. Hearing what Thompson said, he was a bit relieved. Buy why was there a dragon here?

Alferris unwillingly looked way. After covering itself with a layer of light, the size of the dragon shrank and it walked into the lecture room like a big hound.

"Alferris is a crystal dragon. When our teacher found him fifty years ago, Alferris was still in his eggshell. He has been studying magic and arcana after the Lord of Storm with us, and he has revealed his outstanding talent in arcana. Due to a mistake in an experiment years ago, Alferris was cursed, so he cannot grow bigger or transform his look in about a hundred years." Thompson explained to Lucien.

Therefore, the dragon was both Fernando's pet and his student.

"So, Alferris, what have you been working on recently?" Seeing that the dragon was still peeking at the ring Lucien was wearing, Lacie, the blond and green-eyed sorcerer, smiled and asked.

"Uh? Recently?" Alferris looked rather casual, "I've been sleeping. Not doing much recently."

Thompson said to Lacie directly with a big smile on his face, "Alferris sold himself for money, and he is being studied by someone else recently."

Alferris' appearance warmed up the lecture room. Soon, Fernando walked out of the separate room.

Fernando sat down on a random chair and said to his students seriously, "As usual, we hold a meeting like this every month to share our research progress and discuss the problems we encounter. Hopefully, we can all be inspired."

This was an explanation made for Lucien, the new student. And then Fernando continued, "I just got a letter from one of my old friends. I think I shall read part of the letter to you, so you can know how other arcanists understand and perceive the development of magic and arcana. This letter is from Viscount Lauren, an archmage, member of Arcana Review Board, the winner of Silver Moon Medal and Ice & Snow Medal."

Viscount Lauren was a nobleman from the Kingdom of Brianna, and he was right now also living in Brianna.

Then, Fernando started to read the important part of the letter, "… Along with the establishment and improvement of Electromagnetic System Theory put forward by Mr. Edwyn Brook, the overall system of arcana has gradually come to shape. The system represents a mature, advanced and wonderful arcana world in which Mr. Derrick Douglas' theory serves as the sun while Mr. Edwyn Brook's theory as the silver moon. Everything found in this world is connected by those strict and stunning laws. Although we are still on our way of exploration, and although we are still seeking for more laws to better explain the connections, the two systems I mentioned above shall be the only two fundaments supporting to the world. Our further findings shall all belong to the two major systems."

Chapter 328: Direction

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

When Fernando spoke the common tongue, he had this a sharp and creepy Brianne accent—an accent that was looked down upon by most people in the Kingdom of Holm, who regarded Brianne accent as the tongue from the countryside folk. At the same time, in Holm, most people who had Rentato accent were proud of their way of speaking and regarded themselves as the noble and elegant representatives due to complicated historical reasons.

Of course, in front of the grand arcanist, no one dared to mock the way he read the letter. The students all listened to his reading very carefully.

Fernando continued, "…Perhaps you may think my words leave no space for any possibilities, but this is what I believe: No matter what we are talking about—Transformation, Illusion, Elements or Summoning—they shall all be included in this fundamental system, and the finding of the Periodic Table of Elements has further confirmed my belief: Alchemy is in fact a kind of electromagnetic response. For example, when an object is heated up, the electromagnetic waves radiating from it can reveal different colors, and this can only be properly explained by the natures of the atoms, the most fundamental, non-further-dividable units of everything in this world. My assumption is that due to the quantities and masses of different atoms, the electromagnetic waves that they release also vary. I wonder why and how these atoms act like this, but I can assure you that this is not the arrangement from the God of Truth. Although so far there are no solid experiments that can yet confirm my guess, I'd like to share with you my thoughts, my friend. Again, here I repeat my point: although we're still facing problems with regards to the spread medium for light and the existence of the stars, and despite the fact that there are schools of magic that still cannot be properly included in the comprehensive system, no one can deny the fact that we have entered a world in which arcana system has been established overall. Our future work shall be focusing our effort on further modifying, solidifying and improving the system and seeking for its wider application in magic."

Lucien carefully listened to the letter, and he sincerely felt the great passion, pride, and confidence inside of the archmage's heart. Even a calm and disengaged person like Cole felt encouraged and excited.

Fernando read the last part of the letter, "I am glad that we live in such a wonderful era, being able to devote ourselves into the world of arcana and magic. Our vision becomes possible because of the establishment of calculus, making us able to know and calculate the sequential world. We can see the beauty of balance and symmetry in the influential formulas put forward by Mr. Douglas, Mr. Brook, and many other great pioneers. In my eyes, the formulas are much more beautiful compared to poetries, music pieces, paintings or sculptures."

Lucien would never arrogantly regard himself as an omniscient of this world, despite the fact that he had a whole library with him from the other world. Lucien knew that he had to do many experiments to verify his knowledge in practice to see whether his knowledge was part of the world's truth.

"So… any ideas?" Fernando folded the letter and then asked.

Thompson was the eldest one among all the students of Fernando who were still alive, so he answered first, "Mr. Lauren's opinion is shared by many other arcanists. Like what he said in the letter, although we are still working on proving the existence of the stars, we have already used Mr. Douglas' theory and created powerful magic spells. Perhaps we're still some distance away from the essence of the world, and maybe we haven't been able to combine the two fundamental systems and the nature of atoms together perfectly, but, yes, the world of arcana has been established."

Thompson was being euphemistic. As an arcanist specializing in the school of Element, he noticed that Lauren's letter had ignored the importance of atoms. Thompson believed that if the two systems were the sun and the silver moon in the world of arcana, atoms should be the wide stretch of land!

At the same time, Thompson understood that this was just an informal letter between two friends, and he knew that Lauren was a firm believer of Energy Essentialism, who did not recognize the existence of material or spirit but saw energy as the essence of everything. Believers of Energy Essentialism argued that everything in this world ranging from atoms to human body all consisted of energies in different forms showing different features including showing gravity, releasing electromagnetic waves, etc, which was the only explanation in these arcanists' eyes to why there were transformation spells, why catalysts could be used in alchemy experiments, and why spiritual power could interfere with reality and help to cast spells. Lucien's Periodic Table of Elements, as they believed, further supported their point of view.

"That's true. Even the overthrow of Life Force Theory is only part of the progress of the grand world of arcana," said Ashikana, whose blood came partly from the elves. When talking about arcana, her eyes were sparkling out of excitement, "My friend Isabella and her student Rachel have found out that several substances are secreted when people are influenced by a certain illusionary spell. They thus believe that people's illusions come from these substances."

"Wow, their work sounds pretty cool!" Alferris, who had shrunk its size, cheered, "This finding has included some illusionary spells into the world of arcana, and thus Mr. Lauren's letter is supported. The finding deserves Sorcerer Laurel! I wish I could discover something! I want the beautiful shiny crown!"

Alferris's tail swayed from one side to the other, hoping that the finding belonged to itself. But it was too late. The fact that Ashikana directly shared the finding with them showed that Isabella and Rachel's paper should have already passed the review of the board.

Lucien realized that some arcanists had already found out the existence and influence of hormone, so he decided to disclose the two versions of his Charm Person spell before they lost their value. Although a big part of the school of Illusion was still outside of the system of arcana, this finding had contributed to the progress of covering the three schools—Transformation, Summoning, and Illusion—within the arcana system. In the past, the arcana system had always failed to explain how the three schools properly worked.

Cole's face flushed slightly, "Although I don't agree on Energy Essentialism, I can't deny what's been said in the letter."

Before the next student, Lacie Carter, made his comment, Fernando growled angrily, "Stupid! Stupid! This letter is full of ridiculous errors! Are you all out of your mind? You do not know how to find the historical documents from the ancient magic empire?! At that time, those ancient sorcerers had no idea what gravity, electromagnetic induction, and electromagnetic wave were but they still managed to create the spells using the powers! Look at yourself! How arrogant and blind you are! We are making progress just because the system of arcana is a bit closer to the truth of the world! How dare you agree with Lauren on his nonsensical pompous words?! How dare you say that an advanced world of arcana has been established when there are still so many disputes and questions on what the form of spiritual power is? There are lots, lots of arcanists who do not see the current main belief as being correct, even including Mr. Douglas! He shall never be convinced until the spread medium of light is discovered! He's still looking for evidence to overthrow what we think we've known! What if one day he finds it? Is half of the arcana world gonna collapse? What if it is proved that the stars, in fact, don't exist, but are just the illusionary representatives of divine power? What if gravity is proved to be one kind of divine power? Is the whole world of arcana going to collapse like that? The closer we're to the truth, the harder we shall remember—we shall always be humble and persistent, or we'd be deceived by errors!"

Facing Fernando's growling, all the students flinched, including Cole.

Fernando put away the letter and said to his students calmly, as if he had never shouted to them just now, "Currently, I'm working on a few projects, such as the one with Hathaway investigating the reasons behind the distribution of the elements, and the other one is for creating a legendary spell of the school of Thermodynamics. But because I've finally worked out a spell for Thermodynamics experiments, I can get the accurate statistics for the thermal radiation. So I am going to first work on figuring out the formula for thermal radiation. So many spells in the school of Thermodynamics can become simpler."

Then he also mentioned some difficulties that he was currently facing.

Finishing his words introducing the projects, Fernando turned to Lucien, "You're my new student. If you don't have any urgent, personal research interests so far, you can be my assistant in one of the projects."

"I'd like to work on the experiment on studying thermal radiation," Lucien hurriedly answered. He had been having a difficult time collecting related data of the researches in the school of Thermodynamics, which could be an important part for him to understand the difference between this world and the one he came from. Being able to study Thermodynamics was thus a major reason for Lucien to be Fernando's student.

Fernando nodded but did not make any comments. Instead, he turned to other students and said, "Now… Let's talk about what project each of us is working on right now and the obstacles that we've encountered recently. You first, Ashikana."

Ashikana sat to the left side of Fernando, right beside Lucien.

"I've been studying the method to approach absolute zero, making more senior-rank snow and ice spells more powerful. Unfortunately, making further progress is quite difficult. I'm still about twenty celsius degrees from absolute zero," Ashikana said to the rest of the class, and then she shared more details of her experiment with the class.

Lucien learned quite a lot from Ashikana's sharing, which expanded his knowledge in ice and snow spells greatly. After that, all the students' eyes looked at Lucien, in which there was great curiosity toward this young talent in the school of Element.

"I'm trying to reach the fifth circle. Except for being the teacher's assistant, for now, I'm not able to work on other projects," said Lucien honestly. "But some of my messy thoughts have become more organized and clear after I heard Mr. Lauren's and Ms. Akashina's sharing. These thoughts came from my study on the spell, Mechanized Mind, my understanding of Illusionary and Necromantic spells, as well as Nightmare King's analysis of dream. I think there are weak but special electromagnetic waves in human beings' brain that affect people's emotions, feelings and behaviors. One's soul can also be influenced."

Akashina was shocked, "Evans, do you know what are you talking about?"

What Lucien Evans just said plus Isabella's research outcome would be able to explain a large part of the school of Illusion using the system of arcana!

Chapter 329: Fernando's Questions

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

All the sorcerers present were at least of senior-rank, although Lucien's description remained rather blurry, they knew immediately how important and meaningful his finding was.

Both Thompson and Lacie Carter, for a moment, felt the situation was a little like a dream. This was Lucien's first time attending their gathering, and he shocked them already with his findings in the field of Illusion and Electromagnetics. Lucien was a geniu, they knew that, but wasn't it a bit too much? In their memory, only a few grand arcanists once had similar experiences. However, Illusion and Electromagnetics were not the fields Lucien specialized in!

"After Lauren has accepted Energy Essentialism, he once thought of the possibility that human being's thinking was actually an outcome of a dual effect of electric current and magnetic field. But his researches are everywhere, and he hasn't been able to focus on one direction when being busy with preaching to people that the problems in Energy Essentialism, in fact, are not true. If he had stuck to his Brain-Electromagnetic Field Theory, he should have accomplished something big already," commented the Lord of Storm. Obviously, his words were quite sarcastic. After all, his friend, Lauren, just missed the opportunity of further improving the system of arcana.

It was ridiculous that Lauren stuck to Energy Essentialism when the theory itself still had so many problems that could not be explained.

Then, Fernando looked at Lucien and said, "Give us more details on your finding. We can make a bold assumption, but at the same time, careful verification is always the key part."

When it came to arcana, Fernando had zero sense of humor. Unlike Lucien's first impression on him in the library—a creepy little old man in the bright red magic robe—right now, the Lord of Storm looked rather serious and calm, and the pace of his speaking was very moderate. Fernando did not get all excited like the students when hearing that there were probably special brain waves in human being's brain.

In such a gathering held by Fernando, Lucien had no worries. None of the other students would try to steal his research outcome. Also, Lucien did not worry at all that his teacher, Fernando, the Lord of Storm, would take it away from him, as Fernando was way more keen on pursuing the ultimate truth of this world instead of the reputation like soap bubbles.

"By chance, I got part of the Book of Necromancy. From a part of the structure of the spell Charm Person, I learned that it works partially on human being's soul. However, I wondered how the other part works. After a long time studying, and again, by chance, I compared the structure of Charm Person to that of Mechanized Mind, and I found some similarities between them. Then I worked on improving the spell, Charm Person, and I succeeded."

Lucien introduced with confidence. In fact, he changed the order of how he got the finding. Bringing the knowledge from his world with him, Lucien could find the similarities in the two spells because he had been already aware of the truth and thus he had the accurate theoretical guidance first. However, in his words, he explained the process by inverting the order and following the common methodology of doing arcana research, which was very acceptable to the rest of the arcanists present.

"Like I said, 'by chance' is a large part of the reason why I've found the direction, so I must say I'm very lucky. But at that time, although I've created a new spell that works based on my assumption, I was not able to understand the meaning behind my finding, thus I've been working on studying the spell for a long time, until one day I came to know Electromagnetic Wave Theory…"

Fernando slightly nodded without making any corrections, which was rare, and he let Lucien continue to speak. Lucien was not the only one – in fact, many arcanists were lucky enough and they had also created new spells by chance, but most of them failed to dig into the true reasons underneath the spells, and thus they missed lots of valuable findings.

"I was in a total mess. I found the existence of the very weak electric current in the human body, and I also spotted the special waves sent out by a human brain. I did have clues but always failed to connect them together. Then, the dream from Nightmare King and his perception of dream inspired me. In today's meeting, the words from Mr. Lauren that human body, in fact, consists of energy and electromagnetic waves is the evidence that touched me, and the research outcome from Ms. Isabella has shocked me. I finally realized what is behind the new spell that I created. When encountering different situations, a human brain can produce different special waves, stimulating body to produce the special alchemical substance found by Ms. Isabella, thus emotions and feelings are brought out," said Lucien. He said a lot of things, and he did it in an illogical way to show the fact that he was totally unprepared.

Fernando nodded seriously, "So you've found the electric current in the human body and the special electromagnetic waves. Anything about the magnetic field of the human brain?"

"Nothing yet. Maybe the requirements for finding it are too high, and the interference in my experiment environment was too strong." Lucien shook his head.

"I see. Then how many kinds of the special electromagnetic waves did you find? What are their corresponding functions?"

"There are several… By adjusting their intensity, it is obvious that…" Lucien briefly introduced what kind of emotion and illusion could be brought up by each kind of waves.

Looking rather serious, Fernando asked Lucien many questions. Lucien gradually felt more and more nervous and started to stammer.

Finally, Fernando made his comment, "There are so many kinds of feelings and emotions owned by human beings. It is hard for the several brain waves that you mentioned to direct all of them. You still have a long way to go on this. But you should still develop a paper on this as soon as possible, so more people can join the discussion and exploration. If you don't mind, why not show us the two versions of your Charm Person?"

"Try it on me!!" The dragon Alferris jumped up. It was a big fan of Illusion magic that worked on one's mind and spirit.

Thompson released a sigh and said to it, "Alferris, we're talking about Charm 'Person', not a dragon…"

"Ohh… That's right…" Alferris looked at them in an innocent manner, with his tail swinging back and forth.

After Lucien cast the two versions of Charm Person, Fernando slightly nodded and said, "Your practice has surpassed the progress of your theory. Using the improved spell, your theory shall be more acceptable. Many sorcerers who are good at Illusionary spells are rather conservative. Although they accept arcana, many of them are not willing to let arcana explain Illusionary spells since they regard themselves as 'nobler' than mages from other schools. But they do have their reasons. Those sorcerers enjoy the high social status and are very powerful, and they have lots of students. They control the direction of the development of the school of Illusion."

Lucien nodded seriously. He knew that the growth of any advanced theories would be challenged, which was always the same in both worlds.

After the examination of a series of questions from Fernando, Ashikana stopped looking at Lucien like a monster. She smiled and said, "Evans, you can probably share the Laurel with Isabella, as long as those fuddy-duddies from the Family of Sorcerer can accept your idea."

"My theory is far from being fully developed since it still has many problems. It's gonna be very difficult for me to win the Laurel. Ms. Isabella is very well prepared, and I'm sure she's got enough support and evidence," said Lucien honestly.

When hearing the word, Laurel, Alferris suddenly turned around and stared at Lucien with its big, amber-colored eyes. Then it reached out its two front claws and laid them on Lucien's shoulder. At the same time, Alferris licked Lucien's right hand with its red tongue in a very intimate manner. Lucien directly jumped back and activated the Absorbing Wall, feeling startled.

Alferris continued to lick the magic wall, and the wall was shaking under the dragon's strength.

"Add my name on your paper after you, sir… May I?" Alferris swung its tail covered with crystal scales and said very sincerely.

Lucien wondered if Alferris was, in fact, a puppy. Fernando was definitely a bit out of his mind like other arcanists said. He had trained his dragon like a dog. However, it seemed that Alferris also enjoyed it.

Fernando made a fake cough and said, "Alferris, go back to your seat. Cole, it's your turn now."

Alferris withdrew its claws and tongue reluctantly and hurriedly added, "I'm really good at mind, spirit, and soul spells. I'm of senior-rank, and I can fight physically as well. I am fine with you dressing me in whatever way you like. I can play with your students or kids. I can write papers and do math for you, also experiments! I can help you send letters and flowers to ladies…"

Cole waited until Alferris finished his wordy self-promotion. Before he started to share, he first said to Lucien, "Evans, Mr. Lauren's words in the letter about the fact that human body consists of energy is not rigorous, since there's zero evidence. Even though the human brain can produce electromagnetic waves, it doesn't mean that Energy Essentialism is accurate. Human brain is complicated. You can't easily believe in Energy Essentialism."

"I won't. I believe in evidence," Lucien responded.

Cole slightly nodded and started to share his research on investigating the second law of Thermodynamics using Probability and Statistics. Also, he said that he had been spending much time arguing with people who believed in Energy Essentialism. Cole himself was a loyal supporter of Atom Foundation Theory. He looked a bit depressed when mentioning this part.

"Put aside the argument first, Cole. Focus on your research," Fernando commented very briefly but did not give Cole any harsh words or questions.

"You're right, sir." Cole was relieved that his teacher did not give him a hard time and thus he looked a bit more cheerful.

Later, Thompson shared with the class the difficulties that he was encountering now with his study regarding high temperature, while Alferris shared how it felt as a research subject.

"Lucien, so you come here every morning to help me with the experiment on thermal radiation. You can spend time in the afternoon trying to reach the fifth circle," Fernando said at the end of the meeting.

…

When leaving the thirty-third floor of the magic tower, Alferris waved its front paw to say goodbye to Lucien. It had forgotten what it had promised Ashikana. So, Ashikana dragged it to the lab.

Lucien went back home directly. He was going to update his badges when he submitted the new paper.

As soon as he came back, Lucien saw Leo walking toward him.

"Master, Mr. Arthur Doyle is waiting for you in the living room. It seems that you've been invited by the prince," said Leo.

Chapter 330: Gratefulness

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

After a year, Arthur now looked even fatter. His belly was so big that it almost burst out of the front of his vest. He was wearing a beret of the same color as his vest, and he behaved in a rather casual and comfortable manner in front of Lucien.

In Holm, no matter if it was hot or cold, dressing formally was always important for these gentlemen. They either wore suits or tuxedoes, and sometimes the hunter's outfit. It was impossible to tell the seasons from what they wore.

However, the magic robes that Lucien and other sorcerers wore were very different. These robes could automatically adjust the temperature and humidity inside to make the wearers feel rather comfortable. Lucien thus wondered if these gentlemen would have a heat stroke in the south in Gusta Empire or Brianne.

"Welcome back, Evans." There was a lovely smile on Arthur's face.

Because of their cooperation on Holm Mineral and Harvest, Lucien now was closer to Arthur.

Taking off the top hat, Lucien handed it to Leo. Then he smiled and said, "Arthur, you're the first one coming over! I haven't told other of my friends yet that I've come back."

"Keep your hat on, Evans. The prince is inviting you to his party. I'll tell you more on the way." Arthur rubbed his hands excitedly, "In the past year, the several versions of Jinkela have received a very warm response from the market. We've been making a lot!"

Lucien was a bit confused, "To the party? What's the party for?"

"It's a party for uniting the nobles who are very open-minded toward sorcerers." Arthur explained briefly, "After seeing the big success of Jinkela, the nobles all want to work with sorcerers to seek for more profits in the field. Also, they're very curious about you."

Lucien did not respond immediately.

Seeing that, Arthur thought that Lucien might not want to go probably because he was not good at socializing, so Arthur said to him, "Evans, it's a great chance for you to know more important people. In Rentato, these nobles have lots of resources in each county. Although I understand that, as a sorcerer, you probably don't care, knowing more people and having more connections can do you lots of favors in the future and save you trouble. Also, those nobles more or less have connections to some senior-rank mages."

"I see. It's very kind of His Highness." Lucien grinned, "Let's go now."

Although what Arthur said was true, in fact, as the student of the Lord of Storm, Lucien did not need the nobles to get to know the senior-rank sorcerers. However, Prince Patrick was Natasha's uncle, and he had helped Lucien a lot with the company, Holm Mineral and Harvest, using his own resources and wealth, so Lucien believed that he should go to show his appreciation.

Also, working with the great nobles and making common citizens become accustomed to the use of magic was important to the further development of the Congress and was efficient to weaken the Church. Lucien sincerely regarded himself as part of the Congress, so he would like to do the favor.

…

With a long blast of the whistle, the magic steam train started to rush forward faster and faster in an unstoppable manner.

"Although I've been on this train many times, every time I see it speeds, I still feel beyond impressed. The train has really changed our lives by shortening the distance between the two cities. Especially the freight train… it has greatly lowered our transportation cost of the ores from the mines. Evans, I still don't understand why the Congress keeps saying no to us on extending the railways. It has been several years… but we currently only have less than ten regular routes," said Arthur a bit bitterly.

Lucien grinned, "Like you said, what a great resource it is! And of course, the Congress would like to seize it in its own hand. I believe that the royal family can see the value as well."

To build railways in Holm, one must obtain the permission of the royal family. Thus, the royal family had been making a lot from it.

"That's right! The railways… the trains… are all resources." Arthur curled his lips, "His Majesty takes care of this project in person, or we probably still can try…"

Soon Arthur pulled back his drifting mind and took out an envelope, "Evans, for the first year, because we were during the primary construction period, we did not have the dividend. Until the recent eight months, after our successful promotion, Jinkela has become very popular. This is yours. We pay you monthly, as you're a sorcerer."

Lucien opened the envelope and saw a small paper pad in it, on which there were a magic and an arcana imprint. His dividend was 13,000 Thales.

Eight months, 13,000 Thales… That was more than a thousand a month. If Jinkela was also successfully promoted in the other three countries, it would be possible for Lucien to earn over ten thousand Thales monthly. At that time, he would not need to worry much about the cost of being a senior-rank mage.

Obviously, what was behind a senior-rank mage was lots, lots of money. One should at least be a very wealthy count to support a senior-rank sorcerer.

"Knowledge is a real treasure," Lucien said sincerely.

Arthur was very confident. "You'll wait and see. When our promotion goes further, you'll receive at least five thousand, no… six thousand Thales every month."

However, all of a sudden, Arthur sighed, "But many senior-rank mages also want the money. For the rest of the three countries, they have found new alchemical substances like Jinkela and they've also found the nobles to work with them, or we'd be able to double the profit."

This was within Lucien's expectation. Money was always the great motive for most people.

Seeing that Arthur was staring at him with hope in his eyes, Lucien smiled and comforted him, "We're the first one, which's our biggest advantage."

In Lucien's mind, he believed that it was a good thing that more farmers could enjoy the joy of harvest.

…

Rentato, Hexagram Station.

Poc Beever, the coachman of the royal family of Holm, was very excited when knowing that the great sorcerer was attending the party. Walking back and forth on the platform, Poc focused his eyes on the exotic buildings very different from what he used to see in Rentato. Buildings here looked cold and mysterious.

More railways being built, more stations showing up, more alchemical factories rising, the Congress was stepping out of the mysterious and creepy mist and had revealed itself in front of common people, who started to become less afraid of the Congress of Magic.

The Church could not do much here as most of the nobles had chosen to turn a blind eye toward it because of the great profit.

Poc was quite different from most common people who were afraid of sorcerers. He never dreamed to become a glorious hero or a priest, instead, he wished to become a powerful, terrifying and mysterious sorcerer. However, unfortunately, until his middle age, Poc finally accepted the fact that he did not have the talent.

In the past decade serving the royal family, Pac had seen some sorcerers, but he had never felt this excited.

He still remembered clearly what his mother said to him and her great excitement and joy when she came to town to visit him:

"I was… totally shocked when I saw our oats in the field. It was golden everywhere. For the first time, after we handed in the portion to the lord, we still have this much left… I know, the… the Jinkela thing's a bit expensive. But it's worth it! We don't have to starve anymore! It's much less burden for you!"

This was all from the great sorcerer who invented Jinkela!

For the farmers living at the bottom of the world, their biggest dream was not to starve anymore. If they could even save some money for their kids, they could never ask more from the Lord!

In Poc's mind, the sorcerer was the real hero. When the train arrived, Poc adjusted his clothes a bit to look good.

The door opened, and Poc saw a young good-looking man wearing a black, double-breasted, long jacket get off the train with Mr. Arthur Doyle. The monocle the young man was wearing made him look more elegant.

Poc thought to himself that Mr. Evans must have used some magic potions to look this young.

He hurriedly took a few steps forward and said, "Sir, I'm the prince's coachman. My name's Poc. Are you Mr. Evans?"

Although Mr. Doyle was right beside him, he still needed to confirm.

"I am." Lucien slightly nodded.

The next second, Lucien was very surprised to see that Poc kneeled down in front of him and kissed the corner of his cloth in the manner praying in the church.

"Thank you… Thank you for bringing hope to us farmers," said Poc with tears in his eyes.

Chapter 331: Liberals

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Seeing that the coachman was being this emotional, Lucien almost burst out the answer—serve the people! Fortunately, he was able to stop himself in time and instead said to the coachman gently, "It's just my conscience. It's what I should do."

Maybe because opera was very important in Holm, the way that the coachman showed his gratefulness was also a bit dramatic.

Poc was not a poet and was also not very well educated, thus he kept repeating the words like "thanks", "thank you", "survive", "farmer", and "harvest".

Finally, the coachman realized what his job was, and he hurriedly said, "Mr. Evans. I'm so sorry… I'm just too excited… Please, please get on the coach."

"It's okay. We're not in any hurry," said Lucien. He casually looked around and noticed that there were quite a few people looking at them out of curiosity, wondering why the coachman was using such a courtesy.

Lucien and Arthur got on the coach painted with a purple and red royal coat of arms, followed by Arthur's guards.

"Rustic countryman!" Arthur murmured. In his eyes, what Poc just did was a shame representing the royal family. However, he did not show it directly on his face. Instead, Arthur flattered Lucien, "You're such an angel! An angel of harvest, ha! We are lucky that no one really got close to us on the platform, or you'd probably be thrown into the prison because the coachman just used the highest courtesy…"

Lucien looked aside as if he could see through the board of the coach, smiling, "According to some historical documents, after the establishment of the Saint Truth, there were divinities of death, sun, moon, life and harvest/hunting, and then more gods and goddesses followed. Now, only a bit more than ten countries in the northwest beside the Dark Mountain Range were still worshiping them."

Very long ago, human beings had started to worship the divinities, but most of the heritages failed to be retained because of the harsh, pre-historic environment. What was left were only some wall paintings. Meanwhile, when human beings were suffering at the bottom of the food chain, some people born with greater spiritual power gradually figured out how to cast magic using the special patterns of the magical creatures. Finally, the ancient magic empire arose.

Many years later, within the empire, nothing related to divinity could be found. Therefore, if a sorcerer wanted to study divinity, he or she needed to invade other dimensions.

The Saint Truth, together with the powers worshiping other divinities, defeated the ancient magic empire. Then, however, the Saint Truth, after growing strong, changed the side of the war and ended the power following other beliefs. Only some small countries in the far northwest managed to survive. Now, there was a subtle balance between these small countries and the countries of other races.

Hearing Lucien's words, Arthur didn't dare to make any improper comments. Although he was totally fine with working with sorcerers, and honestly speaking, he already started to doubt the Church after Creationism had been overthrown, what he was taught during his early childhood still had a great influence on him.

Lucien noticed the look on Arthur's face. So he switched the topic back to business. Then they had a pretty good conversation.

…

The party was held in a private villa beside Verosa River in Rentato. The villa faced the river that looked like a golden strip of light, and in the back, there was a big garden where many flowers were blossoming. The view was wonderful.

In the villa, Lucien saw Prince Patrick, Natasha's uncle, again. He looked even more aged and slim than a year ago. Lucien could hardly tell that the prince was only in his middle age.

"Welcome back, Evans. I thought it was going to take longer." Holding a glass of wine, Patrick stood in front of his several guards who were protecting him from the cool wind from the patio, "I've always been longing for a trip throughout the continent, but my health condition won't allow me to do so. By the way, how's my niece doing? She must be much taller now."

Lucien grinned, "Your Highness, Natasha's doing fine. She's gradually stepping out of her bad memories."

The conversation was warm and casual, mostly about Natasha, Aalto and Lucien's trip. Patrick patted Lucien's shoulder and said, "Evans, I'll introduce some friends to you before the dinner starts."

Not coughing much, it looked that Patrick was in a good mood today.

Leading Lucien through the hall, the prince nodded to the several nobles slightly and then entered a separate room. Then the three nobles and a middle-aged man wearing a long black magic robe followed in.

"This is Count Hackson, Chancellor of the Exchequer of the kingdom," introduced Patrick.

Count Hackson, the elder man wearing the white wig, had sharp blue eyes.

"This is Russell, Duke Wolfburg, and this is James, Duke Paphos. They're both very influential members in the Parliament."

Wolfburg County and Paphos County were both quite prosperous counties in the Kingdom of Holm. As for the two dukes, one looked rather charming and elegant with his blond hair, and the other one was bald and looked a bit intimidating. Lucien knew that both of them were in fact elders, but they managed to retain a middle-aged look because they were radiant knights.

In the end, Patrick introduced the black-haired and black-eyed sorcerer to Lucien with a smile on his face, "This is Viscount Harrison from Holm Royal Magic Academy. He's also the member of Family of Sorcerer and the noble parliament. I'm sure you've heard his name. Harrison's a very famous illusionist and an alchemist."

Lucien slightly nodded. Viscount Harrison was quite famous not only because of his achievement in the magic world but also the fact that, as a sorcerer, he still managed to inherit the title. According to the rules between the Church and the nobles, when there were other inheritors, sorcerers were not allowed to obtain the title. Very rarely could sorcerers become inheritors because a noble always had lots of close or distant relatives. The best situation for these sorcerers was to later become the members of the parliament. However, there were still some lucky ones, for example, Viscount Harrison.

What made people envy him most was that Harrison was only a fifth-circle sorcerer when he inherited the title, and then because of the family's wealth, Harrison became a senior-rank mage in only fifteen years.

But that was not what Lucien heard about him. Lucien knew him because Harrison had refused to join the Will of Elements, instead, Harrison chose to be one of the leading mages of Family of Sorcerer, which was incredible to most sorcerers in Holm Royal Magic Academy. It seemed that Harrison was fond of Illusion more than Alchemy.

The prince coughed a bit and smiled, "I'm sure you all know who this young man is. Let us welcome the youngest winner of Holm Crown prize, the talented young sorcerer, Mr. Lucien Evans."

James, the baldheaded duke put on a big, warm smile, while the other three nobles maintained their manner and only slightly nodded.

"Arthur's really lucky," said James directly. "He's very fortunate to be your partner. Jinkela right now equals gold. I wonder what you're working on recently. I'm interested in working with you."

"I'm sorry. I just got back to Allyn. Currently, I'm not working on anything new." Lucien would not tell someone who he met for the first time too much.

James did not mind Lucien's attitude. He smiled and said, "We'll see if there's any chance in the future. By the way, I've been working with Harrison on a new product. Are you interested?"

"What is it?" hurriedly asked Count Hackson greedily before Lucien responded.

"It's based on the Lord of Storm's Electromagnetic Message. The spell enables people to talk when being far from each other. Although there's noise and it's easy to be interfered, it's enough for daily use! Much cheaper than using a teleportation circle! Think about it… when you're hunting in the forest, you can tell your friends in the city what you find any time you want! You can save lots of time communicating!" said Harrison holding the glass of wine.

Unlike most illusionists, when mentioning money and the product, Harrison's face was glowing with excitement.

"It's still a level-five magic item. Not many people can afford it." Count Russell slightly shook his head. He was not very optimistic about the product's future. In Holm, due to the high price, most nobles could only choose to buy the magic items that they really needed.

"We're trying to simplify it, say, using stored the power of electric current to replace the permanent magic circle. There are more and more electricity magic towers built by the Congress using the energy of the river flow, so this is doable. If this works, we can avoid using part of Fernando's exclusive right on the spell to further lower the cost. But, yes, the price's still a problem. After all, the magic item still needs to use the fifth-circle spell." Harrison looked a bit bothered, as he was not good at Electromagnetics spells.

He turned to Lucien, "So, my young fellow. Any ideas on it?"

"So far… nothing…" said Lucien honestly. He once tried to simplify the spell as well. However, the power of the fifth-circle spell was just irreplaceable.

Lucien's answer was within the several nobles' expectation. After all, the solution equaled a great amount of money!

The following conversation was a bit boring to Lucien. The nobles were sometimes busy with criticising the secretary as being too laggard, sometimes commenting on the speaker as being too conservative. They viciously guessed that it was probably because the old speaker was going to die soon, and the speaker needed to follow the Church closely to rise into Mountain Paradise.

"Boring, right?" Harrison walked next to Lucien. "But sometimes it isn't bad to get some information like this. At least, we can know who we should work with and who we shall be careful. These people are all liberals."

Lucien took a sip of the liquid, Sky Blue, and smiled, "I'll rest my brain a bit with this conversation."

"Good. Promising young man," said Harrison, "later, let me introduce more senior-rank sorcerers to you. It's good for your future."

"Thank you very much, sir." Lucien casually smiled.

Then they started to discuss magic. Harrison mentioned the paper by Isabella. Because some arcanist who reviewed the paper had leaked the information, many sorcerers had heard about the paper before this month's journal was published.

"The paper's totally shallow! She only sees the things on the outside!" said Harrison a bit angrily, "She has forgotten why these alchemical substances in human body are secreted. Mind and soul should be the solid foundation of illusion spells. Human beings' mind changes all the time, thus arcana cannot control the human mind. Only illusions can!"

Chapter 332: Atom Institution

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The corner of Lucien's mouth twitched. He wondered if he needed to bring some Chinese dream reading skills here to continue the conversation.

"I can't believe that many sorcerers think Isabella will be the next winner of the Laurel. For what? Just because her theory can include Illusion in the system of arcana? The finding's still shallow and immature. And it doesn't comply with the spirit of magic!" Harrison continued.

He did not notice the strange smile on Lucien's face. Harrison just argued with some arcanists about this in the afternoon, thus his anger still lingered in his chest. Facing a sorcerer from other fields who had no preset viewpoint, Harrison could not help talking all the time.

Holding the glass, Lucien listened to Harrison's complaint smiling. Thinking of the paper that he was going to submit, Lucien had a subtle feeling in his mind.

Finally, Harrison stopped talking before the dinner was about to start.

Harrison nodded to Lucien, feeling satisfied, "Evans, you are an outstanding arcanist. You know how to think of Isabella's paper. If you have any questions on Alchemy and Illusion, just feel free to ask me."

Before Lucien responded, Harrison left the hall with other nobles.

"I didn't even make any comments…" Lucien murmured to himself. He had no idea why Harrison just regarded him as his supporter. However, it seemed that Harrison liked to call himself a witch, instead of an arcanist, following the tradition of the ancient magic empire.

It was the first time Lucien talked to a senior-rank illusionist. Lucien naturally tried to understand Harrison based on his way of talking.

"Okay, Evans. Let's get out. I'll introduce you to everyone who's open-minded about magic," said Patrick, who just got some rest in the back and drank a tube of magic potion to recover.

Lucien stopped analyzing the viscount in his mind and followed the prince.

After all of the nobles saluted, the prince introduced Lucien to them, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Lucien Evans. Tonight's party is for celebrating Lucien Evans becoming the student of the Lord of Storm!"

Without being informed in advance, the nobles first looked lost, but then they started to applaud warmly. Every single one of them had heard the name of the Lord of Storm, the grand arcanist, and the leading role in the Highest Council, and thus his student must be an important sorcerer as well. The fact that Lucien Evans showed up on the party suggested that this young sorcerer was also from the side that supported the nobles, therefore, they all welcomed him.

In the warm applause, James, the baldheaded duke walked to Lucien and said, "Evans, you didn't make any comments when we were talking about electromagnetic messaging. Were you trying to say in your mind that we, this bunch of fools, were all heading in the wrong direction? As the student of the Lord of Storm, we wonder if you can talk to Mr. Fernando and see if he can simplify the spell to the second circle. It would be our great pleasure to have Mr. Fernando as our partner."

Although it sounded that James was complaining a little, in fact, he was trying to get closer to Lucien by talking like this.

"I'll definitely try. But sir, you must have heard of Mr. Fernando's temper. All the students have to be really careful when talking to him." Lucien was very good at using Fernando's reputation as an excuse.

Harrison first stared at Lucien for a while when Lucien was talking to James, and then he said, "Congratulations, Evans. I indeed thought you would have a teacher from the board. I didn't expect it would be the Lord of Storm. The award you've won really helped you."

"Sir, I'm afraid that the compliment only might not be enough here." Lucien smiled sincerely, "I'm still waiting for you to introduce me to more senior-rank sorcerers. I don't know a whole lot of people in the Congress."

Harrison instantly understood that Lucien was trying to build up his connections, "My friends and I are looking forward to discussing arcana and magic problems with you, Evans."

The music was relaxing and wonderful. The atmosphere was warm and casual. Lucien had talked to quite a few important nobles both inside and outside of the kingdom guarding the territories. What was out of Lucien's expectation was that James was already a level nine gold knight, and there were a few radiant knights among the nobles as well.

…

After the party, Lucien returned to Allyn. When he was about to work on his paper in the study, Leo knocked at his door and said, "Lord, a gentleman named Lazar and a few apprentices have come to visit you."

Lucien was very happy to hear it. Obviously, his friend was quite well-informed. Lucien planned to finish his paper first before telling his friends and students that he had come back.

Lucien hurriedly said, "Let them come in."

Brown vest, white shirt, black double-breasted long jacket, and top hat—Lazar still dressed the same way, and his smile was still bright. Annick, Layria, Heidi, Sprint and the other apprentices, however, had changed much on their look and had grown much taller. Now they did not look like kids anymore.

Lazar gave Lucien a big, warm hug and said, "You never told us you'd come back! Katrina is the receptionist for the committee. She was the one who told us! Congratulations, the student of the Lord of Storm!"

The apprentices were both a bit nervous and excited, "Welcome back, Mr. Evans."

"Receptionist? Katrina, you have graduated?! What about Cindy and Dona?" Lucien was a bit surprised.

Three years later, as a fully grown lady, Katrina now looked very beautiful and mature, which made Layria and Heidi feel quite envious. Katrina smiled, "Mr. Evans, you once worked in the school. Don't you remember that the annual graduation season is always in June? We've studied in the school for three years and we already passed the exams of the senior level. We've also passed the Arcana Basic exam and got the basic arcana credit."

While Catrina was saying, Heidi, Layria, Annick, and the other apprentices were all quite proud. Only Chely looked quite depressed and said, "I haven't graduated yet… I'm still in senior class."

Lucien put on a sincere smile, "I do know that apprentices can graduate in three years, but very rarely can students meet the requirements. I'm proud of you all."

Hearing the praise, all the apprentices were very encouraged. Only Sprint lowered his head.

Lucien did not ask about Sprint in front of those people. Instead, he looked at Lazar.

Lazar grinned, "Both Cindy and Dona are busy with getting their first circle, so they're not working right now. Katrina got the job because she was Douglas Magic School's excellent graduate, and if it wasn't Katrina, we wouldn't know you were back. Now you've become the student of the Lord of Storm… Ummm, I thought it would be Mr. Raventi."

The excellent graduates could have the chance to get some good jobs. Although the schools also offered the other apprentices some positions, most of them preferred to find jobs on their own.

"It's out of my expectation as well." Lucien nodded, "So Annick, Layria… What have you all been busy with?"

Heidi said proudly, "We're working in the headquarter of the Congress. I'm in Apprentice Assessment Department. Layria is in Conversion Department. Annick's in Task Zone."

Then Heidi suddenly switched the topic and put on a begging look, "Mr. Evans, please, please help Sprint."

Sprint suddenly turned around and stared at Heidi. Obviously, he did not want Heidi to continue.

"Go ahead," said Lucien.

"Sprint… was absent from school too many times. He was dismissed."

"Dismiss?" Lucien looked at Sprint. Honestly speaking, Lucien was not too surprised.

Sprint answered a bit gloomily, "Magic Potion, Basic Element, Magic Analysis, Magic Structure… I understood all these courses from the handouts left by you, Mr. Evans. I was still attending Magic Practice course… I just did not want to waste my time. I wanted to spend my time on what I haven't learned."

"That makes sense. But the old fogeys in the school won't accept it." Lazar grinned.

Layria took a glance at Sprint with sympathy and said to Lucien, "Mr. Evans… Sprint was dismissed… No decent place is willing to hire him. He's currently working as a waiter in a restaurant. Can you… Can you help him?"

In these apprentices' eyes, Mr. Evans, as the youngest winner of Holm Crown prize and the student of a grand arcanist, was basically almighty!

"It's okay, Mr. Evans. It's just temporary. When I become a real sorcerer, it'll be different," said Sprint in pride.

Lucien rubbed his chin. After a while, he said, "I've been thinking about this for a while, but I couldn't make it come true in the past. Now I've become Mr. Fernando's student, so I think it's time now. I want to start an arcana research group. Do you want to be my assistant, Sprint?"

"A research group…" Lazar and the apprentices had never heard of something like this.

"Sprint?" Lucien asked again.

"I… Of course! Of course! Thank you, Mr. Evans," said Sprint. There were tears in his eyes.

Hearing that, Lazar thought about it for a while and said, "Lucien, my spiritual power has reached the middle-rank level, but my basic mathematics and magic analysis knowledge is still not solid, so I'm pretty much stuck. I'm thinking if I can resign my job in the Will of Elements and be your assistant as well in your… research group. Your arcana knowledge is profound. Working with you can for sure be beneficial to me."

"Of course. But you have to wait until my application is approved." Lucien smiled.

Lazar was a level-two arcanist, second-circle sorcerer. He put on a bright smile and said, "I'm sure I can learn a lot from you, Lucien. By the way, does the research group have a name?"

The apprentices all got excited. They came up with all kinds of names such as Storm Lab or Evans' Institution.

Lucien thought about it carefully and said, "Let's call it Atom Institution."

"Sounds cool." Heidi nodded.

Annick got up the courage and said, "Mr. Lucien, I don't like my job in Task Zone. It's too noisy and too trivial. Can I join the group as well?"

"I need people to work with me." Lucien nodded.

"Me, too!"

"Me, too!" cheered all the apprentices, even including Katrina after a while of hesitation.

Heidi joked, "Now the institution has turned into an arcana tutoring class."

In the world Lucien came from, this was called "one organization with two nameplates", he remembered.

Chapter 333: Persuasion

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

After Lazar and the apprentices left, the place suddenly became quiet. Leo closed the gate in the front and turned on the protection magic circle. Lucien went back to his study and started to work on his paper.

In the quiet night, Lucien's mind was rather sober. On an ordinary piece of paper, he wrote down the title—The Experiment on Human Body Electric Current and Brain Electromagnetic Wave and the Application in Illusion.

Books related to the researches studying brain waves in Lucien's spirit library were very limited, since even in the world that Lucien came from, researches in this field still remained underdeveloped. Therefore Lucien had to study a few illusionary spells to make the paper more reliable.

The paper was very challenging for him. The several papers that Lucien published in the past were other experts' findings already available. The only thing he had to do was alter the findings based on the real situations in this world. These papers only took him two to three hours each.

Releasing a sigh, Lucien did not start developing the paper based on the materials he gathered right away. Instead, he was going to talk to the Lord of Storm on the following day. As the student of the grand arcanist, Lucien would not waste the chance.

Lucien closed his eyes and enjoyed the coolness of the night for a few minutes. Then, he took out another pile of paper and started to write the application of his research institution.

Even writing the application was not easy. If not being careful, Lucien would reveal his understanding of atoms that could shock the whole world. He could not directly tell the public that an atom could still be further divided, and within in an atom, there was a very wonderful structure. But if he completely avoided talking about this, the application would be very unlikely to be approved. Lucien was in a great dilemma.

In the end, he chose to describe his purpose and research interest in a rather general way.

When he read the application himself, Lucien sincerely thought to himself that the fund was not easy to get. If this application failed, he had to switch to a more specific research area and give up using the name Atom Institution, but this would mean that every research topic was only going to be a short-term one.

As a researcher who was extremely interested in getting funds, Lucien hoped to set up a long-term research project to save as much time and money spent on doing experiments as possible, so he could save his profit from Holm Mineral and Harvest for future use. Everyone knew that becoming a senior-rank mage could cost a lot of money. A senior-rank mage had to build his or her own magic tower, buy all kinds of alchemical materials, and prepare for the rites.

Lucien also decided to show the Lord of Storm this application to his teacher. If Lucien could win his support, the whole thing would be much easier. If necessary, Lucien could reveal some of his real thoughts on atoms in front of Fernando. Maybe Fernando would yell at him, but it was still worth trying.

After a while, he calmed himself down and started to analyze the fifth-circle spell, Fernando's Lightning Smelter.

It was his first time analyzing a fifth-circle spell because he never expected that his soul and spiritual power could reach the fifth-circle level so fast. There were still many third-circle and forth-circle spells that Lucien had not studied. His plan was to focus on the difficult ones first and then go back to the lower ones.

…

Next day in the morning, Lucien came to the headquarter of the Congress of Magic.

"Good morning, Mr. Evans," greeted the tower guard on the gate. It was the alchemical creature, Prospell.

Lucien said politely, "Good morning, Prospell. How're you doing recently? Sorry, I didn't see you yesterday."

"The same… You know, having sorcerers coming in and out through my body all day long." Prospell would not admit that he did not want to show up yesterday because the Lord of Storm was there, "Mr. Evans, I heard you've reached the fifth circle. Good for you! When you become a senior-rank sorcerer and start to build your own magic tower, don't forget your promise. A female tower guard. Gentle, soft, considerate… much better than me!"

Lucien wondered since when they had this promise. He finished talking to Prospell, who was feeling a bit excited, and entered the magic tower.

It was still early. The headquarter was still quiet. On Lucien's way to Fernando's study on the thirty-third floor, he barely met any people.

Fernando, the Lord of Storm, was still wearing his favorite ancient-styled, bright-red magic robe, sitting behind his desk and reading the letters.

"Lucien, if you don't have anything else to do, help me with the letters first. Use my tone and reply to these letters. After you finish, we go to the lab," said Fernando directly. He did not give Lucien a word of praise for coming here early.

Lucien hurriedly nodded, "I've finished the draft of the paper. Please take a look."

"Good." Fernando nodded. Fernando took over the pile of paper and read it very carefully. He did not treat it casually just because it was written by a middle-rank mage. From time to time, Fernando even cast the spells on his own for verification.

Seeing Fernando frown, Lucien's heart was grasped by a big hand.

"Illogical… How do you want to persuade the board using this?!" Fernando commented.

Although the comment was very straightforward, Lucien was glad that Fernando did not yell at him. His response was still within Lucien's expectation.

Lucien hurriedly nodded and put on a humble-student look.

After criticizing Lucien's paper from the very beginning to the end, when Lucien started to feel that his draft was basically just a piece of trash, Fernando softened his tone a bit and said, "Of course, compared to all the shitty papers from those fools, this paper is still relatively interesting and creative. Nothing in the paper is a real mistake. Revise it and develop it into a decent paper. Don't put my name on it like some people. I don't want my name to appear on such a paper."

"Yes, sir." Lucien felt he just sweated a lot. Although Fernando did not yell at him, Lucien still suffered greatly hearing all the mistakes he made in this draft when Fernando pointed them out one by one. Because he relied on himself when writing half of the paper, Lucien knew that he would make a lot of mistakes, but he was still under huge pressure just now.

Before Fernando picked up these letters again, Lucien hurriedly said, "Sir, I'm applying for starting a research group. This is my application."

"Research group? Are you still not busy enough?" Fernando took over the application form, "Atom… Atom Institution. What a big topic… Umm…'The institution aims at studying the relationship between the periodicity of elements and atoms, exploring more factors resulting in the characters of elements and atoms', combining the findings with elemental, electromagnetic, light-darkness spells, etc. In conclusion, the institution is established to facilitate the development of elemental magic and arcana system…'"

It seemed that Fernando was a bit amused when reading Lucien's application. Fernando did not take a serious attitude toward it. "So… you need a big and fully-equipped lab, a lot of precious materials, and lots of arcana points as allowance. Young man, you don't get funds like this. This general, ambiguous application will not be approved by Magic Research Board. And you seem to be quite ambitious. You want to turn this into a long-term research? That'll make your application even harder."

Lucien was prepared, "I think… I think the way that the Congress currently reviews all the applications is to some degree quite short-sighted. Arcana is developing very quickly, and there are new fields emerging all the time. The new fields are not specific yet but we cannot give them up, nor can we merely rely on the senior arcanists' private researches. The resources should be allocated equally, so more arcanists can be involved. This is another reason why I want to set up Atom Institution. I believe that more and more arcanists have realized the importance of studying atoms since the periodicity was found."

When he was saying that, he looked rather serious.

"You made me feel I was listening to a speech in the city council…" Fernando grinned. "Tell me more about how you understand atoms. If you want to win my support, you have to persuade me first."

Lucien knew that the cunning, old grand arcanist would not be deceived easily. He had to go further on this topic.

Lucien's brain quickly worked and he tried to be very cautious with his words, "Since the periodicity was found, I've been seeking for something deeper behind the laws, but I was at a total loss. Then, by chance, the idea struck me that maybe we should step out of Atom Theory and question what we think we've already known. If atoms are the smallest units as people believe, why the features of atoms vary so differently?"

Lucien paused a bit. Fernando looked at him thoughtfully.

"Maybe…" Lucien was a bit hesitant, "Maybe an atom can still be further divided!"

Chapter 334: Assistant

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Lucien finished his words. There was a total silence in the study.

Lucien knew that overthrowing Atom Theory, one of the fundamental theories in modern arcana system, was beyond crazy, and he was expecting Fernando's growl. However, the smile remained on his face, but Fernando did not make any comments yet.

Until Lucien felt the atmosphere making him slightly unable to breathe, the Lord of Storm slightly nodded, "In fact, after you put forward the Periodic Table of Elements, I talked to Hathaway many times and we've reached the consensus: if we want to go deeper down into the field of elements and atoms, we have to abandon some of the ideas first, as they're probably not the truth, but they're restraining us from exploring further. Like what you mentioned, we also believed that the most fundamental existence should also be the simplest."

"What…" Lucien did not expect that the two grand arcanists had already taken a big step in the micro-world. How came they were not afraid of the fact that their brain might explode because of such a cognition shift?

Recognizing the look on Lucien's face, Fernando put on his symbolic, sarcastic smile, "Lucien, don't tell me that in your mind, we grand arcanists are just a bunch of fogeys who never want to accept new things and are reluctant to admit the mistakes we've made."

Before Lucien managed to answer, Fernando continued as if he was just talking to himself, "Standing at the top of the world, we're close to the nature of everything. However, we know that we've just discovered a few stars if the truth can be compared to the starry sky. We shall stay humble and determined. We shall be aware of things that should be abandoned. As long as we see problems, we can never just ignore them. Completely destroying a legendary archmage's cognition world isn't an easy thing. It has to be strong and fierce… totally out of expectation, or the worst scenario was just to add a limit for further progressing to the archmage. Of course, maybe what we've known is still too little. We haven't encountered anything like this so far that can shake everyone's understanding of the world."

It seemed that what Fernando just said was a bit different from what Lucien knew.

"Meanwhile, legendary archmages' understanding of the world can never be easily shaken. Without solid, rigorous reasoning and profound exploring, most archmages would stick to their beliefs. It also took Hathaway and me a long time to reach the consensus."

Lucien nodded thoughtfully. Fernando's words sounded a bit contradictory, but it was not. What Fernando was saying was about persistence and modesty.

Fernando concluded, "There's a saying among every grand arcanist: 'sometimes, our past experience and knowledge can be our hindrance.'"

Lucien slightly released a sigh, and then put on a sincere smile, "Then… since I'm not talking nonsense. Can you support me with setting up the institution?"

"Emmm… only one new point… maybe not enough. You have anything else to share?" grinned Fernando cunningly like an old fox. He wanted to see if Lucien still had more strange but creatives thoughts in his mind that could possibly inspire him.

"No." Lucien shook his head in a determined way, "That's why I'm applying for setting up an institution, sir."

"Well… Let me put it this way. Before you reach the fifth circle, you work for me so I can tell if you can really accomplish anything with Atom Institution. You know, if I let you have a research group right away but you fail to find anything, you'd become a joke." The fox-like smile on Fernando's face was still there.

Lucien knew what Fernando meant. He seriously nodded, "I'll try my best."

Before coming to senior rank, Lucien was confident that his knowledge if the field of math, element, and electromagnetism should be enough. Lucien's biggest problem was that he was still having a hard time combining his knowledge of astrology with celestial mechanics. Say, he still had not figured out how to understand these cursing and blessing spells.

As they had reached the agreement, Lucien asked, "So… how can I improve this application then? I know it's too generous…"

"Why do you need to improve it?" Fernando made a surprised look, "Your signature on it makes the application form look rather ambiguous and generous. But with Hathaway's and my signature, the application will appear to be very profound and provident."

Lucien was speechless.

"Alright… Let's get back to the letters. Read them for me, one by one." Fernando sat back in the armchair and closed his eyes as if he was meditating.

Although Lucien was not sure why Fernando did not want to directly read the letters himself, as he was not that type of people who always liked showing off, Lucien still picked up the first letter.

The handwriting on the letter was very beautiful and elegant. Lucien took a glance at the envelope and saw the name, Yaroran Hathaway Hoffenberg.

"This… this letter should be confidential…" Lucien was very hesitant.

"Hurry up," Fernando urged.

Lucien nodded and started reading, "Fernando, according to your suggestion, I have improved the design of the magic circle and now it can separate the substances even more specifically. This is the improved structure…"

As he was reading, Lucien was surprised and also a bit amused.

He felt surprised because the two arcanists were actually heading for the right direction: separating isotopes!

Through the application of the Periodic Table of Elements, more and more arcanists had realized that the measurement of atomic weight was indeed not correct due to the limit of the methods currently applied. Fernando and Hathaway were trying to use electromagnetic force and centrifuging to purify the atoms. Only legendary archmages could do this.

What amused Lucien was how Hathaway described things. As a grand arcanist, her ability of expression was not very impressive and organized. She had to use a lot of magic symbols to make her words clear.

Reading the letter was not an easy job. Lucien finished reading, and Fernando grinned, "It's torturing reading her papers and letters. When she was still the princess, she never passed her literature course. Every single one of her papers had to be polished first by her students or the younger arcanists."

Lucien just got to know a big secret of Hathaway like this.

"What do you think of the letter?" asked Fernando, "I remember you mentioned something about this before."

Lucien thought it for a while and said, "This method works better when there's a bigger difference in mass… So heavy elements are ideal…"

Then Fernando asked Lucien more questions based on the paper. If Lucien failed to answer properly, Fernando would explain in details and even use some experiments to make the explanations even clearer.

Then Fernando finally asked Lucien to reply the letter for him.

Lucien started to realize Fernando's true intention. Fernando was using the letters between the legendary archmages to let Lucien know what the most cutting-edge researches were and to broaden his horizon.

Therefore, Lucien became very focused when reading the next letter.

The second letter was from an even more famous arcanist, Derrick Douglas.

"… As all arcanists know, transmission requires media, but how light and spiritual power transmit in the space? We believe that no matter how secret a matter is, or how carefully it hides, we shall finally find the clues. However, people were saying Aether was the medium for the transmission of light, but it hasn't been proved yet until today."

Aether was also the name for an alchemical material. It could be quite confusing for beginners.

"Brook and his supporters believe that the theory of Psychic Wave has won the game, but I'm not one of them. A simple experiment has revealed the problem hiding in this theory—if Aether indeed exists in the space, when our world revolves around the sun, there should be a resistance, thus the speed of light should change as well…"

Fernando listened carefully and commented, "Douglas has been working on Particle Theory for a long time. He's the leading figure opposing and questioning Wave Theory. Many arcanists have chosen to take a more neutral standpoint facing Wave Theory. So… What do you think of the experiment Douglas mentioned?"

Lucien was quite pessimistic, "Even if it is proved that Aether does not exist, I'm afraid that Mr. Douglas' effort would still not be recognized, as the experiment is designed based on his space model. However, we haven't found a single planet yet. This experiment is not persuasive enough."

Fernando slightly nodded, "What you said makes sense, but Douglas won't give up. The experiment has still provided us with a new perspective to examine the existence of Aether."

Then, Fernando asked Lucien more questions on Particle Theory and Wave Theory. Those questions really gave Lucien a hard time.

In the end, Lucien felt a bit exhausted. For those questions that Lucien did not answer very well, Fernando kept providing detailed explanations.

Then more letters followed. They made Lucien feel both nervous and excited. These letters covered all the eleven schools, which was out of Lucien's expectation.

Finishing reading all the letters, it was already close to noon. Fernando took Lucien to the lab where they built a black, hollow sphere, which was an ideal thermal radiation model.

"Okay, you may leave now. Tomorrow, we do the same. Letters first, and then experiment," said Fernando.

Lucien felt dizzy after all the work when he walked out of the lab.

At this time, he saw that Thompson came over. Seeing the look on Lucien's face, Thompson was not surprised, "Evans, you must have worked very hard. Trust me. It's really good for you."

"I can tell…" Lucien released a sigh of relief, and then he asked, "Why are the archmages still writing letters to communicate when Electromagnetic Message has been invented?"

"Writing can make them stay more organized… That's one thing." Thompson put on a meaningful look, "And the other thing's that… they would rather write letters because…"

Thompson looked at the direction of his teacher's lab and grinned.