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Chapter 335: The Comment on the Paper

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

It was close to the time when the headquarter of the Congress was about to close. Lucien took the paper which had been revised by the Lord of Storm to the Sorcerer Administrative Department.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Evans." Katrina was very surprised to see Lucien.

Katrina was very good-looking and in good shape. Many young sorcerers here who weren't married often tried to get closer to her, and it was the same today, even though it was already late afternoon. Some were pretending they were just having a drink; some were talking about the latest arcana theories to show their profoundness, using hard words that most people did not understand; some who were more straightforward just directly talked to the young receptionists, making those other sorcerers quite pissed off.

Hearing Katrina greeted Lucien gladly, they all looked at the young sorcerer who just entered the hall.

Good-looking face, elegant dressing, and the dream-like purple ring on his finger… This young man was Lucien Evans, one of the most outstanding young sorcerers. It was said that he was already a level five arcanist!

The sorcerers all stood up and greeted respectfully, "Good afternoon, Mr. Evans."

Meanwhile, they were all guessing the relationship between them Lucien and Katrina. They heard that Lucien Evans once had some students, and therefore many of them more or less envied Katrina for she could have such a famous teacher. Although Lucien Evans was still a middle-rank mage, he had been recognized as the most promising candidate for becoming a senior-rank. The several papers Lucien published had shown his profound knowledge in arcana.

Following such a teacher meant a bright future. At least, it shouldn't be hard for Katrina to become a real sorcerer and an arcanist.

Lucien nodded to the sorcerers and then walked to Katrina, "Good afternoon, may I know who is available today? "

"Mr. Eric, Mr. David… Basically, they're all available," answered Katrina. "Are you here for your new paper?"

"Yes." Lucien nodded, "The application thing's going to take some time. Don't worry. Also, tell others when you see them."

"No matter whether the application can be approved or not, being your student is still a great thing." Katrina knew that the other sorcerers present were all jealous of her. She knew that her choice was absolutely correct!

Lucien talked to Katrina casually for a short while and headed for the office in the back. Of course, he would go for Mr. Eric, as they were old acquaintances already.

When the other receptionist saw that Katrina felt so comfortable and at ease when talking to Mr. Lucien Evans, she was a bit jealous but also had a sense of inferiority. As an excellent graduate just like Katrina, she felt that she was like a little girl when discussing magic and arcana with the other. She tried hard to tell herself that people had different strengths, however, what she just saw frustrated her again. She wondered why Katrina was so lucky.

"Katrina, you've never told me that you know Mr. Evans," the young receptionist asked Katrina and pretended that she was just asking casually, "and he's your teacher?"

Katrina smiled, "Mr. Lucien Evans and I were on the same boat from the other side of the ocean. He taught me a lot on the way, and then, fortunately enough, I met Mr. Evans again in the magic school. He tutored me arcana."

"This is destiny…" The young receptionist sighed. That was what the other sorcerers were thinking as well.

Katrina was still young. Of course, she was very proud. She thought to herself that Mr. Evans was also the student of the Lord of Storm, but she would not brag about it.

…

"One thousand one hundred and twenty-four arcana credits, sixty-five arcana points. Now you've become a level five arcanist. It's a year earlier than I expected." Eric handed the badge with five silver stars on it to Lucien, "These years, the development of arcana is amazing. If one stops studying arcana for a short while, one would be left way behind."

What Eric said was true. Even Lucien was also a bit confused when hearing other sorcerers talking about the latest arcana topics after coming back.

"Mr. Eric, you've also become a level four arcanist." Lucien took a glance at the badge that Eric was wearing.

Hearing Lucien's words, Eric's face lit up, "I've also contributed three credits to your total gaining. By the way, are you here to submit your new paper?"

Lucien did not mention that his magic badge could also be updated to the fifth circle, and Eric did not expect it either. So the topic had been switched to Lucien's new paper.

"Yes. I was inspired by my mission. It's about Illusion." Lucien handed the paper to Eric. In his heart, he was quite expectant. After all, half of the paper was from Lucien himself.

Eric first submitted the paper and then asked a bit curiously, "Every single one of your papers more or less have caused some stirs. What's this paper about?"

"It proves that human brain waves can send out a special electromagnetic wave that leads to the secretion of certain hormones", thus people's emotions are affected and illusions are caused," said Lucien honestly.

Eric was a bit surprised, "Is it related to Ms. Isabella's paper? Her paper has caused a lot of discussions. Some arcanists support her viewpoint and believe that she should be the winner of Sorcerer Laurel, but more illusionists think that the paper's too shallow and not persuasive enough. Probably your paper is also going to be involved in the debate and be attacked. But your paper could also make Ms. Isabella's paper more complete. Perhaps you can share the Laurel with her and become the second arcanist in a hundred years who can win the highest awards in two different fields."

"My paper is not there yet. I just wish this paper can get a good score." Lucien joked, "Maybe in the future I can win the Laurel with a better paper."

Because Lucien had used the two versions of the spell, Charm Person, to support the paper, Eric told Lucien that he should be able to get the result the next day.

…

"… When studying photoelectric sensing, I found something strange. No matter how I enhance the power of a kind of low-frequency light, no electric current can be produced, which is contradictory to the previous inference…" Lucien was reading the letter from the grand arcanist Edwyn Brook, Emperor of Control, the Poem of the Goddess. He had noticed the unusual thing in the photoelectric effect.

Brook had not seen the nature of light current because cathode ray still remained undiscovered. However, Lucien knew that it was just a matter of time. He felt the urgency of setting up his Atom Institution.

"What do you think of Brook's experiment, Lucien?" As usual, Fernando asked again. He did not care whether Lucien's thoughts were right or wrong. This was just a method of teaching.

Lucien answered cautiously, "I've never done this experiment before, so I'm not sure. But according to Mr. Brook's description, maybe the foundation of his inference is wrong."

"You're just repeating… Maybe this is a chance for Douglas." Fernando was more inclined to Wave Theory, but he was not the supporter of either side as there was no specific evidence yet.

Then Fernando explained the experiment to Lucien in detail, but he did not make Lucien reply the letter until he had finished part of the heat radiation experiment with Lucien. Fernando asked Lucien to send the data to Brook, and also to Douglas.

…

The second day after lunch, Lucien went to Eric's office for the result of his paper.

"The result was sent back in the morning." Eric looked the same serious, "The result isn't bad. The board members won't change their review standards because of their own preferences."

When receiving the document, Lucien was quite nervous like a young student receiving his final score.

The document wrote:

"Augustus: The paper proves the existence of human body electric currents and brain waves and how emotions and delusions are caused using the experiment the spell. The idea is well organized and presented, but the sample size of brain wave is limited and thus the paper is less persuasive. The author has also admitted this. To conclude, the research creatively leads electromagnetism into the field of Illusion, providing further support for including part of the school of Illusion in the system of arcana. The paper can lead to great discussion but it still lacks decisive evidence. Therefore, thirty arcana credits and three hundred arcana points are recommended as the reward."

Chapter 336: Drummond's Visit

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Charlie, the other board member, made a simpler comment, "This creative paper has proved that human body electric current and brain waves can cause illusions. It is for sure a breakthrough. However, the paper still lacks solid support for wider application to cover more illusionary spells. Therefore, the importance of the paper remains to be further proved in the future. Twenty-five arcana credits and three hundred points are recommended to be given."

In the end, the document concluded, "Creative and groundbreaking. Worthy of detailed discussion. Well-organized and clearly presented. However, the application of the paper is relatively limited as it currently cannot cover the entire field of Illusion, and many key parts remain ambiguous. Twenty-eight credits and three hundred points are given as the award."

A smile appeared on Lucien's face. Although it seemed that those board members did not really like his paper, as they did not give him many credits, the comments given by them were not bad. Lucien had found the right research direction, thus his paper was, of course, creative and was a breakthrough.

Eric slightly shook his head and said, "Those board members are just fusty. They don't like yours and Ms. Isabella's paper. They gave you the least credits within the standard. Normally speaking, your paper deserves at least forty to fifty arcana credits, but Ms. Isabella's paper should get at least eighty."

"How many credits did Ms. Isabella get in the end?" asked Lucien. As he was prepared, Lucien was not angry. He was looking at getting more credits by other sorcerers' future citation.

"Fifty… Those guys…" Eric lowered his voice, looking the same serious, "If Ms. Isabella wasn't a senior-rank mage, probably they would give her forty."

Ms. Isabella was a member of Tower, a level six arcanist, and a seventh-circle sorcerer. Although Isabella specialized in Astrology and Illusion, she was still outside of the core group of Tower and had not been selected into Arcana Review Board. Rachel was her student.

"I see… It would be hard for Ms. Isabella to win the Laurel, then," Lucien commented casually.

Eric stared at Lucien with his light gray eyes and said to Lucien after making sure that he was not expecting to win the laurel, "So the number of Sorcerer Laurel winners have always been fewer than that of other awards. And most of the Laurel winners are the members from Family of Sorcerer, and their findings were all related to the three schools of magic from the ancient magic empire. But Ms. Isabella's experiment is very well designed and sufficiently proved. If the Laurel is not going to be given to Ms. Isabella, this honor would become a joke."

Lucien realized that who could win the award was also of political concern. He could not help thinking how he could win the Laurel.

…

When Lucien got back home, he was told by Leo that he had a guest.

"Mr… Drummond?" Lucien was a bit confused. He could not remember the name.

Leo hurriedly reminded him in the low vice, "Mr. Drummond's the chief editor of Arcana."

That was right. Lucien clapped his hands. As for every single arcanist who worked hard to publish his or her paper on Arcana, Drummond was a name that they had to remember. But Lucien was an exception. He did not have to worry about where to publish his papers.

"Why is he here? And Leo, how do you know him?" asked Lucien confused. Drummond was a level seven arcanist and an eighth-circle sorcerer, the chief editor of the famous journal, the winner of Arcana Sceptre prize. Why did Drummond come to visit him in person?

Leo answered as a very decent butler, "When I was working for Ivanovszki, I had to remember the names of all the important people to handle all kinds of stuff. So after I came to Allyn, I've collected some names, just in case."

"Thank you." Lucien was very satisfied.

When Lucien saw the chief editor, Drummond was wearing a dark vest and suit, holding a black stick. His black eyes were sharp and serious like the eyes of an eagle.

"The Lord of Storm once gave me some very useful suggestions in the field of Force Field, and his achievement in many arcana fields is incomparable. I'm sincerely glad for you that you can become his student, Lucien." Drummond tried to be closer to Lucien.

Lucien greeted Drummond and said, "Every morning I have to go through Mr. Fernando's brainstorm. Every morning time seems to pass by very slowly."

It took Drummond a few seconds to figure out what brainstorm was. He smiled, "Not many people are willing to stay beside the Lord of Storm when discussing arcana and magic questions."

Lucien and Drummond walked into the living room. Lucien asked politely, "Mr. Drummond, it's my great honor having you here. Honestly speaking, I did not recognize your name immediately as I never expected you to come and visit my place in person. I should be the one visiting you, sir."

Holding the stick, Drummond said, "I just got the news from the board that you've got a breakthrough in studying the factors affecting hormone secretion, and you've introduced Electromagnetic Theory into the field of Illusion. By the way, hormone is the term put forward by Ms. Isabella to call the certain human body alchemical substances. I've read your paper, and I think your paper is of great value. I am here to invite you to publish your paper in our journal. The theme of our next month issue accords with your topic well. I think it's better than sending you an invitation letter to express my sincerity, and also to apologize for what happened to your previous paper. I've fired the editor who rejected your contribution."

Arcana was the most well-known and reputed journal in the world of magic, and its chief editor came to Lucien in person for his paper! Drummond was treating Lucien like a grand arcanist or a legendary sorcerer! But, of course, apologizing for what happened last time was also part of the reason.

"No worries. Thank you very much, Mr. Drummond." Lucien and Drummond sat down on the couch in the living room. Lucien asked, "You mentioned the theme of the next month issue… Does Arcana have a theme?"

Before getting more information, Lucien would not say yes casually. Not to mention that Mr. Woods from Common Arcana was an old friend of his.

"Since Ms. Isabella's paper passed the review, great controversy has been caused. In the past week, many senior-rank arcanists have developed papers or designed experiments to refute Ms. Isabella's theory. So, in the next month's issue, we have decided to give the most space to these papers. This was the theme. We're hoping that your paper can achieve the expected outcome as your paper is the best support to Ms. Isabella's theory," said Drummond sincerely.

"To achieve the expected outcome…" murmured Lucien. He soon realized what Drummond was talking about.

Lucien guessed that most members in the Highest Council were not happy with the fact that Illusion and some other schools of magic had never belonged to the system of arcana, which caused the barrier between the sorcerers from Family of Sorcerer and most arcanists. So they were using this as an opportunity to let Lucien's paper become the solid support of Ms. Isabella's theory, thus the conservatives could feel the pressure. If Isabella won the Laurel, arcana would win, as the sorcerers from Family of Sorcerer had to admit the fact that the arcana system could at least explain part of the school of Illusion.

Of course, Isabella's paper itself was good enough to win the Laurel. This was the premise.

Lucien crossed his fingers and said in a low voice, "Mr. Drummond, Mr. Woods from Common Arcana has helped me a lot, and I've promised that I would first consider publishing my papers on Common Arcana first. I keep my words."

Lucien was expecting a better offer.

"Evans, Arcana Review Board is discussing something recently. It is totally unfair that publishing a paper on different levels of journals gives a sorcerer the same credits. Therefore, they are going to give each journal a corresponding coefficient. When deciding on future citation credits, a sorcerer can get more credits by weighting the base credit by the corresponding coefficient," answered Drummond, well prepared. "They've decided to evaluate each journal every five years based on the influence of all the papers published previously. The coefficient varies from one to three. Common Arcana is doing a good job these years, so the coefficient Common Arcana deserves shouldn't be bad. But I have to say that Arcana currently still enjoys a higher reputation. Arcana credits are very important to sorcerers, and this is also the will of the highest council. I am sure that Mr. Woods will understand. Also, if you support us this time, we will always reserve a place on Arcana for you and your paper. We can negotiate the schedule."

Arcana only did this for people who were at least members of Arcana Review Board!

Lucien nodded. After all, this was part of the plan of the highest council. He smiled, "If Mr. Woods won't blame me, I'm willing to publish my paper on Arcana."

Later, in Lucien and Drummond's casual talk, Drummond said with pity, "If Ms. Isabella did not publish her paper before you, and if your paper was more precise, your paper would be the focus. If that was the case, you probably would become the second arcanist in the past hundred years who could win two highest prizes before reaching senior-rank. But you're still young, so you still have a lot of potential, especially as the Lord of Storm's student."

After Drummond left, Lucien went back to his study and continued to work on analyzing the fifth circle spell.

Chapter 337: Further Experiment

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

In the study on the thirty-third floor of the headquarter of the Congress, Lucien was holding a letter from Oliver Constantine, "…Since the fifth circle, a sorcerer's every single progress involves the interaction between one's soul and one's cognitive world. In the progress, substantialization happens. In order to become a legendary archmage, one's cognitive world has to be half solidified to remain between being virtual and real…"

Lucien was too shocked to continue reading as he knew that the information in this letter should be confidential to a middle-rank sorcerer like him. Although the letter was about the secret of the legendary level, Fernando still closed his eyes like there was nothing special.

Although the book Astrology and Magic Elements also contained the rites of legendary level, as of now Lucien could not read that part, as he was not yet a senior-rank mage. Neither was he qualified to use the higher level arcana and magic library to gather more information. Therefore, before Lucien read the letter, he knew nothing about how to become a legendary archmage and how it was like to be one. However, Oliver Constantine's letter just revealed the secret casually.

Of course, Oliver Constantine was writing to the Lord of Storm, a grand arcanist. This was not a secret at all between them.

"Keep going," Fernando said in a plain tone. "Don't tell me you're not interested in becoming a legendary archmage."

This was the benefit of becoming the student of a grand arcanist. Lucien could find many secrets and all of them would contribute to his future growth.

Lucien continued to read the letter:

"Fernando, as you know, the closer one's cognitive world is to the real world, the easier the half-solidification progress is, thus reaching legendary level can be easier. From what I know about Florencia, I think this is going to be her biggest challenge in her future progressing. Therefore, I've been studying the half-solidification progress for a while.

"As my research went deeper, I've noticed that after excluding the parts consisting of the different cognitive worlds formed based on assorted arcana theories, in the meditation environment, the space structure and the real world conflict badly. Perhaps the mathematical basis that we adopt in describing space is wrong. Maybe we need to start all over again to reexamine this part. I think…"

It seemed that Oliver's math was not as good as his arcana. Fernando found a few mistakes in the letter and pointed them out in front of Lucien directly. Using the letter, Fernando again started to test and teach Lucien.

"You're not really stupid when it comes to math," commented Fernando with no any facial expressions. Then he grinned, "Although Oliver was a playboy and he was even fooling around with his female students, Florencia's definitely his true love… like an opera."

Lucien hoped that Fernando could mind his words a bit in front of him. Lucien felt that Fernando had two sides. When it came to arcana and magic, he was very short-tempered and impatient like an approaching storm, however, in other cases, was often humorous and sometimes even a bit dirty. Thus, some people secretly called Fernando "the old pervert".

Seeing that Lucien did not answer, Fernando continued, "Oliver has to be careful. Maybe one day Florencia will be totally pissed if he keeps contacting his previous little lovers… Maybe Florencia will find a lover to take her revenge. Umm… Imagine the look on Oliver's face… I wonder if one day Oliver, the Hand of Annihilation, will annihilate Florencia?"

Although Lucien was more or less prepared, Fernando's passion for gossiping was still out of Lucien's expectation, which further confirmed Lucien's impression of his teacher—an old pervert!

"It's… quite impossible. No one dares to steal a grand arcanist's wife," Lucien tried to end this topic.

Fernando took a glance at Lucien and said, "What do you know? There are always young guys who are bold and crazy about love. When I was young, I was even crazier than Oliver! But now I'm old. I'm not interested in anything else other than exploring the truth of the world."

Shaking his head, Fernando said, "The next letter."

After reading all the papers, Fernando did more thermal radiation experiments with Lucien to gather more information for the derivation of the formula.

…

In the study in Lucien's garden villa.

Lucien received a letter today form Viscount Harrison, the senior-rank illusionist.

"… I've read your paper, Evans. I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed as you have given up your advantages in the field of Element and Astrology and carelessly stepped into the field of Electromagnetic Wave, Hormone, and Illusion that you're not even familiar with. Thus, your paper is not enough thorough just like Isabella's paper. And it is even less persuasive compared to Isabella's work since there are many things in your paper that cannot be proved.

"Of course, your talent in arcana impressed me. You've also put forward some creative findings even in the fields that you're not good at. Maybe I should admit that some illusions were from the interaction between the electromagnetic waves and the alchemical substances. Your improvement on the spell, Charm Person, is marvelous. Perhaps, in the future, when you have a better understanding of the essence of Illusion, you can make an even greater contribution…"

Then Harrison spent more than twenty pages on explaining how he understood Illusion. Although he was more or less bragging about it, his words also solved some of the questions in Lucien's mind in the school of Illusion.

At the end of the letter, Harrison wrote,

"… The debate over whether the Laurel should go to Ms. Isabella has been growing more and more intense. Family of Sorcerer has decided to gather us senior-rank mages together next month to discuss it. It is a pity that your paper hasn't been proved decisive, or I would be able to nominate you to share the Laurel with Isabella. So you can be one of the two most outstanding arcanists in the past a hundred years."

Family of Sorcerer retained the conservative style from the ancient magic empire. They looked back the whole year's achievement in the three major schools of magic at the end of every year to decide about who could win the Laurel, if there was anyone qualified for the prize.

As for Holm Crown prize, things were different. A great achievement could lead to the activation of the reviewing process immediately and thus whether the sorcerer could win the prize could be decided very fast unless it had to take years for the value of the finding to be proved.

Obviously, this time, great pressure was confronting Family of Sorcerer.

Putting down the letter from Harrison, Lucien started to write his own letter.

Picking up the quill, he slightly dipped it in the ink. However, the tip of the quill stopped above the paper. The first letter was of course for the princess far away from him. However, Lucien was a bit nervous writing the letter.

He calmed himself down, trying to figure out what Natasha's preference was. He knew that he should avoid talking about arcana and magic too much. In the world that Lucien originally came from, people made fun of such nerds all the time.

But what else could he write about? Lucien found it rather difficult.

A while later, Lucien started writing,

"… My teacher is Mr. Fernando, the Lord of Storm. He is a strange person. When it comes to talking about magic and arcana, he is very bad-tempered and impatient. He was even yelling at me a few times… You know, I'm always quiet and cautious… When he is angry, it's more than dreadful, like a violent storm. But at other times, he is pretty casual and humorous, sometimes even a bit too much."

Just in case, Lucien did not use the word "pervert".

"… When I was reading the letters from these archmages, I could tell their different personalities from the ways they wrote the letters. For example, Ms. Hathaway is not very good at using words to express herself, but when it comes to arcana and magic, I can tell that she is very determined and intelligent, although the sentences she used were rather simple…

"Mr. Douglas seems to be a graceful senior man. He rarely gets angry. The only problem with him is that he always asks why. Mr. Brook is gifted in writing and is always very cautious about using his words. Meanwhile, he is quite old-school and stubborn.

"… Mr. Oliver, when talking about things other than magic and arcana, is always full of passion just like a poet. He is like the typical elegant and favorable playboy pictured in the operas. But he basically shows no resistance to woman's beauty…

"… Ms. Hellen Paris' words are always simple. She rarely talks about things other than arcana and magic. But according to Mr. Fernando, she is actually quite talkative in front of people she knows well, but she just focuses more on exploring the nature of the world.

"Vicente Miranda, Thanatos, rarely writes to Mr. Fernando. I can say that he is relatively… careless. He only wrote to Mr. Fernando twice, but both of the wrinkled letters were stained with the oil from the dead bodies in the back. It is quite disturbing…"

…

After finishing the letter for Natasha, Lucien felt much relaxed. Then he wrote more letters to all of his friends to tell them that he had come back. He also wrote back to Viscount Harrison and briefly explained his understanding of dream and of simple behavior psychology.

…

In the past a few days, many friends visited Lucien or wrote back to him.

This morning, Lucien stepped into Fernando's study on time.

"Good morning," said Lucien politely.

Fernando looked quite pissed, "I'm not good! Not at all! Why did I bother doing this damned thermal radiation experiment!"

Lucien's heart suddenly missed a beat. He wondered if Fernando had collected all the data. However, as he was being busy with studying the fifth-circle magic these days, Lucien had not found any time to analyze the numbers.

Chapter 338: The Constant

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

"So… you can't find the law from the data collected?" Lucien asked carefully. He had found the way to talk to Fernando. Lucien had to purposefully make some mistakes to hide the fact that sometimes he actually knew more than his teacher.

Fernando walked back and forth impatiently in the study, "No. Based on the Equipartition Theorem, I've worked out a formula. Although it works perfectly with long waves, it just produced a stupid error with short waves. Can you imagine what the formula told me? It told me that the shorter the wave is, the greater the energy that can be produced. If that is true, the pope would be kneeling on the ground and kissing the tip of my shoe right now!"

Anything, such as the sun and the fire, that was above absolute zero could produce thermal radiation. It was a common belief in the Congress that the nature of the thermal radiation was the electromagnetic waves of different wavelengths. Meanwhile, as the temperature rose, more short waves of different frequencies would emerge. Within the spectrum, the visible light could have different colors. For example, the pure flame had colors including dark red, crimson, tangerine, orange-yellow, bluish-white and so on, which was in line with the change of the wavelength.

Hearing Fernando's growling and feeling his bad temper, the name, Ultraviolet Catastrophe, suddenly came to Lucien in his mind. He did not expect that Fernando first figured out this formula.

"Can I… Can I take a look at the formula?" Lucien asked very cautiously.

Fernando yelled, "I've been staring at it for the whole night! I didn't leave anything out!"

However, Fernando did not stop him. Lucien picked up the piece of paper curiously and saw the formula Fernando scrawled. The formula was exactly the same as the one in Lucien's memory!

Seeing that Lucien was just holding the paper there but did not say anything, Fernando thought that he was verifying the formula. He waved his hand very impatiently and said, "Forget about it! This is so stupid."

When Fernando was pissed, he was also very tough with himself.

Lucien did verify the formula. What Fernando said was true.

After a while, Fernando released a long sigh, "Read the letters for me first. We'll do another round of experiment again later."

"Yes." Lucien nodded. Then, he picked up the first letter. It was from Douglas, the Emperor of Arcana.

"…Based on the experimental data you gave me, I figured out an empirical formula from my perspective. I still believe that the nature of the thermal radiation is not the electromagnetic waves, but molecular emission from heating…"

Fernando cut in, "When it comes to thermal radiation, he's still talking about his Particle Theory."

"Maybe we can change our perspective…" Lucien tried to be euphemistic.

Fernando curled his lip and said, "Maybe he's the only one who can say these things without being affected. Go ahead. Let's see what the formula is."

Lucien was a bit nervous. If the formula was again the same as what Lucien learned in the world that he originally came from, a world-shaking finding would be approaching them.

"…This is my formula. But it only works with short waves. As for the calculation of long waves, it has failed…" Lucien was totally shocked. The formula was the same!

Maybe the data collected was not accurate? Lucien could not help wondering. The closer they were to the answer, the more nervous and suspicious Lucien felt.

"It works… with short waves…? So, Particle Theory can lead to a formula that works with short waves…" murmuring, Fernando was confused.

Lucien stayed focused and started to verify the two formulas in his mind using the two theories. Meanwhile, his heart beat faster and faster. He felt that a corner of the world's truth was going to be revealed.

Was the constant going to be the same?

According to Lucien's understanding, if there was a big difference between the two worlds, the physical constants should be different as well, which was possibly the reason why magic existed in this world. However, if the physical constants were the same, Lucien should be still in the same universe, unless there was something else that he did not understand!

After a while, when Lucien just finished verifying the formula using Particle Theory, Fernando finally calmed down a bit, "Write back to Douglas and attach my formula in the letter. See what he says. Also, copy the letter to Brook, Hathaway, Oliver, Hellen, and Vicente. Give them both of the formulas."

Lucien stopped thinking and tried to slow down his heartbeat. He pointed at the other letter on the table and said, "Mr. Brook also sent a letter here."

"Open it," said Fernando briefly.

Lucien read the letter at a moderate speed, "…Based on your data, I've worked out an empirical formula from the Equipartition Theorem. But the formula is ridiculous. It only works with calculating long waves, but it's like a disaster when it comes to short waves…"

The letter was basically the same as what Fernando just said, and so was the formula Brook provided.

Fernando remained silent for quite a while. And then he said in a low voice, "Write the letters as I said. I need some time to think."

Then, he closed his eyes and leaned back against the chair.

After Lucien finished writing the letters and gave them to the Adamantium Golem, he also started working on verifying the other formula.

Time passed by. The other formula, after being verified, still remained exactly the same as Fernando's and Brook's answer.

Lucien's mouth was a bit dry. His heart was beating fast again. Lucien was very nervously waiting for the answer. Staying focused and calm, he started to put the two formulas together to make it fit both of the scenarios. When doing this, everything faded away from Lucien, except the voice of demon and devil lingering in his ears, which made him feel dizzy from time to time.

Lucien's black eyes became cold. He was totally dedicated, and the formula slowly came into being.

…

In the headquarter office of Arcana.

Drummond pushed open the office door and pointed at the couch, "Ms. Isabella, please."

Isabella was wearing a long, light green dress, decorated with fine laces and designed pleats. There was also a nice-looking floppy hat on her head. A long, light-purple ribbon banded her hair.

Taking off the hat, Isabella handed it to her student, Rachel. There was a gentle smile on her face, and her blue eyes showed her sincere appreciation, "Drummond, thank you very much."

"I was just pushing it a little bit. Most importantly, those grand arcanists want you to win the Laurel." Drummond smiled and pointed at the upper floor, "Also, your research findings deserves the prize."

Isabella was a typical Holm beauty. She had black hair and blue eyes, looking rather elegant and well-mannered. She slightly shook her head and said, "There are still lots of people who oppose my finding like it's always been. In the past, countless arcanists missed the Laurel. Without your help, maybe I would also be one of them."

"Don't doubt yourself! You finding's a huge progress! Think about the influence your paper has brought to the Congress. Most sorcerers needed to admit that the paper has made a great contribution to including Illusion into the arcana system!" Drummond seemed to be a bit worked up. He was totally on the side of the Congress, and also a determined arcanist. He disliked the division between the organizations and groups a lot, especially Family of Sorcerer, the typical conservative and old-fashioned one following the ancient tradition.

…

About twenty floors above the headquarter office of Arcana, Lucien had finished putting together the two formulas. The formula looked so familiar to him that he felt difficult to breathe properly.

After a few minutes, he finally started to bring the sample data into the combined formula.

As Lucien knew that, for the first time, he was going to see part of the truth of the world, he was so nervous and anxious that he was experiencing auditory hallucination as if horrible enemies were trying hard to make him distracted.

"Stop! Stop right now!" The devils in the abyss were shouting. They were going to tear Lucien apart with their sharp claws!

"Stop what you are doing! I'll give you power and wealth and anything else you want in the world!" The demons from the hell were also terrified. They wanted to lure Lucien.

"My child, come here. This is the bosom of the mother, the bosom that once hugged every deity. You will enjoy the eternal peace and happiness here!" said the angel to Lucien mercifully.

These words failed to get in Lucien's ears. He only cared about the constant.

…

In the headquarter office of Arcana.

Standing beside the window, Drummond stared at the pedestrians as small as the ants down there on the streets and said to Isabella confidently, "This is another major victory of arcana. Your name and your contribution will be remembered by the whole magic world and the history."

"This is a wonderful era for arcana." Isabella smiled sincerely.

…

"Maggot! Trivial human beings! I'm gonna kill you and take out your guts! I can smell your blood!"

"Anyone who does not show respect to the demon shall be punished by destiny!"

"You profaner! The origin of the evilness in the world! You shall stop now, or you'd bear endless agony!"

These were all the different voices in Lucien's ears.

Lucien was only a step away from the final answer. He paused a bit and then broke through the barrier.

The demons, devils, and angels all burst out the sharp scream and they melted like the piles of snow under sunlight.

Lucien saw the constant. The familiar constant now looked very creepy.

The constant… was the same as the one from the Earth?

It was the same!

All the illusions broke into pieces. Begging for mercy, the angels and demons disappeared completely. The world went back to normal.

However, in Lucien's eyes, everything looked different now!

Chapter 339: The Beginning

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

What was the cosmological constant?

General speaking, if multiple universes did exist, a cosmological constant would be the special DNA for a universe. The cosmological constant was what made the universe different from the others.

After arriving at the world, Lucien had found that although this world was very similar to the Earth, there were still a few major differences, for example, the undiscovered stars linking to destiny, the existence of magic, arcana and Blessings, great dragons, demons, vampires and so on. Therefore, Lucien subconsciously took it for granted that this world was in a different universe, thus, of course, the cosmological constant would also be different.

There were two reasons why the formula could cause Lucien to have such a mood swing. One thing was that the formula produced jointly by Fernando and Douglas had proved that this world was also discontinuous and quantized, which obviously conflicted with the Congress' current understanding. The other thing was that the cosmological constant was the same as Planck Constant from the Earth.

The first point would cause a huge stir in the system of arcana. Lucien was already prepared for it when he found the periodicity among the elements. However, when he found out the constant, he was totally shocked, because the constant could directly tell Lucien if the two worlds were different.

This was Lucien's first attempt at exploring the essence and nature of this world!

However, the constant was the same as the one from the Earth!

The two constants were the same!

At that moment, all the illusions caused by Lucien's nervousness disappeared immediately. Lucien felt that he was in a world that was half visional and real, and his meditation world suddenly shook. The meditation environment constructed by fire, wind, and water broke into pieces inch by inch, while the cast starlight brought by gravitation forced its way down to stabilize the whole cognitive world.

Then, the meditation world, after being destroyed, started to reform from the pieces. The energy flow was no longer like a stream, but spots of light like countless small stars.

After a while, when his cognitive world settled down gradually, Lucien opened his eyes slowly. Fortunately, the new understanding of the world accorded with Lucien's previous knowledge, or his head would explode.

It seemed that the energy particles in the cognitive environment could travel through the virtual and commute between the soul and the spirit world. Lucien felt that his soul was stronger than ever, and his spirit was capable of discovering the deeper secrets. Lucien had overcome an important barrier on his way to the senior rank, just like how Astrology and Magic Elements wrote.

There were three major barriers for one to reach the senior rank: first, beginning to get early insights in the nature of the world; second, having the soul and spirit that were powerful enough to intervene in the reality world; third, one's arcana and magic knowledge should be enough to analyze a complex sixth-circle spell.

However, facing such a progress, as a fourth-circle sorcerer, Lucien did not get excited at all. Because of the constant and the gravitation constant from before, he had to admit that, very possibly, he was still in the same universe where Earth was in. Of course, a possibility was that there was another universe very similar to the one that he was familiar with. However, he could not explain why magic and arcana only existed here, and why the stars remained undiscovered.

Brain in a vat?

The Matrix?

The experiment zone of some kind of powerful creature?

The principle of human choice? Mind over matter?

Lucien was not willing to accept any of these assumptions. But comparatively speaking, the latter two situations were much better for him. Lucien had never felt so eager to explore the world and to grow stronger!

"That's all for today. You can leave now. Come back tomorrow." His eyes closing, Fernando seemed to be a bit tired. Lucien was woken up by Fernando's words. He realized that his hands were sweating.

Lucien never sweated like this since he had become a level-two knight.

"Yes, sir." Lucien took a deep breath and stood up slowly.

Fernando noticed that Lucien was acting a bit strange. He thought that Lucien was being tortured by the two formulas, so Fernando tried to comfort him, "Although it's hard to admit that we can be foolish sometimes, all the arcanists can encounter problems that they are not able to solve. When this happens, we publish papers on Arcana and Magic to get new ideas. If we still can't solve this thermal radiation thing when the next month's Arcana is issued, we can put the two formulas on the journal. Your name will be included."

"I'm fine, sir." Lucien was a bit absent-minded, "I just… just need some rest."

The fresh air outside of the Congress building refreshed Lucien. This was the real world, the beautiful world!

"I'm lucky that no one has come to unplug my tubes, and no one from Matrix has been sent out to kill me." Lucien made fun of himself in his heart. He knew that he had to hurry to improve himself. And his next paper should be about the thermal radiation formula and the constant. Still, Lucien also had to be careful with the pace, or more arcanists' heads would explode from the cognition shift, which definitely wouldn't be a good thing for the Congress.

In Lucien's spirit library, most of the quantum books were still sealed.

…

More than a week later. In the morning of June 28th.

Lucien put the butter on his bread like a decent noble.

"Mr. Evans, when can we start Atom Institution?" asked Sprint. He could not wait anymore.

Sprint had left the restaurant and was now living in Lucien's place. Except for studying and practicing magic, he was just helping Lucien with sorting some materials. Because Lucien was focusing on analyzing the fifth-circle spells, he was not doing the experiments. Therefore, the proud Sprint felt that he was basically useless. Every day, he was longing for the establishment of the institution.

Lucien put down the cup and wiped his mouth with a piece of napkin, "Soon. I've successfully built the structure of the spell, Fernando's Lightning Smelter, in my soul, and I have become a fifth-circle sorcerer. It's time to ask for Mr. Fernando's help."

Of course, before this, Lucien could also use the thermal radiation formula to win himself some more support.

"What…?!" Sprint was very surprised. The milk spilled out from his mouth.

He remembered that Mr. Evans just became a third-circle sorcerer a year ago. He had never heard anyone else who did this! Very possibly, Mr. Evans could become a senior-rank mage before thirty years old!

Lucien put aside the napkin and smiled, "I got some help. Finish the test paper today, Sprint. If you feel having nothing to do, you can do one more."

"No! I'm busy!" Hearing Lucien's words, Sprint obviously was terrified. Even his spiked red hair instantly looked less upright.

"Master, the latest issue of Arcana is available now. Three days earlier than usual." Leo interrupted their conversation and handed the black-covered journal to Lucien.

The early issue of Arcana was within Lucien's expectation. Opening the journal, Lucien instantly saw the first paper from Ms. Isabella, The Relationship between Some Alchemical Substances Produced by Human Body and Emotions and Its Application in Illusion.

In the history of Arcana, rarely could authors who were not legendary sorcerers publish their papers on the first page. Obviously, Arcana was on Isabella's side.

Turning the pages, Lucien saw his paper at the fourteenth place in the first half part of the journal. Between Isabella's and his paper, there were some papers from other fields. For example, Chloe had combined all the formulas and laws in thermodynamics and thus a new thermodynamics system had taken shape.

When seeing this paper, Lucien nodded. He knew it was time for him to publish the next paper.

"Mr. Evans, is Ms. Isabella's paper the reason why they released this month's Arcana earlier?" asked Sprint curiously.

"You've heard about it?" Lucien looked at Sprint.

"People have been talking about it. Katrina said that many arcanists were very excited. They are expecting Ms. Isabella to win the Laurel. Is it true?" Spring also looked quite excited, although he did not really understand the value of this paper.

"Very possibly." Lucien nodded.

Then Lucien left for the headquarter of the Congress.

…

Walking in the magic tower, Lucien saw many sorcerers chatting with each other holding the latest issue of Arcana in their hands.

Lucien knew that the influence of Isabella's paper was profound. He also knew that what he was going to do would be able to overthrow the whole arcana world!

Stepping into the study, Lucien knew that Fernando was still quite pissed off and irritated. Thus, Alferris, the little crystal dragon, had not shown up for a few days.

"Good morning, sir," greeted Lucien politely.

Fernando shouted, "Good morning?! How can this morning be good? Douglas and Hathaway have been writing to me every day telling me the value of improving the formula from the perspective of Particle Theory and molecular scattering, but Brook, Hellen, Oliver, and Vicente are reminding me to see things using the concept of electromagnetic radiation and energy equipartition theorem. They're arguing in my brain, and I wish that I had never studied the topic because neither of them works!"

"Sir, we can forget all of these," seizing the chance, Lucien said to Fernando directly.

Fernando looked very serious, "What do you mean by forgetting all of these?"

"That's right. Forget about particles or waves, and forget about all the arguments. Just look at the two formulas to see if it's possible to put them together by doing math." Lucien was also very serious because he knew that what they were discussing about right now was going to lead to the new beginning of the arcana system!

"Doing math?" Fernando slightly frowned, "I guess… you have done it already, right? Tell me the formula you got." Fernando instantly understood what Lucien was trying to say.

Taking a deep breath, Lucien nodded, "Yes, sir. I've put together a formula."

When saying this, Lucien felt that there was a deafening thunder roaring above the whole Congress and the world of arcana.

This would be the end of the era, but also a beginning of a new one!

Chapter 340: The Laurel and The World

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

In Fernando's study.

After Lucien wrote down Planck's formula, it only took the Lord of Storm a very short period of time to finish the verification.

"It works with both long and short waves. Currently speaking, this is a correct formula." Fernando nodded carefully, "But we'd better do a few more rounds of the experiment to make sure it accord with all the situations."

Having been bothered by two to three weeks, Fernando felt that he was going to explode at any time. So, once he saw the formula from Lucien that could be called perfect for now, the only wish in his mind was to further verify it, and forget about the two original formulas!

This was also Lucien's first time doing the experiments without reading the letters first since he became Fernando's student.

Although Fernando did all the experiments very fast, he was only sure about the validity of the thermal radiation formula when it was already afternoon.

"Interesting…" Fernando was much more relaxed now, and thus his attitude changed, "You're right, Lucien. I was thinking too much. It's the same with having a relationship. When you're in love, don't think too much."

Lucien had no idea how Fernando connected the two ideas together. Also, he did not see Fernando as an expert when it came to dealing with a romantic relationship, as Fernando was still single.

"Shall we write to the grand arcanists?" Lucien wanted Fernando to focus on the formula.

Fernando nodded cheerfully, "Of course, they have also been bothered by the two formulas for quite a while. It's surprising that my student first figured this out… However…"

Within only a second, Fernando put on the stern look and said, "Since the formula works, we can say that there are deeper laws hiding before it! Something that can reveal the nature of thermal radiation! We can't just stop here. We gotta delve into it further!"

Although Fernando sounded very impatient, as his student, Lucien knew that he was actually just excited. This was his great impulse of exploring this world.

"Shall I write to them now?" Lucien asked. He hoped that the grand arcanists could first get familiar with the combined formula.

"Write to them right now." Fernando walked back to his desk and said to Lucien without turning around, "Get them involved in the discussion. I have a feeling: this is gonna be a tough job. Also, turn it into a paper of how you put together the formula. Send it to the board together with my formula and Douglas' formula. So all the arcanists can know what is going on here. If we can figure out the true meaning of the formula before the next month's Arcana is published, we can put them all together. If we fail to do so, the arcanists' discussion can also inspire us."

Lucien's plan worked. He hurriedly sent the formula to the six arcanists using the Adamantium golems and then started discussing the formula with his teacher.

The discussion was torturing to Lucien, because it was not yet time for him to introduce the proper explanation, which Lucien would save it until the end when all the possibilities were excluded. Telling lies and findings excuses were definitely harder than confessing, especially since he was talking to a grand arcanist.

Fortunately, Fernando had no idea that Lucien had already known the correct answer and he only focused on the formula itself. Lucien thus managed to get over with it and, meanwhile, he also learned quite a lot from the discussion.

It was late now. When Fernando told Lucien that he could leave, he asked, "Lucien, have you become a fifth-circle sorcerer?"

"Yes, sir." Lucien was a bit surprised. After all, he just became a fifth-circle last night.

Fernando grinned, "When you were doing the experiment, I could tell that your spiritual power was greater than before. Also, I knew it would be just a matter of time before you became a fifth-circle sorcerer unless you didn't work hard. Since you've fulfilled your promise and you're doing a better job than the other students, you may bring the Atom Institution application form to me tomorrow and I'll endorse it for you."

"Thanks a lot, sir." Lucien was quite surprised. He thought it would take longer to win Fernando's support.

…

The next day.

"The Improvement on Fernando's Formula and Douglas' Formula in Thermal Radiation Research…" After writing the evaluation comment and signing on Lucien's application form, Fernando picked up the paper that Lucien was going to submit together later and slowly read the title. There was a rare smile on his face.

"The formula is going to be called Evans' Formula." Fernando nodded, "And the constant will be called Evans' Constant. Your name will be forever remembered."

Since the periodic table of elements was only a summary, Lucien's surname was not used.

Lucien slightly sighed in his mind because the meaning of the constant went far beyond Fernando's current understanding. Then, he started to read the letters as usual. The first one was from Douglas.

"… I'm glad to know that you and your student, Lucien, have solved the problem which has bothered me for the past a few days. Congratulations to Mr. Lucien Evans. This is the victory of the younger generation. And maybe only the younger generation can avoid all the distracting factors and directly use the mathematical method to solve the problem. He's like a shining pure diamond…

"Since we've figured out the formula, it's time for us to ask why it is this formula that makes sense? I can say that there must be a hiding law that we haven't discovered behind the formula, but what is it? It's not yet the moment that we stop and celebrate our accomplishment. We still have so many whys to ask… Once we understand the true meaning of the formula, we can take a further step on our path to explore the ultimate truth."

Fernando commented, "Of course… Mr. Hundred Thousand Whys…"

The rest of the letters from Brook, Hathaway, Oliver, Hellen, and Vicente were basically the same. They were talking about what was behind the formula.

…

Three days later. In the early morning.

"…based on the review and comments of the two board members, the overall comment on the formula put forward by Mr. Lucien Evans is: the formula works perfectly with both shortwave and longwave situations, and thus the formula can be widely applied. We name it Evans' Formula of Blackbody Radiation, and the constant in the formula is called Evans' Constant. However, as the formula came from the pure mathematical calculation, there was no theoretical support to the formula, and its value still remains to be further revealed. Twenty arcana credits and two hundred arcana points are given as the reward."

Reading the review document send to his place by Katrina, Lucien was quite encouraged. The reward was not bad, but the most important thing was that Lucien could get a lot of citation credits from the formula and the constant. Unlike the basic data including atomic weights, the finding would belong to Lucien exclusively for the following three years!

As for the result of his application for the institution, the procession would still take another one or two weeks.

Putting down the document, Lucien started to enjoy his breakfast, and at the same time, he opened the letter from Harrison:

"… The latest issue of Arcana has caused a huge stir among all the sorcerers. Every sorcerer that I met was talking about 'the arcana meaning of Illusion', and it is probably already safe to say that Ms. Isabella's research finding has destroyed the previous Illusion theories. This is very interesting because the alchemical substance, hormone, currently only works for very few illusionary spells! The atmosphere has put a lot of pressure on Family of Sorcerer. So four days later, on Monday, the senior-rank mages have all agreed to confer the Laurel to Isabella…

"Unfortunately, my proposal of you sharing the Laurel with her was rejected. They did not really agree with your Brain Wave Theory. No, to be more specific, the theory can still be further improved greatly. I'm sure that you'll keep working on this, and I'm looking forward to the day when you can also wear the Laurel and thus become the second middle-rank mage ever who can win the highest prizes in two different fields…

"The Laurel conferring ceremony will be held at the headquarter of Family of Sorcerer. If you have time, you can attend the ceremony."

"They've decided to give Ms. Isabella the Laurel," Lucien put down the letter and said casually.

Sprint was a bit confused. He did not understand why Mr. Evans said this.

Lucien did not explain. He smiled and stood up from the chair. It was time for him to visit his teacher and put forward some suggestions.

…

After a few days of heated discussion, Fernando still had not figured out the hiding meaning behind the formula, which was driving him nuts.

"I've got a suggestion," said Lucien seriously, staring at Fernando's eyes.

Fernando was a bit surprised, so he asked confusedly, "What is it?"

Because of Fernando's bad temper, very rarely dared people to talk to him like this.

"I think we should introduce Chloe's Kinetic Theory in Thermodynamics into the analysis of the formula. His perspective on using statistics and his description of entropy and probability have inspired me. Maybe they're helpful for us to understand the formula," as Lucien was saying, he felt that he was slowly opening the Pandora's box.

The Kinetic Theory in Thermodynamics had helped Chloe win the Ice & Snow Medal. Recently, he had further improved it and turned it into a basic system.

Fernando nodded without thinking too much, "Since all the other theories have failed to work, we can use entropy and probability to see what'll happen."

Since the direction was right. Fernando and Lucien's work was quite productive. The letters from Douglas, Brook, Hathaway and the rest of the grand arcanists also helped them a lot with overcoming all the barriers. The meaning and value of the formula was going to be revealed.

…

In Cocus, the capital city of Calais, there was a black magic tower standing in the corner of the city, where a light gray mist always lingered.

The differently decorated coaches slowly stopped in front of the magic tower. The guests were led to the banqueting house.

"Welcome, Ms. Isabella, Mr. Drummond." Smiling, Adalbert Von Miller, the president of Family of Sorcerer, a level seven arcanist and a ninth-circle archmage, welcomed the winner of the laurel.

All the sorcerers and arcanists turned around and had their eyes on Ms. Isabella. Among them, many played important roles in the Congress.

Tonight, the fully-dressed Isabella was like a star.

…

On the thirty-third floor of the magic tower of Allyn, in a common study, Fernando and Lucien's work was close to the end. The meaning of the formula was going to be unveiled. And the grand arcanists were right now waiting for the result in their own Demiplane magic towers.

Lucien, knowing the final conclusion, felt that his hands were sweating.

…

In the banqueting house, all the guests were greeting and chatting with each other warmly. There were talking about the winner of the Laurel, illusions, magic, and arcana. The sorcerers attending this modern celebration ceremony were dressing in a traditional way, giving the gathering a unique, combined style of being both profound and lively.

The orange light in the banqueting house was gentle and soft, covering every single guest with a layer of golden color.

When Von Miller stepped onto the stage in the front, the guests gradually quieted down. Ms. Isabella and her student, Rachel, were invited to the stage.

The maid behind Miller was holding a silver tray, on which there were two crystal, finely-carved laurels. In the laurels' shining light, there were flowing magic symbols. The laurel looked more like a piece of artwork than a magic item.

Isabella also put Rachel's name on the paper to thank her for the contribution and the inspiring ideas Rachel offered. After the verification, Family of Sorcerer had decided to make them share the honor.

However, in all the sorcerers' eyes, even including Rachel herself, Isabella was the center of tonight's gathering.

"… The alchemical substance, hormone, was detected in Ms. Isabella and Miss Rachel's experiment, and the application value of hormone has been approved in the mechanism of Illusion. Therefore, Family of Sorcerer and Calais Magic Academy have decided to confer the Laurel to them in order to sincerely appreciate their great contribution."

Von Miller put the two beautiful laurels one the two ladies' hair. The radiance of the laurels was dazzling.

Warm applause followed. All the mages were more or less quite excited, while some sorcerers had mixed feelings.

…

The analysis result in front of Fernando and Lucien was shocking!

Fernando's voice had mixed anger and fear, "So, Lucien… There is only one circumstance for the formula to work… We have to assume that the absorption and emission of energy are not continuous, instead, it is in portions!?"

When Fernando was speaking, his voice trembled, as if he was facing the almighty God of Truth.

"Yes, sir." Lucien felt Fernando's emotion, but his answer still remained firm.

…

Wearing the beautiful Laurel, Isabella was giving a short speech in the banqueting house.

"… In the ancient magic empire, because of the lack of a powerful mathematical tool for calculating the irregular figures, the construction of magic models and the analysis of the spells always encountered great barriers, and thus the ancient sorcerers had to rely fully on the growth of their spiritual power to overcome the barriers in a savage way…

"This was ended by the establishment of calculus put forward by President Mr. Douglas. Together with the great contribution made by the several grand arcanists, now we have found the powerful tool to help us with calculating and building the irregular magic models in a relatively easy way.

"Therefore, we can say that calculus is the foundation of the arcana system. The continuous and smooth division and the infinitesimal analysis have pushed us forward to the truth of the real world. From this perspective, the mathematical tool itself has already conveyed the main idea of arcana, which is the continuity. We see continuity in seashores, horizons, wind, waves, streams, time, and so on.

"Based on the concept of continuity, Mr. Douglas' Force Field Theory together with Mr. Brook's Electromagnetics and Light-darkness theory has formed the main structure of the world of arcana. However, unfortunately, Illusion, Transformation and Summoning currently are still outside of the system…

"Here the continuity referred to the ongoing process that one could always see in one's daily life. It was like the river we saw and the road we followed, which could never be divided into pieces. It was also like the numbers on a thermometer. There was always one point one, point two, point three between the number one and two without blank sections."

…

Hearing Lucien's answer, Fernando yelled at him, "Are you telling me that the form of energy is not continuous? And the world built on this is also not continuous?! You look at the howling wind, feel the time passing by! It's ridiculous!"

Lucien felt the great pressure from his teacher. However, Lucien raised his head and looked at Fernando in his eyes, "If we want the formula to work, we have to accept the assumption that energy is divided into separate portions."

Lucien's back was straight, and the words coming out from his lips were cold.

"Maybe… The world itself is not continuous!"

…

"This is a beautiful era. Every one of us has made our contribution to the arcana world. And I'm just a lucky one."

The moment when Isabella finished her speech, the deafening summer thunder arrived. The claps of thunder sounded crazy, making the sorcerers in the house all feel a bit anxious.

Chapter 341: The Assumption

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The pouring rain from the sky rushed downwards like a waterfall, separating the people in the banqueting house from the outside world. At the moment, many of the sorcerers felt a little lost, as if they had been abandoned by the real world.

"The rain in the Month of Fire is always unexpected." In the banqueting house, Drummond stared at the pouring rain outside of the window with a glass of wine in his hand.

Staring at the darkness outside and hearing Drummond's words, Isabella smiled. "The power of mother nature is always much more powerful than magic. Only the legendary archmages could have the power to control the weather in such a large-scale."

"Flashes of lightning and thundering will all end, just like the barriers we face. The ancient magic theories and the powerful and horrible church will all fade away or be conquered by arcana and magic. Destiny is like a huge wheel rolling forward. Whatever stays in its way will be ground down completely. What is out of date will for sure be abandoned. I like the world after the rain since all the things can be washed clean… like a new world," said Drummond rather confidently.

The heavy rain continued outside.

…

Thunder and lightning controlled the sky above Allyn within only a short period of time.

It was totally out of Lucien's expectation that the fury from the grand arcanist could lead to such a sudden and horrible weather change. Lucien felt a pressure so great that he was even having a difficult time breathing.

"The world is discontinuous? The world is discontinuous!?" Fernando's growls were even louder and more violent than the roaring thunders outside. "But this is only an assumption!"

Facing the storm, Lucien did not yield. Instead, Lucien answered slowly but firmly, "But currently this is the only possible assumption."

Rumbling… The thunders went crazy. There were streaks of lightning in Fernando's eyes.

"The only assumption? How dare you say that you've excluded all the other possibilities? How dare you?!"

Lucien's black eyes were as deep as a lake. He answered calmly:

"Our recent experiments have excluded all the possibilities of other explanations. Also, currently we have nothing as the evidence to reject this assumption."

Fernando and Lucien did all the experiments together. In Fernando's mind, he was speechless. However, he still yelled:

"You want the evidence? This whole world is the evidence!"

Lucien smiled, and his smile was gentle and soft, "Sir, the nature of the world is always a mystery. What we see, hear and feel is always limited, just like the fact that the world in the common arcanists' eyes and in the grand arcanists' eyes are always different. Before we find another explanation, we have to accept the assumption for now. Sir, you once told me that our past experience and knowledge could also be our barrier."

Hearing that, Fernando fell into silence. The Lord of Storm stood there quietly. The wind around him whipped his bright red robe. After a long time, the lightning disappeared in his eyes, and so did the storm outside.

"This is just a temporary assumption. I'll continue to work on it and seek other explanations." Fernando slightly sighed, and his voice sounded a bit tired.

"Are you alright, sir?" asked Lucien concernedly.

"Fortunately, it's just a temporary assumption." Fernando repeated, "If you had had any solid evidence to support your assumption, my head would have exploded already. Or probably the reason that my head still remains intact is that my cognition world has been solidified. If that is the case, it is very unlikely that I can still make much further progress. Since what you said still remains an assumption, I can have some time for buffering and probably seek for other theories to explain the formula. But, of course, from the experiments we did together, I do know that this is not very likely to happen… Maybe the new theories that I'll find in the future will be the support to your assumption."

Lucien knew that this was just a beginning. There would be more shocking findings waiting for them. Even the greatest scientist on the earth, Einstein, failed to make further progress because he was not able to accept the new theories.

However, of course, Lucien could not tell Fernando this. The road to the ultimate truth of the world was more than cruel. Fortunately, Fernando was still relatively calm. So far, not a single one of the legendary archmages had ever had his or her head exploded. No one knew what it looked like.

Maybe nothing special would happen, just like when a middle-rank or a senior-rank mage's head exploded, or the power would probably be so great that things around a head-exploded legendary archmage would all be demolished.

Pausing a little, Fernando released a sigh, not like the short-tempered Lord of Storm, but seeming like an old man, "I wish that I had never done any experiments in the field of thermal radiation. I wish that these things had never happened. In the future, we may destroy the arcana system, the magic world, or even the whole universe. Before today, it never came to me that the energy of the world was not continuous… even the world is not continuous, like a series of pictures! How will the other sorcerers respond to this assumption?! Can you imagine that?"

Lucien corrected Fernando in his mind, since, to be more specific, the world was like a movie consisting of many frames. He said to Fernando, "Most of them will be scared. Then they will tell themselves that this is just an assumption, and they will only use the formula and purposefully ignore what this formula means. A small proportion of them will have their heads…"

"I'm glad you understand it." Fernando looked more serious now, "We should be very careful with submitting the paper, although what's in it is still an assumption. Send your paper to Douglas first. Maybe he's the grand arcanist who is most willing to accept your assumption. Discontinuous energy… in portions and small quantities… just like particles… We can call it one quantum. As for Hathaway and the rest of the grand arcanists, we shall divide the paper into two parts, so they can have more time to accept the great shock after reading the first part."

Lucien finished developing the paper following Fernando's words. When Lucien was about to put his teacher's name on the paper in front of him, Fernando sat straight in his armchair and said seriously to him, "You're the only author of the paper. I flinched in front of the assumption. You are the one who owns it."

"Sir…" Lucien was very surprised.

Fernando stared at Lucien, "Do as I said. I don't want to see my name on a paper which I haven't accepted yet."

After sending the letter, Fernando closed his eyes to stabilize his cognitive world, considering other possibilities to explain the formula. The office became quiet again.

Lucien also tried to calm down. He was too nervous to notice that he was sweating so much and his heart was beating like crazy.

In the quiet office, time passed by. Soon it was close to noon, and Lucien felt that he had reached his limit to bear the atmosphere. When he was about to ask for an earlier leave, a ray of bright light burst out in the corner of the office.

Somehow the magic circles in the office failed to work. A tall, white-haired elder with blue eyes walked out of the light. His face looked kind and gracious, but now it looked more serious and shocked.

Holding a pile of paper in his hand, the elder yelled, "Fernando, this is just an assumption!"

"But this is also the only assumption!" This time, Fernando did not flinch.

Lucien felt the atmosphere in the study suddenly change. To be more specific, even the gravity in the office had changed! Lucien realized that the tall white-haired elder was Douglas, the president of the Congress, the Emperor of Arcana, the Selected!

"No matter what you say, you've got no evidence!" Douglas frowned, "It's even more unbelievable than the falling of the ancient magic empire!"

"What you know is restraining you from seeing more, Douglas. So far, this is the only proper explanation that we can find." In private, Fernando was used to calling the president's name directly.

"We need more evidence!" Facing the roaring, Douglas still managed to calmly express himself.

After yelling at each other, both of them slowly calmed down. After all, what they were arguing about still remained an assumption.

"Lucien… I'm afraid that only a young man like you who is free of one's past experience can put forward this horrible assumption." Douglas slightly sighed, "Although it's still an assumption, the formula itself is for sure of great value and can contribute greatly to the development of the school of Thermodynamics. I believe that the Cabin of Palmeira and the far northland will not ignore your achievement. You deserve the Ice & Snow Medal."

Chapter 342: The Reply

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The sunlight at noon was warm and bright. The study was all covered in a layer of gold. Both Douglas and Lucien had left the office. Right now, Fernando was sitting in the armchair by himself quietly.

Earlier the two grand arcanists had discussed how Lucien should submit and publish this paper. They decided to publish a few more papers first on the next month's Arcana about how the grand arcanists tried to explore the law behind the formula but all failed, so that they could prepare them for the next upcoming shock from Lucien's paper.

They were not trying to make the arcanists accept Lucien's theory right away. After all, this was still an assumption. By reading the articles, the two arcanists were trying to infuse the idea into the rest of the arcanists' brain gradually and slowly. That was why they kept mentioning the word "assumption".

"Shocking… Queer… Subversive…" Fernando murmured. These words were all his comments on Lucien's theory. Then he put on a mysterious smile and said, "I wonder who can first come up with the shocking conclusion from the first half part of the paper… Hathaway, or Brook?"

Hathaway was the founder of atomic theory, so she was more of a supporter of Douglas' particle theory, which made her the one who was most likely to get the same conclusion. The rest of the four grand arcanists were the typical proponents of wave theory, and among them Brook was the most loyal one. However, Brook was the most profound and powerful grand arcanists among the five.

"Let me guess… Who's gonna be the first one to visit me?" said Fernando rather casually.

As he was saying that, Fernando's eyes glanced at the mirror in the corner of the study. In the mirror, there stood an elderly man in a bright red robe. His black and white hair mixed, however, there was way more white than black.

The smile faded on Fernando's face. He raised his right hand, slightly touched his hair, and released a sigh. Taking out an old notebook from the drawer, he turned it to the last few pages and then started to write down the words:

"July 6th. Sunny. A bit windy. All of a sudden, I feel old."

Putting down the quill, Fernando looked out of the window, and the bright sunlight made him squint slightly.

…

Lucien had got back to his place.

Leo saw the difference on Lucien's face, but he did not say anything, while Sprint who just finished his study asked curiously, "Mr. Evans, you don't look so good. Did Mr. Fernando give you a hard time today?"

Sprint did not ask directly if the Lord of Storm yelled at Mr. Evans.

"I don't look good?" Lucien was a bit confused. However, when Lucien looked at himself in the crystal statue, he saw his face as pale as a piece of paper, as if he had just climbed out of the tomb.

Lucien did not expect that the power of a legendary archmage would be this horrible.

"Yes… Those were very tough questions." Lucien put on a smile, "Questions related to the peace of the whole world."

The corner of Sprint's lips twitched, "Are you joking, Mr. Evans? Was the Lord of Storm trying to destroy the world and you stopped him?"

"No… it was the opposite. I was trying to destroy the world, but Mr. Fernando stopped me." Although Lucien's face was pale, he was in a pretty good mood, since he just successfully presented the terrifying assumption to his own teacher without exploding his teacher's head.

Sprint was not good at playing jokes. He looked up at the ceiling and said, "Mr. Evans, it's time for lunch…"

Seeing the same steak dish on the dining table, Lucien rubbed his forehead. It was time for the cook to come up with some new dishes.

At this time, Katrina, led by the servant, walked in. A big smile was on her good-looking face.

"Mr. Evans! The result from our application for Atom Institution is available now!" Katrina waved the document in her hand and said aloud.

"It's been only a few days…" Lucien was very surprised.

In most cases, the examination should take more than two weeks.

"Your application has the signature of the grand arcanist on it! Of course they wouldn't delay it." Katrina said excitedly, "Mr. Evans, open it and let's see the result!"

The bag required Lucien's arcana badge to be opened.

Sprint had been waiting for this day for a long time, and thus he was very nervous.

Lucien calmly took off the arcana badge and pressed it against the seal. Taking out the document, Lucien fast scanned it and then turned around.

"The application has been approved. The board hopes us to work hard, since we're focusing on a brand new research topic."

"Awesome!" Sprint happily took a swing with his fist.

Katrina also very encouraged, "Congratulations, Mr. Evans. Congratulations!"

Lucien hugged his students and sighed in his mind that the youngsters were still too naive. What the board was trying to say was that they had approved the application for the sake of the Lord of Storm, so Lucien had to work hard to show them that the decision was proper.

"So… where is our institution?" Katrina asked with her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Lucien picked up the document again, "The institution is going to use the No. 7 lab and its meeting room and office on the eighteenth floor of the headquarter. I'll need to tell them how I want the lab to be and the whole set of equipment I want. All in all, at the end of July or at the beginning of August, Atom Institution will start officially."

"Also, every month, we will get five thousand arcana points as a subsidy to buy materials and paying us." Lucien added, "So my decision is… Ten arcana points every month for senior apprentices. As for the sorcerers, it depends on their levels. Say, a level two arcanist and a second circle sorcerer like Lazar… A hundred arcana points."

As for Lucien himself, he did not have to get a fixed pay, since he was able to benefit from reporting to the Congress the cost of the experiments, which was an unspoken rule in the Congress of Magic.

"That's a lot!" Both Sprint and Catrina were very surprised. They knew that when Mr. Evans was working for the magic school, he only earned ten points every month! Besides the pay, they could read the arcana books in the institution and do experiments for free. This was a dream job for every apprentice and new sorcerer!

Lazar only earned fifty to sixty arcana points every month working both for the Congress and the Will of Elements, plus what he got from his papers. As for Catrina, although she had got the dream job among the apprentices, she only got four points monthly.

"Of course, Atom Institution will be one of the most important research departments in the future. Our pay has to be impressive." Lucien said half joking, "Right now, we don't need too many people. I'm thinking about hiring another two to three sorcerers and a middle-rank mage."

"You're… You're very confident, Mr. Evans." The corner of Sprint's lips twitched again.

"I've got faith in you, Mr. Evans! You almost shared the Laurel with Mr. Isabella this time." Katrina also joked, "If I can work for you, Mr. Evans, perhaps one day I can also have the honor like Rachel!"

Lucien grinned, "We shall feel the pressure. The board has given us three years. We have to show them something within three years, or the project will be canceled."

Most arcana researches would cost a very long time.

"We'll work hard!" answered Katrina and Sprint seriously.

Lucien waved the document in the air casually and said to Katrina, "Stay here and have lunch with us. We'll go and check the lab out tomorrow afternoon."

…

After Vicente Miranda, known as Thanatos, left, Fernando smirked and commented, "Vicente, you're the last one."

Fernando's face flushed from the heated discussion and argument in the whole afternoon. Walking back and forth in the study, Fernando took out his old notebook again and added after what he wrote down earlier:

"After the whole afternoon's debate and discussion, I feel refreshed and energetic again. I see the grandness of the world and I am fascinated with its stunning beauty and truth. I shall walk on this path until the day I die."

…

After visiting Atom Institution under construction, when Lucien was just about to leave, he heard someone calling his name in a slightly confused way:

"Mr. Lucien Evans?"

Looking up, Lucien saw Rachel and an elegant and beautiful lady standing beside her.

Chapter 343: The Latest Issue of Arcana

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

"Good afternoon, Miss Rachel." Lucien smiled and greeted. Although he knew that the black-haired and blue-eyed lady was very likely to be Ms. Isabella, Lucien still asked politely, "And may I know who's this?"

Lucien first met Rachel over the pollution control meeting held by Affairs Committee. Rachel's brown eyes were still the same, gentle and kind, "It's really nice to see you, Mr. Evans. This is my teacher, Ms. Isabella."

"Good afternoon, Ms. Isabella." Lucien first greeted, "Congratulations for winning the Laurel. And also, congratulations on the upgrading."

Lucien saw the arcana badge Isabella was wearing had seven silver stars on it, and Rachel's badge also had five stars.

Isabella, wearing the long, black dress, smiled, "I was about to visit you, Evans. Without your paper on brainwave, probably Rachel and I would have missed the Laurel. Your paper was a very important support to our theory."

Whether what Isabella said was polite or sincere, hearing Isabella's words, Lucien was quite cheerful, "My article was just a complement. Your research deserved the Laurel. My project application has been approved by the committee, so I'm here today to check the lab out."

"A new project?" The smile on Isabella's face was very elegant and polite, "I also have a new project studying how electromagnetic waves and electric currents can stimulate the different parts of the human brain, and I'm here for the same reason, too. I was about to invite you to join us, but now it seems that it's not very likely to happen."

Lucien knew that Isabella was capable of working on this project by herself. She was being polite to Lucien because he was a promising young arcanist, and his teacher was the Lord of Storm.

As the project had been approved, Lucien said honestly, "My project… Atom Institution specializes in studying the properties of atoms, and why the periodic law exists among the elements."

"Atom Institution…" Isabella silently repeated the two words, feeling quite confused.

Rachel blinked. Although she could not speak it out, Rachel wondered in her mind how such an ambiguous and vague project managed to pass the review.

Lucien explained confidently, "This is a new attempt. No one knows what will happen when arcana steps into the new field. In this brand new field, no one knows for sure which direction we should take. The committee has decided to give me a relatively long period of time and some funds so I will not be afraid of encountering the failures when I'm working on it."

"A relatively long period of time… Some funds…" Isabella felt something unusual with the project.

Lucien grinned, "I have three years to show the committee the value of the project."

"Three years?!" Rachel was very surprised, as Ms. Isabella's current research was only a one-year program. Also, while the fund they would get was closely related to the outcome of their project, it seemed that Lucien's project was rather limitless and Lucien would be able to do whatever he wanted in the following three years!

Even Isabella, a profound senior-rank mage, slightly frowned, "Then how Affairs Committee makes sure that the money and time won't be wasted?"

She did not say it directly that it totally did not make any sense that the committee had approved such an application.

"The form of institution is only for the arcanists who have made the special contribution to a certain field, and his or her research capability is required to be reviewed as well. What is more important is that the arcanist has to have the endorsement from an authoritative arcanist in the corresponding field," said Lucien very confidently. When he was saying so, he did not feel shy or embarrassed at all, "If the project fails, the cost will be the tuition we pay for exploring the new field. After all, we're just crossing the river by feeling for the stones."

Considering who was behind Lucien, both Isabella and Rachel thought to themselves that Lucien was not only good at studying arcana but also at getting funds from the Congress.

Comparing Lucien's research project to what she had, Isabella's smile on her face was now only for the sake of being polite. So she smoothly changed the topic, "It's definitely a good attempt. Speaking of the attempt, I have read your paper in Drummond's place about how you solved the problem that bothered the several grand arcanists. Honestly speaking, it did not come to me either that pure math would be the best way to combine the two formulas together. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Ms. Isabella. However, I'm still being bothered by the meaning of the formula," said Lucien. This was Lucien's white lie.

The conversation did not last long. Soon, Lucien and Isabella bid their goodbye to each other and headed in opposite directions.

"Is she Ms. Isabella? I really wish that I could be like her one day…" said Katrina full of admiration. Recently, when she was working in Sorcerer Administrative Department, the name, Isabella, was always being mentioned by the sorcerers and lingering beside her ears. Isabella was like her role model as a female sorcerer.

"Then work hard." Lucien smiled, "No pain, no gain."

…

In the early morning on July 30th.

"… Happy birthday, Natasha."

Putting down the quill, Lucien glued up the letter to Natasha. As usual, the letter was about the things that happened to Lucien in his daily life, but what was special this time was the piano piece that Lucien recomposed based on the birthday song.

Lucien put the letter in his pocket and then went to the dining hall to enjoy his breakfast.

Sprint, Katrina, Annick, Chely, and Heidi, as well as Lazar, had been waiting for Lucien in the dining hall. Except for Chely who was still studying in the magic school, the rest of them had left their jobs for the research project.

"Lucien! The latest issue of Arcana was launched earlier than usual again!"

When Lucien was about to sit down, a young man with messy hair rushed in. In his hand was the black-covered journal, Arcana.

"Lucien! The five grand arcanists have developed their essays based on the formula put forward by you! Your paper is the leading piece for this month's issue. It's amazing!"

The messy-haired young man was Rock, the teacher in Douglas Magic School, and also Lucien and Lazar's friend.

After the application of setting up Atom Institution had been approved, Lucien wrote to his friends one by one hoping that they could be his assistant. Because Lucien was not expecting to hire too many people, he only sent out the next invitation after the previous one was rejected. Among his friends, Rock and Jerome accepted the offer immediately, as the following three years would be the key stage for them to strive for becoming a middle-rank.

Lazar was quite happy for being able to work with his friends. However, he also told Lucien that he would like to work with some beautiful females.

As for the arcanist around level five, Lucien was still looking for the right person. It was not easy because most arcanists of this level in the field of Element were already working for their own teachers, working on their own projects, or adventuring outside of Allyn. K, Larry, Timothy, and Ulysses had all politely rejected Lucien's offer. However, Lucien was not in a hurry. Fortunately, the compulsory mission for Lucien from the Congress would not arrive until next year. So, he could first take care of this project on his own.

Rock's exaggerated manner of speaking triggered off Lazar and the apprentices' curiosity. They hurriedly asked, "What's the paper about?"

How came that all the papers from the grand arcanists were about Lucien's essay?!

"It's about black-body radiation! Lucien has figured out the formula that once baffled the two grand arcanists!" said Rock very excitedly. He never expected this two years before, when he first met Lucien.

"Really?!" The apprentices surrounded Rock like a flock of chirping little birds. Trying to find the familiar name on the journal.

Lazar could not get a step closer to Rock because of the excited apprentices. He turned around and said to Lucien, "Why don't you tell me directly what this essay is about?"

In the apprentices' admiring look, Lucien explained to Rock and Lazar briefly about the formula.

When listening to Lucien, Rock and Lazar frowned, "Why couldn't the formula be explained? What is behind your formula?"

They had quickly taken a glance at the papers from the five grand arcanists. Although they knew that they were very unlikely to be able to solve the problem, they still had the hope that somehow an inspirational flash could come to them.

However, the miracle did not happen. Maybe just like the several grand arcanists said, they had to overthrow the foundation of the current arcana system to find the real answer.

"If I knew, it would be on the paper already." Lucien lied again purposefully.

When Lucien finished his breakfast and was about to leave, Lazar asked Lucien curiously, "You've been working with Mr. Fernando for this long, have you got any new research topics? Relax, I won't steal the ideas from you. I'm just being curious."

"I do have a new perspective…" Lucien said casually, but slightly sighed in his mind, "Molecular movement theory in thermodynamic system…"

…

In the headquarter office of Arcana, after listening to the report about the launching of this month's Arcana, Drummond got lost in his thoughts. He had never seen something like this, where all the seven grand arcanists were focusing on the same topic.

Somehow, he felt a bit anxious. He wondered what was behind the formula.