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Chapter 353: Conflict

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

As the Church's most recent strategic center, the kingdom of Holm had assembled four legendary knights, and seven to eight gold knights, which had way surpassed the power that the Church would usually lay in an area as, for example, the Duchy of Violet. Therefore, even when changing the shifts, there were still three red-robed cardinals in the retreat room.

The three cardinals looked up at the same time when hearing someone knocking at the door. One of them stood up and walked to it.

"Is it from our person in the Congress?" This red-robed cardinal had a very lean face, with blue deep eyes.

Taking out a letter, the night watcher answered respectfully, "Yes, Your Excellency."

Taking over the letter, Andrade crossed in front of his chest, "God bless you."

"Only truth lives forever!" said and night watcher in a solemn way and then turned around and left.

"Andrade, what is it about? Shall we report it to the grand cardinal?" asked a red-robed cardinal in a very concerned way.

To figure it out what the letter was about, Andrade flipped the envelope and checked the keywords on the other side. Due to the few great shocks that overwhelmed them in the past, the Church had asked their spies in the Congress to leave the keywords suggesting the theme of the information on the back of the envelop where the letter lay in, especially with those that were possibly able to shake the doctrine and the fundamental theories of theology, thus the grand cardinals and red-robed cardinals could be more mentally prepared for most of the great shocks. Last time, even the leader of the ascetics, Varantine, was injured because of the sudden, unexpected cognition shift.

"Saint, new particle, shakable, atom theory."

These were the four words in Andrade's deep eyes.

The first word stood for the importance level of the intelligence. The most confidential and important level was Archangel, then Angel, and then Saint was the third class. A piece of third class intelligence was still regarded as being important and it must be sent only to a grand cardinal immediately.

Andrade's eyes squinted slightly and answered as if nothing unusual ever happened, "Pious follower level. It's about the Congress's routine."

"Then you can take care of it," said another red-robed without any doubt.

After all, if a red-robed cardinal had abandoned his or her belief, the only ending for the cardinal would be death brought by the holy light.

In the retreat room, the three desks formed a triangle. Sitting behind his own table, Andrade started to read the letter undisturbedly like he was just reading a common piece of information. And then he wrote it down, "Because of the conflict between the periodicity among the elements and atom theory, many senior-rank arcanists have started to reflect on atom theory, but no solid findings have been discovered yet."

Then some more pieces of intelligence were sent here into the retreat room. Each of the three red-robed cardinals handled some and developed them into the reports.

When it was close to ten, the bishop responsible for giving out the information came into the room and took away the reports.

Later, at ten thirty, the reports were sent to the different ranks.

In the quiet retreat room, the three cardinals started to exchange what they had read to put them together. At eleven thirty, the joint report should be in the hand of Philibell, the grand cardinal, and Vaharall, the leader of the inquisition.

"So the Congress has started to doubt atom theory?" said a red-robed cardinal a bit sarcastically. "I wonder if his saint highness is busy with changing the chapters in Theology again?"

Andrade squinted his eyes, smiling, but did not say anything.

Cannon was the doctrine, the words of God, the gospel for the followers, which was vaguer and of greater metaphysics value, while Theology was the interpretation of Cannon, which involved more detailed discussion in all the fields.

…

Cardinal Abidal had always been respecting the updated theology by the Pope, as he was clearly aware of the fact that, without the Pope's contribution, his own intelligence could have never pushed him this far to let him become a level five bishop at the age of thirty-five, and now he was in charge of the biggest abbey in the entire district.

"This is the giving of the almighty Lord, to the Lords's most pious followers. The speaker of the Lord under his holy light has brought us the truth." Abidal prayed every day, "Greed and timidity blind us to lead us to ingratitude, though gratitude was the most precious value of human beings. Your kingdom come. Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven…"

At the end of the prayer, Abidal crossed in front of his chest and said in a low voice with his eyes closed, "Only truth lives forever."

When opening his eyes, Abidal saw that the young pastor was waiting for him respectfully and holding some intelligence documents. Abidal nodded to let him in.

"Anything important?" Abidal asked casually.

"Not really," answered the young pastor full of respect.

Abidal nodded slightly and started to read. He read rather fast, having approached the end of the report in a short time. He looked rather serious and he was very stern when it came to teaching Theology, thus many pastors in training secretly called him the demon angel. However, right now there was great fear on this face as if the cardinal had fallen into the hell and found out that something had turned him into a real demon!

"About… one in two thousand…" he murmured. His voice sounded very hoarse like sandpapers rubbing against each other.

"The divinity of atoms… the foundation of Theology… have been destroyed by His Almighty…"

The young pastors did not leave, waiting for further orders from the cardinal.

After a while, the young pastor felt that the room was getting hot, and some vague sounds came out from Abidal's throat.

The young pastor hurriedly looked up, and he saw the scene that he could never forget in his whole lif.

Abidal's face was written with great fear and loss. Then, a beam of pure and holy light burst out from his body and devoured the shocked face.

The small pieces of light were everywhere in the room. The young pastor failed to make a sound.

Under the bright light in the afternoon from outside of the window, the holy light seemingly had been dyed with touches of scarlet.

Abidal was not alone here in the parish of Holm. Other several bishops who were rather devout were also devoured by the holy light. As the report was sent out after the Church's verification, no one ever felt suspicious before opening it.

As for another twenty bishops, although they were lucky enough to have their lives spared, they had started to doubt the doctrine and theology, thus it was going to be very difficult for them to go any further with their divine power.

…

At noon, in the Radiance Church.

When Philibell was about to pray, he heard the scurried footsteps outside of the door from the red-robed cardinals.

"What happened?" asked Philibell, having a bad foreboding.

The red-robed cardinal was still in panic and answered a bit confusedly, "Sir… six bishops have been devoured by the holy light… twenty-three have been severely injured. Also, a red-robbed cardinal, Vily, was also injured in his belief."

"Devoured by the holy light? Injured in belief? What did they see? They shouldn't get the access to the newspapers," Philibell asked coldly.

"It wasn't the newspaper… It was the intelligence." The red-robed was also in a great shock and his utterance was not organized at all, "A new particle has been found, inside of an atom…"

"What?!" Philibell could not believe his ears.

…

It did not take the inquisition long to figure out that Andrade was the one who did this.

In the interrogation room sat Andrade and Vaharall, the Adjudicator, while Philibell and Varantine were standing beside the glass, observing what was going on inside of the room.

"When… When did you give yourself up to the Congress?" Vaharall was furious, but also, at the same time, he felt curious. He wondered why Andrade could still use divine spells.

The smile on Andrade's face was rather pure and calm, "I don't have anything to do with the Congress. The pope, using the Congress's theory to alter the theology, is the biggest defiler! He is messing with the divinity of the power, and showing no respect to the Lord. Again and again, the Congress juggled us between their hands! We shall abandon the theology of this kind!"

Outside of the interrogation room, Varantine's eyes squinted and he said to Philibell, "Since when the power of this kind of radical conservative has risen again?"

"When facing the Congress directly, and facing the great shifts over and over again, there are some of us who would start to doubt the necessity of reforming theology."

While in the room, Vaharall roared, "So that's why you decided to kill the bishops, your siblings! What do they have to do with your so-called piety?!"

"Anyone who got severely injured by the experiment is the defiler, as they had completely given themselves up to the profanity! Killing them is my best way to show my piety to the Lord!" said Andrade with no fear. "Burn me down to ashes, Your Excellency, Vaharall! I shall ascend into Mountain Paradise in the fire!"

…

In the headquarter office of the Congress.

Atlant Forman, the Eye of Curse, grinned to Douglas, "It is true that we cannot force the pastors to do things that conflict with their fundamental belief, but what if they have already let the seed of doubt grow? We find the holes in their mind, and then we make the most use of them. I call this the ultimate application of Illusion."

Atlant opened his eyes. In his black pupils, there were creepy shadows and figures.

"As long as one can think, one can never avoid being affected by Illusion!"

Chapter 354: Message

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

In the Bright Hall in Lance, the Holy City.

Except for Bellia the God's Glory, Stone the Four-winged Knight, and Philibell the Bright Angel, who were too important to leave the fortresses unattended, all the major members of the grand cardinal group had gathered together. Their power was so great that the air in this hall was beyond heavy.

"Your Saint Highness, the Congress has been progressing toward prying into the exclusive reign of God, and we cannot stay timid and hesitant anymore. We must destroy the Congress completely before it grows even stronger," said Azaro, another leader of the inquisition, the Light Guard. He was the one who first started talking, and it was evident that Azaro wished to declare war against the Congress.

Holding his scepter, the Pope, Benedict II, listened to Azaro without saying anything.

Then, Sard, the grand cardinal in the parish of Violet, stood out, saying:

"Your Saint Highness, the discovery of the new particle is only an overturn in the understanding of atom theory in theology, which has nothing to do with the doctrines in Canon. We have discussed this before as well, and we also once doubted atom theory before. This so-called overturn cannot affect most of the cardinals, bishops, pastors, and followers, and it cannot do any harm to your dignity and glory."

Sard was as quiet as a lake, which seemed to be rather clear but, in fact, hard to see through. His flat, unhurried voice and tone was like a spring breeze.

"I think Sard just made the point. Since the former several popes started to reform theology, we have been altering our theories constantly. This time, nothing is really special compared to what happened previously. There's no reason for us to prudently declare the war," agreed another grand cardinal, Astira, the Wind Angel.

In another several grand cardinals' eyes, Sard and Astira were beyond cunning.

It was true that the former popes had been working on reforming theology, so an overturn like the discovery of the new particle was very likely to happen every few decades. However, the decline of the Pope's reputation and dignity was also due to the repetitive changes to theology! As the only speaker of the Lord, how could the Pople keep making the mistakes like this?

Although knowing that Sard and Astira's words were not true, many grand cardinals lowered their heads without saying anything. Being able to stand here, no one in the Bright Hall was stupid. The truth was not always that important.

When the Pope lost his stateliness, the members of the grand cardinal group must be the ones who would get most of the benefits! The same thing had happened to the North Church!

At the same time, there were also many grand cardinals standing by the Pope. They were saying that it was now time for the Church to switch the focus onto the Congress, instead of the North Church. The Church had made the bad mistake and thus left the Congress the chance to grow this fast.

When more and more grand cardinals were involved in the argument, the Pope raised his scepter and said solemnly, "The thing has happened. What we need to do now is update the theology theory as soon as possible so that most of the clergy can avoid being affected. Meanwhile, we shall put greater pressure on the Congress, and when we're ready, we destroy them."

The Pope had chosen a neutral viewpoint.

The Pope's words surprised many of the Pope's supporters. In the history of the Church, although there were only few times when a war was declared to defend the glory of the Lord, way more frequently a war was launched when a pope's dignity was challenged, including the war between the South and North Church over several hundred years. They did not expect that the Pope would just handle it so easily.

There was an imperceptible smile on the Pope's face. He took a glance at Sard and Astira meaningfully.

"Your Saint Highness, we can't just sit and do nothing before we are ready. If that's the case, the devout followers would doubt us that we're doing nothing to defend the glory of the Lord." suggested Azaro, "We shall figure out who the finder is and put the person onto the Cleansing List. We shall purify the person."

Benedict II slightly nodded, "Philibell shall be the one handling this."

Sard knew what was in the Pope's glance. Now he stood out again and said, "Your Saint Highness, we should keep a close eye on the clergy in Holm. The presence of such a radical conservative like Andrade is not just an accident but shows that there's a trend in Holm. We shall treat it very carefully."

"Let Varatine and Vaharall handle this. They're members of the grand cardinal group. They are pious and capable," said Benedict II in the same calm manner as if he did not have any negative emotions such as anxiety or anger.

Varantine was the leader of the ascetics, the representative of the most devoted follower, while Vaharall, the Adjudicator, was also one of the leaders of the inquisition. They were the best ones to handle this kind of issue.

…

In the Radiance Church in Holm.

Philibell just got the command from Lance and the updated version of theology.

"So, we have deleted the chapter talking about the divinity of atom and added the part that God created many basic particles to build the world. Our major focus is that God is the first and foremost reason for the existence of the world and the first and foremost drive for the world to develop—called First Cause. After building the world, human beings and everything else in the world, God does not directly get involved in the functioning of the world, but makes sure that the world is progressing on the right path through showing us those holy signs and the saint adjudication." Philibell read the lines to Vaharall, Varantine, and Stone, the major three members of the grand cardinal group.

There was a miserable look on Varantine's face, "The power of God… had descended to such an extent?"

Facing the great pressure from the Congress, the Church was always trying to get ready whenever a new cognition shift came to them. Through all these theology meetings and discussions, the Church could always find a new explanation based on their previous belief in order to weaken the power of impact.

As the original explanations of the overturned theories most came from the cardinals and bishops, it was not hard for most of the clergy to accept the changes of the theories. At the same time, the dignity of the Pope could thus be maintained, as the Pope was never directly responsible for it.

All the three grand cardinals had attended the meetings which took place a few days ago, and the updated content was not a surprise to them. Varantine was strongly against the modification, however, there was nothing he could really do.

The updated theory believed that there was the law of causality between any things in this world, and the first and foremost reason was God, called First Cause. Meanwhile, when all the laws of the world had been built up, there should be an initial push to drive the world, and, again, God generously offered the push.

Stone, the Four-winged Knight was a bit upset, "So we should just sit here waiting for some ridiculous chances? We are not going to do anything, right? Again and again, the Congress keeps challenging the dignity of the Lord… What kind of guards of Lord are we?"

Although they believed that it was the radical conservatives in the Church who should be mainly responsible for the great loss, the grand cardinal still regarded the discovery of the new particle as a provocation from the congress.

There was a slight smile on Philibell's face, "This time, our loss resulted from the leak of information, which in turn shows that the Congress isn't prepared either. They are still working on persuading their own people. So, as we have suffered from the loss and already paid for it, why don't we just publicize the finding of the new particle. After all, many middle and senior-rank mages are taking a much firmer viewpoint on the side of atom theory than us."

As for the pastors and those in training, they were still studying the development of theology, and thus they would not be affected too much.

"I agree. We can't lose more." Vaharall nodded, "We can make a good use of it to strike a blow to the Congress."

The only thing was that it seemed to be rather weird and even ridiculous that the bishops and pastors started to inform the arcanists and sorcerers new arcana theory.

"We start from Rentato, where the headquarter of the Will of Elements lies." Varantine suggested, "Many of those sorcerers from the Will of Elements believe in atom theory."

Stone showed his support, "Good plan. But we still have to figure out who found the new particle. We must purify the person!"

…

In a quiet corner close to the Holm Royal Magic Tower, a pastor was promoting the new theology theory to a coachman aloud, while taking a glance from time to time at the gate of the magic tower not far away from them, "God first created the particles, including atoms. There are also even smaller particles than atoms. God used all the particles to build the world…"

The coachman felt confused. He could not understand the words very well. He was only capable of repeating, "God is sacred and almighty. God has created the world."

After a long time, not a single sorcerer came over or even walked by. The young pastor was a bit concerned, "Why does the tower seem to be so quiet?"

"Sir, I've heard that those sorcerers in the tower are doing some kind of… closed… training." The coachman grinned, "I don't really know what it is."

…

In the Radiance Church, the report that their action had failed soon arrived.

"The Congress is well prepared," said Philibell seriously. "Andrade's thing… did not happen by accident."

Vaharall was responsible for this and he put forward his own thoughts: "Andrade was indeed a radical conservative. But I don't think it's a mere coincidence that the intelligence happened to arrive at the retreat room when Andrade was on his shift. There are two possibilities: either the senior spy has betrayed us, or the spy has been found out by the Congress, which is using this as their weapon. Also, Andrade's way of thinking is way too radical, I think he was affected by some illusions. Illusion is the most difficult magic to be noticed…"

The study became very quiet. They did not want to face the fact that very likely their senior spy to which they had devoted lots of effort had been exposed.

For many times, they had given up using the senior spy just to protect him!

The grand cardinals started to get quite upset.

All of a sudden, something hit Philibell and he hurriedly took out the original piece of intelligence and started to decode using the rules they had agreed on a long time ago.

Within a minute, Philibell got the short message from the senior spy:

"Win trust."

Chapter 355: The Inscription

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The periodic table of elements had been used for more than two years, and its periodicity had been suggesting the arcanists and sorcerers that an atom was way more complex than they thought. When the senior level, including Morris, Raventi, and Gaston, gradually pointed out the problems and suggested the possible errors in atom theory, most middle and senior-rank mages started to feel suspicious of the theory.

In the closed training, Hathaway gave another heavy blow to atom theory established by herself using the discovery of the isotope. Almost all the middle and senior-rank mages had accepted the fact that atom theory might be wrong. As for the junior-rank mages and apprentices, accepting a new theory was not that difficult for them.

And it was even easier for the sorcerers and arcanists who did not specialize in the field of Element to switch their belief.

It was an era when all the theories were developing rapidly. Not only the Congress was working on it, but also the South Church, the North Church, and the druids, all seizing the chance to grow. Whoever was left slightly behind would probably completely disappear one or two hundred years later. Therefore, when seeing the positive trend of the switching of viewpoint, the highest council had decided to publish Lucien's new paper, The Discovery of a New Particle, as the leading paper on the issue of Arcana in October, and the curtain behind which the microworld was hiding should now be pulled up!

As for those stubborn ones who still stuck to atom theory, the Congress had decided to abandon them.

"It's cruel. But we have to." Outside of Sorcerer Administrative Department, Lucien said to Lazar and the other sorcerers.

Lazar was an elemental sorcerer with a firm belief, and when hearing Lucien's words, his smile looked a bit sad, "I still remember what you said before, Lucien. The wheels of history are always rolling forward. No matter what is in the way, it will be completely crushed into pieces. But it is still hard for me to accept the fact that those outstanding arcanists have been abandoned just within a month."

Lucien was in charge of Atom Institution, so it was also his responsibility to switch the belief of sorcerers and apprentices from his institution.

Fortunately, as the finder of the periodicity among the elements, and the first arcanist ever who dig into the law behind it, Lucien's attitude had influenced his friends directly and indirectly. Also, the arcanists and sorcerers also contributed to many of the experiments of finding the cathode ray. Two weeks earlier, Lucien had sent them the paper and showed them the experiments in person. All of the institution members had successfully changed their belief.

"It is cruel. But we have prepared them for the cognition shift, and they still have the hope to restart over again if they could force themselves to accept the new theory with their modified cognition world." Lucien tried to comfort Lazar.

Lazar grinned, "Thanks, Lucien. I am just being a bit emotional. Many sorcerers have stopped making any progress because of all these reasons, but they're still much luckier than those who somehow died from doing the experiments in the lab."

Then Lazar pretended a cough and lectured in the way of a divine judge, "Those sorcerers try to pry into the realm of God. They have violated the law. Thus they become exhausted; they die; they are cursed! That is the cost!"

"No! The so-called God of Truth is afraid of us! The closer we are to the real truth of the world, the more terrified the so-called god is! We are cursed because we are on the right path. One day, we shall tear up the pretender's mask!" Lucien also joked.

These were the lines from the most popular play in Allyn these days. The opera named Siroid was loved by many sorcerers and the lines could be heard everywhere. The main character, Siroid, was a made-up figure who had outstanding arcana and magic talent. Siroid managed to improve many powerful magic spells but he was later betrayed by his lover and was burned to death by the Church. The lines that Lucien and Lazar just repeated was from the part of the inquisition scene.

And the author of the play was the grand arcanist, Oliver.

Watching them playing the roles, Rock said to them, "If you guys are that fond of the play, go directly onto the stage. Lucien, you're always talented in music and perhaps you can turn the play into an opera. Anyway, I need to go now and update my arcana badge. I can't wait to see it when I can become a middle-rank!"

Nagging, Rock walked between Lucien and Lazar, followed by several apprentices. Although the apprentices cast Lucien a sorry look, in the next second, their faces were written with great excitement—they were going to become real arcanists now!

Before they were being busy with all the experiments, and it was Lucien who reminded them to come here and update their badges.

"Maybe… I am already a middle-rank…?" Lazar realized why he came here and quickly walked to Eric's office. In the past month, he still got some citation credits.

Lucien slightly shook his head and smiled. He also walked into Eric's office.

Today, all of the institutions' members were here updating their badges.

"You only need another five arcana credits to reach level three. Lazar, the finding of cathode ray has really fed you full." Eric made fun of Lazar using the slang in Allyn.

If it had been before, there should have been a big smile on Lazar's face. However, Lazar sucked his lips and shook his head, "Still needs five more credits…"

Seeing that Lucien came in, Eric stood up and shook his hand, "Congratulations, Evans. When you first started Atom Institution, many committee members were taking a rather pessimistic attitude, and they did not believe that you could achieve anything in three years. However, you've proved them wrong. Unfortunately, my major is not Element, or I would have quit my job and applied to join your institution."

"Thank you very much for your trust and compliment, Mr. Eric. At least, we don't have to worry about the three-year target anymore, and so we can focus on our research interest." Lucien handed his arcana badge to Eric, "Sir, can you please update the badge for me?"

There was a small smile on Eric's serious-looking face, "The Influence Factor for each journal has been decided. Among the journals, Arcana and Magic are the highest—3.0. Anyone who is capable of publicizing his or her paper on the two journals should get a very good reward, and of course, including you. You're probably going to become a level six arcanist in two to three years. Your arcana level is going to be higher than your magic level once more."

As he was saying that, Eric put Lucien's arcana badge in the cage and rang the bell.

"Today should be the day when the system of Influence Factor comes into effect. What about the other journals?" asked Lucien.

Eric picked up a newly-received piece of document and said, "2.5 for Electromagnetism, Force Field, Element, and the other four schools' individual journals. 2.0 for Light-darkness, Illusion, Transformation, Summoning, and the six small branches including Golem and Snow. 1.5 for the nine smaller journals including North Magic Newspaper, Solar Island Journal, Sound Wave. 1.0 for the four small-field journals including Blessing and Cursing, and the five comprehensive journals including Arcana Study."

Because there were more sorcerers now, Arcana Review Board had approved the establishment of some more journal branches.

As for the evaluation standards, as the committee member-to-be, Lucien knew better than Eric. The reason for setting up the standards was to encourage the development of arcana and magic study.

At this time, the cage burst out the silvery light, but it was also mixed with milk-white light.

Eric slightly frowned, wondering what was going on here.

The corner of Lazar's mouth twitched. Everywhere Lucien showed up, something different should happen…

Besides the arcana badge, there were other items: another badge with its back upwards, two documents, and a journal in black cover.

"Arcana?" Eric picked it up. He never expected that the journal would be sent directly to him through the magic circle.

There was a line of silver-stamped letters on the cover of this month's Arcana,

"The Gate of the Microworld is Opening for Us. – Lucien Evans"

Eric turned around and looked at Lucien, feeling shocked. Those times when Arcana had an inscription on its front cover were very limited—about thirty times so far. Every time when this happened, it meant that something very important and groundbreaking had been discovered, and thus a grand arcanist or a legendary sorcerer would develop the inscription to show its value. However, this time, the inscription was from Lucien Evans?!

Lucien thought to himself in his mind that he wished to add another sentence:

"Arcanists, if you want to ascend the Throne of Arcana, go to explore the unknown microworld!"

Chapter 356: The Two Documents and Two Badges

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Knowing Lucien quite well, Lazar was aware that sometimes Lucien would say things that they did not understand. So Lazar smiled and said, "Mr. Eric, please take a look at the first paper. You'll see what Lucien's inscription mean."

Eric hurriedly opened the journal and jumped to the first paper. He saw Lucien's name on it—Lucien Evans X, fifth-level arcanist, fifth-circle sorcerer.

The title of the paper was: The Discovery of a New Particle.

Thinking of all the rumors that he had heard during that month, Eric suddenly felt quite nervous.

"You probably want to calm down a bit first, Mr. Eric." Lazar joked. Knowing that Eric was not an expert in element spells, he had no worries at all that Mr. Eric would get hurt from reading it.

After Eric quickly scanned the paper, he suddenly looked up and his gray eyes were shining with the light of excitement, "It's way smaller than an atom! It's a new particle! Evans, your contribution is so great that can definitely be compared to the discovery of planets! The world is way more complex than we thought!"

For the arcanists, the finding of the new particle was way more meaningful than that of the periodic table of elements. The latter was just a summarized finding, while the former had led them to the new era of arcana study.

Lucien did not expect that, after working in the office for so many years, Mr. Eric was still this passionate about the study of arcana and curious about the truth of the world. However, Lucien was still holding the suspicious attitude toward whether other planets really existed in this world.

"I'm not sure if the existence of other planets is true…" Lucien murmured.

"No… I mean… yes, we haven't figured out if the planets are really there." Eric quickly corrected himself and said, "The value of the discovery of electron should be compared to that of the finding of the fact that light is a kind of electromagnetic wave, the proposal of electromagnetic equation, the establishment of the three laws, and Miracle Experiment! The world is so big and at the same time so small. But we're even smaller living in this world!"

Eric used some quite long sentences. He was being a little too excited.

Lazar grinned at Lucien, "I've never seen Mr. Eric acting like this before."

After a few minutes, Eric slowly calmed down. He combed his think hair a bit with his hand and said, "Your inscription is definitely valid! You're right—the gate of the microworld is opening for us. How small can a particle be?"

"Our knowledge's still rather limited," said Lucien with his fingers crossing. "We can talk about it later, but Mr. Eric, can you please take out the documents and badges for me?"

Lucien's words reminded Eric what his true job was. When he hurriedly reached the badges and documents in the cage, he said to Lucien, "There's another line on the cover—Vol. 10, 789, for Mr. Evans."

Lucien realized that this issue of Arcana was a special edition for him.

"Le… level six?!" Eric stammered a bit when he saw the dazzling stars on the badge.

Lazar was also shocked. Although he knew that the discovery of electron could bring Lucien a very good credit reward, Lazar never really expected that Lucien could become a level six arcanist this fast.

Lucien was now a senior-rank mage. He was now a member of the upper class in the Congress!

"Credits… Three thousand and sixty-nine…" Eric double checked to make sure this was not a mistake.

Lazar put on a confused smile and said, "Maybe the discovery of electron is so important that the reward is even more than what we expected."

"Can I take a look at the document, Evans?" asked Eric politely. After all, Lucien was already a level six arcanist.

Lucien did not mind, "If you want, please read to us, Mr. Eric. I think Lazar wants to know as well."

Lucien just turned in the paper a few days ago. The review comment was sent back together with the journal.

"Sure I want to know the comments." Lazar grinned.

"The comment from Mr. Raventi is: 'Simple but classic experiment. It has discovered a new particle which is smaller than an atom. The experiment has shown us a brand new field with endless possibilities. It has pushed open the gate of the microworld for us. The finding will probably change the world we live in, and maybe not until many years later can we see the true value of it. The paper is worthy of in-depth discussion and it has overturned atom theory. Six hundred arcana credits and five thousand arcana points are suggested to be given to Lucien Evans as the reward'," Eric read the comment.

The comment from LockLynn was close to that of Raventi, and the suggested credits given was also six hundred. The combined review comment was:

"The groundbreaking finding in the microworld. The finding has proved the theoretical limit of atom theory and is of great significance to the school of Element. Worth of detailed discussion. A new era shall begin. Six hundred credits and five thousand arcana points are given as the reward."

The given credits were not much higher than their expectation.

"These are really high comments, even higher than that of the periodic table of elements! You're really putting great pressure on us!" Lazar joked, "But… the finding of the electron has just brought you six hundred credits. What about the other a thousand credits?"

"There's another document." Lucien pointed at the file in Eric's hand. Since the document was directly sent to the office, there was no need for Lucien to keep it as a secret.

Eric hurriedly opened it. After he scanned the file, he suddenly looked up and said to Lucien in the trembling voice, "You… You designed Miracle Experiment?"

"What?!" Lazar could not believe his ears. Although he was not on the scene when Raventi conducted the experiment in the manor, Lazar repeated the experiment on his own in the lab. He was deeply shocked by the result—the secret of life was so charming!

"I was not able to handle the consequence brought by the experiment, so I chose to keep it as a secret. But now things are different." Since Lucien's cognitive world had started to substantialize and the existence electron had become part of the structure of his mental world, the efficiency of Lucien's meditation practice had doubled. Now, Lucien had enough money to buy all the potions and materials. Maybe in four or five years, Lucien's soul and spiritual power could become strong enough to directly interfere with the reality.

"You… You're such a monster!" Lazar was more than shocked.

Eric was absent-minded for a while and then he forced a smile on his face, "Miracle Experiment almost dragged the God of Truth down from the throne. Lucien, you're a genius arcanist."

"And also crazy…" Eric thought to himself.

Then, Eric reminded Lucien, "Be careful, Lucien. The church must be watching you, and some of the crazy sorcerers might go extreme as well."

"Thank you, sir." Lucien nodded, "I am prepared."

"The final comment on Miracle Experiment is: 'The experiment has shown us a possible answer about how life first came to this world. It is simple yet very mysterious, just like a miracle. The experiment is pioneering and pathbreaking and is of great value. Six hundred arcana credits and five thousand arcana points are given'," once again, Eric read the comment.

Plus all the citation credits that Lucien had got, he had obtained enough credits to become a senior-rank.

"Congratulations, you've become a senior-rank arcanist." Eric handed Lucien the badge, the two files, and the journal.

As for Eric, he never expected that one day he would become a senior-rank arcanist. His only wish was to become a sixth-circle sorcerer before his soul was drained up, so he could prolong his life-span.

Lucien left his own spiritual mark in the badge and found that there was another permanent magic effect enchanted in the badge. The wearer was going to be immune to the common magic spells restraining one from moving such as Slow, Spider Web, and Grease.

The magic effect was a good one. Lucien nodded, feeling satisfied. Obviously, this precious badge was previously made. The original data saved in the old badge was transferred to the new one.

Lazar took an envious glance at the badge on Lucien's chest.

At this time, Heidi knocked at the door. She saw it from the gap of the door that Mr. Evans and Mr. Lazar were just about to leave. She gently pushed the door open and walked into the office, "I'm an arcanist now."

The black badge with a silver star on it was shiny.

"Good for you." Lucien nodded approvingly.

"Six… six stars…" Heidi was very surprised, "Are you already a level six arcanist, Mr. Evans?"

In the corridor, Felipe walked past with his hands in the black pockets. He looked quite sick. On the first day of October, he was also here updating his arcana badge and borrowing some books from the library.

When walking past the door, the corner of Felipe's eyes saw Lucien standing in the office. Felipe saw the arcana badge with six stars on it in front of Lucien's chest on the left.

Lucien also noticed Felipe and the six silver circles on his magic badge. Lucien smiled and nodded as his greeting.

Felipe looked the same gloomy so he would not show Lucien his surprise and bewilderment. After a quick nod, Felipe walked past the door.

"There's another badge?" Eric picked it up and saw the badge on which a quill was drawn.

Lucien thought that there was going to be a formal procedure for him to work in the review board. He did not expect that the badge was directly given to him.

"Arcana Review Board, Lucien Evans…" Eric read out the words and could not believe his eyes

Felipe was still not far away from the door. In the corridor, he heard Eric's voice. His hands in the pockets clenched tight for a moment, but the look on his face remained the same. Calmly, he left the corridor.

Chapter 357: The Rank

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Haze and mist always lingered around Heidler, the headquarter of the Hand of Paleness.

With his hands in the pockets of the long, black coat, Felipe looked out of the window attentively. Beside him on the desk lay the latest issue of Arcana. The title of the journal's very first paper was: The Discovery of a New Particle.

"… Only about 1/2000 of the size of an atom…" Felipe murmured to they gray sky, "He's faster than I thought. But the discovery of the new particle shouldn't be enough for him to become a senior-rank arcanist…"

Felipe was confused.

Suddenly, Felipe reached out his hand and talked to the black wristband, "Mr. Rogerio, did you figure it out about Lucien Evans?"

Rogerio's voice came out from the wristband, "I did. They are not keeping it as a secret. The Miracle Experiment… was designed by Lucien Evans."

"Was it?" Felipe was shocked, but it did make sense. He had once guessed whether Miracle Experiment had anything to do with Professor, or there was no way that the Will of Elements could manage to put forward such a shocking experiment within such a short period of time after Felipe published his paper.

Thinking of this, Felipe's face turned even paler.

Felipe gritted his teeth and the words squeezed out from his teeth, "Professor…"

Rogerio also disliked Professor, and he said, "So… I think he's still working on overthrowing the Life Force Theory."

"I don't think so. It was probably just an accident." Felipe recalled what happened at that time and he believed that Lucien was not capable of taking every factor, even those accidents that happened later, into consideration. In fact, except for the Prophet, even the legendary archmages were not able to do so. Even if it was the Prophet, he was still not capable of seeing every detail when facing a strong enemy.

"We should thank Traquair. He disturbed Lucien's plan, and thus things went to the direction as we wished," said Rogerio. "Alright, Felipe, we cannot change anything that has already happened. Although he has become a member of Arcana Review Board, your magic level is still higher. You know, he's only a fifth-circle sorcerer. No matter how many high-rank magic items he has, Lucien is still in great danger from the Church. Maybe we can attend his funeral in a year or two. A year or two… It's quite long. The Church won't take any actions in the next few days when he is closely protected by the Congress."

As a member of Affairs Committee, Rogerio knew clearly that Lucien had had a funeral before already, and he also knew that Felipe disliked Lucien Evans very much and regarded Lucien as his biggest competitor, although they were only competitors in the field of Element and Alchemy.

"After a year or two…" Felipe shook his head. He did not believe that what Rogerio just said would happen.

He never doubted that Lucien could become a senior-rank sorcerer before turning thirty. Felipe just wondered how fast Lucien could do it.

After sharing the intelligence with Felipe, Rogerio stopped the connection. He was working on his own research. After the Influence Factor of Magic had been improved to 3.0, Rogerio saw the great hope of him becoming a level eight arcanist in ten years.

Felipe released a long sigh and said bitterly, "Miracle Experiment… New particle… Good for you, Lucien Evans!"

"You don't look very pleasant, Felipe." A deep and hoarse voice came out from the empty room.

Felipe was not surprised. He slowly turned around and responded, "Do I? This has aroused my passion for studying arcana. Both Magic and Arcana have the Influence Factor of 3.0. If I can develop several good papers, I can become a senior-rank arcanist in a year."

Felipe was not far away from becoming a level six arcanist.

On the chair across the desk, there was a figure appearing. To be more specific, it was a horrible ghost with a rotten face and the white skull. The ghost was wearing a long, black robe drawn with many fancy patterns.

The ghost giggled, "You need my help? Although I am not an expert in arcana, I know some of the special materials from the World of Souls that can really help you to progress further. As long as you can sign the compact with me, I can guarantee that you can become a seventh circle sorcerer in five years."

"Angwoods, I can take care of my own stuff. Keep it in mind. You're summoned by me, so I am your master. When I don't need you to talk, you don't talk. Get it?" Felipe's deep eyes looked at the ghost in an imposing manner.

Angwoods' skeleton slightly cracked, "Yes, my master."

Putting back his hands into the pockets, Felipe walked to the door of the study. When walking past Angwoods, Felipe said to the ghost just like he was talking to a servant, "Good. I am going to conduct the magic experiment. If there's no emergency, don't let anyone bother me."

"Yes, my master," said Angwoods with great respect. When Felipe left the office, Angwoods angrily swore, "Arrogant idiot!"

In the corridor, the corner of Felipe's lips curled up, "Idiot. The ghosts in the World of Souls just can't send me a better one to sign the compact with me… Do I look so silly that I would follow that thing's words?"

When stepping into the lab, Felipe turned on the magic circle and the look on his face became very attentive.

It was very cold in the lab, and the white fog was always lingering. In front of Felipe, on the operation desk, there lay a human body. The body was bought.

For this poor man, using his dead body in exchange for money to support his family was a sweet thing.

From the previous experiment, the dead body's eyes opened wide. The reflection of Felipe's cold and gloomy face was in the blue pupils.

Picking up a silver dagger, Felipe cut it down in the dead body's chest and took out the dark red heart. After putting the heart in the magic circle, he walked to another operation desk where a strong undead creature lay—a ghast, the advanced form of the ghouls. The ghast looked rather short, like a kid, however, the smell of its rotten skin made one want to throw up, and the bones underneath were thus revealed.

Felipe was very used to it. Using the dagger, he took out the ghast's black, rotten heart and put it in the same magic circle.

Activating the magic circle and getting rid of the irrelevant tissues, Felipe cut down a thin piece from each heart. Then he used a bottle of reagent and dyed the cuts silvery.

Felipe put the two pieces in the enlargement magic circle functioning as a microscope, trying to find the secret hiding behind human's cells and the undead creatures' cells.

The magic circle did not work well enough. Felipe could not see better.

…

In Radiance Church.

"The damned defiler! He did it!" Vaharall's furious roaring lingered in Philibell's study, "I'm going to sentence him! Purify him!"

"He's for sure a demon, a demon that fools people! Or there was no way that he could write Ode to Joy!" Varantine ground his teeth.

The four pairs of white wings covered with spots of light stretched out behind Stone, the Four-winged Knight, "We must purify him. He's the biggest defiler in a hundred years!"

"Not only him… Including his relatives and friends!" suggested Vaharall coldly.

The look on Philibell's face was gloomy, "Lucien Evans must die. But his relatives and friends have reported him to the Church, so we cannot touch them. Also, I don't think Lucien Evans will care."

"Anyway, it's time for us to take action." Varahall's eyes were very dangerous.

Philibell looked at Varantine and Stone. Both of them nodded seriously.

"So, we put Lucien Evans on the Cleansing List," said Philibell seriously. "Inform the clergy, we must purify Lucien Evans… at any cost!"

"I agree. Also, as the designer of Miracle Experiment and the finder of the new particle, Lucien Evans has threatened the divinity of the Lord more than once. He's a dangerous and cunning demon, and he should be put on the fifty-third place on the list," said Varahall.

The number of the legendary level was of course more than fifty-two, the reason why Lucien could rank No. 53 was that the legendary from the church, the noble knights, the demon dukes and the devil lords which had not arrived in the main world, and the powerful magic creatures in the Dark Mountain Range, or the prehistorical evil creatures in the other dimensions were not on the list.

"I agree." Philibell nodded, and so did the other two grand cardinals.

"Then we'll send them the material of Lucien Evans, the Demon of Primary," said Varahall coldly.

The Demon of Primary was the code name for Lucien Evans. It came from Miracle Experiment that Lucien designed. At the same time, it also referred to Lucien's treacherousness and hypocrisy, just like a demon.

"We shall take action as soon as possible. We seek for the chance; we wait, and finally, the chance will be there." Philibell reminded Varahall in the end.

Chapter 358: The Vase

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

On the fifteenth floor of the headquarter of the Congress, in a bright office.

The exotic, dark-yellow carpet was thick and soft. The magic crystal light on the ceiling was dazzling even when it was not on. Several complicated magic circles were carved on the surface of the dark-red table made of precious wood. In the corner of the room, behind the bar counter, there were the bottles of wine and Lucien's favorite drink, Sky Blue… This was the office for Lucien Evans, the fifty-fourth member of Arcana Review Board. The papers would be sent to Lucien through the magic circles.

"If I am not in the office, sort the papers first and then send them to me every evening," said Lucien to the steel golem. "If I am not around, you can send the papers to my teacher, the Lord of Storm."

Lucien dared not send out the papers to the other members of the institution. After all, the reason why the papers were sent to him was that they were all possible bombs. However, fortunately, this kind of papers were very few.

The eyes of the golem shone with red light, and it responded in the metallic voice, "Yes, master."

After becoming the board member, Lucien not only got his exclusive office but also a magic servant. He could choose from the arcana puppets, gas servants, elementals, and the golems. After selecting carefully, Lucien chose the most expensive one—the steel golem made in the year of 812. It was said that the golem could fight for its master for a few minutes even in a very strong magnetic field.

Lucien adjusted his collar a bit and stepped out of the office.

Walking along the corridor, Lucien ran into the several junior and middle-rank arcanists working in Arcana Review Board.

When seeing the badge on Lucien's chest, they greeted Lucien with great respect, "Arcana's above, Mr. Evans."

"Morning." Lucien slightly nodded.

When stepping into the hall, the gate guard, an adamantine golem, also greeted using its low voice, "Take care, Mr. Evans."

Lucien heard that an adamantine golem was capable of fighting against a gold knight. Looking at the golem up and down, Lucien's eyes lit up and he wished that he could have one.

In the entire Congress, there were only a few adamantine golems. Each one or two of them were responsible for safeguarding the most important places in the tower such as the highest arcana and magic library, the major warehouse, the high-level summoning chambers, and the highest council office.

And Lucien's current wealth could not even afford a senior-rank mithril golem.

…

On the thirty-third floor of the magic tower of Allyn.

As usual, Lucien was in his teacher's office having his homework checked.

In the office, besides the Lord of Storm, Thompson and Alferris were also there. Right now, Alferris was sleeping on the carpet next to Fernando's feet just like a little puppy, slightly snoring.

"Thompson, I'll talk to you about the paper later…" Fernando put down the paper in his hand and looked at Lucien, "Lucien, it's time for you to switch to a new meditation method now since the new power of your soul has become more stable. Your spiritual power level's about the fifth circle, so your current meditation method is not really working for you. I have a new meditation method here that's quite suitable for you, and it's enough for you until you reach the eighth circle. Do you want to try it?"

Of course, Lucien would love to follow a better meditation method. He felt that his teacher should not even bother asking. Lucien had been prepared to buy a new meditation method from the highest arcana and magic library if his teacher was not going to make any offers.

"Sure, sir. Thank you very much!" Lucien's eyes were full of excitement.

Fernando took out a black old book and said to Lucien seriously, "My meditation method isn't bad, but the best meditation method for you should be developed by yourself based on your own situations and needs. When your cognition world has been basically substantialized, you can alter and amend your spiritual power and soul bit by bit using the several high-level mediation methods. If you can come up with your own meditation method that really works for you, it will be more hopeful for you to reach the legendary level. However, improving meditation is a risky and tough job. Before you're prepared, don't try it like a fool. I don't want to have a student like a fool."

Fernando's red eyes stared at Lucien in a very stern way, and he added, "Even one day when your cognition world has been basically substantialized, you also have to be very careful, or after a big bang, nothing of you would be left. You hear me?"

"Yes, sir." Lucien dared not to tell Fernando that his cognition world had been basically substantialized, so he was going to wait for another two to three years in case Fernando would feel suspicious. At the same time, Lucien was also glad that he was still being busy with something else and so far he had not got enough time with improving his meditation method. There were two reasons why Lucien could substantialize the cognition world so fast: one was that he knew that the transmission of power was not consistent; and the other was the fact that the two cosmical constants in the two worlds were, in fact, the same, which had brought Lucien great cognition impact and his cognition world had thus been reformed. This was Lucien's biggest secret, and it was very difficult for him to find other excuses to explain.

Taking over the old book, Lucien was a bit embarrassed to see the name of the book: Fernando's Meditation Method. It was obvious that Fernando was not an expert in naming things.

"You'd better stay in Allyn in the next three years, Lucien. If you have to, you must report to me or Affairs Committee." Thompson reminded Lucien, "You're on the 53rd place on the list now, the first person under the legendary level. Countless night watchers, red-robed cardinals and saint knights are eagerly trying to kill you. I even wouldn't be surprised if Philibell or Vaharall come to kill you in person."

Lucien nodded seriously, as he knew that the Church was like a crazy hound and he was right now like a little hare. Even Felipe, a person who was definitely very proud and arrogant, had also been staying in Allyn or Heidler for the two years and improving himself quietly. However, two to three years later, there would be for sure other big things happening and the Church would be distracted.

This was why Lucien was willing to reveal the fact that he was also the designer of Miracle Experiment when putting forward his discovery of the electron. He was prepared to stay in Allyn in the following two to three years, and then things should be fine.

"Then… Can I go to Rentato?" asked Lucien. As one of the senior members of the Will of Elements, Lucien should attend the meetings.

Fernando waved his hand in a straightforward manner, "Let them come to Allyn… Or you use Hathaway's demiplane to go directly to the Royal Magic Tower of Holm."

…

After Lucien left the office, Thompson sighed, "Lucien's going to get another two items with the Holm Crown prize, and maybe also an Immortal Throne. I'm already an eighth-circle arcanist, but the highest honor is still like a dream to me."

The ears of Alferris also twitched a bit in the dream, as if the little dragon also heard Thompson's words.

"If everything goes well, an Ice & Snow Medal should also go to Lucien," Fernando said so to motivate his student.

Alferris slightly opened its eyes and it seemed that its amber-colored pupils could see the precious stones on the rings and the many powerful amulets.

Thompson put on a bit bitter smile and said, "Before becoming a senior-rank, Lucien can probably get the highest honor in the three different fields. Something like this has only happened four or five times in history so far."

"Lucien found the electron from gas discharging… It reminds people of lightning…" Fernando suddenly switched the topic. "Brook has seized the opportunity by taking the risk of entering the cloud layer where flashes of lightning and thunders were in. He has proved that the electron is one of the reasons for the formation of natural lightning. In other words, if Moonsong League can be more generous, Lucien should be qualified of getting a Silver Moon Medal as well."

Fernando's words made Alferris's mouth water. Hurriedly, Alferris raised its claw and wiped the drool away. Its eyes were shining with excitement.

"The highest honor from the four different fields… This has never happened before…" Thompson felt that it was better for him to stick to his career as a battle mage.

"But Lucien's from the Will of Elements, so I don't think Moonsong League will be that generous. They will find an excuse." Fernando grinned since he did not care, "They can play blind, and I'm not going to accuse them of doing so. One day, they will find no more excuse other than giving Lucien the medal."

Thompson never expected that Fernando would speak this highly of his student.

"I'm going to teach Lucien more things about electromagnetism," said Fernando. He confidently picked up Thompson's paper.

Thompson realized that Fernando was actually speaking highly of himself.

When waiting for his teacher reading the paper, Thompson felt a bit nervous. Meanwhile, Alferris quietly moved to the door of the office.

After Alferris tiptoed out of the office, Fernando smiled, "I'll be more assured if Lucien has Alferris following him around."

"I wonder this time how many years will Alferris sell itself to Lucien for?" Thompson joked.

…

Lucien went back to his office in Atom Institution.

"Mr. Evans, good afternoon," greeted Lazar humorously, but also with some respect. "Hey, if I directly submit my paper to you, can you give me some more credits?"

Rock, Lazar and the rest of the arcanists in the institution had been playing the joke a lot recently.

"No problem. But if it's not a subversive paper, I'll take a hundred credits from you." Lucien grinned and opened his office door.

In the office, Lucien smelled the refreshing fragrance of the flowers.

"Flowers in my office? You did this for me?" Lucien asked. There was a lovely designed vase on his desk holding a bunch of bright flowers.

"It wasn't me." Lazar shook his head, "Maybe it's a gift from someone else… Many sorcerers have been coming to us recently to say congratulations to you, and, of course, wish to join the institution."

"So I've been hiding in my office recently," as Lucien was saying, he walked towards the desk. When he walked past the vase, he suddenly noticed a slight burning feeling on his skin. His cognition world that had been basically substantialized also suddenly thrilled from the burning feeling, and the electrons circling around were moving very fast.

"Radiation? A radioactive element? Curse?" Lucien was shocked.

Chapter 359: The Investigation

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

The many thoughts flashing past Lucien's mind rooted him there beside the desk, and Lazar almost ran into him.

"What happened?"

"There's some kind of curse on the vase," Lucien said to Lazar straightforwardly.

"What?!" Lazar's pitch suddenly rose. He could not understand why Lucien remained so calm.

"Arcana's above! Lucien, someone's trying to kill you!" Lazar grabbed Lucien's arm and fiercely pulled him away from the vase. However, he was certain that, for one second, he saw the excitement in Lucien's eyes.

Lucien was indeed excited, but he knew that he should play like a victim. His voice became angry, "Lazar, close the gate of the institution! Do not let anyone out! Collect all the gifts received! I'll report it to the Affair Committee."

"Got it!" nodded Lazar seriously.

After Lazar left the office, Lucien started to check the vase very carefully under the protection of a magic circle. As the radiation had caused the stir in Lucien's cognition world, Lucien guessed that it was very likely to be the β-ray.

In fact, a long time ago, Lucien had started to find the powerful radioactive elements, as the application of these elements was very wide. However, although many unstable isotopes were indeed radioactive, neither of them could meet Lucien's need. Until today, Lucien finally found the ideal one from another people's evil curse against him.

Making the most use of the time, Lucien adjusted the monocle that he was wearing on his left eye and said, "Thompson, I found a cursed vase in my office in the institution. Please send someone here as soon as possible to inspect it."

"I'll send the investigator from Punishment Department there right now. And I'll get back as soon as possible as well." Thompson got back to Lucien instantly.

After submitting the paper, Thompson had gone out to deal with some of his personal stuff. But he was aware of how serious this issue was, not to mention that Lucien was his fellow, and also the senior-rank arcanist with the highest potential.

Three minutes later, the investigators from Punishment Department had already stepped into Lucien's office.

There were five investigators, and the leading one was a middle-aged man with brown curly hair and dark skin color. He was wearing the badge from Punishment Department on which there was a black scepter. Besides the badge, there was also a four-star arcana badge and a six-circle magic badge.

"Mr. Evan, I'm Bellak, from the Punishment Department. Mr. Thompson sent us here to investigate the cursed vase," said Bellak rather seriously. His dark skin revealed the fact that he was very likely from the desert nation originated from the south part of Calais and Brianna.

There was no minister in Punishment Department, as it was directly led by Affair Committee. There were twelve vice ministers in charge of the department. Their arcana level was not very high, and their magic level was of seventh or eighth-circle. Therefore, although Bellak was already a senior-rank mage, he was still just an executive.

Lucien asked the sorcerers and apprentices to gather in one of the offices to undergo the questioning by an investigator. Lucien and Lazar led Bellak into the small meeting room and showed him the vase.

Bellak used the magic spell to check it, however, the vase seemed to be rather normal.

Bellak was very confused. He activated another magic item that he was wearing. The green light spots were speckled on the vase. But still, nothing special happened.

He checked over and over again but found nothing at all. He turned to Lucien, "Mr. Evans… I don't see any curse here. Did you use a special spell when checking it?"

"I don't have any special spells, but the magic circle in the lab can tell," explained Lucien.

"Can you show me, sir?" Bellak responded, "As an investigator, I have to check every detail."

"No problem." Lucien nodded. He asked Bellak to bring the vase and the other cursed items that Lucien sensed.

…

"This… This is cathode ray?! The power is much greater!" When seeing the familiar reactions and features, Lazar was shocked. And then he realized why Lucien could discover the curse so quickly – no one was more familiar with cathode ray than Lucien!

For the sorcerers whose soul had been substantialized, when they got familiar with something, they were very likely to sense that thing in many ways, which was more common among senior-rank sorcerers.

"But how does this have anything to do with cursing? Isn't this your newly-discovered particle?" Bellak was still confused, "Maybe the material of the vase is special and it can send out streams of electrons… Maybe it's just a coincidence."

"I don't think so. My Host Star of Destiny sensed the danger." Lucien found an excuse.

Bellak wrote down Lucien's words carefully, "I'll report this to Affair Committee and have a senior-rank mage or archmage to help out. Mr. Evans, please give us some time. Meanwhile, we'll still investigate the vase."

That was what a review board member should deserve.

"Thanks." Lucien nodded, and then he came to the outside of the small meeting room with Lazar and Bellak.

Bellak asked Lucien and Lazar to stay here in case there were any other curses, while he went into the office where the other investigators were in to see if they had found anything.

"What is the vase made of?" Lazar asked, "Bellak said that the vase was probably able to emit cathode rays… If we had known a material like this, we would not have used gas discharging for our studies."

Lucien answered and he could not help grinning, "It might be some special material. Hopefully, I can get something out of this assassination attempt."

"No wonder I saw the great excitement in your eyes." Lazar finally understood, "You're really a money-digger, Lucien. One day your passion for wealth should surpass that of a dragon."

Lucien took a glance at him and said jokingly, "I don't think you know a dragon very well."

After about ten minutes later, when the several investigators had finished putting together all the record, the gate of the institution suddenly opened. A tall and thin elder man walked in accompanied by Thompson.

The elder man looked ordinary. His eyes were closed tightly, and his hair was covered by the hood. The magic robe he was wearing was of pure black like the deepest night.

"Sir… the Eye of Curse?" Lucien recognized him. He was Atlant Forman.

"I am not leaving for Calais any time soon, so I am going to stay in the headquarter for a while. Fernando told me what happened to you. I am here to take a look. My hobby happens to be collecting all kinds of weird curses," said Atlant. His voice was gentle and soft. Although the way he spoke was quite slow, his tone was assuring.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you very much." Facing the Eye of Curse, although it was not Lucien's first time standing in front of a legendary-level archmage, he still felt the great pressure and fear.

Atlant nodded casually. He walked slowly to the vase. After a few seconds, he suddenly opened his eyes, and the entire vase was covered with a layer of deep green light.

When the eyes of cursing opened, Lucien felt a sudden dizziness.

There were countless figures in Atlant's deep, black pupils.

"Indeed… it's a curse." Atlant made his conclusion.

There were black spots in the deep green light.

"The magic structure itself is not complex, but the material used is very special, therefore, most of the inspection spells have failed to work. If being affected by the curse for too long, your organs would wear away gradually and you would die from all the fatal diseases."

Lucien nodded, and he was now certain that the use of the radiation was also part of the cursing spells. However, he did not know anything else about curses.

"Thank you, sir, for your confirmation…" Bellak reported to the Eye of Curse, Lucien, and Thompson. "We've found a couple of suspicious sorcerers but we cannot make sure whether they did this on purpose or not. Because all the cursed items made from the special material are from the same shop, and the details of the items resemble each other."

"I want a thorough investigation!" Although Thompson was always rather nice, right now his tone was stern and cold.

Atlant smiled, "So my job is done. But… can I take the cursed vase? I'm especially interested in the curse and the special material."

"No problem," said Thompson, since, of course, there was no way that Thompson would say no to a legendary archmage. "There is more than one cursed item."

Lucien hurriedly added, "Can I keep a couple of them as well? I am interested in the special material as well because it might be closely connected to the electron that I've been studying recently."

"Sure. The Congress is putting much emphasis on the exploration in the micro-world." Thompson nodded, as he was very impressed with Lucien's research attitude. Facing the evil assassination, Lucien was still dedicated to his study. No wonder he had won so many honors at such a young age!

Leaving an investigator safeguarding the items, Bellak led the three investigators to dig deeper into the assassination attempt.

Because there was not yet a conclusion, except Lucien, the rest of the institution members were asked to spend the night in the Congress. Lucien also comforted Heidi, Katrina, and Annick that everything would be fine.

After finishing all the work, it was already late. Lucien had decided to stay in the lab tonight to hurry up studying the radioactive elements in the vase.

The fact that the cursed items were sent to his office only a few days later after Lucien published his finding made Lucien feel quite insecure. Therefore, he suspended his work on producing the new fourth-circle spell—called X-ray, which used the power of cathode ray, and instead started to work on producing two to three new attack or defense magic spells to protect himself, just in case.

There were a lot of new magic spells that could be put forward using radioactive elements, besides the theory of relativity and mass-energy equation that Lucien was so far not able to derive because of his limited knowledge, there were still other things that Lucien could do, such as producing more cursed magic spells and find the element called Helium.

Once Helium was discovered, Lucien would be able to use its liquefied form to produce another new spell and further push forward the limit of ultralow temperature. He would even able to make the power of the spell reach the temperature which was only three or four degrees higher than the absolute zero.

The books in his spirit library were still locked as Lucien had never learned about the theories before. Even if Lucien could figure out how to use these most challenging theories, the correspondingly constructed spells should be of the legendary level, which was far from being practical to him.

This ice and snow spell could be even more powerful than a senior-rank one!

The only problem was that Lucien needed to find the right material when casting it, so he could make sure the caster would not die from it.

Chapter 360: The New Magic

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Late in the night, after Lucien finished separating the three rays and managed to figure out some of their characteristics, his cognition world changed again: two brand new light spots representing the two new elements showed up, and following the periodicity, the two light spots joined the trajectory of how the previously existing elements were operating.

With no special feature, one of the two elements did not have color and seemed to be rather "lazy", while there were three different rays shooting out from the other silver-colored spot—one ray had no color or smell, one had mixed colors that were hard to describe, and the third one had some special connection with the electrons surrounding the elements. The rays contained many missing magic symbols in them and together they constructed a rather weird model.

From the incomplete model, Lucien felt the power of cursing—the power to kill when one had no idea of what was going on.

Lucien was not good at using curses, and so it would take him at least half a year to complete the model and turn it into a real magic spell. Experienced as he was, he made the conclusion very quickly. So, if he wanted to improve an existing curse spell, it was going to take him at least five years as there was no guidance from his own cognition world to help him.

It seemed to him that this curse spell was of a quite high level, probably around the sixth circle, as its structure was more complex than that of Elemental Order. If Lucien had some radioactive elements as the reagent, as a senior-rank-mage-to-be, he should be able to cast it two to three times before his spiritual power was drained up.

Before the discovery of the electron, Elemental Order was a third circle spell. Now, Lucien had improved the spell to the standard of the fifth circle, and its power had been strengthened by twenty percent.

Although the structure of this cursing spell was complicated, with the help of the reagents and proper casting, Lucien should be able to use it with his outstanding mathematical knowledge and magic analysis ability, but the cost was great.

Lucien started to consider how to name the cursing spell: Invisible Death? Arcana Curse? Evans's Shadow? Lucien's Stare? Professor's Solicitude? Knowing that in a year or even half that he would obtain a new cursing spell, he was in a pretty good mood.

Later, Lucien started to use the element of helium as the reagent for casting. He was trying to get helium from the air. Lucien was doing so by using the fifth-circle spell called Hathaway's Collecting Spell, which was a must-have for most advanced magic labs. However, its magic circle was too expensive for the common labs.

After casting the spell, Lucien did not sense any gas gathering. Frowning, he guessed that it was because the proportion of helium in the air was too low. Fortunately, Lucien's lab was equipped with the fancy magic circles. So Lucien turned them on and finally collected a few tubes of helium.

This made Lucien think of his future methods for collecting his casting materials. Maybe in the future, Lucien could gather adequate materials in the space, but the radiation there was too terrible. So far, Lucien could only turn to Mr. Fernando for help.

The Eye of Curse, Atlant, was studying the cursed vase. Although he did not have a specific target like Lucien, and he was not an expert in arcana, it was also just a matter of time for Atlant to find the fact that a certain kind of ray was actually from the atomic nucleus of helium and create the new cursing spell.

Therefore, Lucien was planning on developing the paper about the new cursing spell as soon as possible and waited for the proper chance to publish it, so hopefully, he could get a few more years of the exclusive right of the new magic spell.

The Congress had developed its mature way of thinking to come up with new spells once a new theory or finding was put forward, no matter it was for constructing a new cursing spell or the improvement of a new ice and snow spell. Therefore, it totally made sense that Lucien could come up with these two new spells within such a short period of time.

Staying focused, Lucien started to use the magic circles to liquefy helium.

…

It was close to the early morning. In an advanced magic circle, there were drops of colorless liquid in front of Lucien.

Suddenly, in Lucien's half-substantialized cognition world, part of the colorless light spots turned into a light drizzle and then ice and snow followed. The mysterious, crystal-like magic symbols showed up. Although the symbols were complex, they were still not complete.

Following the Congress' mature way of thinking, and according to what he had learned from his fellow students, Lucien made a quick evaluation that he could complete the magic structure within three days. However, the magic spell was going to be very dangerous and complex, and it required a more powerful pressure magic spell than Pressure Cage to be completed.

To maximize the power, the ultimate version of the spell should be of the ninth circle. At the ninth circle, the temperature created by the spell would be one degree above absolute zero!

If to make it more practical, Lucien did not have to use a very powerful pressure, the temperature created by the spell would be about three or four degrees Celsius above absolute zero, and the level of the spell should be about the seventh circle.

It was a very powerful and terrifying ice and snow magic spell! Even Lucien himself was very surprised. The temperature created by most of the spells owned by Ashikana, the senior-rank mage who specialized in snow and ice magic, was still about fifteen degrees above absolute zero. Lucien started to wonder whether that was the limit for ice and snow magic.

However, he was never an expert in this field, and he had never studied the legendary snow and ice magic spells. Maybe the temperature created by some of the legendary level magic spells had already got very close to the absolute zero, but they cost too much to cast.

What made Lucien's upcoming ice and snow magic spells more terrifying was its practicality. The most challenging part of the spell—the construction of the structure of helium, its liquidation, or even solidification—could all be prepared in advance using the casting reagents, which could bring the degree of difficulty for casting the spell to about the sixth circle.

Right now, however, Lucien still had to solve one problem—how could he cast the spell without freezing himself to death?

Lucien carefully collected a tube of liquefied helium in an expensive tube, inside of which there were vacuum layers and heat shields.

One single tube like this was worth a level five magic item. After the discovery of the electron, the Congress had finally approved the institution's application and gave the institution five of the tubes. To make further progress in developing this ice and snow spell, Lucien needed a lot of money!

Lucien had some clues to solve the biggest problem: first of all, it should be a ray spell instead of range attack; Also, Lucien had to activate a vacuum shield to protect himself. But no matter how Lucien designed the magic, using the magic was still going to be dangerous for him. Lucien than started to consider how to name this spell. After a while, he had decided to name the seventh -circle version Evans' Freezing Ray, and its ninth-circle version Snow Goddess' Whip.

After putting forward laser and magnetic trap, Lucien thought to himself that he would be able to construct a legendary spell probably named Snow Goddess' Forgiveness… or maybe Professor's Forgiveness. Lucien amused himself when thinking of this. When he became more capable and was ready to enter the upper air or the starry sky, Lucien would find the existence of positive electron, and then possibly he could create the magic spells such as Substance Demolishment or Positive Electron Artillery…

…

Although he had been working for the whole night, Lucien was super excited. Because he was going to carry around the tube in which the liquefied helium was stored, he was quite concerned that once the tube somehow got broken, that would be the very end of him.

"So, your experiment is done?" A familiar and childish voice came into Lucien's ears.

Lucien was taken aback. When he looked back, he was amused. Alferris, the little crystal dragon, was wearing a white apron and holding a plate on which there was a bloody steak. The little crystal dragon was right now looking at Lucien in an ingratiatory manner.

"What's this, Alferris?" Lucien asked, trying not to laugh.

"Your breakfast!" said Alferris as if it was too obvious for Lucien to ask, "I can cook well!"

Looking at Alferris' crystal scales, and the rare steak on the plate, Lucien rubbed his forehead, "Where did you learn how to cook… Wait, why are you cooking breakfast for me?"

"I learned it from a book called A Cannibal's Secret Recipe. Many dragons have told me that I'm a good chef!" Alferris did not answer Lucien's second question.

Lucien asked, "What's the recipe…?"

"Tear it, roast, eat." Alferris tried hard to recall what was on the booklet.

Lucien cleared his throat a bit, "So… Why are you following me, then?"

Alferris suddenly jumped forward and licked Lucien with its red tongue, "Boss, please keep me!"

"Don't!" Lucien was scared, "I don't want to die with you!"

He was still carrying the tube!

When Lucien was considering whether he should spend a barrel of money to have the little dragon be his guard for the following few years, Bellak came back with the first-round investigation report.

Chapter 361: The Safeguard

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Bellak was taken aback when he saw the monster squatting next to Lucien. The monster had beautiful and crystal-like scales.

"Dragon?" Bellak immediately recognized the monster and recalled that the Lord of Storm did have a dragon student, so he calmed down.

Alferris lifted its chin and hummed in an arrogant way. It did not want to talk to Bellak.

Seeing the arrogant look on Alferris' face, Lucien was amused. He turned to Bellak and asked, "Any findings, Bellak?"

"According to our first round of investigation, the sorcerers who brought you the cursed items did not know what the items really were. They all bought the gifts from Lorban's Shop and since the shop sold these items, it never reopened again. We have no idea whether the owner, Lorban, is still alive or not. However, we can say for sure that the fact should be way more complicated than just some random careless people making the items using the special material by mistake."

Although a senior-rank mage was not able to invade someone's brain to read and rewrite one's memory, he or she could still use some illusion spells to get what they wanted to know from the middle and junior-rank mages.

"No idea whether Lorban is alive or not…" Lucien repeated, murmuring. He wondered whether Lorban had been killed after being utilized as a tool or he had run away as the chief plotter… Lucien believed that the latter was more likely to be the case, as the former would require too much luck and involve a lot of uncertainty to carry out the vicious plan.

Bellak turned the page and said, which confirmed what Lucien was thinking, "So far we believe that Lorban was involved in this whole thing and he knew what he was doing. According to the several sorcerers, they were encouraged by Lorban when they went there buying some common-used potions that they should build a good relationship with you so in the future they could possibly work in the institution. The several sorcerers were regular customers of that shop, and it was Lorban who recommended them to buy those cursed items."

"I see…" Lucien rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Any further information about this person?"

Alferris seemed to be rather bored. It bent over to the ground and soon fell asleep.

Bellak turned his page again and said, "Lorban, born in Rentato, Holm. His family has been living here since his grandfather's generation. His magic talent was discovered at the age of twelve and thus he was sent to Allyn magic school. With a relatively good score, he graduated four years later and became a sorcerer, specializing in Light and Darkness, Astrology, Element and Alchemy. Soon after becoming a middle-rank, his soul was severely damaged and became broken in one of his adventure outside of Allyn, and he could not improve his rank any further. He was also not good at studying arcana. Therefore, he started to run the alchemy shop in Allyn. Lorban is single. He's got no children, and his parents have passed away. He didn't talk much, and neither did he really have any friends. However, in the last five years, he had become more calm and mild and started to get along with people. He went missing about two days ago and we currently have no clue. We have informed the senior-rank sorcerers specializing in astrology in Punishment Department to see if we can get to know where he is right now. I guess that he has joined the Night Watch."

"Do we have other methods to approach the case?" Lucien slightly frowned. It seemed that this thing would soon come to an end since Lorban had gone missing.

Bellak was still wearing the same serious look, "We're still trying to figure out where Lorban got the special materials. Maybe we can catch more spies in this way. Affair Committee is very concerned about your safety, Mr. Evans, so I will be your guard for the following three months since this time period is most likely to be dangerous to you. In Allyn, you can just feel free to walk around and do your own things—don't mind me. I'll check around and examine the items that you use. If you're going to leave Allyn, Mr. Evans, please inform me in advance so I can report to the committee to protect you outside of Allyn."

"Thank you." Lucien slightly nodded. At least Affair Committee had shown their proper attitude.

When Bellak was checking the other items in the office, Alferris suddenly stood up and stared at Lucien with his amber-colored, big eyes, "I can do a better job than him! I can be your guard! If you can give me a beautiful Holm Crown ring, you will have me protect you for ten years! I have fulfilled my last compact, so don't worry, boss!"

"I remember… You once said that a Holm Crown ring could buy you as a guard for a hundred years." Lucien grinned.

Alferris was a bit surprised and its eyes turn round, "Did I?… I wasn't really thinking at that time… Boss, you're getting more Holm Crown rings very soon, and also Immortal Throne amulet, Ice & Snow Medal, Silver Moon Medal…" When Alferris was saying that, its mouth started drooling again, "You just give me one ring, and then you can have a dragon! A dragon that can fight, cook, you can play with, and do experiments on! It's worth it!"

"These are my honors… I can't use my honors to pay you…" said Lucien in a pretended serious way. "Also, these magic items are enchanted with senior-rank spells. I should wear them to protect myself."

"I'm more useful than your items! I know how to cast many senior-rank spells, and I can also fight physically!" Alferris was trying hard to sell itself, "I'm really good at spiritual and mind-affecting magic, and also the ones that work on one's soul!"

"I don't think so. Maybe when I become an archmage or a legendary sorcerer, and when these items become my collection, I can consider lending you the rings, amulets and medals for a couple hundred of years." Lucien was trying to lure Alferris while promising the little dragon nothing really solid.

"A few hundred years?" Alferris's eyes lit up. For a little dragon like Alferris who was still young, the fact that it could keep the precious items to itself for one or two hundred years was already very tempting. Also, Lucien did not say that it could borrow the items for only once.

Alferris made a cough, and it said in a pretended serious way, "Even if you can become an archmage, I have to wait for many years. Your promise means nothing. I'm not a stupid dragon."

The tone of Alferris really resembled that of Fernando.

"I'm not just promising you a fake hope. I'll pay you every month," said Lucien. He was saying so because right now he was already relatively rich. The cost of buying the experiment materials was covered by the fund for the institution, and Lucien's monthly share of profit from Holm Mineral and Harvest was already close to three thousand.

At the same time, after becoming a senior-rank arcanist, Lucien was getting three hundred and eighty arcana points from the Congress. Lucien was also getting three hundred from the Will of Elements. Plus the one thousand and five hundred arcana points that Lucien was getting from Arcana Review Board, his income was no less than that of most senior-rank mages.

Lucien was going to receive a few highest honors, so there was no need for him to make any magic items recently, and thus the cost was saved. So even if he was going to hire a dragon, Lucien would still have enough money for his future senior-rank rites and the construction of his own magic tower.

"I'm expensive," Alferris emphasized. Then it stuck out its red tongue and licked at Lucien's hand using moderate strength, "Boss, how much do you want to pay me?"

"Two thousand Thales every month. When I am not out of Allyn and when I don't need you to be my experiment subject, you're totally free. So you can earn some more shiny gold coins from other people if you want." Lucien's tone was very tempting.

"Really? And I can also borrow your rings, amulets, and medals when you become an archmage?!" Alferris' big eyes were shining, and it fiercely pulled out a piece of parchment from beneath its belly and said, "Boss, let's sign a hundred-year compact!"

Lucien was very happy. It was really worth the money he spent to have a dragon whose illusion level was very likely to be the seventh circle as his guard!

"If you are okay with it… Can I pay you in arcana points?" asked Lucien. He guessed that Alferris would prefer to receive shining coins and pieces of jewelry.

"Arcana points? No problem! I can use the points to buy the gems and crystals I like!" Like doing magic, Alferris pulled out a magic badge on which there were seven circles, and, at the same time, it looked at Lucien confusedly, "You don't like using arcana points? It's so convenient!"

Lucien felt that he was quite out of date.

After signing the compact, Alferris licked the piece of parchment and folded it carefully. Using the childish voice, it said, "Boss, I need to finish my last compact now."

"But you said…" Lucien was a bit speechless.

"Almost, almost! Up to five days!" Alferris blinked and waved his claw. In a second, Alferris had already run out of Lucien's office.

Lucien was just standing there, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

…

Three days later.

Lucien received the notice from the Will of Elements that he was invited to attend the meeting held in the Holm Royal Magic Tower to discuss the Holm Crown prize, and they had also informed him how to get to the magic tower using Hathaway's demiplane.

"Mr. Evans, for your safety, I have to follow you," said Bellak.

Lucien nodded. He and Bellak arrived at the top floor of the Will of Elements' magic tower in Allyn and then turned on the magic circle. The dim light shone.

After feeling a great dizziness, Lucien and Bellak arrived at the land which was seemingly surrounded by the starry sky. The stars were dyed with all the colors, just like the different elements. Up and down, the land had colors of green, yellow, red, gold and more.

Not far away from them, there was a very high tower directly extending to the starry sky. It was the magic tower of Hathaway, the Lord of Elements.

Lucien and Bellak did not have the time to appreciate the breath-taking view in the demiplane. They walked to the other side of the magic tower and activated the magic circle there.

When the light disappeared and when they could see everything in front of them again, they were already on the top floor of the Holm Royal Magic Tower.