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Chapter 422: Lucien's First Review Comment

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Sky cleared up after the snow. Sunlight warmed up everything on the ground.

The heavy steps of the steel golem echoed from within the corridor. Pushing open the office door, the golem said to Lucien in its cold rigid voice, "Master, here are the six papers submitted by the same author, as well as the comments by the board members."

This was one of the advantages of being a member of Arcana Review Board — A member did not need to spend any arcana points for checking papers and their corresponding comments. This was for encouraging the in-depth study of arcana and the prudent attitude for writing reviews.

Lucien took over the pile of papers, signaled the steel golem to guard outside his office, and immediately started reading.

From the several papers submitted in the past, it could be seen that the author, Levski, had delved into a geometry system which was contradictory to the current Tower system. In his most recent paper, Levski had developed a brand new system of geometry based on the five axioms, the four postulates, and the premise that in a plane through any point not on a given line, only one new line can be drawn that's parallel to the original one.

Lucien was very surprised that, a person in this world had worked out Lobachevskian geometry on his own!

Lobachevskian geometry was the first non-Euclidean geometry system developed on the Earth, and it was named after its discoverer Lobachevsky. When Lobachevsky first came up with the system, he was still a widely-recognized, young and promising mathematician. However, the cost of him introducing the new geometry system was life-long criticism and humiliation. The authorities either fiercely attacked the new system or ignored it completely. Even Gauss, the foremost of mathematicians, who in fact saw the rationality of Lobachevskian geometry, chose to remain silent in fear of the great pressure from the whole academic community.

But despite the miserable situation, Lobachevsky never gave up. He kept on trying for the new geometry system that he invented and even published another monograph in geometry in the last year of his life. Unfortunately, by the time he died in great pain and poverty and nearly blind, the academia still refused to recognize the enormous value of his geometry system.

In was only more than a decade after his death that his new geometry system was proven correct on special surfaces by another mathematician. Finally, and the significance of his finding was acknowledged and it was thus highly appraised by the academic world.

It seemed that in the current stage, the study could neither help the progressing of arcana nor the improvement of magic. However, when the development of arcana and magic proceeded further and reached the realm of space and the universe, the current mathematical tools would become insufficient for describing and solving practical problems. By then, development in math studies and new math models would be in need.

For example, another non-Euclidean geometry, Riemannian geometry, was the mathematical foundation for the great General Theory of Relativity which addressed the problems of space and time, while the application of Lobachevskian geometry was seen in human being's exploration of the universe.

If it could be said that Tower Geometry (Euclidean geometry) was human beings' direct perception of the world, then the two non-Euclidean geometry systems were closer to the objective truth — In fact, the three geometry systems were just different in curvature.

Compared to studies in magic, subjects that were being used as tools, such as math, faced a more challenging and tough journey for the discovery of subversive theories, for the authorities were even harsher and more conservative. Lucien sighed as he saw the comments given by the board members:

"A ridiculous reasoning has led to a ridiculous result. I'd suggest that the author should look through a window and see the real world. The paper shall not pass."

"… full of mistakes and useless. Fail to pass."

"… this is a vagarious and incomprehensible dream talk. The best and only use of this paper is to be thrown into a fireplace. Obviously, fail."

…

Lucien shook his head repeatedly when he read through the comments. Although his paper had also been looked down upon in the past, the comments were still given in a standard tone, and they were mostly due to the inability to understand the paper or incapacity to verify the results with experiments. Yet the review comments here looked more like attacks and calumniations towards the author, which should never come from a board member, whose duty was to review a paper based only on its theorem and proof.

After informing Fernando, Lucien spent his time reading Levski's paper carefully from the very beginning to the end, while doing the deductive reasoning on his own. Then, he picked up the quill-pen and started writing down his first review result as a board member.

"A daring hypothesis, rigorous deductive reasoning…"

...

The dusk light in the early evening dyed Allyn with a layer of shining gold-orange color, which made the whole city look stunning.

In a very tall magic tower which rose into the sky, a frowning old man was concentrated on deducting a math problem, over his white eyebrows was the special grey pointed hat of Tower. The several complex magic circles which occupied most of his desk space burst out light from time to time, assisting him with the sophisticated calculations.

At this time, his assistant knocked on the office door.

"Come in," said the level-eight, seventh-circle mage in a bit short-tempered tone, as he hated to be interrupted in the middle of his work.

His assistant was a young beautiful lady who always looked serious. Wearing a traditional Holm dress and holding a pile of documents, she said, "Teacher, the puppet has sent today's papers over. Please take a look at them."

The old man in his sixties rubbed his brows and nodded. "Give them to me."

If the papers were not that serious or difficult, his students should be able to handle them.

The emotionless young lady approached him with a constant pace and put the papers on the desk beside his right hand.

The old man first took a glance at the title of the paper, and then the look on his face instantly changed. Banging the desk fiercely, he yelled,

"Again! Levski's submitting his imagination geometry again! Is Eric daydreaming? It's such a waste of our time! The Board should prohibit him from submitting this paper again forever!

"Samantha, just scribble something based on the comment I wrote last time and throw it back!"

...

Meanwhile, in a villa in Allyn which claimed to have the biggest collection of flowers in the world.

A beautiful and elegant lady, whose hair was tied back, threw the paper in her hands on the ground. "Levski still won't give up?! What a waste of his talent and life! What's the point of submitting the same ridiculous paper again?"

With a second thought, she picked up the paper from the floor and grabbed a unique-shaped pretty quill-pen. Within two minutes, she had finished her comments.

Then she said to her servant angrily, "Give it back to the Board two days later, in the evening."

Let this stubborn madman live under the torture brought by hope for two more days!

...

After sending his comments back to the Board, Lucien started working on his own paper with a smile on his face.

Three days after in the morning, as soon as Lucien stepped into Fernando's office, he saw Douglas, the president of the Congress. Douglas was wearing a black suit and looked kind and easygoing as usual.

"Morning, Mr. President." Lucien greeted, wondering what was going on this morning.

Douglas grinned. "Quite surprised to see me, right? I'm here to talk to your teacher about the two theories published on Arcana and Magic — the two that disproved my experiment."

"You know, I like to talk to Fernando face to face at times like this," Douglas added. "Listening to him roaring against the theories lifts my spirit up."

Lucien almost burst out laughing.

Fernando looked quite pissed. Shaking his head, he said, "I don't get it… Why these worthless papers could even be published on Arcana and Magic? I know their standards has never been impressive, but now it is becoming unacceptable! What does it mean by 'charged particles are shortened when put against ether, so there would be a deviation in measurement'? Are there any evidence from solid experiments to prove this?"

"Comparatively speaking," Fernando calmed down a bit, "Brook's paper which throws doubt against your system of celestial body motion is more powerful. After all, those planets only exist in your dreams right now."

Douglas did not feel offended by Fernando's comments at all. Smiling, he turned to Lucien. "What do you think, Lucien… with regards to my experiment and the debates?"

Lucien was a bit speechless, as he had been asked about the same question almost every day recently. But this time, in front of the president, he had a prepared answer which derived from his careful thinking:

"Mr. President, I do have some thoughts here. The core of your theory is based on the existence of planets, which is also the most problematic part, since we haven't found a planet yet. Therefore, your theoretical system lacks firm support."

"So what? You can find a planet?" Fernando questioned bluntly.

Lucien looked very serious, and he said firmly, "If we can't find one, why don't we make one?

"Why don't we make a small planet that rotates our world following the orbit that we calculated?

"If it moves as what we expect, and if it can be observed, then gravity system can definitely be proven!"

This was Lucien's proposal! He had been reflecting on it for a very long time ever since he read the letter from Douglas!

The study suddenly quieted down. Only the sound of the wind shuffling papers could be heard.

...

In Sorcerer Administrative Department, Levski, who wore the same old magic robe, knocked on the door of Eric's office. His heart was full of hope, but also fear and anxiety.

"You come here quite early…" said Eric stiffly. In fact, he was not surprised at all.

Levski nodded, his face pale from the cold wind on his way here. "Yesterday was the third day. Today the comments should be available…"

Eric had just arrived in his office. Tidying his desk up, he answered, "wait a moment. The earliest results should be available at around a quarter past nine."

"Alright…" Levski sat down. But a few minutes after, he sprang up from the chair and paced back and forth. He wished that he could light a cheap cigarette, but it was in Sorcerer Administrative Department.

Time passed by seconds. Suddenly, the iron cage burst out milky white light.

"Is it…?" Levski hurriedly asked, excited and scared at the same time.

Eric picked up the pile of papers and leafed through, then he looked up abruptly, appearing very surprised. "No, your paper is not here!"

"W-why?" Levski had no idea what was going on.

...

On the fifteenth floor of Sorcerer Administrative Department, in the hall of Arcana Review Board.

Holding the three review results, the alchemical life was in a great dilemma.

Chapter 423: Thank You (Also what the author wants to say to you all, dear readers)

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The alchemical lives that worked for Arcana Review Board were responsible for several tasks: First, sort the papers received based on their keywords and forward them to the board members in the assorted fields; Second, send review results to the Sorcerer Administrative Department; Third, work out the weighted average of the comments given by the two assigned board members to conclude the final descriptive evaluation as well as how many arcana credits and points should be rewarded; Fourth, when two members' comments differed greatly, send the paper to a third person.

And if the two board members did not agree on the review result given by the third person, a small meeting consisting of all the board members in this field and the author of the paper should be called for, during which the final decision would be reached after an oral defense of the author and discussion among the attendees. The meeting would be audited by a special consultant from the Highest Council.

The Arcana Review Board, as the most special department in the Congress, did not follow the formal organizational form and had no president or vice president. The entire fifteenth floor only consisted of the members, their servants, and some middle-rank sorcerers doing administrative work.

The alchemical life was now in a dilemma: It had somehow made a mistake and sent the paper to three board members at once. Now that all three of them had reviewed the paper, yet their opinions diverged remarkably like the difference between heaven and hell.

Finally, it left behind its own mistake and found a way out: Send all the comments to Mr. Neeshka, Ms. Milina, Mr. Evans, and the author Levski; Invite them to attend the small meeting which was going to be held at nine in the morning tomorrow; Also, send invitations to the other board members specializing in mathematics and to the Lord of Storm.

As the grand arcanist who had been guarding Allyn in the past several years, Fernando was the most ideal person to be the special consultant. If he was too busy to spare time for the meeting, he would be able to turn down the invitation at as soon as possible, leaving enough time for the alchemical life to invite other grand arcanists or legendary sorcerers.

…

In Sorcerer Administrative Department, Eric scratched his thin hair in confusion. He vaguely remembered that something similar happened before, but he could not come up with an accurate answer on what was happening.

Levski's face, which was pale from catching the train early in the cold morning, now looked beyond miserable. "M-maybe, my paper was thrown into a garbage can…"

It was something that he had once experienced. At that time his paper had failed to pass, so he tried to submit his paper to some journals including Arcana Discussion, hoping that more people could see it and maybe even approve it. However, he never heard back from any journal, not even a rejection letter. Later, Levski was told that the editor had thrown his paper away after reading only one-third of it, believing that it was someone's mischief.

"…" Eric was not sure. Although he knew Lucien relatively well and regarded Lucien as a mature young gentleman, Eric was uncertain if Lucien would throw the paper away, since it was understandable for someone so talented like Lucien to be proud and perhaps, a bit arrogant.

Suddenly, the iron cage burst out white light again. Levski got slightly startled, and silence seized the office.

"Maybe your paper is there… It was missed." Eric comforted Levski.

Levski nodded fiercely, bereft of speech.

When the light disappeared, Eric took a closer look at the file and grinned. "It's yours."

Levski released a sigh of relief. But just in the next second, he became nervous again. Levski tried to reach out his hand several times, but retreated it in the end. He said in a trembling voice,

"Eric, please read the comments for me, one by one."

Eric was also curious, so he agreed. In his mind, he hoped that Lucien's comment could be sharp and straightforward, so Levski could finally know that it was time to give up and return to his normal path of life — Before Levski got obsessed with his geometry system, he was a hard-working promising arcanist majoring in Astrology and Math, who was appreciated by both the Congress and Tower.

Picking up the file, Eric saw two pages of comments and started reading.

"Mr. Neeshka, level eight arcanist, seventh-circle mage, authority in Astrology, Force Field, and Math, commented, 'If Levski's dream was to develop a paper that no one in the world could understand or accept, his dream would have come true. This paper is full of ridiculous errors. Like what I said, I strongly recommend Levski to look out of his window to see the bright sunlight and blue sky. This is our true world, and it has nothing to do with the geometry system in his imagination. My conclusion remains the same. The paper is useless.'"

Levski lowered his head. The comment from Neeshka was within his expectation, but was even bitterer than the last time. His hands clenched in fists, and his body uncontrollably trembled slightly.

Eric cast a sympathetic look at Levski, and he continued to read.

"Ms. Milina, level seven arcanist, seventh-circle mage, authority in Astrology, Electromagnetism, and Math, commented, 'This paper is full of strange reasonings that do not make any sense, and the conclusion goes the opposite from common sense. Here I warn the author: Stop harassing the board members using your paper. Except for the format, the paper has nothing that meets the requirement for submission, but format will not help it pass the review. I don't think there would be a new geometry system that differs from Tower Geometry.'"

Levski lowered his head. It was not known whether he was trying to hide the rage and despair on his face, or was he simply too embarrassed to look up. But judging from his still tightly-clenched hands, the answer was quite obvious.

At this moment, Levski felt like he was falling down from a cliff. He tried hard to fly up, to grab onto something, but he was not unable to do anything. He was going to fall into the pit of forever darkness, with his eyes wide open.

Then Levski heard the sound of Eric turning the pages. Levski's face flushed, and his body shook, as if he had just caught a last glimmer of hope.

After a second, there was only silence. Ten seconds later, silence. After a minute, there was still only silence. Unable to bear it anymore, Levski finally looked up, only to see that Eric was just standing there, staring at the page, like a statue.

"Eric?" Levski's voice quavered.

Like he had just woke up from a dream, Eric started reading as if in somniloquy.

"Mr. Evans, level six arcanist, fifth-circle mage, authority in Element and Thermodynamics, commented, 'A daring hypothesis, rigorous deductive reasoning with no mistake at all. The author shows us a brand new geometry system that differs from Tower Geometry. If we can put aside our past experience and what we can see with our bare eyes, we will recognize an independent, well-developed, true, logical geometry system that should be named as Levski Geometry.'"

Levski's mouth opened subconsciously. He was completely shocked. What he just heard made him feel it was a dream.

Eric was now staring at Levski as if he had never known this old friend. Then he kept reading.

"Although the value of this finding cannot be compared to that of calculus, I would still like to use the award given to the discovery of calculus as the standard to address the significance of this paper. May us all appreciate Mr. Levski's great contribution to geometry, as well as his long-time perseverance."

His head was buzzing. When Levski heard the thankful words, his eyes were blurred with tears.

Eric shared Levski's feeling, and his voice softened.

"This is a groundbreaking, innovative, and universally-applicable paper, which deserves extensive discussion and surely will play a significant role in the development of arcana. I suggest that six hundred arcana credits and five thousand arcana points be given as awards."

Levski opened his mouth, trying to say something, but failed. Suddenly, he burst into tears. Finally, his many years of hard work paid off! His many years of suffering and pain paid off!

Levski had a tough character and had never cried over this issue in the past decade. But now, he could not control himself anymore.

In fact, Lucien had thought of regarding the paper as "of extreme importance". But since Levski had not provided any mathematical model so far, Lucien decided to give the paper a slightly more moderate comment.

Reading the remaining content the file, Eric waited until Levski calmed down a bit and said, "Since the comments vary greatly, a small meeting is going to be held at nine tomorrow morning. Remember to come."

"I will," Levski answered firmly. As long as there was one board member who saw the value of his paper, Levski was already very encouraged and believed that his life was no longer a waste.

Standing up, Levski murmured in low voice, "Thank you, Mr. Evans."

…

In Fernando's study.

After a minute of silence, Douglas stood up excitedly. "Young people are indeed more creative. Lucien, although what you said isn't an easy job, your words have made me feel energized again.

"Maybe Bergner said is true… This is the era of great revolution and rapid development. I can't wait to carry out the idea!"

As soon as Douglas finished his words, he summoned a space gate and went back to his own demiplane at an astonishing speed.

Fernando's red eyes were now staring at Lucien thoughtfully. After a while, when Lucien was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable, Fernando finally said,

"I don't think your proposal is that simple…"

"It's not that complicated," said Lucien "full of confidence".

When Fernando was about to ask some more questions, the magic circle on his desk lit up and a file appeared.

Picking up the file and skimming through it, Fernando grinned. "You're such a troublemaker, Lucien. Tomorrow morning at nine, on the fifteenth floor there's going to be a small meeting for the paper you reviewed. Huh, why are you always different from other people?"

Lucien was not surprised, "So, are you joining the meeting, sir?"

Fernando glared at Lucien and said sarcastically, "I gotta think carefully whether I should get involved in something that is supported by you. After all, it's probably very dangerous… Wait a second, oh it's a mathematics paper, so it won't affect the cognitive world. But I still have to read the paper first."

Lucien was a bit speechless. He was not sure how Fernando actually thought of his student in his mind.

...

In the tall tower, Neeshka was looking at the file silently. After a while, he threw the file onto the desk and said angrily, "What is Lucien Evans thinking about? Does he just simply supports everything that is shocking? Does he know what logic is?! Can he see the real world?!"

Chapter 424: The Roaring Lucien (Almost twice the regular length, thank you all)

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Winter sunlight pierced through the thick layer of cloud, went through the window glass and fell on the astrology maps hanging on the study's wall. The light yellow halo made the space warm and cozy.

Neeshka's student, Samantha, wore the same you-still-owe-me-ten-thousand-arcana-points blank expression. "Sir, are you joining the meeting tomorrow?"

"Of course, why not?!" Neeshka was rather pissed. "I'll teach Levski and Lucien Evans a good lesson! This rubbish should never be sent to the Board again!"

Samantha nodded slightly, obviously not affected by her teacher's fury at all.

"I'll tell the coachman to prepare for tomorrow morning and don't be late again."

Then she picked up the pile of files and left the office, leaving the furious Neeshka alone staring at the paper and the comment from Lucien.

...

In the villa surrounded by flowers, Milina was standing in front of a dressing mirror, looking at her own face which was written with sheer anger. Beneath her feet, there were a few papers torn into pieces. She lowered her voice and murmured, "Lucien Evans…"

In her eyes, Tower Geometry was the only geometric system in the world and there was no other "new geometry" that was essentially different from it. It was just so obvious that Levski's paper was full of stupid errors, as it conflicted with the real world. All the good words that Lucien Evans used on the paper were complete nonsense. What Lucien Evans was trying to do was to confuse right and wrong, to disguise a pile of cow dung as whipped cream!

There was no doubt that Lucien was now slapping her face, as well as shaming all the Tower arcanists studying mathematics, as the achievements in the field of math were rarely able to receive an appreciation like this. Even her achievement in math, which had made her win Arcana Scepter, never got such a high comment!

Walking away from the mirror, Milina came to her bookshelf and pulled out the papers that she had published. Combining the viewpoints together, she quickly developed a new paper.

Only when she finished did her put the title on: On Parallel Lines .

As a rigorous mathematician and astrologist, she never fought unprepared!

As for the rest of the authorities who had received and read the paper and its comments, they shared the same attitude with Neeshka and Milina. When Levski's paper was first submitted, they had all contributed to the crucial criticism against this poor arcanist.

...

In the early morning, the haze that had lasted several days finally disappeared. Now the sky was as clear as washed.

Standing in front of the mirror, Lucien leisurely adjusted his black double-breasted suit, white shirt, and light yellow waistcoat. After carefully checking his appearance was proper and decent, Lucien smiled and said to himself, "You gotta change your style today."

Then he put Element, Electron, and Origin on his right thumb, middle finger, and little finger respectively. The flowing light and colors of purple and blue enhanced each other's radiance, making the rings rather dreamy and eye-catching.

Following that, Lucien took out his shining six-silver-star arcana badge and his Review Board member badge, on which was a hand holding a quill pen, and set them on his left chest.

Meanwhile, on Lucien's right chest, there was a prominent pattern of a magnificent throne supported by bones. The pattern was there because Lucien had transformed his Immortal Throne magic robe into this black, double-breasted suit.

Although most members in the board had won the highest honor in the fields that they specialized in once or twice, Lucien's case was still very rare as he had won the most influential awards in three different fields and so many rings. Apart from Fernando, among those who would attend today's meeting, the best had only won the top awards twice. So Lucien should be able to bring them some pressure by showcasing his achievement. The only problem was that Lucien had not won Arcana Scepter, which was the most authoritative award in Math.

Checking his appearance in the mirror once again, Lucien picked up his black top hat from the hat rack and put it on as he left his villa.

Past the streets, into the headquarter magic tower of the Congress, into the elevator, and up to the fifteenth floor, Lucien arrived at the meeting room at a leisurely pace.

"Mr. Evans?"

When Lucien was about to push open the meeting room's door, he heard a hoarse male voice calling his name.

Turning around, Lucien saw a middle-aged man who was standing on the nearby patio, looking quite uneasy and restless. The magic robe he was wearing was rather old and out of date, and smoke was slowly rising from the lighted cigarette between his fingers.

"Mr. Levski?" Lucien figured that the middle-aged man was the main character for today. "Why are you still here?"

Levski combed his messy hair with his hand and put on a bitter smile. "As soon as I get in there, the six board members will for sure start criticizing me right away. I'd better just stay here, and… you know, to calm down a little bit."

Compared to the numb and reserved Levski from several days ago, today's Levski was definitely more encouraged and confident. Now he could at least express himself efficiently.

Lucien understood his feeling, and he smiled gently. "So, are you ready? Are you ready to face their coldness, attack, and sarcasm, and show them your new geometry system?"

Levski frowned, as if seized by the pain in his memory. He said, with less confidence, "I'm ready… but them… I once introduced my paper in front of all the math arcanists in Tower. That was my first time… No one believed in me. There was no follow-up discussion, and all they gave me were nothing more than indifference, ignorance, criticism, and howls of derision. I'm afraid you have to suffer from this with me later, Mr. Evans."

"I have faith in you, and in your new geometry system. So I am not afraid." Lucien said to Levski sincerely.

Levski cheered up again, as he finally found the one person in this world who understood his perseverance and his work. "Mr. Evans, thank you so much. You're the first person who's willing to accept my geometry system, and the high appraisal you gave me, even I myself had never described my paper with those words… They really mean a lot to me. Thank you, thank you…"

Levski had devoted most of his time into studying math and arcana, so he was not good at eloquence and could only show his gratitude towards Lucien by saying "thank you" over and over again.

At this time, Fernando, who was wearing his floor-length red magic robe, arrived and asked the two of them to get in.

"Morning, sir. Thank you for coming." Seeing that Levski had sat down, Lucien turned to greet Fernando.

Fernando wore a solemn expression used when discussing serious matters. "I've read his paper. Although his geometry conflicts with the world that can be perceived directly, it is still kind of interesting, kind of entertaining."

The Lord of Storm never gave direct praise to anyone.

In the meeting room, there were six other board members besides Lucien. Compared to other conventions which usually involved fifteen or sixteen people, meetings in the Mathematics field were much smaller.

There were not as many math arcanists as those in other fields. Many board members specialized in more than one field and could thus attend different meetings, for example, Lucien was able to attend meetings in Elements and Thermodynamics. However, most arcanists were not willing to dig into math as it was only a tool, which could not directly lead to a change in the cognitive world or an improvement in magic. Therefore, only nine members of the Board in total were qualified for reviewing papers in math.

"Mr. Evans, I'm Neeshka."

Neeshka, who was wearing the grey pointy hat, greeted Lucien with no smile on his face. However, when seeing the pattern on Lucien's suit and his three rings, his white eyebrows twitched slightly. Subconsciously, he wobbled the black, mysterious scepter in his hand.

Milina and the rest of the members in the room also stood up and greeted Lucien. Although they were not at all enthusiastic, they still remained polite. After all, Fernando, who was famous for his cranky and merciless temper, was also here today, and he was Lucien's teacher. No one wanted to be furiously shouted at on matters not related to academics.

Lucien also responded politely. He noticed that five out of the six members belonged to Tower. They were all wearing the unique, pointy grey hat, including the two ladies. Somehow the hat looked a bit funny to Lucien.

In Lucien's opinion, it was obvious that the hat did not suit ladies at all. He purposefully on the opposite side of the long table, facing against the six members directly.

Fernando hated wasting time with words, so he said straightforwardly, "Because Mr. Neeshka, Ms. Milina, and Mr. Evans hold completely opposite opinions for the paper, New Principles of Geometry with Complete Theory of Parallels , written by Levski, we are having the small meeting today. First of all, Levski will explain his paper to us. You board members can raise your hands and ask questions at any time."

Levski silently picked up his paper and walked to the small magic platform in the front. However, just after a few steps, he stumbled against a chair, made a loud noise and almost fell over.

Neeshka, Milina, and the other board members sneered. Levski's face flushed instantly.

Forcing himself to calm down, Levski projected his paper onto the wall using the magic circle and started explaining his geometry system.

"Yes, Mr. Neeshka?"

Levski's explanation was interrupted by Neeshka when he reached the first conclusion drawn by deductive reasoning.

Holding the black Arcana Scepter, Neeshka said coldly with suppressed anger, "You tell me, why is the sum of angles of a triangle smaller than 180°?"

"It's based on the axioms and postulates I mentioned…" Levski pointed at the notes.

Neeshka snorted. "Alright, then you find one for me."

"…" Levski was speechless. This was sheer logical reasoning, and it was not built on a physical model.

Neeshka ground his teeth and said word by word, as if to express the anger inside him. "If you can't find it, it means that it contradicts with the reality, then your paper is completely a mistake!"

Then Neeshka sat down, giving no chance for Levski to explain himself.

Levski wilted like a piece of limp lettuce, but he still tried to look up. When he saw Lucien's smile, Levski felt encouraged again.

Fernando lifted his hand. "Keep going."

Levski took a deep breath and continued. After a while, Milina raised her hand.

"Yes, Madam?" Levski asked. He found that he was trembling a bit. Based on his years of experience, he could guess what question was to come.

Holding the Arcana Scepter inlaid with many star-like gems in her hand, Milina stared at the poor, middle-aged man. She put on a cold smile. "So, Levski, tell me, why the perpendicular line of one line does not always intersect with the oblique line."

"It's also based on the earlier reasoning…" Levski said in a way rather lacking confidence. Lucien could not help shaking his head. This was the very moment that Levski should show his confidence and firm attitude!

Milina picked up the pile of papers in front of her, her smile disappeared, and said, "Show it to me, or find the model."

"I haven't…" said Levski honestly, "but if we follow the logic reasoning, there is no problem with it."

"This is your problem, not mine. We live in this real world, not your imagination." Milina criticized without mercy.

Then she started reading her own paper, in which every single argument accused Levski's absurd belief.

Her arguments were stabbed into Levski's heart like daggers. Levski's face turned so pale that it looked like he was going to faint at any time.

"That is all," Milina said indifferently. She turned around without sparing a single further glance for Levski, as if he was a clown who intentionally presented exaggerated eccentric papers to draw attention from others.

"Keep going." Fernando said to Levski.

Lucien cast an encouraging look at Levski, which gave this poor man some power, although his voice still lowered.

The board members raised their hands from time to time. Some deliberately distorted Levski's idea to prove his fallacy, while some followed Milina and Neeshka's method and objected him based on real life. Since this question had been bothering them for more than ten years, all of the board members were subconsciously using bitter words to attack Levski and his geometry system. Levski's face turned paler and paler.

He, however, still managed to finish his part politely.

Returning to his seat, Levski closed his eyes, as if he had already seen the final result. He had to admit that there was no solid model to support his belief. Finally, he opened his eyes and cast a sorry look at Lucien.

"The members have explained their point of view during Levski's presentation," said Fernando, "so now let's have Mr. Evans explain to us why he believes this paper is of great value."

Lucien adjusted his collar a bit and walked to the platform in the front at a firm pace, with a pile of files in his hand.

"If I were you, Mr. Evans, I would not keep insisting," said Neeshka suddenly, "I understand how much you appreciate subversive theories, but we still have to respect what is true."

He was being this polite to Lucien only because Lucien was the student of the Lord of Storm.

Lucien smiled and looked at him. "Truth is the only thing that I respect."

Judging his expression and tone, it was obvious that Lucien was referring to Levski's paper.

Milina chuckled, however, the look on her face was as cold as a winter blow. "Mr. Evans, I'd like to remind you that you might be expelled from the board if you make a mistake too obvious on purpose."

"This is what I'd like to remind you all as well." Lucien's smile was gentle, yet his tone was firm and sharp.

All the board members present felt like something exploded in their mind.

— Was this young man accusing them?

Fernando blinked his eyes, feeling a bit surprised that his student, who was always elegant and polite, would say something so aggressive. It's so abnormal, and it looked like that someone's in trouble…

"Mr. Evans, you better first think about how to bring an imagined geometry into reality." said another member, Mabel, who was a serious, ordinary-looking woman. Wearing the grey, pointy hat, she looked like an old nun.

Pinching his face, the middle-aged man with messy black hair named Salgueiro asked in a low voice, "Mr. Evans, I'd really like to know why you think his paper will bring a revolution to geometry like how calculus changed maths. How can you prove it?"

"You never made any achievements in math. I doubt that you're qualified for reviewing this paper," Neeshka said rather straightforward.

Pissed off by Lucien's words, the members had become as aggressive as a rooster.

Lucien raised his hand to quiet them down. His voice was loud and clear. "If any of you doubt my capability in maths, please go and talk to the Board after this meeting."

Lucien paused a bit and then raised his voice even higher. "From now on, all things that are not related to this paper shall disappear. You are all board members, not kids!"

Lucien's sudden roaring made the meeting room silent.

Lucien looked around and nodded to Levski slightly. Then he said in the same volume, "When I speak, no questions, no interruptions. All the questions should be raised after I finish. But during my speech, I am going to ask you questions. Please answer my questions honestly, for the sake of the board member badge you're wearing and for the starlit sky above you!"

The board members were silent and were at a sudden loss of any excuses to reject Lucien. As a board member, three-time winner of Holm Crown prize, and winner of Immortal Throne, Lucien was qualified to make some reasonable requests. Also, Lucien's imposing and aggressive manner made them wanted to avoid getting into trouble with him.

"If no one says no, then I'll take it as a yes." Lucien looked at his teacher.

Fernando said with a straight face, "then do as Mr. Evans asked."

Lucien turned around and operated on the magic circle, so that now only the most basic axioms and postulates were shown.

"Mr. Neeshka, let me ask you. Are these axioms and postulates wrong?" Lucien asked.

Neeshka answered subconsciously, "this is different from the real world."

"Mr. Neeshka, forget about the sunlight outside, forget about the world outside, forget the contents of that paper. Tell me, honestly, are these wrong?" Lucien further raised his volume and demanded harshly.

Shocked by Lucien's manner, Neeshka took a closer look and found out these were the five postulates from Tower Geometry, the four axioms, and the hypothesis put forward by Levski. So he nodded. "These are correct, but the last one is ridiculous."

"It is proof by contradiction. Don't you know proof by contradiction?" Lucien asked, his voice full of reproach.

Neeshka's white brow twitched a bit. Obviously, he just could not say he had no idea what it was. So he nodded. "Then…"

"So anyone? Anyone here thinks proof by contradiction is problematic? Raise your hand!" As if he had been teaching in a magic school facing rows of pupils, Lucien maintained his imposing manner.

The rest of the members all shook their heads.

Lucien then projected a few more lines of Levski's paper.

"Ms. Milina, following the logic, do you think this part of the reasoning is problematic, based on the premise?" Lucien cast a rigorous look at her.

Milina sneered. "It's different. You can't find…"

"Forget those! I said forget them! Only think about the premise and the deductive reasoning! Think about math!" Lucien interrupted Milina, roaring. "Tell me! Is it logically problematic?!"

Faced against Lucien's roaring, Milina was unsure how to refute him. She carefully deduced from the given premises and then shook her head. "No… Logically speaking, it is correct. No equivalent proposition is used as a condition here."

"Good." Lucien gestured Milina to sit down, and then showed a few more lines.

"Ms. Mabel, following the logic, do you think this part is problematic, based on the premise?"

Lucien kept asking and roaring, over and over again. He kept pushing the board members to only think of the axioms and postulates and logical reasoning.

Answering "No" to Lucien's questions again and again, the board members faces gradually paled. While the board members had sweat on their foreheads, Levski felt more and more encouraged. Every time when Lucien roared, he became a bit more confident. Meanwhile, Fernando nodded thoughtfully.

With the last a few lines of the paper projected on the wall, Lucien turned to Neeshka and asked in a low voice, "So, Mr. Neeshka, following the logic, do you think this part is problematic, based on the premise?"

His hands clenching tightly, Neeshka could feel himself sweating. He gulped and did not dare to mention the real world again. "No…"

"Good. No." Staring at the six members, Lucien murmured.

Then, suddenly, he roared at the top of his lungs like a violent storm.

"No problem with every single line! Then tell me why this paper is wrong!

"Tell me!"

Startled, Milina burst out, "It conflicts with the reality and what we know…"

"Throw them out of your brain!" Lucien roared, "Tell me, in the sense of pure math, following the logic, based on the premise, where is it wrong?!

"Tell me!"

Neeshka, Milina, and the members all remained silent, having no idea what to say. If, as Lucien said, only in the sense of pure math, the paper was indeed correct.

Levski held his fists tight, his head slightly raising. Closing his eyes, his face was written with complex looks, a mixture of elation, sorrow, pain, and hope.

Somehow, the members started thinking to themselves:

Lucien's roaring resembled Fernando a lot. He was indeed the student of the Lord of Storm. Maybe… this was another the Lord of Storm…

That was what all the members were thinking right now.

Fernando shook his head and murmured to himself amusingly, "I don't remember I've got a love child."

Seeing that the members were all shocked, seizing the momentum, Lucien put another paper in the magic circle and projected it on the wall together with that of Levski.

"An Attempt to Explain Non-Tower Geometry…" Milina silently read the title of the paper, and then she went on reading further.

One by one, the pages of Lucien's paper were cast on the walls surrounding the board members.

Neeshka rubbed his brows and said confusedly, "So this is differential geometry that he's using…"

Mabel and Salgueiro started reading as well. A while later, their faces lost colors. Beads of cold sweat rolled down from their foreheads. They could barely hold their quill-pen.

"This is…!" Levski sprang up from his seat, as if he saw the Goddess of Magic standing right in front of him. Because what was in front of him was the very geometry model he had been looking for! This is the Hyperbolic Geometry model that went beyond normal imagination and experience. This was the most powerful proof!

He cried out silently. After so many years, he finally saw the sun rising in this world, driving away all the darkness. After so many years, he finally saw hope!

Lucien's paper was not complex. To be more specific, it was in fact very simple. Using stereographic projection on the unit circle, Lucien proved that Levski Geometry was compatible with Tower Geometry. Thus, if Tower Geometry was tenable, so was Levski Geometry!

Lucien's concise derivation and wonderful proof were full of the beauty of math. This was the most shocking as well as the most solid proof to persuade the members!

Levski cried out loud in his mind: He was not wrong! He was the one who had been right all the time!

At this time, Lucien started speaking again, but his voice had softened. "As is known to all, we are only able to see light within part of the spectrum. To see more, we have to use tools, but the tools also have their limitations."

Since some prerequisites that the paper was based on were not available beforehand, Lucien had to prove them in his paper, which made the paper to some degree more complicated than Levski's, but the members could still understand. Hearing Lucien's words, the board members wondered what Lucien was trying to say.

"… So, when light plays tricks in some scenarios, our eyes can deceive us, thus we have illusions. Some illusion spells were created based on this."

The board members nodded, agreeing with Lucien's words.

Lucien kept going in the soft voice. "Similarly, our ears can also deceive us. We can't hear when sounds exceed a certain frequency. And under some circumstances, we hear things that do not exist.

"So, our knowledge and experience are limited to the design of our body and soul. We all know how to transform. When we transform into other creatures, do we still feel the same way in this world as we do right now?"

"No," said Levski firmly. Although many transformation spells came from the advancement of anatomy — before the discovery that bats used echolocation, the bat transformation spells all had similar errors — ancient sorcerers still managed to see the world in the eyes of other creatures with the transformation spells obtained from those creatures' magic patterns.

Looking at the confused board members in front of him, Lucien smiled. "So are we correct? Or are those animals and creatures correct? Obviously, we are all correct. We just have different perspectives. The truth we see is part of the bigger truth. Therefore, our knowledge and our experience are always limited.

"Our imagination is based on our experience, thus our limited experience can easily put constraints on our imagination. As we explore this world further, we'll see more and more things that go beyond our perception and understanding."

Fernando nodded seriously. He knew what Lucien was trying to say.

Neeshka, Milina, Levski, and the rest of the members were still feeling a little confused. They stared at Lucien, waiting for further clarification.

Lucien raised his right hand and his look became serious.

"So, your eyes can lie to you; your ears can deceive you; your experience can mislead you; your imagination can restrain you."

Lucien paused a bit. Under the board member's gaze, Lucien pointed at the paper projected on the walls and said in low voice,

"But maths won't."

Chapter 425: The Belated Recognition

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lucien's voice wasn't loud, but his words were beyond shocking to the board members present.

As the authorities in math who had won the Arcana Scepter Award, they had to admit that they were more or less proud. However, in fact, they only regarded math only as a tool for studying arcana and analyzing magic spells. Very few arcanists were willing to devote their entire life to the beauty of math, most of them would never explore further in maths past what is sufficient for their purposes.

The Tower's arcanists who were fond of math more or less shared the same belief before, but it was either a occassional remark of pride or just a flash in the pan. No one had ever, like what Lucien just did, managed to prove by using such shocking reasoning and imposing manner the great value of math: Math went beyond human beings' intuitive understanding and experience. Thus, maths' importance and significance had been raised to a degree no one had ever dreamed of before.

Although they understood that Lucien was helping Levski, the board members, who were also mathematicians, were the same excited and encouraged.

Levski's body was trembling out of great excitement. He knew that math would not lie, or New Principles of Geometry with Complete Theory of Parallels would have never been born. In the furious ocean of arcana, Levski clenched tight to the vessel named Math. Because of his belief, he could travel across the ocean without being overwhelmed by the waves and tides, or by despair!

Fernando did not say anything but merely nodded. He knew that Lucien's words were indicating something even deeper.

Lucien put back his right hand and removed the projection from the walls. Then he put another thick pile of paper on the magic circle and smiled gently. "Now let's see if we can find more from another perspective."

Despite all the proof, so far the board members were still reluctant to admit the errors they made, reluctant to admit that they had been wrong for more than ten years. Although, in their mind, they had already begun to accept the new geometry system — They had to, or otherwise Tower Geometry, which was compatible with it, also had to be overthrown.

Besides, they had to admit that Lucien's words were persuasive. Therefore they were now quite calm and objective towards the new paper.

"Another Perspective on the Parallel Postulate…" Milina read the title in a low voice, and she had some clues in her mind…

"Another perspective…" Levski felt that the mist in front of his eyes was slowly dispersed. He saw something that he had ignored in the past decade.

Like teaching in the magic school, Lucien pointed at the lines on the wall one by one. "So Mr. Levski postulated that 'For any given line R and point P not on R, in the plane containing both line R and point P there are at least two distinct lines through P that do not intersect R'. Here we can make another postulate to complement the entire geometry system: For any given line R and point P not on R, in the plane containing both line R and point P there is no line through P that does not intersect R.

"Now, let's do the deductive reasoning and see what will we get?"

Levski took a deeper breath and became excited once again. The rest of the board members stared at the paper's projection and looked very serious.

Lucien went through the paper very fast as he was facing the authorities in math. However, the board members looked more and more grave, more and more confused. Finally, Mabel burst out, "This is another crazy conclusion… different from Levski's geometry system!"

"Why…" Salgueiro's murmur was drowned out by Mabel's voice.

Milina was very perplexed. "Is this a new geometry system different from Tower Geometry?"

Just a few hours earlier, she firmly believed that Tower Geometry was the only geometry system in this world. However, in less than one day, her belief was mercilessly shattered, for twice.

She was glad that knowledge in maths did not affect the cognitive world, or her head would have exploded already. Lucien definitely deserved the titles that people secretly gave him, namely, Headcrusher and Brain Eater…

Levski was not confused, instead, his mind was seized by many thoughts: Why could this happen? Why completely different yet equally correct geometry systems could be deduced from the fifth postulate? Did this have anything to do with the real world?

Under the influence of president Douglas, many arcanists tended to ask "why" very frequently, but few were like Lucien.

"Interesting…" Fernando nodded slightly.

Time flew, and Lucien's paper had come to the end. Using a spherical model, Lucien proved the system's compatibility.

Neeshka sighed, "This is another new geometry system… Evans Geometry…

"Math won't lie… indeed…"

The board members missed the chance of naming a new geometry system after themselves because of their own prejudice and arrogance, as if one accepted Levski's hypothesis, then the postulate that Lucien Evans just put forward was in fact not difficult to come up with.

Lucien had not finished yet, and he showed the last few pages to the audience. "In my paper, I've defined the term 'curvature'. Based on calculation, we can know that when the curvature is zero, we get Tower Geometry; when the curvature is below zero, we have Levski Geometry; when the curvature is above zero, we see the geometry system that I just introduced. They have commonalities in their essence, and they are compatible with each other."

Milina released a soft sigh. Now the two new geometry systems seemed more acceptable to her.

Enlightenment came to Levski. When he was about to applaud out of great excitement, he saw Lucien's gesture asking them to remain quiet.

What else did he want to say?

This was the question shared by all the members of the board as well as Levski.

Lucien was not roaring anymore, instead, he said in a very soft voice,

"As we can see, under some certain situations, the math questions we're trying to solve exceed our experience and knowledge. We are therefore restrained, so is the development of math…

"So, maybe we can try to separate our understanding of math from the reality, and temporarily put aside their physical models and meanings; Maybe we can start from the purest axioms and concepts, and, through strict deductive reasoning, derive new consistent math systems logically. As for how to apply those systems, we can think about it later when there are needs…

"This is my personal belief."

Lucien mentioned the notion of axiomatic systems briefly, but did not dig deeper into it. He preferred to wait until most arcanists had accepted the concept. Everything took time.

Levski started applauding. His applause was lonely in the meeting room. He shared so many commonalities with Mr. Evans, and what Mr. Evans just said was exactly those things that he had been searching for — He had the impulse, and he could feel there were things he wanted to tell the public, but he failed to put them together into words. Levski felt that Mr. Evans just saved his geometry system, as well as his life.

Hearing the applauding, the look on Neeshka's face changed several times. Finally, he slowly lifted his hands and also started applauding.

Following him, the rest of the board members all joined in. After an initial hesitation, their applauding became more and more sincere.

"So, is there anyone who still rejects Mr. Evans' comment on Levski's paper?" Asked Fernando after the applauding stopped.

Neeshka rubbed his white brow and sprang up from the chair. Looking at Levski, he said, "Please accept my apology. This is a paper that deserves Arcana Scepter, yet my arrogance and prejudice had deprived me of judgment. I completely agree with Mr. Evans's comment."

"I would also like to apologize to you, for the past years of criticisms and attacks I imposed on you. Levski, you are a talented, outstanding mathematician. My stubbornness and shallowness had blinded me. You deserve Mr. Evans's comment and Arcana Scepter." Using the manner of Arcana Above, Milina put her hand on her forehead and bowed deeply to Levski.

Levski knew that the board members would no longer object his theory, but he never expected that they would apologize to him in public. Instantly, his head buzzed, his nose felt sore, and his eyes became blurry. Seeing that the board members all stood up to apologize one by one, he was dumbstruck.

Was there sorrow? There was!

Was there pain? Of course!

But now all the pain and effort had paid off!

Levski's eyes were red. His lips quivering, but not a single word could come out from them. Neeshka looked at Levski and sighed understandingly. Then he turned to Lucien, "Mr. Evans, I also owe you an apology. You are, without a doubt, a genius and authority in math. Your geometry system and Mr. Levski's will for sure win Arcana Scepter!"

"Thank you." Lucien replied in a very low voice.

Milina noticed Lucien's unusual behavior, and she asked, "are you alright, Mr. Evans?"

Lucien smiled wryly. "My throat hurts…"

It was never easy to mimic how the Lord of Storm talked!

Chapter 426: A New Journal

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Hearing Lucien's words, the gentlemen managed to refrain themselves, but the two ladies present could not hold back their giggles — Mr. Evans had to pay for his roaring!

Levski's paper introduced a brand new geometry system, and it included lots of propositions. The length of the paper way exceeded that of an ordinary paper and was almost equivalent to a book. Although Lucien skipped many parts when lecturing, his throat still hurt, despite of the fact that he was also a knight.

Lucien's answer amused the rest of the board members, and also more or less healed their mind after the intense roaring. During Lucien's speech, they were so shocked by Lucien's imposing manner and violent roaring that they subconsciously assumed that he was another Lord of Storm, who would never be bothered by too much roaring. Now the problem had been solved, they started to feel that Lucien was in fact quite easy-going.

"You need some potions?" Milina chuckled.

Lucien shook his head, and his voice was still a bit dry. "I'm okay. I'm a level-two knight, so I should be able to recover after one or two hours."

Neeshka sighed and then said, "Mr. Evans, you just read Levski's paper for the first time a few days ago, right? It's unbelievable that you managed to find two ways to prove it in such a short time. The second method is particularly concise and beautiful, which has perfectly proved the compatibility between Tower Geometry and Levski Geometry. Facing it, we can no longer let arrogance and prejudice blind us anymore. You're such an incredible genius in the field of Maths."

"Um… In fact, it's the studies of differential geometry and sphere surface in recent years, the studies that have been done by you all, that provided me with a solid foundation and inspirations. Without your studies, even though I was able to see Mr. Levski's paper from a relatively objective perspective, I wouldn't have been able to finish the reasonings in such a short period of time," said Lucien.

He was being rather humble. After all, he could not tell them that the credits should all go to the great mathematicians on the Earth.

Lucien expected that, if he had not stood out to support Levski's theory, the great value of Levski's paper would be realized around four to five years after the death of Levski, if Levski could not advance to middle-rank. What Lucien did just now was returning to Levski his rightful honor and award when he was still alive, not until after he died in misery.

Lucien's sincere attitude completely resolved the board members' uncomfortable feelings. They apologized again, in the most earnest manner.

Neeshka looked at Levski, who had gradually calmed down, and said, "It's such a pity that so far the new geometry systems put forward by Levski and Evans cannot be applied to our daily arcana study, nor could they be accepted by Arcana. This pity is often shared by we arcanists in math. I guess we can only publish them on the journal Astrology funded by Tower."

This was a world where a theory would only be valued when it could be applied to reality. The reason why calculus was called the tool that had changed the entire era was that it could help a sorcerer accomplish the complex calculations required for completing a magic model, thus simplifying the process and lowering the requirement for the level of spiritual power. In the past, a sorcerer would need ten to twenty years to become a middle-rank, but now it could be done within five to six. Some geniuses even made it in one year! Of course, when exploring the truth of the world, calculus was an indispensable tool as well.

Also, the reason why complex variables functions had been the most heated study focus in recent decades was that they could be used to describe and calculate the force field of spiritual power. All the valuable papers that focused on complex variables functions were very likely to be published on Arcana and Magic.

So Levski's and Lucien's findings, despite that their mathematic models had already been established, might be gems that only thrilled the mathematicians in their own world. It is very unlikely that these papers would be published on Arcana.

Lucien said in a half-joking manner, "Perhaps the other side of the world fits perfectly into the new systems. When we find it out, maybe Arcana will do us a special supplement to acknowledge the significance of our findings."

Although Lucien could use his privilege as the member of the Review Board to publish the paper on Arcana, it would not help Levski much. So Lucien preferred to publish his and Levski's papers on Astrology together. He believed that this month's issue of Astrology would be remembered by all the arcanists in the future because of their papers.

"Hopefully." The rest of the board members did not really think that it was going to happen and simply offered their sincere wish. Even with President Douglas' theories that the world is a sphere, and with the important role that Evans Geometry played in the study of spheres, it was still quite hopeless for the paper to be published on Arcana. Since the coverage of most of the magic spells was limited, Tower Geometry and the properties of curves were equivalent tools for the sorcerers. There was thus no need to get too complicated.

Except for Ross who was a firm representative of the Congress, the rest of the board members present were all upper echelons of Tower, so they could decide what to be published on Astrology. After a brief discussion, Milina said to Levski and Evans, "the month just started, and this month's Astrology just came out. But to acknowledge the great contribution from you two, and to let most of the arcanists access your papers as soon as possible, we want to put your papers on a supplement for this month. What do you think?"

In many arcanists' mind, a supplement was not formal enough.

Levski was totally fine with it. His paper had passed the review and won such high recognition. Because of it, he would become a level-four arcanist and was now a candidate of Arcana Scepter. To him, ensuring that his paper was available to the public earlier was more important, as his dream was to make his geometry system be accepted by as many arcanists as possible.

But Levski did not respond immediately. Instead, he looked at Lucien and waited for his answer. After all, it was Lucien who brought him all these.

Hearing that, Lucien had a new idea. When Lucien was thinking on it, Milina took his silence as reluctance, so she hurriedly added, "Since the two papers are quite long, if we put them together and publish them on the next month's issue, it's gonna be too thick to make room for other papers. So either for this month or next, we still have to make a supplement. It's the first time that we only publish two papers on one issue since the era of calculus. So it's actually an honor…"

Lucien waved his hand and smiled. "It's not a problem to me. I was thinking of something else… I mean, since now we're planning on adding a supplement, why don't we establish a new journal that affiliates with Astrology for publishing math papers exclusively? While Astrology can focus on publishing papers in the astrological field and avoid being criticized that math papers are taking up space for papers focused on blessing, prophecy, and curses, arcanists who are devoted to math study can also find their own platform for discussion. I think this is gonna be a great encouragement to them."

Producing a new journal was not an easy job. Also, the math papers that they could collect at this stage might not be enough for establishing a new one. But for an affiliated journal, many worries could be saved.

"Affiliated journal… We don't have it before. How do we determine its Influence Factor?" asked Neeshka. He was an authority in math, thus, having a journal exclusively for math was a great temptation to him.

Lucien first briefly introduced the benefits of having an affiliated journal, and then said, "As an affiliated journal, its Influence Factor should also follow Astrology but at one level lower: Astrology's Influence Factor is 2.5, then we should give 2.0 to it."

"We're very interested in the proposal, and we'll apply to the Board tomorrow," said Milina after a short discussion with the leaders from Tower, and then she turned to Lucien and Levski. "… So, if you two publish your papers on the new journal, the Influence Factor is 0.5 lower, and the arcana points awarded for citation will be less…"

Lucien smiled gently. "I'm fine with it. It is my honor publishing the paper on the first issue of a journal."

Levski also nodded. "Me too. So far I can't see a wide application of my new geometry system, so there shouldn't be a big difference in the citation credits. It's also a great honor for me."

"Thanks a lot. The two papers will be the start of the new journal," Milina smiled. "… By the way, Mr. Levski, I wonder if you're willing to take the role of the chief editor of the journal. You definitely fit this position, as a genius in math."

Levski thought about it carefully and nodded. "Thank you, I'd love to. I'll try my best." He believed that compared to other jobs, this job would allow him to spend more time on studying math and arcana.

Milina then turned to Lucien. "Since you are a member of the Arcana Review Board, I'm afraid you can't be the chief editor. However, in order to show our appreciation of your great contribution, we'd like to invite you to be our Honorary Chief Editor, can we? You can publish all your math papers on this journal."

"No problem." Lucien laughed. Could this count as Tower's pay to him?

Neeshka added, "Mr. Evans, can we put the short speech that you just delivered on the front page of the journal? We'd like to have your words to be the inscription as well."

"My great honor," responded Lucien briefly. His throat still hurt.

Finally, Milina realized that the new journal was still waiting for a name, so she said, "Mr. Evans, since you made the proposal, why don't you name it?"

The board members all nodded.

Lucien thought for a while and said softly,

"Math is the most wonderful and essential language in nature, and it shows the rules that all fields and realms shall follow…

"So, let's name it — Nature!"

Chapter 427: The Hard-won Compliment

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

"Nature…" Neeshka coughed a bit, "… Your explanation is persuasive, Mr. Evans, but… isn't this title a bit too broad for a math journal? I'm afraid that people wouldn't be able to understand it at first glance."

That was the thought shared by all the board members, including Levski. Unlike the other journals, for instance, Arcana, Magic, and Astrology, whose names had a very clear indication, Nature sounded like a journal that was established by the Druids. Although they appreciated Lucien's belief in math, they still had to face the reality that math still served the study of arcana and magic.

Obviously, Lucien couldn't say that it just a mischievous decision —"Science" would require him to create and define a new word in this world, but for "Nature" he could quote directly — so he explained, "I'm in fact putting a lot of hope into the new journal. Although so far Nature is still a math journal, in the future, I hope it can publish all the arcana theories that are hard for people to accept or understand instantly. With its main focus still on math, Nature will hopefully become a journal describing the World's Truth that is as important as Arcana and Magic."

This was too ambitious to the members present. Both Arcana and Magic had a history of over several hundred years, with Arcana focused more on theories, while Magic was more on the side of application. They were the top journals to arcanists just as Canon to the followers of the Saint Truth. Their position was irreplaceable.

Therefore, the members did not take Lucien's words to heart. What Lucien just said would be a beautiful wish or an aim that they could work towards. Milina spoke with a smile, "as you said, we use math to describe the true world… From this perspective, I guess Nature isn't a bad name. Names like World or Truth sound too arrogant, and Math sounds too limited…"

"I agree on the point that Nature can be the platform for sharing the theories that are relatively hard to accept. Our journal could provide them help… " Levski thought of his experience and agreed upon Lucien's idea.

Salgueiro, the middle-aged man with messy hair, slightly frowned. "But how do we tell between those really valuable papers and the absurd ones that deliberately seek to be weird? If Nature opens the gate to all of them, as a journal of 2.0 Influence Factor, it would encourage many arcanists to spend lots of effort in fabricating eye-catching theories that are unrealistic and incomprehensible."

Levski did not know what to say, while Lucien answered preparedly, "Nature is a pure math journal. Then our judgment should base on pure logical deductive reasoning. If a paper logically makes sense, but it can't pass the review of the board, we can publish it in the discussion content. However, if a paper has fundamental fallacies in logic, it is not qualified and should be rejected."

"That's it!" Levski recalled Lucien's enlightening speech.

The board members present all nodded silently. They had learned from their mistakes in Levski's case.

A few minutes later, Neeshka said while he looked out and saw that the sun sinking low in the west, "This is the longest review meeting that I have ever attended, and from which I got the greatest lesson. Mr. Evans, please submit the three papers to the review board as soon as possible; we are waiting to write new comments for them. Hopefully, we will be finished before the application for Nature is approved."

Although all the board members specializing in math in Allyn were all here, the procedures for reassessing the papers should still be followed.

"I'll do it today, before the Sorcerer Administrative Department closes." Lucien realized that it was already past five, and they had all skipped their lunch.

After watching the board members leave the meeting room, Levski turned to Lucien. "Mr. Evans, thank you very much. Without you, I would still be living the same miserable life."

Since Levski was completely devoted to developing his geometry system, he had not reached middle-rank, and he had no time for doing tasks given by the Congress to earn more money. For a long time, Levski lived a very poor life. He had to move out of Allyn as everything in this city was too expensive. His income relied on the subsidy from the Congress for level-two arcanists and second-circle sorcerers. When he was sick, life became even harder and he had to look for other sources of income.

Therefore, Levski was still very excited when expressing his sincere gratitude to Lucien again. To him, Mr. Evans saved him, as well as his theory – For the many years, Levski saw this geometry system as his kid.

"You don't owe me anything. You deserve it," said Lucien gently. "Try your best to run the new journal, Nature, so you can help more geniuses like you."

Levski had experienced strong emotional fluctuations today. Now after he had calmed down, he felt quite exhausted. He grinned to Lucien. "You've changed my life… That's for sure. Unfortunately, I don't know much about elements, or I would definitely try to work in Atom Institution to learn more from you, Mr. Evans."

"I've learned things from you as well – Perseverance. You can just call me Lucien or Evans by the way," said Lucien. "Every single person has his or her own strength. Both of us know that our new geometry systems are still frameworks right now. They lack analytical abilities and still require further exploration. I hope we can all work towards this direction."

"… Also," Lucien added, "don't forget about arcana and magic. To explore further and solve more problems in the field of math, you have to improve your knowledge of arcana and magic. Only in this way will you live longer, and when you're elder, your brain will still be able to function well."

"Yes, yes!" answered Levski excitedly.

Seeing the fatigue in Levski's eyes, Lucien asked him to go back and have a good rest.

His hands in the pockets, Lucien watched Levski left the meeting room. When Lucien turned around to collect the documents, he heard Fernando's voice.

"Your speech isn't bad. The closer we are to the truth of the world, the greater the limitation our body and soul can impose on us. We have to stick to our tools — math and magic — to free ourselves from what we see and feel. Abandoning its correspondence with reality and focusing exclusively on axioms and deductive reasoning, this might be the direction for math development in the future."

Staring straight ahead, Fernando paid a compliment to Lucien, which was very rare of him.

Lucien was quite surprised. He carefully examined Fernando, making sure that he was not Little Crystal in disguise.

Fernando stared back at him. Confirmed, it was indeed Fernando.

"I was inspired by what Levski and his New Geometry had experienced…" Lucien said.

"Really?" Fernando looked at Lucien meaningfully.

Lucien replied fast, "Of course. By the way, what are you studying recently, Sir?"

Fernando looked a bit pissed. "I did the experiment on cursing substance, and found that it could radiate electrons and a new element, as expected. But I also detected the trace of another strange unknown element. The amount was extremely low, so it will take some time and effort for extraction.

"But this is finding is enough to make most arcanists crazy. What are elements and atoms in essence? What do they look like inside? Why are there new elements being radiated out?

"So… I've been trying to probe into the inner structure of an atom. Unfortunately, there are currently no proper and handy magics available to assist in the exploration of the microworld. We're indeed limited by our soul and body."

Lucien finally realized why his short speech was able to touch Fernando and win his rare compliment. After weighing his words, Lucien said carefully, "we can make bold assumptions first, and then rule them out using experiments. We can't see the inner structure of an atom directly, so we can only rely on indirect methods…"

"You think I don't know it?!" Fernando roared at Lucien.

...

Inside Tower.

Holding a thick stack of papers, Samantha knocked at the door and heard her teacher's voice, which sounded a bit melancholy.

"Come in."

Samantha was quite surprised seeing her teacher in such a mood. She lifted her blond brow slightly while maintaining the serious look on her face and pushed open the door.

"Sir, these are the papers today."

"From Lucien Evans?" Asked Neeshka, looking back.

Samantha browsed the paper stack,

"Another Perspective on Parallel Postulate… from Lucien Evans… Sir, you lost today?"

"Lost… Yes, we lost… in a very bad way. Arrogance and prejudice defeated us. Levski's right. His new geometry system is different from Tower Geometry, but compatible with it," said Neeshka, who now looked ten years elder when he was with only his student.

Samantha was slightly shocked. "So Lucien Evans came up with a real model?"

Samantha was also an arcana genius and enjoyed the same reputation as Larry, Jurisian, and Rachel. She specialized in Astrology, Electromagnetism, and Maths. After reading Levski's paper, she also could not accept it.

"Yes… It is a hyperboloid that looked like a saddle…" said Neeshka in the bitter tone, "He also provided the proof showing how the two geometry systems are compatible using the unit circle. And he put forward another new geometry system that corresponds to Levski's system. He is indeed a genius. Maybe next month he will be winning Arcana Scepter with Levski… Not sharing, but separately."

Samantha's attempt to keep her face expressionless finally failed, and the look on it became complex. "Why I didn't think of this… winning the highest honor in three different fields before senior-rank…"

"Pass me the paper," said Neeshka briefly. After leafing through the paper, he picked up the quill-pen and wrote,

"Starting from Levski's geometry system, but heading the opposite direction, Lucien Evans assumed that for any given line R and point P not on R, in the plane containing both line R and point P, there is no line through P that does not intersect R. Using perfect deductive reasoning, he obtained a series of propositions and conclusions that no one could never imagine. Thus, a new, fully-developed, and independent geometry system has been established — the Evans Geometry. He also proved the realizability of the system on a curved surface. Therefore, it is no more just an imagination.

"Putting aside practical significance, focusing simply on axioms and postulates as well as strict deductive reasoning, Lucien Evans has shown us his unique conception. His geometry system is of great impact, and has brought us a conceptual revolution.

"Without doubt, his new geometry system is a great contribution to the development of geometry. It is universally-applied, groundbreaking, has a significant position and deserves broad discussion. I suggest four hundred arcana credits and four thousand arcana points be given as a reward."

When Neeshka was writing, Samantha stayed beside him, watching. The look on her face kept changing, from frustration to admiration to disappointment.

"Samantha, a new journal is in preparation, and Lucien Evans's speech will be put on the front page as the inscription. You read it carefully. It can be inspiring to you." Neeshka added while putting down his quill-pen.

"Uh?" Samantha was first surprised, and then she became very curious.

Chapter 428: Nature

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

In the villa surrounded by flowers, Milina was shocked again by the beauty of math in Lucien's paper. After quite a while, she finally picked up her quill-pen and wrote,

"With amazing conception and precise demonstration, Lucien Evans's paper shows us the beauty of math and also proves the compatibility between Levski Geometry and Tower Geometry. The paper gives a solid foundation to the establishment of the New Geometry System and changed the world of Math, which was constructed based on our direct perception of the world. This paper reveals to us another path for math development and demonstration.

"This groundbreaking paper is apparently significant to the establishment of the new geometry system and deserves broad discussion. Forty arcana credits and five hundred arcana points are suggested to be given as reward."

Strictly following the standards of review, Milina gave her comment objectively. If she had let her preference played the leading role, as an authority in math and mathematician, she would have given the paper an even higher comment because of the beauty the paper displayed.

...

Meanwhile, Salgueiro was also reviewing Lucien's paper An Attempt to Explain Non-Tower Geometry .

"The paper provides a math model that contradicts our knowledge but actually exists; it makes a breakthrough contribution to the establishment of Levski's geometry system. It makes us realize that Levski Geometry is a new system which was essentially different from Tower Geometry.

"Given the groundbreaking contribution brought by its math model and the demonstration, this paper's content deserves broad discussion and research. Thus, sixty arcana credits and six hundred arcana points are suggested to be given as reward."

When he put down his quill-pen, Salgueiro realized that the winter evening had already closed in. The wind was blowing outside of the window, and everything had been encased by the darkness. However, from this cold darkness, he seemed to notice a slight glimmer of light; there was light in the future of math.

"If the new geometry system is actually applicable to arcana…

"What Evans said earlier today was interesting… the axiomatization of math…"

...

After a week, in the morning, Samantha came to Tower to study with her teacher as usual.

"Morning, Ms. Samantha," greeted the several low-rank arcanists.

The dome of the hall was black, inlaid with magic crystal lights that lit up the entire space. The arrangement of the lights followed the order of constellation, forming a huge astrology chart above.

Samantha nodded politely but also seriously. Then she asked out of confusion, "Leo, Gina… Why are you two here so early?"

According to what she knew, their teacher, level-four arcanist and fifth-circle astrologer Da Serra, who was also her friend, never taught students on Fridays. And the time right now, the labs and libraries inside Tower are not open yet. There was no reason to come this early.

"Ms. Samantha, don't you know?" Said the round-faced Gina, "Tower sent a notice yesterday that today a new journal is going to be issued. We're all curious, so we came early to wait."

In order to improve one of her magic spells, Samantha studied the stars at night and slept during the day in the past two days, thus she never heard about it. Now the look on her face slightly changed and she murmured, "A new journal… Is it the one with Lucien Evans's inscription?"

"No… No idea…" The young man named Leo, who developed a middle-aged spread before the age of 25, shook his head.

"Hey, Samantha! Are you here for buying Nature as well?"

It was Rachel. She was always full of energy and cheerful. Everyone liked her as she lifted people's mood.

Samantha also smiled, which was unusual for her. "Are you here for this as well?"

Although they had opposite personalities, they were very good friends.

Rachel sighed deliberately. "Yup, as a member of the Arcana Review Board, my teacher Ms. Isabella should have enjoyed delivery of the journal. But she's out of the town right now exploring new materials, so I have to come here myself. Poor me…"

Facing Rachel, the low-rank arcanists were more respectful. For one thing, they were unacquainted with Rachel; for another,, Rachel was the winner of Sorcerer Laurel. The crystal hairpin on her linen-colored hair shocked the students.

"You know about Nature's content and inscription?" asked Samantha. After all, Rachel did not have to come here so early; with her status, she would definitely be able to get a copy.

Rachel looked at Samantha confusedly. "No… But this is the first issue of the journal. I'd like to put it into my collection! It's even better if I buy it myself!"

"…" Samantha forgot that her friend was an enthusiastic collector.

At this time, the library behind the reception desk opened. Two female apprentices pushed out several stacks of books with a black cover.

"I've gotta take a look at it," said Rachel curiously as she pulled Samantha's arm and walked to the reception desk.

Samantha recalled, "Should have things to do with math…"

Her teacher, Neeshka, mentioned about it before. And when she was helping her teacher send back the review comments, she had a look at the new geometry paper from Lucien Evans and found the paper was too mind-blowing for her to accept.

However, soon, she was shocked by the math model provided in the paper. Despite the strong resistance in her mind, she was persuaded by the strict logic reasoning and the solid math model. After reading the paper, she was at lost for at least two to three days. And then she finally started accepting the fact that new geometry systems did exist.

"Finally! Tower has a journal for math! Awesome!" Rachel became very excited.

Tower sorcerers were all more or less emotionally connected to math in a complex way, and Rachel was one of them.

"Ladies, can I have two of them, please?" Rachel took out her magic badge.

"Sure, sure! Ms. Rachel" The two young ladies answered as they hurriedly put the badge into the magic circle to deduct arcana points and handed two new journals to Rachel and Samantha.

Almost everyone in Tower knew Rachel after she won Sorcerer Laurel.

"So thick!" Rachel exclaimed, while Samantha quickly looked at the cover of the journal — After all, her teacher's words had made her curious for the entire week!

Like Arcana, Nature also had a black cover, on which silver lines formed many math symbols, equations, numbers, and geometry shapes. Joining together against the black background, they were like stars in the dark universe.

Samantha believed that the cover was designed to express the aim of the journal: Using the language of math to describe the truth of the world…

That was also her first thought after she saw the cover.

Against the starry sky, there was a big word — Nature — written in a special fancy font. The characters looked like a wonderful formula.

Under the big word, there were several lines of smaller words:

Your eyes can lie to you… , beside it was the numbers showing visible light spectrum;

Your ears can deceive you… , surrounding it was the numbers showing human beings' hearing range;

your experience can mislead you… , following it was the simple but significant formula in calculus – 0.99999…=1;

Your imagination can restrain you… , under it was the hyperboloid model looking like a saddle and a sphere-like curved-surface model.

Samantha's eyes traced the lines and figures. She felt that she had understood what the words meant.

Her eyes fell on the last line… It was a brief but powerful one:

But math won't!

This line was a size bigger than the above ones and was on its own on the cover, with no figures following it. But all the symbols, equations, and numbers were its best testimonies.

It was shocking beyond words.

Samantha did not know what others felt, but she knew that there were a lot of things going on in her brain. She felt like she had understood many things, however, she also felt that she had not figured out anything yet.

Beside the last line, there was a name,

Lucien Evans X.

Samantha wondered if that was Lucien Evans' perception of math.

Rachel, who was standing beside Samantha, also remained silent. She hurriedly opened the journal and started reading the inscription, which was Lucien's speech. Then she browsed through the paper, sighing and exclaiming from time to time.

After a long while, she finally woke up from the world of math. Following a long sigh, she said,

"Is he still a human being?"

"Levski Geometry… Evans Geometry… If they were not findings in math but in other fields, countless people would have their head exploded! Although I've seen the demonstration and the models… It's still hard to believe…" added Rachel.

Then her face lit up, "But I love what he said very, very much!"

The low-rank arcanists also got a copy. They were the same deeply shocked by the lines on the cover, but the content was still too difficult for them to understand so far. They had to take the journal back and slowly dig into it, treating it like their textbook.

...

… Ms. Florencia, Mr. Gaston, and my teacher, Mr. Larry cheered that you've shifted your focus upon math, so the arcanists in the Congress are now much safer. Ok, no more jokes. They, including me, hope that you won't waste too much of your time in the new geometry system. Your talent belongs to the world of element and atoms, where findings of practical arcana and magic significance can be made. Leave geometry to Tower; they should get their own job done. Your friend, K.

After Nature issued, Lucien had received lots of letters. Some were sending congratulations, some were invitations for speeches, and some were from his friends. In Lucien's friends' eyes, the new geometry system was just like a piece of toy for Lucien, as it was of no practical arcana or magic significance.

Lucien sighed, as he knew that the new geometry systems were going to bring a more horrible and powerful impact than anyone had imagined.

Putting aside the letters, Lucien said to the apprentices waiting outside of the study, "Let's go to the garden. We'll see what are keeping you guys busy recently."

Lucien learned this free-communication method from the several physicists on the Earth who were good teachers.