437 - 444

Chapter 437: The Undercurrent

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Allyn sat in the midair, and the tower, which was used as a platform to observe the stars, was high above the clouds. Sometimes, bright colors rippled on the dark body of the tower and it almost looked like the entrance was shimmering under the light.

Lucien closed his mouth and smiled after hearing Levski's word. "The particle theory can't explain most of the results and the wave theory can't find its foundation. They both have big problems. I think they should just marry each other. It'll solve all the problems and the war between wave and particle will end peacefully!" Lucien spoke in a joking way.

"That's impossible. Your thought is interesting, Evans," Levski chuckled. Although he was good at math, he was still an arcanist and had done some research on the wave theory and the particle theory. He thought Lucien was just joking.

Lazar and the others who got off the carriage after Lucien all started smiling. Heidi even burst out laughing uncontrollably. The two theories should get married? Only Mr. Evans could think of a lame joke like that, and "lame joke" itself was a strange term coined by Lucien.

Lucien waved his staff and said, "anyway, when there's no result that can decide the outcome of the war, the third war between the two theories will not be ending very soon. We should probably just focus on our own studies."

He was not worried that his joke could enlighten Levski, Lazar, Rock, and the others. To jump outside the box of the conflict between the wave theory and the particle theory not only needed some incredible ideas but also a series of supporting experiments. Without the experiment results, the wave-particle dualism could never even be imagined. A great scientist as Einstein, his thesis only suggested the concept of the light quantum and used the instant and the average to discuss light. It was far from the actual wave-particle dualism and was more like the particle theory.

And whether it would make the arcanists think of the hypothesis of the light quantum, the answer was obvious just by looking at the recently published papers — there was not a single thesis trying to explain the black-body radiation and the energy quantum hypothesis! Almost all arcanists considered it as something that they should not touch and wanted to drive the thought out of their minds. Under a situation like this, how could they be enlightened and develope new ideas?

Although students like Annick, who were pretty much worshipping Lucien, might accept the hypothesis of the energy quantum as their meditation environment had not been completed yet and their belief was not stable. However, they did not have enough knowledge to explore the field of heat radiation and they had no chance to use or study the quantum theory. They had a general idea of it but they did not know how to learn about it and it was thus impossible for them to use it to come up with hypotheses for light.

"You're right." Levski nodded seriously. Compared to the argument between the wave and particle theories, he preferred studying the two new geometric systems and the theory displayed by President Douglas' artificial planet experiment.

Then he saw the ninth-circle archmage, Annonis the Astrologer, walking to him from the entrance. "Mr. Annonis is here."

Annonis was known to the public as was the president of the tower and a member of the Highest Council.

Annonis was wearing a tall grey hat. He was tall and strong, like the strongest warrior, and there was no beard on his young-looking face. However, the pair of deep black eyes gave the feeling that he had experienced a lot of things and that although he looked young, his mind and body were already very old.

"Mr. Annonis." Lucien, Levski, and the others greeted Annonis respectfully.

Annonis was a person who did not smile often. He nodded slightly and said to the two in a serious tone, "come in, please, you're the stars of today's party."

In the hall, under the "stars", many guests were toasting each other.

Entering the hall, Lucien noticed many familiar arcanists such as Raventi, Florencia, Neeshka, and Milina.

After exchanging eye contact with Levski, Lucien picked up a glass of "Starlight" drink from the waiter's plate and then headed to the group of people from the Will of Elements.

"The most talented person of the whole Will of Elements is here, the genius who claimed the most honorable rewards from three different fields before reaching the high level." Florencia clicked her tone and smiled lazily. She jokingly mocked Lucien, implying that he had not entered the headquarters or the divisions of the Will of Elements for a very long time as he was busy with studying and dealing with affairs of the Atom Institution.

Lucien smiled and raised his glass. "I was really busy recently. I was helping my teacher with setting up the Allyn Telephone and Telegram Company."

"It seems that you're very interested in the projects that will bring you money. The magic crystal light is still in the promotion phase and you're already starting something else." Gaston chuckled.

Raventi scrunched his brow. "Lucien, you do need a lot of resources to explore the unknown world and to increase your own power. However, money is not the most important thing. The most important thing is to study and do research. Don't forget your original intention." He did not want Lucien to choose the wrong way so he decided to tell Lucien what he was thinking directly. He was not worried that what he said would make Lucien angry as that was just what he would do.

Florencia giggled after hearing Raventi's word. "Lucien is still doing research. He had just created a new geometric system, right? That's why we're here. This is the ceremony for his Arcana Scepter Reward."

"The first part of the set up has been completed. I'll focus on increasing my magic skills now." Lucien was talking about creating his own meditation method, however, it sounded like he was going for the senior-rank to Raventi and the others. They all nodded as they agreed with Lucien's plan.

Raventi stared at Lucien with his deep grey eyes and followed Florencia's words. "The field of math used to be the weak point of your arcana ability but it seemed like you've already solved the problem. Great, you have the ability to succeed. However, I suggest that you stop continuing your research in the new geometric system. The research has no actual arcana or magic meaning at the moment. You should spend more time on the functions of the complex variable so you can build the foundation for calculating the complicated spiritual power fields after you reach senior-rank.

"You have the highest chance to become a legendary sorcerer in the Congress of Magic, so don't waste your time."

Raventi had a high expectation of Lucien, so he was trying to give him some suggestions. He knew that Lucien's cognitive world was preliminarily substantial. With Lucien's age and arcana ability, reaching senior-rank shouldn't be a problem, what he needed was the foundation of reaching the legendary level.

"Yeah, Lucien, you can leave the new geometric system to the arcanists of Tower. You can just use the systems after they find the actual meaning of them," K added, as a friend.

There were many people who were jealous of Lucien's relationship with the organization and talent and some even tried to trick him, but that was not the only problem — Lucien also had a lot of pressure on him from the people who cared about him and might even receive wrong advice. Many talented people lost their path to success because the people who cared about them gave them the wrong suggestions.

Sometimes, one might do the wrong thing even with good intention.

"I'm already trying to learn more about this field." Lucien nodded and responded, "however, I always think that we should pay more attention to the math. It's like we need better equipment before a battle. We don't know what's waiting in front of us so we need more math tools, even if we can't find the arcana meaning of them at the current moment."

"Well…" Raventi was going to say something else but Florencia stopped him. "After reading Nature, Oliver agreed with your point. He had trouble finding the correct math techniques for the field that he was researching until he saw the two new geometric systems."

Since the grand arcanist agreed, Larry and K decided to remain silent. Lucien seized the chance and changed the topic. "has the War between Wave and Particle spread into the organization?"

"Yeah, there are many arguments going on and I can see sorcerers arguing every day. Some of them were so angry that they started fighting. Thankfully they were stopped in time and no one was hurt." Gaston sounded a bit frustrated.

The fact that there were still many sorcerers who supported the wave theory of light in the Will of Elements, the base camp of elementalists, proved the dominance of the wave theory of light.

It seemed like Gaston was not interested in the War between Wave and Particle as he had seen too many situations like this and this group consisted mostly of particle theory supporters. He looked around and said, "the Hand of Paleness did not send any members are not here."

"Why?" Lucien was a bit curious. He knew that they definitely received the invitation.

Florencia checked the surroundings and lowered her voice, sounding a bit hoarse and sexy. "The Highest Council and the Affair Committee are investigating the relationship between Heidler and the solid world of black and white. The Hand of Paleness was causing trouble for them and they had some conflicts, so the members of the Hand of Paleness are probably trying to show their altitude in this way."

Lucien's brow furrowed. He didn't expect that after discovering the mysterious existence in World of Souls and the hidden threats, the Hand of Paleness would still try to keep it as a secret. It was such an unwise decision! He wondered if Thanatos and the demi-god liches wanted to explore it by themselves.

But they were weaker than Alterna and the mysterious being. As grand arcanists, they should not make mistakes like this. Maybe, there was something else going on.

He wondered if he could learn something from Felipe.

At this moment, Annonis the Astrologer walked to the stage and invited Levski up, as he was going to award Levski first.

Annonis was holding a wavy dark staff. He looked at Levski and said seriously, "it has been over ten years, yet no one discovered the true value of your thesis. You were looked down and attacked. It was Tower's mistake and it was also my mistake. I've never even thoroughly read your thesis before throwing them aside.

"Luckily, we still have a chance to make up for it. We'll use the 21st Arcana Scepter, Levski Geometry, to honor the new geometric system you created and to honor your contribution to the field of math. You passed through the difficult challenges and you insisted on what you believed. This is the true spirit of arcana and magic!"

Levski took over the scepter with many emotions going through his mind. He almost cried and he spoke briefly.

"First I would like to thank Evans. Without his proof and his logical insights, I would not be able to receive the scepter today.

"Also, I want to tell everyone that the field of math is different from other arcana fields. In this field, we need to make purely logical thoughts that are not based on reality. We need to be brave."

His emotion got unstable as he talked and his voice was a bit blurry.

"It might not be a happy thing to believe in your own belief, but it is definitely a worthy thing!"

Everyone was clapping, not only as congratulations but also as apologies.

After Levski finished the speech, Annonis asked Lucien to get on the stage.

Chapter 438: The Second Reward

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Annonis, the Astrologer, took out a unique-shaped bracelet, on which a pocket watch was attached. He said in a serious tone, "many thanks to Mr. Lucien Evans, for putting forward the mathematic model and demonstration for Levski Geometry, which freed us from our own arrogance and prejudice and made us see the beauty of math from another perspective. He showed us the great necessity and sufficiency of correct axioms and rigorous logic. Only an arcanist with such courage and intelligence like Mr. Lucien Evans can make such a great contribution.

"… Also, many thanks to Mr. Lucien Evans again for building another new geometry system, and making our overall geometry system more complete. Using the twenty-second Arcana Scepter, we commend him for Evans Geometry and his outstanding contribution to mathematics."

Lucien had Sun Staff already, therefore he asked Tower to turn the Arcana Scepter into a bracelet-like accessory — a "hand watch".

Touching the silver-grey watch, on which constellation patterns and diamonds were engraved in golden ratio, Lucien left his spirit imprint in the core of the sun pattern surrounded by the zodiac stars.

"Arcana Scepter: Evans Geometry. Level-seven perfect rank item. Requirement: Sixth-circle spiritual power and primarily-substantialized cognitive world.

"This unique-shaped bracelet is enchanted with two permanent magic effects: Improving the accuracy when casting Horoscope, and increasing the owner's presentiment against danger by allowing him to connect to his Host Star of Destiny without entering meditation status

"As a piece of work from a Tower alchemist, it is also enchanted with the power of stars and destiny. Its owner could cast the fifth-circle spell Curse of Doom twice a day, the fifth-circle spell Star Blessing twice a day, and the seventh-circle spell Destiny Interference three times a day.

"January, year 820. In acknowledgment of Mr. Lucien Evans' great contribution to mathematics.

"The flow of time is independent, absolute, and mathematical; so is destiny. We can observe it, refer to it, predict it, and even interfere it to a certain degree!

"—— Caxias Annonis"

Putting on the watch, Lucien turned to the arcanists down the stage and said to them meaningfully,

"from the ancient Magic Empire to the Congress of Magic, hundreds of years have passed. During which, there were many times when an initially ignored research finding became widely recognized when arcanists encountered bigger difficulties later.

"Our research projects should be practical, of course. But we should also encourage the arcanists who have spare time and vigor to be more far-sighted and take on projects that are more advanced than what we understand right now. Only by so can we have handy tools in future explorations to guarantee the rate of our development ."

Neeshka, Milina, Gaston, Rachel and many started smiling. Lucien was obviously very stubborn. People were saying that his new geometry system was of no practical use, so he now was repeatedly arguing that his system was, in fact, too advanced to be employed right now. Was he right? No one knew it.

Lucien did not stop because of the kind smile on his acquaintances' faces. "Mr. President's artificial planet experiment has proved to us the rationality of his celestial bodies motion system, and also the profound mystery of the universe. When the gate of micro-world first opened, we saw for the first time how small a world can be. As we can see, there is a world way bigger than we can imagine, and another way smaller than we can imagine, and both of them are beyond our current ability of direct observation by using magic. Recently, I believe all of you have experienced, or are currently experiencing, the helpless feeling of unable to carry out experiments despite having ideas and theories."

Studies of the micro- and macro-world had also attracted the attention of countless sorcerers. It was currently the second hottest topic aside from the debate war of the wave and particle theory of light. Most sorcerers attending the ceremony had more or less ventured into it. They nodded as they could all relate to Lucien's words. When studying the micro- and macro-world, the current magic methods have reached their limitations.

Lucien's face had the same gentle smile as ever. "Therefore, math becomes the only tool that we can rely on. We observe the phenomena, and we find its rules. Math is going to play a vital role when we explore the micro- and macro-world and will beacon the darkness in front of us!"

Raventi listened to Lucien's speech seriously. Although there were vague concepts of micro- and macro-world before, Lucien was the first person who clearly categorized the two and used them to divide magic sectors.

The look on Lucien's face suddenly became serious, "The world we live in is totally different from the micro- and macro-world. In the future, maybe we will find our theories and beliefs totally inapplicable to them. Maybe everything in the two worlds goes far beyond our imagination. Maybe what can be considered miracles in our eyes aret nothing more than normal there.

"Then, we cannot rely on our eyes, ears, or even soul; neither can we depend on our past experience and theories. Math will be our only tool!"

The arcanists present started applauding, showing their respect to the winner of the award, but they were not paying real attention to Lucien's prophesy since it still sounded too bold to be true. The field of Math was set in an abstract world, and it was thus understandable that unimaginable new geometry systems could be found. But it is hard to believe that, in the real world of arcana and magic, unimaginable miracle-like phenomena and theories could appear.

Although the School of Transformation, Summoning, and part of Illusion still could not be brought into the current arcana system, the arcanists believed that with a more in-depth understanding in the human body, time and space, as well as the application of electromagnetic waves, these schools that still bore the impression of the ancient Magic Empire would also fit into the system.

Using the grand arcanist Brook's words, "They should be included in the arcana system, and will be!"

At this moment, they had forgotten Lucien's Energy Quantum Theory which they left behind their mind on purpose, the hypothesis seemingly containing the power that could destroy the entire arcana world.

…

In the garden villa.

Lucien put on the monocle that he had improved himself, and turned on Electromagnetism Messaging. After a while of electric current noise, he heard Natasha's surprised voice.

"Lucien? Are you close to Aalto right now? Again?"

Through the satellite, her voice sounded a bit different, and the quality of the connection was not very good.

"No, I'm calling you at a super long distance through the artificial planet." Lucien smiled. The quality of the call was within his expectation, and it could be improved later after they had more experience.

To utilize a satellite properly for communication, locating, and monitoring was not an easy job. With the more extensive applications, more and more problems would appear, some were going to cause a headache for the grand arcanists as they would not be able to find the reasons behind.

However, problems were exactly what Lucien was expecting!

He had two major aims behind putting forward the package plan besides proving Douglas's celestial body system: First, to talk to Natasha; Second, to make the problems emerge, and thus the foundation of the special theory of relativity and the general theory of relativity could be laid.

Although the related books in his spirit library had not yet been unlocked, Lucien still got to know the great influence that the two theories of relativity had on satellites, such as the velocity time dilation effect and the gravitational time dilation effect. Without a doubt, the problems were caused because of them.

Since he was using a synchronous-orbit satellite, the velocity time dilation effect can be ignored. Lucien only had to consider how to deal with the gravitational field. Also, because the satellite system was still very simple and there were very few users right now, he was able to talk to Natasha.

Natasha remained silent for a moment and asked, "So the newborn star that day… was an artificial planet? No wonder the Pope used God's Arrival…"

Then Natasha recalled the scarlet moon, and she asked with complex emotions, "you made it?"

"I made a proposal. Mr. Douglas put forward the theories and made it." Lucien answered honestly.

Natasha clicked her tongue. "I knew it! It was your idea. I feel like I am lagging behind those all kinds of thoughts of yours. And you're always able to turn these thoughts into reality! Making friend with you is something full of surprise, but I'm also concerned that maybe one day, you will fool me easily. Anyways, talking to you like this makes me feel we're in fact not far away from each other. I like it."

"So I called you immediately after I could," said Lucien ambiguously. He was too shy to say it out directly that talking to her was one of his main purposes for launching satellites.

"Haha, it's my great pleasure that you still remember… me." Natasha laughed, but her voice paused a bit. Maybe it was because of the quality of connection, or something else.

Their conversation was very convivial, and it lasted until both Natasha's and Lucien's spiritual power could not support the calling devices anymore.

"Right, I noticed that the Grand Cardinal Sard disappeared from the public since what happened to the scarlet moon. No idea what he is doing right now." Natasha gave Lucien a warning.

Lucien nodded as he felt the heat of the monocle that he was wearing. "Considering what has happened, it's not surprising that he's behaving weirdly. Well… I'll put a cryptographic magic circle on the electromagnetism messaging devices as soon as possible, or our conversation can be easily exposed."

"I see." Natasha did not know much about electromagnetism, but she was rather assured that Lucien would take care of it.

After the conversation, Lucien saw Annick walking towards him, surrounded by the other apprentices. The apprentices all talked at once,

"Sir, Annick's paper has been published on Arcana! He's a level two arcanist now!"

Due to the citations of the study on cathode ray, Annick was not far from promoting to the next level. After gaining fifty credits this time, he became a level-two arcanist naturally.

"Really? Let me take a look." Lucien was quite gratified and took over the journal. At first glance at the table of contents, he saw Artil's name. His paper was the last one in the issue and was still a discussion paper. The title was

A Reward offered for Theory Explaining the Photoelectric Effect.

"… From Annick's paper we can see that the electric currents produced by casting light on a piece of metal consist of electrons, which has made the question even more prominent: For light under a certain frequency, no matter how we try to increase its 'wave' intensity, photoelectric effect and electrons are always absent. Why? And also why, when we increase the energy intensity of the same frequency light, more electrons were emitted, but they are of the same intensity? It obviously contradicts the classic wave theory of light.

"… Here I offer a fifty-thousand-arcana-point reward to seek explanations, especially from you who support the wave theory! Use your imagination!"

Seeing the second declaration, Lucien became silent. He wondered if he should say something to first plant a seed in the arcanists' mind.

Chapter 439: An Enlightening Viewpoint

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lucien had reasons for being so cautious about the wave-particle dualism. Besides the fact that he was still exploring his own meditation method, the most important reason was that it was such a subversive and revolutionary concept that it could easily explode the head of ninety-nine percent of the middle-rank arcanists in the Congress if he just threw it at them. And without the support of the Congress, Lucien would for sure meet his own end as well.

Also, to prove the wave-particle dualism would require a series of experiments, new discoveries, and new theories, or it would certainly undergo fierce attack. Some experiments could not be carried out within the current research level, for example, the experiment for verifying light quantum. Maybe after a year or two, someone would make this achievement, but if Lucien put it forward right now, no one would believe in it. The mass-energy formula that Lucien needed was based on the special theory of relativity, which also received countless years of attack and discredits after it was proposed.

Therefore, previously, Lucien was planning on first putting forward the prerequisite theories and discoveries gradually, and when they were widely accepted by people, he then would throw the more shocking experiments and findings at them. Finally, he would join the debate war between wave and particle.

However, things were different now, as Lucien found that the two sides were completely against each other. So to make sure that most arcanists' cognitive world would not collapse when the war ended, the best solution was that Lucien introduced the related findings and perspectives to the arcanists bit by bit, starting right now, in order to shake their belief step by step. When arcanists became capable of carrying out the important experiments, the impacts that they were going to face would become less intense. Admittedly, there would still be some arcanists whose heads were going to explode, the number could be controlled, so the Congress' overall strength would not be damaged greatly within a short period of time.

"Then… before the experiments come out, my papers are going to suffer from broad neglection, queries, and even fierce attack," murmured Lucien, "… but just like what Levski said, the effort is worthwhile… I have to pay in advance for the benefits that I'll get later…"

Lucien's careful consideration was not only for the Congress but also for himself. If Lucien's finding exploded most of the middle- and high-rank arcanists' head, the Church would probably give him tons of gold to reward his effort in destroying the Congress of Magic before burning him down to ashes on the gallows.

So far, Lucien hoped to see the Congress of Magic survive and thrive, even though he had to pay something for it.

"What was it, Sir?" asked Heidi curiously. She thought her teacher just made a comment on Annick's paper.

Lucien shook his head and said, "Nothing."

Then he turned to Annick, "It's a very good start for you, Annick, to have your paper accepted by Arcana as a low-rank arcanist. But don't let the small achievement blind you. Remember, arrogance and laziness are your biggest enemies against success. Never lower your standards for yourself"

"Yes, Sir," Annick replied seriously.

Lucien smiled, "You may call me teacher."

"…?" Annick did not understand.

Layria nudged him gently, while Heidi said to him directly, "idiot. Mr. Evans has accepted you to be his real student!"

Annick suddenly became the envy of all the apprentices!

Annick instantly got very excited. Since he first met Mr. Evans in Stuart, he had already regarded Mr. Evans as his own teacher and treated Mr. Evans with heartfelt respect. However, seeing Mr. Evans winning so many major awards and becoming the most promising arcanist of the Congress, Annick started doubting himself whether he was qualified to be Mr. Evans' student.

"My… My great pleasure!!" Annick's face flushed. He was about to salute Lucien using the most formal and solemn manner of the Congress.

Lucien smiled and raised his hand. "Save that. I'm not a big fan of formalities… as long as you consider me your teacher."

Then Lucien turned to the rest of the apprentices. "You all have been working in the Atom Institution for a while, and I am quite impressed. You all are confident but not arrogant, diligent and full of imagination, and those are the qualities that I am looking for in my ideal students. When you become a true sorcerer, you all can become my students, just like Annick."

"Really?!" Heidi burst out, looking very excited.

Lucien smiled and nodded.

"Awesome!" Katrina cheered. Katrina thought that she would never become Lucien's real student since she and Sprint did not leave a good first impression on Mr. Evans, although Mr. Evans still tried his best to teach them and recruited them into the Atom Institution. Now, she could not hold back her complex emotions of surprise, excitement, gratefulness, and regret.

Meanwhile, Sprint also compressed his lips into a thin line and hid his slightly-trembling hands behind his body.

In the Congress, where part of its tradition was inherited from the ancient Magic Empire, the relationship between a teacher and a student was very serious.

Lucien left the excited apprentices aside and turned to Annick again. "I've prepared all the exercises, tests, and textbooks covering the ten magic schools. They are on the desk in my study. Go and grab them yourself."

Annick's face instantly dimmed. Here came the haunting nightmare, again. Although Annick was a very diligent and hardworking young man, he was still scared of the tons of exercises.

Heidi burst out laughing, with her hands on her waist. She took pleasure in seeing Annick, who was the first to become a formal sorcerer and Lucien's true student, to also became the first to face the nightmare of exercises and tests.

Although she'd probably face the same fate in the future, she would not worry about herself right now. After all, there was still a period of time to go.

When the apprentices all left, Lucien paced to his study and pulled out the rolls of parchment made specifically for writing arcana papers. After sitting quietly in front of the parchment rolls for a while, he finally picked up the quill-pen and wrote,

" An Enlightening Viewpoint on Light. "

Starting from black-body radiation, bringing in the classical kinetic theory of gases, Lucien generalized the hypothesis that "the absorption and emission of energy came in portions" into "the electromagnetic waves also came in portions". Then, since the light was also a kind of electromagnetic wave, then light should also be delivered in portions. The portion of light was termed the light quantum, and its energy was determined by its frequency, by which it interacted with all kinds of substances.

Then Lucien introduced the hypothesis of light quantum into the photoelectric effect and explained the phenomenon perfectly. He also made many predictions based on this theory, including that at a fixed frequency of light, the energy of the electrons emitted was also fixed.

"… based on the instantaneity of time, light presents the prominent property of quantum. However, based on time average, light shows the property of wave. Therefore, perhaps we should be more open-minded facing the wave-quantum argument."

After careful consideration, Lucien still put the vague but meaningful words on, although every arcanist who read the paper would see it as an improved version of the particle theory, despite the fact that the paper started from the unpleasant concept of quantum.

Finishing the paper, Lucien made another two copies of it. He would send one to the Arcana Review Board, one to his teacher Fernando, and one to Artil — Lucien needed the fifty thousand arcana points from Artil as a comfort.

Even though Artil did not like the concept of energy quantum, as a firm advocate of the particle theory, he would still support Lucien's paper, in which all electromagnetic waves were believed to be in the form of separate portions. Maybe Artil would even directly name light quantum as quantum photon.

After putting the papers into file cases, Lucien started writing to his friends one by one. Although there was no solid experiment to support his theory yet, and although his standpoint was the quantum theory, which was a beyond controversial topic, Lucien still wanted to give them a reminder first to be as safe as possible.

"… The paper I am going to submit, from my personal perspective, is the only one among all the papers that I've written that can possibly match the revolutionary meaning of the article that put forward the hypothesis of the energy quantum. Fortunately, it is not yet supported by any solid experiment…"

...

In Sorcerer Administrative Department.

Eric carefully checked the file submitted by Lucien, and he released a long sigh when he made sure that the word "subversive" was not on it. Something that was probably a smile appeared on his stiff face. "Every time you submit a paper, I'm a bit scared…"

"It's just a viewpoint to see if it can enlighten other arcanists. No experiment support yet. Hopefully, the phenomena derived from the hypothesis can be verified in the future." Lucien smiled and answered.

He was saying the truth, but only part of it. The most subversive step had been taken by the hypothesis of energy quantum, anyways.

Writing "Light-darkness" on the file, Eric thought for a while and said to Lucien, "you're good at Elements, Lucien, so I'd assume that you used particle theory in this paper on light. Am I right? If I submit the paper to the authorities in the school of Light-darkness, the comments you'll receive might be bad. If the paper also has to do with other fields, you know… we can submit it to other reviewers."

The school of Light-darkness was established based on the school of Electromagnetics, and in it the wave theory was the exclusive ruler.

"It's not necessary. The more we argue, the sooner we'll find the truth," said Lucien humorously. Unless the paper could be submitted to someone he knew well from in the school of Element, the review comments on this paper would always be quite bad. Eighty percent of the members in the Arcana Review Board supported the wave theory of light, and among the remaining twenty percent, less than three were interested in the hypothesis of energy quantum. Before any solid experiment evidence was to be carried out, it was almost impossible to find another person like Artil, who was so stubborn and firm a supporter of the particle theory that he would be willing to reluctantly accept the energy quantum theory.

Eric nodded, and submit the paper to the Review Board.

"Light-darkness… To Mr. Lauren and Mr. Teixeira," said the alchemical life without hesitation.

...

On the thirty-third floor of the Allyn magic tower, when he saw the title of Lucien's paper, Fernando could not help rubbing his brows.

"Enlightening viewpoint…"

Chapter 440: Reviewing and Being Reviewed

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

"It's just about using the hypothesis of energy quantum to explain the photoelectric effect," said Lucien honestly with a constant smile on his face.

The corner of Fernando's mouth twitched a bit. "You call this 'enlightening'… I don't think there are arcanists who want to be enlightened like this."

Fernando and Lucien had excluded all the other possible explanations together, and the only possible answer left was the hypothesis of energy quantum. Therefore, after the initial reluctance and struggle, Fernando was the one who accepted this hypothesis the most. However, even so, Fernando would only use it when analyzing the black-body radiation, but never in any other fields.

Then Fernando mumbled. "So you want to use the hypothesis to build your own system?"

If Lucien's paper was just a further explanation of the hypothesis of energy quantum, it would not be that subversive. As long as Lucien had not proved the hypothesis with experiments, Fernando would not need to be too worried that Lucien might destroy the entire Congress with his theory.

As he turned the pages, Fernando's expression became more and more serious. "Although in the studies of the black-body radiation, I've started to feel inclined to use the quantum hypothesis for explaining the energy absorption and emission, I still don't think it's necessary to further apply the hypothesis to explain the presence and transmission of light. Brook's equations have well offered a good explanation, and hypotheses should not be multiplied unnecessarily."

Although Fernando was on the side of the wave theory of light, he was not a firm supporter. But any arcanists who specialized at Electromagnetics would be deeply shocked by and fell in love with the beauty in Brook's equations, which was like an elegant piece of poetry of the Goddess of Magic. Therefore, facing the hypothesis that challenged Brook's theory, Fernando still had spontaneous rejection in his heart, although the hypothesis perfectly and precisely explained the photoelectric effect.

Lucien was not surprised that this idea was very unacceptable even for an open-minded grand arcanist like Fernando.

Fernando put down the paper and said in a serious tone, "however, this is the best explanation of the photoelectric effect that I have ever seen so far. If you spend some time to improve the magic circles and conduct an experiment with great precision as your evidence, it might be easier for people to accept it."

"So far I'm not capable of doing such an experiment." Lucien did not mention the true reason behind it was if he included the experiments, some sorcerers' cognitive world would be shattered or injured.

After he read the paper, Fernando knew that the requirements for carrying out the experiment were extremely high, so he didn't think much after hearing Lucien's excuse. "Although I do not agree with you, yet based on the entire process, I still have to admit that your viewpoint is very enlightening, as it reasonably and succinctly explained the photoelectric effect. Your explanation does leave a deep impression on me. But, the last part, in which you talked about the particle-like property of the instantaneity of time and the wave-like property of the time average… It's too weak and redundant! It makes people feel that you're not even a firm supporter of your own hypothesis yourself! You're trying to find a peaceful place to get along with the wave theory, in a ridiculous way!"

"In fact, this is my true point, or we can't explain the diffraction of light, nor the photoelectric effect." Lucien tried to be bold.

Fernando gave him a stern look and asked, "so you're saying it's both wave and particle. Then what on earth is light? You assume that quantum effect divides light into portions, so it's a combined formation. But why don't you think further? Why these many light quanta generally show the properties of wave? Why do the quanta march forward following the rule of wave?

"Did you ever see the knights charging? Without strict command and training, their charging would be a disaster, instead of in an organized form of a triangle. But who commands the quanta of light so that they move in the form of waves? The God of Truth?!

"Have you ever thought about it?!"

Even when talking to his favorite student, Fernando was still the same strict and straightforward. Lucien could almost feel the sprays from his teacher.

"… No one's giving command, Sir. It is wave itself, and, of course, exhibit the features of wave. Sir, I don't think it will work trying to explain why light carries the features of waves from the perspective that light is particles. Light is wave itself," said Lucien sincerely.

However, Lucien's words did not make any sense at all in Fernando's ears. To him, light's form of existence could be something beyond his imagination, but it still had to make sense!

Thus, he roared. "What about the photoelectric effect?!"

"Light also consists of light quanta. In this case, we don't need to think about it from the perspective of waves." The way Lucien was talking started to become philosophical.

But Lucien was not planning on roaring against Fernando right now, not at all, since he was still far from revealing the final answer. So he said, "Sir, this is not yet a mature theory… I'm still thinking. So it's not included in the paper."

Fernando slightly nodded, although he still kept a straight face. He allowed his student to have a rich imagination, but it had to base on solid reasoning. "Comparing to your true viewpoint, I find this paper much more lovable. I don't want to arcana studies to fall into a philosophical debate in the end."

Then Fernando knocked at the desk and said, "are you sure you're going to submit the paper without any experiment support? Be ready to face the attack from most of the arcanists."

"It's okay. Without a conclusion, they'll soon forget about it." Lucien did not really care.

Looking at Lucien, Fernando shook his head, "Don't underestimate the perseverance of the arcanists. Some won't let you go."

…

Returning to his own office in Arcana Review Board, Lucien saw a paper on his desk. However, as soon as he picked it up, Lucien frowned. Since people got to know how he helped Levski and saw how successful Levski was right now, many arcanists started submitting their own "subversive" papers directly to Lucien, hoping that Lucien would support them so they could become famous overnight.

However, their papers did not even respect basic logic, and Lucien could not even take a second glance at their derivation processes. Claiming that they had overthrown Brook system and Douglas system, the papers were more than absurd. Lucien had to try his best to hold himself back from the urge to tear down the papers into pieces, throw them on those people's face, and call them "folk arcanists"!

However, after calming down a bit, Lucien still wanted to be objective, since he was well aware of the fact that how destructive prejudice and stereotype could be. He started reading the paper carefully.

It turned out to be worse than ever. The author did not even understand the theoretical system that he wished to overthrow before claiming that he had found its problems. Lucien started to feel that the previous authors were in fact quite sweet, since at least the problematic parts were in the reasoning sections.

"Not bad as a joke though…" Lucien picked up the quill-pen and started marking.

In Sorcerer Administrative Department, there was a totally absent-minded look on Eric's face. His sat still with his eyes staring forward at the void.

Sitting in front of him was a black-haired, blue-eyed, good-looking young man in his early thirties. Words were pouring out from his mouth. "Based on my years of studying, I have located the fatal error in Mr. President's theoretical system in Force Field. My finding is powerful enough to pierce through the seemingly solid system and save all arcanists in the Congress from the misunderstanding which has lasted for hundreds of years."

Eric did not want to say anything else. The man sitting in front of him was a sorcerer specializing in the school of Electromagnetics. Obviously, he knew nothing much about the Force Field theories.

"Unfortunately, most members of the board don't have their own thoughts. All they want to do is to follow the authority. However, now we have Mr. Evans, a young and brave board member who dares to challenge the errors. I'm sure he'll be able to understand my paper and face the errors. I will earn my honor back," said the man triumphantly and confidently.

Eric touched his thin hair and said, "Peavy… There are still other people waiting… You can come back three days later."

Peavy shrugged. "What a pity. I was going to tell you some details about my theoretical system."

Suddenly, the iron cage burst out white light, and a document appeared inside.

"Hey… I think it's yours, Peavy." Eric called Peavy, who was already at the door.

Peavy was very surprised. "My paper deserves this fast response?!"

He wore a badge for fourth circle sorcerer and one for level-one arcanist.

Eric took a quick glance at the paper. The muscle of his face twitched a bit, and then he handed the paper back to Peavy. "You may want to take a look at it yourself."

Peavy turned the pages, only to find the many crosses in red ink. Following each cross, there were comments and the corresponding correct derivation process. At the edge of each page, there were strange comments such as "Two points are deducted."

Seeing the red crosses, a blue vein bulged in Peavy's forehead. All he could see now were the red crosses.

He quickly turned to the last page, and saw Lucien's comment: "Starting from the full score,100 points, after deducting all the points for the errors, only 1 point is left. Ten points are given for the clean-looking handwriting. 11 points in total. The standard for passing is 60 points. Therefore, the paper fails to pass."

Lucien had veto power on deciding whether a subversive paper could pass. Also, the paper had been rejected by the other members before as well. Therefore, the alchemical life directly gave the final decision — Fail.

Peavy's face burnt as he saw Lucien's many comments.

In his mind, since all of Lucien's comments were against his derivation and reasoning, Lucien must be wrong!

"Evans has nothing different! He's just another puppet of the authorities! He doesn't want to see a genius like me to rise, doesn't want to see me overthrow the president's system, doesn't want to see me win even more prizes than he had!" Peavy turned around angrily and left the office. There was hatred in his voice.

Eric released a long sigh. In his opinion, the Congress should put these people together, and let them have fun and argue within their own small circle.

…

Since it was Lucien Evans's paper, the electromagnetic golem directly informed Lauren, instead of sending it to his students and the editors of the journalLight-darkness .

One day later, archmage Lauren came back to Allyn and started reading the paper.

"Stupid and stubborn! Why is he still bothering with his hypothesis on energy quantum? Ridiculous…" Lauren dropped the paper, looking rather pissed. "How dare he to even try to quantize light?! That's drawing close to the particle theory!"

Lauren started doubting Lucien's past achievements, wondering if it was just because of his good luck. The paper submitted by him completely made no sense, and there was no evidence at all!

"I am going to do an accurate photoelectric effect experiment and throw the result on your face!" Lauren's fury was burning, as the two theories that he believed in were under the attack from Lucien's absurd hypothesis.

However, after he calmed down, Lauren realized that currently, he was not capable of carrying out the experiment because of the limitation of apparatuses. But this did not mean that he could not give the review comment. So he sat back at the desk and grabbed his quill-pen.

Chapter 441: Crisis

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

"This is a hypothesis made exclusively for explaining the photoelectric effect. It does not apply extensively as a standard hypothesis is supposed to be, for it cannot be used to explain other phenomena of light. It even contradicts to what the diffraction image tells us. With no experiment as its support, the hypothesis is rather doubtful. It is a hypothesis with logical, succinct, and beautiful reasoning yet goes the opposite way from the true situations…

"Arcanists have made lots of similar hypotheses like this one. When a hypothesis does not have broad application, it usually means that the direction of the hypothesis is problematic. I share the same opinion for this paper…

"I believe that Mr. Lucien Evans is also aware of this fact. He knows that his hypothesis contradicts Mr. Brook's electromagnetism system, as well as the series of classic photics patterns. This is why he added to the last part of his paper that he is only addressing the instantaneity, while light was still wavelike from the whole picture."

The more Lauren wrote, the angrier he got. What was preventing him from scolding Lucien right in the face was the fact that Lucien was the Lord of Storm's student, a member of the Review Board, and someone with many awards. In his eyes, Lucien should be realistic, give up his ridiculous dream pursuing quantum theory, and open his eyes to see the stable and perfect current arcana system.

Taking a deep breath, Lauren continued to write. "… Also, this hypothesis, which seems to be another version of the particle theory, starts from the idea that energy is not transferred successively, which is absurd. Even those who support the particle theory would not agree with this. However, what has to be admitted is that this is a complete paper that can be quite inspiring, and it offers a temporary solution to explain the photoelectric effect. So my review decision would be:

"It is a paper worth of broad discussion, but its value is also limited to this for now. When there is precise evidence support, the review result can be changed. My current suggestion is that one arcana credit and five arcana points should be given as the reward."

When writing the conclusion, Lauren was being quite cunning. He dared not to speak out his true opinion, because Lucien Evans was very famous and the young genius arcanist also had lots of support from his teacher. If Lauren was not being careful enough, he might lose his job and position on the Board.

Lauren had his reason for letting the paper pass. In the Congress, there were still supporters of the particle theory of light. If he rejected Lucien Evans's paper using the fact that the paper contradicted Brook's electromagnetism system, the same thing would happen to all the submitted papers advocating the wave theory, as the Review Board members supporting the particle theory would reject the wave papers using the fact that they contradicted Douglas' light speed experiment and the photoelectric effect. Therefore, he had to make a compromise. Although wave theory had taken the more dominant position out, the particle theory out there had not admitted its failure yet.

After he finished writing the comment, Lauren picked up his pipe and took a drag. There was a cold smile on his face — He was going to recommend Lucien Evans's paper to Drummond and make him publish the paper on Arcana as a paper open for discussion, whether Lucien Evans wanted this or not. This young genius had to prepare himself for the endless criticism and attack.

Because currently no other theory could be found to explain the hypothesis of energy quantum, rarely were there any arcanists who would write a paper refuting it. But now the situation was different: Lucien was directly challenging one of the two classic arcana systems. In other words, he had chosen the opposite side against most arcanists. With classical theories and experimental data, they would not let Lucien get around that easily!

Lauren then wrote a letter to Drummond and sent it. Standing up, he paced back and forth in his study with his hands folded behind his back, and he murmured to himself, "The best way is to refute his hypothesis by using a hard experiment result. A decisive result will leave Lucien Evans no space for finding excuses…"

…

In the Allyn branch of Moonsong League, a unique-looking, middle-aged man was reading a paper. He had lots of electric-arc-shaped tattoos, and there were fine tiny electric currents sparking on his bare head as if he had thick silver hair. His eyes slightly squinted, in which there were electric sparks as well.

"Finally, Lucien Evans has revealed himself as a supporter of the particle theory. Or… is he trying to promote his quantum theory?" Teixeira, the level-seven arcanist and eighth-circle sorcerer, sneered. "No matter what his purpose is, this paper is useless except that it does explain the photoelectric effect. He scraped together the entire paper just for the sake of explaining the effect. Of course, Lucien Evans does not have any hard experiment evidence to support, or his head would have been exploded from seeing the experiment image.

"Lucien Evans had written this much words and formulas in the paper… I'll let the paper pass but only admit its value for discussion. Heh, I wonder how that crazy hound, Artil, would respond?"

Teixeira then started putting his thoughts down into written words. "… It is undeniable that the paper deserves some discussion, and it offers us a possible direction in explaining the photoelectric effect. Two arcana credits and six arcana points are suggested to be given as the reward."

Before, Teixeira had nothing against Lucien. But now it was different as Lucien was attacking the system of electromagnetism, which was the foundation of Teixeira's cognitive world, using the particle theory and the quantum theory.

If it had not been for Lucien's many previous achievements, Teixeira almost started doubting that if Lucien was actually a real arcana genius like what people said.

Putting down the quill-pen, Teixeira picked up the materials on the photoelectric effect, which had been his very interest recently. As he read further, he could not help frowning.

If Lucien Evans's hypothesis was applied, the photoelectric effect indeed could be explained precisely and briefly.

"Why…" Teixeira was rather bothered. "This hypothesis completely contradicts the classic experiment image, but it could explain the photoelectric effect which contradicts with the wave theory…"

…

Unwilling to see Brook, his students, and his supporters, Artil chose to live in the small town which was his hometown. His black, pointy magic tower always attracted lots of attention from the residents and travellers, who were in awe of it.

In his study, the extremely furious look on Artil's face had been replaced by appreciation and ecstasy,

"Haha, Light quantum, light quantum… Don't think I can't recognize you when you just changed the word! It's just another name for the quantum photon in the particle theory! Portions, with a minimum limit… Isn't that particles?!

"Quantizing light is no more than another exposition for particle theory, and the hypothesis explained the photoelectric effect perfectly! Lucien Evans deserves the reputation given to him! He's a genius! For sure, he's the most promising one who's gonna be a grand arcanist in the future!"

Lucien's proposal for launching the artificial planet helped Douglas greatly, and now he was explicitly supporting particle theory. Therefore, Artil started regarding him as his most trusted friend.

He felt thrilled imagining how those idiots who supported the wave theory of light would respond to the paper.

Feeling rather refreshed, Artil started writing to Drummond. He gritted his teeth while maintaining a big smile on his face. The only part that he was not perfectly happy with was the last paragraph of the paper, as it sounded a bit hesitant. But it did not really matter. If no one could overturn Lucien's hypothesis in a year, the fifty thousand arcana points would go to Lucien Evans. In fact, Artil wished that Lucien Evans could have taken away the points already!

After sending the copy of the paper to Drummond, Artil cheerfully thought to himself that now Lucien's hypothesis of energy quantum had sounded more reasonable to him if he set off and think deeper from the perspective of the particle theory.

…

In Sorcerer Administrative Department, Eric received the review result of Lucien's paper.

As the witness of Lucien's multiple success, Eric turned the pages out of curiosity. Then his face stiffened, as he was also a firm supporter of the wave theory of light.

After he skimmed through the paper and read the comments, Eric had the impulse to write something to refute Lucien's idea. However, what happened when Lucien first came up with the periodic table of elements came back to his mind. At that time, Lucien's paper also got a very poor result, but it turned out to be rather valuable later when the new elements were discovered. The two board members that reviewed the paper apologized to him and re-evaluated the paper, giving an extremely high appraisal this time.

"This paper also contains many hypotheses based on the existence of the light quantum… Maybe…" Eric started feeling suspicious, but he soon decided to stop thinking about it. "… I should wait until an accurate experiment comes out…"

…

Under Lauren's effort, although it was still around two to three weeks ahead before the next issue of Arcana , all the arcanists had already been informed that Lucien Evans, the young genius arcanist, used the particle theory to explain the photoelectric effect and had put forward the hypothesis of light quantum. Many were hurling abuse at Lucien. But most people, like Eric, were more cautious and chose to remain silent for most of the time due to the many awards that Lucien had won. They were afraid that, if they get too emotional, once Lucien could carry out a solid experiment to support his paper, their head would explode.

Those people's attitude was further shaken when they found out that Lucien's hypothesis indeed could explain the photoelectric effect. Although from time to time, people would whisper criticism against Lucien's hypothesis, they were still waiting, waiting for the final answer.

In Allyn, the intense atmosphere lingered. Even Lazar and the apprentices had felt people's hostility. However, Lucien was not affected by it at all. He was still working on improving his meditation and constructing his sixth-circle magic.

Yet, radicals exist in every population. By the end of the month, Lucien received a thick pile of letters. These were all anonymous threatening letters.

Smiling, Lucien leafed through the letters, feeling like that he had turned into the shared public enemy of Allyn. However, when he saw one of the letters, he suddenly frowned,

"… Maybe I'm not capable of killing you, but what about your friends and students? Take back your ridiculous hypothesis, and admit your fault in front of all arcanists!"

Chapter 442: Unjustifiable Self-defence

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lucien narrowed his eyes, his monocle reflecting the cold light of spring.

The message on the letter was composed of words cut down from newspapers, and the paper had been processed by tracing-proof divination spells. However, the person who sent this letter had obviously underestimated how well Lucien had mastered senior-rank Astrology.

Lucien pulled out the anonymous letter and laid it under his Morning Light crystal ball. There was a forbidding look on his face. He put both hands on the crystal ball and stroked it in a specific rhythm.

The crystal ball dimmed and turned black quickly. Shiny stars emerged inside. Meanwhile, the Arcana Scepter watch that Lucien was wearing also started to be covered by a vague layer of starlight. The miniature sun and constellations inlaid in the plate began to revolve silently.

In the starlight, Lucien saw blurry pictures, which depicted the many steps of how the letter was delivered.

Owl… Allyn Animal Post Office… the Magic Steam Train Company belonging to the Affair Committee… The train… Tracks… Forests, fields, and hills… Cocus, the capital city of Calais… An apprentice that Lucien did not know… A request from a friend…

All the major steps were reflected one by one. Then the letter finally returned, unexpectedly, back to Allyn, back to the Animal Post Office, and to the hands of a restaurant waiter.

At this time, Lucien had used up most of his spiritual power. The pictures became vaguer and vaguer and were soon about to disappear.

Then a next picture came. Lucien could only faintly see a man wearing a black hooded robe handing the letter and some gold Thales to the waiter.

The ring on his left hand, the Origin, lit up in time. A cool refreshing feeling came from it and restored some of his spiritual power. Removing his right hand from the crystal ball, Lucien quickly lifted his Sun Staff.

The Sun Staff could enhance the power of Astrology spells under the ninth circle by one level!

The light from the staff lit up the picture in front of Lucien's eyes. Behind the sorcerer whose face was hidden under the black hood, a misty, distorted star rose. The fine, nebula-like, shimmering lines linking to his Host Star of Destiny were now visible to bare eyes.

"Got you," Lucien whispered in a low voice.

He recorded the features of the Host Star of Destiny and its track. When his spiritual power recovered partly, he figured out who this man was using the help of Sun Staff and Arcana Scepter.

"Peavy Belges, a member of Moonsong League, specializes in Electromagnetics… Egocentric and prone to go extreme…"

Lucien found the name somehow quite familiar. After a while, he recalled that this name was on the paper that he rejected a few days ago.

The man named Peavy definitely hated Lucien for turning down his paper; then his hatred was further stimulated by Lucien's hypothesis about light quantum, so he wrote this letter to threaten Lucien.

When not used for predicting the obscure future, and when an important item that had gone through the processes was at hand, the power of senior-rank Astrology was beyond the imagination of low or middle-rank sorcerers. With the assistance of Sun Staff and Arcana Scepter, Lucien could divine many things in great detail like an archmage. Also, since the Congress of Magic had Peavy's personal information, the features of his Host Star of Destiny was not at all a secret. After careful comparison, Lucien could find him relatively easily.

Every person had his or her own Host Star of Destiny. However, if the person never studied Astrology, they would not have the host star reflection in their soul.

Therefore, Lucien had been very careful with erasing important traces left after anything he did. If it was not possible, at least he would use some senior-rank spells to cover his Host Star, or turn the black hole side to the front, which was only known by Fernando and Thompson.

Lucien thought about it for a second whether he should report this to the Affair Committee. However, the punishment for menacing, presumably fifteen days of detention, would be too weak to prevent this lunatic from hurting Lucien's friends and students, and it might even further infuriate him. So Lucien shut down this option.

Although most people see Lucien as a young, talented arcanist who was usually very polite and gentle, Lucien never showed any mercy to those intended to hurt his friends and students.

Facing this vicious, overreacting letter, Lucien was determined to overreact to it.

Lucien weighed the cost seriously — With this letter and the information he just collected as evidence, unjustifiable self-defense, in the worst case to him, would put him into prison for six months and cost him a good sum of arcana points as a penalty.

And he made the decision.

Finding the materials he needed, Lucien started to make a puppet, which was essential to his plan. After several hours, Lucien was holding a brownish, creepy puppet. The puppet had long narrow eyes and a tightly-shut mouth. Its arms were so long that they dropped down under its knees. The entire puppet was also covered with unique patterns and symbols which was very similar to the trace of Peavy's Host Star of Destiny.

"You better not try, otherwise…" Lucien said coldly while putting the anonymous letter on the puppet and activating his Arcana Scepter watch.

The constellation symbols on the watch suddenly started glowing together! Some were radiant and enchanting, some were bright and clear, some were broad and cold, some were eternally unchanging…

The seventh-circle Astrology spell, Destiny Interference!

Wriggling, a thin layer of human skin quickly grew out of the lifeless puppet and covered its face. The layer of skin became the face of Peavy, but its eyes were closed as if it was unaware to what was now happening.

Lucien then started casting on the Peavy Puppet.

…

In a garden villa.

Peavy was humming a new piece of music from the most recent play in the town in a very good mood. His high spirit was not because of the melody, but from the pleasure imagining the great panic that Lucien Evans was now suffering knowing that his friends and students were in danger, imagining him running back and forth making sure no one had been hurt.

Lucien Evans would submit the letter to the Affair Committee, but so what?

In Peavy's eyes, this arrogant so-called genius deserved this, for rejecting his paper out of jealousy and attacking Mr. Brook's theoretical system.

He had done some research and knew that only legendary archmages could locate the sender of an anonymous letter. He also had done everything he could to avoid the tracing of most Astrology spells. He chose not to directly attach a self-destroying spell to the letter, since Lucien Evans would definitely notice the magic waves coming out from it and wouldn't even bother to open it, then sending the letter would pointless.

Not to mention that whether Lucien Evans would ask an archmage to cast spells just because of a threatening letter, even if Evans found out that if was him somehow, he would only be fined a few arcana points and be confined for a few days. The minor punishment would be nothing to him.

Furthermore, Peavy believed that all sorcerers who supported the wave theory of light would be on his side. Maybe Lucien Evans could protect his friends and students right now, he could not do this forever. Lucien Evans had to pay blood for what he had done! Only blood could make him realize his huge mistake!

The look on his face was completely distorted and vicious, as if Lucien had killed his father or cut off his path leading to becoming a grand arcanist. As an experienced fourth-level sorcerer who was experienced in fighting, Peavy was confident with his ability of killing. He knew well that if killing sites were well-chosen, even a legendary archmage would not be able to get any results with Horoscope.

In such a good mood, Peavy suddenly got inspired. He believed that he had come up with an experiment on testing the photoelectric effect accurate enough for exploding Lucien Evans's brain!

Unable to hold back his excitement, Peavy believed that he would become the new genius after Lucien Evans's head exploded. And by that time, his theory would be long remembered by the entire Congress just like that of Mr. Brook. Needless to say, he would become an almighty grand arcanist respected by everyone!

Walking into his lab, Peavy found his brain extremely clear. The procedures of the experiment emerged readily in his brain. Then Peavy started to reconstruct the magic circles.

The equipment for carrying out the experiment would cost a senior-rank sorcerer months to finish setting up, but he finished it within just ten minutes! Peavy wondered if his long-suppressed talent finally burst out.

With the equipment all set, Peavy started to conduct the experiment and collect data.

A few minutes later, beads of sweat dropped down from his forehead. He could not believe what he saw.

"Impossible… Impossible! Something's wrong!"

The experiment showed clear quanta features!

He hurriedly restarted the experiment all over again, but the result remained unchanged.

"No… No…" Peavy shook his head helplessly.

Bang!

His head exploded. Small pieces of red and white were everywhere on the floor and the walls of the lab.

"Ahhh!!!"

Peavy released a bitter scream and sprang up from the couch. Lips trembling, Peavy murmured to himself,

"Ha..Haha, that felt so real…"

His laughter sounded dry and embarrassed.

Wiping off the sweat from his head, Peavy walked to his lab. The horrible dream he just had reminded him that he had still got an experiment on lightning to do today.

As he walked into the lab, Peavy's heart was still beating fast, and his mind was still a bit confused. He turned on the magic circles while he tried to calm down.

In the magic circle, bolts of lightning grew and began to bounce around within the lab. Peavy, as usual, was about to turn on the most powerful defensive magic circle to shield himself from the lightning.

However, his face immediately paled.

"Why… Why can't it be turned on? Right, it broke yesterday…"

Peavy finally recalled blankly that the defensive magic circle probably had been out of order since yesterday, and he was planning to pay a senior-rank sorcerer from the Magic Engineering Department to come and repair it.

But he just forgot it! He forgot it!

"No!!!"

Layers of defensive spells were activated; pieces of magic items glowed. However, the power of the horrible lightning arc was unstoppable, and it penetrated the spells and items promptly.

Only the bitter scream of Peavy was left echoing in the room.

…

A few seconds after Lucien confirmed Peavy's death, Thompson of the Affair Committee showed up in Lucien's study with a flash of light.

"Who did you just attack?"

In Allyn, a spell used for attacking would be detected by the mythal enveloping the city from above. The Affair Committee would then be noticed to interfere.

"Someone who deserved it," said Lucien gloomily.

Lucien threw the threatening letter and his prophecy result to Thompson. It looked like that Thompson was the designated person in the Affair Committee for handling the affairs that involved Lucien.

When he finishing reading the letter and the result, Thompson figured out what happened. He looked angry as well, and even said,

"Good job."

Then Thompson restrained his personal emotion and asked, "With these as evidence, we could charge you as unjustifiable self-defense without doubt. You wanna pay ten thousand arcana points, or go stay in the magic-forbidden prison for a year?"

"Arcana points," said Lucien word by word, his heart aching. All his income from inventing magic crystal light and promoting charcoal would go into this, but it was still worthwhile as he got rid of a lunatic.

Thompson nodded. He wrote down the punishment decision and was about to leave. Lucien could not help asking.

"Those sorcerers that have gone extreme, I don't think you guys should leave them there in the public. They need a psychotherapy center, Thompson."

Thompson shrugged. "You have to know, Lucien. With years of dangerous and lonely exploration, many sorcerers have, more or less, turned into psychos. No one will agree with this proposal."

Lucien wondered if he should propose that the Congress start giving lectures on mental health.

…

"The latest one on Allyn's Dumbest Ways to Die – No. 17: Peavy used his death to tell us that we should never forget the first and foremost rule in the laboratory manual – 'Carefully check your equipment and magic circles before starting your experiment,'" said a man with cheerful smile on his face, who was introducing Allyn to the new sorcerers and apprentices on the magic steam train.

In front of him was a beautiful girl who had a white wolf lying beside as her companion.

Chapter 443: Reunion

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Outside of the windows, green fields and thriving forests were retreating quickly. Sitting in this steel monster marching forward fast and smoothly, tasting the delicious black pepper steak, Louise felt that she was in a dream. Ever since she arrived in Holm, everything she saw was beyond her imagination.

Magic apprentice could cast spells in public and not worry about attracting the Church; The magic steam train station was built right in the city within the sight of ordinary people passing by; The enormous steel monster, although it carried hundreds of people, could move so fast and smoothly…

Louise thought that only senior-rank sorcerers could get on the magic train, but it turned out that the train was even accessible to apprentices. What she saw right now was completely different from what the old books told her about the ancient Magic Empire.

Louise would have thought that she was already in a new world if she had not seen how people in Holm lived their life: They were just a bit more conservative in dressing, and other than this, they were not different from the people in the Duchy of Violet.

However, to some degree, this was a new world for Louise. Her life had turned to a new page from here!

Louise stroke her black hair gently, her heart filled with determination and hope. She came from an ordinary noble family, where magic had been a secret tradition for several generations. The family members who failed to awaken their blood power would study magic instead. In this case, her family could always access the magic potions for turning a person into a knight. Therefore, there will always be knights in the family, and its status and title could be ensured.

However, all methods and insurances were fragile against the hands of fate. Her family was involved in the war against the heresy in the north, and most male members died on the battlefield. The female members then either married or remarried. In the end, only a very young Louise and her grandfather were left, so some remote relatives started coveting their wealth and title.

Failed to awaken her blood power, Louise had no choice but to step onto the road of magic. The sorcerer recruited and sheltered by her grandfather was her first teacher.

The amazing world of magic attracted her deeply. However, the it could not provide her with peace and safety. Day by day, she lived like a intimidated mouse, worried that someone would discover her secret. Until one day, she found out by accident that the famous musician, Silvia, was in fact the apprentice named White Honey that she knew. She was therefore inspired and started to also use her music talent to cover her secret identity of a magic apprentice.

Then, she inherited the wealth and the mysterious materials from her family, which she used to trade the silver moon magic potion from her teacher and became a formal sorcerer. To hide her spiritual power, she used almost all of her heritage and savings to exchange for the Holy Water and successfully awakened her blood power, which enabled her to control animals. She also became a quite famous musician because of her blood power.

However, she was still not satisfied with the situation. The fact that her own teacher was killed by the night watchers when exploring relics in the forests caused her to frequently awake from nightmares in the middle of the night. Terrified one day that the night watchers would show up in her room, she desperately studied and worked as a musician, hoping to become more and more famous so that one day she could get to know some major nobles and receive their protection.

"I'm not asking for too much. All I wanted is to study magic quietly in peace. It seems that such a simple wish could never granted." Each time when the past came to visit at midnight in her dream, she would lament like this.

Yet one day, when the arrival of a sorcerer called Professor opened the gate to a new world in front of her, she finally saw hope. The only pity was that she had to say goodbye to her beloved music and the Aalto Musician's Association.

"Miss Louise?"

The young sorcerer sitting in front of her woke her up from her memory.

Louise put on a soft smile and said, "Sorry, the amazing magic steam train triggered some memory of mine. Mr. Pan, please continue with the Allyn's Dumbest Ways to Die… It's very interesting, and enlightening as well."

Her voice was like a piece of smooth silk. Elegant and gentle, with a hint of melancholy, Louise was unique from most female sorcerers. There were, of course, female sorcerers who looked even more gorgeous than Louise, but the aesthetic air of a musician was hard to be ignored.

Klein, the young sorcerer whose black hair was combed back neatly, also grinned and said, "that's right. I could never imagine that there could be so many dumb things happening during experimentation, exploration, and everyday life. I gotta be careful. I don't want to become a joke between sorcerers after I died."

Mr. Pan carried the typical features of a Holmish and had a bright smile. "We're almost there. When you guys have settled down in Allyn, we can have dinner together. I've got more stories."

When Pan was speaking, he took a few shy glances at Louise.

On his opposite side sat Louise, Klein, Zapataro (Flame), and Ricardo (Hanger), who had been absent-minded all the way since he saw the city of Heidler — Some apprentices never leaved Aalto; some died on their way; and in the last, only the four of them, two sorcerers and two apprentices, successfully arrived at Sturk.

Hanger and Flame were actually not qualified for coming to Allyn, since Stuart would only send sorcerers and selected apprentices here. But they managed to be included in the trip by pretending as Philosopher's students..

"Almost there? I don't see it…" Louise looked out but saw no hint of a city.

Pan smiled and pointed up. "Allyn is above the clouds. You can't see it from here."

Louise nodded and turned back her eyes. After a second of hesitation, she asked with a slight smile, "Mr. Pan, may I ask you a question?"

"You're more than welcome, Louise. Also, you can just call me Pan." Pan secretly omitted the "Miss" when addressing Louise.

Louise asked, somehow a bit nervously, "Pan, do you know a sorcerer called Professor?"

Since Professor was on the Cleansing List, she assumed that he should be relatively well-known in Allyn.

Philosopher, Hanger, and the others all turned to look at Pan. Professor was the only sorcerer in the Congress that they knew off.

"I do know him. He's on the Cleansing List and is a member of the Will of Elements that I just mentioned. But most sorcerers have no idea who he really is, including me." Pan shook his head.

They all felt a bit disappointed, and Klein asked, "Did you ever guess who he is?"

Before Pan could answer, the apprentices burst out in exclamation.

Outside of the window, the rails went straight up into the air and the train speeded in midair. The green fields, forests, and cities underneath became smaller and smaller.

"It's a miracle of God…" Klein murmured. Influenced by the Church in Aalto for most of his life, Klein immediately had these three words jumped into his mind when he saw the train flying.

And when he saw the inverted, floating mountain peaks, the cloud-covered magic towers, the beautiful gardens, and the magnificent city of Allyn, Klein did feel that they were all made by a god.

"Welcome to Allyn." Pan bowed slightly, his left hand on his chest.

Louise murmured dreamily, "this is… Allyn…"

After they filled out in the feedback form of the train, the sorcerers and apprentices got off. They headed for the headquarter in a coach under Pan's guidance.

Appreciating the scenery along the streets, impressed by the interesting and pleasantly-surprising alchemical items and assorted non-human races, they soon arrived at the Allyn Magic Tower, where they were greeted by Prospell.

Prospell, as usual, could not hold itself back when it saw a beauty.

Although Louise knew that some of the words to her used by Prospell were not that well-mannered, she did not really care. Instead, she was impressed by the fact that an alchemical life could be so lively, and could even seem a bit like a… pervert.

"When you guys reach senior-rank, you'll have your own magic tower. Then you can make alchemical lives yourself." Pan grinned while describing the beautiful future, although he was well aware of the fact that reaching the sixth circle was an unachievable dream for most low-rank sorcerers.

"Senior-rank…"

The apprentices and sorcerers knew what it meant — A much longer life, much more powerful spells, and even the chance of exchanging to a younger body.

Pan took a glance at Louise's white wolf, which was looking around curiously. "Louise, you can take your wolf to the Task Zone to apply to participate in some breeding experiments. I believe that those sorcerers who study blood power, transformation, and companion pets would love to accept your application, and you can also get precious arcana points from it."

Louise didn't expect that such things could be discussed publicly, and her face flushed slightly. "In Aalto… castration has to be done for these large animals, in case they become out of control from rutting…"

The white wolf buried its head into the front paws.

"What a pity. But you can still take a look at the task for regrowing mutilated limbs. It takes some time, but it will work in the end…" suggested Pan.

Then he turned to the rest of them. "Alright, we'll talk about it later. I'll first take the apprentices to the Apprentice Assessment Department, and then take the sorcerers to the Sorcerer Administrative Department."

"No problem," replied Klein, overwhelmed by the surroundings in this silver hall, the style of which was totally different from that of the Church of Truth and the noble's villas.

Louise was also looking around curiously like a fledgling. She took a few steps and caught fragments of words from two sorcerers walking past.

"… though Lucien Evans is indeed talented…"

Lucien Evans?

Louise abruptly turned around, wondering if she just had misheard it, but the surprised look on her companions' face told her that she did not.

Maybe it's just someone with a same name… They wondered and listened more carefully.

"… Ever since he joined the Congress of Magic, he never made a mistake in his magic and arcana achievements. I don't get it… Why he has to be so obsessed with the theory of light quantum? What a pity…"

"The next issues of Arcana and Magic is coming out. I heard that so far no accurate experiments have been carried out for supporting his hypothesis. Maybe we can start developing papers on analyzing the errors in his paper?"

"… Let's wait a bit longer… I'm afraid Lucien Evans's reputation is going to be ruined."

"… It's not that bad. Every grand arcanist has more or less made some mistakes. But I do dislike people who support the particle theory!"

…

It sounded that the Lucien Evans they were talking about was a senior-rank sorcerer, therefore, he must be quite old. Louise released a soft sigh, believing that it was just someone with the same name.

She turned to Pan, who was also listening to the discussion attentively, and asked casually, "Pan, is Mr. Lucien Evans very famous?"

"Mr. Evans is a genius! He has won three highest awards in different fields before reaching senior-rank!" Said Pan in the tone of sheer admiration and disatisfication.

"So he's a member of the board?" Klein recalled what Pan told him about the three boards.

Pan nodded, "He's the only one in Arcana Review Board who is at the fifth circle."

"He sounds like a legend." Louise smiled. She started getting curious.

Pan was about to say something, but suddenly his eyes fixed on something and he pointed at the gate. "Here comes Mr. Evans."

Louise, Klein, and the rest of them turned around and froze.

Surrounded by a group of young sorcerers was young man of medium-height wearing a black, double-breasted suit. With his hands set in pockets, a black top hat on his head. and a piece of monocle on his left eye, the young man look even more elegant and handsome.

"Mr… E… Evans…" Louise's lips moved like she was in a dream.

He was the very great musician, the angel of music who had passed away, Lucien Evans!

He was just dressed in a different style!

Chapter 444: Draw on Advantages and Avoid Disadvantages

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Klein's brain started buzzing… Pieces of memory flashed back, and they started joining together to form a whole picture:

Professor's arrival when Lucien Evans was being questioned… It was Professor who launched the attack in the Melzer Black Forest incident, but it was Lucien Evans who benefited from it the most… Professor's unexpected visit during midnight… The trap they set together for Clown… And, the death of the great musician, Lucien Evans!

Everything started making a lot of sense when they saw Lucien Evans, who had already become a member of the Arcana Review Board, standing in the middle of the headquarter hall of the Congress of Magic!

Klein was almost certain that Lucien Evans was the very profound Mr. Professor!

"Prof… Evans…" Klein shut his mouth up before more words came out. Fear seized him: Klein had no idea if Lucien Evans wanted to have anyone knowing who he truly was.

As a consul who had worked in Aalto for more than a decade, he knew how to be very careful, especially when facing someone powerful and of high status.

Hearing Louise's murmurs, Pan asked her quite surprisedly, "you know Mr. Evans?"

"Isn't he… dead?" Hanger Ricardo and Flame Zapataro exclaimed at the same time in a low voice.

Dead? They witnessed Mr. Evans's death? Pan knew that they came from Aalto, and he knew that in Aalto a famous musician named Lucien Evans passed away and a grand funeral was held for him. Pan started getting some clues…

Recalling their chat on the train, Pan also felt very shocked.

He knew Lucien Evans, the great musician, whose music pieces were extensively popular even in Holm and Allyn. Although Ode To Joy was a half-religious music piece, and it thus did not become as popular as Lucien Evans's other works in Allyn, Pan knew that many sorcerers in actually loved Ode To Joy very much personally, including himself. They would often sing it in private, more often than any other songs from operas.

Although the two Evans were close in age, Pan still could not relate the genius sorcerer who was obsessed with studying magic and making money by inventing new alchemical items to the elegant and talented musician whose piano performances could be called art themselves. Pan wondered if the newcomers had made a mistake.

Louise quickly shut her mouth as well, just like Klein. Any sorcerer that could survive in Aalto for these many years without converting to the Church as a spy would form the habit of being extremely careful.

At this time, Louise saw that the young genius' head tilted imperceptibly, then turned to face them completely. Lucien put on a tender smile and, after he said something to the young students around him, started walking towards them at a leisurely pace.

"Mr… Mr. Evans." Klein was the first one to respond. He bowed to Lucien Evans politely.

Before he bowed, Klein's eyes stopped on the three badges that Lucien was wearing on his left chest: The black one with six silver stars, the silver one with five black circles, and the one which was a hand holding a quill-pen. Klein had known what they meant from Pan.

Lucien smiled. "Finally, you are all here. It must have been a long journey."

They were all very surprised, as they never expected that he would just directly admit who he was!

"Thanks a lot for guiding us, Mr. Pro… Mr. Evans." Klein was the first to recover from the shock.

Lucien looked around and asked, "only the four of you?"

Louise finally calmed down a bit and said with a hint of fear, "we ran into great troubles several times on our way. The closer we got to Stuart, the more dangerous it became. I saw several apprentices killed by the night watchers and pastors."

"There are still people on their way. They have many concerns and couldn't set off as soon as we could." Klein added.

Unlike Louise, who knew the great magician, and Klein, who collaborated with the Professor, Hanger and Flame were not that familiar with Lucien. So they chose to remain silent and listen carefully.

"Mr. Evans, who is this?" Heidi took Annick and the rest of the apprentices to them out of curiosity.

Lucien pointed at Klein and Louise. "They are my friends from Aalto, and they are here to join the Congress."

Then Lucien introduced his apprentices to Lousie and Klein. "They are my students Annick, Heidi, Layria, Sprint, and Katrina. They are currently working for me in the Atom Institution, and are also temporarily living at my place."

Hearing Lucien calling all of them his students in front of his acquaintances, Heidi put on a big smile.

After greeting each other, Heidi asked curiously, "Louise, what did Mr. Evans do in Aalto? Every time I asked him, he would just smile but never reply."

Louise did not know what to do. She looked at Lucien awkwardly, her mouth slightly opened, and her hobby as a lady made her notice that Lucien was wearing three finely-designed rings.

"Mr- Mr. Evans, are you that great musician of Aalto?" Pan finally asked, as he could not resist the curiosity anymore. When he knew Lucien Evans passed away at such a young age, he also felt very sorry with deep sorrow that Lucien wouldn't be able to compose any more classic pieces of music which would be passed down through ages.

What? Deeply shocked, the apprentices wondered if there was something wrong with their ears! Annick was from Violet, and Heidi was from Syracuse. They both heard of the name before, but never thought that the two Evans was the same person!

"The great musician already died. I am now Lucien Evans, the Demon of Origin, as people call me," said Lucien half jokingly. Professor ranked the last one on the Cleansing List, and it was nothing comparable to the rank of his true identity. Also, it had been years since the experiment for synthesizing carbamide came out; revealing it right now would not do any harm to Lucien.

Pan took Lucien's words as confirmation. He glanced at Louise, and saw her nod slightly.

Pan exclaimed in great surprise, "it's really you, sir! I'm a big fan of your music! It's great knowing you're still alive! Are you by any means planning on holding a music concert in Allyn?"

Pan temporarily forgot that Lucien was a annoying supporter of the particle theory and the one put forward the hypothesis of light quantum.

"We'll see…" said Lucien.

Currently, Lucien had no plan on doing this at all. Right now he was not that eagerly pursuing money or wealth like he was in Aalto, and there was no lady in Allyn whose attention he wished to attract. So there was no point for him to do a concert.

"I'll be waiting for it!" Pan said excitedly, as Lucien Evans did not reject directly.

"Me too!" For the first time ever, Annick spoke out this loud.

When he was studying hard all alone in Violet, and when he was about to give up facing against the difficulties, it was the Symphony of Fate that gave him the power to proceed!

Layria, Heidi, and Katrina's face flushed lightly. When they were younger, the great musician Lucien Evans was the prince charming in their dreams. Although they had only seen him on the newspapers' blurry pictures, the beautiful music triggered endless fantasies. Yet the fact that the person they were dreaming about turned out to be their most respected teacher made them feel a bit strange and embarrassed. Fortunately, they never talked about the great musician in front of Lucien Evans.

"The Demon of Origin? Is that your new title?" Asked Louise, who relaxed a bit seeing Lucien was being very friendly and kind.

Heidi answered proudly, "although the title from the Church doesn't sound nice, it matches Mr. Evans' rank on the Cleansing List — No. 53!"

Fifty-third?! Klein, Louise, and the rest two felt that what they just heard was a myth. In the past half year, they had stopped keeping track of the Cleansing List as they had to run for their lives on their way to Allyn. They had no idea since when the Demon of Origin appeared on the list. Lucien Evans must have done something that could threaten the entire Church to get to this rank. If they remembered correctly, such a high rank was supposed to be only for the legendaries!

They thought Lucien Evans had revealed to them his biggest secret when they found out his true identity, but now they realized that this young man who was always wearing a tender smile was much more powerful and mysterious than they thought!

Lucien noticed that more and more sorcerer were slowing down their pace and started to gather around, so he said, "I'll let you guys go for registration right now. We can talk later."

Then an idea came up to Lucien, and he quickly asked, "Klein, Louise… I wonder if you're interested in doing a part-time job for me."

"Part time job?" Louise had no idea how she could be of help for the powerful Lucien Evans.

Lucien said briefly, "I'm preparing a program called Arcana Voice, for the purpose of creating some short music pieces for the farmers, the townspeople, and the general public. I hope you can help me here, Louise. It's hard to find sorcerers like you in Allyn who is both talented in music and currently has some free time."

Lucien would prefer classical music to heavy metal in his program.

Louise was a bit lost, as she did not understand what Arcana Voice was and what a program was. However, working with such an influential sorcerer and musician sounded not bad at all to her, as she could still stick to her hobby of music while studying magic.

So she nodded. "Sure."

"Mr. Klein, I know you were the consul of Aalto, so I suppose that you know some of the secrets of the Church and how their followers are living their life. I hope that you can run a program on this," said Lucien. "… The congress will pay, and the pay will be good."

Klein also nodded without hesitation. "My pleasure."

"Good. After registration, you two can wait for me in my office of the Arcana Review Board," said Lucien.

Then he walked to the elevator together with his apprentices and headed for the Atom Institution.

…

In a desolated graveyard in Heidler, the gray fog was rather condensed.

Adol, the spectre, stared at the magic towers at distance and said gloomily, "actions have to be taken to prevent the Congress of Magic from investigating further, or it would be just a matter of time for the gaps to be exposed."

The new spectre beside looked at him. "You seem to have a plan, Adol."

Adol nodded. "Did you read the latest Arcana? Lucien Evans has joined the war, and now he's under the attack from the supporters of the wave theory."

"So?" asked the new senior-rank spectre.

Adol's voice was dry and coarse. "I know it from Rogerio that Lucien Evans killed a Electromagnetics sorcerer who supported the wave theory after receiving a threatening letter from him. This is our chance. Those wave theory supporters must be furious if they know about this. If we fuel their anger properly, some of them will do things that can greatly infuriate Lucien Evans again. According to his temperament, Lucien Evans will again seek revenge for sure.

"… Then, those who support Lucien — say, Fernando, Hathaway, and Douglas — and those who are on the other side — Brook, Oliver, Hellen, Miranda, and most of the remaining arcanists — will fight against each other. The Congress of Magic will be caught in an unprecedented mess, and at that time, Heidler will be forgotten."

The new spectre's bones clapped. "Great idea."

Then the two spectres secretly returned to the magic tower.

At this time, in the desolated graveyard, several pieces of rotten flesh suddenly started wriggling on the ground like worms and disappeared in situ.

In a newly-built magic tower in Heidler, Felipe opened his hand and stared at the flesh worms on his palm. Very rarely, he looked a bit bewildered.

Although his study of arcana had come to a pause recently because of the limitation on the observation methods, Felipe had progressed some further in magic.

The World of Souls was not a peaceful place. Recalling the scarlet moon incident, Felipe stared at the entrance of the two demiplanes and wondered why Adol still wanted to trust and work with those from the World of Souls.

However, Felipe soon made his decision. He could not see any benefits but only promised danger in betraying the Congress for their suspicious partner, the World of Souls, especially since he was only a new senior-rank.

He quickly found some letter paper and murmured to himself,

"Lucien Evans is out of his mind! This is such a ridiculous hypothesis. I must write to him and teach him a lesson!"