569 - 574

Chapter 569: Malicious Purpose (3 in 1)

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

In Allyn, the City in the Sky…

The Atom Institution paid so well that Blake was able to rent a villa with a garden in the suburbs after only one year. However, his habits did not change because he had come to Allyn, and he could not go to sleep without listening to 'Arcana Voice' and 'News of the World'.

"…This concludes the Congress' expansion in the four countries of the strait and the north coastline…"

The brisk voice of Lark spread into Blake's ears, making him, who was leaning against the sofa lazily, feel peaceful and delighted from the bottom of his heart. He was integrated into the tranquil night around his house.

Zi, zi, zi. Electric noises echoed from the magic radio. Blake looked at it in confusion. What happened? 'News of the World' should still have half a program left. Was it because of the disorder of electromagnetic signals again?

Rising from the sofa, Blake walked towards the magic radio. He was about to adjust it with his right hand, when an old voice suddenly came out from the radio:

"Mr. President, it's true that new theories or achievements that can break my bottleneck will arise soon, but they are also very likely to break my head, especially if they are from Lucien Evans, the Headcrusher."

Blake was stunned all of a sudden. Mr. President? Did he mean Mr. Douglas? Had 'News of the World' invited him, too? That would be too exciting.

The arcanists who grew up in the Congress had been taught with the president's deeds of establishing the Congress despite all the dangerous through arduous work since childhood. His gravity theory and motion system were also the classics that all the sorcerers worshiped and learnt. After hundreds of years, it was still the two pillars that supported the arcana system. 'Mathematical Principles of Magical Philosophy' was praised to be the most important masterpiece in the history of arcana and magic, and a symbol of civilization that separates darkness and ignorance from the real discovery of the world mysteries.

Therefore, for most arcanists, the president was the mental pillar of the Congress, a mountain that could not be circumvented in the field of magic, and a man who supported the sky of the arcana system. He had been admired by everyone, old and young.

"The advancement he brought forth hasn't been fully revealed. Perhaps, you will see the value of his new theories in three, five or ten years."

Yes. It was exactly the president! Both the voice and the tone suggested so!

Blake suddenly grew excited. He had the privilege of listening to Mr. President's speech indirectly through 'Allyn's Past Week' in 'News of the World', which left him with a deep impression. His easiness, generosity and his unreserved compliments for the new talents were absolutely authentic!

"This is fantastic. They have finally invited Mr. President to 'News of the World'! The only problem is, why is the interviewer an old man with such an unpleasant voice, instead of everybody's old friend, Ms. Lark or Ms. Nightingale? Their voices alone are an entertainment."

Some hilarious thoughts occurred to Blake, but he guessed that the man was Mr. President's old friend, that was why he could invite the president. The two channels had been established for several years, but none of the Highest Council were willing to participate in the talk shows.

"Like 'On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies and Mass-energy Equation'?"

"Yes."

Douglas' obviously gloomy voice came into Blake's ears, making the smile on his face disappear.

While he very much admired his boss and the manager of the Atom Institution – Mr. Lucien Evans, it was still only limited in the fields of new alchemy and elements. He had been Mr. President's follower when it came to the gravity theory and the motion system. Therefore, he was partly excited when witnessing Mr. Evans disrupt Douglas' motion system, and partly lost because the mental pillar that supported his arcana ideas suddenly collapsed. The arcana world that was clear and visionary became chaotic and obscure.

Also, the disruption of the relativistic space and time over the absolute time and space, and the mind-boggling descriptions, overwhelmed him, who began to question the whole arcana system.

If Mr. President's motion system, one of the greatest classics, was wrong, what else couldn't be?

Thankfully, there was still the awe-inspiring gravity theory!

…

In the broadcast room of 'News of the World'…

'Lark', Samantha, had been reciting her script attentively, prepared to comment on the matter freely a while later, when the door of the broadcast room was suddenly opened.

"Something happened!" The arcanist who walked in spoke palely.

Samantha was both the anchor and the manager whom Lucien entrusted the affairs of 'News of the World' to. She hinted that something had happened with her eyes and asked the arcanist responsible for the broadcast to play advertisements.

The arcanist who just entered carried a magic radio with him. He said both in confusion and panic, "Ms. Samantha, your broadcast has been cut off, replaced by a conversation between Mr. President and another sorcerer."

"What?" Samantha knew very well that Mr. President had never been invited to the show.

She was taken aback by the unprecedented situation for a while.

The new arcanist turned on the radio, allowing everybody in the broadcast room to hear an old voice:

"… suspicious about myself and the arcana system in the past hundreds of years. Mr. Douglas, I've been following you since the end of the War of Dawn. We established the Congress under the suppression of the Church. Your gravity theory and your motion system were the lighthouses that guided me. But right now, one of the two lighthouses has been announced 'wrong'. I really don't know what to believe now. I'm like a boat in a storm, with nothing but darkness before my eyes."

His confusion and loss stunned all the arcanists in the broadcast room. That seemed to be the best narration of the questions they had themselves in the past several months. Those who had never experienced mental meltdowns couldn't have understood the helplessness and hopelessness in the words.

Samantha, of the school of astrology and force field, held her breath and waited for Mr. President's answer. He had never offered any comment on the issue before.

""It's not wrong but a low-speed approximation of the relativistic system."

Douglas' voice echoed, just as everybody expected.

Different from the low-level arcanists like Blake, most of the arcanists in the room had the privilege to meet Mr. President when 'News of the World' was praised by him, and they could clearly tell that it was exactly Mr. President's voice and tone. Samantha, who had visited the Land of Truth with her teacher together, was most certain of it.

But Mr. President's answer was too plain and unconvincing, wasn't it? It was just Lucien Evans' quote.

""Mr. President, low-speed approximation means that you neglected too many things in your motion system, and there were too many errors. Also, don't you think that 'time is space, and space is time', 'time depends on matter and is speed's function' completely overthrows our understanding?"

Yes! That's the feeling! The arcanists agreed with him in silence. Give us a model or explanation that we can understand, Mr. President!

"It is indeed different from our intuition. When I saw it, I also felt that my past thousand years were denied." Douglas admitted rather honestly." Douglas' old and gloomy voice came out.

Boom!

Most of the people in the broadcast room felt a thunder bursting out in their heart. His life over the past thousand years was denied… Completely denied…

Even Mr. President's life was completely denied. What about theirs?

Samantha was brooding in a trance first, before she suddenly realized what was going on. "This can't be Mr. President's reply! This is the enemy's scheme!"

"Brian, you go and find Lucien. I'll ask Ms. Hellen to activate the powerful interference devices to block the electromagnetic signals from Allyn!"

It was an emergency plan that Lucien came up with before. Having been teleported from Earth, he couldn't have neglected the possibility that the enemy could counter-brainwash the sorcerers with radios and electromagnetic signals. So, he made quite a few emergency plans.

Although only Allyn could be blocked for now, Samantha had no time to bother the branches and the local organizations!

"The truth of this world is beyond our imagination. Too many questions can't be answered, and more and more things point at the same thing. What's the nature of gravity? How did it appear at the beginning? If your astronomical motion system works, what's the initial force that made the planet spin?"

Samantha's hand, which was about to touch her communication earring, was frozen. It was the question that puzzled every sorcerer of the school of astrology.

What was the nature of gravity? How would Mr. President reply?

Inertia let her connect to Hellen's secret frequency while she waited for answers. She said with a voice as predictable as wind, "Ms. Hellen, the enemy's signals have hijacked 'News of the World'…"

Hellen, who was defending Allyn on the thirty-third floor, was a woman who looked like an elf of snow. Her lips were blue, but she was surrounded in a weird charm.

Hearing Samantha's words, she was not in a hurry to activate the powerful interference device in Allyn. Instead, she turned on the radio on her desk, trying to figure out who had infiltrated them in what way, so that they could be better prepared in the future.

"That's exactly what I'm confused about. Where does gravity come from? How does it spread? How was it created at the beginning? The more I know, the more lost and scared I am."

Perhaps I've been wrong all this time."

As she listened, shock and a collapse of faith appeared on Hellen's delicate and cold face beyond her control.

Other people might have suspected that the voice was fabricated via magic or divine powers, but as a grand arcanist, she knew very well that after one became a legendary sorcerer, their cognitive world would gradually melt with their soul, and their words would carry their cognitive world's influence and feedback to the real world. Even when they did not perform any magic, their voice still had a unique air, unless they disguised it on purpose.

Unless they knew the constituents of a legendary sorcerer's cognitive world, it was barely possible to duplicate and fabricate the unique feeling. Every person capable of that was the best in the fields of illusion and transformation, like the Eye of Curse, the King of Nightmare and the Master of Transformation, but why would they do such a thing when the Congress had just secured a glorious victory?

Also, two of the six grand arcanists were more or less Douglas' students: the 'more' one was Brook, the Emperor of Control, and the 'less' one was Hellen Paris, the Witch of Iceland.

'Cabin of Palmeira' was a magic group that had controlled the northland since ancient Magic Empire. In its heyday, it had three legendary sorcerers. After it was melted into the Congress, it had developed very sluggishly because they were unused to the arcana principles. Since Hellen was exceptionally talented and had unusual understanding in arcana studies, her teacher thought that she was too good for him to teach and asked Douglas to help with the teaching.

For Hellen, Douglas was like a father who supported the sky of the Congress of Magic and illuminated the path of arcana studies, but now, he was saying 'Perhaps I've been wrong all the time'. How could she not feel that her whole world and her whole life was collapsing? She was so shocked that she even forgot to implement the interferences.

"Perhaps, the voice was fabricated by a demigod…" Hellen tried to explain it.

…

Perhaps I've been wrong all the time."

Felipe was also listening to 'News of the World' in his own magic tower inside Heidler city.

At first, he also thought that President Douglas was a special guest, but he soon realized that something was wrong. However, the content of their conversation was so corruptively charming that he listened on uncontrollably.

When the founder of the arcane system, the explorer of arcana frontiers and the leader of arcanists spoke somewhat in pain that he might have been wrong all the time, even Felipe, who had always been egoistical, felt unbelievably surprised and lost, too, the brilliance in his eyes dispersing.

"Are you going to tell us that you were wrong in the beginning, when we have made it this far after all the hard work?"

Holding the red cup of wine, Felipe looked out the window. The whole Heidler city was enshrouded in the darkness of night. Lights were flickering like stars, like the unsettled mind of all the sorcerers who had heard the conversation.

Even though he was a necromancer, they still had more or less studied gravity, which seemed to contain the deepest mysteries of the world, and they still respected Douglas, who founded the Congress and the arcana system, from the bottom of their heart. His invention of calculus and his studies on geometric models made the advancement of the sorcerers of all schools much easier and less dependent on drugs and materials.

…

In the headquarters of the Will of Elements, Raventi, who was to safeguard the place tonight, looked gloomy, his face tightened, as he listened to 'News of the World'. It never occurred to him that Mr. President would say such things!

He was in a good relationship with the Tower, and he had profound studies on gravity, too. He understood that the questions like Where's gravity from? How does it spread? How was it born at the beginning?' were the ultimate enigma in gravity studies that could not be avoided. He had similar confusion himself.

However, how can you lose confidence and say that you have always been wrong, Mr. President?

It doesn't matter if there are problems. We can solve them one at a time!

How is it possible to figure out all the mysteries at the very beginning?

Everybody has witnessed the development of the gravity system over the past years. The success of the artificial planets further convinced everyone of its validity. Was it not progress but retrograde?

We cannot be impatient about the problems that involve the origins. We have to walk on the solid foundation that is our current research achievements!

Mr. President, you must not lose your confidence!

If you lose your confidence, too many arcanists and even legendary sorcerers will be confused, lost and even desperate.

""Perhaps, we should look for a philosophical explanation. Perhaps, there was indeed a First Cause and a source that created everything. In that case, the system of celestial body motion can be perfected and constructed."

"Sometimes, I can't help but think that way. There's probably really a supreme being and a First Cause, or the whole arcana system cannot be explained from the origin. It's like a house without the foundation, which will collapse under the gentlest breeze."

The supreme being, the First Cause, and the arcana system which cannot be established without those concepts… You are not seriously trying to tell us that, Mr. President, are you?

We have been fighting the Church and the believers of the God of Truth for our entire life, only to discover that all our pride and faith depends on the God of Truth after all?

Raventi rose from his chair abruptly, his right hand trembling violently. Finding it impossible to believe that President Douglas said that, he began to identify its veracity with prophecy.

It was true…

Even Raventi, an archmage who had pursued truth and despised hypocrisy for his entire life, looked old and weak. He couldn't believe, nor could he accept, that Mr. President would believe that a supreme being had been dominating everything, in which case the arcana system and the Congress of Magic he established would be a joke, and so would be Raventi himself, who was attached to them.

"Annonis, are you listening to News of the World? Hurry and check if Mr. President's words are true with astrology." Raventi remembered that he was not good at prophecies, so he hurried to contact his best friend.

…

When Samantha was petrified by Douglas' questions about the gravity theory, an arcanist of the school of electromagnetism in the broadcast room hurried to inform Lucien, who was the person with the highest clearances that he could reach out to.

After ending the conversation with Natasha and sending his regards to Grand Duke of Orvarit, Lucien stayed in his office in the Atom Institution and continued the studies on his own magic structure and arcana studies. He felt the passion to work for his family now that they had exchanged their rings and settled their relationship.

Suddenly, Lucien's monocle became hot.

"Mr. Evans, hurry, listen to 'News of the World'…" A strange male voice echoed in panic, but he could not explain what was going on in his anxiety.

Lucien asked quickly but got no effective answer. He could only turn on the magic radio and set it to the channel of 'News of the World'.

"That is to say, your gravity system and your motion system will collapse without the First Cause, right?"

"Yes."

The First Cause? Isn't it a concept that those theologists invented? Why is Mr. President discussing it with somebody else?

"Then, what's the origin of this world? Who am I? Where are we from? Where are we going to? Can you find the answers from arcana studies?"

"Not for now. They are still in the category of philosophy."

Lucien realized that something was wrong as he listened on. He hurried to disconnect the communication and contacted Grand Arcanist Hellen, who was the supervisor tonight.

Beep, beep, beep. The line was busy. He could not reach out to her.

"No, they are in the category of theology. As long as you admit that there is a supreme being and a First Cause, all the questions can be answered."

Hearing that, Lucien felt more and more terrible. There was no time to contact Ms. Hellen. If anything went wrong, his teacher was always there!

"Hello!" Fernando was not in the best mood after his research was interrupted.

"Master, News of the World has been infiltrated. Somebody from the Church may be alluring Mr. President! I can't reach out to Ms. Hellen!" Lucien spoke fast.

"News of the World?" As an impetuous man, Fernando had returned to the Allyn magic tower from his demiplane and left for Hellen's library, fearing that something might happen to her.

As for Douglas, Fernando trusted him as his old friend. It would've been reasonable if his cognitive world collapsed because of the new arcana theories, but they were saying that he would worship the God of Truth and join the Church?

Did the Saint Truth, which had just been hit by one 'Eternal Blaze', really deserve his faith?

After he pushed the door of Hellen's library, he saw her mumbling to herself behind the desk. "What's gravity? What's the nature of gravity…" Fernando felt that his heart was heavy. What exactly had Douglas said that made Hellen so confused?

He believed that Hellen would never mistake somebody else's voice for Douglas'.

"Francois recognized arcana's fundamental problem, so he returned to the arms of the Lord. Douglas, don't deny it. You are already starting to believe in the First Cause and the supreme being."

The storm that surrounded Fernando came to an abrupt halt. He looked at the magic radio, as if he were looking for Douglas' reply, too.

"Yes, I can't deny that I'm more or less convinced by the First Cause and the supreme being."

Douglas' emotionless voice echoed in the library.

Hellen shut her eyes abruptly, and a drop of tear as clear as ice flowed out. The gravest sorrow was spreading out.

Fernando was stunned and then heaved a deep sigh.

"This is a recording of His Holiness' conversation in Douglas' demiplane. The greatest sorcerer also believes in the supreme being."

A peaceful, smiling voice spread out, pacifying everyone.

"If you wonder whether or not it was fake, sorcerers, you are free to check it with your prophecy and astrology."

Zi, zi, zi. The electric noises appeared again, and the regular advertisement was restored.

"Jinkela, Jinkela, the best formula! Make your harvest spectacular!"

The room was filled by the hilarious voice, but the atmosphere was more than depressing. Hellen croaked, "I didn't expect that Mr. President, who had been fighting the Church for his entire life, would believe in gods and question his own arcana theories…"

"No, that was not Douglas' style! I absolutely don't believe that someone so close to the truth of the world would believe in the crap like the God of Truth!" Fernando roared, "Hellen, you go find Douglas in his demiplane and see what happened! I'll find Bergner and ask him to test the veracity of the conversation. The pope is a demigod. He might have methods that we cannot fathom!"

Fernando's stormy roars woke Hellen up. Yes, suspecting Mr. President blindly without confirming the conversation was not in the spirit of arcana!

…

"Yes, I can't deny that I'm more or less convinced by the First Cause and the supreme being."

Clang. A transparent statue on Raventi's desk was swept to the ground by him unconsciously, breaking into countless pieces.

Seeing the many pieces, Raventi felt that he saw the collapse of one of the pillars that supported the arcana system. An irrecoverable hole had been torn in the sky of arcana.

The magnificent, exhilarating palace of arcana seemed to have been burnt to ashes. The whole world became dark.

"No, how could Mr. President think in such a way? Why would he introduce a supreme being…"

…

In Heidler city, the wine cup in Felipe's hands were crumbled into pieces by himself. The ever-rising moans of spectres echoed outside of his room, as if many undead creatures had lost control because of their master's trance.

Wu!

In their sorrowful and terrifying voices, Felipe put on a self-mocking smile on his pale, sickly face. "The founder and perfecter of arcana theories and the spiritual leader of the Congress of Magic has announced that his arcana theories are wrong, and that he believes in a god that controls everything. If that is true, and if that is proved, I'm very suspicious that somebody's head will be blown up. Even if it won't, their confidence of future advancement will definitely be struck. Perhaps, nobody will advance into legendary for a long time, and it will be barely possible for the legendary experts to improve themselves."

I may be one of the victims…

Wu!

The ghosts, zombies and mummies were screaming so desperately and painfully.

…

"If you wonder whether or not it was fake, sorcerers, you are free to check it with your prophecy and astrology."

Frowning, Lucien stepped out of his office and reached the first district on the thirty-first floor, where the Sky Radio Station was located. He had to confirm the situation before he joined his master, or he wouldn't be able to evaluate the influence of the conversation on most of the arcanists.

After he opened the door of the broadcast room of 'News of the World', Lucien saw Samantha clutching her hair and mumbling to herself, "What is gravity? Where was gravity from at the beginning…"

He looked around, only to hear even more voices of confusion:

"Does it suggest that there was really a god who gave everything a push at the beginning…"

"The gravity theory depends on gods…"

"What is gravity? What is the nature of gravity…"

"Gravity cannot be manifested directly at all. In what way is it spread…"

The arcanist of the school of electromagnetism shouted, half overwhelmed and half lost. "Don't panic, everybody. This is perhaps a recording that the Church fabricated! President Douglas will clarify everything tomorrow!"

Yes, even if Mr. President did say that, we will have to clarify that it was a slander and a lie from the Church! That was the only thing on Lucien's mind.

"Yes, we will interview Mr. President tomorrow and ask him to clarify it before everyone." Samantha was back to herself all of a sudden, refusing to believe what she just heard. "Lucien, you're here? Any news?"

"This is undoubtedly not the truth. I'll go find Ms. Hellen and visit Mr. President." Lucien declared resolutely and eased everybody's anxiety.

Being someone from a different world himself, it was not entirely impossible for Lucien to accept a certain god, but everything had to be founded on repeatable phenomena and experiments. Unproved things were nothing but illusions for him!

In the atmosphere of depression, sorrow, chaos and confusion, Lucien hurried to leave the Sky Radio Station and went to the library of the Witch of Iceland on the thirty-third floor.

The moment he reached the door, Lucien heard his teacher roaring, "Bergner, you're telling me that it is true?"

"It's not like your prophecy was never wrong! I'll find Douglas and ask him in person soon!"

As the terrifying storm rushed to his face, Lucien saw that his teacher was completely on a rampage.

However, Lucien had nothing to worry about other things right now. He asked earnestly, "Master, did Mr. Prophet say that the conversation was true? Did the pope really go to the Land of Truth? Where is Mr. President?"

Holding back his anger, Fernando suppressed his voice and said, "Bergner said that it was something that already happened, and that nobody attempted to disrupt the traces of fate. Therefore, it was very easy for him to tell that the conversation was true. As for Douglas…" He looked Hellen, who was still an ice beauty but who seemed rather reckless – she was trying to open the portal worriedly and impatiently. "The demiplane has been blocked. There's still no telling whether he closed it on his own or it was the pope's doing…"

The more he talked, the more difficult it was for Fernando to hold back his urge of roaring. Nothing else mattered right now except for opening Douglas' demiplane and finding him! Everything would still be easy as long as he was not really devoted to the Saint Truth!

Fernando was quite confident about that with his years of understanding about his friend. Therefore, he was not as lost and befuddled as Hellen.

"Really?" Lucien felt that his knowledge had been disrupted. Mr. President had always been a wise and generous senior in his heart. How could he possibly abandon his arcana theories all of a sudden?

Thinking quickly, Lucien suddenly thought of two things. "Master, ask the Prophet to run another test! This is perhaps only part of the truth. Sometimes, part of the truth is the opposite of the whole truth!"

Truth, only truth, and the whole truth – that was trustworthy information was made of.

Covering part of the truth in order to contort the fact was a trick that many people on Earth were good at. Lucien was quite familiar with it and thought of the possibility very quickly.

"Maybe, but if Douglas does not clarify it in person, many people would still be suspicious." Fernando contacted Bergner again, not noticing that Lucien had left the room quietly.

…

Allyn loomed in the sky like a gargantuan monster. Far away from it, a black shadow was staring at it in a smile. If he were any closer, he would be detected by the guarding grand arcanist through the lock of fog.

"Your Holiness, I seem to have smelled the air of desperation and confusion spreading out from Allyn after their confidence collapsed." The speaker was a tall, grey-haired old man, who was none other than 'Heart of Time' Kritonia. He sensed the reactions of the regular arcanists inside Allyn and Rentato with his special abilities. "Your plan worked out greatly. Perhaps, the Congress of Magic has been crushed without a war. I fear that they will not be able to show the hopefulness and vigorousness they used to have for a long time. This is a major blow on their ideology."

On his left hand, an ever-changing small person was changing nonstop, in which the minds of people seemed to be gathered. Benedict III said with a smile, "In fact, the best result would be that Douglas became a saint of the Church. In that case, the Congress of Magic would've split and dispersed, if it did not collapse immediately. Human beings can be very strange. As soon as their confidence is gone, they will feel that they are approaching the end of the world. By then, countless sorcerers will reconsider their path."

"It's a shame that Douglas was too arrogant."

"But this turns out just as good. Perhaps, a few legendary sorcerers whose cognitive world is founded on the gravity theory will lose their heads." Kritonia chuckled.

Benedict III said, not cockily at all. "The legendary sorcerers are not so stupid. They will not believe it blindly until they ask Douglas face to face. Even though I have misled them into testing the truthfulness of the conversation instead of the completeness, they will still retain the final consciousness. The worst outcome is that they will lose confidence in the arcana system, which will make their future advancements very difficult."

"But Douglas will be out in two days. Will he turn things around?" Kritonia was thinking to sneak into Allyn when it was in chaos to sabotage things and kill certain talents of the Congress of Magic, say, Lucien Evans.

Benedict III smiled peacefully, "As I said, human beings are strange. If he clarifies it two days later, the suspicion of most arcanists will be deep to the bones. They will only suspect his belated explanation. They won't believe it and regard his reasons as excuses."

"Your Holiness, it seems that you are also good at understanding people." Kritonia adulated him.

Benedict III smiled, "This is also their fate. Before planets were discovered, Douglas' suspicion about gravity and his tendencies towards the supreme being wouldn't have caused such great influence. However, the artificial planet plan that Lucien Evans proposed fully convinced all the arcanists of the gravity theory. Hehe. Perhaps, he is truly the Dawnbringer."

…

Blake did notice when he collapsed into the sofa. His eyes unfocused, his face confused, he heard nothing but humming in his ears. How could Mr. President do that? What happened to the arcana system?

At such a moment, he only remembered one person, the man who frequently disrupted the understandings in the past and who had just modified the motion system. Did he hear what Mr. President say? How was he going to reply to it?

On the thirty-third floor of the Allyn magic tower, Fernando's loud voice echoed passionately, "Was there really something hidden?"

"What? You can't tell what the hidden part is? Then why do I need a Prophet?"

He knew that he was being too hard on Bergner. After all, it was done by the pope who was a demigod. However, he had always been cranky after he was agitated.

"Even if we find the hidden content, so what? Mr. President's suspicion about gravity was not fake… Those questions do not have answers…" Hellen was still trying to open the Land of Truth. Hearing what Fernando said, she remarked gloomily.

Fernando held back the urge to roar at her and went to her side to help her. Suddenly, Fernando looked around in confusion. "Where is Lucien?"

…

After he returned to his office in the Atom Institution, Lucien heaved a long sigh when he recalled Ms. Hellen's confusion and the many arcanists in the Sky Radio Station's questions about gravity. He copied his work in recent years from his spirit library as well as the manuscripts of Evans Geometry and tensor analysis based on that. Then, he gathered them together.

I am incapable of participating in a legendary battle, but I can make some contributions when it comes to arcana!

Picking up the pen, Lucien closed his eyes and browsed through his studies on the general theory of relativity in the past years as well as the files in his spirit library that had been unsealed. As the ideas took shape inside his head, his quill fell to the paper and wrote the title:

'A Relativistic Interpretation and Geometric Description of Gravity and a System of Relativity Under a More General Frame of Reference'

Boom! A thunderstorm suddenly burst out near Allyn!

Looking at the weather change that was only limited around Allyn, Kritonia observed rather in shock, "Is a legendary sorcerer's cognitive world shaking?"

Crack! A silver bolt of lightning illuminated the dark night!

Chapter 570: Weather Change

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The three consecutive thunders made Fernando and Hellen, who was on the thirty-third floor of the Allyn magic tower, slow down their work to open the Land of Truth. They turned around and looked out of the window, observing the lightning that were illuminating this corner of the world.

"Whose cognitive world is shaking?" Hellen's skin was as fair as ice in the first place, and it was even paler and bloodless right now. Frowning, she commented on the weather change outside, finding it hard to believe.

It was not because the gravity theory was proved wrong, but because the problems regarding the source and nature of gravity raised the confusion of the founder of the field, who even had the idea that a supreme being was behind everything. That was why people questioned the necessity and correctness of the current arcana studies.

The blow on the arcanists depended on their attitude towards Douglas' authority. To be more exact, the legendary sorcerers were obviously less dependent on Douglas than the ordinary people were. Brook, for example, was an expert who disrupted her teacher's particle theory.

That was why Hellen was confused. Of all the legendary sorcerers, she was the one who respected Mr. President's authority most, but she was not vacillating yet. Which dummy had completely lost his confidence without confirming the actual situation first?

If that was what happened, she would wonder how the guy advanced into legendary at all!

Uncontrollably anger and confusion filled Fernando's face. "Judging from the scale and the feeling of illusion, it's truly the cognitive world's influence on the real world, but it is not necessarily vacillation…"

"In any case, let's activate the defense of Allyn in case of destructive damages and in case the enemy sneaks in during the mess." After the initial shock, Hellen gradually calmed down.

...

In the headquarters of the Will of Elements…

Raventi was speaking to the Astrologer who lived in the Tower. Suddenly, the electromagnetic signals became messy and chaotic. Thunder was rumbling obviously.

"Annonis, what's going on?" Asked Raventi solemnly.

Annonis replied uncertainly, "The weather two thousand meters within Allyn has suddenly changed. A thunderstorm has come…"

"Is it possible…" Raventi did not finish. Gravely, he looked at where Allyn was at and could vaguely see the silver lightning which looked like long snakes in the sky.

"I don't think so…" Annonis understood what Raventi mean and replied slowly, his voice going down.

"I hope it's not like what I thought."

While watching the electric snakes soaring in the sky, Raventi informed Hathaway.

...

Inside the Sky Radio Station, the half-panicked arcanists were shocked by the thunder, their eyes filled by the lightning. They were obviously stunned.

"Why is there suddenly a storm?" An arcanist asked in a low voice, feeling that the dark, depressing thunderstorm was exactly what was happening in his mind.

The torrential rain poured on their heart and raised unreasonable panic. Somebody comforted themselves, trying to be calm. "This is the Month of Passion. Isn't it normal that a storm happens anytime?"

Boom!

The thunder burst out again, scaring the arcanists. Somebody blurted out, "No, this is not normal. There were no temperature and pressure changes before it!"

If it were not a normal weather change, what caused it?

The arcanists on the spot suddenly saw the lock of Allyn rising, filling all the areas with vague mist.

Together with the huge storm out there, it added to everybody's ominous feeling.

"Don't overthink. If there is anything, the Highest Council will take care of everything. We don't need to be anxious." Samantha tried to make herself sound calm.

If what happened just now was real, she believed that she would have to reevaluate the Church. It seemed that they were not so violent and reckless that they could only get things done with strength and assassination.

BOOM!

The rumbling thunder entered into Blake's ears. Looking at the apocalyptic view outside, he said bitterly with a self-mocking smile, "Has the weather sensed the desperation of the arcanists in Allyn, too?"

...

Inside his office in the Atom Institution…

Lucien wrote beautiful worlds with the quill in his hand:

"This paper is based on two basic premises, the first of which is equivalence principle…"

"…Through the experiments and proofs above, we can see that all the objects in a gravitational field has the same acceleration, which can be summarized as the equivalence of inertial mass and gravitational mass…"

With the manuscripts he copied and the ideas he accumulated in the past, when Lucien reached a certain paragraph, the paper that was full of words and formulas would fly to him, and he could include them in his article perfectly after the slightest modification.

In such a way, Lucien was extremely fast in writing and connecting his ideas. It didn't take long before he described the equivalence principle and the general theory of relativity. Then, he began the relativistic explanation and the geometric description of gravity.

At this moment, the analysis tools that were completed together with Levski, Milina and other Tower arcanists, including Evans Geometry and tensor, were put into use, making the content esoteric and full of profound mysteries.

In order for the regular arcanists to understand, and to dispel the confusion caused by Mr. President's speech, Lucien added a metaphorical description:

"It can be seen from the geometric model above that space is like an elastic net and the objects in it are like balls that have fallen into the elastic net. Their mass will result to the collapse of the net and the warp of time and space around. Such warping will make other balls of smaller masses on the elastic net to roll towards the ball of greater masses. This is exactly the nature of gravity – warped space-time!"

"Therefore, it is evident that the time and space we are in is not the flat time and space as intuitively described by the Tower Geometry, but a warped space-time founded on the Evans Geometry with a curvature that is greater than zero!"

Boom!

As he wrote on, stars and gravity were changing in Lucien's cognitive world. The luminosity of his Host Star of Destiny was also changing fast!

Gradually, Lucien seemed to see a shadow of a boundless starry sky, which was watching everything from high above. As the starry sky was projected into his cognitive world, countless special and complicated symbols were generated.

His cognitive world flowed fast and interacted with his soul fast, naturally outlining a magic model inside his soul.

The ninth-circle spell, Time Stop!

Boom!

The thunder outside of the window came to an abrupt halt. The lightning stopped, and the rain dispersed in all directions as if it was being blown by winds from different directions.

A layer of profound darkness enshrouded Allyn, twisting the storm, the starlight that darted in, the space and the dark night!

It was a most weird and terrifying scene!

Without any break, after describing his theories with words that common arcanists could understand, Lucien began writing 'Einstein field equations', the core of the entire general theory of relativity!

...

Looking at the appalling view outside of the window where everything seemed to be twisted, Hellen said in disbelief as her eyes widened, "This is the projection of gravity…"

Fernando nodded his head, as if he were much more eased. "This is the half-solidification of the cognitive world based on the gravity theory!"

When the founder of the gravity theory just expressed his confusion, believing that it had been an out-and-out mistake and that a supreme being had been manipulating everything, a sorcerer was half-solidifying his cognitive world based on the gravity theory?

Did he not hear Douglas' speech?

Or did he find his own path and have even more confidence in gravity?

Inside the Sky Radio Station…

Samantha and other arcanists were all shocked by the creepy scene outside. The dark and twisted space tore the storm apart and spread out vague mist, and black, world-destroying monsters seemed to be lurking in the depths of the mist, waiting for the prey with their mouths wide open.

"What's going on…" The arcanists murmured.

Samantha thought of something. She said in both shock and delight, "An archmage's cognitive world is half-solidifying based on the gravity theory!"

Blake, who was inside his suburb manor, was also horrified by what he saw. He had never seen such a mysterious weather before! The twisted dark night, the contorted starlight, and the broken storm – everything was like the end of the world in the bards' tales!

"What exactly is going on tonight?" Blake said in a low voice, his body shivering slightly.

...

Far away from Allyn, Kritonia saw that the City in the Sky seemed to be surrounded by a pitch black ball, and that both the starlight outside and the lightnings inside had uncanny contortions. He immediately had a bad feeling.

"This is…" Subconsciously, Kritonia asked Benedict III's projection.

Slightly coldly, Benedict III said, "This is not a quake of the cognitive world, but the half-solidification of it."

"Also, it is based on the gravity theory."

Kritonia asked in surprise, "Did he not hear the conversation between Douglas and you?"

As the quill dropped, the equations of gravitational field was fully demonstrated on Lucien's paper.

Boom!

Lucien was completely trapped in the transcendent shadow of the starry sky. His cognitive world changed drastically, and the special and complicated symbols began to be connected into a whole!

The magic model of 'Time Stop' in his soul, on the other hand, took shape without any trouble as he advanced into the ninth circle!

Boom!

Inside the twisted black storm, illusionary darkness emerged out of nowhere, absorbing the pouring rain, the blowing wind, the striking lightning, the shooting starlight, and the whole ball that caused the weather change. They were collapsed into the horrendous darkness that seemed able to swallow everything and destroy everything!

"This is…"

Fernando and Hellen looked at the scene, slightly shocked.

"This is…"

Samantha and the other arcanists could not understand the ghastly picture at all.

"This is…"

Kritonia was puzzled again.

Although he was trying to contain himself, Benedict III still gnashed his teeth, "This is greatly different from Douglas' gravity theory! Is this the true nature of gravity?"

"Who is he exactly?"

Chapter 571: Constant Changes

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lucien's cognitive world was still changing drastically. The most obvious sign was that the vertical edge of the space began to twist, turning the space from a cube into an oval sphere, as if a twisted barrier had been added to the periphery.

In the starry space, from both the two Host Stars of Destiny and other illusionary stars, the gravity began to twist the rays of light around. The space around them turned transparent and constricted rapidly, giving everybody who saw it an illusion.

The Host Star of Destiny which looked like a black hole was even more horrifying. When it revolved to the front, all the symbols of wind, fire, water, elements, electrons and others surged at it beyond control. It was an utter mess.

The quill in Lucien's hand did not stop at all, and he gave a few prophecies and proofs according to the previous description and the equations of gravitational field:

"Based on the speculation that the mass of the sun causes the twist of space, it is possible to calculate the redundant precession of the perihelion of the Morning Star, which agrees with observation…

"Based on the time dilation caused by the gravitational field, and subtracting the time-slowing phenomenon caused by the artificial planets, we can conclude that the time on artificial planets are faster than on the ground… which agrees with the adjustment in actual operations…"

"Rays will deviate in the gravitational field. The angle of deviation near the sun is…"

"The redshift of spectral lines…"

After that, his thick paper came to a full stop. Most of the content was from the manuscripts that Lucien accumulated over the past years after some modification.

His eyes half closed, Lucien sensed the stars in his cognitive world. They were connected to the special and complicated symbols and constructed two extremely complicated magic models. He felt that his soul and his spiritual power were entirely absorbed into it after only a quick glance, and he was extremely exhausted and fatigued.

Lucien had the same feeling once when he read 'Astrology and Elements' for the first time and witnessed 'Lord of Elements' and 'Prophet', the two legendary classes.

"A new legendary class…" Not delighted at all, Lucien even frowned. After the half-solidification of the cognitive world, it would be difficult to reconstruct the fundamentals. He had always planned to use quantum mechanics instead of the general theory of relativity as his foundation!

The other legendary sorcerers certainly did not have Lucien's worries before their advancement. When they reached their level, the constituents of their cognitive world and the path they would like to take were almost fixed. Half-solidification was the last and most difficult step. If he did not have the eighth-circle strength, he might've failed due to the insufficient spiritual power.

Of course, after the half solidification, there was one other problem for the archmages, which was to choose a legendary class that matched their cognitive world for easier advancement. Also, constructing basic legendary magics required spiritual power and mathematical knowledge.

That was why every grand arcanist who created a paradigm-shifting theory was easier to advance into legendary than regular archmages. Their legendary class was generated directly inside their cognitive world with the feedback of the real world, and it was an almost 100% match. What they needed was the tremendous spiritual power.

Thinking for a moment, Lucien rose and walked to the cyclotron. Putting a long-prepared metal plate into the magic circle, he placed a paraffin plate behind the metal plate.

Then, while the half-solidification of his cognitive world was not completed yet, Lucien activated the cyclotron and bombarded the metal plate with Helium atomic nucleus.

BOOM! BOOM!

Due to the half-solidification of his cognitive world, Lucien had the illusion that he heard the sound of the Helium nucleus bombarding the metal plate. It was like an intense explosion.

Suddenly, the device behind the magic circle captured the traces of protons behind the paraffin plate and recorded their range and other data.

After the data was out, Lucien calculated with his powerful soul. Conservation of momentum, conservation of energy… The rays that were shot out by the protons gradually revealed their real appearance.

They were of similar masses with protons and could not be captured in the electromagnetic field.

They were exactly the neutrons that the sorcerers had been seeking since 'new alchemy' was published.

Because they were electric-neutral, they were not under the influence of magnetic field and electric field. Therefore, they could barely be discovered directly, and he had to count on similar, indirect ways!

BOOM!

This time, it was the real sound echoing next to Lucien's ears. The cognitive world had intense reactions again, and the nucleus inside finally revealed its true appearance. The protons and neutrons were combined under a certain unknown force.

The intangible and transcendent space arrived at Lucien's sensation again and interacted with his cognitive world, filling the incomplete magic models of 'atomic fission' and 'atomic fusion' quickly.

...

Inside the 'Sky radio station'…

Samantha looked out of the window in delight. It was truly motivating that an archmage half-solidified his cognitive world based on gravity at such a moment!

The illusionary, all-absorbing darkness gradually dispersed. The storm was weaker and weaker. The weather change came to an end.

"Which Excellency's cognitive world has half-solidified? We have to interview him tomorrow!" Said Samantha in a rarely-seen smile. Her confidence had been greatly shaken a moment ago.

An archmage whose cognitive world had half-solidified, as long as the match of legendary class was above 50%, was very likely to advance into legendary. That was why she began to address him as Excellency.

Another arcanist said delightedly and in relief, "Also, it seems that the new gravity theory is closer to its true nature than the president's. I, for one, have never seen the all-absorbing darkness in any record."

Samantha was about to answer him, when a deafening explosion burst out and shivered the whole Allyn.

Looking out of the window in a daze, Samantha saw that the dark night turned into an abyss. Electromagnetic waves were on a rampage in the sky as visible light, and a rolling fire ball at their center spread out a terrifying storm of energy.

The fireball soared and rose in a mushroom cloud. However, compared to the mushroom cloud of 'Eternal Blaze' that Samantha witnessed the other day, its head was much smaller. The dark air and the fire were dancing with each other.

"What's this?" All of the arcanists were confused.

BOOM!

An explosion even louder burst out. Samantha felt that her ears were humming, and she couldn't hear anything else.

After the explosion, a sun rose from the outside, driving away the darkness and the curses most dazzlingly!

"This is…" Blake rushed to the window from his sofa. If he remembered correctly, that was exactly 'Eternal Blaze' he saw in Allyn the other day!

The only difference was that it was an actual image back then but an illusion right now!

"Is it Mr. Evans? Was he behind the weather change just now?"

Inside the Tower…

Annonis, who was speaking to Raventi, found it hard to close his mouth when he stared at what was before him in stun. How could the half-solidification of the cognitive world based on gravity become based on the 'new alchemy'?

It was an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of magic!

"Annonis, what were the two noises in Allyn about?"

"I seem to see a sun and a mushroom cloud rising in Allyn, right?"

"Hello, hello! Annonis?"

Raventi's voice echoed, but Annonis was too preoccupied to reply.

On the thirty-third floor of the Allyn magic tower, Fernando's eyes widened the moment he saw the mushroom cloud. "It's Lucien!"

"And I was wondering where he went!"

That was the legendary magic which only Douglas, Hathaway, Lucien and himself were aware of. For the other archmages, even if they could half-solidify their cognitive world with 'new alchemy', they would not be able to construct the model of the legendary magic due to the lack of feedback from the real world. Therefore, even if they could cause a similar phenomenon, it couldn't have been as clear and complete!

"Lucien Evans?" Hellen looked at Fernando, surprised. "He has such a deep understanding about gravity? Also, why is the half-solidification of his cognitive world divided into two phases?"

Fernando gnashed his teeth, "How do I know? He must've hidden a lot of papers to himself again!"

In the sky far away from Allyn, Kritonia looked at the familiar mushroom cloud of 'Eternal Blaze' and asked in confusion, "How many archmages are half-solidifying their cognitive world?"

Benedict III shook his head and said in surprise, "I thought that it was an achievement when Fernando and Hathaway advanced to the peak of legendary, but it seems that it was invented by somebody else…"

When a legendary sorcerer reached the peak, their cognitive world would be completely melted with their soul. It would also trigger weather changes on an even vaster scale. However, they could hide in their demiplanes or alternate dimensions so that the enemy wouldn't know it.

...

In his cognitive world, the space was half-solidifying under the influence of gravity, and the elements like wind, fire and water were also half-solidifying because of the preliminary completeness of the internal structure. They burst into such an intense conflict that Lucien's cognitive world was shaking!

"The discovery of neutron is not good enough." Gritting his teeth, Lucien turned on the cyclotron again, except that he took out the metal plate and the paraffin plate this time and replaced them with a clear monocrystal.

Inside the cyclotron, the electrons were powered and darted out.

BOOM! BOOM!

Lucien had the illusion that cannonballs were being shot out again. Also, it was more intense than just now, as if a magnificent palace was collapsing abruptly in the crazy explosion!

For some reason, Lucien suddenly became extremely nervous, as if the simplest and deepest mysteries were about to be revealed.

The electrons hit the monocrystal and revealed a beautiful, dreamy pattern through the alchemical device. It was so shocking and unbelievable!

Looking at that, Lucien closed his eyes full of satisfaction.

It was a classic image of diffraction. As a fundamental particle, electrons revealed a diffraction image that only waves could present!

"Waves and particles, what are you significance if you exist independently without each other 1 ?"

A quote that Lucien read in his previous life occurred to him. The vast and transcendent starry sky descended again, in a more compatible way with the real world and the cognitive world.

Inside his cognitive world, the electrons outside of the atomic structure spread out. Like a cloud that covered everything, it suppressed the half-solidification caused by gravity.

...

Kritonia and Benedict III watched the mushroom cloud turn into a dark cloud and enshrouded Allyn with the illusionary, ubiquitous monochrome, finding it impossible to understand it.

"This is a projection of what?" Kritonia expressed his puzzlement again.

Benedict III shook his head but did not reply.

Fernando, Hellen and Samantha watched the same scene from the Allyn magic tower, equally unclear what projected it. However, the cloud was soon gone, and the weather change came to a complete end.

"It should be a regular projection during the half-solidification based on 'new alchemy'. It may not necessarily be associated with existing theories." Samantha muttered to herself, soon dropping the ambiguous and brief phenomenon behind.

Also, she had vaguely guessed who it was!

Seeing that the weather change stopped, Fernando said to Hellen, "I'll ask Lucien to participate in 'News of the World', introduce his gravity theory, and announce the half-solidification of his cognitive world, so that everybody can be stabilized from this incident."

"You will keep trying to open the Land of Truth."

Chapter 572: Gratitude

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The changes in the cognitive world came to a full stop. Except for the additional special magic models and symbols, it seemed no different from the past. However, if one were to observe it more carefully, they would discover the curves at the edge of the world and around the stars. Also, the light spots of elements everywhere were much clearer. The protons and neutrons were restrained by an uncanny force, and the electrons around them were in the shape of a cloud. When they were observed, however, they were immediately reduced into particles.

As the background, the other three fundamental forces had minor changes, too. The electromagnetic waves and light were connected to 'wind', and the uncanny force that restrained the atomic nucleus glimmered with 'water'.

The internal members of the atom gathered in groups into different magic symbols, turning into the models of 'Atomic Fission' and 'Eternal Blaze', two legendary spells. The two models joined with even more complicated symbols into a dizzying cubic pattern.

"Is this the legendary class based on 'new alchemy'?" Lucien observed with interest. Because he hadn't really entered the realm of quantum mechanics yet, there were no corresponding legendary spells, and it was still the 'fission' and 'fusion' like before.

The fundamental legendary magic was the most basic skill of a legendary class. They were shorter and easier to release, and they were much more powerful than the non-fundamental legendary magics. For a legendary class, there could only be two fundamental magics at first, but as they dug deeper into the field, the number of such magics might grow.

For example, the advanced fundamental magics of 'Demigod-lich Howling' were 'Demigod-lich Howling' and 'Life Ritual', and those of the Lord of Storm were 'Furious Storm' and 'Storm Barrier'.

Lucien's legendary class based on 'new alchemy' was unique in that neither of the two fundamental legendary magics depended on his demiplane. However, 'Eternal Blaze' could only be performed at least in the level three of legendary.

Lucien found two pieces of powerful paper made of elvish rinds, the materials to make advanced scrolls. Then, he copied the new legendary class and its two fundamental legendary magics to it.

Bright, refreshing green light appeared, restraining and recording the mysterious cubic pattern. Of course, due to the nature of the materials, they could do nothing more than recording.

"How should I call the new legendary class?" Lucien pushed his monocle. Not bothering to think, he simply picked the most straightforward name.

As his quill fell on the paper, a few more words were added on one side of the paper.

"Atom Controller"!

As for the two fundamental magics, due to the limited time, Lucien still named them as before: "Atomic Fission' and 'Eternal Blaze'

As for the other legendary class based on the general theory of relativity, Lucien decided to keep it as his trump card and only discuss with his teacher about the fundamental magics included in the legendary class.

"This new legendary class will be named as 'Observer of Time and Space'… The two fundamental magics will be named as 'Gravity Collapse' and 'Space Staff'." Lucien named them according to their features. It was a pity that it was not the legendary class he was going to advance into. However, after the quantum system was established, it would have its own view of time and space, too.

After putting the paper into his storage, Lucien finally discovered that he had advanced into the ninth circle without him knowing and that he had an addition spell of 'Time Stop'. Frowning, he thought, "The higher one's level is, the more weird the so-called 'feedback of the real world' feels…"

"Also, the vast and transcendent space was never recorded by any other legendary sorcerers. They also described that something was looking down upon them from somewhere far away and intangible. I also had the feeling, but there was an additional 'illusionary space'. The feedback of the real world seems to be its interaction…"

Unable to figure out what was going on, Lucien dropped his confusion and opened the door, only to encounter Fernando who had been teleported to his front.

"Let's talk in 'News of the World'." Too impatient to satisfy his curiosity, Fernando brought Lucien to the broadcast room after a blink and asked Samantha, "Get prepared. Continue the livestream of 'News of the World'. Lucien will be the host!"

"Alright." Samantha looked at Lucien and the Lord of Storm curiously and turned on the broadcast magic circles without any delay.

The arcanists in the room stared at them in excitement, eager to know the theoretical support of the unusual phenomenon of gravity projection, which could recover their stricken confidence.

Seizing the moment, Fernando asked Lucien, "What new theories have you got?"

Thinking for a moment, he added, "Are they disruptive?"

Lucien's lips twitched. "Master, I told you before that I was trying to include gravity in the special theory of relativity and extrapolate it to a more general frame of reference. I was still making preparations, but what happened today forced me to finish it in advance. Based on this system, there will be an explanation closer to the truth regarding the nature of gravity."

"An explanation regarding the nature of gravity…" Fernando seemed relieved. "As long as your explanation is not that a supreme being created gravity, it will be fine. What about the changes that followed?"

Lucien confessed the excuses he prepared. "I stayed in the Atom Institution to run the experiments in search of neutrons. I was too excited after the half-solidification of my cognitive world and thereby completed the experiments, ascertaining the existence of neutrons. Therefore, the legendary class of 'new alchemy' was fed back, allowing my cognitive world to evolve that way."

"That's too coincidental! You may trick the outsiders, but not me!" Fernando roared in a low voice. He suspected that Lucien had always known how to find neutrons, except that he never did the experiments because he had other purposes, say, obtaining more reference credits with new alchemy. "You completed it at such a moment because you wanted your legendary class to lean towards the new alchemy instead of gravity and the theory of relativity?"

Lucien smiled rather embarrassedly, "Yes. The field of atoms is my foundation and my future direction."

After accepting Lucien's explanation, Fernando held back his urge of roaring. "Give me your paper. You go and prepare your speech."

Lucien nodded and gave his paper to his teacher, before he sat across Samantha.

At this moment, Hellen, in her white magic robe, also arrived at the broadcast room.

"Why are you here?" Fernando glared at Hellen, not caring about the courtesy for a lady at all.

Hellen nodded and greeted him. "Oliver came. He is much better than me in space blockage. So, he is opening the Land of Truth. I'm here to see Evans' paper."

She talked in secret messaging, in case the arcanists in the room were panicked.

Fernando raised the paper that he had yet to open, and they saw the long title:

'A Relativistic Interpretation and Geometric Description of Gravity and a System of Relativity Under a More General Frame of Reference'.

"The theory of relativity…" Hellen recalled that Lucien claimed that gravity would be included in the system. She did not expect that it would be completed so soon."

The two of them began to read the paper attentively.

Samantha, on the other hand, smiled and spoke to the magic circle before her. "Just now, our radio station was heisted by Benedict III, whose lies may have caused a certain range of panic. We apologize to all the sorcerers for our mistake. In the next moment, Mr. Lucien Evans will clarify what happened earlier to everyone."

All the arcanists in the room held their breath.

...

Inside the villa, Blake, who was still dwelling in the consecutive weather changes, suddenly heard the pleasant voice. He then realized that Miss Lark had resumed the livestream.

"What's the Congress' explanation on the matter? What will Mr. Evans say?"

Nervous and hopeful, he squatted next to the radio and listened to Lucien's voice wholeheartedly: "What happened just now was the Church's scheme. There's nothing worth talking about."

Lucien was unaware of what was hidden in the conversation or the president's actual circumstances. So, he merely dropped the subject.

However, Blake, as well as other arcanists before the radio, found it too unsatisfactory and unacceptable.

Raventi, in the headquarters of the Will of Elements, finally got Annonis' answer and learnt that somebody's cognitive world half-solidified. He was immediately relieved. Thankfully, it was not a disaster.

After he learnt the explanation about the matter, the president's confusion about gravity returned to his head again, making him wonder the true nature of gravity. At this moment, Lucien's clarification made him frown. It was too ambiguous. Was there really something wrong?

"There's nothing worth talking about, because Benedict III's questions do not necessarily depend on the First Cause. I have my own understanding about the nature of gravity."

What?

Raventi, Annonis, Blake and other sorcerers listening before the radio looked at the black box in shock, as if they were trying to directly see Lucien through it.

Inside the broadcast room, Samantha and the other arcanists were astounded, too. They only hoped that Lucien had done slightly deeper studies on gravity and did not expect that he would answer the ultimate question that overwhelmed Douglas just now. That was one of the greatest enigmas in the field of gravity!

Hellen furrowed her eyebrows. The equivalence principle and the general theory of relativity were easy to understand for her, but the geometric description later stunned her.

In confusion, she said to Fernando, "I know every word and every symbol, but I don't know what they mean when they are connected…"

Fernando had trouble understanding it himself. "This is an application of Evans Geometry and the related tools of analysis. If you haven't studied 'Nature' in the past three years, I fear that you will find it hard to understand the paper."

He had studied 'Nature' to check his student's papers. That was why he could manage to follow the paper.

"You should know that I've been trying to melt the theory of gravity into the relativistic system and fix the problem that it cannot be extrapolated to all frames of reference. As a matter of fact, I completed the paper on the special theory of relativity a year ago, and I have been working on the problem since. It was a rather difficult journey, particularly when I realized that the previous geometric system could not describe the theory. It was not until I accidentally discovered that Evans Geometry and the related tools that I worked on could support the theoretical system perfect that I made a groundbreaking breakthrough."

Lucien's unhurried speech eased the nervous arcanists such as Blake, who thought that he might have really found the nature of gravity.

"…When the theory based on the new geometry was about to take shape, I hit the bottleneck again as I couldn't find the answers to many problems. It was not until I heard the conversation fabricated by Benedict III that I was inspired and perfected the final formulas. I have to thank my teacher Fernando, the Congress of Magic, and Benedict III, for helping me obtain the general theory of relativity and the explanation on the nature of gravity."

Most of the arcanists in the room were amused by Lucien's words. Blake and other people smiled, too. Their previous confusion and loss were entirely gone.

Far away from Allyn, Kritonia listened to the electromagnetic signals that Benedict III intercepted and looked at him, who was flickering, in worry.

"Excellent. Well said." Benedict III said emotionless.

Chapter 573: Dawn of Astrology

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

"This is one of the two premises of this paper, which I have named the equivalence principle…"

Blake did not find it hard to understand or accept that gravitational mass and inertial mass could be described as equal under an appropriate measure system. Some arcanists had done corresponding research and obtained accurate data. However, they all considered the equivalence of the two masses as a coincidence and did not study the deeper things behind the coincidence.

Listening to Lucien's brief introduction to the experiment and the data, Blake felt that his head was swelling. He simply took out a piece of paper and a quill, recording and calculating on the table where the magic radio was placed, as careful as a student who was attending the class of a master.

Most of the arcanists who were listening to the broadcast were more or less doing the same. They did not usually have the opportunity to receive the guidance of someone who was half a grand arcanist. Also, what was reflected in the weather changes just now made them curious and excited, too.

"…This concludes the general special of relativity. In the next, I will deduce and construct the whole system with tools such as Evans Geometry and tensor analysis. Because many complicated notions will be involved, I will only give a general introduction so that you can know what is going on…"

Blake's quill stopped after that. He could understand every single word that Mr. Evans said, but he had no idea what they were talking about when the words were connected. Dizziness spread out in his eyes. Weird, complicated words, symbols and formulas entered into his head without denoting any actual meaning.

It made him feel so lightheaded as if he had entered an obscure dream.

"…I thought that my arcana knowledge was good enough, particularly in mathematics, but today I've realized that I haven't even touched the threshold yet…"

"…Are the senior-rank arcanists working on such stuff every day? But why can I understand half of the articles on 'Arcana'…"

The same questions were echoing inside most of the senior-rank arcanists, too. They had been very confident about their arcana expertise and their intellectual faculty, but they began to suspect themselves after hearing what Lucien Evans said. It was so hard to understand that they could barely follow!

"Conclusion! Give me your conclusion first!"

They shouted in their heart crazily, deciding to listen to the nature of gravity first and study the paper later.

…

In the Tower…

Annonis also heard Lucien's speech from his magic radio soon after the weather changes. He was solemn and even slightly skeptical.

For a level-nine arcanist and a ninth-circle archmage of the school of astrology, the gravity theory was of paramount importance. If he could grasp the nature of gravity and use it to solve certain problems that had been bothering him, he was confident to become a real 'Astrologer'!

However, he retained the basic suspicion until he saw the paper and confirmed it. If the nature of gravity could be found so easily, Mr. Douglas wouldn't have been so lost and confused.

He knew that Lucien Evans could stabilize the storm that Mr. President's speech caused by proposing a theoretical explanation regarding the nature of gravity, so it was normal that he exaggerated it a bit. But he was still hoping that Lucien Evans could really resolve the nature of gravity.

Annonis merely listened and calculated in his head when the two basic principles were introduced, but he became more and more attentive when Lucien began the geometric description.

At some point, a pile of paper and a quill floated before him, helping him record and calculate things. Confusion beamed out of his face now and then.

The abstruse mathematical papers on Nature were useless for most arcanists and did not receive their attention, but Annonis was an archmage adept at the field. He had even published a few similar papers. However, even so, he couldn't understand it any better. The paper was much more incomprehensible than he imagined.

Annonis' library was extremely quiet. Nothing could be heard except for Lucien's voice and the noise when the quill brushed the paper.

Suddenly, Annonis sensed something, only to discover Bergner, the Prophet, had walked in at some point. He was also recording and calculating the paper with ancillary magical circles and quills.

Not asking anything, Annonis focused his attention on Lucien's speech again.

In the headquarters of the Will of Elements, Raventi, due to the lack of mathematical knowledge, could only record Lucien's key points for future reference.

…

Inside the Nekso Palace…

Since she had guided her father in his tour after her father arrived, Natasha did not listen to 'Arcana Voice' or 'News of the World' today. Because the thunderstorm in Allyn was too far away, she did not pay much attention to it and merely thought that it was a local rain. After all, it was very typical in the summer.

It was not until the light of 'Eternal Blaze' illuminated the area that Natasha sensed something wrong. She hurried to contact Lucien. After failing to reach out to him, she feared that she might interrupt Lucien and wisely paused, seeking to talk to Hathaway instead.

After confirming that Lucien and Allyn were alright, she was relieved and turned on the magic radio, hoping to find out what exactly happened in Allyn.

Little did she expect that her most familiar voice would spread out from the magic radio, which made her completely relaxed.

The symbols and formulas were too complicated for Natasha to understand, but they could not stop her from listening to Lucien's speech attentively.

As she listened, she held her cheek with her right hand, and her lips curled into a smile with delight beaming out of her eyes.

…

In the broadcast room of the Sky Radio Station…

Including Samantha, all the arcanists looked at Lucien innocently and ignorantly, as if he were speaking a nonexistent language.

Seeing the looks on their faces, Lucien realized that he had gone too deep. He hurried to end the geometric description and the equations of gravitational field and came to the conclusion:

"From above, we can see that mass causes the curve of time and space, which leads to the phenomenon of gravity. The nature of gravity is the curved space-time. We can make such an analogy…"

While the description of an elastic net was not accurate, it made Samantha and the other arcanists beamed with interest. They more or less understood the nature of gravity.

"That explains a lot…"

"Then, is it a force at all?"

"Can it be proved by any phenomena?"

…

Whispers of excitement and suspicion filled the room. Even Hellen was asking Fernando. That was an interpretation of the nature of gravity from an unprecedented perspective. It seemed to be a problem of the four-dimensional space, about the movement of objects in a curved time and space.

"This is completely beyond my imagination…"

"The model of time and space seems even more perplexing right now…"

Blake and the arcanists who listened to the magic radio were partly amazed by the unbelievable and yet spectacular explanation and partly rather suspicious about it, because the nature of time and space and gravity that Lucien described was too complicated even for people to imagine them!

The Prophet and the Astrologer in the Tower, however, looked gloomy. It was completely in violation of their speculations on the nature of gravity, which was now possibly not even a force.

Thankfully, there had never been an authoritative, well-accepted explanation about the nature of gravity, and they dare not found their cognitive world based on that. That was why it did not shake.

"This has to be confirmed by phenomena!"

"This needs to be proved!"

The two masters of the school of astrology said the same. After Levski Geometry, they had agreed that they must not blindly disapprove something with intuition and experience. However, any theory had to be proved by phenomena and experiments, or they would remain hypotheses.

Every arcanist had similar doubt. They listened to Lucien as he went on, "From the perspective of a curved time and space, it is possible to calculate the redundant precession of the perihelion of the Morning Star…"

The calculation was relatively simple. Many arcanists began to calculate in person as Lucien introduced. The Prophet was so excited that he was almost shivering.

Annonis understood him quite well, because the problem had baffled the school of astrology for a long time. The motion system based on the previous gravity theory did not agree with the observation.

The Prophet was suspicious that the error was caused by other stars there, but no traces of redundant gravity could be found after he explored the place in a space jump.

Many arcanists' hair became white and their face was wrinkled for the question.

The Prophet had got the answer after Lucien introduced the calculation procedures.

"They're the same… It's very close to observation…" The Prophet murmured in excitement, "Is this the true nature of gravity…"

Annonis also got the final data. His eyes were suddenly covered in water, and he lowered his head to cover it, feeling satisfied that their years of hard work finally gained an answer.

The Prophet suddenly spoke loudly, "This is an achievement decades more advanced than the current arcana theories! I have envisioned a great development of the school of astrology!"

"I can now die without regrets after seeing this!"

Annonis held back his excitement and his tears. "Mr. Prophet, how can you die now? I still want to learn and explore the boundless space more deeply!"

After Lucien solved the problem of the artificial planets with gravitational time dilation, Annonis was already convinced of the system. His body shivering, he looked at the Prophet and said, "With Lucien's relativistic system, the road ahead of you seems clear and bright again."

"Is yours not?" The Prophet replied with a smile and remarked with complicated feelings, "In the future, nobody will have the courage to say that Lucien Evans made a wrong decision when he chose the school of astrology at the beginning…"

"I'm going to study the paper!" Said Annonis excitedly. He seemed to have seen the dawn of the half-solidification of his cognitive world!

…

In the sky far away from Allyn…

Kritonia rubbed his eyebrow. "So to speak, my blood power is to control the changes of gravity and matter?" He did not understand much of the paper.

Benedict III's shadow, on the other hand, mumbled in a low voice, "Lucien Evans…"

Chapter 574: Value

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Inside the villa at the suburb of Allyn…

Blake completely devoted himself to the calculation of the redundant precession of the Morning Star at the perihelion according to Lucien's formula.

During Lucien's intentional pauses, he wrote quickly, his quill not stopping at all.

Suddenly, he raised his head, his eyes full of shock and disbelief. Then, he rushed into the library searching the arcana and magic books.

He was not a sorcerer who was good at astrology and force fields, and he did not remember the observation of the redundant precession carefully. However, the impression he had about the number was burning inside his head, making him unable to control himself and his head was swollen.

The result of his calculation seemed very close to the observed value in his impression!

What did it mean?

What did it suggest?

One book after another was drawn out by him, only to be thrown away after his casual look. Finally, he found his childhood book from a long, long time ago – 'Fifteen Conundrums About Astrology'!

His hands shivering, he looked into the table of contents and found 'The problem that the observed precession of the Morning Star at the perihelion does not agree with the prediction of Douglas' motion system – Page 39′.

Turning the pages quickly, Blake saw the eye-catching data at first glance.

After a crack, the hard-covered book fell to the carpet with a dull noise. Blake stood where he was like a statue.

The two values were so close. What did it mean?

At this moment, Lucien's voice spread out of the magic radio again:

"After calculation, we can determine the redundant precession of the Morning Star at the perihelion to be… which basically agrees with observation."

His words were filled with such powerful charm that Blake was suddenly back to himself, whose facial muscles were horribly twisted because of his wild joy.

What did it mean?

It meant that the explanation on the nature of gravity had both the theoretical support and factual confirmation!

It meant that Mr. Lucien Evans' general theory of relativity was the theory closest to the truth of gravity so far!

It meant that the problem that baffled Mr. President and many other arcanists was not unanswerable. It was unnecessary to introduce a supreme being for gravity to be self-consistent! Mr. Lucien Evans had offered an explanation that completely surpassed the age and any imagination!

It meant that the path of arcana was not wrong. There were perhaps a lot of unresolved problems, but everybody was always on the path of working them out!

Although he could hardly understand Lucien's general theory of relativity, it did not prevent Blake from deducing and calculating with part of the conclusions. Based on the result, he believed that the theory could explain the nature of gravity. His previous confusion and loss were entirely gone.

Perhaps, it was exactly because he did not understand it that he had no suspicion and directly went for the answer.

The nature of gravity had been explained, and so would the other baffling arcana problems, as long as they forever pressed forward in exploration and research and never gave up!

"Mr. President, have you heard Mr. Evans' theory? I believe that your confusion must be gone now…"

...

"After calculating, we can determine the redundant precession of the Morning Star at the perihelion to be… which basically agrees with observation."

When Lucien said that, Samantha watched him in shock and excitement in the broadcast room. The problem that bothered the school of astrology for years was resolved in such a way. Also, it proved that Lucien's explanation on the nature of gravity was closer to the truth.

She had been admiring Lucien's talents and achievements, but she was very confident in herself when it came to horoscopes. Because Lucien had never made any accomplishments in this field, she never realized that he had such astonishing, profound and innovative understandings about gravity and astrology.

Looking at Lucien who was speaking casually, she had the same feeling when Mr. President answered questions for her teacher and herself. They were both so calm and remarkable.

In a trance, Samantha thought to herself. After Lucien resolved the time error on the artificial planets by introducing the gravitational time dilation, her cognitive world was suddenly seething. Even though she had only just learnt the basic content, her cognitive world was already half-solidifying. Her teacher, Neeshka, was an authority in mathematics and only second to Levski and Levski in geometry and tensor analysis. So, she was quite good at that field, too.

"This is definitely a groundbreaking paper… No, a paper that surpasses the age!"

Around her, most arcanists looked more or less the same, except that their achievement was not as great as Samantha because of their insufficient mathematical expertise.

However, the panic that Douglas' speech brought to them vanished. Confusion was acceptable as long as confidence was still there! Lucien Evans' accomplishment at such a moment showed them the bright prospect of arcana. Even though they could not understand it, the conclusion and the final calculation seemed fine.

Hellen had stopped reading the paper and decided to read 'Nature' of the past four years after she was back. She said to Fernando in a low voice, "I seem to have seen another Mr. President…"

"Sometimes, he is not that stupid." Fernando snorted and intended to criticize his student, but still gave a remark of 'pretty good' – for his standard – in the end. Then, he continued reading the paper.

It was the most intricate and abstruse paper he had ever read. He mumbled, "If Douglas sees this…"

In Allyn, in Rentato, in Salyvaor, in Cocus, in the Solar Islands and the Pearl Islands, the arcanists and apprentices, no matter how much they really understood, became refreshed and confident again.

Lucien cleared his throat and closed his backup paper. "This is my opinion on the nature of gravity. It fits the phenomena observed so far, and I have offered a few prophecies to be prove it. I believe that we will have better understanding about gravity and space after the equations of gravitational field are solved."

Then, Lucien suddenly changed the topic, "However, I can only say that my paper is closer to the truth, but it is not the truth. Flaws about the theory will be found, and it is only applicable in a certain range. Up until so far, what we can grasp is the relative truth but not the absolute truth…"

Seizing the opportunity, Lucien introduced certain notions he talked about earlier again. Samantha, Blake and other arcanists nodded slightly, gaining a deeper understanding about the development of arcana in the past hundreds of years.

"…I believe that everybody can be confused now and then during studies. I had similar situations myself and I still do. I am often lost and sometimes lose confidence… This is perfectly normal. There's no need to feel that you can't find any field of research. Too many things are out there waiting for us to study."

"'The more you know, the more ignorant you feel you are.' That's a philosophical proverb, but I would like to add something else to it. 'It is exactly the reason why we should work hard and stop ignorance from becoming our label. Thinking and exploration should be what we are most proud of when we live in this world."

Clap, clap, clap. The arcanists in the broadcast room applauded. They were already freed from the incident just now. Even if the conversation was real, so what? Everybody could be lost and unconfident now and then, but they could also resume their journey after their mood got better!

Seeing that Samantha was about to talk, Lucien hinted her to wait and smiled, "As a matter of fact, I finished another experiment just now, which proved the existence of neutrons."

What?

The arcanists in the broadcast room and other places couldn't close their mouth. While accomplishing such a paradigm-shifting paper, Lucien Evans discovered neutrons?

Was it a night of miracles tonight?

For the sorcerers who were adept at elements, such as Larry, K, Timothy, Ulysses and Annick, they felt blood surging into their heads, and they almost passed out.

The discovery of neutrons meant the fundamental validity of the new alchemy. It meant the age of grand development for the school of elements!

Controlling his body, Raventi listened to the experiment procedures carefully.

After Lucien finished, he rushed into his laboratory as if he had cast Advanced Speed on himself.

Discovering neutrons from the conservation of momentum and energy after collisions had always been his methodology, but the materials had to be tried again and again. He estimated that it would take him three years to finish the experiment. But right now, everything was different. With Lucien's experiment, he touched the edge of neutrons directly.

Finding the materials and making a plate, Raventi turned on the cyclotron and let the Helium atom nucleus hit the metal plate again and again.

When he captured the traces when protons were blown out, he had the feeling that his hands were shaking beyond his control.

When the data was recorded, he felt that his eyes were blurry.

When he calculated that the rays that blew out protons were neutrons, two suns seemed to be rising inside his grey eyes.

BOOM!

Rentato was suddenly enshrouded in clouds and thunder!

"Is somebody's cognitive world half-solidifying because of Lucien's paper and experiment?" Natasha looked at the sky out of the window delightedly and proudly.

Kritonia, after hearing Lucien's introduction, noticed the weather change in Rentato in shock. "Another archmage's cognitive world is half-solidifying? Is it because of the explanation on the nature of gravity or the discovery of neutrons?"

"Judging from the disorder of elements and the shadow of the atomic nucleus, it's the discovery of neutrons." Benedict III was also watching Rentato.

Kritonia found it hard to accept. "Before, I only knew that the improvement of arcana studies could strengthen the sorcerers, but can a single paper and one experiment result in such astonishing effects?"

"Does Lucien's paper and experiment equal five legends?"

"Both the general theory of relativity and the new alchemy are far more valuable than five legends." Benedict III's voice became cold. "We did not pay enough attention to Lucien. I will raise his rank on the Cleansing List again and ask 'Night Executioner', the top night watcher, to deal with him in person."

'Night Executioner', the top night watcher, was a legendary sorcerer. Therefore, the Church never included him when it announced its power, but only claimed that it had nineteen saint cardinals, five divine knights (Melmax, Anthony, Beliel, Stone and Vaharall). However, when the Congress of Magic and other forces evaluate the strength of the Church, they would still include 'Night Executioner' and consider the number of the top experts of the Church to be twenty.

Kritonia found it impossible to understand the consequences of arcana studies, but the consequences had already happened. "Your Holiness, what's Lucien's rank going to be?"

"The thirteenth. The Fallen Morning Star will be right after all the top legends." Replied Benedict III unemotionally.

After the explosion of 'Eternal Blaze', the top eleven on the Cleansing List were all experts at the peak of legendary. Ranking from the first to the eleventh were: the pontiff of the northern heretics; 'Emperor of Arcana', Danisos; ancient vampire, Dracula; primordial dragon of time, Danisos; the elvish queen; the Prince of Abyss and Duke of Bronze on the first level of hell; Edwyn Brook, the Emperor of Control; Fernando, the Lord of Storm; Hathaway, Master of Infinite Oceans and Lord of Elements; and Rhine, the Silver-eyed Count, who could borrow the power of the Silver Moon and be as strong as the peak of legendary for a short while.