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Chapter 765: The New Vacuum Model

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

In the classroom, all the students focused their eyes on Ali, but he sensed none of it and simply stared at his teacher Brian, as if he were trying to confirm that what he heard just now was not his hallucination or a dream.

Brian was mostly interested in illusion and psychoanalysis in the magic school. Therefore, he nodded with a smile and repeated what he said just now, "Yes, you are the most distinguished student in your grade in the monthly exam. Congratulations. You won the special prize."

It's true!

Ali's mind suddenly burst out. His clenched hands shivered softly, and his head was filled with only a few words.

The cosmic observatory!

The Atom Institution!

Jane!

The boundless space!

"Ali, are you not going to share your joy and your experience in learning with everybody?" Brian's voice made Ali back to himself.

"Yes, Ali. None of us has ever touched the basics of arcana and magic before. How can we learn it well?" Some of the students who were born as common civilians just like Ali opened their mouths.

It had only been half a year since they came to school. They hadn't suffered major setbacks or given up on themselves yet. Therefore, they were more curious about Ali's miraculous rise in rank than they were jealous.

Ali stood up and was about to say something, but he suddenly remembered the difficult journey recently and how he had been toiling. Immediately, his eyes became sour, and it was impossible for him to see what was clear around him.

"I… I was only thinking that my father is not a sorcerer, not a noble, not a banker, not a merchant, and my talents are not nearly as good as those geniuses who have been admitted by the magic school, so I can only work harder than them if I want to keep up with them…" Ali said, half sobbing. He wanted to express something, but he did so rather poorly.

…

The Month of Harvest (September) came again. None of the islands controlled by the Congress was attacked by Maltimus. It seemed that all his attention had been dedicated to uniting the sea clans. Therefore, Brook returned to Allyn in advance.

Inside the Atomic Universe, the complicated magic circles on the top floor of Babel were now gradually perfected. The ripples of space and time were spreading out in the hall.

"Are you prepared?" Natasha sensed the strangeness after she returned from the Nekso Palace.

Lucien collected the materials for the magic circle and smiled. "I still need to modify the details. They will be completed in probably a few days."

"It's a shame that the Shield of Truth hasn't been totally restored yet, or I would like to jump over with you and see what the real sun is like…" Natasha scratched her chin, apparently enticed. She sounded rather regretful.

Without the protection of the Shield of Truth, it was impossible for her to resist the ultra-high temperature near the sun. Therefore, she decisively held back the thought of trying, or it would've been irresponsible for her family, her father, and her subjects. After all, even Lucien could not tell whether he would reach an appropriate distance away from the sun or simply land on the sun after his teleportation.

Lucien smiled. "You have to hold Maltimus responsible for that."

He paused and continued, "If I can really find the sun, you can take a look at it whenever you want to. Right now, I have a paper that I would like you to submit in Allyn for me tomorrow."

Natasha chuckled. "You still have time for papers?"

To seize every moment to set up the magic circles, it had been a couple of months since Lucien went to the Atom Institution.

"It's a paper that I wrote earlier." Lucien took out a paper from the magic pouch and handed it over to Natasha.

Natasha picked it up and glanced at it, reading the title aloud. "'Positive Electrons Discovered in Cosmic Radiations and Some Heuristic Thoughts on the Model of Positive and Negative Particles', you are ready to submit the paper?"

"Yes." Lucien nodded softly. "After the cosmic observatory is established, it will only be a matter of time for positive electrons to be discovered. Also, I already used 'Positron Cannon' in the battle against the Lord of Hell. It might've been caught by the elven queen… After all, the magic model cannot be built so easily."

For a very long time, it was his unique spell.

…

At the beginning of the Month of Harvest, a group of vigorous boys and girls arrived at the gate of the Atom Institution.

"What will the Atom Institution be like?" Ali took a deep breath and said to Anderson, whom he just met. The guy was the top student of the second grade in the generic school.

While Ali was speaking, he was actually glimpsing at the girl who was wearing a daisy dress not far away. She had a delicate face, and her curled black hair dangled on her shoulder gently.

The students from all the schools had introduced themselves just now. Therefore, Ali knew that it was his pen pal, Jane.

However, under the watch of the teachers of the noble school, Ali dare not speak with Jane in case the teachers got suspicious and informed Jane's parents. In such a case, they wouldn't even be pen pals anymore. In the tales and plays of the bards, most of the relationships between the noble lady and the poor boy would be highly rejected by the noble families.

Sensing that Ali was looking at her, Jane turned around and put on a gentle smile, which excited Ali and made his blood boil.

"It definitely won't disappoint you." Anderson had visited the Atom Institution before, but he was still nervous and excited. "What will the real cosmos be like?"

How would the place that carried so many tales and so many beautiful wishes present itself?

"What did you see last time?" Ali intentionally asked, in case his knowledge caught suspicion.

Anderson was a rather flamboyant boy, so he said proudly, "Last time, we completed the particle collision experiment under the guidance of Mr. Lazar and Ms. Heidi…"

During the last visit, most arcanists in the Atom Institution were busy with their own experiments. Also, they were not allowed to draw close for the sake of confidentiality. Only arcanists like Lazar, Rock, and Heidi, who were better at dealing with people, showed them around and did the famous experiments.

"… They're very knowledgeable… The whole laboratory is absolutely quiet save the noises…"

The picture of the Atom Institution in Ali's head was more and more clear thanks to Anderson's introduction. The only thing that dissatisfied him was that Anderson's narration did not reflect the cutting edge of the microscopic domain.

At this moment, the gate of the institution was opened, and noises came out of the room.

"Alfalia, read this issue of 'Arcana'!"

"What?"

"Mr. Evans has discovered positive electrons. Antiparticles do exist!"

"This world is too amazing…"

The exclamations came into the ears of Ali and the other students. They were rather confused. What were positive electrons and what were antiparticles? Why did they sound familiar?

As hypotheses that hadn't been proven, the notions of positive electrons and antiparticles were not introduced in their textbook. That was why those students were confused.

However, Lucien was best famous for his disruptive theories. His speculations often piqued people's attention and curiosity. They were mentioned a lot in the newspapers and by the radio stations.

In other places, they might have remembered it soon, but this was the cutting edge of the microscopic domain. How could the terms in stories show up here?

"After Ms. Hellen and Mr. Oliver extrapolated the Lucien equation to the microscopic particles whose spin is not integral, enshrouding the whole microscopic particles with its splendor, I knew that Mr. Evans' speculation on antiparticles would be proved sooner or later." Lowi said excitedly, "Then, the odds that the vacuum ocean of negative energy exists have increased too!"

Layria and Alfalia were reading the same copy of "Arcana". They understood Lowi's excitement well because they were also very thrilled. Suddenly, they exclaimed as they read the following paper.

"Our teacher did not mention the vacuum ocean of negative energy and abandoned the description of negative energy. He gave a new model, where positive particles and negative particles would appear and perish in pairs in the vacuum." Chelly raised her head and hoped to see the same amazement on Lazar and Alfalia's faces.

Layria read part of the content on the paper. "… According to the field theory and the new material point, all the particles could be seen as different fields. They're the activated status of fields, and the base of fields is the vacuum. Therefore, different fields that are in the base status can overlap… There is no absolute vacuum in our world… Vacuums are not empty…

"… According to the uncertainty principle, there will be great energy fluctuations in a small, fixed time range… Therefore, the vacuum is itself an ever-surging ocean of energy. The conservation of energy is maintained in general… During the process, the fields enter the activated status from the base status, yielding a pair of positive and negative particles. Then, the pair of particles perish with each other, release energy, and the total is the same…

"… Because the process is too short to be investigated, the positive and negative particles are virtual particles. However, under special circumstances, those virtual particles might be separated because of external force and become the real positive and negative particles. That is perhaps one of the sources of materials. It has been generated from 'nothing' because of the uncertainty principle…"

The whole Atom Institution was quiet as she read the content. Lazar, Chelly, and the others tried to understand the model. They were still too shocked.

The ever-surging ocean of energy in the vacuum, the appearance and disappearance of particles, and the generation of matter disrupted their understandings in the past, raising a storm in their brains.

Also, the ever-surging ocean of energy seemed able to explain the source of magic energy!

Alfalia, who was rather good at astrology, suddenly mumbled to herself, "The uncertainty principle that is regarded as a demon because it might disrupt determinism is actually the source of matter…"

Ali was so dizzy at the gate that he turned to Anderson. "Do you have any idea what they are talking about?"

Anderson shook his head quickly. "Not a clue… What about you?"

Not far from them, Jane also shook her head.

"Me neither…" Ali looked more than confused. "Perhaps… this is the landscape at the bleeding edge of the microscopic domain…"

"That's right." Anderson couldn't have agreed more.

Lazar managed to get back to himself from his shock. He turned to Ali and the other students and said, "You're here? You will be divided into groups of four. Each group will spend half an hour in the cosmic observatory. Heidi and Annick are waiting for you up there."

Five people could be teleported at one time, but they had to be accompanied by a middle-rank sorcerer. In the cosmic observatory, even though the laboratory was only big enough for five experimenters to work in, there was enough place for more visitors. Besides, the magic gems and energy consumed would be covered by the Congress of Magic.

Ali and the other students were no longer confused. Their hearts were racing again.

…

Inside the Atomic Universe…

Lucien walked to the center and was ready to activate the magic circle.

Natasha, who came to see him off, scratched her chin and said, "To be honest, it has only been three months since we explored the Boundless Ocean and confirmed the ideas with data. I feel that this is too easy, like a child's game."

"It did not begin from the exploration of the Boundless Ocean…" Lucien blinked his eyes and smiled rather cunningly.

Then, the light was on, and the gate of space and time was opened.

Chapter 766: The Discovery

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The silver lines lit up one by one and outlined the space-time gate. Lucien walked into the gate in one stride.

A dazzling light burst out, and Lucien's figure gradually disappeared. After the light was gone, Natasha could only see the empty magic circle and the pale space-time gate.

...

"The transmission to the cosmic observatory is ready. Please make sure you have finished the potion in your hand," said Layria to the four students, Ali, Anderson, Jane, and Philomena.

Ali took a glance at the light blue tube in his hand and could still feel the spicy taste. However, after taking the potion, he did feel a strange feeling, as if his soul, brain, and his body had been put into a magic freezer.

Earlier, when signing up to be the volunteers, he saw Jane stepping out first, so he hurriedly followed. Luckily, he was the fourth.

He looked to the side and into Jane's eyes. He saw that Jane's black eyes, which were always quiet and peaceful, were now shining with excitement and exhilaration. The light in her eyes came from the most sincere passion that a human being had toward the mysterious and boundless universe.

One would never be able to realize how small and insignificant an individual was until one saw the starry expanse.

Looking around and seeing the look on the students' faces, Layria smiled. The Congress was obviously very generous to these students. The magic potion called Strong Chirga that was given to each student was very expensive, and it was used to help with nausea. Most sorcerers who entered the cosmos would endure this themselves.

Chirga was a fruit of Holm, but its annual yield was very low. Chirga could be used as the main material for some senior-rank magic potions.

But Layria knew that there was a reason behind the Congress' generosity. When the students saw the cosmos, they would understand that the so-called God of Truth on the small planet, which strived to gather more followers and resources, was in fact not that almighty at all.

Then the students would go back to their schools and promote the idea among more students. The Congress would then introduce more projects, including cosmos museums, experience centers, and more radio programs, to widen people's horizons as much as possible.

"Attention. The transmission has been activated," said Layria.

Ali suddenly became very nervous. Before this space jump, he never even tried flying!

But his heart was also full of expectation and excitement.

The dazzling light streaks blurred Ali's eyes.

...

Tower.

"There are positive electrons… It's true…" said Rachel to Samantha. In her hand, there was the latest issue of Arcana. Rubbing her forehead, she felt both excited and frustrated.

"We can't see it before we do the experiment on our own," said Samantha with a meaningful look on her face.

Although she said so, she did believe that Lucien had found positive electrons. The Lucien equation had gained great significance in the field of microscopic domain study, and its validity had been proven many times. Lucien was also well-known for his rigorous attitude, and he had never published a paper unless he was a hundred percent certain. Perhaps this was the power of authority.

"The world is so wonderful! In the past thousands of years, not a single intelligent creature has ever realized the existence of antimatter. But now, arcana will lead us to the truth of the world." Rachel's eyes were shining with excitement. No arcanist could resist the charm of arcana.

Although most arcanists started their studies for power, for money, for treasures, or for material enjoyment, and they could easily forget their most sincere passion because of the tedious, repetitive experiments and wealth, but every time when there was a major finding, they could still recall the passion and pure joy from exploring the truth of the world.

Samantha nodded. "Actually, according to symmetry, the existence of antiparticles shouldn't be something too surprising. When there are particles, there must be their antiparticles. Mr. Evans has also abandoned the most doubtful concept of negative energy and chosen to replace it with the pair production of particles and annihilation."

"I wonder how those supporters of the model of the ocean in the vacuum are feeling right now. The grand arcanist who was supposed to be the one most likely to support it has given it up," said Rachel. Although the model thrilled every sorcerer, as it provided a possible insight into the nature of magic, many leading arcanists found it unreliable because of the experiments on some particles with integer spins.

Samantha finally smiled. "No matter what, the falsifiability of the model hasn't been proved yet, nor has the validity of Mr. Evans' model."

Then the smile on her face disappeared, and she murmured a bit confusedly, "Does the uncertainty principle apply to how matters come into being…?"

Then what about determinism? Should it be dumped?

"At the end of the paper, Mr. Evans discussed a possible experiment for verifying the uncertainty principle…" said Rachel in low voice. "According to the principle of field theory, there are tiny electromagnetic pulses in a vacuum space…"

Staring at the paper on the desk, Samantha remained silent. Lucien's fame and past glory had proved that he was by no means a daydreamer. As he had specified the experiment in his paper, he must have been quite certain about it.

After the uncertainty principle was put forward, although many microscopic domain experiments had shown great conformity to it, no solid experiments could directly prove it yet, which provided arcanists in the school of astrology precious time to slowly adjust themselves to adopt the new concept safely.

"If Mr. Evans had come up with this idea two years earlier, only low-rank sorcerers would have survived," said Rachel.

Samantha sighed. After the recent two to three years, the many setbacks she had gone through had forced her to start accepting the falling of determinism, and she believed that this was also true for other countless arcanists. The world showed no mercy to any individual and would never change itself because of an individual's unacceptance.

She looked out of the window and the bright sunlight made her squint. She felt that she could see a bright but a bit sad future.

"Anyway, the discovery of antiparticles will be forever remembered by the history of arcana. We've stepped out of the world that had been trapping us. Now we're even closer to the truth."

"Maybe nothing bigger than this will show up for a very, very long time," said Rachel, who also turned to look at the blue sky outside. "After the past ten years of rapid development, it seems that arcana has hit the plateau. The next groundbreaking finding has to keep brewing for a long time."

...

Traveling through the layers of space and time, Lucien saw the countless shadowy and overlapping sections in front of him, just like when he cast Regather.

...

When the dazzling light retreated, Ali felt very uncomfortable, but the refreshing feeling brought by the potion gave him the energy to look around eagerly.

Ali did not take a glance at the mysterious magic circles or the cold alchemy facilities, and he did not even greet the arcanists on-site. Instead, he directly looked out of the window.

The incredible darkness and endless deep space had instantly struck Ali's mind.

Against the darkness, the white light spots were pure. They were not shining, but just hanging there quietly, as if nothing in the past millions of years ever changed them.

He turned to look down, and there were the same boundless darkness and pure stars. The students were deeply shocked by the loneliness and the realization of their own insignificance.

Was this cosmos?

Nothing mattered when compared to it…

Layria walked to her friends and handed them the journal, "Our teacher has found positive electrons! From cosmic rays!"

"That's awesome!" Annick said very cheerfully.

Katrina also had a big smile on her face. "There will be more observatories in the future as more people will want to use them!"

"Heidi, you don't want to take a look at it?" Layria asked.

Heidi muttered, "The experiment is in the key stage… I believe that Mr. Evans has actually founded positive electrons a long time ago, or he wouldn't all of a sudden want to set up a cosmic observatory… Ahh!"

However, her muttering was cut off by her shout.

The rest of them turned around and asked in surprise, "What is it?"

"A new track… different from that of an electron or a proton…" Heidi muttered in a low voice while calculating fast in her mind.

Then she sprang up from her seat and exclaimed, "Its mass is more than two hundred times heavier than that of an electron! It's a new particle! Very likely to be the one predicted by Her Excellency Hathaway!"

"What? A new particle?!" They were all very surprised.

Ali looked at them with confusion. He saw the boundless cosmic, the pure stars, and Heidi, whose hands were still on the alchemy device.

New particle?

Why wasn't it mentioned in the textbooks?

Did he just witness a historic moment?

...

COMMENT

Lucien could see better now. But then the blinding glare came at him.

Even though Lucien had cast the special spell to protect his eyes, he still could not help squinting. A huge fireball was burning in the air. Although Lucien had the protection from Space Staff and he was still far away from the fireball, the incredible and extremely high temperature was still formidable.

The fireball looked a bit blurry and distant.

Lucien closed his eyes and gently sighed.

"Sun…"

The space and time around him suddenly started to change, and it began to project a starry sky.

Chapter 767: Two Suns in the Sky

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lucien's eyes closed tight, and he could feel the arrival of the boundless cosmos. The starry sky that was so almighty and detached looked down upon everything coldly from above.

The projection of the starry sky cast in Lucien's half-substantialized cognitive world made the entire cognitive world more and more clear, like a real one. Meanwhile, the cosmos had also set Lucien's Host Star of Destiny ablaze. The host star was now going through a series of fusion reactions like a real star. The black hole was sucking in some of the power to form the new balance.

The electron cloud drifting in the air, the charged particles exchanging virtual photons, and the electromagnetic force in the space had also become much more real.

In the strange boom, Lucien's cognitive world was further substantializing and transforming to the top legendary status.

At this time, Lucien was supposed to carefully observe what was going on in his cognitive world. However, he suddenly opened his eyes.

He wanted to see the true world, the world that offered all the feedback but was never discovered by anyone.

If any legendary sorcerers or knights had known what Lucien just did, they would have made a mockery of Lucien. Ever since the most powerful men in the world first knew the existence of this feedback from the true world, they had tried everything they could to find it and to master it, since it would, for sure, contain the deepest and ultimate truth as well as the secrets of the world. However, none of them did it, no matter if it was those top legendaries or even Thanos and Viken. None of them managed to capture the existence of the real cosmos in the real world. They only thing they could find was the powerful feedback.

Therefore, it was believed that only gods could touch the secret.

When Lucien opened his eyes, he saw that something was blocking the blinding light. Then, the clear vision of a starry cosmos appeared around him. However, it was beyond his touch!

The "real world" had revealed itself right in front of Lucien for the first time! No one ever did this before!

If it had been another legendary and demigod standing here, they would have been totally shocked. However, as if he had expected this, there was a faint smile on Lucien's face.

He reached forward with his right hand and the cosmos suddenly started responding. Galaxies rapidly flashed backward until Lucien's hand finally touched the familiar blue planet, behind which the huge fireball was burning indistinctly.

Boom!

The substantializing process had been boosted, and Lucien's Host Star of Destiny suddenly burst out the dazzling and mighty glare. The glare had partially blended into the starry sky to enhance the glory of the big fireball!

Boom!

The blue planet had disappeared. The big fireball had occupied the entire "real cosmos". It looked so huge and bright with its tremendous momentum, but at the same time, it also looked very illusory!

...

After coming back to Atom Institution from the observatory, Ali, Jane, and Anderson had always been absent-minded. They were deeply shocked by the cosmos and the discovery of the new particle and thus realized the almighty power of nature in person. Now they were totally in awe of arcana as it could explore the deepest secret of the starry sky.

Ali had stopped peeking at Jane. Instead, his eyes had lost their focus as his mind was lost in his many thoughts. Meanwhile, the next group of students was walking toward the transmission magic circle.

Suddenly, he felt that the light coming in from the window somehow had become much brighter. He looked up.

The autumn sky was high and blue, but in the sky, there were two bright suns.

"Two… suns?"

Ali murmured out of confusion, but then, he suddenly realized what it meant.

"Look! Two suns!" Ali's voice suddenly became sharp.

All the people in the institution turned to look at him, having no idea what he was talking about, although they did understand every single word Ali said.

"Someone's cognitive world has half substantialized?" Chelly suddenly came up with the possibility. She was dressed like a married lady.

Lazar quickly walked to the window and shook his head. "Impossible… There are no other changes in the environment. No thunder, no lightning… but two suns…"

His voice suddenly became very low. He stared at the sky, at the two suns.

No matter if it was the half-substantialization or substantialization of one's cognitive world, according to all the records, they could only change the environment within a couple of hundred meters. The dimension discovered before was a very rare exception since almost everyone over the world saw it. However, the two suns in the sky were almost identical. It was impossible to be something unusual within the atmosphere!

If it was because something was going on just beside the sun, then the influence range was just too wide!

Lazar was definitely much more trustworthy than Ali. The rest of them had all flowed to the window and let out a gasp. There were indeed two suns in the sky!

"What is going on…?" Ali asked the famous arcanists around confusedly.

Lazar, Jerome, and the rest of the arcanists all remained silent.

At this time, they could finally tell the difference between the two suns. The one on the left was dazzlingly bright, giving out light and heat. The one on the right, however, was an illusion, but a very real illusion.

"Something big happened…" Alfalia murmured. She had never seen this before even in the textbooks.

The two suns in the sky brought no change to the world other than the brighter sunlight. Although more and more people had started noticing the wonder, no one knew what was going on.

...

In Lance, the Holy City.

Viken, the pope, was listening to Melmax's report and thinking about how to stop Maltimus. At this time, the host star of destiny in his soul suddenly flashed a bit. In the next second, he had blinked to the window and looked up.

In the early morning sky, two big fireballs were rising, dyeing the entire sky orange!

"This is…"

Even for someone as profound as Viken, he had never seen anything like this. For a moment, he had no idea what it was, until he picked up his platinum staff.

"Lucien Evans has found the sun? But he hasn't studied Blue Gate…"

Viken knew that Lucien had found the sun and got the feedback from the "real world". What was going on in the sky came from the top legendary power that Lucien just gained. However, Viken could not help but frown. "But two suns… Impossible…"

Normally, it should be a really bright star beside the sun. The light of the star should be easily covered by the sunlight.

At the moment, Viken felt both excited about the discovery of the sun but also the apprehension from the unknown.

...

In Observer's Castle, the Dark Mountain Range.

Holding the wine glass, Rhine was waiting for a descendant's visit. Suddenly, he spread out his big bat wings and filled the entire hall.

In space, an illusion moon quickly rose in the air and transformed into a blond young girl. Her red eyes looked out of the window. In the darkness, the radiance of the silver moon had been overwhelmed by the dazzling sunlight.

Rhine stopped his movement. The glass wine pressed against his lips.

Alterna stared at the sun until it slowly disappeared. When the night sky resumed, Alterna said seriously, "He has found the sun."

"I wonder if he can explain this." Rhine smiled.

Neither Alterna nor Rhine looked very surprised.

After a while, Alterna sighed. "But it was just too big…"

...

In the Blue Ocean, Maltimus was sitting on his throne, holding the gold trident in his hand. Suddenly, he looked up at the sky through the body of seawater, and a sarcastic-looking smile appeared on his face.

But soon, the smile was replaced by a shocked expression.

...

On the Pearl Islands.

Douglas was still studying his project using alchemical items to replace space jump in order to reach the sun. Suddenly, his eyes opened big when he felt that a starry sky just appeared around him, which had caused a series of great changes in his cognitive world.

After a while, his cognitive world was fully substantialized. His cognitive world had just gained some direct connection to the real cosmos.

Douglas was a bit confused but also amused. He was just sitting in his place, but all of a sudden, the feedback from the real world had come to him.

It was basically a million arcana credits hitting him while he was just sitting on his couch.

However, he quickly figured this out. Douglas knew that his many theories were built upon the assumption that those planets and stars did exist. Therefore, the sudden change must have come from someone's discovery of the planets. Was it Lucien?

So far, only Lucien and Douglas himself were still exploring planets.

Douglas then immediately asked Brook to take over the shift for him and headed for the Atomic Universe.

He had so many questions to ask Lucien in person.

...

The "real world" had disappeared. Lucien squinted at the huge fireball from a distance and thought to himself out of pity, It was almost there. Something that hasn't been proved. Or I could've…

Meanwhile, the two host stars of destiny started spinning around each other and affecting each other. His body suddenly went illusionary and ethereal, but he recovered within a second.

It turned out that this transformation could, in fact, be achieved by an individual, and the belief that only a primeval devil could do so had been proven wrong. Lucien put on an ironic smile, which was quite rare. He was now a real top legendary, and he had mastered the method of status transformation, which differed from that of Viken. It was a magic model integrated into his soul, like blood power.

Chapter 768: Douglas' Decision

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Babel, in the Atomic Universe.

A cluster of dazzling light flew out of the space-time gate. Like a water ball rippling, it instantly lit up the magic circle, and the complicated lines and patterns in the air were now shimmering.

Meanwhile, the gate no longer looked gray and pale. Instead, it was now covered with a layer of dreamlike gloss.

The layer of light, which was like rubber, then protruded all of a sudden. A vague figure walked out. As the figure was becoming more and more clear, it turned out to be Lucien.

As soon as Lucien stepped out of the gate, its gloss was instantly taken off, and the gate collapsed to the ground into ashes. One by one, the shining lines in the air had also broken and became a pile of trash.

At this time, Lucien finally realized that Natasha was not the only one standing in the hall waiting for his return. The president was also waiting. Douglas looked quite anxious, which was rare for him, but not in a bad way. The anxiety was from his eagerness to find the answer.

However, Lucien was not surprised by Douglas' presence at all. After what he just did, it would have been more perplexing if the president had not been here.

As for Natasha, her waiting was out of her care for Lucien and her own curiosity.

"How did you find it?" asked Douglas straightforwardly.

Natasha opened her mouth, but she did not want to cut Douglas off. She also had lots of questions to ask, like how far the sun was and how it existed. Compared to Douglas, she had plenty of chances to ask.

Lucien smiled, as it was so rare to see Douglas being so solicitous that he had forgotten the most immediate thing that he should have done after reaching top legendary. It looked just like a Fernando was living within him.

"A second, please," Lucien said calmly.

A starry sky then unfolded behind Lucien, where a huge fireball was burning. The stars surrounding the big fireball formed the many mysterious patterns, while behind the fireball, there was a cluster of deepest darkness.

Against the sky, there were protons and neutrons forming into atomic nuclei. From time to time, they would drift, and sometimes, they would collapse. Together with the electrons, they formed elements. In the different sections where the elements gathered, there were different beautiful wonders, like the extremely cold liquid and crystals.

Light was flowing among the charged matters, and it was divided into portions, which reflected the nature of electromagnetic force, and it joined the "wind power" in the illusionary space harmoniously.

The edges of the entire world bent slightly, and beyond the edges, it seemed that there was something else that was connected to them, which enabled the changes in the cognitive world to affect the material world.

Seeing that, Douglas realized what he had forgotten, and he was a bit amused by himself. How could he forget this? After reaching the top legendary level, one should reflect the changes in his or her cognitive world to one's own demiplane as soon as possible to make the demiplane resemble the dimension better.

As soon as Lucien unfolded his cognitive world, Babel tower started shaking fiercely, and the shaking was from the planet it was on.

The stars in the dark cosmos in the dimension suddenly burst out splendid light and became very real. And the star, which resembled the sun, was now on fire, and the intimidating and extreme temperature was also close to that of the real sun.

When the projection of Lucien's cognitive world disappeared, Douglas finally asked, "How did you do this…?"

Lucien answered briefly, "Since it seems that our planet was insulated by something like a 'fog', the deepest part of the Boundless Ocean would go around and around. When we fly out of the atmosphere, we lose the observation of the planet at some point until we enter the universe. After that, we have to consider two things. One, does light also bend when casting through the atmosphere? Second, are other planets also being 'trapped'?

"… So I combined the data obtained from the deepest part of the Boundless Ocean and an idea I once had, and thus revised the calculation of the coordinate of the sun. In the end, I finally found it…" said Lucien after a short pause.

"Long time ago, we did think of the possibility that the atmosphere might have changed the transmission of light and considered it a possible reason why we could not find the planets. However, after so many years, we still haven't got a full idea about the secrets of the Boundless Ocean and the 'fog'," said Douglas.

The previous generations of arcanists were no fools. What Lucien just said had already been put forward years ago. However, they all failed to find the problems among the data and records. If it had been as easy as Lucien's narration, those arcanists would have found the sun a dozen hundred years ago!

Therefore, the key question Douglas had to ask was how Lucien managed to find the problem in the data and figured out the accurate coordinate.

Lucien's right hand climbed onto his chin and rubbed it. He responded with some hesitation, "I can't be very clear right now. I think the 'fog' and the abnormality of the Boundless Ocean should both have something to do with the unusual abnormality in the space."

Seeing Lucien's unconscious movement, Natasha knew that Lucien was not hiding anything. Instead, his mind was indeed filled with questions.

"Something unusual in space… The bending of space shows gravity, and the gravity there does look strange… but…" Douglas murmured.

But he suddenly realized why Lucien was being so ambiguous. "You're afraid my head is going to explode? It's something contradictory to the general theory of relativity?"

Lucien rubbed his forehead out of a bit of embarrassment. "…Yes, there are some conflicts between the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. I'm more on the side of the latter, but I can't be sure that I'm a hundred percent correct. My bold guess might mislead you, sir. So I cannot just burst out my own thinking recklessly."

"You're now sure about it. So I'd like to listen to it as I won't let something uncertain shake my cognitive world," said Douglas with a smile. "If you don't want to be very clear, you can give me some hint, and I'll explore it on my own. During the process, I can keep adjusting myself. So even if the final result does go against the general theory of relativity, my cognitive world wouldn't collapse."

Lucien nodded slightly. "A long time ago, I started thinking about why the planets can't be spotted, but I was totally clueless until I opened the chamber and saw the mysteries."

"The mysteries of immortality?" Douglas and Natasha both asked at the same time. They had never expected that this would have anything to do with the mysteries of immortality.

Lucien said seriously, "The missing of planets, the strange things about the atmosphere and the ocean, the gravity-less stars in Stars' Grave, Furnace of Souls, and even the 'real world'… They are all around the same question, so we have to see them all together."

"Make sense," Douglas agreed, but he soon got confused again. "If it's like what you said, then the atmosphere should share the same peculiarity with the ocean, as their surroundings are not different by nature. But why when we were heading for the atmosphere, there was nothing preventing us from flying into the cosmos, yet when we were in the deepest part of the Boundless Ocean, we couldn't go any further?"

Lucien answered seriously, "This is why I'm confused as well. I've built up a special math model for it, but it turned out that it was almost impossible for the math model to form naturally, although it did go into the strange dimension."

"Impossible to form naturally… You're saying… someone did it?" Douglas also became very serious.

Natasha also looked very astonished for a moment as her big silver-purple eyes opened big. Lucien's words might mean something very terrible.

"Possibly. There might be someone really, really powerful there that we don't know, who created the peculiarity deep in the ocean, but this is very unlikely because there's no point, as we can always find planets with the data. Therefore, I suspect that it has something to do with the age of mythology. After all, we know very little about the age. The only one," said Lucien.

The last time when Lucien risked his life entering the Temple of Spirits, he saw a library where lots of books from the age of mythology were stored there. However, at that time, he did not have enough time to copy them, and when he came back, the spirits had removed them.

Douglas nodded slightly. "Possible. Perhaps it's preventing Maltimus and the abyss from coming to the main material world."

"After the age of mythology, Silver Moon has also started pulling away from influencing the 'ground'," said Lucien. Then he took a deep breath and said, "To verify my guess, I'll visit the Dark Mountain Range soon to see Mr. Rhine and see what he could get from the 'Silver Moon'."

"Make sure you're ready," Douglas agreed. "If the 'Silver Moon' doesn't want to say anything, we'll go back to the library in the temple again."

Douglas smiled. "Give me the coordinate of the sun so that I can see it with my own eyes. After that, I'll get ready to reach the demigod level."

"Demigod?!" Both Lucien and Natasha were slightly shocked. Obviously, Lucien did not agree with Douglas' plan.

"My cognitive world is basically complete once planets are found, and from my previous studies, I've figured out how to transform my status and reach the level of demigod," said Douglas with the same facial expression. "I'll replace the power of feelings with my own cognitive world and replace the power of faith with the corresponding real environment. I will overlap them and combine them together. In this way, I should be able to achieve the transformation and open the gate to become a demigod."

Lucien knew that this was the most orthodox path for a sorcerer to become a demigod, but he insisted, "But sir, we can wait until we figure out why this method works and what a demigod is. We can probably find the answers within decades."

"I know your confidence, but we can wait no more. Maltimus' arrival and Viken's power are big threats to the Congress. If the Congress can't produce a demigod in the upcoming five years, we'll all be in trouble. I'm not sure if I can do this, but I'll still give it a shot." Douglas smiled, as if it were someone else's business.

"But…" Lucien kept on trying.

Douglas stopped him. "If you come up with a better method, I can still improve my foundation after becoming a demigod, and also…"

He looked out at the universe outside and said in the peaceful tone, "Also to me, the most intriguing thing in this world is to solve its mysteries one by one. The power that comes with it is just a complimentary gift.

COMMENT

"Even if I'll forever stop at the demigod level, I'll never regret it as I will have done my contribution to figuring out the truth of the world. I think I'll be more than happy."

"Sir…" Lucien did not know what to say.

Chapter 769: The Birth of a Custom

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The square near the Rose Boulevard was jam-packed with people after the lights were on.

It was the habit of many citizens of Rentato to take a walk to the nearest square after dinner and wait for "Arcana Voice". However, after the promotion of offering a magic radio with enough subscriptions, it was no longer as crowded as before. But of course, the people here were not few at all in terms of absolute number.

"Hello, everyone. This is FM 592.6M, 'Arcana Voice'. I am your old friend, Nightingale. Thank you for listening to our program…" As the sweet voice that sounded like their family member came out of the trumpet, all the audience focused their attention and stopped talking with their partners. Also, after the live stream last time, they were already able to picture Ms. Nightingale's look with her voice.

After many programs, "Magic Room", a session that people couldn't quite follow but were very interested in, started.

"Dear audience, I'll teach you how to resist the shallow hypnotization spells… Zi. Zi. Zi…" Before the magnetic male voice finished his sentence, shrilling noises came out of the loudspeaker. Then, the noises were replaced by messy sounds of electricity. However, everything was back to normal soon, except that the low, magnetic male voice went back to Nightingale's sweet but exciting voice.

"Dear audience, dear audience, this is 'Arcana Voice'. Now, I would like to announce a piece of breaking news…"

"What's going on?" The audience looked at each other in bewilderment. They had experienced signal interruptions before, but it had never been restored so quickly, and even the program had been changed!

Breaking news?

That was something that they had never been through. Therefore, they could barely realize what was going on.

In the noble villas, the civil houses, and the schools, the members of the audience who were listening to "Arcana Voice" looked similar. They had no idea what had happened that called for a piece of breaking news.

…

Inside the Atom Institution, after Layria, who brought the students up above, told Heidi and Annick about the unusual phenomenon of two suns in the sky, they decided to return to the ground by paying the cost themselves so that they could know what had happened as soon as possible.

It was both because of their curiosity and because they hoped to brace for the worst situations as quickly as possible. After all, if they stayed in space, they probably couldn't return if anything happened on the ground. After the energy ran out, they would become floating corpses in space. For similar reasons, most of the researchers who were unmarried did not leave the Allyn magic tower.

"Heidi, you've discovered a new particle?" The discussion about the two suns had been going on for a whole afternoon and a dinner. So, Layria couldn't help but change the subject, asking about Heidi's discovery.

Looking at her friends' sparkling eyes, Heidi smiled in satisfaction. "After repetitive confirmation, it's a new particle that is different from any known particles. Its mass is about two hundred times that of electrons, and it is very fast."

"A new particle? Does the number of fundamental particles not agree with the principle of simplicity?" Many arcanists believed in the philosophy that the more fundamental, the more simplistic, just like the amazing "symmetry" that existed everywhere. Rock took off his black top hat and asked in confusion.

"We can only respect the experiment results for now. Maybe, fundamental principles are not fundamental?" Heidi spoke while she looked at the clock on the wall of the laboratory. She exclaimed, "It's the time for Arcana Voice!"

She seemed to prefer Arcana Voice to News of the World.

Rock said with mixed feelings, "Possibly. Right, did you receive feedback from the truth of the world after the discovery of the new particle?"

"Very abundant feedback." Having always been straightforward, Heidi replied with a brilliant smile.

"Hehe. Heidi, haven't you been complaining that you never won the prizes like the Holm Crown Prize? The discovery of the new particle will probably fulfill your wish." Katrina was happy for her friend.

Heidi shook her head and said, not too expectantly, "I don't think the discovery of a new particle deserves any, unless it's a very important one, like what Ms. Hathaway predicted, or if the particle is discovered through a new approach. I'd better wait for the breakthrough in artificial intelligence."

"Is it not the particle that Ms. Hathaway predicted?" Both Annick and Katrina were surprised. From the properties measured so far, the new particle was quite similar to the meson that Ms. Hathaway predicted.

Heidi sniffed. "We can only know the result by testing if it participates in the strong interaction. For now, we can only assume that it is not."

She was certainly not entirely unaffected after her friends won the highest prizes in different fields, but it did not stop her from making the rational choice. She was more and more confident about the future of artificial intelligence, and she believed that she would win a certain highest prize, and maybe even an Evans Prize in Arcana, for that.

In the middle of their discussion, weird noises came out of the magic radio and caught their attention.

"Dear audience, dear audience, this is 'Arcana Voice'. Now, I would like to announce a piece of breaking news…"

Heidi and her friends immediately became solemn after Nightingale's voice came out. The only thing that deserved such interruption could be the special phenomenon of two suns during the day!

The whole Atom Institution fell into silence, and a sweet voice spread out of the magic radio.

"According to the announcement given by the Highest Council, at 11:37 a.m. today, Lucien 'Atom Controller' Evans, a grand arcanist, a legendary sorcerer, and a member of the Highest Council, discovered the sun at the coordinates of… in the standard universe location, proving the existence of planets and stars. It raised unprecedented feedback from the truth of the world and resulted in the unusual phenomenon of two suns in the sky.

"Dear audience who witnessed the phenomenon, there is no need to panic. This is not the end of the world. On the very contrary, it marks the most solid first step for intelligent creatures to explore the universe. We will no longer be bothered by whether or not planets exist.

"Although Mr. Evans must've garnered abundant returns, they cannot compare to the great significance of his discovery for all the intelligent creatures and the confirmation of the existence of planets for all the arcanists. This is a small step for Mr. Evans, but this is also a great leap for all the intelligent creatures. It's a major monument of our exploration in the world and the universe…"

The announcement used all sorts of words of compliment, but Heidi did not feel that it was exaggerated at all. They would've been thrilled and offered their sincere congratulation even if it were any other legendary sorcerer who discovered it. Those who did not study arcana and never read the history of the Congress of Magic would never know how important and significant the discovery was for the arcanists.

"It's about time. The sun has been hiding for so long…" Alfalia suddenly said with mixed feelings. It had been so long that some arcanists suspected that they were not in a real world but a "laboratory" of a certain almighty god.

Heidi and Annick looked out of the window. It was pitch dark outside except for the lights from the lamps down below. However, the darkness was gone in their eyes, and the whole world had been illuminated.

The heavy darkness that had covered magic since the Magic Empire was finally driven away by the sun at this moment!

Heidi stood up in excitement, as if she were trying to do something, but she eventually got scared and stopped.

"Heidi, what do you want?" Layria held back her shiver and asked in curiosity.

Heidi raised her arms. "I want to cheer. I want to launch a fireball at the sky. The explosion will be the horn of our triumph!"

"I want that too." Sprint, who had always been a rogue, apparently loved the idea, but Allyn had strict regulations.

Annick, who was relatively rational, suddenly realized that, if Allyn did not have so many regulations, it was possible that many gigantic fireballs would have been shot at the sky, and fire would be spluttering out everywhere. Sorcerers tended to express their happiness through the most violent approaches in their excitement, and what they were best at was certain magic.

"What a splendid view it would've been…"

…

In the square, in the villas, in the houses, and in the schools, all the listeners were stunned by Nightingale's announcement.

The Church had been attacking the sorcerers because they couldn't find any planets to prove the correctness of their celestial bodies' motion system and their gravity theory. Some clerics preached that the Lord covered the space because of their blasphemy, preventing them from seeing the truth of the world. Some mocked that their arcana studies were buildings without foundations and would collapse at any moment.

Although arcana had been proven correct one step after another, winning the support of most of the people of the four countries on this side of the Storm Strait and filling them with curiosity and awe in arcana, those people would never be entirely convinced until the stars in the sky were discovered.

After the South Church was exiled, the people who acknowledged the reign of the Congress of Magic began to hope for the discovery of planets as desperately as the arcanists did, trying to prove that it was not a punishment of the Lord and that their betrayal was not blasphemy.

However, now that the good news came and hit their mind just like that, they felt that they were caught in a dream.

"Great!"

A roar broke the silence. An elegant-looking gentleman took off his black top hat in excitement and threw it high into the sky, as if he could not find another way to unleash his excitement.

After the silence was broken, exclamations burst out like a tsunami. Under the influence of the first gentleman, the people all took off their hats and tossed it into the sky.

Wearing hats was a fashion in Rentato. So, the whole sky was occupied with hats. Some were the black top hats, some were round, some were soft, some were the broad-edged hats with beautiful ribbons, some were convenient hats embedded with feathers and flowers, and some carried hazy veils…

"Great!"

Looking at the thrown hats and hearing the tide of roars, a reporter from "Rentato Weekly" wrote subconsciously, "Perhaps, from today onward, there will be a new custom in the kingdom for celebrations in the kingdom, which is hat-throwing."

All kinds of hats fell like rain.

Chapter 770: Revisit

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Inside the Atom Institution, Annick, who had more or less calmed down after hearing the exclamations that were vaguely coming from all directions, hurried to switch the magic radio to the channel of "News of the World". He believed that the channel, whose target listeners were arcanists, would have more detailed reports, including how his teacher adjusted the location of the sun.

They did not directly ask Lucien because Butler Leo told them that their teacher had closed the top floor of his magic tower and probably wouldn't open it until a long time later. They had been trying to reach out to him to report Heidi's discovery of new particles ever since they returned to Allyn from the cosmic observatory.

"… According to the report of Mr. Evans, he discovered the weird deviation of light and the unusualness of space when he conducted the following experiments, and he adjusted the standard coordinates of the sun according to his conclusion…" "Lark" Samantha, as Annick predicted, read Lucien's report in detail and interpreted the whole process so that the senior-rank sorcerers could redo the experiment and the middle-rank sorcerers could understand the theoretical foundation of the adjustment of the solar coordinates.

The report undoubtedly convinced every arcanist who listened to it that Mr. Evans had indeed found the sun with reasons. Otherwise, his report wouldn't have been so detailed and copyable. Reproducibility was a symbol of arcana!

"… What… What a complicated experiment." Although her particle collision experiments and her modifications on artificial intelligence were rather complicated themselves, Heidi was still rather stunned, because the experiment was so intricate that no common arcanists could have devised it.

Even Sprint, who had always been proud and confident, had to admit in a low voice, "I'm afraid that only our teacher could've designed such a complicated but effective experiment…" He, for one, couldn't have achieved it.

Despite his fundamental disagreement with Lucien regarding the observer effect, Annick still admired his teacher, who was the pioneer of many new domains, the proposer of many revolutionary theories, and the main booster of the great development of arcana studies and social development in the past decade. There was still a major gap between them.

"Yes, I don't think that there can be more than ten experts who have such amazing ideas and such a solid arcana foundation. However, I still think that it is too complicated. Perhaps our teacher partly counted on luck, or perhaps he was doing some other experiments…" Hesitating, he proposed his guess.

Such a guess did not raise the anger of Heidi, Katrina, or other people. Having been engaged in arcana and magic studies for a long time, they knew very well that certain discoveries needed a bit of luck. For example, back when they were in the cosmic observatory, the experiments that everybody devised were identical, but Heidi discovered the new particle ahead of everybody else. The reason was that she made a minor mistake during the design… But of course, only the arcanists who had been doing experiments for a long time with a solid knowledge foundation could have grasped the gift of the goddess of fortune.

"In any case, the sun has finally been discovered! The chronicle of magic has been turned to a new page!" Heidi declared; her eyes glittering.

…

On the thirty-first floor of the Allyn magic tower, all the arcanists in the Sky Radio Station listened to Samantha's broadcast in excitement. Louise's news was for the ordinary people and contained nothing that they did not know.

Also, different from before, Samantha was no longer as nonchalant as usual when she read the report. The insuppressible smile on her face suggested her good mood and quite surprised the arcanists who were used to her previous style.

For years, the continual defeat of determinism had made most arcanists of the school of astrology, but they had to gradually change their paradigm slowly. So, they had always been rather sad. Many poets of Rentato had praised them for their excellent poetic vibe and thought that they deserved to be the arcanists who studied space. However, the discovery of the sun ignited the long-buried passion in their hearts, which burnt up all their miseries and melancholy. At least for now, they were delighted and exalted from the bottom of their hearts.

The puzzle that bothered the school of astrology for thousands of years had been solved today!

After reading the last word, Samantha put down the document in her hand and hinted to the host of the next program to begin with a smile. Then, she left her seat, walked out of the room, and took a deep breath of the refreshing air at night.

"I thought that the discovery of positive electrons was shocking enough. I did not expect that Mr. Evans also found the sun." A few arcanists who were familiar with her joined her.

Looking at the cold, dreamy moon in the sky, Samantha said with a tone of delight, "If it weren't for this… this grand arcanist, I'm afraid that nobody could've devised such a complicated and unimaginable experiment. This is perhaps the kindness of the goddess of fortune and her acknowledgment for the school of astrology's thousands of years of pursuit. That's why she gave us him."

Although no names were mentioned, all the arcanists around knew that she was referring to "Atom Controller" Mr. Evans and that she was not saying "grand arcanist" at first but "monster".

It was one of the nicknames for Lucien that many arcanists used in private because most of his achievements couldn't have been accomplished by any other arcanists in their entire life. However, the guy had been proposing one every once in a while. What could possibly be a monster if he wasn't?

It was for that reason that they did not suspect why Lucien could've devised the unbelievably complicated experiment. He was the synonym of a miracle.

"From today on, the school of astrology will no longer be an ungrounded school anymore…" Another astrology arcanist observed with mixed feelings.

For the arcanists of the school of astrology, they wouldn't suspect the foundation of their prophecies just because planets were real material existences, because the Host Stars of Destiny were indeed right there.

Samantha nodded. "In the next, the focus of our studies will be divided into two directions. The first is to study the black holes, the stars, and the star systems, in order to unravel the mysteries of the real universe, search for its origin, and predict its future development. The other is to explore the connection between the real universe and the host stars, in order to figure out why the operation of stars affects our fate."

"That's right." The eyes of the first arcanist seemed to be burning with fire. Just because something went wrong with determinism did not mean that astrology was dead!

Staring at the silver moon out of the window, Samantha thought to herself. "As a matter of fact, the background that the Church made up for him suits him well. He's both an angel and a devil…"

…

Inside the Theater of Destruction, Oliver did not listen to the broadcast but perused Lucien's report carefully.

He pushed his gold-edged glasses and frowned. "This experiment is too complicated to be devised. It's more like a product of inferring the process after you have known the result. Is this Lucien's reverse engineering?"

As a grand arcanist who had a profound understanding of the universe and who explored the space many times, he noticed something wrong after the first glance. However, he thought that it was because Lucien accidentally got a magic model through the feedback when he researched other things before he reverse-engineered the magic model.

Inside Thunder Hell, on the other hand, Fernando threw the report in his hands onto the table and roared, "This boy must've devised the experiment after he discovered the sun! Don't take me for an idiot!"

With his understanding of Lucien, he had every reason to believe that Lucien must've decided the location of the sun according to other knowledge. Chances were that he even had complete theoretical supports.

After throwing away the report, Fernando saw the words on the latter pages of the report, which were in a different format from the first half. So, he picked up the report again and read carefully.

"It can only be published after verification?" Fernando repeated in a low voice. The few pieces of papers contained a complete record of Lucien and Douglas' conversation, which had only been provided to Fernando and Hathaway, two trustworthy grand arcanists.

Fernando thought for a long time and tried to solve the puzzle in Lucien's words, but he barely made any progress due to the lack of files.

"Why do you give me a record? Just come here and talk to me!" Fernando snorted in fury and activated electromagnetism messaging.

After background noises of electric currents, Fernando heard Natasha's voice.

"Lucien has gone to the Dark Mountain Range?" Fernando repeated what Natasha said and cursed, "This boy is really a fast runner!"

…

The sunlight was blocked by the tall trees. Together with the dangerous space gaps in midair and on the ground, the whole mountain seemed to be forever covered in darkness, giving a devastating and ominous feeling.

It was not Lucien's first trip to the Dark Mountain Range, but he still had no good feelings about this place that reeked of decay and corruption. However, he was not as paranoid, fearing that he might run into any powerful dark creatures, as he used to be in his previous visits. Unknown to him, it was those dark creatures who were so intimidated that they only wanted to keep as far away from this "monster" as possible.

The cold moonlight illuminated the cliff, donning it in a silver gauze. However, the lonely castle standing at the edge of the cliff was nowhere to be seen.

"The Observer's Castle has been moved away?" Lucien looked around in confusion. The forest, which was shattered into a gigantic pit, during the attack of Prince Dracula had been filled up by rainwater and turned into a peaceful lake that was rippling under the moonlight. The reflection of moonlight in the lake was beautiful and agreed with the landscape around. It shouldn't have made Rhine feel that the place lost the grace of nobles and forced him to move his house away.

"What exactly is the reason?" Lucien brought out his crystal ball and began his prophecy, and the result was rather ambiguous, which was within his expectation. It was not an easy thing to predict the whereabouts of Rhine who was supported by the power of the Silver Moon.

Therefore, Lucien took back his crystal ball and planned to ask a local of this place who lived nearby in order to empower his prophecy.

"Well, there's a dark castle over there…" Lucien spread out his spiritual power and discovered intelligent creatures. He blinked and disappeared from where he was.

Chapter 771: Daily Life of the Dark Mountain Range

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The castle of the Magic Empire seemed to be enshrouded in the dark fog. Terrifying roars of beasts were coming out, mixed with devastating and miserable moans.

If it were any other places, such a situation would've caused all kinds of horror stories. The kids would've been too scared to cry at night, the clerics or the battle sorcerers would've been attracted to cleanse them, and the adventurers would've come to explore the place. However, in the Dark Mountain Range, it was just a regular situation, and chances were that even more spooky castles were somewhere else.

In a glamorously-decorated room, the carpet from the southern desert of the Gusta Empire lay on the ground, next to the artworks that reflected the passage of time. A big window, which had only gone popular in the recent hundred years, was installed in the room. Everything emanated the air of nobles except for the man and woman on the carpet, who were wearing chain mails that made their action easier and holding longswords in their hands.

Before them stood a thirty-year-old man in a classic robe. His cheek and his body were extremely slim, but his head was much bigger than usual.

The smile on his lips was particularly creepy under the contrast of the dark fog outside. His eyes were filled with passion as he observed the man and the woman greedily. It seemed that he could barely control his desire.

"Both the mind and the body are so delicious. My trophies this time are really delightful…" The man squatted and extended his slim right hand, touching the lady's pretty face and the man's chiseled cheek as if he were appreciating two pieces of thrilling artwork.

Such a touch immediately raised reactions on the two sleepers, whose eyes rolled as if they were about to wake up. However, the big-headed man showed no wariness at all but kept on touching every inch of their skin.

Half-awake, Sharon sensed something cold and smooth wandering on her face and her body like a wriggling long snake. As someone who loathed such a creature, she was immediately woken up and opened her eyes abruptly.

She saw nothing but a gold ceiling where crystal lamps were descending, as well as a familiar face. The face was much closer to her than she thought.

"Brother Finn, you… my strength!" Sharon called his name subconsciously, but halfway through her sentence, it suddenly occurred to her that she was unable to activate her blood power. Her blood power of the grand knight had vanished!

"Finn, what are you doing?!" The man next to Sharon woke up a few seconds earlier and therefore noticed Finn's anomaly.

Finn burst into laughter. "Constantine, what do you think I am doing?"

"You captured us here? Why?" As a battle-tested knight, Sharon soon held back her panic and realized that the reason she could not activate her blood power was because of the shackles and manacles on her.

However, her question was still filled with an intense shock. Constantine and she had known Finn ever since they were little kids. They had been going for adventures and growing together. They were knighted by the kingdom and were no strangers to the Dark Mountain Range. This time, Finn announced that he found a relic in one of his solo adventures. He believed that there should be a lot of good stuff inside, so they had come together.

Little did they anticipate that the castle was not as simple as Finn claimed. They were attacked by many powerful dark creatures. After a bloody battle, they encountered a weird mist and passed out. By the time they woke up, they found that Finn had become a stranger.

"Finn has been my slave ever since a long time ago." "Finn" laughed crazily. All of a sudden, his eyes bulged, as if they would burst out soon. Then, from his nostrils, his mouth, and his ears, tentacles that looked like those of an octopus grew out. His skin became crimson.

"A Mind Stealer!" Constantine screamed in desperation. Such monsters were good at controlling the mind and the relevant spells. Now that they had been captured, their lives would be more miserable than death. It was possible that they would become his loyal slaves while maintaining most of their memories and personalities.

"Finn" shook his head. "I am not a Mind Stealer; I'm just a radiant knight who has the blood power of Mind Stealers. I was heavily wounded and could not heal myself, but the message of relics that I spread out earlier attracted many adventures to come. Their brains became the source of my revival. Finn was one of them. Hehe. Greed is truly the harbinger of doom. For nothing but rumors of treasure, they would come to my castle one group after another.

"By the time I absorb your brains and modify you into my slaves, my wounds will basically be recovered."

Finn couldn't have looked more hideous under the black fog when he said that. Sharon shivered even though she was a determined grand knight. It was even scarier than death.

The raging tentacles next to Finn's head spread out to Sharon and Constantine, aiming directly at their heads.

Unable to make use of their blood powers, Sharon and Constantine could only back off by holding their bodies with their hands, until their backs stuck to the cold wall.

"It's useless. I did not let you obey me by mind control exactly because I want to enjoy your fear." "Finn" laughed cockily.

Dark knights and regular knights were basically the same, except that the dark knights often had bloodlines that were associated with demons and devils, which would affect their personality and mental status. If their willpower was not good enough, it was possible that their blood powers would be out of control, turning them into real demons.

Sensing that the cold and smooth tentacles already touched her mouth, even the strongest willpower could not stop Sharon from screaming in desperation and fear.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

"It's useless. This is the Dark Mountain Range and my castle. There are no living creatures around except my slaves. Nobody can hear you however loudly you scream. Hahahaha." "Finn" obviously enjoyed Sharon's fear and stopped touching her, giving them even more desperation.

Dum, dum, dum.

Somebody knocked on the door at a fixed pace, and the three persons in the room were frozen as if someone had hit a pause button.

Who was it? Why would someone knock the door at such a time and place? Finn was the most scared one of all. Nobody knew the neighborhood better than him. There might not be one intelligent creature who had the courtesy of knocking the door passing by in a whole year. Also, this was his own castle, and the "dark fog", which he asked the elder Mind Stealers to set up for him, was out there!

At this moment, he seemed to be back to his childhood when he pestered his parents to tell him horror stories only to be too scared to go to sleep at night. Whenever he heard any noise, he would have goosebumps all over his body, and coldness would then rise in his heart.

Dum, dum, dum.

The door knock was neither too quiet nor too loud, suggesting the manners of the visitor.

"Who is it?" Finn recalled his tentacles and asked warily. As a radiant knight, he controlled himself well enough to not take action recklessly.

Sharon and Constantine were surprised, panicked, and somewhat hopeful. Even though their miserable fate had been avoided for now, they did not feel relieved. Whoever visited the castle of "Finn" couldn't have come to specifically save the two of them but was more likely to be the enemy of "Finn". If they were the experts of the Dark Mountain Range, they wouldn't go easy on the captives more than Finn would've.

"It's me." A gentle male voice came from outside. "Since somebody is at home, I'll let myself in."

Who the hell is "me"?

Unclear about the stranger's strength, "Finn" secretly cursed and stayed where he was without opening the door. This place was the core of the castle surrounded by multiple defense circles. It was not so easy to break in!

At this moment, he saw that the doorknob turned on its own, and the door of the room was opened.

No! The eyes of "Finn" bulged even more widely. Where are my extraordinary circles? Where are my defenses? This is the most heavily defended place of my castle, but why does it look like a common hotel room right now? Why are those defenses gone?

"Finn" stood there like a stone statue as the door was completely opened and a handsome man in a double-breasted suit walked in slowly.

"I… I surrender! Don't kill me!" "Finn" did not need to think to realize the gap between them, so he begged for mercy without any hesitation or self-esteem.

Then, he added, "I'm very close to the tribe of Mind Stealers nearby, and I once visited the Elder Mind. Whatever you need me to do, I can get it done for you."

He was introducing his supporters so that the stranger wouldn't think too little of him.

Lucien was amused. "I'm only here to ask directions. There's no need to be so serious."

If he couldn't find any information, he would have to go to the King of Nightmare.

"To ask directions…" "Finn" felt that he was about to vomit blood.

Suddenly, clings echoed nonstop as Sharon and Constantine's manacles and shackles broke off one after another, but there were no unusual waves in the whole room at all.

This… This is even more unbelievable than the Elimination blood power… "Finn" had witnessed many bloodlines, but he had never been through this before. He did not know what the power was at all.

Right when Sharon and Constantine were about to express their gratitude in excitement, Lucien smiled and said, "So, I was meaning to ask why the Observer's Castle nearby was moved away."

...

Ten minutes later, Lucien left the castle in satisfaction.

According to "Finn", the Observer's Castle was still here yesterday, but the headquarters of the Dark Congress sent a message and called for all the legendary members.

It seemed to be a motion from Danisos, the primordial dragon of time, and Dracula, the vampire prince. They wanted to truly unite the Dark Congress. After all, the Congress of Magic, the Church, the Elven Court, and the Boundless Ocean were more and more powerful nowadays, and the Dark Congress could not remain as divided as before.

It was what "Finn" learned from the Elder Mind. He was rather panicked about the sudden disappearance of the Observer's Castle.

Considering that "Finn" provided satisfactory intelligence, Lucien did not kill him but simply put the shackles and manacles on him. Generally, those tools worked only on people below the senior rank, but Finn hadn't entirely recovered.

As for what would happen later, it would be none of his concerns.

"It can be rather difficult to stop the division and the internal strife of the Dark Congress. Is Dracula willing to contain himself and live in peace with the werewolves?" Lucien shook his head with a smile and planned to join the meeting while he was visiting Mr. Rhine. "I hope that brains will not be flowing everywhere on the ground by then…"

Chapter 772: Confrontation

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

After making it through the difficulties, the tiny bit of sunlight finally penetrated through the clouds and the fog in the sky that was full of gaps, as well as the dense crown and the leaves of the tree, leaving gold spots of light on the dark and cold mountain.

Crack.

A thick foot wearing a knight's boot stomped on one of the gold spots, collapsing the rotten leaves piled on it and breaking a branch that was hidden among it.

Nasdell, the werewolf who was following him, thought to himself in surprise, Why did the prince fail to control his foot? Was he considering something important?

It was Dubenal, the werewolf prince, who was walking in the front. He had silver-gray short hair and a brawny body, with arrogance all over his face. One could easily tell that he was a legendary knight who was adept at melee battles.

Dubenal was wearing a strange black armor. It was not as clumsy as the full-body armor, and it did not have the small pieces. It was more like a leather armor that was crafted with the materials and skills for full-body armor. He played with many stones in his hands as he said in an unpredictable tone, "Nasdell, are you surprised?"

"My prince, how did you know?" Nasdell blurted out in shock. The prince was able to tell what was on his mind without resorting to the supernatural powers at all? He truly deserved to be the smartest of werewolves and the most cunning schemer!

Dubenal squinted and looked at the pillars of light that leaked in through the dense leaves. It was so clear and brilliant that he saw grains of dust flying in the air.

"I know that you must be wondering why I did not go to the Valley of Fiery Stone through the Portal to Alternate Realm but decided to walk slowly in the forest."

The Valley of Fiery Stone was where the Dark Congress was headquartered.

Well, I was only wondering why you failed to control the force of your foot. Wait, I did not find it strange that the prince chose walking at all. It would take us hours before we could reach the Valley of Fiery Stone! I'm still too far away from the wisdom of the prince that is as boundless as an ocean. I did not notice the most obvious anomaly, and the prince had to enlighten me in person!

Nasdell, who always considered himself smart, was stunned at first. Then, he understood the "thoughtfulness" of the prince. Half ashamed and half touched, he couldn't have admired the prince more. "Yes, my prince. I was indeed surprised."

Haha. Dubenal chuckled without a sound. Your mind is too easy to read. As the most clever prince of werewolves, I can easily know what you are thinking.

"This meeting is summoned by Danisos and Dracula together. They're hoping to unite the Dark Congress into a well-organized group, instead of a loose organization where nobody is under any restraint, in which case internal strife might burst out when everybody has their own thoughts.