Throne of Magical Arcana - Chapter 529

Chapter 529: Busy Lucien

Lucien respected the honorable archmages who were dedicated to arcana studies like Raventi. He smiled and said, “I just got this issue of Arcana and haven’t read it yet. However, if that is the paper you would like to discuss with me, it shouldn’t be a problem, as I communicated with His Excellency Oliver in my teacher’s place a few days ago.”

“You discussed with him?” Raventi was slightly surprised. Oliver and Lucien were not associated in his impression, and Lucien should be the last person that Oliver turned to. However, Raventi soon found a reason. The Hand of Annihilation must’ve been over to discuss with the Lord of Storm, and Lucien happened to be there at the same time. Therefore, he was invited to join the discussion.

After thinking it through, he asked impatiently, “Do you think that the length of materials will be reduced when they move against ‘Ether’? Is it necessary to explain His Excellency Douglas’ experiment from the perspective of ‘Ether’?”

Raventi was one of the Elementalists who was relatively open-minded but had his own persistence. He could accept that atoms could be subdivided, but he could not imagine that materials could be reduced in length during movement on their own without the integration of spiritual power.

“First of all, this is just an assumption, exactly like the assumptions that many supporters of the wave theory came up with before. It shouldn’t be treated with bias because it is proposed by a grand arcanist.” Lucien repeated what he said to his students earlier. Then he said, “Also, I don’t think it’s the reduction of the materials. If the reduction is real, I think it is more likely to be the reduction of space…”

Heidi and Annick both realized why their teacher was so calm after hearing the conversation between Lucien and Raventi. It was only because he had read it in advance.

“How cunning of you!” Heidi secretly complained in her heart. Then, the same thought came to Katrina and the rest of them, they listened to the discussion between their teacher and Raventi attentively, referring to the journal in their hands now and then.

After a long time, Raventi finally cut off the communication in great satisfaction. Lucien raised his eyes, only to see six pairs of eager eyes. They seemed rather relaxed, as if their previous anxiety had been cleared after he expressed his opinion.

“Master, I’m still confused about this.” Katrina hurried to ask. Their master was on their side after all!

After Lucien explained their questions, Annick frowned and asked in confusion, “Master, you mentioned earlier that you are inclined to neither particle theory nor the wave theory? Then what is light exactly?”

When he mentioned it, Heidi and the other students recalled the topic that astounded them a moment ago. They all looked at Lucien with confusion and worry.

Thinking for a moment, Lucien retained his serious attitude and said, “If you drop your preconceptions about the wave theory and the particle theory, and if you consider really based on the experiment phenomena and results, you will discover that light shows both the features of particles, as suggested by the photoelectric effect and the Brook scattering experiment, and the features of waves, as suggested by the double-slit experiment, the diffraction experiment and the Brook spots. Therefore, both the wave theory and the particle theory have shortcomings that they cannot overcome, and they cannot depict the light completely. I believe that waves and particles are unified on a higher level, except that they have different projections in reality.”

It was the first time that Lucien explained the question in front of everyone. It was more of a psychological warm-up for his students.

Annick and the other students were deep in thought after Lucien’s explanation, but they seemed more puzzled.

Lucien did not intend to continue the War between Wave and Particle. So, he shut his mouth in time, planning to return to his office and peruse Arcana of this issue. At night a few days ago, his cognitive world suddenly had hazy, cubic stripes all of a sudden, which were similar to the structure of a new legendary class that Fernando had mentioned repetitively. It made Lucien suspect that somebody had proved a certain prophecy in the ‘new alchemy’, but it was not about neutrons, the most important of all.

Lucien could’ve found the neutron on his own after repetitive experiments. However, his magic level was not adapted to his cognitive world yet, and he hadn’t learnt a lot of regular magics. Because of his unconsolidated foundation, there might be hidden problems if he allowed for grand changes in his cognitive world. After all, even if the new legendary class was constructed, he couldn’t put it into use for now.

Lucien believed that in a year or two, when his knowledge about seventh-circle and eighth-circle magics was abundant enough, and his magic level had been stabilized, it would be the best opportunity for him to ‘discover the neutron’.

When he was about to step away, Lucien felt that his monocle became hot again.

“Lucien? Have you read the latest issue of Arcana?” It was Gaston’s voice this time.

Lucien sighed with a smile. “I just discussed with His Excellency Raventi about it…”

They discussed it for a while. Gaston expressed his ideas and listened to Lucien’s opinion. In the end, he said, “I barely discussed arcana questions with you before. You are more distinguished than I expected. What other suggestions do you have regarding His Excellency Oliver’s paper?”

“I feel that his transformation matrix can be applied to many other places. It may be worth studying.” Lucien mentioned it subtly.

Gaston was certainly unable to capture Lucien’s meaning between the lines yet. He smiled, “I also feel that the matrix can be used in many other research frontiers. Right, Lucien, I don’t think you have heard yet. The Arcana Review Board has decided that with your expertise, you should not only be responsible for the revolutionary papers. A well-deserved authority, you should be in charge of the review of your fields.”

“What fields?” Lucien grimaced. Ever since the untrained arcanists discovered that they could not make a breakthrough in his place, he hadn’t reviewed any paper in a whole year and almost forgot that he was a reviewer. After all, there weren’t many revolutionary papers.

However, Lucien did not refuse the Board’s decision, because reviewing more papers was also an exercise and a way to obtain inspiration. Even the papers that cannot be passed might bring him a new insight.

Gaston smiled, “All board members agree that you are an authority in elements, alchemy, thermodynamics and mathematics. All the papers in the four domains may be forwarded to you. Also, you will also be responsible for the quantum photon papers in the school of Light-darkness and the papers related to X rays and electrons in electromagnetics. Is there a problem?”

So far, although Lucien had won the Prize of Immortal Throne and the Silver Moon Medal, nobody really considered him an authority in necromancy and electromagnetism, not to mention horoscopes, illusionary, transformation or summoning that he hadn’t made any distinguished achievements in them.

“Not at all,” Lucien replied.

Gaston praised him, “Lucien, you are the most amiable one of all the gifted arcanists that I’ve seen. One other thing. I am planning to establish an institute that belongs to myself like you. However, in the microscopic field, the resources of the Congress will surely be invested in the Atom Institution. Therefore, I’m planning to study something else other than the new alchemy. Do you have any suggestions? Is there any field worth paying attention to in the school of elements?”

Lucien could already imagine similar institutions and research centers growing larger and larger in number. Sorcerers were no fools. After the new alchemy was proposed, other than confirming his talents, they must’ve realized the advancement of such a research methodology — both in terms of results and in terms of funding.

Thinking for a moment, Lucien replied solemnly, “I believe that the studies on synthetic living matter is far behind the current development of arcana. It’s a field worth digging into.”

“Thank you.” Gaston thanked him sincerely.

After the conversation ended, Lucien looked at the students who hadn’t left due to curiosity with a smile, until they almost crept out.

“Master, anything else?” Heidi, the boldest of all, asked in a shivering voice. Were there still quizzes and exams? They were almost middle-rank sorcerers!

Lucien shook his head. “Don’t worry. I’ve found something for you to work on.”

That’s exactly what we’re worried about! Layria and Sprint put on bitter smiles.

“As you may have heard, I will shoulder the full responsibilities as a member of the Arcana Review Board. Therefore, as my student, you have to help me with the review on the papers alloted to me.” Said Lucien solemnly.

Sighs echoed. Sprint, Katrina were surprised at first, because it was certainly amazing to review other people’s papers, but very soon, they were all frustrated.

Chelly said timidly, “Master, while our arcana level is now three or four, and we are some sort of middle-rank sorcerers, that’s because what we are in touch with is the most cutting-edge stuff in the elemental field, and it’s easy for us to obtain arcana credits.”

“In fact, it’s been only four years since we graduated. We haven’t grasped enough knowledge or done in-depth research in many fields. I fear that there will be many problems if we review other people’s papers. Even you may be blamed.”

Including Sprint, who was often the most confident one, all the students nodded in agreement. One might trip himself if his step was too wide.

“This is exactly the way for you to build up your knowledge. I will re-review every paper you review. Whenever an error is discovered, the reviewer will have to write a report to be about why they made the error and what they can learn to avoid it. For the record, my re-review will be meticulous and rigorous in the first few years until you know what you are doing.” Said Lucien solemnly.

“Yes, master.” The few students immediately agreed with it.

Heidi, then rubbed her cheek in relief and smiled, “In fact, reviewing papers is not bad. It will help us to build our own knowledge system as soon as possible. I freaked out a moment ago, because I thought that master was assigning ten knowledge points and exercises to us like before.”

“A great proposal. I’ll prepare a quiz for you when I have time. Hopefully, you won’t be lonely before you become archmages.” Lucien had thought to modify the Course of Theoretical Physics[1] directly, but too much knowledge about the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics was in it. After the general acceptance of the two theories improved, his students and more arcanists would definitely ‘enjoy’ it.

“What?” Heidi’s face was pale, as she felt the eyes of Sprint and other students who were going to tear her apart.

If she wasn’t lonely before she became an archmage, she would certainly be lonely for the rest of her life…

At this moment, the smile on Lucien’s face was like the smile of a devil.

……

After dismissing the scared students, Lucien began reading the papers. Very soon, he noticed an article which was titled ‘An Analysis On the Spectrum of Hydrogen Lines Based on the New Alchemy’.

“…So, they found the Balmer[2] formula based on the theories, which befits the experiment result.” Lucien realized the source of his gains. It was different from Earth where the formula first came up based on experience.

When he was about to read the paper more carefully, Lucien’s monocle became hot again.

“Who’s calling me this time? What a busy day…” Lucien complained, as he hadn’t enjoyed a moment of peace in the whole morning.

[1] The Course of Theoretical Physics is a ten-volume series of books covering theoretical physics that was initiated by Lev Landau and written in collaboration with his student Evgeny Lifshitz starting in the late 1930s.

[2] Johann Balmer, a Swiss mathematician, discovered (1885) that the wavelengths of the visible hydrogen lines can be expressed by a simple formula.