Chapter 437: The Undercurrent

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Mr. Annonis.” Lucien, Levski, and the others greeted Annonis respectfully.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He wondered if he could learn something from Felipe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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