In a magic lab.
Staring at the white particles with a light touch of red color in the reactor, Gaston cast Identification in a serious manner. When he got the result, his weird-looking dark-yellow eyes narrowed and he murmured, "It’s really carbamide… Carbamide could be synthesized without using any life ingredients…"
After staring at the particles for a while, a sarcastic smile appeared on Gaston’s face, "Those guys who play with bodies all the time in Hand of Paleness are in trouble now…"
Because of their different beliefs and competing interests, there had been a long history of friction between the Will of Elements and the Hand of Paleness. As the director of the former, Gaston had a poor relationship with many senior-rank sorcerers from the latter. Now, seeing the evidence that Life Force Theory might soon be overthrown, he was certainly in a schadenfreude mood. Gaston’s own meditation environment only had a very limited connection to Life Force Theory, so he did not need to worry about himself at all.
He wondered why Lucien put such an important experiment in his project paper. He wanted to know whether Lucien had ever heard about Life Force Theory. In Gaston’s mind, he tended to believe that it was more likely that Lucien knew nothing about it, or he would definitely be influenced by this classic theory, and he would not be able to conduct his experiment outside the theoretical framework. As for Lucien’s gift in arcana, Gaston had no doubt toward it at all. In Gaston’s mind, Lucien had a rigorous way of thinking, the courage to make bold hypothesis and the spirit to seek for proving. Furthermore, now Gaston felt that Lucien’s ability in doing experiments was also impressive.
"Bang!!"
When Gaston was about to leave the lab, the lab door was broken open, and the magic circles on it were broken as well.
"Who is that?!" asked Gaston in an alert way. Instantly, he was covered by a colourful spherical shield.
Seventh-circle spell, Magic Reverse Enchantment.
"Gaston! Did you see the paper from Evans? The last part! The experiment of synthesizing carbamide!" Raventi was really loud.
After staring at Raventi for a few seconds, Gaston sighed, "Knock before entering, please."
"I’m too excited for that!" Raventi did not really care, "I asked you, did you read the paper… Wait, you’ve tried it as well?!"
Raventi saw the reactor on the other side of the lab and the white particles in the magic glass tube.
Gaston made a gesture to ask Raventi to lower his voice, "Yes, Mr. Raventi, I’ve proved the validity of Evans’ experiment, but I think that there’s still lack of a piece of decisive evidence, as the Hand of Paleness might not admit carbamide to be a life ingredient. By the way, Mr. Raventi, did you show the paper to anyone else?"
"No one except you." Although Raventi had a pretty bad temper, as a level-nine arcanist, he was not an idiot. He instantly understood why Raventi asked it, "You want to hide the paper from those necromancers first until there are any decisive findings?"
Gaston nodded seriously, "The keywords for the paper are Element and Alchemy, so technically speaking, the paper does not have much to do with the school of Necromancy. In other words, most likely, those necromancers haven’t read the paper. My only concern is that, on Evans’ side, he might have talked about it with other people already."
Gaston was more than happy to have this chance to attack the Hand of Paleness with some decent research findings.
"I do not agree with you, Gaston." Raventi shook his head seriously, "This is an overturning finding. Unlike some unique spells being created, this kind of finding should be revealed to the public as soon as possible, so more arcanists can join the discussion, and thus the decisive evidence, if there’s any, can be found in the shortest period of time. Gaston, you still remember the fundamental spirit that the Congress of Magic builds on? Exploration of truth and candid communication!"
After thinking a bit, Gaston nodded, "All right. I’m just concerned that the upcoming great debate might put Lucien in a dangerous place."
"Let Lucien move into the house between ours," answered Raventi quickly, "But before that, I need to talk to the druid leaders to test validity of the first part of Lucien’s paper, so they can see some hope in increasing grain yield."
"Evans, now, do you understand how important Life Force Theory is in the school of Necromancy?" Woods just spent about ten minutes on explaining the theory to Lucien.
Lucien put on an "ah ha" look, "Yes, thank you, Mr. Woods. As I specialize in the school of Element and Astrology, I really had no idea about what it was, not to mention understanding its importance in history. But, Mr. Woods, I still don’t know why this is related to my carbamide synthesizing experiment?"
"….." Woods was speechless. What Lucien just said proved that he was literally from ancient magic background, as he did not have some common sense in contemporary magic system.
"Well…" Woods tried to make it easy and simple, "Carbamide is a life ingredient… or say, most people regard carbamide as a life ingredient. There’s no clear definition of life ingredient."
Lucien said in a half-joking way, "Mr. Woods, does it mean that my paper’s accidentally overthrown Life Force Theory? Is my paper gonna get a high rating? Maybe I can win the Immortal Throne award?"
"It’s hard to say, as there’s no decisive evidence in your paper. Some stubborn necromancers might not admit that Carbamide is a life ingredient." Woods frowned, as he was also influenced by the theory, "If I were you, I would not be looking forward to winning Immortal Throne award, but be rather watchful after the news comes out tomorrow. You know, some stubborn and insane necromancers might…"
"I’ll stay in the manor for the following several days, which is very close to Mr. Raventi and Mr. Gaston," answered Lucien. "Mr. Woods, are you still gonna publish the paper?"
"Of course, this is gonna be the first paper on the next issue of Common Arcana, and I think there are gonna be more articles discussing your experiment coming out later, so we can collect those articles and put them there as well." Woods planned in a smart way.
At this time, Raventi’s voice came in from behind the door, "Are you in there, Evans?"
"Yes?" Thinking of all those mathematics and arcana exercises that he had not finished yet, Lucien opened the door reluctantly.
Raventi was still wearing his black magic robe, on which the order of the elements had been rearranged, "Gaston and I have reviewed your paper and the final rating from Arcana Review Board has been sent back. By the way, move into the room next to mine as soon as possible."
"I will." Lucien hurriedly nodded, and then he started reading the rating result, "The paper has successfully provided several solutions with regards to whether and how alchemical products can facilitate the growth of plants. Therefore, it is of some importance and can be quite pervasive. Among the several experiments designed and presented in the paper, the experiment focusing on synthesizing carbamide reveals, excitingly, the possibility that a classic theory, Life Force Theory, might not be valid, and this is overturning, which makes the paper rather worth of great discussion. In conclusion, the paper is overturning and of great value, thus a reward of fifty arcana credits and three hundred arcana points is given to the author."
"All of your three papers have received very high comments," Woods said a bit emotionally. As an arcanist who was already close to level five, among so many papers he had submitted, unlike that of Lucien, only a few were spoken highly of. So, Woods was feeling a bit depressed.
After a while, he cheered himself up a little and asked, "Will the project still go on? It sounds like you’re still staying for a few more days, Mr. Raventi."
"Yes, Mr. Malfurion has decided to send some druids back, while he and the rest of the druids will stay longer to see if the alchemical product discovered in Evans’ paper can really solve their problem," answered Raventi, looking quite serious, as Malfurion had made it clear that they would not cooperate with the arcanists to let them study the Mind of Nature anymore.
"By the way, Mr. Lord of Storm and Ms. Hathaway, after reading Evans’ paper, have made the decision that any arcanists who join this discussion can get some credits, and papers cited in the discussion can still get citation credits as well."
The great significance lying in the periodic table of elements still required more time to reveal itself, and the establishment of a new field also needed time. Therefore, the great return of the periodic table of elements was not there yet.
Meanwhile, overthrowing an old, classic theory could be even more influential.
The early morning the second day, Menshaque, a necromancer from the Hand of Paleness, was reading the project newspaper with a plate of buttered bread in front of him.
As a senior member of the Hand of Paleness, Menshaque was almost four hundred years old, and he had already turned himself into a lich. He did not need to eat, but he ate for pleasure. Menshaque was a level five arcanist, seventh-circle necromancer, and in this project working with the druids, he was in charge of a research group.
"The Method for Large-scale Production of the Several Useful Alchemical Products Found in Oat Planting Experiment and the Discussion of Their Proper Use?" The paper instantly drew Menshaque’s attention, as he wondered if those guys from the Will of Elements had figured out anything. Although the necromancers also had made some progresses, such as using life force to stimulate the growth of plants or using the undead to farm, the popularity of these methods was still a problem.
After reading the paper for a while, Menshaque’s bony hands with only a thin layer of skin covering them started trembling.