Chapter 157: Theory of Life Force
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
“Professor?!” exclaimed some of the apprentices.
Step by step, Lucien walked to the stage, under the gaze of several hundreds of people.
The necromancers and apprentices who did not want to join the Hand of Paleness were encouraged, but soon they started to feel concerned, since they did not know if Professor was powerful enough to face this crazy man, even though his name was on the Cleansing List.
“Is Mr. Professor gonna be okay?” Fatty asked one of his companions carefully in a low voice, with his teeth clattering.
“Of course…” answered the stout apprentice, Bread. He was trying to comfort Fatty and also himself, “You think anyone can be on the church’s list?”
“How do you know Mr. Felipe is not on the list as well?” interjected Wine. Both Wine and Garrupa were still feeling very unsure.
Interesting enough, when Lucien was walking toward the stage, his mind was divided in two opposite thoughts: part of him felt extremely nervous and afraid, however, the other part of him somehow felt the whole thing a bit funny, out of the great pressure.
Felipe’s eyes were freezing cold, “Mr. Professor, what do you want to say? I already did what I didn’t want to do, and it’s impossible for me to back away. If you can’t give me a reasonable explanation, I think either you or me will die on this stage.”
The corner of Lucien’s lips twitched a bit. He really wanted to suggest Felipe to sit down and have a cup of tea first to calm down a little bit before their conversation.
Despite all these thoughts, Lucien answered calmly, “I’m from the Will of Elements, and I don’t really mind the fact that the Hand of Paleness is trying to grow by recruiting more people.” The last thing Lucien wanted to do was piss off Felipe right away.
Felipe was confused, “What do you mean? Why are you here, then?”
The rest of the necromancers and apprentices were surprised to know that Professor also belonged to an organization from the congress.
“I’m here because I don’t like your way of recruiting people.” Then Lucien changed his tone, “No one should be forced to join anything, and correspondingly, no one should blame anyone else for the following consequence.”
“Very good.” Felipe applauded, “But, what if forcing people is exactly my style?”
Felipe was pushing Professor to his limit, and he was ready for a bitter fight.
At this time, Lucien switched the topic without directly answering Felipe’s question, “Also, I don’t agree with you on what you just commented on the School of Element. I’d like to further discuss it with you.”
“What comment?” Felipe felt even more confused now.
What did Professor want to do?
“According to what you just said, you think that the foundation of the human body is life force, and without the integration of life force, only the elements can’t be synthesized to build any part of the human body, such as blood, muscle, or all kinds of impurities, right?” asked Lucien with patience.
Felipe did not expect that Professor actually wanted to argue with him about this topic right now on the stage, and he laughed, “That’s the case. And the secret of human body is not what you, a bunch of people who play with elements all the time, can understand.”
“What your statement is based on?” asked Lucien.
“Mr. Professor, from all the researches conducted back in the time of the ancient magic empire until today’s mainstream belief in the congress, I can’t find anything that made me doubt the theory of Life Force. Even the church admits that life force is the essence of human body. When there is no life force, a lost limb can’t grow back. The only difference between the Church and us in understanding life force is that while they believe that life force is given by God, we’re still seeking for the answer from the origin of the world.” Felipe confidently elaborated his belief, “A couple of decades ago, several senior-rank mages attempted to synthesize human muscle only with elements but failed, and at that time, even you Element sorcerers admitted that this was not going to work. Now you want to totally overthrow the research foundation built by all the previous arcanists and sorcerers? Are you kidding me?”
For sure, Felipe’s words were both aggressive and persuasive. In his world, since the theory of Life Force was the foundation of the School of Necromancy, it could not be shaken and would not be shaken for eternity.
The rest of the necromancers and apprentices felt the same way as Felipe. Since they never experienced the time in which arcana knowledge exploded, they still respected and highly praise the Book of Necromancy just like pious followers worshipped Canons. Although they knew that Professor was helping them, the necromancers and apprentices still felt that what Professor was trying to say was ridiculous.
Even the viscount, who was only watching everything going on the stage with his glass of wine, started to get a bit more excited, since basically Professor was trying to challenge the foundation of arcana.
That was exactly what Lucien wanted to do to distract Felipe.
Lucien looked around the hall and noticed that Sidney was the only one who still looked serious.
“It looks like only Mr. Sidney is on my side?” asked Professor, “Mr. Sidney’s the only one who is not laughing at me right now.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Professor. My face, because of the transformation ritual, cannot make any facial expression,” answered Sidney with the same face.
A bunch of people chuckled.
“What if I say, Mr. Felipe,” Lucien turned around regardlessly and said to him calmly, “that I can synthesize parts of human body only with elements or non-life force materials, do you believe that?”
On Earth, the field studying organic matter had also been dominated by the theory of Life Force for a long time in history. However, in the 19th century, when acetic acid, carbamide and other organic matters were artificially synthesized successively, this secret of the theory was completely revealed.
Everyone quieted down in the hall.
“It’s impossible. Who do you think you are… a Holm Crown prize winner?” Felipe laughed, “Stop saying nonsense! Speak your true intention!”
“I think Mr. Professor’s just trying… trying to play a joke,” mediated Cessy.
“Only a real experiment can speak for me.” Professor continued, “If you don’t believe my words, do you want to make a bet with me?”
“What the hell do you want?” Felipe asked furiously.
“If I can synthesize something contained in the human body without using anything that carries life force, you will tell everyone here who is the liaison from the Congress of Magic in Sturk, and let them decide on their own whether they should join the Hand of Paleness or not. If I fail, I will apologize to you, and then leave the feast immediately. What do you think?” asked Lucien.
