Chapter 206: Persistence
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
For other people, publishing a paper on this or on the next issue of a journal might not make any difference, as long as the journal itself was influential enough. However, for Lucien, the reason why he forced himself to complete this paper at the beginning of this month was that he wanted it to be read by most arcanists as soon as possible.
“Any chances that my paper can still be published on this month’s issue?” Lucien was still looking for some hope, “What about putting my paper at the end?”
“I’m sorry, Evans, but I can’t. We’ve already informed the sorcerers that we’re gonna publish their papers,”said Woods decisively. Although he thought Lucien was a promising young man, it was not enough for him to run the risk of pissing off other more important sorcerers because of a level one arcanist.
Lucien’s back was straight, and there was still a smile on his face, “Mr. Woods, I know you’re still feeling hesitant with my paper, but I hope the appendix of my experiments’ record at the end of the paper can make the paper more persuasive. Although I haven’t been able to prove that all the atomic weight of the several elements mentioned in my paper are wrong, my experiments’ results have showed that some are definitely not accurate, as implied in my periodic table.”
Woods shook his head, “Even if your experiments could prove that, there’s still not enough evidence showing that your paper is reliable. I’m sure that several of your assumptions are not correct.”
In Woods’ eyes, this paper was like one of the many papers from before, that studied the order between the elements. There was nothing special here in Lucien’s paper.
“Maybe it’s because…” Lucien stopped himself from calling these elements isotopes, but said it in a more implicit way, “because of some reasons that we haven’t discovered yet, thus we’re not able to measure the elements properly using our existing methods…”
A pair of isotopes were two elements with the same number of protons, but different number of neutrons. As they were similar in nature, isotopes could be quite confusing. However, Lucien didn’t dare to put forward the concept thoughtlessly, as the understanding of elements in this world was still at the stage of atoms.
“You’re a level one arcanist, Evans,” said Woods. “Those who measured the elements were arcanists of at least level five.”
What Woods was trying to say was very obvious.
“Then… I’m sorry, Mr. Woods, I’m afraid I need to turn Common Arcana down, as I believe in my research.” Lucien bowed to Woods politely.
Woods did not feel offended, as he had seen many young people stubborn, or say, persistent, just like Lucien Evans. So he stood up from his chair and said, “I don’t blame you, Evans, but if you cannot find other journals to accept the paper, you’re always welcome here.”
Lucien picked up his paper on the table and nodded sincerely, “Thank you very much, Mr. Woods.”
He knew that he still had one last option, and that was taking the risk of seeking help from Holm Royal Magic Academy and the Will of Elements using the ring. After all, he was being quite suspicious in the eyes of the Hand of Paleness anyway, and of course, no one knew what would happen if Lucien decided to do this.
Now, Lucien was even a bit taller. Wearing black top hat and long coat, his persistent look left Woods with a deep impression.
…
Around ten days ago.
On the fourteenth floor of the magic tower, in an exclusive lounge.
Looking at the paper in his hand, Rogerio smiled and shook his head, “Young people are really full of the spirit of challenging authority. They’re brave, fearless, and crazy.”
Although Rogerio did not know what Lucien was doing in the past month very accurately, since Adol could not follow Lucien everywhere, he knew that Lucien’s recent paper passed the review of the board but was rejected by some journals. So he went to Common Arcana Library and bought a copy of the paper.
It did not take Rogerio long before he stopped reading the paper, since he was one of the arcanists who measured Termirick. At that time, he adopted several different measures to come to the result, and the result was supported by several influential arcanists, so he never doubted his research outcome.
Putting down the paper, Rogerio’s fingers were tapping the desk. He was considering how to let Lucien show up in front of some middle-rank sorcerers in the Will of Elements, so he could watch their reactions if they recognized Lucien to find more about this mysterious newcomer.
…
Before heading to the branch of Royal Bank of Holm in Allyn, which, according to what Natasha mentioned to him before, was the highest bank in this world, Lucien came back to the school first. As once he showed the ring to the Will of Elements, he might not be able to come back very soon, therefore, he needed to inform his friends, students and the schoolmaster in advance.
“Did your paper get accepted?” Rock, Jerome and K asked Lucien as soon as he came back to school.
They knew that Lucien’s second paper had been rejected by Alchemy and Element.
“No…” Lucien put on a calm smile, “It’s turned down by Common Arcana as well.”
“Come on… Then why they invited you there?!” Rock was a bit angry.
Jerome took a glance at Rock to stop him, and then he comforted Lucien a bit.
When Lucien was about to find a some excuses for a short-time absence, K said to him, “Evans, I know an arcanist who’s one of the editors of Element, and his name’s Igna. He’s a nice person, and I’m thinking whether you’re willing to go to Rentato with me, so we can have dinner together.”
Although K was not sure whether this would work, he still offered his help. K hoped that someone could carefully read his colleague’s paper again without any biases.
Lucien was very surprised, but very quickly Lucien took a deep breath and said, “Thank you, K! I’m leaving for Rentato with you!”
Lucien wouldn’t let any opportunities slip away.
…
After lunch, Woods took a little break, and then he walked into his lab in the magic tower vigorously. The following two hours was his own experiment time, and it wouldn’t be disturbed by any of his work.
Somehow, when Woods turned on the alchemical circles and was about to continue yesterday’s experiment, Lucien’s words appeared his mind, and he picked up a bottle of purified element in front of him.
“He was being quite stubborn… Maybe I can take a look if the measurement is right… Anyway, it won’t take too much work.” Woods murmured to himself.
If he could find any mistakes in the current record of atomic weight of the elements, he would still be getting quite some credits.
According to the regulation of the congress, as for basic statistic such as atomic weight of an element, the first sorcerer who correctly measured it and the following five sorcerers who proved the statistic was right shared the total citation credits by a ratio of 3: 2: 2: 1: 1: 1 within one year.
As an experienced middle-rank sorcerer, as expected, Woods finished his first experiment measuring the atomic weight of one element that was pointed out in Lucien’s paper that was measured wrongly.
“Umm… Evan’s right with this one. There is some slight mistakes in the previous method of the atomic weight.” Woods nodded.
After using two other methods, Woods was sure that the previous measuring way was not right, and Lucien was right.
Then Woods continued to measure other elements.
As time went by, his face looked more and more surprised. If one right answer could be just Lucien’s good luck, he did not know how to explain why the following experiment results all proved that Lucien was right, as they fit in his periodic table of elements perfectly.
Lucien’s persistent look and what he said appeared in Woods’ mind again.
Hurriedly, Woods stopped walking back and forth in the lab and rushed into this office. He quickly picked up a quill and started writing,
“Dear Lucien Evans,
“We think your paper is of great value, and we hope that Common Arcana can publish your paper on this month’s issue…”
Suddenly, he stopped writing, balled the paper up and threw it into the waste basket. Grabbing his coat and hat, Woods rushed downstairs.
“To Douglas,” said Woods to the coachman.
Flying was forbidden in Allyn.
