Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
After the warm applause, Douglas smiled. “In the past month, many arcanists, including me, have proved the existence of cathode ray based on your findings, and the experiment you just showed us is of good validity. We can say it preliminarily that it’s a new particle smaller than an atom. As the one who discovered it, you’ve got the right to name it.”
Although Lucien’s paper on the finding of cathode ray would not be published on Arcana until the month, the arcanists and sorcerers present had all read it.
“Let’s call it… electron.” Lucien decided to stick to the name that he was familiar with.
“Good. Pretty nice name. The electron will lead us to take our first step into the microworld, and it’s a great progress for us to approach the truth of the world.”
Douglas lectured to the senior-rank arcanists, trying to turn this great theory shift into the glorious victory of arcana, “But we shouldn’t just be proud of it. We want to take a step back and think: why gas, when discharging, can produce the stream of electrons? What kind of properties does an electron have? What is its precise mass and charge? Is it related to an atom? What is the inner structure of an atom? Can an electron be further divided? We need to keep working on it.”
That was very typical of Douglas, and Lucien found that hearing Douglas’ lecture was bringing him some slight headache. Now he had realized why Fernando had given Douglas the nickname – Hundred Thousand Whys. From Fernando, Lucien had got to know that, when conducting Miracle Experiment, Fernando and Douglas were also present watching him from upstairs, and thus they had heard Lucien’s response to the hundred and thousand questions.
Lucien turned to look at Fernando. Fernando slightly lifted his chin.
At this time, Oliver grinned and said, “Mr. President, let’s give Evans some time. He’s the main character today.”
Douglas laughed, “My apology. I am being too excited. Let the young man take the stage.”
“Evans, I’m very curious, and I’d really appreciate it if you can share with us how you jumped out of the cage of the current arcana system.” Oliver smiled elegantly, “You know, Florencia’s a firm supporter of atom theory and I need to spend time on gradually changing her viewpoint. Don’t take me wrong… I’m not forcing you. If you want to keep it to yourself, I’m fine with it.”
Oliver was not the only one being curious. Even Fernando slightly straightened his back, wondering how his student’s way of thinking was like. Hathaway was the only one who remained the same cold and quiet.
Standing in front of the grand, senior-rank arcanists and legendary archmages, Lucien was very confident, “In fact, I do have a personal philosophy belief that I would like to share with your Excellencies. In my opinion, there are also differences between truths. Some are absolute truth and some are the relative truth. Absolute truth refers to the essence and the law of the world. It does not change because of the proposal of any new theories, and, that is, the truth we always endeavor to seek for.”
The easy smile on Oliver’s face slowly disappeared. Frowning slightly, he looked more serious.
“But due to the limitation of our knowledge, our way of thinking, the ways we explore the world, and our physical and mental capabilities, we can only get close to the absolute truth as possible as we can, but finally obtain the relative truth in the end which applied to a certain range. This kind of relative truth can only serve our needs within this certain range, and when the range is exceeded, the relative truth will turn itself into an error.”
Fernando’s red eyes squinted, while Douglas’ body leaned backward, trying to find a more comfortable position to rest. Hathaway posed her chin on her right hand, and unconsciously and gently rubbed the arm of the chair, just like how Natasha usually did when she was thinking.
“Therefore, many of the theories that we have overturned are not simply meaningless, as they are the relative truths under certain conditions. However, with the development of arcana system, the range of our exploration has exceeded the conditions when they were first established, so now they have turned out to be wrong, and even absurd. For example, in the most ordinary alchemical reactions when producing the most common potions, based on our observation, an atom is indeed the most fundamental unit, and it is the relative truth in this condition. Also, I once asked myself why the ancient magic empire still managed to develop itself into a great power and had produced so many legendary archmages despite the fact that many of their beliefs have been criticized by us right now as being completely ridiculous. I am convinced that it is because their beliefs are some relative truths that work under some certain circumstances.”
All of the arcanists, even including Raventi and Lauren, never expected that such a young arcanist like Lucien would have this profound and well-developed insight. They thought that Lucien’s accomplishment was from his energy of youth, intelligence, and courage.
“As we explore further, the real world is getting closer and closer to us, the range that the truth should serve also needs to be expanded, and the relative truth is approaching the absolute truth. However, the world is so big while we are so tiny. It is definitely safe to say that, for a very long time, we can never obtain the absolute truth, but the relative truth is getting closer to it step by step. And thus we have to be mentally prepared that our truths can turn into errors at any time. Therefore, we should always keep in mind that the truths recognized by us right now are not the ultimate answer that we are looking for. We can use them, and we can trust them, but we should also know that the truths only work within a certain range. Therefore, we can be more ready when facing the subversive findings.”
When giving the speech, Lucien was also working on solidifying his own philosophy belief, and also preparing himself for the future cognition shifts. Also, he hoped that his sharing could inspire some of the arcanists and sorcerers.
However, he was also aware of the fact that it was very hard to change one’s belief once it was established, which was especially true when it came to sorcerers and arcanists. There was no way that their belief could be transformed by Lucien’s single speech. If one could restrain one’s subconscious and completely control one’s body and mind, in the world of the Earth, the person would not be regarded as a common human being anymore.
Therefore, in the future, there were definitely going to be more sorcerers who would have their heads exploded from the collapse of their cognition world; there were still going to be sorcerers arguing with each other or even killing each other because of the conflicts of their beliefs; and there were also going be sorcerers who would fail to use the new theories and philosophy belief to guide their own practice. Lucien was just hoping that what he was saying could help some of them.
After the speech, silence presided in the meeting room for a while.
Then, Douglas first applauded, “Very good point! Very good philosophical belief! Lucien’s words explained why the ancient magic empire managed to grow successfully and how the Congress has come all the way. We’ve grabbed some of the truths in our hands, but we cannot follow them blindly. We should ask more questions, more whys. Lucien, you are more mature than I thought. I’m not talking about age, but here.”
He pointed at his head, “I have nothing to worry even after you became that member of the board.”
It was obvious that Douglas loved philosophy very much.
The words discussing the absolute truth and the relative truth made many senior-rank sorcerers think, but also, they still felt more or less suspicious towards the claim, because many theories and laws in the arcana system looked so valid and solid that it was hard for them to doubt it.
After a round of short discussion, the senior-rank arcanists started to leave, as they needed to go back and tell their students and friends the problem of atom theory as soon as possible, and thus gradually enabled Lucien’s new finding to spread out, hoping that the most of the sorcerers could change their viewpoint slowly.
“Lucien, when your paper is published… I will talk to the senior levels… about your next Holm Crown prize,” Morris said to Lucien word by word. And the look on Morris’s face was sophisticated, but there was definitely sadness in there.
“I am totally fine with it.” Lucien did not want to further upset him.
Morris nodded, and when he saw that Raventi had already left the meeting room, he put on the smile again and said, “In fact, Miracle Experiment is enough to win you the Immortal Throne award… I mean, you don’t really need another ring, right? Ha, I’m just joking. Don’t mind me.”
Morris hurriedly walked away when noticing that the Lord of Storm was approaching.
…
A few days later, in Cole’s magic tower.
A gas servant was about to give its master a letter, but found the message left by the latter, “I’m doing an experiment with my teacher. Leave the letter following the keywords.”
Therefore, the gas servant opened the envelope and started to read the letter to get the keywords:
“…Cole, it’s really hard to believe that my teacher, Lauren, has discovered the conflict between the periodicity of the elements and the atom theory. He said that there was going to be something even smaller than an atom, which goes the opposite way with your belief! Atom is very possibly not the most fundamental unit of all of the substances. In fact, the substance is just people’s illusion. Energy should be the essence of everything!”
…
In Heidler, the headquarter of the Hand of Paleness, over the meeting among the senior levels.
“Recently, there are rumors spreading out that the theory of atom is problematic, and many senior-rank arcanists have pointed out many problems in atom theory.” Rogerio gently knocked on the table with his knuckles, “It is weird.”
Pesor sneered, “What is weird about it? Obviously, there has been a new experiment showing that atom theory might be wrong. The Congress is trying to slowly change the viewpoint of the arcanists. We have done the same things before.”
“Very possibly. Unfortunately, we don’t know what kind of experiment it is, or we could really teach the Will of Elements a harsh lesson,” said a senior man in a venomous way in the corner.
Felipe, sitting in another corner quietly, looked up and said sarcastically, “Mr. Sousa, you think right now we could really do this without letting the Congress know? You think they are all idiots?”
Under the great pressure from the Congress, at least in Allyn, the conflicts between the powers and parties remained relatively reasonable.
“But if somehow we get to know what the experiment is, it is going to be their fault.” Sousa put on a cold smile.
The meeting ended earlier after the task of figuring out what the experiment was given out.
When getting back to his own magic tower, Felipe said to his servant directly, “Bring the recent papers from Lucien Evans to me.”
When Felipe started to read the papers again, the look on his face became more and more serious, “They are all about cathode ray… Particle stream… negatively charged?”
…
In the Radiance Church in Holm.
A secret piece of information was sent to the room where the several red-robed cardinals gathered.
