Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After she returned to Allyn, Heidi did not go to the Task Zone to report the case, or to the Sorcerer Administrative Department to ask the senior-rank astrologers to deal with the files and items involved in the case of evil magic rituals, but to the external part of ‘Babel’ and enter the ‘Atomic Universe’ under the lead of the servant.
She felt that there were many weird things in the matter, and that she had to report it to her teacher.
Inside the Atomic Universe, the real Babel Tower rose into space from the planet of iron, releasing a fantastic sense of beauty.
“Good afternoon, Your Majesty.” Heidi saw Natasha the moment she entered and hurried to greet her, somewhat in a panic. She admired Natasha’s character and lifestyle, so she was rather nervous when she was faced with her.
Amused by Heidi’s awkwardness, Natasha scratched her chin and asked, “I’m not a monster who feeds on human flesh. Why are you scared of me?”
“No, I’m just…” Heidi hurried to explain.
Natasha waved her hands and interrupted her. “Your teacher is waiting for you.”
“How, did my teacher know that I was coming?” Heidi’s anxiety was relieved now that they were talking about business. Before Natasha replied, she talked to herself, deep in thought. “I summoned the power of master’s demiplane. Perhaps, Master paid attention to what happened around me at that time.”
While thinking, she came to the library under Natasha’s lead and saw her teacher smiling at her on the chair behind the desk.
Lucien was still wearing the double-breasted suit. His hair was slightly longer, and his monocle was glimmering under the illumination of the sunlight from the window. “I basically know what happened before. Give me the files and items.”
“Master, I don’t think that it’s as simple as that. There seems to be something deeper and weirder to this magic ritual…” Heidi handed the files and items over to Lucien.
“I know. I will discuss with Mr. President, my teacher and Granny Hathaway. You were very keen. It’s true that the appearance of such evil magic rituals can be misleading.” Lucien browsed through the files. “You will submit your mission later. The rest of this incident will be too much for you to participate in.”
Heidi nodded solemnly. “Alright, master.”
As the queen of Holm, Natasha naturally paid enough attention to the matter, too. It was not until Heidi left that she looked at Lucien gravely and said, “I feel that it’s related to the seven primeval devils. Cutting the guts was only a superficial procedure, and what they really wanted was the feeling of pain… Viken knew that you discovered his identity and therefore exposed the way of transformation through primeval devils without bothering anything, so that internal conflicts would burst out in the kingdom and the Congress first?”
“Greed, the source of all troubles.” Lucien sighed. “It’s impossible to investigate whether Viken asked the night watchers to disseminate it or somebody else was behind it. We can only fight back in other ways while we focus on our own business in secret.”
Natasha nodded and slightly frowned. “The primeval devils are very tricky and can hardly be completely purged. Thankfully, the blood power of ‘Sword of Truth’ is a bane for them. Lucien, have you finished the analysis of your legendary spells? Are you ready to advance into level three of legendary?”
For the grand arcanists, there were barely any obstacles in the first three levels. Since Lucien had published enough important papers in the past two years, he was only half a step away from level three. However, it was a major challenge to reach the peak from level three. Until Lucien published the new alchemy, there had only been two peak legends among the Congress! Also, Oliver, Hellen and Vicente hadn’t made the breakthrough even in the age of the grand development of arcana.
As for the leap from peak to demigod, of so many top legends after so many years, only Thanos and Viken achieved a flawed success. It’s not hard to imagine how difficult the process was!
“I’ve already analyzed ‘Snow Goddess’s Anger’ and ‘Silent Blue’ and obtained the information I wanted. I’m now improving ‘Snow Goddess’s Anger’ with my new discoveries and turning it into a new legendary spell.” Lucien did not keep anything from Natasha and introduced his work.
As a matter of fact, it was easier for him to advance than it was for other grand arcanists, because ‘Eternal Blaze’ was already shaped in Lucien’s cognitive world although it was a spell that only level-three legends could learn. He could make a breakthrough under the assistance of magic rituals easily.
Right now, Lucien had constructed nine legendary spells inside his soul, namely ‘Atomic Fission’, ‘Vengeful Gaze’, ‘Space Staff’, ‘Evans’ Hand of Uncertainties’, ‘Luxury Cracking’, ‘Abrupt Magic Reverse’, ‘Mental Fulmination’, ‘Storm Barrier’ and ‘Mirror of Fate’. After the improvement of ‘Snow Goddess’s Anger’ was completed and the spell was successfully constructed, he would reach the summit of level two of legendary and advance with ‘Eternal Blaze’.
Natasha looked at Lucien curiously. “Improve? You’ve learnt a lot from the two ice-type legendary spells?”
“Temperature manifests the thermal movement of molecules. The more intense their activity is, the higher the temperature will be, and vice versa. When it comes to the legendary level, the regular temperature-reducing methods can only achieve poor results. So, I need to analyze the two ice-type legendary spells, find the part on their models that reduces the temperature, and relate it to actual arcana significance…”
“The result is similar to my anticipation. My time to reconstruct the model can be saved, and I only need to make improvements to some degree. Also, such a method will play an important role in the studies in the microscopic domain.” Lucien pointed at the files on the desk and said.
Natasha was somewhat interested by what Lucien said. “I’m told that the legendary sorcerers of Cabin of Palmeira have been relatively weak because they do not understand the arcana significance of the ice-type legendary spells and can only construct them brutally with their spiritual power and shallow understanding. As a result, those spells are hard to learn and cannot achieve the best effect.”
“Ms. Hellen is almost one of the best arcanists, but she had to construct ‘Snow Goddess’s Anger’ by force when she learnt it, too.”
She grew even more curious as she talked. “What exactly have you obtained?”
“…” Lucien thought for a moment and tried to describe the idea of restraining molecular movements by the magnetic field or the laser as simply as possible. That would make the ice-type legendary spells even closer to absolute zero.
Natasha’s eyes lost focus as she listened on. She rose abruptly and tried to smile, “I need to practice my blood power now. I’m feeling that I’m closer and closer to the realm of legendary!”
Watching Natasha flee in amusement, Lucien shook his head and picked up an invitation from his drawer, on which it wrote:
“Dear Mr. Principal: The sorcerers of the college are full of confusion and frustrations regarding the development in the microscopic domain and the new alchemy. Even the faculty can barely understand them. We wonder if we can invite you to hold an open class for us, so that the mist on the teachers’ and students’ path forward can be cleared…”
Lucien was deep in thought. Suddenly, he tapped the invitation and opened his mouth. “Pinocchio, ask Leo to go to the Holt Magic College and tell them that I will hold an open class about the microscopic world in one week.”
As he spoke, he looked at his magic laboratory. The materials that he exchanged ‘Hundred-eye Ghost’ for and the countless improvements and modifications could finally be put into use now…
“Understood, my lord.” Pinocchio replied merrily, as carefree as ever.
……
Inside the conference room of the Highest Council…
Lucien introduced Heidi’s mission report and concluded, “Obviously, this is very similar to ‘Viken’s Special Summoning Ritual’. The ritual to cut the guts and transform into a living corpse was meant to fill the sorcerer with pain. He was strengthened not because of the ritual but because the devil of pain had been projected into his heart.”
Douglas picked up the topic. Looking around at the members of the Highest Council, he said solemnly, “The detailed files about the primeval devils are reserved to the senior-rank sorcerers, and the sorcerers of such a level wouldn’t mess with the treacherous devils unless they have special reasons. Therefore, I suspect that Viken intentionally leaked the real way to become a demigod, which tempted certain sorcerers…”
“From the incomplete files we grasped, we know that it’s enough to become a demigod by transforming into primeval devils. They also need to gather the power of faith. Therefore, we have to investigate cults. I’ll ask the Holmish Church to cooperate with us. I hope that we do not overlook the problem.”
All the members fell into a brief silence except for Fernando and Hathaway who heard about it earlier. However, there was no telling whether it was because they were shocked or for other reasons.
After a minute, Brook broke the silence. “Such cults are highly hazardous and must be curbed. We must not show any mercy even if anyone of the Highest Council is involved.”
He seemed suspicious that some legendary sorcerers or archmages were behind it and therefore warned them in advance.
After giving everyone a reminder, Douglas added, “Based on the Pathway of Immortality and Lucien’s transformation experience, the mysteries of demigods are related to quantum superposition. We can find safer ways by studying the microscopic world. There’s no need to march forward at the risk of being corrupted by the primeval devils.”
Vicente, Atlant and the other members of the Highest Council all nodded in approval. After more than a year, they respected the experiment results and acknowledged the probabilistic explanation, but just like Douglas and Fernando, they believed that probabilities and uncertainties were not the nature of microscopic particles but because of other hidden factors. As long as the ‘external conditions’ were found, it would be able to introduce the microscopic status into the macroscopic world, thereby embarking on the path of demigods.
With dawn and hope ahead, naturally, nobody was willing to walk on the dangerous sideway.
After the meeting, Lucien, Douglas, Fernando and Hathaway discussed the earlier problems. Suddenly, Douglas said, “I’ve constructed the model of ‘Gravitational Lens’ and realized that the distance of the planets we calculated before is wrong. So, I plan to prepare for another super-remote space jump in the next two years to search for planets.”
Lucien looked at Douglas without being surprised. “Mr. President, I believe that planets exist, but I don’t think your attempt will succeed. If it’s purely the problem of the gravitational lens, the enigmas at the end of the Boundless Ocean wouldn’t exist, and we would see our planet after we jump into space.”
Lucien had a few guesses about the matter, but he had to confirm many things first.
Douglas nodded his head. “I know, but I have to give it a shot. Perhaps, I’ll find something interesting there that will offer clues for us to solve the puzzle.”
As he spoke, his voice became lower. “I’ve improved a few legendary spells and almost created a legendary alchemical device that can support the double-slit experiment with electrons. I believe that there will be a conclusion about the microscopic domain very soon.”
“Of course.” Lucien took a deep breath.
