Chapter 226: The Reaction
Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Vermillion
The highest council took this cooperative research project seriously, and also the project was related to the elements and souls, so most of the arcanists from Allyn that were familiar with these two fields were asked to join the research, including the middle-rank arcanists from the Arcane Review Board like Raventi, Gaston, Locklynn, and Pesor. They were the ones who were qualified and had the ability to verify the submitted articles.
A temporary article verification location was set up in a mansion in Sariva and all the arcanists who joined the project would be able to submit their research results without wasting any time.
Lucien saw Woods from Common Arcana journal coming from the other side of the hallway as he stepped out of the room that was full of magic circles.
“Greetings, Mr. Woods. I didn’t expect to see you here. I thought you were an expert in force field and astrology.”
“Greetings, Evans. I’m a subeditor of the Common Arcana and I need to find if any result of the arcanists can be published in our magazine. The knowledgeable arcanists of the element and soul department all joined the research project, but our journal is not big as Arcana or Magic, so I need to find the good articles myself.”
Woods smiled and nodded slightly, he had already become the subeditor of Common Arcana due to the matter of the periodic table about two weeks ago. The arcane points he received for finding a new element were high, and it also proved that the periodic table worked. Woods had stayed at level four for too long as an arcanist but it seemed he would finally have the chance to advance to the next level in about one year.
There was a golden mustache on Woods’ face. He looked at Lucien and said. “I heard that you were ambushed by someone after I got here and I went to your room, however, the maid told me that you were here… Well, it seems like you’re doing fine and it’s great.”
Lucien’s face was still slightly pale and his body was almost recovered, however, his transformation robe needed to be repaired.
“Thank you, Mr. Woods. I was just caught in the fire, the assassins were going after Mr. Felipe, and they didn’t do any actual damage to me. I activated the elemental ring that was at a much higher level than myself, and that was why I got hurt,” Lucien walked as he explained.
After Raventi and Gaston took Lucien back to the mansion, Larry, Timothy, and Ulysses all visited him, but most of the others were not aware of the situation. Iristine, Arcelion, and other elves had no idea about what happened, so Lazar and some of his other friends had not come to visit him yet.
Woods’ brow furrowed. “You can recover from such damage easily but there’ll be consequences for your soul and your body. Your life expectancy will be shortened. It may not be a big problem for you as you’re very likely to become a senior-rank sorcerer before the age of 50. Anyway, don’t do that again if you don’t have to.”
The two chattered as they walked to Lucien’s room. Woods chuckled as they stopped at the door, it seemed the room reminded him of something. “Wait, you were stepping out of the article submitting location when we met, right? Did you just finish an article?”
“Yes, it was the result of this week’s research. It’s about the three alchemy substances that can help the food grow and how to make them in batches.” Lucien smiled and pushed the door open, it sounded like he was just talking about a regular article.
Woods was a bit surprised, he looked at Lucien. “I’ve seen your reports of the project. It seems like you have reached the bottleneck. However, I can’t believe that you solved the problem like it was nothing just several minutes ago.”
“I got the idea from the research results on the reports submitted by the arcanists. I also analyzed the combination of wood, grass, fertilizer, and the feces. That was how I found the three water-soluble alchemy substances.” Lucien asked the maid to pour a cup of tea for Woods.
Woods sipped some black tea from the cup and smiled. “Interesting. If the three alchemy substances can be mass produced, our food output would be greatly increased, so the sorcerers and knights will become richer. Also, Mr. Evans, your article will be recognized by the council.”
Woods grew up in Allyn as a member of a sorcerer’s family and he had no idea how hard life could be. The man was a middle-rank arcanist and he was at a much higher position than the farmers or the poor. It was just a temporary emotion that he had the compassion for farmers or the poor and Woods did not think Lucien’s article was that important. The project was taken seriously by the Congress simply because the members of the highest council wanted to study the divine spells of nature.
“I hope so,” Lucien sipped some tea from the cup and responded calmly.
Woods put down the cup and spoke in a serious tone, “Evans, can you let us, the Common Arcana journal, publish your article? Although it’s still the first half of the month, next month’s Common Arcana will be cited a lot more than usual if one of the major discoveries of the project can be included in our journal ahead of the time.”
Lucien smiled. “I’ve said that I’ll keep contributing to your magazine if I have the chance. Mr. Woods, you’re the first editor that talked to me today, so yeah, if my article can be verified by the members of the council, I’m willing to publish it on the Common Arcana.”
“I thank you on behalf of the Common Arcana, Evans. Can I have a look at the article, please? I want to see how I should arrange it in the next month’s journal,” Woods asked politely. Lucien just submitted his article and Woods did not want the man to get suspicious.
There was no point for Lucien to reject the request. He took out a copy of the article from the bag and handed it to Woods. “Sure, it’s fine. I also submitted a report to the council members when submitting the article for reference and everyone will be able to read it tomorrow.”
Woods grabbed the article and started reading carefully, although Lucien Evans started studying arcana just several months ago, two of his articles were taken very seriously by the council. The second one he published was a revolution to the elemental sorcerers, so Woods had to be extremely careful when dealing with Lucien’s article.
“So, the plants can only absorb the elements from the water-soluble substances?” Woods decided to ask since the author of the article was right in front of him.
Lucien did not elaborate on the question but he still answered, “Based on the result of the experiment, yes.”
Woods sipped some more tea and turned to the next page. He praised the contrast test designed by Lucien as they discussed the content of the article. Then, Woods moved to the last part of the article as they chatted: the discussion on mass producing the mentioned alchemical substances.
He grabbed the teacup as he finished reading the experiment on handling the phosphate ore with sulfate and he wanted to change the topic to the mass production of magic circles, however, the title of the page, “Experiment and Discussion on the Artificially Synthesized Carbamide”, caught his attention.
The tea spouted out of Woods’ mouth. Lucien was sitting to the right of Woods, but he was still caught by the water mist.
Lucien wiped his face and questioned, “What happened, Mr. Woods?”
“Evans, do you know what you’re implying here?!” Woods stared at Lucien and there was fear in his eyes. He lowered his head and quickly scanned through the design and result of the experiment. “Did you really synthesize carbamide with just the gases?” Woods muttered, unable to believe what he had just read.
He was not a sorcerer that focused on the soul, but it still took him some time to calm down.
“Evans, did you finish the experiment by yourself?” Woods stared at Evans in the eyes.
Lucien faked a confused look on his face and responded, “Yeah, I completed the experiment with magic circles and alchemy circles. What’s the problem, Mr. Woods?”
“Evans, don’t you understand how important this experiment will be and how big of a problem it will cause?!” Woods shouted as he could no longer control himself.
Lucien shook his head, stilling looking confused. “I don’t understand. Please enlighten me.”
“What the f*ck. Again?” Woods cursed and put his right hand on his forehead, trying to calm himself down.
…
After the investigation in the morning, Raventi and Gaston returned to their reading rooms as the only thing they found out was that the assassin was Traquair. Some of the council members tried to cast the Horoscope to learn more about the incident but they were interrupted and failed to get the accurate result. The had to ask the legendary sorcerers to cast the Horoscope and spells like Prophet’s Sight to find more traces later.
“Mr. Gaston, these are the articles that need to be verified today.” The elemental servant brought three articles to Gaston and put them down on the desk. The other articles were sent to the mid-level arcanists like Larry.
Gaston noticed the familiar name on the first article he grabbed: “Lucien Evans X.”
Gaston asked his elemental servants to send all the articles done by Lucien Evans X to him after the incident.
“Well, the young ones are doing well with their experiments but we’re having trouble progressing with the study on the origin of the divine spells and the mind of nature even with the help of the grand arcanists… Is it impossible for us to study such things?” Gaston sighed as he read through the article. Furthermore, Malfurion would be returning to Stroop Forest the next day.
They all knew that the Church was just trying to scare them, but it was a good excuse for the Royal Elf Palace and the elder council of the druids. The only thing that could change the situation was a revolutionary discovery.
Gaston tapped on Lucien’s article slightly with his fingers. “Will Malfurion stay here for several more days if we use the findings of this article as an excuse? However, this was the reason why he joined the project, and so he won’t cast any divine spells for us even if he decides to stay…” While thinking about it, he turned to the next page and the title was, “Experiment and Discussion on the Artificially Synthesized Carbamide”.
Gaston trembled slightly as it felt like his backbone was shocked by electricity. He suddenly straightened his back and focused on the content on the page. His expression turned serious as he stood up and quickly charged into the magic laboratory.
