Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
Oliver also looked at Lucien and adjusted the gold-rimmed spectacles on his nose, “So… Lucien should become the member of the review board and be responsible for deciding what kind of findings can be regarded as being subversive, right?”
“His way of thinking is pretty subversive.” After about a minute, Hathaway commented short and brief.
Morris also added, but in a bit unhappy way, “Recently we’ve got quite a few pieces of shocking news all from Lucien. Obviously, he has his own unique understanding in the current arcana system and he is not restrained in his own thoughts and beliefs. He’s capable of putting forward these subversive points of views and thus it’s reasonable for us to believe that he will also be open-minded enough for the job. Also, he’s not a senior-rank yet, and this makes him even more suitable for this position.”
The reason why Morris was unhappy was that he clearly knew that this finding would again win Lucien another Holm Crown prize. Morris needed to raise the rewarding standard of the prize. Morris had no idea since when the old standard—making a breakthrough contribution to the field of Element and being able to leave a footprint in the history of element magic—became so easy to achieve?
The vault of the Will of Elements gathered its wealth from the gains of the grand arcanists, legendary archmages, archmages, and senior-rank mages when they explored the other dimensions. Although the wealth came from the parts that the powerful sorcerers did not need, the value was still very considerable, plus the Will of Elements’ additional income from their alchemical industry and the rewards from the daily tasks, Morris was able to give out the prize once a year without digging deep into the vault, as long as the prize-giving did not happen two to three times a year.
Hearing that, the other senior-rank arcanists all nodded silently. Obviously, they could not do the job. Although this time they were fine with accepting the new idea, it was because before today they had already doubted the atom theory.
Therefore, choosing a young and creative arcanist was a good option.
Being stared by the many arcanists, Lucien felt that he deserved this.
“I agree. But as for Lucien’s rank and reputation… I’m not sure…” Oliver shrugged.
Lauren also had the same concern, “He’s only a level five arcanist, fifth-circle sorcerer, I don’t know if he’s capable of reviewing all the papers, and whether his judgment is reliable enough.”
Fernando responded, “Although he still has some problems in mathematics, in Element, Thermodynamics, Light-darkness, Electromagnetism, Force Field, Alchemy, and Astrology, he’s no inferior to other senior-rank arcanists. People think he’s not qualified simply because he’s too young. He can be the one judging whether a finding is a breakthrough and whether it’s subversive, and then the paper can be handed to other arcanists for further review.”
Arcana level was an important standard, but not the only one.
“If his arcana level is six, it shall be good enough,” Hathaway said all of a sudden. The look on her face was still cold.
A level six arcanist was a senior-rank arcanist.
Lauren doubted again, “Your Excellency, Lucien Evans’ paper hasn’t proved that the newly-discovered particle is part of the inner structure of an atom, so the paper was only going to bring him four hundred to six hundred arcana credits. With all the citation credits, I have to say that he’s still far away from becoming a level six arcanist.”
The finding of a new particle was very valuable and it deserved a very considerable reward. Compared to the periodical table of elements, the discovery of the new particle brought the arcanists and sorcerers one step closer to the truth of the world. According to the tradition, the reward should equal that of Brook’s finding which proved that light was a kind of electromagnetic wave. Brook got a thousand credits, and Lucien would probably get half because his paper had not proved the relationship between the new particle and an atom.
“You’ve forgotten our recent discussion?” Raventi roared at Lauren, “The influence factor of Arcana has been decided to be three. It will be put into effect next month!”
Currently, Lucien had four papers on Arcana, and the influence factor meant that the citation credits that Lucien got would be three times more than what he was gaining right now by the end of next month. It was very hopeful that Lucien could get more than two hundred credits every month.
“Raventi, you’d better remember that right now there’s a trend, and that’s why the citation of Lucien’s paper is bringing him this many credits. I don’t think the trend will last long. Even if it can, it’s still going to take Lucien Evans another four to five months to become a senior-rank. We can’t make him a review board member right now! People won’t believe in him!” Lauren refuted.
Knowing that the trend of the heated discussion on Lucien’s new findings was actually going to last for a quite long time, Lauren was just trying to postpone the decision and make it end up with nothing definite.
Many arcanists and board members agreed. The tradition that the board members must be senior-rank arcanists should not be broken.
Raventi also calmed down a bit and nodded. In his eyes, Lucien becoming a member of the board was just a matter of time.
“He can reach level six right now,” Hathaway said to the rest of the room.
All the people present, including Fernando, were a bit confused. They wondered where Lucien could get eight hundred to nine hundred credits right now.
Morris was the first one who understood what Hathaway meant. He turned to Lucien, seeking for his opinion.
Lucien also understood what Hathaway was suggesting, and he nodded seriously.
Morris turned around and there was a forced smile on his face, “The designer of Miracle Experiment is Lucien.”
Arcana’s above. That meant another Holm Crown Ring, or probably plus an Immortal Throne award!
The meeting room was completely shocked. Many arcanists and board members were right now staring at Lucien as if they had never known him before.
“He… designed the experiment?!” Lauren could not believe his ears.
The fact that the experiment could produce the life ingredients in the synthetic primitive environment naturally was a great shock to every single arcanist, including the ones who did not stick to the theory of Life Force—every arcanist wanted to dig into the secret of life.
Facing this kind of response, Lucien could see his rank on Cleansing List rising like crazy.
“Morris! You can’t speak it out!” Raventi was very angry.
Although he saw Lucien nodded, Raventi did not think that Lucien was ready enough to handle the great threat from the Church.
Morris smiled, “Although the discovery of the new particle can’t strike the Saint Truth as severely as Miracle Experiment, it is still subversive to the improved divinity system. No matter whether Lucien is the designer of Miracle Experiment, Lucien is going to be stricken by the Church either way. Also, when Felipe’s name got into the top hundred list, he was only of the fifth-circle. I don’t think Lucien was inferior to him at all.”
“Hathaway has kept the secret for a really long time,” said Douglas very kindly to Lucien. “Today, I finally got to know who designed the experiment which I really liked. The experiment has revealed many things to us. You’re the most outstanding young man I’ve ever seen, and I think you’re qualified enough to be a member of the review board.”
Fernando rubbed the side of his forehead, and he felt that his student was pretty much a big trouble.
As the member of the board in the field of Element and Alchemy, Gaston grinned, “The credits for Miracle Experiment should be around six hundred. Plus all the citation credits, Lucien should be able to get close to a thousand credits at once. Also, Lucien has the new paper on the newly-discovered particle. Basically, Lucien’s a level six arcanist already, and the only thing he needs to do is to update the badge. You still have any problems?”
“None,” Lauren said in a bit pissed manner.
Lucien was very likely to be the one who was going to win Holm Crown prize for three times, and also likely to be the future winner of Immortal Throne award. And right now he was of level six. Lucien was definitely qualified to be the member of the review board!
Oliver slightly nodded and agreed. Douglas announced, “In the future, when submitting papers, the author has to note whether the paper contains any subversive findings or viewpoints and whether the finding conflicts with any currently existing theories. If yes, Lucien shall be the one reviewing the paper.”
“Congratulations, Mr. Evans,” Morris said to Lucien with a bitter smile.
He was the youngest member of Arcana Review Board in the history ever!
