Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
A few days later.
The tall silver-gray tower reached all the way up into the cloud, featuring its elegant curves and lines. Compared to the many other magic towers owned by the senior-ranks, which more or less looked gloomy, Lucien’s magic tower was a good match to the starry sky and had some kind of unique taste in it.
“Hmm… A musician’s fantastic magic tower,” commented Rock, who was still quite whimsical even though he was already a third circle sorcerer now after the several years.
As an expert in Astrology, Lucien had to observe the stars, so a tall magic tower made sense. However, it seemed that the color and the shape of this magic tower were almost too unique and eye-catching to match Lucien’s even-temperedness. However, considering the fact that Lucien was also a musician, the guests present all accepted the design.
Louise fancied the design of the magic tower quite a lot. It suited her taste much better than the traditional, gloomy-looking towers and castles. She smiled and said to Lucien, “Mr. Evans, you also have a very good taste in architecture. I’d appreciate it a lot if you can offer me some opinions for my villa’s reconstruction in the future.”
Although Lucien had told her multiple times that she could just call him by his name, Louise was still being the same respectful. After becoming the host Nightingale of the radio programme, Louise made quite a lot as a second-circle sorcerer. Therefore, she bought herself a garden villa in Allyn where property price was rising day by day.
“Did you name it, Evans?” Asked Samantha casually with the same indifferent look on her face.
Normally speaking, a sorcerer would not bother naming their magic tower. A name was usually saved for the demiplane. But Lucien was not only a sorcerer, but also a artist.
Lucien grinned as he stepped on the stairs. “I call it Babel.”
“Babel…?” Lazar and the students repeated the syllables confusedly. They had never heard the word before.
K was about to ask, but stopped himself when he saw the mysterious smile on Lucien’s face, knowing that this was probably Lucien’s little secret.
“Welcome back, my Lord. Welcome, distinguished guests. I’m Pinocchio. The brave, loyal, and honest Pinocchio.” The silvery voice of the alchemical life rang.
Lucien pointed at the gradually opening silver-gray metal gate and said, “this is Pinocchio, the tower guard.”
The guests greeted the tower guard although they had no idea what did such a name mean. Through the gate, they entered the hall, in which there was a metal sculpture of a huge wheel in the center.
“The Wheel of History. That’s what the sculpture is called.” Introduced Lucien.
Rock first burst out laughing. “Ambitious, Lucien, ambitious! But I’m sure the last thing you lack is ambition. A future grand arcanist who put forward New Alchemy will never lack ambition. No matter it is the Church in the South or North, they’ll be completely crashed by the wheel of history!”
“Despite bendings and windings, history keeps progressing,” said Lucien in a good mood.
The magic tower would be his first real home in this world. Here, with the magic tower, Lucien would be able to protect himself against the attack of a ninth-circle.
Samantha nodded lightly. “Your mind is sober. New Alchemy did not lead you to arrogance.”
Although the special supplement New Alchemy of this month’s Arcana had not yet been published, most sorcerers present had enough background and had thus already read this era-changing paper.
After reading the paper, the younger generation, including Samantha, Rachel, Larry, and Ulysses, held deep admiration for Lucien, but also felt a bit depressed. Before New Alchemy came out, Lucien was a leading rival of his peers, and chasing him up was a shared goal among the younger arcanists. The goal was almost unrealizable, but it was there. However, now they had realized that Lucien was no longer one of them. Lucien should be in the team of the legendaries, standing beside those including Douglas, Brook, Hathaway, and Klaus. They were too far behind to catch up.
This caused the feeling of helplessness among them.
“Underestimating your enemies is underestimating your own life.” Lucien looked at Samantha and said with a smile, “I’m not as talented as you all think. Like I said before, the study of the atom is such a brand new field in which even the smallest finding can lead to the discovery of a much bigger secret. In this field, there is so far no authority and no difference between us. When conditions are ready, we can all find something amazing. I just took a step ahead, and it does not mean that no one can catch me up. Being young and open-minded is the most valuable thing.”
Samantha looked into Lucien’s serene eyes and knew that he meant it, instead of just being humble out of courtesy. She put on a sincere smile and said, “What a pity… I’m good at the school of Element.”
The rest of the guests, including Larry, K, and Lazar, nodded thoughtfully. They knew what Lucien just said was true.
Lucien pointed up at the sky and said, “the macroworld is as important.”
“Sir, can we take a visit to your lab?” Before Samantha could respond, Heidi asked curiously.
Lucien nodded and then led them to the elevator and then to the underground level. On their way, they walked past the spare energy room, the binding rooms, the underground magic garden, and arrived at the vast lab.
Most of the magic circles and alchemical facilities in this spacious lab were easily recognized by the sorcerers present. However, they had no clue what the two metal halves placed in the high-magnetic, vacuum magic circle in the middle of the lab were.
The two silver halves engraved with magic patterns somehow resembled the style of the magic tower.
“This is a cyclotron for accelerating charged particles. If any of you want one, my design plan is available in the Exchange Zone.” Lucien briefly introduced how the machine worked to them, which was a smart and secret way of luring his friends.
Although the Congress did help Lucien out to some degree with this far-beyond-budget magic tower by selling the materials to Lucien at much lower prices, Lucien still had used up all of his savings in the past three years to improve his magic tower to an even higher standard to prepare for the future upgrades, so he was now in great need of extra arcana points.
Lucien was impressed by his own pace of progressing. Although he had made quite a fortune from the projects and papers, he was still far from being rich compared to those senior-rank sorcerers who had lived over a hundred years and thus had enough time for accumulating wealth. Lucien found his budget beyond tight, especially that he was seeking for the best materials for everything.
“What’s this then?” Asked Larry, pointing at the sealed box connected to the transmitting part on the top, on which there were many thermodynamic magic circles.
“It is a cloud chamber, for assisting alchemical experiments,” answered Lucien.
“Cloud chamber? For what?” K asked.
“When it is turned on,” Lucien smiled and explained, “it is filled with supersaturated vapor. When an energetic charged particle passes, it will be ionized, leaving a mist-like trail of ionized gas particles looking in the form of droplets. So we can observe and record the trace of a particle better.”
“I can’t believe I never thought of it!” exclaimed Ulysses, who specialized in the school of Thermodynamics. The observation of particles in the microworld had always been a big problem in their study. While lots of sorcerers were still working on improving amplification facilities, Lucien had solved the problem using vapor.
Louise and Heidi said simultaneously, “san we take a look?”
Lucien nodded and turned the cyclotron on.
In the box, elegant mist-like trails suddenly appeared against the dark background. The beauty of the curves was stunning.
The lab, for a while, became silent.
……
After taking the tour in the lab, Lucien led the guests to the banquet hall. When the senior-ranks including Raventi, Gaston, and Isabella arrived, the banquet began.
In the cheerful atmosphere, Lucien presented eight pieces of piano bagatelle, and he also played the violin, impressing all the guests present.
When the performance part ended, the guests started talking to each other casually. Seeing the scene, Lucien suddenly felt a bit lonely. He knew that he was missing his friends and family in Aalto.
Lucien found a chance and snuck out of the hall and came to the balcony. Then he cast Electromagnetism Messaging.
“Hey, good evening, Lucien. Congratulations on your magic tower.” Natasha’s cheerful voice soon came.
Lucien also grinned. “Good afternoon, I’m celebrating.”
“What a pity I can’t be there. But still, congratulations, the Fallen Angel.” Natasha joked, “His Holiness is creative when creating these titles.”
Lucien replied seriously, “I’m only studying the particles in the microworld for the sake of arcana. But I think the experiment results show that the God of Truth has already handed human beings and nature the power of creation as a gift after the world was first created, and now the God of Truth only serves as spiritual guidance.”
For the sweet future, Lucien had been working on gradually shifting Natasha’s religious belief.
“So you’re saying… God is in our hearts, and the Church has been lying to us?” Natasha didn’t seem to be bothered. As long as Lucien was not indicating anything profane, she was fine with it.
Lucien answered decisively, “of course. Ms. Meredith was also a good person, right?”
Natasha giggled. “Alright, this isn’t my point. The thing is that when the Church started calling you the Fallen Angel, I began picturing you in an angel costume, you know, like the one in an opera. It’d be even better if you are equipped with a pair of wings.”
“I remember the costume for angels is usually genderless…” Lucien knew what Natasha was thinking.
Natasha burst out laughing, but with a hint of guiltiness. “Yeah… yeah… By the way, why the signal wasn’t as good when I called Granny Hathaway?”
“The communication satellites still need further improvements. Mr. Douglas has been working on this in recent years,” answered Lucien.
As a result, the plan of having satellite constellations was falling behind.
Natasha said thoughtfully, “but the quality of our conversation is… You know what’s wrong, right?”
Lucien chuckled but said nothing.
Natasha knew when to stop asking questions. Then she released a gentle sigh. “The mysterious dimension has been found, and my mentor has set off to follow the Pope in there. Every time when I think of the battlefield there, my blood runs fast and I feel beyond thrilled. But I know I am not ready yet. However, His Holiness has also asked all the radiant knights and above to get prepared as the reserve force. If there’s something wierd with the dimension, we will join in.
“If the day comes, I’ll lead the nobles in Violet into the dimension.”
Facing such a situation, the royal house must send a representative to be the leader. It would be either the Duke or Natasha, otherwise, the others would not obey heartily.
“I’d like to go, too.” Lucien said implicitly. The words he omitted were “with you”.
Natasha laughed, “Come on. None of the legendary sorcerers would pick on me, but you’re different. The entire Church wants you to die. You’re such a troublemaker!”
Their conversation did not last long, as Lucien could not just leave his guests alone. After knowing from Natasha how John and his family were doing, he had to end the call.
Turning around, Lucien saw Samantha looking at him from a distance with a plate on her hand. On the plate was steamed fish, a dish improved by Lucien that was favored by all the guests.
“I didn’t hear anything, but I can tell it from your face. Besides magic and arcana, some space in your heart is still saved for that lady.” Samantha sighed out of disappointment and then turned around without hesitation.
In the Congress of Magic, there were much more sorcerers who were single. Although they did pursue marriage just like common people, longevity made many of them lose their beloved ones. Also, some were deprived of desires, mostly the liches, so they chose to become single again. Rarely were there couples who both had the power to live very long.
Among them, the grand arcanists had the lowest rate of marriage — Douglas, Fernando, Hathaway, and Hellen were all single; Vicente Miranda’s wife had passed away a long time ago, and rumors said that until today, his biggest dream was to truly bring his wife back to life. Brook’s wife fell in the assassination of the Church; Oliver was the only one among them who had a sweet family.
……
In the underground caves of the Night Highland.
Augustus the Elder was praying to the God of Steam attentively.
It had been a few years, and the Night Highland was getting more and more dangerous. The dwarves were still waiting for the guidance from their god.
