Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After the Journey of Discovery, the picture on the screen was not switched back to the studio like just now. Instead, a pure and blue sky appeared together with the melody that everybody was familiar with.
In the center of the sky, a shuttle-shaped metal object was floating. It was streamlined and bright-colored, giving a strong visual blast.
“What is this program?”
“Are they going to let us experience flying?”
Having just been through the “prairie” and the “ocean” just now, the audience talked to each other in confusion and speculated the possible outcomes excitedly.
“Creative appearance design, state-of-the-air energy transformation circles, unparalleled speed, and indestructible life defense…” A magnetic male voice introduced the aircraft with great passion, while the aircraft in the sky changed its posture nonstop according to his words, demonstrating its unique magic effects.
All the audience was stunned. The world of aircraft was too far away from them. Also, the gentleman described it so perfectly that even the small nobles did not seem able to afford it.
The aircraft in the sky descended and descended, until a city appeared down below. The view of the city was getting clearer and clearer, and the square that was jam-packed with people could be clearly seen.
The square was as full as if a black torrent were flooding in, whereas the sky where the aircraft was at was spacious and empty. It was a major contrast.
The aircraft stopped above the square and looked down upon the crowd that looked like ants, which made the viewers who were sharing the vision of the aircraft somehow feel that they were high and mighty. However, when they realized that they were actually the people who were being looked down upon in the square, they felt rather complicated.
Was it the perspective and perception of those grand nobles?
The picture was frozen there, and the magnetic male voice roared, “‘Reton’ Model III is the aircraft most worth buying in 829. Call XXX to place an order anytime…”
It was not until then that the audience, who had listened to “Arcana Voice” and other radio programs for years, finally realized that it was a commercial. Even commercials could be so entertaining!
When they recalled how it felt like to fly an aircraft, and when they realized its price, which must have been extremely high, many young people were both frustrated and ambitious. One day, I will be successful, and I will look down upon everybody on an aircraft at the peak of my life!
Clenching their fists, they somehow remembered the grand nobles who already had all kinds of aircraft and the privileges of nobles that had existed all the time. They suddenly had a lot of complicated feelings.
“Coming next is ‘Sports Time’. We are going to present to you a flight contest between Allyn Magic School and Paphos Owl Magic School. In the contest, flight skills, aircraft, magic brooms, magic pets, and other regular methods to assist flying are allowed. The judge designated by the Arcana Review Board will score the contestants according to their performances in their flight, which will have a lot of obstacles, as well as the time it takes for them to finish the trip…” This time, it was another host doing the interpretation.
Thanks to the popularization of newspapers and radio stations, none of the audience was a stranger to flight contests, which had been held in magic schools for a long time. However, all their understanding was based on words and voices. They never knew what such games really looked like. Therefore, they were greatly attracted by the program, even secretly blaming the sorcerers, whom they dare not slander on other occasions, for not being fair enough.
Time went by fast in the new and amazing programs. When “Nightingale” announced that the satellite stream this time was over, the crowd in the square was reluctant to leave for a long time. They stared at the screen greedily, hoping that the next release would be aired right now miraculously.
“Why is it only aired once a week…” Longman’s parents and all the other ordinary people around remarked. They were full of regrets and desires.
“Journey of Discovery” and “Chronicles” were Longman’s favorite programs. Mesmerized, he said pitifully, “Didn’t Ms. Nightingale say that the programs today are not enough for everyday streaming? When there are enough shows, we will be able to watch them every night…”
Today, “Chronicles” was a black-and-white documentary named “War between Wave and Particle”.
It faithfully recorded the “war” that lingered for hundreds of years. Starting from the question “are light and spiritual power waves and particles?”, the documentary introduced the beginning of the debate during the Magic Empire, the arcanists’ pursuit of truth, the classic and marvelous experiments, and the miserable arcanists who fell before the problem.
The big shots whose heads exploded and the pitiful experts who were never heard again after their cognitive worlds were broken and solidified highlighted the difficulties and devotion in the development of arcana.
This documentary made the general people realize the wonder of arcana itself after it was separated from magic. They couldn’t have admired the arcanists who explored the nature of the world more.
I wonder what happened after the first War between Wave and Particle, and how everything ended as it is today… Longman thought in a trance. It was much more magnificent than “A Brief History on Magic and Arcana” that he read at school. He looked forward to the following episodes of the documentary…
Longman’s father suddenly burst into laughter. “Harriton spent all his money on a magic radio so that he could listen to ‘Arcana Voice’ at home, only to miss ‘satellite streaming’ as a result.”
He laughed rather happily. Because of Longman’s mathematical talents, he had always tried to save money for Longman’s further education in the future. Even though his son had no extraordinary magic talents, there would still be improvements as long as he could distinguish himself in arcana. He did not hold the wish that Longman could become a senior-rank sorcerer and a real big shot, but he did hope that his son could become an official sorcerer.
So, after his neighbors and friends bought magic radios and stopped coming to the square, he always felt bad about himself.
“Really? I feel sorry for them. It’s such a marvelous program and such a new and wondrous entertainment…” The audience nearby repeated what Ms. Nightingale said. Then, they sighed. “This screen must be much more expensive than the magic radio. Only the real nobles can afford them. Perhaps we will have to be gathered in the square for a long time in the future…”
……
“Even Mountain Paradise can’t be more incredible…”
“Can it be aired every day?”
It was what Joel, Alisa, and Grand Duke of Orvarit said before they left. They were deeply captivated when they watched the satellite TV. Joel even felt the urge to create songs after “Journey of Discovery”.
“Appreciating the social changes brought by arcana has become a hobby that’s as important as music for me…” Natasha was also quite interested in some of the programs on satellite TV. Then, she went to the room of seclusion to practice in quietness. It was a way of exercise that Lucien proposed. Since the three lonesome years at the bottom level of the abbey helped her really grasp the melted blood power, it meant that the way of training was as good as fighting. He suggested for her to seclude herself for three days every month.
Lucien walked into the library and picked up the journals on the desk, finishing the parts that he failed to earlier.
Then, Lucien took over “January Arcana Review”. Through the excerpt journal, he briefly learned the research progress in all the magic schools in the past month. It was because other than the mainstream journals such as Arcana, Magic, Nature, Elements, Astrology, etc., most of the journals contained papers that were of some value for other people but useless for Lucien. Reading them carefully would be a waste of his time. Therefore, he browsed through them through the excerpt, and if he found any paper he was interested in, he would find the original journal and read it more carefully.
“January Arcana Review” was in a unique force. On every page, the left side was the title, abstract, and keywords of the article, and the right side was the comment from the Arcana Review Board so that the readers would understand the basic content and value of the paper as soon as possible.
“‘Some Points on the Gauge Field’?” Lucien suddenly found a title that he was interested in. He read the abstract and the comment, before he found out from the journal where it was published and read it more completely.
To put it unprofessionally, the gauge field was a theory that hoped that physical laws did not change because of the different measurement standards in every space-time point. Somebody had studied it in the classic electromagnetic stage. After Lucien, Fernando, and Brook established the quantum field theory, some arcanists naturally followed up.
Lucien appreciated the theory because of its future brilliance. The standard particle model was exactly founded on it, and the marvelous “God particle” was only meant to resolve the problem that certain particles in the model did not carry mass when they were still like photons.
After reading the paper and finding no groundbreaking achievements, Lucien continued reading January Arcana Review.
“On the Symmetry of Microscopic Particles and Its Confirmation?” Lucien found another paper he was interested in. It was the product of a middle-rank arcanist, who believed that microscopic particles and their “mirror” particles corresponded with each other according to symmetry except that their spins were opposite. He proposed detailed mathematical and arcana standards, which he had named “conservation of parity”. He also proved that such symmetry did exist through a series of experiments.
The comments of the two members of the Arcana Review Board were basically the same. “Symmetry is a representation of the beauty of arcana and the fundamental law of the universe. This paper has little practical value, but his experiments and new concepts can help us learn more. So, he will be rewarded with four arcana credits and thirty arcana points.”
The author of the paper seemed satisfied with the comment. He also divided the paper into two parts in order to claim more rewards from the journal.
“Conservation of parity…” Lucien suddenly felt that he was in the wrong time and space. He tapped the journal softly.
At this moment, Pinocchio announced that Douglas had come to visit him.
“Mr. President, what brings you here at such a late hour?” Lucien greeted him in confusion.
Smiling, Douglas said, “I’m ready for the advancement right now.”
