Chapter 194 |
This time, the Djinn did not give Lucien the list immediately. Pausing a bit, Alex asked, “Mr. Evans, what about those papers published but later proved wrong, and some assumption papers?”
“Of course, all of them.” Lucien nodded, “Failure is also something precious that I can learn from.”
“Ha… If that’s what you want,” said the old librarian, “or if you just want to have an overall impression of the development of the school of Element, I’d recommend you History of Element, edited every ten years by the grand arcanists. Similarly, we also have History of Necromancy, History of Astrology… and History of Arcana and Magic.”
At the same time, Alex’s book list was also ready, “History of Element, from the highest council.
“New System of Element, from Yaroran Hathaway Hoffenberg, grand arcanist.
“Atom – Molecule, from Oliver Constantine, grand arcanist.
“Several Ways to Measure Atomic Weight and the Latest Atomic Chart, Octave in Elements, from Fernando Brastar, grand arcanist.
“Multiple Relationship Identified in Magic Potion Experiments, Spiral Rule in Elements, from Ravendi, level nine arcanist.
“The Common Features Shared by Some Metallic Elements and the Application, from Gaston, level seven arcanist.
“Common Rules among Elements and Assumptions, from Ulysses, level four arcanist.
“Comparison of Mythril and Silver and the Measurements, from Timothy, level four arcanist.
…
“The Nature of a New Element – Mo, from Meredith, level four arcanist.”
…
The papers presented in the list were not all the latest, but the most relevant according to Lucien’s requirements. Several papers were done many years ago.
“Paper from Mr. Ulysses.” Lucien looked back and said to Lazar.
“Not surprising at all.” Lazar’s words were filled with admiration, “Mr. Ulysses wrote this paper when he was only a level one arcanist. Although his theory of elements’ characters has been overthrown by further study, this paper was still a great shock at that time. Mr. Ulysses is very creative and good at thinking out of the box, and his spirit of exploration has inspired many elemental sorcerers, including Mr. Brastar and Mr. Ravendi. If it weren’t because Ms. Hathaway was exploring the secret dimension, she might have become one of them as well.”
“But from the name of the papers and books, I see nothing really about the shared law among all the elements.” Lucien put forward his question.
“Because all of these theories have failed.” The librarian cut in seriously, “Since spectral analysis was introduced, more than ten new elements have been discovered. And they have also overthrown all the assumptions or theories put forward previously by many arcanists. For more details, you can find them in the books recommended. Young man, this is a serious topic.”
“That’s right,” said Lazar, feeling quite sorry. “Even the theory of Octave put forward by Mr. Brastar failed as well. Later, Mr. Brastar switched to another research direction in studying electromagnetic wave, and this announced the failure of the exploration of the shared law among elements. Right now, study in this field is still suspended.”
“Any reflections on the failure, then?” asked Lucien.
“There are. Some arcanists argue that no enough elements have been discovered so far, including Mr. Ravendi, and many junior or middle-ranked arcanists insist that there are no laws among the elements.”
“What about Mr. Ulysses?” asked Lucien curiously. After all, this genius sorcerer was the first one who started exploring this field.
“No much progresses from Mr. Ulysses as well.” Lazar frowned, “People say that he’s probably changing his research interest.”
“Perseverance is important to an arcanist,” interrupted the old librarian.
Feeling a bit annoyed, Lucien quickly glanced at the librarian’s chest to see what level this librarian was of.
Surprisingly, there was nothing at all in front of the old man’s chest, no name, no arcana or magic badge.
“My robe isn’t bad, right?” The old librarian said proudly, “I know, red is quite eye-catching, haha!”
Lucien rolled his eyes again, and then directly ignored the librarian. He wondered whether this world was truly different from his original world, or the laws just still had not been discovered. To figure this out, Lucien needed to go read all the papers first.
In the end, Lucien borrowed thirty-eight books in total.
“You sure you want to borrow this many, Lucien?” Walking out of the library together, Lazar asked.
“I’m gonna be working in Douglas soon, and I’ll spend most of my time on teaching and on my own study. In a month, I probably won’t come back to the congress again, so I want to use magic circles to copy these books first. By the way, Lazar, did you notice that the librarian wasn’t wearing any badges?” asked Lucien.
Douglas was on the southeast edge of the city, remote and quiet. It would take one about half an hour to get to the congress’s magic tower from the school.
“Yes, so I pulled you arm a bit in the library to remind you to be a bit more restrained when you were talking with him. Quite possibly, the old librarian was a member of some certain board, as only sorcerers of this level can walk around and control alchemical lives with no badges. And these senior-level sorcerers… some of them are a bit weird.”
Lucien felt the librarian was very weird.
Seeing that Lucien did not respond, Lazar thought his friend was worrying about money, so he smiled, “Actually, borrowing books from library is not the only way to pursue knowledge, as sorcerers would secretly exchange books they have themselves, as long as you can fit yourself in some sorcerer circles. Even if you don’t have the books other people want, you can still buy copies with a lower price.”
“Really?” Lucien felt quite curious, “The congress won’t prohibit them from doing it?”
“Why do you think the library is so expensive?” Lazar grinned, “Actually, the congress encourages sorcerers to exchange their knowledge personally, so more great ideas can thus be inspired. I happen to have two friends who probably would like to exchange books with you in Douglas, and I’ll introduce you to them.”
“What are their names?” asked Lucien gratefully.
“Both of them are level one arcanists, one’s name is Jerome, a second circle sorcerer studying Astrology and Element, and the other’s name is Rock, a second circle elemental sorcerer. Rock’s a bit weird, and he’s applying for a funny project right now. As for Jerome, he’s quite introvert. Several years ago, when he was pursuing miss Vera, he talked about Astrology and chemical reactions.”
“Poor guy…” Lucien felt very sorry for this Jerome guy.
“Haha, you know what? They’re married now, and they’re very sweet.” Lazar laughed.
“What?” Lucien was surprised.
“You come from the other side of the ocean, Lucien.” Lazar explained, still laughing, “For girls here in Holm, nothing’s more romantic than magic, Astrology, Element and destiny. And a person who studies these things is very likely to be wealthy and influential.”
“What a wonderful world.” Lucien sighed with emotion. Then he said to Lazar, “You want to go with me to get some experiment materials? I want to follow the papers to do some experiments.”
“Sure.” Lazar responded casually, “By the way, there’s a guy whose name’s also Lucien Evans teaching in Douglas. He added a ‘K’ in his name.”
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