Throne of Magical Arcana

The pouring rain from the sky rushed downwards like a waterfall, separating the people in the banqueting house from the outside world. At the moment, many of the sorcerers felt a little lost, as if they had been abandoned by the real world.

“The rain in the Month of Fire is always unexpected.” In the banqueting house, Drummond stared at the pouring rain outside of the window with a glass of wine in his hand.

Staring at the darkness outside and hearing Drummond’s words, Isabella smiled. “The power of mother nature is always much more powerful than magic. Only the legendary archmages could have the power to control the weather in such a large-scale.”

“Flashes of lightning and thundering will all end, just like the barriers we face. The ancient magic theories and the powerful and horrible church will all fade away or be conquered by arcana and magic. Destiny is like a huge wheel rolling forward. Whatever stays in its way will be ground down completely. What is out of date will for sure be abandoned. I like the world after the rain since all the things can be washed clean… like a new world,” said Drummond rather confidently.

The heavy rain continued outside.

…

Thunder and lightning controlled the sky above Allyn within only a short period of time.

It was totally out of Lucien’s expectation that the fury from the grand arcanist could lead to such a sudden and horrible weather change. Lucien felt a pressure so great that he was even having a difficult time breathing.

“The world is discontinuous? The world is discontinuous!?” Fernando’s growls were even louder and more violent than the roaring thunders outside. “But this is only an assumption!”

Facing the storm, Lucien did not yield. Instead, Lucien answered slowly but firmly, “But currently this is the only possible assumption.”

Rumbling… The thunders went crazy. There were streaks of lightning in Fernando’s eyes.

“The only assumption? How dare you say that you’ve excluded all the other possibilities? How dare you?!”

Lucien’s black eyes were as deep as a lake. He answered calmly:

“Our recent experiments have excluded all the possibilities of other explanations. Also, currently we have nothing as the evidence to reject this assumption.”

Fernando and Lucien did all the experiments together. In Fernando’s mind, he was speechless. However, he still yelled:

“You want the evidence? This whole world is the evidence!”

Lucien smiled, and his smile was gentle and soft, “Sir, the nature of the world is always a mystery. What we see, hear and feel is always limited, just like the fact that the world in the common arcanists’ eyes and in the grand arcanists’ eyes are always different. Before we find another explanation, we have to accept the assumption for now. Sir, you once told me that our past experience and knowledge could also be our barrier.”

Hearing that, Fernando fell into silence. The Lord of Storm stood there quietly. The wind around him whipped his bright red robe. After a long time, the lightning disappeared in his eyes, and so did the storm outside.

“This is just a temporary assumption. I’ll continue to work on it and seek other explanations.” Fernando slightly sighed, and his voice sounded a bit tired.

“Are you alright, sir?” asked Lucien concernedly.

“Fortunately, it’s just a temporary assumption.” Fernando repeated, “If you had had any solid evidence to support your assumption, my head would have exploded already. Or probably the reason that my head still remains intact is that my cognition world has been solidified. If that is the case, it is very unlikely that I can still make much further progress. Since what you said still remains an assumption, I can have some time for buffering and probably seek for other theories to explain the formula. But, of course, from the experiments we did together, I do know that this is not very likely to happen… Maybe the new theories that I’ll find in the future will be the support to your assumption.”

Lucien knew that this was just a beginning. There would be more shocking findings waiting for them. Even the greatest scientist on the earth, Einstein, failed to make further progress because he was not able to accept the new theories.

However, of course, Lucien could not tell Fernando this. The road to the ultimate truth of the world was more than cruel. Fortunately, Fernando was still relatively calm. So far, not a single one of the legendary archmages had ever had his or her head exploded. No one knew what it looked like.

Maybe nothing special would happen, just like when a middle-rank or a senior-rank mage’s head exploded, or the power would probably be so great that things around a head-exploded legendary archmage would all be demolished.

Pausing a little, Fernando released a sigh, not like the short-tempered Lord of Storm, but seeming like an old man, “I wish that I had never done any experiments in the field of thermal radiation. I wish that these things had never happened. In the future, we may destroy the arcana system, the magic world, or even the whole universe. Before today, it never came to me that the energy of the world was not continuous… even the world is not continuous, like a series of pictures! How will the other sorcerers respond to this assumption?! Can you imagine that?”

Lucien corrected Fernando in his mind, since, to be more specific, the world was like a movie consisting of many frames. He said to Fernando, “Most of them will be scared. Then they will tell themselves that this is just an assumption, and they will only use the formula and purposefully ignore what this formula means. A small proportion of them will have their heads…”

“I’m glad you understand it.” Fernando looked more serious now, “We should be very careful with submitting the paper, although what’s in it is still an assumption. Send your paper to Douglas first. Maybe he’s the grand arcanist who is most willing to accept your assumption. Discontinuous energy… in portions and small quantities… just like particles… We can call it one quantum. As for Hathaway and the rest of the grand arcanists, we shall divide the paper into two parts, so they can have more time to accept the great shock after reading the first part.”

Lucien finished developing the paper following Fernando’s words. When Lucien was about to put his teacher’s name on the paper in front of him, Fernando sat straight in his armchair and said seriously to him, “You’re the only author of the paper. I flinched in front of the assumption. You are the one who owns it.”

“Sir…” Lucien was very surprised.

Fernando stared at Lucien, “Do as I said. I don’t want to see my name on a paper which I haven’t accepted yet.”

After sending the letter, Fernando closed his eyes to stabilize his cognitive world, considering other possibilities to explain the formula. The office became quiet again.

Lucien also tried to calm down. He was too nervous to notice that he was sweating so much and his heart was beating like crazy.

In the quiet office, time passed by. Soon it was close to noon, and Lucien felt that he had reached his limit to bear the atmosphere. When he was about to ask for an earlier leave, a ray of bright light burst out in the corner of the office.

Somehow the magic circles in the office failed to work. A tall, white-haired elder with blue eyes walked out of the light. His face looked kind and gracious, but now it looked more serious and shocked.

Holding a pile of paper in his hand, the elder yelled, “Fernando, this is just an assumption!”

“But this is also the only assumption!” This time, Fernando did not flinch.

Lucien felt the atmosphere in the study suddenly change. To be more specific, even the gravity in the office had changed! Lucien realized that the tall white-haired elder was Douglas, the president of the Congress, the Emperor of Arcana, the Selected!

“No matter what you say, you’ve got no evidence!” Douglas frowned, “It’s even more unbelievable than the falling of the ancient magic empire!”

“What you know is restraining you from seeing more, Douglas. So far, this is the only proper explanation that we can find.” In private, Fernando was used to calling the president’s name directly.

“We need more evidence!” Facing the roaring, Douglas still managed to calmly express himself.

After yelling at each other, both of them slowly calmed down. After all, what they were arguing about still remained an assumption.

“Lucien… I’m afraid that only a young man like you who is free of one’s past experience can put forward this horrible assumption.” Douglas slightly sighed, “Although it’s still an assumption, the formula itself is for sure of great value and can contribute greatly to the development of the school of Thermodynamics. I believe that the Cabin of Palmeira and the far northland will not ignore your achievement. You deserve the Ice & Snow Medal.”