Chapter 215: Ring of Holm Crown Prize
Hearing Lucien’s words, most arcanists first felt a bit confused, then they smiled and started applauding again. What a humble but appropriate beginning!
Raventi, Ulysses and other arcanists who once studied the distribution of elements smiled, as they felt satisfied to know that their work was never a waste, and it was their work which laid the foundation for Lucien’s great finding.
"Elegant, humble and direct," Timothy said to Larry when he was applauding. "I have the feeling that what Evans just said will be remembered by the world."
Larry touched his chin a bit and grinned, "Come on, this is Holm Crown prize, and Evans’ the twenty-sixth winner in this more than two hundred seventy years. Whatever he sayd would be remembered. But... well, yes, what he just said definitely showed the charm of his personality, and maybe it would even inspire some poets."
"Unfortunately, Larry, we played some quite stupid roles in Evans’ impressive story. And we’ll be remembered as well in this story, although not for such a nice reason." Timothy patted on Larry’s shoulder.
Larry smiled and shrugged a bit, knowing that Timothy was only joking. Both Timothy and he never really minded, as they were more confident than this and would never hate a person only because of their great accomplishments.
But when Timothy looked at Lucien standing on the stage and watched him being surrounded by the warm applause, his desire for Holm Crown prize was greater than ever.
Lucien’s success definitely inspired many young, ambitious arcanists.
However, among those pairs of eyes filled with passion and admiration down the stage, there was one pair that was calm and cold, "Although he’s being humble, is he also trying to salute Professor, his teacher, when he said the word giants?"
However, only Lucien really knew who he wanted to salute.
After a few seconds, Lucien continued, "If Mr. Douglas had not raised the ten questions leading us to explore the truth of this world, we would not be present here. If the arcanists before me had never revealed the truth that the elements are composed of atoms, we wouldn’t be able to go this far in the study of elements. If the arcanists had never introduced us all the new methods of doing experiments, it would be impossible for me to study the distribution of elements. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, without you all, I would not be able to present you the periodic table of elements."
All the arcanists present were touched, and again, their warm applause cut in Lucien’s speech.
"However, knowing the fact that we are standing on the shoulders of giants does not mean that we can just enjoy this glory and reputation, but we need to see further and dig deeper," Lucien said to the arcanists sincerely. "As what I said the other day, our most urgent need right now is not to find more new elements following the periodic table, but to take a step back and seriously think about why there is a periodic order in the distribution of elements. I have this feeling that the discovery in this field will lead to a great storm in arcana, through which we will be able to get closer to the truth and the essence of the world."
Watching Lucien giving the speech on the stage, Lazar could not stop thinking of those great masters in history. In the world of music, someone like Christopher could be called a master, while in the world of magic, only those very influential arcanists could be regarded as masters. Right now, Lucien was on the stage and he was being so elegant and confident, as if he was already very used to the occasion.
"Where shall we start then?" Lucien paused a bit, then continued, "I believe that everyone has noticed the most obvious problem in my periodic table: why the atomic weight of the several elements still do not fit the law of distribution? The discovery of the two new elements can support my assumption that the measurement of these elements are not correct, but why?"
Standing beside Lazar, Rebecca’s eyes were shining when she was looking at this young man on the stage.
Seeing that most arcanists were nodding, Lucien smiled, "I have a guess, actually. I think that it is because the measured samples of the elements were not one hundred percent purified, but, at the same time, those impurities won’t affect the characters of the elements, which is also why the impurities were hard to be found and separated. In order to do a better work on refinement, I think we should focus on the fact that there’s a difference between the atomic weight of the element itself and the impurities."
All the arcanists including those very talented ones were shocked, as they would never expect any arcanists to just directly share with others his or her ideas or inspiration like Lucien just did. It seemed that Lucien did not feel concerned at all that this idea, which might lead to another great finding, might be stolen by any arcanists present.
In addition to this, what impressed them as well was Lucien’s strong logical thinking ability. Although he did not have very in-depth arcana knowledge, his guess sounded very reasonable.
While many arcanists were still feeling frustrated with those wrongly measured elements in the past several days, Lucien was already again way ahead of them!
This time there was no applause because all the arcanists present were busy with taking notes and writing down their thoughts with their quills. Raventi and Morris frowned, and they felt like starting to build new magic circles to better purify those elements right away.
Lucien raised his voice, "I am just a beginner in arcana, and designing a magic or alchemical circle to serve this purpose is beyond my capability. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that we can march forward in this field together in order to become giants for our later generations! To promote the school of Element to a new peak!"
Then Lucien put his right hand on this forehead and slightly bowed to the audience.
The arcanists suddenly awakened from their great surprise and shock, then, they started applauding crazily, and even the roof was slightly trembling. They were applauding for Lucien’s sharp thinking, and also for his generosity!
It took Morris quite a while to calm down the arcanists. Then, he turned to Lucien, "If the way of refinement that you just suggested gets successful, it would be another great accomplishment which could probably win another Holm Crown prize. And you just shared it with us straightforwardly like this?"
Lucien smiled, partly because Morris looked slightly like Natasha, "Even if I did not want to share this idea with anyone, I’m sure that, sooner or later, there would be other arcanists who could think of it. As I always respect and believe in the intelligence and wisdom of all arcanists, I think it’s better just to share my idea with everyone, especially when I’m not capable of doing this kind of researches right now, so I can hopefully be a giant, ha. The continuous exploration of this world needs the effort of every single one of us."
What Lucien just said again led to a thunderous applause. And Lucien was not just being humble, this was literally how he felt. He had been hearing lots of arcanists discussing this topic several times in the past couple of days, thus he knew that, in the future, no matter who found the method for separating isotopes, it would never be a bad thing to Lucien.
Besides, figuring out a way of separating isotopes still required a period of time, and Lucien believed that he should be able to utilize their research outcomes by that time to further develop his studies.
Morris put his right hand on his chest and slightly bowed, "You deserve my respect, Evans."
Then he took out a crystal box in front of Lucien, inside of which there was a shining silver ring, etched with mysterious patterns. The design of the ring was simple but very graceful. On the front side of this ring, there was a big light purple gem, and the dream-like glory of the gem was amazing and eye-catching.
"To thank you for your great contribution to the development of the school of Element, here the Will of Elements and Holm Royal Magic Academy award you with the twenty-sixth Holm Crown ring, Element!"
There was an indrawn breath of great surprise among those arcanists present. Under the gaze of everyone, Lucien accepted the ring.
Beside the light purple ring, the word, Element, was engraved in common tongue. When Lucien gently stroke the inner side of the ring, he noticed that there was also a small line of words,
"817, Holm Crown prize, to Mr. Lucien Evans."
Soon, directed by Morris, the maker of the ring, Lucien left his spirit mark in it.
"Holm Crown prize, level seven perfect rank with one layer of seal. When the owner’s spiritual power reaches the level of senior-rank sorcerer, the power of the ring can be completely released."
Three magic effects were permanently enchanted within this unique ring. First, improving the efficiency of doing meditation in the school of Element by thirty to sixty percent—eighty to a hundred percent when the seal was gone; valid before level nine; the lower the owner’s level was, the better it would work. Second, increasing the power of elemental magic by twenty to forty percent—fifty to seventy percent when the seal was gone; valid before level nine; the lower the owner’s level was, the better it would work. Third, increasing the recovery rate of the owner’s spiritual power and vitality to the level of a fifth-circle sorcerer and a level two knight, respectively—rising to the level of an eighth-circle sorcerer and level four grand knight when the seal was gone.
Besides, this amazingly beautiful ring also contained terrifying magic power. The person who wore this ring could use Powerful Fire Shield, a fifth-circle magic, twice a day, Gaston’s Poison Cloud twice a day, and Elemental Swirl, a seventh-circle magic, three times a day. However, this last spell was also sealed, and although there was one opportunity to use it before sixth-circle, the user would be seriously hurt and the person’s spiritual power would be exhausted.
The maker’s message left in this ring was:
"Mr. Lucien Evans’ finding of the periodic table of elements is of great significance to the school of Element. We award Mr. Lucien Evans with this ring in order to show our respect to him, the person who shall be remembered by the history of the school of Element.
"The crazy Elemental Swirl dispels most elemental spells and destroys everything that is made of elements.
"From: Morris Hoffenberg."