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Chapter 546: Theater of Destruction

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Looking at the infuriated Heidi, Lucien smiled. “What’s to be angry about? So many arcanists of the elemental school share my opinion. Why do I need to waste my time on a worthless paper? Such a hypothesis which uses the result as the premise, until it is proved by experiments, can only be used for mathematical and methodological reference. Did any arcanist write a rebuttal?”

Annick browsed through the journals and shook his head. “None of the five grand arcanists published any papers. Mr. President and the Lord of Storm, on the other hand, discussed the transformation formulas’ application in the Douglas system under different frames of reference.”

“Mr. President published a paper?” Since he did not review it, it was the first time Lucien heard about it. He took over Annick’s ‘Arcana’ and began to read.

Douglas had obviously noticed Oliver’s paper last month but was not as upset as the senior-rank arcanists, because it only offered a theoretical explanation and the corresponding transformation formulas. No experiment results or phenomena could prove the theory and explain the light-speed experiment. Instead, Douglas was more interested in the transformation formulas, as the transformation formulas in the past were rather inept after the Brook electromagnetic system was established.

Reading Douglas’ paper, Lucien nodded his head. This was the best he could expect. After Mr. President studied the major part of the paper, with his understanding of the electromagnetic system, he would soon recognize something and gain certain preliminary insights. Only in such a case would he not be faced with the special theory of relativity without any psychological or knowledge preparation.

As Lucien read the paper in silence, Heidi murmured, “I know that you are unwilling to demean yourself by discussing such speculative papers, but the arcanists who support the wave theory think otherwise. They believe that you have been hit by the paper and realized your bigotry in the past, and that’s why you quietly backed off and did not argue. This is a sign that the wave theory is making a comeback.”

By ‘comeback’, she meant the problem whether or not ‘Ether’, the medium through which waves were transmitted in the vacuum, existed.

The few students were rather excited about the wave theory advocates’ slanders against their teacher. It seemed more insufferable than themselves being humiliated.

“What’s their opinion on the photoelectric effect and the Brook scattering experiment?” Lucien was holding ‘Arcana’ and ‘Magic’ in his hands. Obviously, the arcanists that they knew and were in touch with couldn’t have published any papers in the two journals.

After he blew up a tremendous amount of heads with the light quantum hypothesis and won the Silver Moon Medal, the arcanists who persisted in the wave theory clinging to the classic experiments stayed far away from Lucien in fear. As a result, he could only learn their progress through journals.

Sprint snorted, “They attempted to construct more complicated wave models to explain the photoelectric effect and the scattering experiment, but that’s only for discussion and of no actual value. They almost didn’t pass the review.”

“Then what are you angry about? Besides, can the particle theory explain the classic experiment images?” Lucien smiled, rather amazed by the wave theory supporters’ efforts. However, their efforts were destined to be in vain due to the lack of theoretical guidance.

Heidi found her teacher’s casualness very perplexing. “But they are vilifying you, aren’t they?”

“They’ll be slapping my face only when they present detailed experiment results.” Lucien focused his attention on the two journals. He realized that after he proposed the light quantum hypothesis and Mr. Brook proved it, the supporters of the particle theory were soaring in number. Many arcanists had changed their opinion and believed that light could be a very strange particle.

However, since the classic experiments still could not be explained with particles, the supporters of the traditional wave theory, after the intense shock at the beginning, got back on their feet again. On ‘Arcana’ and ‘Magic’ of this issue, Joaquin, Pesor, Tina-Timos and other senior-rank arcanists all expressed their acknowledgment of Oliver’s paper, but they prudently maintained that experiments should be devised according to the theory in order to prove it, and that they should not trust it too much until then. That was a good lesson that they had learnt after Lucien’s consecutive revolutionary papers.

Based on the experience from Earth, Lucien knew that the War between Wave and Particle would be long and involve the mysteries about the nature of this world. Therefore, he did not find it strange at all.

Her teacher’s attitude calmed Heidi down. She asked curiously, “What’s your paper this month, master? I saw you working on it before.”

“An essay on tensor analysis. It has been published in ‘Nature’. You should read it sometime.” Lucien replied, without bothering to raise his head.

Annick, Katrina and other students all looked awful. It had been three years since ‘Nature’ was established, and it was gradually known as ‘the most abstruse journal in history’. Even the advanced arcanists who were adept at mathematics and logic were often too overwhelmed to understand what the papers on it were talking about. The series of papers that their teacher and Mr. Levski worked on in regard to Evans Geometry, in particular, were the best tools to help them go to sleep at night.

Noticing the silence, Lucien raised his head and looked at him with a vague smile, “Only with a good knowledge in mathematics and logic will your future studies on arcana and magic be easier. Do you need to be fortified in that aspect?”

“Haha. Master, I just recalled that I still had an unfinished experiment. I’ll be on my way. Take your time reading your paper. I’ll go find Alfalia.” Smiling, Heidi spoke as she backed to the door.

Alfalia had been assigned to her as her assistant.

With Heidi as their example, the excuses such as arcana experiments and magic analysis and construction surged out of the mouths of the students. After only ten seconds, Annick was the only person left in the office.

Lucien looked at Annick, finding it weird, “Do you not have any unfinished experiment? Or do you really want me to give you more lectures on mathematics and logic?”

Annick scratched his head and said in a low voice, “Master, my plan was to read the journals...”

Lucien lowered his eyes, only to discover that Annick’s journals were in his hands.

Lucien was finally able to read and learn the papers after the steel golem delivered his journals from the Review Board. He realized that, because Oliver’s paper was too dazzling, the journals were filled with discussions about it. Other articles were the achievements in other fields or improvement in magic. The heuristic paper that Annick and Sprint proposed about the contradiction between the theoretical performance of the cyclotron and its actual performance received absolutely no attention.

That’s not going to work. Lucien thought for a moment and took out a piece of paper. Picking up the quill, he wrote: On the Problems in the Application of the Cyclotron.

......

Inside the ‘Theater of Destruction’, collapsing and perishing stars were everywhere.

In the dark, terrible end of the world, certain brightness spread out gently but firmly. It seemed to be the last symbol of civilization.

As one approached it, they would discover that the shimmer was from a high-rising magic tower that was full of artistic air. Every window was ablaze with lights.

In the library, Oliver, whose magic robe had been changed into a sloppy pajama, was holding his quill haggardly and smoking his tobacco pipe, unable to write a single word for a long time.

His eyes were filled with the zealotry typical of artists. He seemed to have ignited and dedicated all the feelings in his heart to this long poem of love.

Suddenly, the tower guard’s pleasant voice echoed, “My lord, Mr. President has come to visit.”

Oliver put down his quill, frowning. A ‘poet’ and ‘playwright’ whose inspiration was disrupted tended to be agitated. He violently pushed the paper on which the love poem was written to a pile of paper on his desk, clearing an empty space. Then, he took a few deep breaths and resumed calmness on the surface. Finally, he rose and greeted Douglas at the door of his magic tower. In terms of both seniority and prestige, Douglas deserved his full respect.

Soon enough, Oliver led Douglas back to his library. Rubbing his eyebrow, he asked, “Mr. President, is there anything I can help you with? I’m not in the best mood recently, and there’s something urgent I need to accomplish. I won’t be away from Allyn for now.”

It was a subtle refusal of being sent out for missions, which was also a privilege for the grand arcanists.

Douglas smiled. “You can stay in Allyn and study the Douglas. There are no missions that require your help. I’m here mainly to discuss the application of transformation formulas with you. Have you seen my paper on ‘Arcana’ today?”

He, too, was aware of Oliver’s recent divorce, and naturally did not assign any mission to him.

Oliver was more or less relieved. “The transformation formulas? I’m glad to discuss it with you. Fernando and I had so many unresolved problems.”

“You discussed it with Fernando?” Douglas found it strange.

Realizing his mistake, Oliver hurried to explain, “You know that Fernando is adept at many fields. He is a great partner to discuss with. I communicated with him before I submitted the paper.”

Douglas nodded in approval and sat on the opposite side of the desk. “Let’s discuss this problem.”

As if he felt that oral description might be too difficult, he took up another quill on the desk, drew a piece of paper, and was about to write the problem down.

On the paper, however, were a few lines of beautiful and affectionate poetry. Douglas shook his head and apologized, “Did I interrupt your creation?”

While talking, he put the paper of poetry back to where it used to be and drew the pile of paper that was below it at the beginning. He thought that the paper down below was blank.

Still in a trance, Oliver was about to say that it was alright because he already had insights and he could continue his work in a right mood later, but all of a sudden, his eyes widened and he turned around like a wild storm, shouting, “Not that paper!”

Douglas avoided Oliver’s robbing out of instincts and looked at the paper in his hands, feeling it strange, only to catch the title on it that was in a very familiar handwriting.

“On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies and Mass-energy Equation”

Oliver’s face immediately turned gloomy. The destruction in the cosmic theater out there seemed even more horrifying and dark.