Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Such a good student, Douglas.”
When the small firework died out, Fernando said a bit sarcastically.
Douglas seemed to have aged in seconds. With the bitter smile on his face, he said, “ever since Brook became a grand arcanist based on the electromagnetism theory and the wave theory, I noticed that Artil started behaving strangely. He was p.r.o.ne to exaggerate things, and often said that the reason why there were currently unexplorable and unexplainable questions was that we had not found the Origin. I first thought that it was because Brook's achievement was too much for him to take. But then I started feeling suspicious… and I did find some clues later…”
He released a gentle sigh and continued. “… Then he seemed to become aware of it. He came to me and confessed that he was trying to take advantage of the Church to get rid of Brook instead of actually believing in the G.o.d of Truth, and that the more the Church had trusted him, the more useful it would be for the Congress. Artil has been my student for more than a hundred years; I watched him grow up from a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old kid. I thought I knew him well, so I didn't invade his mind. I chose to trust him at the time being and tested him with other methods…
“Artil behaved well when we launched the artificial planet and when the electron was discovered. Also, he had always been strongly against the wave theory in the past years, so I lowered my alert… I didn't expect this…”
Norman and Luciana finally realized that Artil was a spy of the Church. It was the holy light that killed him, not head explosion! But Artil cast magic, not divine spells!
“Unless a demiplane was formed based on his cognitive world, there was no way for us to track if his part of his cognitive world demonstrates divine creation,” said Fernando rather seriously. While the sorcerers' power grew when they got closer to the truth of the world, the clergy's power came from their faith. Once their faith became unstable, they would lose all their power or even be devoured by the holy light. Therefore, the Congress was unable to send any higher-rank spies into the Church.
Lucien nodded thoughtfully. After integrating the Light of Faith into his cognitive world, although Artil was not able to cast divine spells, he more or less believed in the existence and power of the G.o.d of Truth. Therefore, when his faith was shaken, the holy light burst out when his cognitive world collapsed and devoured him before his head exploded, which was a sharp contrast to the old mage from before, who believed in the G.o.d of Truth but whose head exploded. Lucien guessed that this depended on which side played a more dominant role in the cognitive world.
In this case, it seemed that the power of Sard, and the power of the North Church's pope and the Saints, as well as that of the heretics of the Saint Truth that Lucien once met, did still come from their faith.
It seemed that as long as they still had faith in the G.o.d of Truth, no matter how their understanding of the doctrine and cognition changed, they were still able to use divine spells without being devoured by the holy light.
But Sard and the heretics didn't seem to be that devoted to the G.o.d of Truth either… Lucien rubbed his chin in confusion.
“In fact, I also suspected him… but I put the thought aside seeing that he was fine after Evans's Miracle Experiment,” Norman recalled. “… He had two friends in the Affair Committee; they could influence many things indirectly.”
A veteran senior-rank sorcerer like Artil, although bad-tempered, still had quite a few friends.
“I'll have Vicente investigate them,” said Douglas briefly.
Meanwhile, Lucien started a.n.a.lyzing the const.i.tution of Artil's cognitive world. “He did not see Miracle Experiment with his own eyes, and he had been mentally prepared by convincing himself that the experiment could not completely deny Creationism, but simply offered another possibility. Also, there was no following theory coming up to further support the experiment. However, New Alchemy is based on a complete and reasonable theoretical system. Once the neutron is discovered, following the system, creating spells that could overtake the throne of creation will become possible and practical. It's too much for him.”
“So, in his cognitive world, the G.o.d of Truth should be the origin of the universe and the initial creator.” Fernando drew the conclusion and then turned to Douglas. “I was about to ask you how we can use New Alchemy to give a good strike to the Church, but here we got a spy first.”
“If we wait until when the neutron is found and when the new spells for permanently changing matters are created to publish New Alchemy, at least one or two saint cardinals will fall. But now because of Artil's death, the Church will soon find this out. When they are mentally prepared, we'll miss the chance.” Douglas regained his usual calmness, but the loving smile on his face had disappeared.
There were horrible storms in Fernando's red eyes. “You investigated him before, right? So you should know how he reached out to the Church. Seize this opportunity, and give the Church a good lesson.”
“To make it a harsh lesson, just the New Alchemy without experiments as proof might not be enough. I'll have Atlant join us here to come up with a plan and create the most powerful atmosphere for mental hint.” Douglas slightly nodded and gestured Norman and Luciana to remain his office for a while.
In the headquarter of the Will of Elements, the royal magic tower of Holm.
Raventi just received a thick pile of paper and a thin piece of secret message.
“New Alchemy? Lucien Evans?” Raventi slightly frowned when seeing such a brief and general t.i.tle.
But he knew that Lucien was always being very cautious and precise, so there must be a reason why he chose the t.i.tle. He put the question aside and started reading the paper.
The school of Element and Alchemy were always closely interrelated with each other. Therefore, the Holm Crown prize was also the highest award shared by the two schools. The four arcana review members from the Will of Elements were also authorities in the field of Alchemy.
As soon as he started reading, Raventi sunk into Lucien's paper deeper and deeper. His brows twitched and his hands were slightly trembling as if he was truly an old man.
After a long time, he seemed to be a bit out of control and roared in a low voice to himself. “So, this is the deep-hiding secret behind matters!?”
His sight became blurry. In the vagueness, there seemed to be a white-haired old man who was so thin that pretty much only bones were left lying on a bed in the magic robe of element. His soul was severely damaged by the failure of the lich-transforming rite and was near collapsing, however, his voice was full of great pa.s.sion and solemnity.
“Raventi, do you know what it means – the word 'Alchemy'?”
“It means our dream – to master the secret of matters!”
“Take my place, carry the dream on!”
Raventi closed his eyes and murmured, “Sir, can you see this? New Alchemy!”
Lost in this atmosphere, Raventi took a long time to calm down. Then he picked up the secret message.
“Artil is a spy from the Church? He's devoured by holy light after reading New Alchemy?” Raventi's brows knitted together.
He finished reading the message and called the student waiting outside in.
“Go and check who is close to Artil.” Raventi gave the order.
“Why?” His student confused.
Raventi repeated the message to his student and asked solemnly, “understand?”
“Yes.” His student was just about to turn around, but he suddenly thought of something and asked, “Sir, shall we keep the message a secret?”
“The message can be revealed. Accessing the message doesn't require a high level of authority.” Raventi recalled the notes behind the message.
When the student left, Raventi headed for the lab. He had to verify Lucien's experiment first before writing the review.
Mr. Raventi had always been a cautious and conscientious arcanist.
In a demiplane, another member from the school of Alchemy whose name was Prado waited beside the desk full of respect.
It seemed that the black-haired, black-eyed man who always had a cunning smile on his face had fallen asleep. Sitting behind the desk, he did not open his eyes even when a doll puppet that had the appearance of a blonde little girl walked in to bring him tea.
After a long time, Klaus sighed. “Finally… I see this alive with my own eyes.”
Looking at the delicate expressionless doll, and then turning to look at the bright blue sky outside of the window, he let out a burst of low laughter.
“Such a wonderful world.”
“New Alchemy. How far could it go?”
In the Radiance Church in Holm.
Philibell had just finished his daily prayers when he saw the cardinal directly rus.h.i.+ng in.
“Message! Archangel level!” Cried the cardinal before Philibell could scold him for being so reckless.
Archangel level? Philibell was rather surprised. He wondered if Douglas had reached an even higher level, or if the sorcerers had made any new major discoveries that lead them into the realm of G.o.d.
Philibell had lots of questions in his mind. Knowing the importance of the message, he took over the thick pile of parchment and asked the cardinal to invite Stone here.
“Archmage level… from Artil, as expected… important material attached, contains curses…”
Philibell checked the file carefully and noticed that indeed there was cursing power emitting from a small pouch tied to the file. Thus, he trusted the message even more.
“Philibell, what is it?” asked Vaharall. He was right in the church, so it was easy for him to came quickly after receiving the message via the divine circle.
Seeing that there were two legendaries here as his witnesses, Philibell opened the file and started reading the thick pile of paper.
Seeing the complicated magic spells and arcana symbols, Vaharall looked away and waited for Philibell's summary. Meanwhile, it seemed a bit weird to him to have the entire paper sent to the Church. In most cases, an important piece of paper should be summarized first before being sent. How could the entire file all belong to the archangel level?
As he read further, Philibell's body started trembling out of anger, and his eyes were written with fury. Skipping some parts, he directly jumped to the most important section.
“… In the radioactive substance, I have found the trace of the new element, which perfectly matches what I expected: In the process of radioactive decay, energy and matter are released from helium atomic nucleus and thus new elements are formed…”
There was a line of words here: “See attached material. Important.”
Philibell quickly opened the black pouch and saw a piece of ore marked with magic symbols. It was red, but with the emission of the faint rays in three colors – black, white, and green – part of the ore stone turned blue, and then dark radiant green.
The tiny traces of the new element within was amplified by magic, while the magic waves had been hidden by the cursing power.
This was a real piece of ore stone from nature, except that its changing process was presented by the magic tags.
“This is an element turning into another through decay…” Philibell could not help reading further, as if he had been possessed,
“… Since human beings acquired magic, the dream of turning elements into gold has always been there. This is not merely our pursuit of wealth, but the longing for the truth of the world, as we always wish to master the secret of matter trans.m.u.tation!”
“… However, for thousands of years in the past, there was not a single alchemical reaction which had successfully trans.m.u.ted a substance fundamentally without relying on a permanent magic circle… In front of the gate of the forbidden zone belonging only to G.o.ds, we human beings could not march further…”
Recalling the atom structure put forward by Lucien Evans and how he described the decaying process, Philibell felt that his brain was seized by panic. The answer had emerged in his mind…
“… But now, after discovering the inner structure of the atom, by studying the nature of decay, we can find the path for fundamentally changing matters and substances and creating new elements! Following my theory, although the product might not be worth the cost, we can finally take over the power once exclusively owned by G.o.d! Now we see the deepest secrets hiding behind substances, and we are on the way to achieve the shared dream of generations of sorcerers!”
Philibell's head buzzed as if someone just hammered his head. Driven by great fury and hatred, the everlasting peace in his mind was gone.
“How dare these filthy sorcerers to pretend to the throne of creation! How dare you, Lucien Evans!” Roared Philibell.
This was no longer a groundless accusation, but solid evidence. In the upcoming future, Lucien Evans would step into the forbidden realm once only controlled by G.o.d!
Before he could say more, several cardinals rushed in, with messages in their hands.
“Your Excellency, Artil has been devoured by the holy light because of New Alchemy!”
“Your Excellency! Confirmed! Artil's faith was shaken; holy light outburst!”
They had no idea that Artil was a spy before this, but now they had all realized what was going on.
The messages arrived just in time. Philibell got a bit confused and helpless – He thought that the finding still needed to wait until the discovery of neutron to be proved.
His eyesight fell on the bottom line of the message. The words had turned scarlet under the rays.
“Artil has been devoured by holy light. What about you?”
The red ore stone in his left hand was still emitting rays; it was still turning into a blue new element.
Philibell heard his heart thumping. Voice and sound faded away from him. He simply could not look away from the red decaying stone, and he even used divine power to verify it.
It turned out that the decaying process was indeed real, the same with the existence of the new element. Lucien Evans's description was correct. If the process could be controlled or even reversed, the changing of matter could no more be a secret which once only belonged to G.o.d.
Fear and panic possessed him. Philibell could not help murmuring to himself.
“The Lord is still almighty! The Lord is still the origin of the universe. But… but if an ordinary human being can do the same thing as G.o.d can do, then…”
Vaharall's eyes suddenly opened big. He sensed the danger a second before it arrived.
Outside the Radiance Church, people walking by were shocked to a powerful, majestic light pillar soar into the air and everything within the range vapored. Then, quickly, the divine circles outside of the church were activated and counteracted the power of the light pillar.
Standing far away from the church, after seeing how the central part of the building was ruined and the clergies who screamed bitterly in the holy light, Douglas sighed. “It has been hundreds of years; we never did any damage to the building. But today we almost completely tore it down.”
“But it looks like Philibell is not as devoted as he claimed.” With his eyes closed, Atlant the Eye of Curse said to Douglas, Fernando, and Lucien.
In the air, Vaharall looked down at the church which had been severely damaged and the clergies who did not manage to escape, he felt the anger burning his guts, but at the same time, he also felt lucky that he could not understand the paper.
“Philibell, are you alright?” Varahall asked Philibell, who was kneeling on the ground in the center of the huge hole, as if he was making a confession.
“My faith was shaken…” said Philibell bitterly; his grand cardinal robe had been torn into pieces. “… Not only can I never reach the next level, but my power has even receded by one level.”
