Chapter 340: The Laurel and The World

In Fernando’s study.

After Lucien wrote down Planck’s formula, it only took the Lord of Storm a very short period of time to finish the verification.

“It works with both long and short waves. Currently speaking, this is a correct formula.” Fernando nodded carefully, “But we’d better do a few more rounds of the experiment to make sure it accord with all the situations.”

Having been bothered by two to three weeks, Fernando felt that he was going to explode at any time. So, once he saw the formula from Lucien that could be called perfect for now, the only wish in his mind was to further verify it, and forget about the two original formulas!

This was also Lucien’s first time doing the experiments without reading the letters first since he became Fernando’s student.

Although Fernando did all the experiments very fast, he was only sure about the validity of the thermal radiation formula when it was already afternoon.

“Interesting…” Fernando was much more relaxed now, and thus his attitude changed, “You’re right, Lucien. I was thinking too much. It’s the same with having a relationship. When you’re in love, don’t think too much.”

Lucien had no idea how Fernando connected the two ideas together. Also, he did not see Fernando as an expert when it came to dealing with a romantic relationship, as Fernando was still single.

“Shall we write to the grand arcanists?” Lucien wanted Fernando to focus on the formula.

Fernando nodded cheerfully, “Of course, they have also been bothered by the two formulas for quite a while. It’s surprising that my student first figured this out… However…”

Within only a second, Fernando put on the stern look and said, “Since the formula works, we can say that there are deeper laws hiding before it! Something that can reveal the nature of thermal radiation! We can’t just stop here. We gotta delve into it further!”

Although Fernando sounded very impatient, as his student, Lucien knew that he was actually just excited. This was his great impulse of exploring this world.

“Shall I write to them now?” Lucien asked. He hoped that the grand arcanists could first get familiar with the combined formula.

“Write to them right now.” Fernando walked back to his desk and said to Lucien without turning around, “Get them involved in the discussion. I have a feeling: this is gonna be a tough job. Also, turn it into a paper of how you put together the formula. Send it to the board together with my formula and Douglas’ formula. So all the arcanists can know what is going on here. If we can figure out the true meaning of the formula before the next month’s Arcana is published, we can put them all together. If we fail to do so, the arcanists’ discussion can also inspire us.”

Lucien’s plan worked. He hurriedly sent the formula to the six arcanists using the Adamantium golems and then started discussing the formula with his teacher.

The discussion was torturing to Lucien, because it was not yet time for him to introduce the proper explanation, which Lucien would save it until the end when all the possibilities were excluded. Telling lies and findings excuses were definitely harder than confessing, especially since he was talking to a grand arcanist.

Fortunately, Fernando had no idea that Lucien had already known the correct answer and he only focused on the formula itself. Lucien thus managed to get over with it and, meanwhile, he also learned quite a lot from the discussion.

It was late now. When Fernando told Lucien that he could leave, he asked, “Lucien, have you become a fifth-circle sorcerer?”

“Yes, sir.” Lucien was a bit surprised. After all, he just became a fifth-circle last night.

Fernando grinned, “When you were doing the experiment, I could tell that your spiritual power was greater than before. Also, I knew it would be just a matter of time before you became a fifth-circle sorcerer unless you didn’t work hard. Since you’ve fulfilled your promise and you’re doing a better job than the other students, you may bring the Atom Institution application form to me tomorrow and I’ll endorse it for you.”

“Thanks a lot, sir.” Lucien was quite surprised. He thought it would take longer to win Fernando’s support.

…

The next day.

“The Improvement on Fernando’s Formula and Douglas’ Formula in Thermal Radiation Research…” After writing the evaluation comment and signing on Lucien’s application form, Fernando picked up the paper that Lucien was going to submit together later and slowly read the title. There was a rare smile on his face.

“The formula is going to be called Evans’ Formula.” Fernando nodded, “And the constant will be called Evans’ Constant. Your name will be forever remembered.”

Since the periodic table of elements was only a summary, Lucien’s surname was not used.

Lucien slightly sighed in his mind because the meaning of the constant went far beyond Fernando’s current understanding. Then, he started to read the letters as usual. The first one was from Douglas.

“… I’m glad to know that you and your student, Lucien, have solved the problem which has bothered me for the past a few days. Congratulations to Mr. Lucien Evans. This is the victory of the younger generation. And maybe only the younger generation can avoid all the distracting factors and directly use the mathematical method to solve the problem. He’s like a shining pure diamond…

“Since we’ve figured out the formula, it’s time for us to ask why it is this formula that makes sense? I can say that there must be a hiding law that we haven’t discovered behind the formula, but what is it? It’s not yet the moment that we stop and celebrate our accomplishment. We still have so many whys to ask… Once we understand the true meaning of the formula, we can take a further step on our path to explore the ultimate truth.”

Fernando commented, “Of course… Mr. Hundred Thousand Whys…”

The rest of the letters from Brook, Hathaway, Oliver, Hellen, and Vicente were basically the same. They were talking about what was behind the formula.

…

Three days later. In the early morning.

“…based on the review and comments of the two board members, the overall comment on the formula put forward by Mr. Lucien Evans is: the formula works perfectly with both shortwave and longwave situations, and thus the formula can be widely applied. We name it Evans’ Formula of Blackbody Radiation, and the constant in the formula is called Evans’ Constant. However, as the formula came from the pure mathematical calculation, there was no theoretical support to the formula, and its value still remains to be further revealed. Twenty arcana credits and two hundred arcana points are given as the reward.”

Reading the review document send to his place by Katrina, Lucien was quite encouraged. The reward was not bad, but the most important thing was that Lucien could get a lot of citation credits from the formula and the constant. Unlike the basic data including atomic weights, the finding would belong to Lucien exclusively for the following three years!

As for the result of his application for the institution, the procession would still take another one or two weeks.

Putting down the document, Lucien started to enjoy his breakfast, and at the same time, he opened the letter from Harrison:

“… The latest issue of Arcana has caused a huge stir among all the sorcerers. Every sorcerer that I met was talking about ‘the arcana meaning of Illusion’, and it is probably already safe to say that Ms. Isabella’s research finding has destroyed the previous Illusion theories. This is very interesting because the alchemical substance, hormone, currently only works for very few illusionary spells! The atmosphere has put a lot of pressure on Family of Sorcerer. So four days later, on Monday, the senior-rank mages have all agreed to confer the Laurel to Isabella…

“Unfortunately, my proposal of you sharing the Laurel with her was rejected. They did not really agree with your Brain Wave Theory. No, to be more specific, the theory can still be further improved greatly. I’m sure that you’ll keep working on this, and I’m looking forward to the day when you can also wear the Laurel and thus become the second middle-rank mage ever who can win the highest prizes in two different fields…

“The Laurel conferring ceremony will be held at the headquarter of Family of Sorcerer. If you have time, you can attend the ceremony.”

“They’ve decided to give Ms. Isabella the Laurel,” Lucien put down the letter and said casually.

Sprint was a bit confused. He did not understand why Mr. Evans said this.

Lucien did not explain. He smiled and stood up from the chair. It was time for him to visit his teacher and put forward some suggestions.

…

After a few days of heated discussion, Fernando still had not figured out the hiding meaning behind the formula, which was driving him nuts.

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“I’ve got a suggestion,” said Lucien seriously, staring at Fernando’s eyes.

Fernando was a bit surprised, so he asked confusedly, “What is it?”

Because of Fernando’s bad temper, very rarely dared people to talk to him like this.

“I think we should introduce Chloe’s Kinetic Theory in Thermodynamics into the analysis of the formula. His perspective on using statistics and his description of entropy and probability have inspired me. Maybe they’re helpful for us to understand the formula,” as Lucien was saying, he felt that he was slowly opening the Pandora’s box.

The Kinetic Theory in Thermodynamics had helped Chloe win the Ice & Snow Medal. Recently, he had further improved it and turned it into a basic system.

Fernando nodded without thinking too much, “Since all the other theories have failed to work, we can use entropy and probability to see what’ll happen.”

Since the direction was right. Fernando and Lucien’s work was quite productive. The letters from Douglas, Brook, Hathaway and the rest of the grand arcanists also helped them a lot with overcoming all the barriers. The meaning and value of the formula was going to be revealed.

…

In Cocus, the capital city of Calais, there was a black magic tower standing in the corner of the city, where a light gray mist always lingered.

The differently decorated coaches slowly stopped in front of the magic tower. The guests were led to the banqueting house.

“Welcome, Ms. Isabella, Mr. Drummond.” Smiling, Adalbert Von Miller, the president of Family of Sorcerer, a level seven arcanist and a ninth-circle archmage, welcomed the winner of the laurel.

All the sorcerers and arcanists turned around and had their eyes on Ms. Isabella. Among them, many played important roles in the Congress.

Tonight, the fully-dressed Isabella was like a star.

…

On the thirty-third floor of the magic tower of Allyn, in a common study, Fernando and Lucien’s work was close to the end. The meaning of the formula was going to be unveiled. And the grand arcanists were right now waiting for the result in their own Demiplane magic towers.

Lucien, knowing the final conclusion, felt that his hands were sweating.

…

In the banqueting house, all the guests were greeting and chatting with each other warmly. There were talking about the winner of the Laurel, illusions, magic, and arcana. The sorcerers attending this modern celebration ceremony were dressing in a traditional way, giving the gathering a unique, combined style of being both profound and lively.

The orange light in the banqueting house was gentle and soft, covering every single guest with a layer of golden color.

When Von Miller stepped onto the stage in the front, the guests gradually quieted down. Ms. Isabella and her student, Rachel, were invited to the stage.

The maid behind Miller was holding a silver tray, on which there were two crystal, finely-carved laurels. In the laurels’ shining light, there were flowing magic symbols. The laurel looked more like a piece of artwork than a magic item.

Isabella also put Rachel’s name on the paper to thank her for the contribution and the inspiring ideas Rachel offered. After the verification, Family of Sorcerer had decided to make them share the honor.

However, in all the sorcerers’ eyes, even including Rachel herself, Isabella was the center of tonight’s gathering.

“… The alchemical substance, hormone, was detected in Ms. Isabella and Miss Rachel’s experiment, and the application value of hormone has been approved in the mechanism of Illusion. Therefore, Family of Sorcerer and Calais Magic Academy have decided to confer the Laurel to them in order to sincerely appreciate their great contribution.”

Von Miller put the two beautiful laurels one the two ladies’ hair. The radiance of the laurels was dazzling.

Warm applause followed. All the mages were more or less quite excited, while some sorcerers had mixed feelings.

…

The analysis result in front of Fernando and Lucien was shocking!

Fernando’s voice had mixed anger and fear, “So, Lucien… There is only one circumstance for the formula to work… We have to assume that the absorption and emission of energy are not continuous, instead, it is in portions!?”

When Fernando was speaking, his voice trembled, as if he was facing the almighty God of Truth.

“Yes, sir.” Lucien felt Fernando’s emotion, but his answer still remained firm.

…

Wearing the beautiful Laurel, Isabella was giving a short speech in the banqueting house.

“… In the ancient magic empire, because of the lack of a powerful mathematical tool for calculating the irregular figures, the construction of magic models and the analysis of the spells always encountered great barriers, and thus the ancient sorcerers had to rely fully on the growth of their spiritual power to overcome the barriers in a savage way…

“This was ended by the establishment of calculus put forward by President Mr. Douglas. Together with the great contribution made by the several grand arcanists, now we have found the powerful tool to help us with calculating and building the irregular magic models in a relatively easy way.

“Therefore, we can say that calculus is the foundation of the arcana system. The continuous and smooth division and the infinitesimal analysis have pushed us forward to the truth of the real world. From this perspective, the mathematical tool itself has already conveyed the main idea of arcana, which is the continuity. We see continuity in seashores, horizons, wind, waves, streams, time, and so on.

“Based on the concept of continuity, Mr. Douglas’ Force Field Theory together with Mr. Brook’s Electromagnetics and Light-darkness theory has formed the main structure of the world of arcana. However, unfortunately, Illusion, Transformation and Summoning currently are still outside of the system…

“Here the continuity referred to the ongoing process that one could always see in one’s daily life. It was like the river we saw and the road we followed, which could never be divided into pieces. It was also like the numbers on a thermometer. There was always one point one, point two, point three between the number one and two without blank sections.”

…

Hearing Lucien’s answer, Fernando yelled at him, “Are you telling me that the form of energy is not continuous? And the world built on this is also not continuous?! You look at the howling wind, feel the time passing by! It’s ridiculous!”

Lucien felt the great pressure from his teacher. However, Lucien raised his head and looked at Fernando in his eyes, “If we want the formula to work, we have to accept the assumption that energy is divided into separate portions.”

Lucien’s back was straight, and the words coming out from his lips were cold.

“Maybe… The world itself is not continuous!”

…

“This is a beautiful era. Every one of us has made our contribution to the arcana world. And I’m just a lucky one.”

The moment when Isabella finished her speech, the deafening summer thunder arrived. The claps of thunder sounded crazy, making the sorcerers in the house all feel a bit anxious.