Everyone's so enthusiastic — I'll have to put out three bonus chapters today. Thank you!
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Felipe habitually thrust his hands back into the pockets of his black overcoat, his expression as somber as ever, yet his mind roiled with countless conflicting thoughts: "Either the Professor is a genuine madman, or he truly has some confidence that he can synthesize the life substance contained within the human body from elements and non-living matter!"
"On one hand, believing that someone like the Professor, who made it onto the Purification Roster, is a complete lunatic devoid of all reason. On the other hand, believing that he has made a groundbreaking and pioneering breakthrough in the fields of elemental and necromantic magic that will be recorded in the annals of magical history — that he'll be the next recipient of the 'Holme Crown.' Heh — no matter which side I choose to believe, I can hardly convince myself. No wonder the Professor's assessment on the Purification Roster reads: extremely cunning, extraordinarily dangerous."
"Bet with him, or just fight outright?"
Felipe hesitated. His intense curiosity and confidence in his own necromantic magic made him want to see whether the Professor could truly synthesize life substance, whether — after one foundational theory of ancient magic after another had been overturned — it was finally the turn of the "theory of human vital force."
This was exactly the attitude toward knowledge befitting a fourth-tier Archanist in his early thirties!
"Apart from the apology, Professor, you stand to lose nothing?" Felipe spoke slowly, making the mages and apprentices — who still didn't know which side to take — widen their eyes even further. Could it be that even the powerful necromancer Master Felipe had been infected by the Professor's absurdity and madness?
Lucian suppressed the elation in his heart and said with extraordinary calm: "At the very least, my mission will have failed." He was betting that a young and powerful mage from the Continental Magic Parliament would surely have considerable achievements in Archanic studies, and would surely be unable to resist witnessing an experiment that overturned the foundational theories of necromantic magic!
Felipe's left hand emerged from his pocket, his four fingers curling one by one into a fist, his tone turning resolute: "Very well, Professor. Let us proceed with this wager. Shall we sign a devil's contract now?"
According to the Book of Astrology and Elements, a magical contract was a document that sought notarization from various powerful beings. Violating it would result in corresponding punishment from the notarizing party. Depending on the strength of the notarizer, there were contracts with magical power directly embedded in the document — the common magical contracts used to bind ordinary mages; there were devil's contracts notarized by devils, which, depending on the tier of the summoned devil, could bind mid-tier mages, high-tier mages, or Archmages; and contracts and oaths at the Legendary tier and above appeared to be witnessed by the "Origin" of the world itself.
"I trust you, Master Felipe, and I trust myself, so there's no need for a devil's contract." Lucian answered in a calm, unperturbed tone.
The truth was that his level was far too low to summon a devil. Even if Felipe did the summoning, the devil would discover his true level when the contract was signed. Although a cunning devil might not necessarily expose him, having leverage in someone else's hands always felt terrible, so Lucian simply requested no contract, cultivating an air of enigmatic mystery.
Felipe was indeed taken aback. If the Professor intended to act, he could do so right now — there would be no need to renege after a failed experiment. What exactly was the Professor thinking?! Or perhaps he didn't want the summoned devil to know his identity?
"If I fail to keep my word, I'm sure Viscount Kalendia would not welcome a guest like me." Lucian gestured toward Viscount Kalendia, who looked as if he were eagerly anticipating the start of the experiment.
Viscount Kalendia, not expecting to be dragged in while simply standing there, surmised that the Professor probably didn't want to leave his true name on a devil's contract, so he chuckled: "Gentlemen, why not let me serve as witness?"
Only then did Felipe nod slightly. "Then let the Viscount serve as witness. Professor, please begin the synthesis experiment."
Lucian waved his hand. "For the sake of fairness, I'll explain the procedure, and Master Felipe, you perform the experiment yourself. That way, if you fail, you won't be able to make excuses claiming I tampered with the process."
"A very reasonable proposal." Felipe couldn't help but applaud. On one hand, this made the experiment more credible; on the other hand, he might get to see the groundbreaking and explosive details of an Archanic experiment, learning a great deal from it. As for sabotaging the experiment to make it fail, the thought had never crossed his mind, because that would make it impossible to verify whether the experiment actually worked. He believed the Professor thought the same way, which was why he'd made such a perfectly reasonable suggestion.
Lucian chuckled softly without answering — he could hardly say it was because his own strength was insufficient and he couldn't carry out this experiment.
After telling Felipe the high-temperature and high-pressure requirements of the alchemical array, Lucian quietly watched as he pulled a fist-sized, dark-gold house-shaped object from his pocket and extracted numerous tiny alchemical devices from inside.
Remarkably, the moment these alchemical devices left the miniature house, they rapidly expanded to their original size under Felipe's control, quickly transforming the raised platform into a rather impressive small-scale magical laboratory.
This made Lucian incredibly envious. He had no idea how one could obtain such alchemical items that could store things and be carried around — they were the perfect companion for home, travel, meditation, and experiments alike.
While Felipe was setting up the magical laboratory, the mages and apprentices below began whispering among themselves.
"Do you think the Professor can really synthesize life substance?" Fatty asked the people around him, half reluctant and hesitant, half expectant and hopeful.
Tall and lean Red Wine shook his head without hesitation. "How is that possible?! The theory of human vital force is one of the foundational theories of necromantic magic established by numerous Legendary Mages of antiquity — it's an unquestionable truth!"
"Exactly — an unquestionable truth!" A formally trained necromancer ahead of them turned around and nodded solemnly. "Our repeated successful experiments with human body synthesis are the best proof!"
Fatty looked at them and whispered, "But if the Professor loses, we'll have to join the Pale Hand. If it really comes to that, I'd rather just join the Church and become a Night Watch member!"
Bread lowered his voice and said through gritted teeth, "Maybe the Professor is planning to launch a sneak attack while Felipe is doing the experiment — that way Felipe wouldn't have time to react!"