Fifteenth floor of the Magic Parliament's tower, in another room.
A crisp bell chimed, clear and pleasant. A wooden puppet hopped over upon hearing the sound, then picked up the papers and leafed through them: "A sound-wave paper? Apprentice-level? Master said he'd only review anything related to high-tier magic or the latest Archanist research areas. Master's several students aren't here today either. Ah well, I'll just have to send them all to the review Archanists at the *Monthly Archanist Review*."
After identifying the magic's tier, the puppet waited another five minutes. Once "Bat's Scream" had been verified and transmitted over, it called out to a beautiful little bird with a red beak and green feathers perched outside the window, which fluttered down. The puppet gathered the accumulated papers from the day, rolled them together, tied them up, and had the bird carry the ribbon in its beak toward another magic tower elsewhere in Allentown.
Teleportation between different magic towers was exceedingly difficult.
The little bird flew at a remarkably swift pace, its feathers generating a faint green barrier to block the gale winds, and it quickly vanished from the puppet's sight.
…………
On the third floor of a magic tower the color of a clear blue sky, in a room crammed with books and looking rather cramped and cluttered, a middle-aged gentleman with a golden handlebar mustache was studying a journal before him, brow furrowed in deep thought.
Studying the latest research findings in one's own field was one of the primary ways for magicians at his level to advance further.
Suddenly, he heard the tapping of something pecking against the outer energy barrier of the tower. Smiling, he set down the journal and pressed a magic button on the desk before him.
The energy barrier retracted, the window opened, and the red-beaked, green-feathered bird flew inside. It strutted proudly across the desk a few times before setting down the several papers it carried in its beak: "Mr. Woods, here are today's papers. Please review them as soon as possible."
Its voice was as pleasant as its song.
Woods pulled out a handful of strange snow-white granules and tossed them to the bird: "Celina, are there any with magic ratings? If not, come back for them this time tomorrow."
Celina happily pecked at the granules and chirped, "There's one, Mr. Woods. Please rate it quickly."
Woods untied the ribbon and found the parchment bearing the new magic:
"Bat's Scream, an apprentice-level spell… Hmm, interesting." Woods, who had been browsing carelessly, felt a jolt of surprise cross his face as he read through to the principles and construction process that followed.
When he finished, he couldn't help tapping his fingers rhythmically against the wooden desk, muttering to himself: "This, this, this… There should be an accompanying paper, right?"
As he spoke, he flipped through the other parchments:
"*Exploring the Application of Sound Waves in the Field of Arcane Detection Through Small Bat Flight Experiments*? Lucian Evans? This must be it."
He pulled out the paper and read through it carefully from the beginning:
"…A mage with considerable spirit of inquiry, possessing the fundamental potential of an Archanist."
"Research on living creatures by both the ancient Magic Empire and the present-day Magic Parliament has been largely confined to magical creatures and humans, with very few studying ordinary organisms. Even those who did only examined things like bear's strength or cat's agility — all rather obvious. No wonder no one has ever discovered that small bats navigate by hearing rather than sight."
"…The experimental design with controlled conditions and the process of eliminating variables are quite impressive, very rigorous. Although it doesn't involve much Archanist knowledge, this mode of thinking and methodology is well worth promoting and emulating — it's very much in the spirit of Archanist inquiry… Wait, only a first-circle mage? This young magician has no Archanist rank at all? How astonishing!" Midway through, he couldn't help flipping back to the front to check the author's name and rank.
"Lucian Evans — that name is far too common. Hard to tell who it is, but I expect we'll be seeing his name quite often in the future. I should recommend he add an initial after his name when publishing papers, to distinguish himself from others with the same name."
After finishing the paper with great care, Woods stood up and instructed his apprentice to catch a couple of small bats.
Though the apprentice didn't understand why Mr. Woods wanted bats, the request of a fourth-rank Archanist and fourth-circle mage was not one to refuse. Fortunately, bats were also an ingredient in several magical potions, so he was able to produce two within ten minutes.
Woods quickly replicated Lucian's experiment in a short span of time, his expression growing ever more excited: "It really works — echolocation at high frequencies! This breaks sound-wave magic out of its old limitations. It's no longer something used only for intimidation, destruction, and killing!"
Sound-wave magic had always been scattered across various branches of study. Homann's Coughing series, for instance, fell under the Force school, while the Banshee's Howl belonged to Necromancy.
Suppressing his urge to immediately write a paper exploring the applications, Woods sat back down, picked up a Feather Pen, and on the front page of Lucian's paper wrote his assessment:
"Groundbreaking in its…"
A similar scene was playing out in another magic tower as well, though this one housed the headquarters of the *Soundwave* journal.
…………
In the great hall of the "Magician Management Division," Lucian sat on a sofa sipping a non-alcoholic beverage called "Sky Blue" that Lazarus had enthusiastically recommended — its sweet, smooth taste won Lucian's approval.
Inside the clear glass, the pure azure liquid swayed gently as Lucian rotated the cup. He drank at a leisurely pace while chatting casually with Lazarus about all manner of common knowledge regarding the Magic Parliament.
As it neared five forty — close to the time the Parliament headquarters tower would close — the two gentlemen magicians were still sitting unhurriedly in the hall savoring their drinks. Cindy and Donna were both quite curious, and so the more spirited Cindy craned her neck slightly and said in a low voice, "Mr. Lazarus, Mr. Evans, do you still have business here at the Management Division?"
Lazarus gestured toward Lucian with a laugh: "I'm keeping Evans company while he waits for the rating on his new spell. Heh, and the review results of his paper, too. Paper reviews usually take three days, as you know, Cindy. The gentlemen on the review committee are all important people, and they've always been very 'thorough' in their work — so it tends to go slowly."