As the door opened, a warm yellow glow gradually emerged, illuminating the entire magic laboratory.
It was clean and tidy, filled with vessels and alchemy arrays. While it wasn't as mysterious, wondrous, grand, or elaborate as the magic laboratory "Prophet"
K pointed at one of the alchemy worktables. "Lucian, haha, feels like I'm calling my own name — go ahead and use it to brew potions. I'm about to start a magic experiment."
"All right." Lucian didn't ask further questions. Casually prying into the contents of someone else's experiments was one of the greatest taboos at the Magic Council.
There were always mages with poor character who quietly learned about someone else's experimental direction and content, then designed a similar experiment, rushed to write and publish a paper, and reaped Archanist credits, Archanist points, and status and honor in the process.
Because this method was easily confused with the situation of two people researching the same arcane direction but one simply finishing first, evidence was difficult to establish — unless one used mind-reading magic or similar spells to make a judgment. But mages who dared to do this invariably had powerful forces backing them, and without sufficient evidence, they could refuse mind-reading magic entirely. Excuses were easy to come by as well — for instance, claiming they held secrets related to some major arcane discovery or ruin.
Worse still, some mages who stole others' Archanist research results, being petty and vindictive, worried that the original researcher might eventually grow strong enough to seek revenge. So they would go to extreme lengths to keep them firmly suppressed, or pull strings to assign them a seemingly innocuous mission that would make them "disappear."
Lazarus had already told Lucian about all of these things when introducing the customs and rules of the Magic Council.
The "Firm
Seeing there was still time, Lucian took out a vial of purified elemental material, intending to follow those papers and verify its various properties for himself.
Just then, K, who had his back to Lucian, suddenly spoke. "Lucian, apart from brewing potions, do you have any other magic experiments you need to do?"
"I — I'm not trying to snoop on your work. It's just that if you genuinely have experiments that need doing, I can tell you the opening sequence for this laboratory's Arcane Lock. That way, even if I can't make it here sometime, you'll still be able to use this lab."
His voice was deep and resonant, echoing through the magic laboratory, giving one a sense of reassurance.
"Thank you, K. I've just started on elemental fundamentals, and I want to test each element's properties myself. As you know, I'm only a first-ring magician — many properties can't be determined through my own magic alone. I have to rely on the Magic Circles and alchemy arrays in the laboratory." Lucian didn't stand on ceremony. He turned around and answered honestly. This was also laying the groundwork for future Archanist research results — at the very least, plenty of people would see that he had put in enormous effort to verify elemental properties.
Besides, he genuinely needed this kind of experimentation to rule out errors and determine whether the various elements in this world followed any patterns. If they did, that would mean a great deal.
When Lucian turned around, however, he saw that K was still continuing his experiment, so he turned back again to avoid peeking at its contents.
"I'll tell you the Arcane Lock sequence in a bit, then." K's experiment seemed to have entered a stage of waiting for results, so he could spare some mental focus for conversation. At the same time, he was worried about accidentally glimpsing the contents of Lucian's potion brewing, so he didn't turn around. "Though, I may be leaving
Lucian activated the alchemy array to vaporize a small amount of purified elemental material and used a measurement array to determine its gas density, all while asking with a mix of curiosity and puzzlement. "You're leaving, K? Why?"
"Heh heh. When one of my papers passed review, it caught the attention of a certain committee member's disciple. He's Mr. Larry from our Elemental Will. He told me that if I could become a mid-tier magician, he'd be willing to take me on as a student and research assistant. And I've been feeling lately that I'm getting closer and closer to the third ring, so I want to complete a mission to obtain an item that will help me advance." K explained slowly, without any boastful tone, though his verbal expressiveness was somewhat lacking.
Larry was the most promising candidate for high-tier magician in the current generation of Elemental Will. He was a student of
Lucian, with his back still to K, nodded slightly. "Congratulations, then. Heh heh — what was the paper about? I'd like to find it and have a read."
"It hasn't been published yet. It'll be in next week's *Elements* journal. The school will have free copies available then." K seemed a bit embarrassed by Lucian's question and didn't directly state the paper's title. "I hope you can finish your foundational experiments quickly, Lucian. Otherwise, once I'm gone, you'll have to race the other instructors for lab time."
Lucian chuckled. "So it's the *Elements* journal — nobody at the school even knew about it. You really kept that under wraps, K. All right, I'll make sure to finish the experiments as fast as I can. You're truly a good person, K — always willing to help others."
"It's nothing. I just hope that everyone, when they're able and when it doesn't interfere with their own work, will help each other out as much as possible," K replied with a smile.
The two stood with their backs to each other, chatting casually from time to time, but mostly focused on their own experiments.
…………
By the time Lucian returned to the garden villa, it was well past midnight.
The faint fragrance of flowers and the pleasant quiet allowed Lucian's mental state to quickly settle into optimal condition. He then opened the glass vial and drank the murky brown "Firm Stone" potion in one gulp.