Ravendie's thunderous roar echoed through the great hall like rolling thunder, making the Archanists' ears ring. This mingled with the shock of having just witnessed the Periodic Table of Elements confirmed before their very eyes, creating a complex sensation—deafening, exhilarating, and terrifying all at once. Even Gaston, Offley, Rocklin, and Lydia, four members of the Review Committee whose standing was not far below Ravendie's, could not maintain their usual composure and were visibly stirred and invigorated.
The confirmation of the Periodic Table of Elements meant that the discovery of new elements in the field of elemental magic was no longer a scattered, blind endeavor—what people had likened to a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse. From now on, it would be guided by theory, governed by regularity, and set on a clear path forward!
"To explore the world, to strive to distill laws from phenomena, and then use those laws to deduce other phenomena"—no research achievement in the field of elemental magic better embodied the Archanist spirit than this!
Amid these emotions, they did not immediately register Ravendie's question. But from a corner of the hall, a male voice rang out—excited yet tinged with nervousness:
"Lucian? Evans? Mr. X…"
"Lucian? Evans? Mr. X is here!"
After repeating himself, his voice grew enormously loud, as if he could not contain it, or perhaps feared no one would hear him.
"What?" Ravendie and the vast majority of Archanists had never expected such an answer. Lucian Evans—Mr. X—was actually here at the venue?!
Gaston and Larry were the quickest to react. The Lucian Evans they had encountered earlier, who shared a name with "K," was in fact Mr. X! His Archanist rank was only First-Rank, which perfectly matched the signature beneath the paper's title!
Such a discovery—one that could truly be called momentous—had been summarized by a First-Rank Archanist, a mere First-Circle magician!
On the half-height metal platform, Leandro, standing beside Ravendie, felt the world spin before his eyes. His face turned the color of dried orange peel soaked in water for ten days. Countless thoughts churned in his mind into an impenetrable tangle, with no thread to pull.
All eyes turned toward the source. The one who had raised his hand from the corner was Lazarus. He wore his customary black double-breasted long coat, his expression intensely excited. After receiving Lucian's letter, he had taken the opportunity while preparing the venue to flip through the freshly printed journal *Elements*, focusing on Lucian's paper on the Periodic Table of Elements, and had formed a deep impression of its contents.
So during Ravendie's live experiment just now, every data point and every property tested had crashed into his soul like a tidal wave. The predictions derived from the periodic laws of the elements were astonishingly precise—more deserving of the word "prophecy" than the vague forecasts of the astrology school. It was as though he had already laid eyes on the new element with his own!
This was something so miraculous that even magicians could hardly believe it. Naturally, Lazarus felt dizzy and his head swelled. It was only when Ravendie's roar reached his ears that he snapped back to reality: this paper, laden with terrifying value, had been written by his friend Lucian Evans! The letter X after his name—Lazarus had been the first to know!
Immense joy and pride struck Lazarus. Though he worried about being berated by Ravendie, the short-tempered Grand Magician, he raised his hand without hesitation and called out.
Beside him, Lucian had tightly shut his eyes the moment the atomic weight of the new element was determined. His gamble had finally paid off!
Joy, elation, relief, and lingering fear churned and fermented continuously in Lucian's heart. If this new element had turned out to be a strange isotope, there was no telling when his paper would have been taken seriously. And once the Archanists had labeled him as blindly arrogant and lacking the corresponding ability, his next paper would face unspeakable, silent discrimination. Apart from relying on the Helm Crown Ring to receive the Will of the Elements' protection, there would be no other recourse in the short term.
Of course, Lucian's confidence had always far outweighed his fear of failure, because analyzing the elemental family from the other world had allowed him to judge that even if isotopes existed, the stable ones would be unlikely to disrupt the arrangement within the Periodic Table.
But regardless, from the moment he had corrected the atomic weights of elements and repeatedly confirmed through their properties that this world's elements obeyed periodic laws—owing to a lack of conclusive evidence—anxiety had persistently accompanied him. Ravendie's experiment, while shaking the Archanists and Lucian himself, had also brought peace to Lucian's heart.
"Deduce other phenomena from laws"—it sounded simple enough, but before the phenomena had been verified, how many people could truly stand by the laws they had summarized?
Ravendie, Timothy, and the other Archanists noticed that beside the excited Lazarus stood a quiet, unassuming young man. He wore a black bow tie and a matching double-breasted long coat—both formal and handsome—and his dark pupils were deep and unfathomable.
"You're Lucian Evans? Mr. X?" Ravendie asked, slightly surprised at how young his subject was.
The hall fell completely silent. Apart from Gaston, Larry, and a few others who had had some forewarning, the remaining Archanists could hardly imagine that Lucian was this young. They had assumed it was a low-ranking Archanist who had spent years studying elemental properties and stumbled upon the periodic laws by chance. But the truth appeared to be quite different—this was a genuinely young man!
Lucian had regained his composure during Ravendie's outburst. He controlled his excitement, maintained a smile, and said, "Yes, Lord Ravendie."
Addressing a Ninth-Circle magician as "Lord"—a title normally reserved for legendary figures—was somewhat unconventional by Magic Council standards. But since Ravendie was the vice president of the Will of the Elements, the formality was not out of place.
Ravendie narrowed his eyes, covertly activated a spell, and directly read the records on Lucian's Archanist badge. He then nodded and said, "Evans, come up. I want the final presentation at today's conference to be your paper. The immense significance it holds, I believe every Archanist present understands. I need say no more. This Annual Conference of Elemental and Alchemical Magic will be inscribed into the history of Arcane Magic because of you and your research!"
"No, Mr. Ravendie." Gaston stood up. Under the puzzled gazes of those around him, he smiled and said, "The immense significance of the Periodic Table of Elements still needs to be made explicit. I was too negligent in the review of this paper, so I would like to join Mr. Offley in filing a joint application to the Committee, requesting a re-evaluation of this paper and the granting to Evans of the honor, commendation, points, and Arcane contributions he rightfully deserves!"
Offley also rose and nodded in agreement.
If the subject of an evaluation was dissatisfied with the review results of their paper, they could file a complaint with the Archanist Review Committee. As long as two Committee members endorsed the complaint and submitted a joint application, the paper could be re-evaluated.
The two old foxes Gaston and Offley, having personally witnessed the tremendous impact brought by the Periodic Table of Elements, had consulted briefly and decided to file the application themselves.