In a large guest room of the "Dragon Root" inn, temporarily converted into an arcane laboratory...
"Mr. Evans, here are the two third-level Divine Arts you requested—'Bramble Growth' and 'Harvest Spring.'" Elstine handed Lucian two sheets of paper with a cold, disgusted tone. The paper was withered yellow like tree bark, yet elegant.
This "Elven paper" was made from naturally shed bark of the elven spirit trees—a specialty of the elven race. It was praised by numerous mages of the Arcane Council as one of the finest materials for crafting high-level arcane scrolls, comparable to dragonhide. Unfortunately, its limited supply meant it was rarely available at any price.
These two druids from the "Anti-Nature faction" truly deserved their status as members of the Elven Royal Court—their generosity was staggering, making "country bumpkin" Lucian quite envious.
Taking the two sheets imprinted with Divine Arts, Lucian noticed that the three-dimensional seals were extremely chaotic, with many parts appearing incomplete and scattered, entirely lacking the balanced mystique that any supernatural force model should possess. He frowned slightly. "Prince Exirion, Princess Elstine, I believe these two Divine Arts seals are incomplete. Since you've come to cooperate, it would be best to show some sincerity."
"Sincerity is exactly what we're trying to avoid!" Elstine cursed inwardly, then answered with a smile that was elegant, perfect, yet ice-cold: "Mr. Evans, we are druids, not mages. The supernatural power we wield is a gift from nature. Only those with a heart that cherishes and protects nature can perceive nature's will, and from it, memorize and construct Divine Arts models. We have never studied, nor will we ever study, the analysis and inscription of Divine Arts seals. The fact that we managed to draw them like this means we've already done our best."
Her brother Exirion was very satisfied with this explanation and added haughtily: "If you wish to see the complete Divine Arts seals, we can project them directly using the method of crafting Divine Arts items. But then they would be protected by nature's will—they could only be destroyed, never analyzed for their contents. Mr. Evans, do you have the ability to penetrate nature's barrier while keeping the Divine Arts seal intact?"
He was telling the truth. The Arcane Council had confiscated many Divine Arts items over the years, yet progress in deciphering their mysteries remained stalled. One of the main reasons was that most high-level mages couldn't stabilize the internal structure of Divine Arts seals while bypassing the divine barrier.
As for those Grand Archanists who did possess such ability—once they eliminated the divine barrier, they discovered that, according to the structural principles of Divine Arts seals, the process required the aid of a mysterious, nameless "power" from the unseen realm. This power was currently unknowable and immeasurable. Therefore, if druids were present to cast Divine Arts at the crucial moment of analysis, some progress might be possible.
Lucian himself possessed a ninth-level Divine Arts item, the "Crown of the Sun." Yet all this time, aside from leaving a spiritual force imprint to activate the Divine Arts following Maskelyne's instructions, he had been completely unable to analyze the Divine Arts seal within. So, upon seeing the two druids' uncooperative attitude, he spoke in the tone of a research fanatic: "Very well, then Theodore, Urian, and I will analyze this portion of the seals first."
"Since you and Mr. Evans are ready to begin, there seems to be no point in us staying. We'd like to go out for a walk—observe the land and the condition of the other research groups, to lay a solid foundation for our future experiments." Though somewhat arrogant and impulsive, unable to keep his own mouth shut, Exirion—as a product of the Royal Court—nevertheless had a decent talent for crafting high-sounding excuses.
Lucian pushed up his gold-rimmed spectacles. "No. During analysis, we need you to cast Divine Arts for us to observe and sense. Otherwise, we cannot proceed. Don't tell me you lack the sincerity to cooperate?"
Before the Elven Royal Court or the elder druids of the "Anti-Nature faction" issued further orders, neither Exirion nor Elstine dared openly declare that they were simply refusing to cooperate—that they were there to cause trouble. Doing so would practically hand the Arcane Council an excuse to place them under house arrest, and afterward, the Elven Royal Court would hardly press the matter over something so blatantly their fault.
So the two elves answered sullenly: "Of course we have the sincerity to cooperate. But while you're analyzing arcane magic, Mr. Evans, we have nothing to do. Are we just supposed to sit here and wait?"
"You can sleep, you can pray to nature's will, you can talk quietly, you can read the books I brought—in short, stay here so that I can get your cooperation the moment I need it." Lucian tried his best to imitate the image of an Archanist obsessed with experiments and indifferent to human feelings. "If you still find nothing to do, I have some beginner mathematics exercises here. Would you like to try them?"
These were the "mind-training" arcane mathematics exercises he had prepared for Annick and Sprint.
Seeing the thick stack of white paper in Lucian's hands, covered in numbers that seemed to contain infinite mystery and curses, Exirion and Elstine—who derived their Divine Arts seals by merging with nature's will—immediately felt their heads swelling with a dizzy, throbbing pain. Mathematics was the subject they were worst at and most despised!
This "Elemental Order" gentleman, when not researching arcane magic or discussing meat, was truly an impeccable gentleman—witty in conversation, profound in knowledge, handsome in appearance, refined in manners, with good artistic appreciation and a calm, composed temperament more charming than many male elves. But the moment meat or arcane magic appeared, he would reveal his devilishly evil and merciless side in its entirety, making one hate him with a passion! Elstine, who had originally had a decent impression of Lucian, secretly lamented this gentleman's duplicity, hating him enough to grit her teeth.
After Exirion and Elstine took their seats in the corner of the laboratory, surrounded by their elven guards, Theodore glanced at the complex Divine Arts seals, then used the "Message Spell" to tell Lucian: "Seeing these models gives me a headache. The rest of the analysis is all on you!"
This was a short-distance communication spell. In the ancient magical empire, it had been a second-circle spell, but after simplification and improvement by numerous Archanists, it had become an apprentice-level spell—using special energy to wrap sound waves for transmission, effective within ten meters.
At the same time, Urian's pained voice also rang in Lucian's ears through the "Message Spell." He was equally terrified of the mathematical foundations required for reverse-analyzing Divine Arts.
Having dumped the "heavy burden" onto Lucian, the two battle-crazed mages pretended to study the Divine Arts seals, their feather pens floating and writing—when in fact they were enthusiastically sketching winter scenery.
"So in the end, I'm the only one actually analyzing arcane magic?" Lucian felt a deep sense of "despair" toward this arcane research group. He then took out a stack of white paper and began working through the mathematics problems Ravendy had assigned.
Since he hadn't studied advanced mathematics deeply in his previous life, there were still quite a few gaps in his foundation—perfect for quickly filling them in with Ravendy's guidance. After all, the Arcane Council's progress into complex variable function research was equivalent to the early-to-mid nineteenth century on Earth, already beyond the scope of what most people learned in their general education.
And aside from the yet-unsealed books in the Soul Library, the only areas where Lucian currently surpassed the Arcane Council were a handful of mathematical topics: linear algebra (matrices), axiomatic systems, and mathematical conjectures whose answers even he didn't know.
In this world, because mathematics had fully embodied the spirit of serving exploration, practice, and arcane application, relatively little research existed in areas like number theory and conjectures. Lucian had once thought that once he rose to a high position in the Arcane Council, he would propose those famous mathematical conjectures one by one and publish them as a collection, giving the Archanists of this other world a grand "mathematical feast."