After a brief round of applause, Douglas smiled and said, "Lucian, over the past month, many of the Archanists present — myself included — have verified the existence of cathode rays, and the experiment you just performed was entirely sound. We can therefore preliminarily conclude that these are particles smaller than atoms. As their discoverer, you have the right to name them."
Although the paper on cathode rays had only just been published in the latest issue of *Arcane*, everyone present was either a Grand Archanist of the Council or a senior Archanist, all with sufficient channels to have learned about the discovery of a new type of ray after Lucian submitted his paper and it passed review — enabling them to experiment with its properties and attempt to apply it to improving their own Arcane Magic well ahead of other Archanists.
With so many Grand Archanists and senior Archanists observing, any attempt at fraud or falsification in Lucian's experiment would have been immediately detected, so the results were authentic and trustworthy.
"It carries a negative charge, and its charge magnitude is extremely small. Let's call it the electron," Lucian said, making no changes to the name he had proposed.
"Excellent — the name 'electron' is quite fitting. It will be our first step into the microscopic world, a crucial advance in our approach to truth."
Douglas addressed the senior Archanists in a manner reminiscent of a formal speech, attempting to minimize the psychological impact of atomic theory's collapse and transform it into a triumphant victory for Arcane Magic. "However, we must not become complacent. We need to calm down and consider several questions: Why does gas discharge produce a flow of electrons? What unique properties do electrons possess? What are their precise mass and charge? Do they have any relationship to atoms? What is the internal structure of atoms? Can electrons be further divided… These questions await our gradual exploration."
As expected of a Douglas-style speech — Lucian felt his head throbbing and finally understood why his teacher Fernando had given him the nickname "A Hundred Thousand Whys." It was truly apt, and he couldn't help but feel a twinge of embarrassment. He had already learned from Fernando that during the Miracle Experiment, they had been "observing" from the demiplane space on the floor above and had heard all his "A Hundred Thousand Whys" responses.
Lucian's gaze drifted and collided with Fernando's. Fernando pursed his lips slightly, a gesture that said, *You get used to it.*
At that moment, Oliver interjected with a smile: "Your Excellency the Council President, perhaps you should give the floor to Evans — he is today's protagonist."
Douglas chuckled upon hearing this. "I was getting too excited. Let the young man speak, then."
"Evans, won't you share with us your insights into Arcane Magic? How is it that you remain uninfluenced by current Arcane theory, unafraid of a collapse in your World of Cognition, and always able to put forward subversive ideas? Florensa is a staunch atomist — I still need time to gradually shift her views — so I'm very curious about your way of thinking. No, I'm not trying to force anything; everyone has their secrets, and I too have things I'd rather not share with others." Oliver's smile was refined, neither condescending nor rigidly conservative.
All the Archanists, including Roland, expressed keen interest in Oliver's question. Fernando, too, grew serious, wanting to hear what his student actually thought. Only Heatherly maintained her characteristic cold, quiet composure.
Standing before the mirror-lined passage, Lucian looked at the assembled Grand Archanists, legendary mages, and senior Archanists with a calm, unruffled smile, entirely devoid of stage fright. "In this regard, I hold a personal philosophical perspective that I hope may offer some inspiration to Your Excellencies and gentlemen."
"In my view, truth must be distinguished — I divide it into absolute truth and relative truth."
"Absolute truth is the objective essence and laws inherent in the world, unchanging regardless of any new theory proposed. It is the reality we seek."
"However, limited by our level of knowledge, our magical power, our modes of thinking, the extent of our exploration, the conditions of our bodies and souls, and various other constraints, we can only approach absolute truth and obtain relative truth under certain conditions. In other words, relative truth is an approximation of absolute truth within a defined scope — it can resolve the problems we encounter under those conditions, but once those conditions are exceeded, relative truth becomes error."
Oliver's easy, debonair smile gradually faded, his expression growing serious and focused. Fernando's red eyes narrowed slightly — he hadn't expected Lucian's thinking to be so distinctive. Douglas's tall frame leaned back subtly as he instinctively sought a more comfortable posture, apparently lost in thought. Heatherly rested her chin in her right hand, silently stroking it — a gesture strikingly reminiscent of Natasha's habitual mannerism.
The other Archanists, including Ravendi and Roland, had likewise never anticipated that Lucian would possess such mature and developed ideas — nothing at all like the reckless young man they had previously assumed was simply charging through the field of Arcane Magic on the strength of youthful vigor, sharp talent, and exceptional gifts.
"Therefore, many of the theories we have overturned or subverted were not meaningless. They were relative truths valid under certain conditions — it is only that, as Arcane Magic has developed and the scope of our exploration has expanded beyond the conditions under which they held, they came to appear erroneous and absurd, and were thus overthrown."
"Take atomic theory, for example. In ordinary alchemical reactions and potion brewing, given what we have currently observed, atoms are indeed the most fundamental substance — they are the relative truth under those conditions."
"Or consider the ancient Magic Empire. Why could their theories, which appear riddled with errors from our modern perspective, still allow them to control their minds, cast Arcane Magic, and even become legendary mages? It is because those theories, too, were relative truths under certain conditions."
"As our exploration continues and we draw ever closer to the truth of the world, the scope in which truth must apply grows ever broader, and the relative truths we obtain grow ever closer to absolute truth. But the world is vast and boundless, and we are so insignificant by comparison. One can imagine that for a very, very long time, we will be unable to obtain absolute truth — we can only grasp relative truths that increasingly approximate it, ready to become erroneous at any moment as our conditions expand and our scope broadens."
"Therefore, we must always maintain this perspective: everything we currently possess is still merely relative truth — it contains a portion of absolute truth but is far from complete. Even if we believe in it, use it, and build our World of Cognition upon it, we should recognize that its validity is limited to certain conditions. This way, we will be far better equipped to face subversive viewpoints."
Seizing this opportunity to give a speech, Lucian was also organizing and consolidating his own philosophical convictions, laying groundwork for the strange and unsettling events he might face in the future, while attempting to subtly influence the mages' perspectives.
Yet Lucian also understood that once a person's worldview was established, changing it was exceedingly difficult — the same held true for a mage's World of Cognition. This was not something that could be altered by a single philosophical lecture. If a person could truly subdue their subconscious and achieve complete mastery over their body and mind, then by Earth's standards, they would already belong to the realm of "saints" or "Buddhas."
So in the future, there would certainly still be mages whose heads exploded from a collapse in their World of Cognition, or who could never advance again. There would certainly still be mages who argued, debated, harbored hatred, and resorted to assassination over theoretical conflicts. And there would certainly still be mages who understood these philosophical perspectives yet could not apply them to guide their own Arcane Magic studies. All Lucian could do was hope to minimize such cases as much as possible.
After the speech, a brief silence fell over the small conference room.
After a moment, Douglas was the first to applaud. "Excellent philosophical reasoning. You've explained the development of Arcane theory — from the Magic Empire through the Council and its various stages — from an entirely different angle. We may have already grasped a portion of truth, but we must not blindly cling to it; instead, we should keep asking 'why.' Lucian, you are more mature than I had imagined — not just in years, but up here." He tapped his temple.