The Holm Royal Arcane Tower.
As soon as Lucian pushed open the door, he spotted the familiar senior figures of the Elemental Will — Morris, Gaston, Florence, and others. Aside from those Archanists who were out exploring or whose Arcane research had reached a critical stage, roughly fourteen or fifteen had gathered.
"Committee Member Evans, the senior members of the Elemental Will are inside. Your safety is assured. I'll stand guard out here." Belac whispered in Lucian's ear.
Lucian gave a slight nod of agreement and walked inside at a leisurely pace, greeting the mages he recognized with a smile. "Good morning, Lord Morris, Mr. Gaston, Ms. Florence…"
"Welcome to our Committee Member Evans — the youngest Arcane Review Committee member in the history of the Arcane Council, the youngest Holm Crown Award recipient, and also about to receive, about to receive…" Morris rose with impeccable grace, welcoming and introducing Lucian to the other Elemental Will seniors with his usual humorous flair. But when he reached the end of the introduction, he suddenly found his heart aching too much to continue. "…about to receive the Immortal Throne Award. He will be the second among us at the Elemental Will to receive this honor. A very promising young man!"
The first Elemental Will mage to receive the Immortal Throne Award had been Hathaway, who had summarized the fundamental elemental composition of the human body.
The senior members present were all well accustomed to Morris's tendency to look visibly displeased and sour his mood the moment wealth was mentioned, and they were more than happy to "give him a hard time" on this front. They all shook their heads with amused smiles, muttering about Morris's nickname — "The Silver-Grey Miser."
Only Florence was simultaneously snickering and covering her face, feeling her teacher was being too embarrassing. As the wife of a Grand Archanist and a high-ranking mage in her own right with exceptional combat prowess, she had never lacked wealth or resources and therefore took a rather detached view of such matters. Still, out of the bond between teacher and student, she would invariably stand firmly on Morris's side whenever he proposed various suggestions motivated by his frugality.
"Lucian, this is President Donald, a lord of the Supreme Council, who has just returned from an expedition to an extradimensional space." Morris gestured toward an elderly gentleman with salt-and-pepper hair.
Donald looked every bit the typical old gentleman of Holm Kingdom style — impeccably dressed, with a black top hat and walking cane resting beside him. His pale blue eyes were neither cloudy nor sharp, giving off a warm and gentle impression.
But to have risen above numerous ninth-rank Archmages and become one of the six Archmage members of the Supreme Council, Lucian would never dare underestimate him. A ninth-level Archanist, ninth-rank mage, and Holm Crown Award recipient — these credentials alone formed a dazzling halo.
"Good morning, Lord Donald. I've always been very curious about extradimensional spaces, which is why I hold the deepest respect for every mage who can explore them. Could you tell me about the extradimensional space you explored this time?" Lucian greeted him politely and skillfully used his curiosity to build rapport.
Donald's laughter was low and deep, as if his throat had been injured at some point or tainted by certain magics. "Evans, you're already a member of the Arcane Review Committee, which means you have sufficient clearance to borrow the vast majority of extradimensional space records from the Council's High Arcane and Magical Library. Of course, we all know your Purification Sequence ranking has been climbing rapidly lately — you probably don't have time to read those books and documents."
Florence burst out laughing, because the fifty-third position on the Purification Sequence had previously been held by Donald, whose epithet was "Elemental Chaos." Lydia, who had succubus bloodline, also turned to look at Lucian with a smile, her deep red eyes gleaming with faint interest.
Before Lucian could respond, Donald continued. "Extradimensional spaces come in many varieties. Since no newly born extradimensional space has yet been found, we still haven't been able to determine the cause of their formation. This may well touch upon the secrets of world creation. The oldest, most dangerous, and most vast extradimensional spaces are two places we call Hell and the Abyss. They're divided into layers, much like an arcane tower."
"The so-called Heavenly Mountain of the True God Church is rather more mysterious. It possesses most of the characteristics of an extradimensional space, and various angels can be summoned as extradimensional creatures. But much like a missing planet, we simply cannot find it and are unable to explore it."
"Ordinary extradimensional spaces are much smaller than the main world. One can find the boundary of chaotic darkness, and the creatures, minerals, and terrain tend to be fairly uniform. There are fire elemental spaces brimming with flame, natural paradises where unicorns roam, and Star Cemeteries where real planets drift through a void of deathly stillness — no gravity, no light whatsoever. There are also human worlds structured much like nations."
"So far, the Council has explored eighty-seven extradimensional spaces. Eleven are under our control. The rest — some don't need to be held, some are caught in a prolonged tug-of-war with powerful local natives and the forces dispatched by the Southern and Northern Churches, some have been claimed by the Southern Church, the Northern Church, the Dark Council, or other deity churches, and the remaining ones are ones we currently lack the strength to hold, such as Hell and the Abyss."
"We explore extradimensional spaces for two reasons: first, to obtain a wide variety of precious resources and materials; and second, to find patterns by comparing imperfect extradimensional spaces with the main world, drawing closer to the truth of reality."
"This time I went to a Star Cemetery. I wanted to understand their relationship with the active stars in the main world — stars that possess gravity and emit light yet remain undetectable. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any clues."
When Donald mentioned the Star Cemeteries, an image suddenly surfaced in Lucian's mind — the vast, desolate, silent, cold cosmos from those science-fiction films he had watched in his previous life. But a Star Cemetery had not a single point of light or trace of gravity?
After Donald had more or less satisfied Lucian's curiosity, Morris proceeded to introduce the remaining senior members of the Elemental Will one by one. At that point, the conference room door opened again, and the grey-haired Lavendie walked in. Dozens of elemental symbols on his black magic robe were arranged in the shape of the periodic table.
"All the members at headquarters are present. Let's begin our discussion." Morris noticed that Lavendie had taken a seat at a distance from him, not directly facing him, and his mood immediately improved considerably.
Lucian gave Lavendie a slight nod of gratitude. The reason Lavendie was late was that he had been guarding the Elemental Will's Arinka branch, ensuring that Lucian's planar jump via the demiplane would be absolutely safe.
Lavendie paid no attention to Lucian's thanks. In his view, this was simply a duty that ought to be fulfilled.
"The first item on the agenda concerns… the Holm Crown Award." Morris rubbed his forehead and continued. "Larry's ring, 'Ionization,' has already been completed. Shall we wait to present both rings together with Evans's, or distribute them in two separate ceremonies?"
Lavendie stated his opinion directly. "Present them together. What matters is the honor and the rings, not the banquets and ceremonies. There's no need to waste everyone's time researching Arcana and studying magic."