For the next half-month or so, aside from the ubiquitous discussions about the nascent star and the Divine Descent spell, the cities of Allinger, Lentas, Lantz, and others remained peaceful and uneventful, as serene as a millpond.
It was in this eerie calm—where it seemed as though nothing had happened, as though the celestial phenomenon had been nothing out of the ordinary—that time carried the world to the New Year of the 820th year of the Holy Calendar.
After a brief holiday, Lucian picked up the gentleman's cane formed from the "Solar Scepter," and with his mind occupied by the initial establishment of the "Allinger Telephone and Telegraph Company" and the promotion of alchemical products, he stepped through the gates of the Atomic Research Institute.
Before he even had time to remove his top hat and hang it on the coat rack, Lucian heard Lazar's trembling, uncontrollable voice: "An—an artificial planet?"
"That star that lit up half the sky that night was actually created and 'launched' by Council Chairman Douglas!" Hetty still possessed the crisp, girlish voice of a young girl, but at this moment it had turned piercingly sharp, as though her soul had been profoundly shaken by inconceivable power.
So Chairman Douglas has published his experiment in *Arcane*? A flash of understanding passed through Lucian's mind, and then he smiled as he greeted the statue-like Lazar and Hetty: "Hi, Lazar. Hi, Hetty. Happy New Year—you two are really early."
Since his advancement to the third ring, Lazar had developed the "awareness" of a mid-tier mage—he had to read every new issue of *Arcane* and *Arcane Magic* the moment it came out. In the past, because he couldn't understand most of the papers in the two journals, he had little motivation to subscribe; he would buy an occasional issue and spend most of his time borrowing them from the Archanist Library to flip through, giving them less attention than *Elements* or the *Monthly Archanist*. But now, with the release of these two journals, he arrived early like this for one or two days each and every month. Lucian had no doubts about this.
What puzzled him slightly was that Hetty, who loved sleeping in, could get up this early.
"Teacher Evans, Enick has advanced to the official mage rank!" Hetty subconsciously turned to answer Lucian's unspoken question, clenching her fist. "I've been stung by it! I'm going to wake up early for Meditation! I'm going to wake up early and study!"
Enick has advanced? Although the communication satellite had not yet been launched during this period and Lucian could not make calls to distant places, the myriad initial tasks of the Allinger Telephone and Telegraph Company and its subsidiary "Voice of the Arcane" had consumed almost all of his free time. Aside from a few words exchanged during the New Year feast, he had paid no attention to the progress of these apprentices who were, in a sense, half his students—and he had failed to notice that Enick was already on the verge of promotion.
This also served as a wake-up call for Lucian. He began to consider that once the foundation was laid, he should hand operations over to professionals or mages who enjoyed management, and simply enjoy his share of the profits. After all, his most important and fundamental pursuits were his Archanist level, the improvement of his magical strength, and the refinement of alchemical products.
"When did he advance?" Lucian asked, with considerable pleasure.
Hetty clenched her small fist tightly. "Yesterday! He's been busy with his private experiments this whole time—even the New Year holiday he didn't rest. Yesterday he apparently made a breakthrough, and rather than waiting for his spiritual power to accumulate sufficiently, he used potions to complete the advancement! If I hadn't gone to ask him about a difficult problem, I never would have found out!"
"To advance just a few months after passing the Coming-of-Age ceremony—Enick is no worse than any other Magic Apprentice of his age." Lucian nodded with satisfaction. It seemed that Enick had made considerable progress in verifying that what was ejected during the photoelectric effect was indeed the electron.
At this thought, an idea suddenly struck Lucian: would his institute someday become a kindergarten for winners of the Holm Crown Award and the Silver Moon Medal? Would some future *History of Magic* record it this way: "'The Atomic Research Institute'—this humble place—left behind a constellation of brilliant names, giving rise to one pioneering figure after another, each revered by posterity"?
Although with Lucian's own paper discovering natural radiation already on the record, Enick probably wouldn't win the Holm Crown Award this time, if he kept going down this path—exploring at the very frontier of this elemental domain—there was no telling what the future might hold!
Hetty pumped her fist vigorously once more: "I won't be any worse than them!"
Just then, the spirited-looking Enick walked in together with Springt, Raylia, and the others, looking unusually vibrant and radiant for once.
"Congratulations, Enick. You've become an official mage." Lucian smiled and offered his congratulations.
"What? You've advanced to official mage rank?" Springt blurted out, having assumed that among the apprentices, he would be the first to advance.
Raylia and Katrina likewise looked at Enick with a mixture of surprise, joy, envy, and a strange wistfulness—they simply couldn't believe that Enick, the most silent, the most taciturn, and the least conspicuous among them, had become an official mage so quickly.
Under the weight of everyone's gaze, Enick's face flushed crimson. He answered shyly, almost bashfully: "Yesterday my experiment made progress, the Meditation environment changed, so I took a potion and attempted to construct a first-ring spell. I didn't expect it to succeed on the first try."
Never having been the focus of such attention before, Enick was deeply uncomfortable, nearly burying his face in the floor.
"So you've verified that it's the electron?" Lucian asked with satisfaction.
Enick nodded. "Mm."
"That's a result with at least a slim chance of winning the Holm Crown Award," Lucian said, half-jokingly.
Sharp gasps erupted from Hetty, Raylia, Katrina, and even Lazar. Come to think of it—there might actually, possibly, truly be a slim chance!
Yesterday's Magic Apprentice about to win the Holm Crown Award—it was more legendary than any legend. Even Lucian, who had truly been under nineteen when he received the highest honor, had been an official mage for nearly a year by then.
Hearing the gasps and exclamations, Enick grew even more ill at ease. He shook his head: "I won't get it. This only proves that electrons come from within metals, not that they come from inside the metal atoms themselves. Couldn't they, for example, be free electrons absorbed when the atoms bond?"
He seemed to mutter to himself as he continued: "And even if there were a chance of getting it, I wouldn't want to."
"Why?" Lucian asked with genuine curiosity, and the others felt the same—who on earth wouldn't want the Holm Crown Award?
Enick answered, deeply embarrassed: "I don't like being the center of attention. Isn't it perfectly fine to quietly study, experiment, explore, and improve?"