The reason Lucian had been so cautious about the wave-particle duality issue was not only that he needed to develop his unique Meditation technique, but also because the topic was far too subversive and revolutionary. If he suddenly threw it all out at once, he would very likely shatter the cognitive worlds of ninety-nine percent of the Council's Mid-rank and above Archanists. At that point, he wasn't even a Legendary mage—without the Magic Council to back him, he wouldn't even have anywhere to run when the Church came for him.
Moreover, establishing wave-particle duality required a whole series of experiments, new discoveries, and new theories to support it. Otherwise, it would certainly face fierce attacks. For instance, the precise experimental verification of light quanta was beyond the Council's current capabilities—perhaps after a year or two of research, someone might manage it, but if proposed now, it would only be met with skepticism and impossibility of proof. And the mass-energy equation required for this was built upon special relativity, which itself had suffered who-knew-how-many-years of slander and attack.
So Lucian's original plan had been to gradually introduce the preliminary discoveries and theories, let them take root in people's minds, then drop a few jaw-dropping experiments and theories, and finally wade into the "wave-particle war." But now he found that the Council's war was escalating with each passing day, the two sides increasingly polarized. To prevent most Archanists' cognitive worlds from collapsing when wave-particle duality was ultimately established, the best approach was to start releasing these viewpoints bit by bit from now on—planting seeds of doubt in their minds even as they questioned them. Then, when conditions finally allowed the experiments to be conducted, the shock wouldn't be as devastating. If this process was repeated several times, even if some Archanists' minds were inevitably blown, at least the absolute number could be kept under control, preventing a catastrophic short-term decline in the Council's strength.
"That way, before the experiments confirm it, my paper might face widespread indifference, skepticism, and attack. But as Levsky said—this is a worthwhile sacrifice... Where in the world can you enjoy all the benefits without paying a price?" Lucian murmured to himself, his voice soft and indistinct.
This wasn't merely a matter of human nature and worldview considerations—it was also about his own safety. If the majority of the Council's Mid-rank and above mages were wiped out, the ones laughing the loudest would certainly be the Church. They might even award him a "one-ton" gold medal before burning him at the stake, in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to the destruction of the Magic Council. For now, at least, the Council was Lucian's powerful shield, and he wasn't foolish enough to demolish his own ramparts. He would much rather see the Council flourish, even if it meant paying a small price.
"What were you saying, Teacher?"
Lucian shook his head. "Nothing of importance. Having a paper accepted by *Arcane* at the level of an ordinary Archanist—that's an excellent start on your path to becoming a full mage, Annik. But complacency and laziness are the enemies of success and the companions of failure. Don't let this make you slack off on your own standards."
"Yes, Master Evans," Annik replied earnestly.
Lucian smiled faintly. "Just call me Teacher directly."
"Huh?" Annik, who was a bit dense about anything outside of arcane magic and magic in general, didn't react immediately.
Reillia hurriedly gave him a discreet push, while Heidi blurted out: "You idiot! Master Evans wants you to be his real student!"
What an idiot! They had all dreamed of this day. He'd gotten it handed to him on a silver platter and didn't even realize what was happening—truly infuriating!
Annik was immediately overcome with excitement, his emotions surging. From their first meeting in the seaside city of Stewart, he had regarded Master Evans as his true teacher—the teacher he admired from the bottom of his heart. But after watching Master Evans become wreathed in halo after halo, his magical power soaring ever higher, Annik had grown deeply insecure, never believing that someone like himself could catch Master Evans' eye.
"It would be my greatest honor to become your student." Annik's cheeks flushed crimson as he performed the most formal and solemn salute of the Magic Council.
Lucian raised his hand with a smile. "No need for such formality—I don't care much for elaborate rituals. As long as you acknowledge me from the heart, that's enough." He then glanced at Heidi,
"Really?" Heidi blurted out, her expression a mix of excitement and elation.
Lucian smiled and nodded gently.
"That's wonderful!"
The one who cheered softly was
Sprint also pressed his lips tightly together, hands hidden behind his back, his body trembling ever so slightly. In the Council—inherited from certain customs of the ancient magical empire—the relationship between teacher and student was something deeply solemn.
Lucian didn't linger on their joy and excitement. Instead, he looked at Annik and said with a smile: "The practice problems, examination papers, and preliminary knowledge summaries for the ten schools of magic that I prepared for you are on my study desk. Go pick them up yourself."
Huh? Annik's expression immediately turned bitter. The nightmare that never went away had returned. Even though he was a reserved, steady, hardworking, and diligent person, he still dreaded those things with all his being.
Hahaha—Heidi burst into laughter, hands planted on her hips, thoroughly enjoying his misfortune. Let you make breakthrough progress! Let you advance to full mage ahead of everyone else! Let you become Master Evans' formal student before the rest of us! As for her own potential fate in the future—well, it hadn't happened yet, so she'd put off worrying about it for now!
After the students left, Lucian strolled to his study and retrieved the special parchment reserved for writing papers. He sat quietly before it for a while, then picked up his Feather Pen and wrote:
*"On a Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning Light."*
Once again starting from the angle of blackbody radiation, he introduced the classical kinetic theory of gases, extending the concept that "energy absorption and emission occurs in discrete packets" to the electromagnetic radiation—electromagnetic waves—that provided said energy, arguing that its very existence was also quantized. And since light was an electromagnetic wave, it too was discontinuous, existing as discrete packets. The energy of each packet was determined by its frequency and was called a light quantum, and this was how light interacted with matter.
He then applied the light quantum hypothesis to the photoelectric effect, arriving at a perfect theoretical explanation for the phenomenon. Based on this theory, he made numerous predictions—for instance, that for light of a given frequency, the energy of the ejected electrons would be fixed.
"...In terms of instantaneous behavior, light exhibits distinct quantum characteristics, while in terms of time-averaged behavior, it demonstrates wave-like properties. Perhaps we should adopt a more open-minded attitude toward the wave-particle question." After careful consideration, Lucian included this seemingly fence-sitting but deeply meaningful statement, even though every Archanist who read the paper would equate it with an enhanced version of particle theory—albeit one that started from the deeply uncomfortable concept of quanta.
Having finished writing the paper, Lucian made two copies, intending to submit them separately to the Archanist Review Committee, his teacher Fernando, and Arthur—just let the fifty thousand Archanist Points soothe his soul. Even though Arthur also disliked the energy quantum concept, for someone who firmly stood on the side of particle theory, regarding all electromagnetic waves as discontinuous packets wasn't that just particle theory repackaged? Perhaps he would even end up calling light quanta directly "photons."
Sealing the paper, Lucian then wrote individual letters to each of his friends. Although there were no precise experiments to prove it yet, and the starting point was the much-maligned quantum theory—which meant a mind-blowing incident was unlikely—he still felt he should give them a heads-up, just in case.
"...The paper I'm about to submit, from my personal perspective, is the only one among all my papers so far whose revolutionary significance rivals that of the energy quantum hypothesis. Fortunately, there is still no strong experimental proof..." …………
Magical Affairs Department.
"Every time you submit a paper, I get a little nervous."
"It's just a heuristic viewpoint, with no experimental confirmation yet. I hope the phenomena predicted from this viewpoint will be verified in the future," Lucian replied with a smile. It was the truth—just not the whole truth. The step of being "subversive" had already been taken by the energy quantum hypothesis.
On the paper's cover Eric wrote "Light and Darkness," then paused, looked up at Lucian, and said: "Evans, your specialty is elemental magic, and this paper on light should be analyzing things from the particle theory perspective, correct? If we submit it to the authorities in the Light and Darkness division, the evaluation will probably be quite unfavorable. Does it touch on other areas at all? We could blur the classification and submit it to authorities in a different field instead."
The Light and Darkness division was founded upon the Electromagnetic division, where wave theory held absolute dominion.
"There's no need for that. Truth becomes clearer the more it's debated," Lucian answered with a touch of humor. It didn't matter who reviewed it—unless he submitted it to an acquaintance in the Elemental division, the result would be the same. Eighty percent of the review committee members supported wave theory, and among the remaining twenty, no more than three had any sympathy for the energy quantum hypothesis. As for someone stubborn and firmly committed like Arthur, who might reluctantly acknowledge the energy quantum hypothesis despite his particle-theory convictions—without experimental proof, there wasn't a single such person to be found.
Eric nodded and submitted the paper to the review committee.
"'Light and Darkness'? Transfer to Mr. Roland, Mr. Texeira."
The alchemical life-form carried out the assignment without pause. …………
Arlene Magic Tower, thirty-third floor. When Fernando saw the title of Lucian's paper, he couldn't help but rub his temples.
"'A heuristic viewpoint'..." (To be continued)