Sky City, Allion.
The Atomic Research Institute's salary was very generous. After just one year,
"...above are the Council's expansion progress across the major cities of the four nations of the Strait and the northern coastal corridor..."
The Lark's crisp, pleasant voice—like ice crystals landing on a porcelain plate—reached Blake's ears, filling him with a quiet joy as he lounged lazily on the sofa, blending seamlessly with the peaceful night surrounding the villa.
Zzzzt—static crackled from the arcane radio. Blake looked over in confusion. What was going on? "Truth of the World" should only be halfway through. Was this another bout of electromagnetic signal interference?
Rising from the sofa, Blake walked over to the arcane radio and reached out his right hand to adjust it. But just then, an aged voice suddenly came through the speaker:
"Mr. President, it's indeed quite likely that before long there will be new Archanist theories or breakthroughs suited to my current bottleneck, but they're just as likely to blow my head apart—especially Lucian Evans, that head-exploding, head-exploding demon..."
Blake froze. Mr. President—did they mean Mr.
The Archanists who had grown up within the Council had been immersed in tales of the President blazing trails through dangers to establish the Council and lay the foundation for Archanist development. His theory of gravity and his system of motion were classics that generations of mages revered and studied, leaving them in awe. Even after several centuries, they remained two of the pillars holding up the entire Archanist system. *Mathematical Principles of the Philosophy of Arcane Magic* was still hailed as the single most important work in the history of Archanist and Arcane Magic research—a civilizational symbol of humanity's true step from the darkness of ignorance toward exploring the mysteries of the world.
So, for the vast majority of Archanists, the President was the Council's spiritual pillar—an insurmountable mountain in the field of Arcane Magic, supporting the greater part of the Archanist system's sky. He was the figure they had worshipped since childhood.
"The progress he's brought hasn't been fully revealed yet. Perhaps in three years, perhaps five, or ten—you'll see the value of each new theory he proposed."
Yes, that was the President—both the voice and the tone!
Blake's excitement surged. He had once been fortunate enough to hear the President speak indirectly through the "Truth of the World" channel's "Allion Weekly News Review," and the impression had been deeply etched in his memory. That composed magnanimity, that generous praise for those who came after him without a trace of jealousy—it was absolutely genuine!
"This is fantastic! They've finally invited the President directly to the 'Truth of the World' channel! The only question is, why did they send a man with such an ugly, aged voice to do the interview instead of everyone's old friends, Miss 'Lark' or Miss 'Nightingale'? Just listening to their voices is a pleasure."
Some amusing thoughts flitted through Blake's mind, though he guessed this man must be an old friend of the President's—that was the only way he could have gotten the invitation. After all, both channels had been running for several years now, and not a single member of the Supreme Council had ever been willing to participate in this kind of talk show or interview program.
"Like *On the Electrodynamics of Moving Objects and the Mass-Energy Equation*?"
"Yes."
Douglas's slightly melancholy voice reached Blake's ears, and the smile on his face gradually faded.
Though he also deeply admired his boss, Mr. Lucian Evans, Director of the Atomic Research Institute, that admiration was still primarily concentrated in the fields of New Alchemy and elemental studies. When it came to the theory of gravity and the system of motion, he had always been a follower of the President. So over the past few months, while he was thrilled to have witnessed the historic moment of Evans overturning Douglas's system of motion, he was also lost and disheartened—as if the spiritual pillar supporting his Archanist convictions had suddenly collapsed by more than half, and the once-clear Archanist world he had dreamed of had become chaos.
To make matters worse, the overturning of absolute space-time by the relativistic model, and those mind-twisting descriptions—he felt as if he had momentarily lost all direction, even beginning to doubt the entire Archanist system itself.
If even the President's most classic system of motion could be wrong, then what couldn't be wrong?
Thankfully, thankfully, there was still that awe-inspiring, admirable theory of gravity!
…………
Inside the "Truth of the World" channel's broadcast studio.
"Something's happened!" The Archanist who rushed in said, his face pale.
Samantha was both the host and the manager entrusted by Lucian to oversee the "Truth of the World" channel. She signaled with her eyes asking what had happened while instructing the Archanist responsible for the broadcasting Magic Circle to cut to a commercial break.
The Archanist who had entered was holding an arcane radio and said in confusion, "Miss Samantha, your broadcast was interrupted. The President's conversation with other mages suddenly came through."
"What?" Samantha knew perfectly well the program had never invited the President. This unprecedented situation left her momentarily stunned.
The Archanist turned on the radio, and everyone in the studio heard an aged voice:
"...doubt about my understanding of myself, doubt about the Archanist system of the past several centuries. Mr. Douglas, I have followed you since the latter stages of the Dawn War, building the Council step by step through the Church's oppression and the nobility's vacillation. Your theory of gravity, your system of motion—these were the beacons that guided me in transforming my thinking into the Archanist spirit. But now, one of those two beacons has suddenly been declared 'wrong' and has come crashing down. I truly don't know what to believe anymore. I feel like a ship in a storm, everything before me turned pitch black, unable to find direction."
Those wavering, lost words left every Archanist in the studio frozen. They sounded exactly like the questions that had been echoing inside their own hearts over the past few months. Anyone who had never experienced the collapse of their spiritual pillar could never understand the deep sense of loss and helplessness those words carried.
Samantha, who belonged to the Astrology and Force Field departments, held her breath, waiting for the President's answer. He had never before commented on this issue.
"It's not an error—it's a low-speed approximation within the framework of relativity."
Douglas's voice rang out as expected.
Unlike mid- and low-rank Archanists such as Blake, the "Truth of the World" channel had been personally commended by the President. Most of the Archanists present had been fortunate enough to meet him and could clearly distinguish that this was indeed the President's voice and tone. Among them, Samantha—who had visited the "Realm of Truth" together with her teacher—was even more certain.
But the President's answer was too ordinary, too generic, wasn't it? It was essentially just a restatement of Lucian Evans's explanation.
"Mr. President, saying it's a low-speed approximation is really just admitting that your system of motion ignores too many factors and carries far too large a margin of error... 'Time is space, space is time,' 'time depends on matter and is a function of velocity'—don't you think that completely overturns everything we understood?"
Yes, yes, yes! That was exactly the feeling! The Archanists agreed inwardly. Come on, Mr. President—give us a model or explanation that's easier for everyone to understand!
"That is indeed different from intuitive understanding. It's hard to imagine. When I first saw it, I too felt as if my entire life's work of over a thousand years had been completely negated." Douglas's slightly aged and somber voice came through.
BOOM!
A thunderclap seemed to detonate inside the hearts of most Archanists in the studio. Over a thousand years of life completely negated—life completely negated...
If even the President's life work had been completely negated, then what about them?
Samantha first sank into deep thought and bewilderment, then suddenly snapped to attention. "This is absolutely not the President's answer—it's the enemy's conspiracy!"
"Brian, go find Lucian. I'll notify Ms. Helen to activate the high-power jamming Magic Circle and block Allion's electromagnetic signals!"
This was one of the contingency plans Lucian had drawn up back then. Having transmigrated from Earth, he could hardly have failed to consider that the enemy might also use radios and electromagnetic signals to brainwash mages in reverse. So he had established several emergency protocols.
Though this could only block Allion for the time being, Samantha had no time to worry about branch offices and local organizations!
"The truth of the world is beginning to exceed our imagination. More and more questions we cannot answer, more and more things pointing to the same thing. What is the nature of gravity? How did it first appear? If your celestial motion system is valid, then what originally supplied the force that set the planets spinning?"
Samantha's hand, which had been touching her communication earring, froze in place. This was a question that every mage in the Astrology department was grappling with: what exactly was the nature of gravity, and how would the President answer?
Habit kept her waiting while she connected to Helen's encrypted frequency, her voice drifting like the wind. "Ms. Helen, the 'Truth of the World' channel—enemy signal intrusion..."
Helen, who was on duty on the thirty-third floor of the Allion Arcane Tower, was a woman resembling an ice spirit. Though her lips were a dark, bluish purple, they carried an uncanny charm.
Hearing Samantha's words, instead of rushing to activate Allion's high-power jamming Magic Circle, she turned on the radio on her desk, wanting to listen to exactly how the intrusion worked so she could build experience for future defenses.
"This is also a question I've been wondering about. What exactly provides gravity, by what means does it propagate, and in the very beginning, how did it come into being, how did it make the celestial motion system possible... Sometimes, you have to admit, the more you know, the more bewildered and fearful you become."
"Perhaps I've been wrong from the very beginning."
As she listened, an expression of shock and the collapse of conviction appeared uncontrollably on Helen's delicate, cold features.
Others might have suspected this was an illusion created by Arcane Magic or Divine Arts, but she was a Great Archanist. She knew full well that upon becoming a Legendary Mage—especially at the pinnacle of the Legendary realm—one's Cognitive World gradually fused with one's soul. Every word spoken would carry the influence and resonance of the Cognitive World upon the real world. Even without casting any spell, the voice would possess a unique quality, unless one deliberately concealed it.
Unless one knew the exact composition of a Legendary Mage's Cognitive World, it was nearly impossible to imitate or forge that unique quality. Anyone capable of doing so would be a master of illusion and transformation—such as the Curse Eye, or the Nightmare King, or the Shapeshifting Master. But how could any of them dare to do something like this right after the Council had just achieved a great victory!
Of the six Great Archanists, two could be considered Douglas's students to varying degrees. The more prominent one was, naturally, Brook, the "Emperor of Control." The lesser one was Helen Parris, the "Ice Witch."
Palmera's Cottage was an Arcane organization that had controlled the northern lands since the era of the ancient Arcane Empire. At its peak, it had boasted two or three Legendary Mages. After later merging into the Council, it had developed very slowly due to its long inability to adapt to Archanist principles. Helen, however, was extraordinarily gifted, with unusual insights in Archanist research. Her own teacher felt unable to instruct her properly and asked Douglas to help guide her instead.
In Helen's heart, Douglas was like a father. He held up the sky of the Arcane Council and illuminated the path of Archanist research. Yet now, he was saying words like "Perhaps I've been wrong from the very beginning." How could she not feel the shattering of her entire worldview, her life philosophy, her deepest convictions? She was so shocked that she forgot all about activating the signal jamming she had been preparing to do.
"Perhaps it's a voice fabricated by some demigod..." Helen searched for explanations in her mind.
…………
"Perhaps I've been wrong from the very beginning."
When the founder of the Archanist system, the pioneer of Archanist research, and the leader of all Archanists spoke with a measure of pain about how perhaps he had been wrong from the very beginning, even Felipe—an mage so proud he looked down on nearly everyone—wore an indescribable expression of shock and loss, his eyes losing their gleam.
"You didn't work and struggle all this way only to tell us it was all wrong from the start, did you?"
Felipe gripped his glass of red wine and gazed out the window. The entirety of Heidler City was shrouded in a dark, ashen night, its scattered lights like stars, flickering ceaselessly—as if mirroring the turbulent hearts of every mage who had heard this conversation.
Even Necromancers were not prevented from studying gravity—that thing which seemed to contain the world's deepest secrets. Nor did it stop them from showing heartfelt respect to Douglas, who had personally built both the Council and the Archanist system. His creation of calculus and his research into geometric models had made advancement far easier for mages of all factions, no longer requiring such heavy dependence on potions and materials.
…………
At the Elemental Will headquarters,
He had an excellent relationship with the Astrologers of the High Tower and had conducted profound research into gravity himself. He understood full well that "what provides gravity, by what means it propagates, how it came into being in the very beginning, and how it made the celestial motion system possible" were riddles that could not be circumvented at the final stages of gravitational research. He harbored similar doubts himself.
But how could you, Mr. President, lose confidence and say such a thing as being wrong from the very beginning?
Problems weren't frightening—they could simply be solved, step by step!
How could anyone expect to unravel all mysteries right from the start?
The development of the gravitational system over so many years was there for all to see. The success of the artificial planet had only cemented it further in people's hearts. Was this not development? Was this not progress?
Those questions touching upon the very foundations could not be rushed. They had to be built upon the solid groundwork of current research!
Mr. President, please—do not lose faith!
If you lost faith, who knew how many Archanists—including Legendary Mages—would be thrown into confusion, bewilderment, even despair.
"Perhaps we should look for explanations from philosophy. Perhaps there really does exist a First Mover, a source that created everything. If so, then the gravitational system and the celestial motion system could be constructed perfectly."
"Sometimes, I can't help thinking this way—perhaps there really is a Supreme Being, a true First Mover. Otherwise, the entire Archanist system cannot be explained from its origins. It would be like a villa without a foundation: one gust of wind, and it simply collapses and is destroyed."
A Supreme Being, a First Mover—without these, the Archanist system could not be established from its roots... Mr. President, you're not trying to tell us that we spent our entire lives fighting the Church and the followers of the
Raventi shot up from his chair, his right hand trembling violently. He could not believe these were words spoken by President Douglas, and he immediately began using Prophecy to verify whether they were real or false.
It was real...
On Raventi's face—a Great Mage who pursued truth and disdained falsehood—there appeared a look of aged weariness and weakness. He could not believe, could not accept, that the President would believe in a Supreme Being ruling over everything. If so, then the Archanist system and the Arcane Council he had built were nothing but a joke, and he himself, who had placed his trust in both, was a joke as well.
"Annonis, did you hear 'Truth of the World'? Quickly, use astrology to confirm whether the President's words are true or false." Raventi remembered that he was not skilled in divination-type spells, so he hastily contacted his close friend.
…………
When Samantha heard Douglas's doubts about the theory of gravity and turned to stone, an Archanist from the Electromagnetism department in the broadcast studio urgently notified Lucian—the highest-ranking person they had been able to reach so far.
Lucian had ended his call with Natasha, exchanged greetings with Duke Vaolet, and remained in his office at the Atomic Research Institute, continuing his own arcane construction and Archanist research.
Having exchanged rings today and truly established their relationship, Lucian felt a new passion for building a future for his family. Suddenly, his monocle grew slightly warm.
"Mr. Evans, quickly—listen to the 'Truth of the World' channel..." A strange male voice blurted out in panic, but in its confusion it was incoherent. Lucian asked repeatedly but received no useful answers, so he could only turn on the arcane radio and tune to the "Truth of the World" channel.
"Meaning, without a First Mover, your gravitational system and your system of motion would both collapse."
"Yes."
The First Mover—wasn't that the concept those theologians loved to flaunt? Why would the President be discussing this with someone?
"Then how did the entire world originate? Who am I? Who is 'me'? Where do we come from? Where are we going? Can these questions be answered through Archanist research?"