Lucian smiled awkwardly. "When I was writing the paper on General Relativity, I received feedback from the real world, which directly generated the space-time spell 'Time Stop' within my soul."
Space-time spells belonged to the intersection of five major schools—Astrology, Force Field, Transmutation, Electromagnetic, and Light-Dark—and were therefore extraordinarily complex. Mages who hadn't mastered all five schools could only force their construction through mathematical foundations and spiritual power, making them far more difficult to learn than spells of the same rank. When Lucian had originally planned his advancement to the Ninth Rank, he had intended to construct spells from his specialized schools, such as "Spell Sequencer," "Laventie's Hellfire," and "Meteor Burst." But who would have thought that "Time Stop"—a Ninth Rank spell equal in renown to "Greater Disjunction"—would quietly generate itself on its own?
"Feedback from the real world..." Fernando was briefly surprised before turning grave. This kind of feedback was something every Grand Archanist took for granted—repeatable and verifiable. And yet, precisely because of that, they were desperate to understand its underlying principle: why it happened, and in what manner it occurred.
For an Archanist, writing a paper was a process of finalization, accompanied by confidence in one's results—much like obtaining experimental data or improving a spell. It was the act of crystallizing something one had pondered for a long time and solved many problems about, with one's own spirit infused into the process.
If mere drafts and thoughts could trigger changes in one's World of Cognition, then early errors in reasoning or overlooked flaws would pose extreme danger. It was entirely possible that an Archanist could conceive a brilliant idea or line of reasoning, prompting changes in their World of Cognition, only to calculate out the flaw the next second—resulting in a bang and their head exploding.
This unsolved mystery had only gained serious attention more than a hundred years after the founding of the Magic Council. After Fernando asked several detailed questions and found no significant difference from before, he temporarily set aside his doubts. "Since you've already advanced to the Ninth Rank, then the legendary item reward for your General Relativity paper will be converted to the 'Arcane Origin' ritual. Stay in Allent these next two days—go nowhere, tell no one—and focus on stabilizing your magical strength. Once
For Grand Mages whose World of Cognition was already semi-solidified, the Magic Council covered the Legend Ascension ritual entirely free of charge. But for those Grand Mages who wished to use magical rituals to assist with their semi-solidification, not only did they need to prepare materials and pay fees to Legend-ranked mages for the auxiliary rituals, but they also had to shoulder half the cost of the Legend Ascension ritual itself.
It was realistic yet equitable, and no Grand Mage had ever taken offense at it.
"Teacher, could this leave behind any hidden dangers?" Lucian certainly wished to advance to Legend rank early—it meant his safety would be truly guaranteed. Otherwise, even with two legendary items on hand, casting just one or two Legend-tier spells would drain his spiritual power entirely, which wouldn't be of much use. But if the hidden dangers were too great, Lucian had the patience to hole up in Allent and Lontard for ten years. After all, when Natasha had been at the Eighth Rank, she could lift the
Fernando let out a chuckle. "A ritual this expensive, requiring six Legend-ranked mages to assist—how could there be any major hidden dangers? Well, the failure rate is relatively high, but this time I'll invite Douglas, Brook, Hathaway,
"You already have your own unique Meditation technique, don't you? That way, once you steadily and gradually advance to the second tier of Legend, your foundation should be sufficiently solidified. Of course, 'gradual' is relative to other Grand Archanists—Douglas and Brook both surged to the peak in a matter of decades, which is still far faster than mages with lower Legend-tier class compatibility."
There was no need to weigh the matter further. Lucian nodded. "Then once the review results for General Relativity come in, I'll redeem the 'Arcane Origin' ritual."
Within the Magic Council, aside from the seven Grand Archanists, all other Legend-ranked mages were below the third tier. The Prophet, the Cursed Eye, the Shapeshifting Grandmaster, and the Alchemy Grandmaster were at the second tier of Legend. The Creator, the Silver Moon Scholar, Absolute Defense, the Lord of Wind, the Sun King, and Starlight were at the first tier, with Starlight—who had only advanced thirty years ago—being the weakest in strength.
Seeing that Lucian had made his decision, Fernando began summoning other Legend-ranked mages to assist Oliver, while Helen headed to the laboratory to verify the discovery of the neutron.
Before long, Hathaway and Brook arrived, each requesting a copy of Lucian's paper. The two of them were outstanding even among the Grand Archanists in mathematical ability, comparable to Douglas and considerably superior to Helen, Oliver, and Vincent. Even Fernando had only benefited from having studied the Nature journal; otherwise, he might not necessarily have understood more than they did. Among ordinary Legend-ranked mages, only the Prophet possessed mathematical ability at their level.
"I imagine starting tomorrow, the subscription numbers for Nature will increase dramatically. At the very least, I'll be subscribing to a copy myself." Brook showed not the slightest irritation at Lucian having shattered and re-solidified his World of Cognition, and smiled with gentlemanly grace.
Over the past few years, Nature had been hailed as the most impenetrable journal, with subscription numbers amounting to only a fraction of Arcane's. Most people preferred to simply look through it at the Archanist Library when the need arose.
While financial support from the High Tower and Lucian ensured the journal wouldn't cease publication, Archanists like Levsky, Nishika, and Mina were still troubled, feeling that their research couldn't gain the recognition of the broader Archanist community. However, with today's broadcast, research into General Relativity was certain to become a craze. The vast majority of Archanists would seek out Nature to read, even if they couldn't fully understand the theory—just so they wouldn't be unable to follow conversations.
Lucian smiled. "Mathematics is the tool and foundation of Archanist research—the brightest gem upon the crown of Arcana. That's precisely why I wanted to establish Nature as a journal."
"Mm. Many Archanists today confine themselves to the level of mathematics needed for analyzing spell models and refuse to put more effort into it. The further you go, the more important mathematical ability becomes." Hathaway was remarkably nonchalant about the discovery of the neutron, as if it were self-evident—because when she had been reverse-engineering "Eternal Sun" and "Atomic Fission," she had realized that many parts of those spell models could only function if neutron mapping was introduced.
Yet when she spoke, it was a rare outburst—the sentences were long and unadorned, perfectly showcasing her linguistic abilities, as if the explanation of the nature of gravity and the brilliant Archanist thinking behind it had stirred something within her.
Brook nodded gently. "Your use of the speed of light as an invariant yardstick greatly inspired me, and your exposition on time and space was even more thought-provoking. The electromagnetic domain absolutely should not remain at the level of merely applying electromagnetic waves and electromagnetic forces—we must grasp its true essence."