"At the age of twenty-six, he already completed two epoch-defining achievements and received the title of Grand Archanist. Lord Evans' record will probably never be broken—Lord Brook was already in his forties when he became a Grand Archanist…" Another young woman, Patricia, with golden hair and blue eyes, looked almost like a twin of Katrina. Her voice was dreamy, brimming with admiration and worship.
Katrina was jolted awake by her friends' words, a radiant and excited smile blooming across her face: "Actually, after the 'New Alchemy' was proposed, we'd been guessing when the teacher would become a Grand Archanist. The general consensus was around thirty years old—haha, even by that estimate, his record would be so astonishing that no one would dare dream of catching up. Who would have thought—twenty-six, just twenty-six…"
Because they had met their teacher when they were only thirteen or fourteen, the four- or five-year age gap had felt like an entire generational divide, so they had always treated him as an elder. Later, when they became his students, their respect and reverence only deepened. On top of that, the teacher was so mature and composed that when interacting with him, it was easy to forget his true age—Lucian had already corrected his age back after his identity as a musician was exposed.
It wasn't until today, hearing that he had been granted the title of Grand Archanist, that she suddenly remembered: he was only twenty-six! She herself was almost twenty-two, with only the hope of breaking through to mid-tier mage, and yet they were practically the same generation with barely any age difference—but the gap between them was so vast that she could only gaze at his retreating figure in awe!
"Haha, I'm a Grand Archanist's student now!" Hetty's thoughts were comparatively simple and straightforward, and she made no effort to hide her pride.
Lanca, a dark-haired young woman with delicate features, looked at Hetty, Leilya, and the others with complicated eyes, though her face was all smiles. "Lord Evans must already have his own Legendary class. Perhaps in ten years, you'll all be students of a Legendary mage."
"With Lord Evans' talent and ability, in forty years at most, he'll advance to the pinnacle of the Legendary realm," Patricia congratulated them with a smile at the corners of her mouth. "By then, under his guidance and support, you'll all surely have become high-tier mages—just don't forget us old friends."
Within the Magic Council, the reason a Grand Archanist seemed even more important than a Legendary mage was that the title essentially guaranteed entry into the Legendary realm in the future, with far fewer obstacles than ordinary mages and a much easier path to becoming a towering figure.
"Actually, there's no difference right now—the teacher's guidance won't change," Leilya said, unable to conceal her joy, while secretly adding a muttered thought: perhaps the collections of difficult problems and problem sets would become even more insanely demanding.
Patricia held her black tea and forgot to drink it. "How can there be no difference? Once Lord Evans became a Grand Archanist, everything you do will be far more convenient. For instance, the hidden dangers in the mandatory annual tasks will be virtually eliminated. When other mages exchange items or harvests, under equal conditions they'll always choose you—sometimes they'd even rather take a small loss themselves. These invisible benefits will fill every corner of your lives."
"But that won't make the teacher any less strict—the monthly research progress reports, the 'mountain' of problem sets, the piles of papers to review, the magic practice drills repeated until they're mind-numbing… just thinking about it makes my head throb." Chelli rubbed her forehead. At least the nourishment of romance kept her from looking too haggard. After all, compared to Katrina, Hetty, and Leilya, her talent was somewhat lacking. She hadn't been one of the promising seedlings selected by the Council, but had entered the magic school through connections. She had to compensate through sheer effort.
"I'd gladly suffer that kind of hardship," Lanca blurted out, then quickly masked her complicated emotions with a smile. "What I mean is, plenty of mages and apprentices would love to take your place under Lord Evans' tutelage and bear that burden. Their numbers could circle Allihn several times over. You really ought to cherish what you have."
Hetty nodded earnestly. "We can complain all we want, but we never slack off. Meeting the teacher and becoming his student is the luckiest thing in our lives so far. We absolutely cannot squander that fortune."
"Well said." Katrina and Leilya looked at Hetty with some surprise—could the girl who was usually so lively and scatterbrained actually be this serious?
After her moment of gravity, Hetty bared a "ferocious" grin and clenched her fist. "So, once I become a high-tier mage and have students of my own, I'll make them understand what 'fortune' truly means—what the Evans Analytical Problem Set is, what the Difficult Problem Collection is. No—I can't just let my own students 'enjoy' it. It has to be promoted to every magic school, spread to every low- and mid-tier Archanist out there! When everyone's happy, that's true happiness!"
The smiles on Katrina and the others froze on their faces. So this was what the teacher meant by "benefiting society"?
Patricia's eyes lit up instead. "Hetty, you want to promote the exercises Lord Evans gave you in the future? Could you let me try them first? I've always been so curious about the problem sets that terrify you all."
She had always longed to receive the kind of instruction they got, but private tutoring content was each teacher's closely guarded secret. Asking about it carelessly could cost you even the friendship, so she'd had to restrain her desire. Now that Hetty had brought it up of her own accord, Patricia naturally wasn't going to let this chance to probe slip by.
Hetty thought for a moment. The teacher had mentioned he would eventually compile these problem sets into formal books for publication, so she said with a sly grin: "You want to try them? I'm very strict—you have to complete them on time and in full!"
"Really? No matter how strict, I'm willing!" Patricia exclaimed joyfully.
Lanca spoke up as well. "Could I try them too?" Her voice was trembling slightly.
Several other young women expressed the same desire, while deep sympathy spread across the faces of Katrina and her group.
While Hetty was organizing the preliminary exercises, Lanca said with a mix of satisfaction and melancholy: "Why did we end up at the Allihn Magic School? If we had met you all sooner, maybe our lives would be completely different by now…" They wouldn't have had to struggle until this point just to become official mages.
"The teacher said this is an era of revolution. Whoever can free themselves from the constraints of old paradigms and avoid being limited by intuitive understanding will reap enormous honors and see their strength soar. So you still have plenty of opportunities—this era has only just begun," Leilya encouraged them.
Patricia nodded solemnly. "Lord Evans is absolutely right. Perhaps that's exactly why most of the groundbreaking contributions over the past decade have come from young Archanists—Felipe, Larry, Ulises, Yurisian, Jerome, and the others. And of course, you, who have already received the Silver Moon Medal, the highest honor in the field of electromagnetism."
"We just got lucky. Young people may be less shackled by past experience, but without a solid foundation, it's very hard to produce good results. Knowledge accumulation is the foundation—you can never skip that." Katrina offered them a word of caution. "Once those veteran Archanists have fully absorbed the fruits of this decade's advances, they may transform their thinking and their understanding of the world, igniting a spark of wisdom we can't even imagine. You must never underestimate them."
"The Council has decided to establish a prize representing the highest honor in the fields of Arcane Magic and magic, with standards stricter than the Holm Crown Award and similar honors. The prize is a perfect-grade eighth-tier item, and thanks to sponsorship from Lord Evans, it has been named the Evans Award. It comprises the Evans Arcane Award, representing the laws of the world and the mysteries of matter and energy, the Evans…"
"The Evans Arcane Award, Magic Award, Mathematical Award, Medical Award—I wonder who will be the first to receive one…" Hetty, Chelli, and the others gazed toward the magic radio, a deep longing welling up in their hearts.
…………
"…Today, the Council Speaker, on behalf of the Supreme Council, officially bestowed upon Mr. Lucian Evans the title of Grand Archanist, in recognition of his epoch-defining contributions through New Alchemy. The tribute delivered in his honor was…"