Advancing two major ranks through ceremonies in succession carried over an eighty percent chance of failure. That was why Sprint believed that if the Professor wanted to enter the realm of Legends in the shortest time, the best approach was to first break through to the Ninth Circle on his own strength with the aid of potions. As for whether he could successfully advance beyond the Ninth Circle, Sprint had not the slightest doubt. With a Legendary profession perfectly aligned with his own Perception of the World, with a Legendary spell model inscribed within that Perception which could be directly fused with his soul during the ceremony, and with the experience and assistance of numerous Legendary Mages, the Professor would absolutely not fail.
"Mm, you have a point." Annik did not insist on his own opinion on such matters. "The Professor has been visiting the Atomic Research Institute less frequently lately. He must be concentrating on improving his strength."
It was precisely because of this that their burden had lightened considerably over the past few months. Apart from continuing their study of the two theories of relativity, they had only the task of analyzing the principles of the "Auxiliary Calculation Formation." No new examination questions or exercises had appeared, and they found themselves almost missing them.
As for the review of papers, since Lucian had become a member of the Supreme Council, he had automatically been relieved of his position on the Arcane Review Committee, and they no longer bore that responsibility either. The Arcane Review Committee still retained a provision whereby papers flagged as revolutionary could first be forwarded to the Storm Dominator, Lord Evans, or to Grand Archanists in the opposite field.
Over the past half year, they had been laboring to repair the New Alchemy model. Although the vast majority of their proposed hypotheses and repair approaches had been thoroughly dismantled by Hathaway, Lavendy, Joaquin, and others as utterly meaningless, this kind of debate over papers with Grand Archanists and Senior Archanists had yielded far greater gains than the previous several years.
This was not to say they had learned nothing under Lucian's tutelage. Rather, through this process, they had truly integrated the knowledge Lucian taught, the exercises he assigned, the experiments they conducted daily, and the various novel ideas in their minds, transforming them into something that was genuinely their own. They had made tremendous progress, becoming young men who were genuinely on track to become Senior Archanists—not mere decorations propped up by their teacher.
Upon seeing the problem, Sprint's expression turned grave. He quickly flipped to the corresponding page of *Arcane Magic* and began reading intently.
"This… this… how can this kind of splitting phenomenon exist? The current quantum model of New Alchemy seems unable to explain it…" After an indeterminate amount of time, Sprint muttered to himself, his face dark.
Fortunately, everyone knew that New Alchemy was still incomplete. Mages who used it to construct their Perceptions of the World generally stuck to the simple structure of protons, neutrons, and electrons, without involving specific energy levels and orbits—which was why his Perception of the World had not trembled.
Beside him, Annik heard this muttering and solemnly took the *Arcane Magic* journal in turn. Sprint, meanwhile, took a deep breath and strode toward the magic laboratory in the villa to verify what the paper described. The Professor had always told them that in matters of the Arcane, even Grand Archanists could not be taken entirely at their word.
As Annik read on, cold sweat beaded his forehead, and his already somewhat gaunt face grew even paler. His current knowledge and thinking simply could not account for this phenomenon.
Had New Alchemy truly developed a serious problem?
Gripping the journal tightly in his left hand, Annik too made his way into the magic laboratory.
When dawn was about to break, the two of them emerged from their respective laboratories, haggard. Their gazes met, and each saw the bitterness in the other's face.
"The fundamental framework of New Alchemy is definitely correct," Sprint told himself firmly. Protons, neutrons, electrons, and the fundamental force the Professor had named the strong nuclear force—all of these had been verified!
Annik nodded. "But the quantized electron energy levels and orbits seem to have run into trouble. Perhaps we should abandon this flawed framework and approach the problem from a different angle."
Through half a year of repeated arguments and research, they had come to understand that sometimes you had to abandon things decisively.
Perhaps this was precisely the advantage of youth. Trying to get Archanists who had spent ten, dozens, or even hundreds of years immersed in a particular theory or model to suddenly abandon their convictions and expertise was clearly rather unlikely.
"Let's try one more time to see if we can solve the problem with energy levels and orbits under our existing assumptions and prerequisites. If we can't, we'll slowly explore other approaches," Sprint said earnestly. "Once the New Year holiday is over, we'll consult the Professor. He's bound to have extraordinary insights."
In the discussions and debates over New Alchemy, they could feel their own significant growth each month. Yet every time the monthly exchange meeting came around, they would also realize that the gap between themselves and the Professor had not narrowed but grown wider. Every question they raised, the Professor could address from a perfectly reasonable angle.
"All right." Annik seemed to have forgotten all about sleep. Carrying the transcribed copy of *Arcane Magic*, he headed straight for his study.
Similar scenes unfolded in the villas of
In the "Thunder
"Professor, Happy New Year." Tomps's arcane level had already reached the seventh rank, which meant he had hopes of striking for the Ninth Circle.
Fernando glared at them and nearly roared, "I'm not happy at all! I can't make sense of Brooke's anomalous splitting phenomenon in the slightest!"
When Brooke had first discovered this phenomenon, he had sought Fernando out to discuss it before writing the paper.
Chloe, who had a poet's temperament, asked cautiously, "What paper, Professor?"