"I certainly don't have that sort of talent," Lucian "frankly" admitted.
Hathaway fell silent for a moment, as though organizing her thoughts. "I think your rating was too high. It'll encourage Archanists to rush ahead into unrealistic fantasies. While treating electrons as having wave-like properties and applying that to the new alchemy model can indeed lead some artificially imposed quantization conditions to emerge naturally, praising an assumption with no experimental backing or guiding signs to that extent goes against the kind of serious, grounded Archanist culture we should be cultivating."
Her words came out a bit jumbled, but Lucian more or less understood. Since treating electrons as waves could resolve some of the current problems with new alchemy, she wasn't as conservative or stubborn about Dieppe's hypothesis as he'd expected — she'd already braced herself to some degree. After all, what mattered most to her was the perfection of new alchemy; that was the direction of her future progress.
Moreover, she used the term "wave-like properties" rather than declaring outright that "electrons are waves," clearly attributing the issue to certain special characteristics of particular particles — much like how proponents of particle theory explained the diffraction and interference patterns of light quanta. Although those speculations were riddled with contradictions and hadn't gained serious attention, that didn't stop Hathaway from drawing on a similar line of reasoning.
What she truly wanted to challenge was the rating Lucian had given, which she considered too high. After all, every extraordinary and daring hypothesis in the past had only gained traction because certain problems or loopholes had first been discovered, leading to the relevant associations. Lucian's own light-quantum hypothesis, for instance, was built on the foundation that wave theory couldn't explain the photoelectric effect.
This time, Dieppe's hypothesis was purely the product of creative thinking — extending the wave-particle duality of light to all microscopic particles in one fell swoop. But whether light was even a particle at all still warranted a question mark, and there was no evidence suggesting this wasn't a property unique to light alone. How could they so rashly and blindly generalize it to the entire world of particles?
Most importantly, this hypothesis only appeared to potentially resolve the difficulties of new alchemy, unlike the light-quantum hypothesis, which had clearly explained the photoelectric effect and matched all existing experimental results even before precise experiments were conducted. For such a hypothesis, Hathaway felt Lucian shouldn't have given it such high praise — it would lead other Archanist to target perfectly sound classical theories with completely speculative and fantastical hypotheses, utterly destroying the Archanist culture of rigorous exploration, grounded research, and careful application.
In short, she believed Lucian's effusive praise for Dieppe's hypothesis would spark a wave of opportunistic Archanist research.
Everyone present on the Highest Council knew of Hathaway's limited capacity for verbal expression. Worried that Lucian might not grasp the key point,
"For example, I could, without any evidence, simply accuse you of being a Church spy. With that premise established, I could twist all your actions to fit, then through rigorous yet selectively chosen reasoning, prove that your motive for publishing subversive papers was to blow up even more mages' heads — or even directly kill us Highest Council members — thereby achieving the goal of destroying the Magic Council. Don't you think that's absurd? And you want to encourage this kind of behavior?"
Lucian replied with perfect seriousness: "I drew some inspiration from the hypothesis that electrons are waves. It seemed like I could glimpse the dawn of a solution to new alchemy's problems, which is why I gave it such a high rating. If this hypothesis can solve new alchemy's difficulties, then conversely, that also validates it."
"And since photons can possess wave-like properties, why can't electrons? Why can't neutrons? Why can't protons? In the microscopic domain, this is a relatively traceable hypothesis — not pure fantasy."
When it came to Archanist discourse, Lucian was a man of firm convictions. He wouldn't simply admit that his evaluation had been reckless, or that Dieppe's paper was indeed too bold and detached from reality, just because two Grand Archanists had criticized him. That would be unfair to his own professionalism and authority in making such evaluations, and unfair to Dieppe's efforts as well.
Even without having conducted experiments to verify it, he would have held the same position. What had led him to give this rating must have had genuine merit. However, if a genuine flaw were pointed out, or if experimental results refuted it, he was not a stubborn man.
"When was light ever accepted as a particle?" The pale, middle-aged man draped in a black cloak — Vincent — spoke icily, dark red flames flickering vigorously within his eye sockets.
Hathaway looked at the Master of Restless Souls. "Whether you accept it or not, the photoelectric effect and Brook's scattering experiment are right there, making everything perfectly clear."
"I believe the scattering experiment and the rest might still find a wave-based explanation. For instance…" Oliver voiced his own thoughts, constructing special waves capable of exhibiting particle-like behavior.
"This isn't necessarily the wrong direction," Brook said concisely.
…
In the span of a few moments, the debate between wave theory and particle theory turned the Highest Council's meeting room into a cacophony. Gradually, as the arguments intensified, emotional fluctuations began to surface among the participants.
"Construct your special compound wave first and we'll talk, Oliver." As
Oliver wagged his finger. "No matter what any of you think, this is still a valid pathway for explaining the photoelectric effect and Brook's scattering experiment. And before you pick apart my ideas, you might want to re-examine particle theory. Perhaps there were never any particles to begin with — they were all just special manifestations of waves."
One scene of destruction after another materialized around him, bathing the meeting room in an apocalyptic atmosphere.
"If particles are all waves, then are the elements composed of these microscopic particles also waves? Are the lives formed from these elements waves? More precisely — are we all waves?" Vincent did not agree with Oliver on this line of reasoning. As an authority on the human body and the soul, he found it hard to believe that flesh was a wave. How could a body with such tangible, tangible sensations possibly be a wave?
Black tombstones of eternal, silent rest seemed to sprout one after another from the meeting room carpet, and the silence of death shrouded everything.
Oliver waved his hand, signaling that his statement hadn't been rigorous enough, and rephrased: "Honestly, while I do appreciate Dieppe's hypothesis and would similarly like to give him a high rating for having lifted a corner of the world's curtain, at least for now I don't actually believe that electrons are waves."
As he spoke, he used magic to conjure a direct visualization of an electron's movement inside a cloud chamber. The faint white vapor trails formed a beautiful electron trajectory, brimming with a dreamlike and awe-inspiring quality.
"An electron with such an obvious particle-like trajectory — I'm not yet bold enough to believe it's a wave. But since Lucian endorsed Dieppe's hypothesis, does that mean he also agrees that waves are the true nature of light?" As he said this, Oliver turned his gaze toward Lucian.
He was using Lucian's own rating to attack his own light-quantum theory.
"I said that perhaps electrons can exhibit wave-like properties under special circumstances — for instance, when they are bound around an atomic nucleus."
At this point, Hathaway once again sided with Lucian.
Helen was one of the rare Legendary Mages without a Cognitive World projection manifesting behind her. She had been quietly listening to the debate between wave-theory proponents and particle-theory proponents, and now she couldn't help but interject: "Ever since the light-quantum hypothesis was confirmed, I've been thoroughly confused. How can light have both wave-like and particle-like properties? Could it really be, as Evans suggested, that we should look at this problem from a higher level?"
"It can be explained from the wave theory's perspective…" Oliver once again emphasized his position. Those who rose to the rank of Grand Archanist never lacked conviction.
Seeing that the two sides were about to launch into another round of "frank and friendly exchange," Douglas quickly gestured for them to be quiet. The myriad strange phenomena in the meeting room instantly vanished, transforming from a hellish scene back into the real world.
"The confrontation between wave theory and particle theory has been going on for a long time. There's no need to waste today's time on it. Since Lucian insists his rating is sound, and the matter itself isn't the result of a formal paper review, perhaps there's no need to discuss it further?" Douglas surveyed the room.
Oliver gave a slight nod. "Just one more question — I'm sure everyone else is curious too. Lucian, in your heart, is light ultimately a wave or a particle?"
"And is an electron a wave or a particle?" Vincent added coldly.
Hathaway, Helen, and the others all turned their gazes toward Lucian, quite curious about his true Archanist position.
From the moment the strange phenomena had begun appearing, Lucian had been quietly observing this scene — utterly unlike anything one might encounter anywhere else. This was the unique sight that could only be witnessed during a Highest Council meeting.
Now, hearing their questions and feeling everyone's eyes upon him, Lucian did not refuse to answer. Instead, he looked with mild concern at his unusually agitated teacher and posed a serious counter-question: "What is a wave? What is a particle?"
Hmm? Every member present was at minimum a Ninth Circle Archanist, yet none of them had expected Lucian to ask about the most fundamental concepts. They were momentarily taken aback.
"Lucian, this isn't a lecture, even if your nickname is 'Professor,'" Oliver said, thinking himself humorous.
In Vincent's eye sockets there were only two dark red flames, and his face held nothing but a thin layer of skin stretched over bone, making it nearly impossible to read his true emotions. "The definitions of waves and particles are covered in the introductory Archanist textbooks. Everyone's time is precious. If you don't wish to answer, then stay silent."
"A wave is a phenomenon — the definition was originally derived from observations of various wave-like behaviors in nature and then applied to Archanist research. The specific definition is…" Hathaway disregarded Vincent's remark and gave a general outline of the definitions of waves and particles.
Lucian smiled. "It's quite clear to see that the definitions of waves and particles come from us — from our experience and observations of the directly observable world."
"What's the issue with that?" Brook interlocked his fingers and rested his chin on them, seemingly guessing at something.
Douglas, the Prophet Begner, and Hathaway each seemed to recall something, their expressions turning contemplative. The difference was that Hathaway's expression barely changed — one would have to look carefully to notice — while Fernando, the Storm Master, maintained his previous silence.
Lucian didn't answer directly. Instead, he addressed the group: "If none of you feel it would be a waste of time, I'd like to tell a story first."
"No objections." Oliver was always tolerant when it came to stories.
Since he had spoken, the other Highest Council members naturally wouldn't oppose such a minor matter. Moreover, they were confident that Lucian wasn't just telling some random story to brush them off — he certainly had a purpose. Besides, the preceding arguments and questions had all been rooted in Archanist theory and weren't specifically aimed at Lucian. If the issue could be clarified, what did it matter if he told one story? He could tell ten for all they cared.
"Once, a king obtained a freshly slain dragon and was overjoyed. He placed it outside the palace as a symbol of his valor, so that every noble and commoner who passed by could see it." Lucian narrated in a calm, measured tone. "One day, a group of blind men who had never known what a dragon looked like heard about this and grew curious about the creature's appearance. So they journeyed together to the palace and began feeling the dragon's corpse with their hands."
Upon hearing that a group of blind men intended to discover what a dragon looked like through the act of touching, Oliver, Klaus, and the other more good-natured Council members broke into smiles, while the rest speculated about the outcome.
Lucian continued: "One blind man, with the help of a soldier, felt his way to the dragon's wings and immediately exclaimed, 'A dragon is a terrifying giant bat!'"