April of year 827. Lontart was warm with gentle breezes, its spring scenery bright and beautiful.
After the Southern Church had been expelled, terms like arcane, magic, and alchemy had grown ever deeper into the public consciousness. Many people, even without understanding advanced arcane theory or possessing exceptional magical talent, were filled with curiosity about this mysterious domain radiating infinite charm.
Moreover, as public schools and Bluefry Academy multiplied, and as more and more ordinary people learned to read, the "Voice of Mystery" could no longer satisfy certain citizens who craved deeper understanding. They frequently tuned into the "World Reality" broadcast channel, able to rattle off every interesting incident in the world of arcane and magic with intimate familiarity, developing the kind of adoration for famous Archanists and mages that people normally reserved for musicians and playwrights.
In their daily lives, anyone who could discuss cutting-edge arcane topics was considered fashionable and cool—even if they merely mouthed those dizzying words without truly understanding what they meant.
And so, a popularized version of *Impressions of Arinja*—namely, *The Arcane and Magic Herald*—came into being. Its circulation was surprisingly strong, and according to intelligence from several of Heidi's noble friends, quite a few nobles were looking to follow suit and launch similar papers.
Heidi raised her cup of Earl Grey tea, took a sip, and casually scanned the front page. "Following the proposal by His Highness Prince Lucian Evans, the 'Atom Master,' of a method to quantize electromagnetic fields in order to solve the radiation problem, Mr. Anick and Mr. Sprent have dubbed it 'second quantization.' They further applied and extended it to electronic systems, achieving outstanding results. These two young Archanists, who had already earned the Holm Crown Ring and Silver Moon Medal for their electron spin model, have once again demonstrated their brilliance."
Seeing this news item—which contained no actual theory—Heidi smacked her lips. Although she could keep pace with Anick and Sprent in the microscopic domain and understood these complex theories, she simply couldn't match their level of excellence. She had only a handful of achievements that were hardly earth-shattering. Her real area of distinction was in the field of "artificial intelligence."
Through numerous conversations with her teacher, and through countless cycles of thought and experimentation, she and Cheri, Lovie, and Ophelia had developed a preliminary design framework for "artificial intelligence," which their teacher had jokingly dubbed the "Heidi-Cheri Artificial Intelligence System."
As for the corresponding alchemical products, they were being prepared with the materials knowledge of
"But the current arcane theories can't fully explain the operating principles of transistors. They can only be roughly manufactured and applied through magic, which demands an extremely high level of magical proficiency. There's no way to popularize or widely apply them at all. Does that mean we have to stick with vacuum tubes for now?" Heidi raised her right hand, tugging at her hair, deeply troubled by this problem.
Thinking about how she had taken on this assignment to Lontart on a whim just to clear her head because of this very issue, Heidi decided not to wallow any longer. She forcibly pulled her thoughts back and continued reading *The Arcane and Magic Herald*. "His Excellency the 'Arcane Emperor'
"The other solution serves as a complement to the first, describing a charged black hole formed from charged matter, whereas the previous 'black hole' was neither charged nor rotating."
"A black hole, is it..." Heidi murmured to herself. As an Archanist approaching the advanced tier—and as a student of the Grand Archanist—she knew far more than what this newspaper could offer. "His Excellency the Speaker also believes that the black hole corresponds to the Star of Destiny of the Traceless, which is the reason why those Traceless ones appear. They aren't truly traceless—their existence can be determined through observation of indirect phenomena. Master's destiny seems to be mysterious in a similar way, doesn't it? Could he have a binary system composed of an ordinary Star of Destiny and a black hole?"
She shook her head, speculating silently. "Once His Excellency the Speaker observes traces of black holes in the night sky and confirms the arcane significance of these two solutions, his gravity-based magic will surely become even more terrifying. Mm, and so will Master's."
Though they couldn't truly produce a black hole, Douglas would certainly be able to simulate one within his cognitive world and project it outward, producing extraordinary effects. And as the very architect of the field equation, Lucian would naturally enjoy similar advantages.
At that moment, a few young people nearby—who appeared to be students from the fifth public school down the street—began reading aloud from the paper in hushed voices. "His Excellency the 'Storm Lord' Fernando has announced his discovery: there are signs of energy non-conservation in the electron decay radiation during elemental decay, and the spectrum is continuous rather than quantized."
"Based on this, he hypothesizes that during this process, a tiny, uncharged particle accompanies the emission of the electron decay radiation—a new particle distinct from all other elementary particles. He has named it the 'neutrino,' and he has speculated about the possible conditions during nuclear decay, pointing out that the Water Force—the last of the four fundamental forces yet to be discovered—must be embedded within this process."
"That's incredible—just from a few experimental observations, they dare to boldly predict the existence of a whole new kind of matter. Archanists are so cool!" The students whispered excitedly about this. In their eyes, Archanists were like gods who had grasped the fundamental laws of the universe, using those essential principles to guide and predict everything.
Heidi watched them with a smile, as though gazing at herself at fourteen or fifteen. Back then, she too had thought mages were mysterious and powerful, and she had been so captivated that she had plunged headlong into the boundless ocean of arcane research. She turned her head, glanced at her wristwatch, and saw she still had some time. She returned her attention to *The Arcane and Magic Herald*.
"His Excellency the 'Elemental Dominator' Hathaway and His Excellency the 'Storm Lord' Fernando have published their preliminary theory of elemental decay, combining current microscopic research with reverse-engineering. Of course, this is only a rough theory without detailed arcane structures. For this outstanding contribution, they share the third Evans Archanist Award and the Holm Crown Award. This has pointed us toward a new direction for energy sources and deepened the mysteries of creation."
"Her Excellency the 'Ice Witch' Helen and His Excellency the 'Elemental Dominator' Hathaway have once again published research papers on crystals. Their in-depth study in this field over the past two years has established an exceptional system and is expected to earn them the fourth Evans Archanist Award."
"Mr. Ravendy, Mr. Morris, and Mr.
"Mr. Dieppe, Mr. Larry, and Mr. Julian each independently performed relativistic treatments on the
"Mr.
*The Arcane and Magic Herald* was almost entirely filled with introductions to cutting-edge research results, and even so, it spanned several full pages, leaving readers dazzled. This fully demonstrated the rapid advance of arcane studies over the past few years, showcasing a golden age of achievement after achievement, reflecting the overwhelming torrent of an era moving at a pace that left mages struggling to catch their breath.
"Twenty legendary mages now. We've finally surpassed the old record." Having finished the paper, Heidi found herself drifting to another thought. The great development in the microscopic domain, the research into general relativity—these were beginning to bear rich fruit. "The silver-grey miser" Morris and "the Astrologer" Anonice had both advanced to legendary rank.
Heidi folded the paper and set it on the table, shaking her head silently. "Are there only good news? Over this past year and a half, quite a few Archanists have stagnated because of the probability interpretation and the uncertainty principle—just like His Excellency
Just as she had previously chosen not to think about what lay behind "quanta," during this period the vast majority of Archanists had taken a pragmatist's approach to Lucian's *Fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics and New Alchemy*. The results, however, had been astonishing. The work not only explained the vast majority of past experiments but also propelled the great development of the microscopic domain, accurately predicting many things. As a result, many Archanists' attitudes had shifted.
As for the debates over these three principles—on the pages of journals, at all manner of conferences—they continued without pause. Douglas, Brook, Fernando, Oliver, and others kept proposing thought experiments to falsify them, only to have Lucian repeatedly point out errors and oversights. Later, Archanists who supported Lucian's three principles also joined the fray.
This state of contention only gradually subsided after Lucian submitted yet another paper. While studying particle exchange problems using the wave equation, he had discovered that under symmetric conditions, the statistics conformed to Cloe statistics, while under antisymmetric conditions, they conformed to Helen-Fernando statistics. This further advanced the probability interpretation.
"This calm is only temporary. I have a premonition that a terrifying storm is brewing." Heidi stared blankly at the empty teacup before her, feeling a suffocating sense of foreboding. "All the achievements made in the microscopic domain over these years will be completely unified once this storm arrives."
Just then, a box-shaped steel monster screeched to a halt beside the teahouse. A middle-aged man in a black wool overcoat opened the door and stepped out, then approached Heidi with a friendly, slightly ingratiating smile. "You must be Miss Heidi?"
"Yes. And you must be Mr. Barker from the Police Department?" Heidi smiled and rose to her feet.
Barker removed his black top hat and gave a slight bow. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss. With such a distinguished mage as yourself helping us, this serial murder case will surely be solved in no time."
Since mages commanded a vast array of arcane arts, the Police Department frequently issued task requests to the Mage Parliament when investigations hit difficulties. Barker had never imagined that the mage assigned to this case would be none other than Miss Heidi from the Atomic Research Institute! An Archanist approaching the advanced tier who spent her days at the very forefront of research—coming to handle a minor assignment like this?
After both had taken their seats again, Barker produced photographs of the crime scene and handed them to Heidi. The "Magic Black-and-White Camera" had already been simplified to a considerable degree—at least departments with real authority like the Police Department could afford them.
Heidi took one look and immediately furrowed her brow. Even though she had performed numerous autopsies, she still felt an instinctive revulsion at such brutal, bloody images.
The photograph showed an ordinary person's abdomen sliced open, all internal organs removed, surrounded by the squalid, filthy sights of a city slum district. (To be continued...)