Chapter 208: A Mistake
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
Rentato, Hexagram Station.
Seven in the morning, Lucien, dressing formally, got off the train in the cold wind.
After receiving the invitation, he hurriedly verified the credibility of the letter with the school and then took the very next train to arrive in Rentato.
Getting on the coach he hired, Lucien’s hands warmed up a little. After telling the coachman where he was heading for, Lucien’s heart was still beating quite fast.
After a while, hearing the wheels rolling, he gradually calmed down, and the tone of the invitation started to bother him slightly. In Lucien’s mind, if the people from the Will of Element and the academy really appreciated the great value of his second paper, his treatment should be better than that. However, if they did not understand the importance of the periodic table of elements, why would they even bother sending the invitation…?
An hour and a half later, the coach stopped in front of Rose Garden. On its left side, the beautiful Swan Lake was covered by a thin layer of ice. Snowflakes were coming down from the sky.
Two blond young knights were safeguarding the gate, looking rather serious.
But Lucien could tell that they were not real knights, as they used the potion, and that was why they were willing to serve the Will of Elements.
In the field of magic potion making, the schools of Element, Alchemy and Necromancy were the best.
"Morning, sir. Can we take a look at your invitation and arcana badge?" asked a knight politely.
Lucien nodded and showed them to him.
After using a mirror-like magic item and carefully verifying the badge and the invitation, the knight slightly bowed to Lucien, "Welcome, Mr. Lucien Evans. The meeting will be starting soon, and all the guests are in the main hall."
The other knight turned around and opened the gate.
Seeing that everything went on well, Lucien was a bit relieved. So, he followed the garden path patiently and then pushed open the grand gate of the house.
In the hall, people were talking to each other in low voices, and there was neither music nor quarrel. The arcanists were exchanging their studies politely, and many were lost in the world of knowledge.
Around two hundred and ten arcanists were invited today, and among them, they were mostly middle-rank arcanists, but there were also some accomplished junior-ranks as well.
All the chairs and tables were surrounding an elevated platform. Above the platform, there was a magic circle for amplifying the speaker’s voice, and there was a waist-high rostrum in the front of the platform.
Not many noticed that a new arcanist just entered the hall, but when more and more of them realized that they had never seen Lucien before, they started staring at him.
Lazar, at this time, was standing in the corner of the hall, feeling relieved that the long-prepared meeting was finally about to begin, and when he saw Lucien showed up here, he was more than surprised.
He hurriedly threaded through the crowd and grabbed Lucien’s arm, "What are you doing here?" Lazar asked him in a low voice. After all, this was the annual meeting of the school of Element and Alchemy, and Lucien was not even a member of them!
When Lucien was feeling slightly nervous seeing all those strangers in the hall, Lazar’s appearance comforted him.
"I’m attending the meeting…" Lucien quickly waved the invitation in his hand in front of Lazar, "You sent this to me?"
"Wait… You’ve got an invitation?!" Lazar hurriedly took over the invitation from Lucien and checked it. As he frowned, Lazar murmured, "What have you done when I was absent? Is this because of your letter asking me to remeasure some of the elements? I did, and they were indeed not correct!"
When Lucien was about to say something, a young lady’s voice came from the magic amplifier, "Excuse me, has Mr. Lucien Evans arrived? Please come over to the gate. Mr. Larry is looking for you."
All the arcanists stopped their conversations and looked around curiously, wondering who was this Lucien Evans.
"Rebecca! Mr. Evans’s here!" Hearing his friend’s name, Lazar answered proudly and loudly. Then he pulled Lucien’s arm and walked toward the gate.
Many arcanists made way for Lucien, and in their mind, they wondered why such a young arcanist was invited to this important meeting.
There were three man and one woman standing close to the gate. The green-eyed lady was wearing a red long dress, looking rather pretty, but also a bit exhausted from arranging the meeting. A thirty-something, round-faced man was talking to her.
"Mr. Larry, Mr. Evans’s here." Lazar bowed to the round-faced man politely.
When Lucien was about to put on a smile, Larry put on a confused look and asked, "Who are you?"
His voice was not high but deep, and his question was heard by many arcanists. More and more arcanists turned around and looked in that direction.
Larry waved his hands a bit, "…I’m sorry, sir. I mean… I’m looking for my student, Lucien Evans… ummm, Lucien Evans K."
Lucien realized what was going on here, and he felt that the whole thing was funny.
"Mr. Larry, we only have one Mr. Evans, and he’s here." After a few seconds, Rebecca nervously explained.
"What do you mean?" Larry looked at Rebecca.
One of the two men standing behind Larry said to Rebecca harshly, "It was you who was in charge of filling out the invitations, Rebecca. I asked you to invite Mr. Larry’s student, Mr. Lucien Evans, who developed the paper of atomic valence! Look what you’ve done?!"
The man took a quick glance at the badges on Lucien’s chest, and got even angrier. The man himself was a level three arcanist, third circle sorcerer, and his face was covered with wrinkles. It seemed that his arcana level was mostly developed by the years.
Then he bowed and apologized to the old man with half white hair and a slightly hooked nose.
Rebecca had tears in her eyes, but she could not figure out what was wrong.
"Mr. Leandro, we have two Mr. Lucien Evans in Douglas…" Lazar’s face flushed as well from embarra.s.sment, but he still tried to speak for Rebecca, "Maybe that’s why…"
However, Leandro was still p.i.s.sed off, "Then why didn"t you specify that it was Mr. K who was invited? Why didn"t you specify the person’s arcana level? This guy’s only got level one in arcana! Just like you!"
He pointed at Lucien’s chest.
"But… but Mr. Leandro, I checked… There"s only one Mr. Lucien Evans in Douglas," Rebecca almost burst into tears, "or I’d have definitely been more specific…"
"Mr. Leandro," Lucien cut in calmly, "K left the school before the invitation was sent."
What Lucien meant was that it was the person who made the mistake was the one who gave Rebecca that information, not her.
"But it’s still her mistake for not putting the arcana level on the invitation!" Leandro then turned to Lucien, "And you, use your brain! How is it possible that you’re invited to this meeting?"
Talking to an arcanist whose level was lower than him did not require too much politeness.
"No… no… It’s my mistake." Larry raised his hands a bit, "I asked K to leave the school, but when the meeting decided to invite K in the last second, I forgot to tell Mr. Leandro about it."
"Larry, why didn"t you invite K yourself, then?" asked the old man.
"I could not find him." Larry shrugged a bit, "I did not expect that K would leave the school so quickly."
This old man in black suit with strange-looking eyes was Larry’s teacher, the director of the Will of Element, the member of Arcana Review Board, a level seven arcanist and seventh circle sorcerer, Gaston.
The arcanists in the hall finally understood what was going on here, and some were amused.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Gaston." Leandro hurriedly bowed to Gaston in a pleasing manner.
"Not really her fault." Gaston nodded mildly, "Stop giving her a hard time."
Leandro nodded, and then he said to Lucien, "As everything’s clear, you can leave now."
Calm as Lucien was, hearing this, he still felt humiliated. At this time, Gaston raised his hand and stopped Leandro, "Evans, are you interested in arcana of the school of Element?"
Lucien hurriedly nodded.
"Stay, then. Don’t be shy." Gaston smiled, "This is our annual conference. Although you might not be able to understand much, it can still be very helpful to you. Maybe one day you’ll become an influential arcanist."
Lucien was very surprised, and nodded again.
...
The headquarter of Common Arcana.
After submitting his paper about the remeasurement of the elements, Woods now was sitting in his couch cozily. This paper should be published on this issue’s journal.
Feeling quite relaxed, he picked Lucien’s paper again and started to read the latter part with regards to Lucien’s guesses of undiscovered elements.
Woods never realized that Lucien’s guesses were so in detail that he even put forward some possible ores with which some undiscovered elements might be found. Then his heart missed a beat:
The features of this ore described by Lucien were actually very familiar to him!