Chapter 439: An Enlightening Viewpoint
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Lucien had reasons for being so cautious about the wave-particle dualism. Besides the fact that he was still exploring his own meditation method, the most important reason was that it was such a subversive and revolutionary concept that it could easily explode the head of ninety-nine percent of the middle-rank arcanists in the Congress if he just threw it at them. And without the support of the Congress, Lucien would for sure meet his own end as well.
Also, to prove the wave-particle dualism would require a series of experiments, new discoveries, and new theories, or it would certainly undergo fierce attack. Some experiments could not be carried out within the current research level, for example, the experiment for verifying light quantum. Maybe after a year or two, someone would make this achievement, but if Lucien put it forward right now, no one would believe in it. The ma.s.s-energy formula that Lucien needed was based on the special theory of relativity, which also received countless years of attack and discredits after it was proposed.
Therefore, previously, Lucien was planning on first putting forward the prerequisite theories and discoveries gradually, and when they were widely accepted by people, he then would throw the more shocking experiments and findings at them. Finally, he would join the debate war between wave and particle.
However, things were different now, as Lucien found that the two sides were completely against each other. So to make sure that most arcanists’ cognitive world would not collapse when the war ended, the best solution was that Lucien introduced the related findings and perspectives to the arcanists bit by bit, starting right now, in order to shake their belief step by step. When arcanists became capable of carrying out the important experiments, the impacts that they were going to face would become less intense. Admittedly, there would still be some arcanists whose heads were going to explode, the number could be controlled, so the Congress’ overall strength would not be damaged greatly within a short period of time.
“Then… before the experiments come out, my papers are going to suffer from broad neglection, queries, and even fierce attack,” murmured Lucien, “… but just like what Levski said, the effort is worthwhile… I have to pay in advance for the benefits that I’ll get later…”
Lucien’s careful consideration was not only for the Congress but also for himself. If Lucien’s finding exploded most of the middle- and high-rank arcanists’ head, the Church would probably give him tons of gold to reward his effort in destroying the Congress of Magic before burning him down to ashes on the gallows.
So far, Lucien hoped to see the Congress of Magic survive and thrive, even though he had to pay something for it.
“What was it, Sir?” asked Heidi curiously. She thought her teacher just made a comment on Annick’s paper.
Lucien shook his head and said, “Nothing.”
Then he turned to Annick, “It’s a very good start for you, Annick, to have your paper accepted by Arcana as a low-rank arcanist. But don’t let the small achievement blind you. Remember, arrogance and laziness are your biggest enemies against success. Never lower your standards for yourself”
“Yes, Sir,” Annick replied seriously.
Lucien smiled, “You may call me teacher.”
“…?” Annick did not understand.
Layria nudged him gently, while Heidi said to him directly, “idiot. Mr. Evans has accepted you to be his real student!”
Annick suddenly became the envy of all the apprentices!
Annick instantly got very excited. Since he first met Mr. Evans in Stuart, he had already regarded Mr. Evans as his own teacher and treated Mr. Evans with heartfelt respect. However, seeing Mr. Evans winning so many major awards and becoming the most promising arcanist of the Congress, Annick started doubting himself whether he was qualified to be Mr. Evans’ student.
“My… My great pleasure!!” Annick’s face flushed. He was about to salute Lucien using the most formal and solemn manner of the Congress.
Lucien smiled and raised his hand. “Save that. I’m not a big fan of formalities… as long as you consider me your teacher.”
Then Lucien turned to the rest of the apprentices. “You all have been working in the Atom Inst.i.tution for a while, and I am quite impressed. You all are confident but not arrogant, diligent and full of imagination, and those are the qualities that I am looking for in my ideal students. When you become a true sorcerer, you all can become my students, just like Annick.”
“Really?!” Heidi burst out, looking very excited.
Lucien smiled and nodded.
“Awesome!” Katrina cheered. Katrina thought that she would never become Lucien’s real student since she and Sprint did not leave a good first impression on Mr. Evans, although Mr. Evans still tried his best to teach them and recruited them into the Atom Inst.i.tution. Now, she could not hold back her complex emotions of surprise, excitement, gratefulness, and regret.
Meanwhile, Sprint also compressed his lips into a thin line and hid his slightly-trembling hands behind his body.
In the Congress, where part of its tradition was inherited from the ancient Magic Empire, the relations.h.i.+p between a teacher and a student was very serious.
Lucien left the excited apprentices aside and turned to Annick again. “I’ve prepared all the exercises, tests, and textbooks covering the ten magic schools. They are on the desk in my study. Go and grab them yourself.”
Annick’s face instantly dimmed. Here came the haunting nightmare, again. Although Annick was a very diligent and hardworking young man, he was still scared of the tons of exercises.
Heidi burst out laughing, with her hands on her waist. She took pleasure in seeing Annick, who was the first to become a formal sorcerer and Lucien’s true student, to also became the first to face the nightmare of exercises and tests.
Although she’d probably face the same fate in the future, she would not worry about herself right now. After all, there was still a period of time to go.
When the apprentices all left, Lucien paced to his study and pulled out the rolls of parchment made specifically for writing arcana papers. After sitting quietly in front of the parchment rolls for a while, he finally picked up the quill-pen and wrote,
” An Enlightening Viewpoint on Light. ”
Starting from black-body radiation, bringing in the cla.s.sical kinetic theory of gases, Lucien generalized the hypothesis that “the absorption and emission of energy came in portions” into “the electromagnetic waves also came in portions”. Then, since the light was also a kind of electromagnetic wave, then light should also be delivered in portions. The portion of light was termed the light quantum, and its energy was determined by its frequency, by which it interacted with all kinds of substances.
Then Lucien introduced the hypothesis of light quantum into the photoelectric effect and explained the phenomenon perfectly. He also made many predictions based on this theory, including that at a fixed frequency of light, the energy of the electrons emitted was also fixed.
“… based on the instantaneity of time, light presents the prominent property of quantum. However, based on time average, light shows the property of wave. Therefore, perhaps we should be more open-minded facing the wave-quantum argument.”
After careful consideration, Lucien still put the vague but meaningful words on, although every arcanist who read the paper would see it as an improved version of the particle theory, despite the fact that the paper started from the unpleasant concept of quantum.
Finis.h.i.+ng the paper, Lucien made another two copies of it. He would send one to the Arcana Review Board, one to his teacher Fernando, and one to Artil — Lucien needed the fifty thousand arcana points from Artil as a comfort.
Even though Artil did not like the concept of energy quantum, as a firm advocate of the particle theory, he would still support Lucien’s paper, in which all electromagnetic waves were believed to be in the form of separate portions. Maybe Artil would even directly name light quantum as quantum photon.
After putting the papers into file cases, Lucien started writing to his friends one by one. Although there was no solid experiment to support his theory yet, and although his standpoint was the quantum theory, which was a beyond controversial topic, Lucien still wanted to give them a reminder first to be as safe as possible.
“… The paper I am going to submit, from my personal perspective, is the only one among all the papers that I’ve written that can possibly match the revolutionary meaning of the article that put forward the hypothesis of the energy quantum. Fortunately, it is not yet supported by any solid experiment…”
……
In Sorcerer Administrative Department.
Eric carefully checked the file submitted by Lucien, and he released a long sigh when he made sure that the word “subversive” was not on it. Something that was probably a smile appeared on his stiff face. “Every time you submit a paper, I’m a bit scared…”
“It’s just a viewpoint to see if it can enlighten other arcanists. No experiment support yet. Hopefully, the phenomena derived from the hypothesis can be verified in the future.” Lucien smiled and answered.
He was saying the truth, but only part of it. The most subversive step had been taken by the hypothesis of energy quantum, anyways.
Writing “Light-darkness” on the file, Eric thought for a while and said to Lucien, “you’re good at Elements, Lucien, so I’d a.s.sume that you used particle theory in this paper on light. Am I right? If I submit the paper to the authorities in the school of Light-darkness, the comments you’ll receive might be bad. If the paper also has to do with other fields, you know… we can submit it to other reviewers.”
The school of Light-darkness was established based on the school of Electromagnetics, and in it the wave theory was the exclusive ruler.
“It’s not necessary. The more we argue, the sooner we’ll find the truth,” said Lucien humorously. Unless the paper could be submitted to someone he knew well from in the school of Element, the review comments on this paper would always be quite bad. Eighty percent of the members in the Arcana Review Board supported the wave theory of light, and among the remaining twenty percent, less than three were interested in the hypothesis of energy quantum. Before any solid experiment evidence was to be carried out, it was almost impossible to find another person like Artil, who was so stubborn and firm a supporter of the particle theory that he would be willing to reluctantly accept the energy quantum theory.
Eric nodded, and submit the paper to the Review Board.
“Light-darkness… To Mr. Lauren and Mr. Teixeira,” said the alchemical life without hesitation.
……
On the thirty-third floor of the Allyn magic tower, when he saw the t.i.tle of Lucien’s paper, Fernando could not help rubbing his brows.
“Enlightening viewpoint…”