Chapter 198

: Second Circle
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
When the lab door opened, the whole lab was slowly lit up with warm yellow light. Although the lab was not as mysterious and grand as that of the Prophet, Maskelyne, which Lucien used in the magic lock, its cleanliness, tidiness and the great amount of equipment was impressive to Lucien.
K pointed at one of the operation platforms,
You can use this one, Lucien… It feels like I’m talking to myself. I’m gonna start doing my experiment as well.


Thanks, K.
Lucien did not ask anything about K’s experiment, as someone’s experiment was always a secret, and that was how plagiarism came from.
It was hard to prove that someone plagiarized other people’s research outcomes, unless the person’s thoughts could be investigated by certain spells. However, as for the sorcerers who dared plagiarize, they often had some powerful groups secretly supporting them from behind, thus they could easily avoid being investigated like this when there was not enough evidence, and finding other excuses to exonerate themselves was also not difficult.
What was worse was that some sorcerers would kill other people from whom they stole research outcomes by using different means.
All of these was introduced by Lazar, and when Lucien first heard it, he was quite shocked.
Stone was not difficult to make, and Lucien was quite good at making potions. After three times, a tube of brown turbid liquid was produced.
Still having some time, Lucien took out a tube of purified material and was about to test it following the papers he read. At this time, K, who was standing with his back to Lucien, said to him,
You have other experiments to do, Lucien?


Yes?
asked Lucien.

I’m not trying to steal your experiment, Lucien,
said K in his low voice, sounding very reliable,
but I can tell you how to open the secret lock of this lab. If you have to do some urgent experiments, you can use this lab even if I’m not here.


It’s really nice of you, K. I’m still new in the field of Element, and I want to see the nature of all kinds of elements in person by doing many experiments. You know, as a first circle sorcerer, I could not discover many characteristics of the elements by using magic, thus doing experiments is the most reliable way to me,
Lucien turned around and said to K sincerely.
Seeing K was still doing his experiment, Lucien turned his back to K again to avoid seeing what he was doing.

I totally understand. I’ll tell you how to enter this lab later,
said K, standing with Lucien back to back.
However, I’m leaving this school in a few months. You won’t be able to use this lab for long.


Why are you leaving?
asked Lucien, confused. As he was asking, Lucien turned on the alchemical circle to turn the purified element into vapour to test its gas density.

Mr. Larry from our group, the Will of Elements, likes my previous paper, and he told me that when I become a middle-rank sorcerer, he would like to have me to help him with some studies. Recently, I’ve been feeling that I’m approaching this higher level, so I want to have a magic item by accomplishing a task given by the congress to help myself upgrade.
K had no intention of showing off his accomplishment and tried to stay humble.
Among the current generation in the Will of Elements, Larry, student of Gaston, was the most promising one who would grow into a senior-rank sorcerer. Right now Larry was a level five arcanist, fifth circle sorcerer, who was even more powerful than Timothy or Ulysses. Only six or seven sorcerers from other groups and organizations could compete with him, including Felipe, who was younger than him but was already close to level five in arcana.
Lucien slightly nodded,
Congratulations. May I take a look at your paper?


It hasn’t been published yet. The paper’s going to be on the next week’s issue of Element. Teachers in the school can read it for free.
K was quite shy. He did not tell Lucien the name of the paper directly but switched the topic,
Hope you can complete your experiments as soon as possible, Lucien, otherwise when I’m not here anymore, you need to find other places.

Lucien chuckled,
No one ever mentioned that we have a teacher from our school who’s gonna publish his work on Element. You’re really good at keeping your secret, K. Well, I’ll make the best of my time to finish the experiments. K, you’re such a nice guy.


This is nothing. We’re supposed to help each other,
K answered with a smile.
Back to back, Lucien and K chatted occasionally, but they spent most of their time on doing experiments.
…
It was already early morning when Lucien went back to the place where he lived, and Rock was sound asleep.
Surrounded by the light floral aroma, the quietness of early morning soothed Lucien’s soul. Feeling prepared, he opened the glass tube and drank down the brown turbid potion named Stone.
Spicy, sour and bitter, the potion went down from Lucien’s mouth and burnt his throat and gullet, making Lucien want to throw up, but inside his body, his soul felt calm and powerful.
When the taste faded a bit in his mouth, he closed his eyes. Lucien soon went into the world of meditation. His consciousness went back to the starry sky, in which his Host Star of Destiny was shining, and the three basic powers, fire, wind and water, were contributing to the existence of the meditation world.
Lucien’s consciousness separated from his soul, and started directing the soul. Shining lines extended out from the power of Lucien’s soul and started to construct a relatively complicated spatial model.
Since the model had not involved any complex math theories such as curve, and with some new basic knowledge in arcana, Lucien handled the whole process pretty well.
When the model was completed by the last line of soul, the model burst out dazzling light which dragged Lucien’s consciousness back into his soul, and covered it.
At this time, Lucien noticed the subtle changes happening around him in this meditation world!
Colourful light spots were appearing in the starry sky in a sophisticated and mysterious order, and each of the spot was showing a complicated model. It seemed that these models themselves were new spells that Lucien had never seen before! However, the structure of the models were in such a chaos, and when Lucien was about to take a closer look, his consciousness was overwhelmed by his own great spiritual power brought by this second circle spell in his soul, Mirror.
Like a small boat trying its very best to survive between the furious waves, like a warrior fighting for his hope, Lucien struggled to stay lucid and keep himself in control.
Thankfully, Lucien’s great spiritual power and will passed the test in the end. A shining crystal showed up in his soul, and the level of his spiritual power reached a new record.

Finally… I’m a second level sorcerer,
said Lucien to himself. As he was saying, Lucien activated Mirror, and a clone was produced beside him.
Mirror, a second circle spell from the school of Illusion. Before it was cracked by any detection spells, such as some spells in Astrology, Mirror could protect its caster until the clone of the person was destroyed.
After testing the spell, Lucien removed the magic and looked back at the starry sky. The colourful particles were now all gone, as if it was just Lucien’s illusion.
However, Lucien was sure that this was definitely not his illusion, so he ventured a guess:
The meditation world was created and also affected by his own knowledge. When he knew more of the truth in the world, correspondingly, more would show up in this meditation world.
Lucien was learning how to arrange elements recently, and although some elements here were different from those of Lucien’s original world, he still could notice some possible orders. Lucien wondered if this was why the meditation world changed when he upgraded. Maybe when Lucien successfully completed the periodic table of elements in this world, the colourful particles would turn into someone else, say, a new magic. However, Lucien had no idea what the magic could be.
…
Heidler, the main tower of the Hand of Paleness, in a dark room.

Mr. Rogerio, good afternoon.
Felipe took out his hands from his jacket and bowed with his right hand on his forehead,
What can I do for you today?

Felipe was being this respectful, because Rogerio was not only one of the leaders of the Hand of Paleness, but also the member of Affairs Committee, directed by the highest council.
Rogerio was wearing black suit and white, loose-sleeved shirt, looking the same when he was in Aalto, but now there were three badges in front of his chest: level seven arcana badge, eighth circle sorcerer badge, and a black-fired badge representing the Affairs Committee position.
Unlike many necromancers, Rogerio looked more easy-going,
How’s your experiment going, Felipe?


Not bad, but still needs time.
Felipe sat down in front of Rogerio.
Rogerio slightly nodded, and then said,
I’ve got some news… about Professor.