When he reached the Affair Committee, Lucien happened to run into Norman, Douglas' student, who was one of the committee members.
"Mr. Evans, you are the truth of elements …" Norman bowed according to the rules of the Congress.
Lucien smiled. "It's unnecessary to go through so much trouble and waste my time. Before, I only paid my respects to you when I met you for the first time."
"Mr. Evans, do you have anything that you want the committee to do?" Norman asked. "In fact, you don't have to go through so much trouble. You can contact the committee members on duty with the communication tools in the tower, or you can ask us to go to your library."
Lucien pointed at the meeting room. "Some things can be explained more clearly in person."
Describing what happened in the Holt Magic College, Lucien looked at Norman and asked, "Is there anything that you don't know?"
"Your Excellency, this is a very good idea. It's a teaching model that I've never seen before. I graduated from a magic school, too. If I could choose the courses and the teachers on my own, I would've saved at least a year's time. " Norman praised the new model with a smile. The fact that he was appreciated by Douglas suggested that he was very talented at that time.
Lucien thought to himself. If it were somebody else who proposed such an independent teaching model, it might've been regarded as a violation of the school's ethos and the traditional teacher-student relationship, just like the dilemma that he encountered in the Douglas Magic School. However, right now, Norman gave a very high compliment without any careful analysis.
"Many of the apprentices are still young. They will only indulge themselves if they choose on their own. Different ages require different approaches. Blindly indulging is definitely not a good approach." Lucien rose and said, "The duration of the school is set at two years. You can graduate in advance, or you can apply to postpone it by one year. As for the details, you can decide on them."
"Alright, I'll organize a meeting of the committee members as soon as possible." Norman had already recorded Lucien's speech in the magic circle.
When Lucien was about to leave, a middle-rank arcanist of the Affair Committee walked in. "Mr. Norman, Her Excellency the Witch of Iceland sent a confidential recording stone. She asked the committee to compile it into a discussion paper."
"Recording stone?" Norman looked at Lucien weirdly. Did the Highest Council have other things to tell him?
After Gaston found the materials to complete the magic phonograph, many arcanists developed similar products. The recording stone was one of them, and it was much more convenient than before.
"It's some discussion before the meeting." Lucien stopped leaving and prepared to observe Norman. Although he was sure that the discussion would not shake the sorcerers' cognitive world based on logic and prophecy spells, he still had to judge the acceptance of the discussion from Norman, a senior-rank arcanist, after hearing the recording, so that he could adjust the release of the next paper.
Seeing Lucien sit down again, Norman thought that the middle-rank arcanist had something else to say, so he signaled for the middle-rank arcanist to leave first. Then, he turned on the soundproof and secret magic circles in the conference room and activated the recording stone.
"There are no experiments to prove the wave nature of electrons …" Hathaway's clear and cold voice came out.
Norman immediately knew that they must've been discussing Dieppe's paper and Mr. Evans's comments.
As the discussion went on, Norman gradually became more and more attentive. Some of the arcanists' opinions represented his own. For example, if microscopic particles were waves, why wasn't the human body made of microscopic particles a wave? For example, Hathaway's statement that the special vibration of particles showed the wave nature.
When Oliver asked Lucien for his opinion, Norman glanced at Lucien who was sitting on the chair in the conference room curiously, finding it hard to understand why he would ask questions such as' what are waves' and 'what are particles'.
However, after Lucien elaborated his ideas with the story of 'the blind man touching the dragon', Norman became very solemn, as if he were considering a profound question. He mumbled to himself in a low voice, "Big bats, big lizards, waves, particles … This is truly an angle that I've never seen before …"
The discussion came to an abrupt end before Fernando spoke. Norman was still in deep thought, as if he were trying to understand Lucien's opinion.
After a long time, he finally said in delight and bitterness, "Mr. Evans, with your perspective and the easy-to-understand metaphor, even if electrons are proved to have the nature of waves in the future, I don't need to worry that my cognitive world will collapse."
Then, he explained his understanding and asked for Lucien's affirmation. "… We can consider it as something that we haven't fully recognized yet. We cannot define it with part of its features easily and can only give a description within a certain range. It's not that day equals night, but that the sky can show both day and night. The difference in observation time results in its different nature."
It was much easier than directly accepting that particles were waves. Sorcerers were always awed by the unknown. Whatever the experiment result was, they would describe it as such for now.
Naturally, Lucien could not say that it should be the superposition of 'day' and 'night'. Seeing that Norman accepted it well, he stood up and said, "This is a discussion on some of the current problems. The main purpose is to make the arcanists more cautious and more open to the unknown. We cannot simply substitute the original concepts, or it will be like the blind man touching the dragon with one point instead of the whole."
"Arcana studies are important, but it seems that the thinking in arcana studies is equally important!" Norman said with mixed feelings.
Lucien nodded his head with a smile. That was exactly the methodology and the external reflection of one's worldview. It was reflected in the methods and the attitude to observe and deal with the problems.
Seeing that Lucien was about to leave, Norman walked him to the door and said with slight melancholy, "Can the problems of the new alchemy only be resolved by considering electrons as waves? It makes me feel that the new alchemy has reached the most difficult moment. There's barely any hope, and the dawn that we can find is still unacceptable. "
The existence of matter was real. Even Norman, an arcanist who was more inclined to the wave theory, found it somewhat unacceptable to introduce the concept of waves to matter. He felt helpless and frustrated about the dilemma of the new alchemy.
"You've forgotten again that it's just a mysterious matter that shows the nature of waves." Lucien waved his hands and said goodbye. The change of perspective could not be completed in a short time.
Watching Lucien leave, Norman pinched his cheeks. "… It's hard to believe that it has the nature of waves when it feels so real …"
… …
As the president of 'Will of Elements', Morris soon received the discussion paper after it was sorted out. He browsed through it and put on a self-mocking smile. "On one hand, it's the new alchemy, and on the other hand, electrons have the nature of waves. It's really hard to choose."
"Master, this is the third time that you've made such a remark today. At least, it's been three times in the short one hour that we've discussed the problem." Florencia complained. "Why are you so worried about such a problem now? The nature of waves can be explained, but it doesn't mean that it can't be explained from the perspective of particles. If you're worried about that, you might as well spend more time on research. However, your tone doesn't sound as hesitant as before. "
She was a member of the Affair Committee who was better at action than research.
Morris smiled. "Very keen. Lucien has addressed the problem of electrons from a new perspective. It's not entirely unacceptable if they show the nature of waves."
"Is that so?" Florencia took the paper and read it carefully. In the end, she said with a smile, "The discussion before was indeed intense, but Lucien's way of thinking is also unique enough. It should be the internal factor for his repeated disruptive results … It's hard to see a problem that can be simplified by a metaphor."
"Perhaps, this is the essence of the wave-particle duality." Morris heaved a sigh. "However, judging from Lucien's words, he is more inclined to solve the problem of the new alchemy with waves."
"The cornerstone of the field of elements and the fundamental code that describes particles has to solve the problem with waves in the end. How ironic." Florencia chuckled gloomily.
Morris stood up and walked to the window. Looking at the gray weather outside and the heavy snow that blocked his vision, he felt gloomy and oppressive. "The new alchemy is in such a weather. There is nothing but white snow around, and there is no way to solve the problem. Caught in the most difficult predicament, we can only move forward step by step. Even if it's something that we can't accept and reconcile in the past, we have to grasp it as long as it can show us the way."
"This is Lucien's predicament. It is also the predicament of all the sorcerers in the field of elements and alchemy. We are like beasts that are besieged. We have to struggle with all our resources and seize every opportunity in order to get out of the siege and see a new dawn."
Florencia followed him to the window and sighed. "I hope that the confusion, the depression, and the wandering without direction will come to an end soon so that we can pass through the vast night and reach the dawn where light will dye everything red."
"The night before dawn is the deepest and heaviest." Morris said half-jokingly. It was also the last obstacle before his cognitive world was half-solidified.
… …
Raventi, Gaston, LockLynn, Markus and the other senior-rank arcanists had similar feelings when they read the paper. On one hand, Lucien's exposition made them more open to microscopic particles and changed their way of thinking. On the other hand, they had a lot of mixed feelings about the bottleneck of the new alchemy.
Had they finally asked for help from the wave theory after the particle theory failed?
If even the wave theory could not solve all the problems, had the model of the new alchemy been wrong from the beginning to the end?
In the unknown world of darkness, the new alchemy seemed to have reached a fork that would decide its own fate!
"Perhaps we are already close to success, but there is only one way out in the darkness. If we take the right step, we will ascend to the throne of arcana and grasp the mysteries of matter, but if we take the wrong step, we will fall into the bottomless abyss and be shattered." Raventi looked at the depressing scene outside of the window and somehow had a hunch.
The new alchemy had reached the most critical moment. Would it rise like the sun and illuminate everything, or would it be the Silver Moon that would fall in the west and cover the world in darkness again?
… …
At night, Lucien returned to his library and sat on the chair after replying to a lot of letters. Then, he took out the experiment data.
Shaking his head, Lucien picked up the quill and wrote, "What?
'On Quantum Mechanics'.
Outside of the window, snowflakes were dancing in the cold darkness.
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