Chapter 357: The Rank

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

Haze and mist always lingered around Heidler, the headquarter of the Hand of Paleness.

With his hands in the pockets of the long, black coat, Felipe looked out of the window attentively. Beside him on the desk lay the latest issue of Arcana. The title of the journal’s very first paper was: The Discovery of a New Particle.

"... Only about 1/2000 of the size of an atom..." Felipe murmured to they gray sky, "He’s faster than I thought. But the discovery of the new particle shouldn’t be enough for him to become a senior-rank arcanist..."

Felipe was confused.

Suddenly, Felipe reached out his hand and talked to the black wristband, "Mr. Rogerio, did you figure it out about Lucien Evans?"

Rogerio’s voice came out from the wristband, "I did. They are not keeping it as a secret. The Miracle Experiment... was designed by Lucien Evans."

"Was it?" Felipe was shocked, but it did make sense. He had once guessed whether Miracle Experiment had anything to do with Professor, or there was no way that the Will of Elements could manage to put forward such a shocking experiment within such a short period of time after Felipe published his paper.

Thinking of this, Felipe’s face turned even paler.

Felipe gritted his teeth and the words squeezed out from his teeth, "Professor..."

Rogerio also disliked Professor, and he said, "So... I think he’s still working on overthrowing the Life Force Theory."

"I don’t think so. It was probably just an accident." Felipe recalled what happened at that time and he believed that Lucien was not capable of taking every factor, even those accidents that happened later, into consideration. In fact, except for the Prophet, even the legendary archmages were not able to do so. Even if it was the Prophet, he was still not capable of seeing every detail when facing a strong enemy.

"We should thank Traquair. He disturbed Lucien’s plan, and thus things went to the direction as we wished," said Rogerio. "Alright, Felipe, we cannot change anything that has already happened. Although he has become a member of Arcana Review Board, your magic level is still higher. You know, he’s only a fifth-circle sorcerer. No matter how many high-rank magic items he has, Lucien is still in great danger from the Church. Maybe we can attend his funeral in a year or two. A year or two... It’s quite long. The Church won’t take any actions in the next few days when he is closely protected by the Congress."

As a member of Affairs Committee, Rogerio knew clearly that Lucien had had a funeral before already, and he also knew that Felipe disliked Lucien Evans very much and regarded Lucien as his biggest competitor, although they were only competitors in the field of Element and Alchemy.

"After a year or two..." Felipe shook his head. He did not believe that what Rogerio just said would happen.

He never doubted that Lucien could become a senior-rank sorcerer before turning thirty. Felipe just wondered how fast Lucien could do it.

After sharing the intelligence with Felipe, Rogerio stopped the connection. He was working on his own research. After the Influence Factor of Magic had been improved to 3.0, Rogerio saw the great hope of him becoming a level eight arcanist in ten years.

Felipe released a long sigh and said bitterly, "Miracle Experiment... New particle... Good for you, Lucien Evans!"

"You don’t look very pleasant, Felipe." A deep and hoarse voice came out from the empty room.

Felipe was not surprised. He slowly turned around and responded, "Do I? This has aroused my passion for studying arcana. Both Magic and Arcana have the Influence Factor of 3.0. If I can develop several good papers, I can become a senior-rank arcanist in a year."

Felipe was not far away from becoming a level six arcanist.

On the chair across the desk, there was a figure appearing. To be more specific, it was a horrible ghost with a rotten face and the white skull. The ghost was wearing a long, black robe drawn with many fancy patterns.

The ghost giggled, "You need my help? Although I am not an expert in arcana, I know some of the special materials from the World of Souls that can really help you to progress further. As long as you can sign the compact with me, I can guarantee that you can become a seventh circle sorcerer in five years."

"Angwoods, I can take care of my own stuff. Keep it in mind. You’re summoned by me, so I am your master. When I don’t need you to talk, you don’t talk. Get it?" Felipe’s deep eyes looked at the ghost in an imposing manner.

Angwoods’ skeleton slightly cracked, "Yes, my master."

Putting back his hands into the pockets, Felipe walked to the door of the study. When walking past Angwoods, Felipe said to the ghost just like he was talking to a servant, "Good. I am going to conduct the magic experiment. If there’s no emergency, don’t let anyone bother me."

"Yes, my master," said Angwoods with great respect. When Felipe left the office, Angwoods angrily swore, "Arrogant idiot!"

In the corridor, the corner of Felipe’s lips curled up, "Idiot. The ghosts in the World of Souls just can’t send me a better one to sign the compact with me... Do I look so silly that I would follow that thing’s words?"

When stepping into the lab, Felipe turned on the magic circle and the look on his face became very attentive.

It was very cold in the lab, and the white fog was always lingering. In front of Felipe, on the operation desk, there lay a human body. The body was bought.

For this poor man, using his dead body in exchange for money to support his family was a sweet thing.

From the previous experiment, the dead body’s eyes opened wide. The reflection of Felipe’s cold and gloomy face was in the blue pupils.

Picking up a silver dagger, Felipe cut it down in the dead body’s chest and took out the dark red heart. After putting the heart in the magic circle, he walked to another operation desk where a strong undead creature lay—a ghast, the advanced form of the ghouls. The ghast looked rather short, like a kid, however, the smell of its rotten skin made one want to throw up, and the bones underneath were thus revealed.

Felipe was very used to it. Using the dagger, he took out the ghast’s black, rotten heart and put it in the same magic circle.

Activating the magic circle and getting rid of the irrelevant tissues, Felipe cut down a thin piece from each heart. Then he used a bottle of reagent and dyed the cuts silvery.

Felipe put the two pieces in the enlargement magic circle functioning as a microscope, trying to find the secret hiding behind human’s cells and the undead creatures’ cells.

The magic circle did not work well enough. Felipe could not see better.

...

In Radiance Church.

"The damned defiler! He did it!" Vaharall’s furious roaring lingered in Philibell’s study, "I’m going to sentence him! Purify him!"

historical

"He’s for sure a demon, a demon that fools people! Or there was no way that he could write Ode to Joy!" Varantine ground his teeth.

The four pairs of white wings covered with spots of light stretched out behind Stone, the Four-winged Knight, "We must purify him. He’s the biggest defiler in a hundred years!"

"Not only him... Including his relatives and friends!" suggested Vaharall coldly.

The look on Philibell’s face was gloomy, "Lucien Evans must die. But his relatives and friends have reported him to the Church, so we cannot touch them. Also, I don’t think Lucien Evans will care."

"Anyway, it’s time for us to take action." Varahall’s eyes were very dangerous.

Philibell looked at Varantine and Stone. Both of them nodded seriously.

"So, we put Lucien Evans on the Cleansing List," said Philibell seriously. "Inform the clergy, we must purify Lucien Evans... at any cost!"

"I agree. Also, as the designer of Miracle Experiment and the finder of the new particle, Lucien Evans has threatened the divinity of the Lord more than once. He’s a dangerous and cunning demon, and he should be put on the fifty-third place on the list," said Varahall.

The number of the legendary level was of course more than fifty-two, the reason why Lucien could rank No. 53 was that the legendary from the church, the noble knights, the demon dukes and the devil lords which had not arrived in the main world, and the powerful magic creatures in the Dark Mountain Range, or the prehistorical evil creatures in the other dimensions were not on the list.

"I agree." Philibell nodded, and so did the other two grand cardinals.

"Then we’ll send them the material of Lucien Evans, the Demon of Primary," said Varahall coldly.

The Demon of Primary was the code name for Lucien Evans. It came from Miracle Experiment that Lucien designed. At the same time, it also referred to Lucien’s treacherousness and hypocrisy, just like a demon.

"We shall take action as soon as possible. We seek for the chance; we wait, and finally, the chance will be there." Philibell reminded Varahall in the end.