424 The Roaring Lucien Almost twice the regular length, thank you all (1/2)

Winter sunlight pierced through the thick layer of cloud, went through the window glass and fell on the astrology maps hanging on the study's wall. The light yellow halo made the space warm and cozy.

Neeshka's student, Samantha, wore the same you-still-owe-me-ten-thousand-arcana-points blank expression. ”Sir, are you joining the meeting tomorrow?”

”Of course, why not?!” Neeshka was rather pissed. ”I'll teach Levski and Lucien Evans a good lesson! This rubbish should never be sent to the Board again!”

Samantha nodded slightly, obviously not affected by her teacher's fury at all.

”I'll tell the coachman to prepare for tomorrow morning and don't be late again.”

Then she picked up the pile of files and left the office, leaving the furious Neeshka alone staring at the paper and the comment from Lucien.

......

In the villa surrounded by flowers, Milina was standing in front of a dressing mirror, looking at her own face which was written with sheer anger. Beneath her feet, there were a few papers torn into pieces. She lowered her voice and murmured, ”Lucien Evans…”

In her eyes, Tower Geometry was the only geometric system in the world and there was no other ”new geometry” that was essentially different from it. It was just so obvious that Levski's paper was full of stupid errors, as it conflicted with the real world. All the good words that Lucien Evans used on the paper were complete nonsense. What Lucien Evans was trying to do was to confuse right and wrong, to disguise a pile of cow dung as whipped cream!

There was no doubt that Lucien was now slapping her face, as well as shaming all the Tower arcanists studying mathematics, as the achievements in the field of math were rarely able to receive an appreciation like this. Even her achievement in math, which had made her win Arcana Scepter, never got such a high comment!

Walking away from the mirror, Milina came to her bookshelf and pulled out the papers that she had published. Combining the viewpoints together, she quickly developed a new paper.

Only when she finished did her put the title on: On Parallel Lines.

As a rigorous mathematician and astrologist, she never fought unprepared!

As for the rest of the authorities who had received and read the paper and its comments, they shared the same attitude with Neeshka and Milina. When Levski's paper was first submitted, they had all contributed to the crucial criticism against this poor arcanist.

......

In the early morning, the haze that had lasted several days finally disappeared. Now the sky was as clear as washed.

Standing in front of the mirror, Lucien leisurely adjusted his black double-breasted suit, white shirt, and light yellow waistcoat. After carefully checking his appearance was proper and decent, Lucien smiled and said to himself, ”You gotta change your style today.”

Then he put Element, Electron, and Origin on his right thumb, middle finger, and little finger respectively. The flowing light and colors of purple and blue enhanced each other's radiance, making the rings rather dreamy and eye-catching.

Following that, Lucien took out his shining six-silver-star arcana badge and his Review Board member badge, on which was a hand holding a quill pen, and set them on his left chest.

Meanwhile, on Lucien's right chest, there was a prominent pattern of a magnificent throne supported by bones. The pattern was there because Lucien had transformed his Immortal Throne magic robe into this black, double-breasted suit.

Although most members in the board had won the highest honor in the fields that they specialized in once or twice, Lucien's case was still very rare as he had won the most influential awards in three different fields and so many rings. Apart from Fernando, among those who would attend today's meeting, the best had only won the top awards twice. So Lucien should be able to bring them some pressure by showcasing his achievement. The only problem was that Lucien had not won Arcana Scepter, which was the most authoritative award in Math.

Checking his appearance in the mirror once again, Lucien picked up his black top hat from the hat rack and put it on as he left his villa.

Past the streets, into the headquarter magic tower of the Congress, into the elevator, and up to the fifteenth floor, Lucien arrived at the meeting room at a leisurely pace.

”Mr. Evans?”

When Lucien was about to push open the meeting room's door, he heard a hoarse male voice calling his name.

Turning around, Lucien saw a middle-aged man who was standing on the nearby patio, looking quite uneasy and restless. The magic robe he was wearing was rather old and out of date, and smoke was slowly rising from the lighted cigarette between his fingers.

”Mr. Levski?” Lucien figured that the middle-aged man was the main character for today. ”Why are you still here?”

Levski combed his messy hair with his hand and put on a bitter smile. ”As soon as I get in there, the six board members will for sure start criticizing me right away. I'd better just stay here, and… you know, to calm down a little bit.”

Compared to the numb and reserved Levski from several days ago, today's Levski was definitely more encouraged and confident. Now he could at least express himself efficiently.

Lucien understood his feeling, and he smiled gently. ”So, are you ready? Are you ready to face their coldness, attack, and sarcasm, and show them your new geometry system?”

Levski frowned, as if seized by the pain in his memory. He said, with less confidence, ”I'm ready… but them… I once introduced my paper in front of all the math arcanists in Tower. That was my first time… No one believed in me. There was no follow-up discussion, and all they gave me were nothing more than indifference, ignorance, criticism, and howls of derision. I'm afraid you have to suffer from this with me later, Mr. Evans.”

”I have faith in you, and in your new geometry system. So I am not afraid.” Lucien said to Levski sincerely.

Levski cheered up again, as he finally found the one person in this world who understood his perseverance and his work. ”Mr. Evans, thank you so much. You're the first person who's willing to accept my geometry system, and the high appraisal you gave me, even I myself had never described my paper with those words… They really mean a lot to me. Thank you, thank you…”

Levski had devoted most of his time into studying math and arcana, so he was not good at eloquence and could only show his gratitude towards Lucien by saying ”thank you” over and over again.

At this time, Fernando, who was wearing his floor-length red magic robe, arrived and asked the two of them to get in.

”Morning, sir. Thank you for coming.” Seeing that Levski had sat down, Lucien turned to greet Fernando.

Fernando wore a solemn expression used when discussing serious matters. ”I've read his paper. Although his geometry conflicts with the world that can be perceived directly, it is still kind of interesting, kind of entertaining.”

The Lord of Storm never gave direct praise to anyone.

In the meeting room, there were six other board members besides Lucien. Compared to other conventions which usually involved fifteen or sixteen people, meetings in the Mathematics field were much smaller.

There were not as many math arcanists as those in other fields. Many board members specialized in more than one field and could thus attend different meetings, for example, Lucien was able to attend meetings in Elements and Thermodynamics. However, most arcanists were not willing to dig into math as it was only a tool, which could not directly lead to a change in the cognitive world or an improvement in magic. Therefore, only nine members of the Board in total were qualified for reviewing papers in math.

”Mr. Evans, I'm Neeshka.”

Neeshka, who was wearing the grey pointy hat, greeted Lucien with no smile on his face. However, when seeing the pattern on Lucien's suit and his three rings, his white eyebrows twitched slightly. Subconsciously, he wobbled the black, mysterious scepter in his hand.

Milina and the rest of the members in the room also stood up and greeted Lucien. Although they were not at all enthusiastic, they still remained polite. After all, Fernando, who was famous for his cranky and merciless temper, was also here today, and he was Lucien's teacher. No one wanted to be furiously shouted at on matters not related to academics.

Lucien also responded politely. He noticed that five out of the six members belonged to Tower. They were all wearing the unique, pointy grey hat, including the two ladies. Somehow the hat looked a bit funny to Lucien.

In Lucien's opinion, it was obvious that the hat did not suit ladies at all. He purposefully on the opposite side of the long table, facing against the six members directly.

Fernando hated wasting time with words, so he said straightforwardly, ”Because Mr. Neeshka, Ms. Milina, and Mr. Evans hold completely opposite opinions for the paper, New Principles of Geometry with Complete Theory of Parallels, written by Levski, we are having the small meeting today. First of all, Levski will explain his paper to us. You board members can raise your hands and ask questions at any time.”

Levski silently picked up his paper and walked to the small magic platform in the front. However, just after a few steps, he stumbled against a chair, made a loud noise and almost fell over.

Neeshka, Milina, and the other board members sneered. Levski's face flushed instantly.

Forcing himself to calm down, Levski projected his paper onto the wall using the magic circle and started explaining his geometry system.

”Yes, Mr. Neeshka?”

Levski's explanation was interrupted by Neeshka when he reached the first conclusion drawn by deductive reasoning.

Holding the black Arcana Scepter, Neeshka said coldly with suppressed anger, ”You tell me, why is the sum of angles of a triangle smaller than 180°?”

”It's based on the axioms and postulates I mentioned…” Levski pointed at the notes.

Neeshka snorted. ”Alright, then you find one for me.”

”...” Levski was speechless. This was sheer logical reasoning, and it was not built on a physical model.

Neeshka ground his teeth and said word by word, as if to express the anger inside him. ”If you can't find it, it means that it contradicts with the reality, then your paper is completely a mistake!”

Then Neeshka sat down, giving no chance for Levski to explain himself.

Levski wilted like a piece of limp lettuce, but he still tried to look up. When he saw Lucien's smile, Levski felt encouraged again.

Fernando lifted his hand. ”Keep going.”

Levski took a deep breath and continued. After a while, Milina raised her hand.

”Yes, Madam?” Levski asked. He found that he was trembling a bit. Based on his years of experience, he could guess what question was to come.

Holding the Arcana Scepter inlaid with many star-like gems in her hand, Milina stared at the poor, middle-aged man. She put on a cold smile. ”So, Levski, tell me, why the perpendicular line of one line does not always intersect with the oblique line.”

”It's also based on the earlier reasoning…” Levski said in a way rather lacking confidence. Lucien could not help shaking his head. This was the very moment that Levski should show his confidence and firm attitude!

Milina picked up the pile of papers in front of her, her smile disappeared, and said, ”Show it to me, or find the model.”

”I haven't…” said Levski honestly, ”but if we follow the logic reasoning, there is no problem with it.”

”This is your problem, not mine. We live in this real world, not your imagination.” Milina criticized without mercy.

Then she started reading her own paper, in which every single argument accused Levski's absurd belief.

Her arguments were stabbed into Levski's heart like daggers. Levski's face turned so pale that it looked like he was going to faint at any time.

”That is all,” Milina said indifferently. She turned around without sparing a single further glance for Levski, as if he was a clown who intentionally presented exaggerated eccentric papers to draw attention from others.

”Keep going.” Fernando said to Levski.

Lucien cast an encouraging look at Levski, which gave this poor man some power, although his voice still lowered.

The board members raised their hands from time to time. Some deliberately distorted Levski's idea to prove his fallacy, while some followed Milina and Neeshka's method and objected him based on real life. Since this question had been bothering them for more than ten years, all of the board members were subconsciously using bitter words to attack Levski and his geometry system. Levski's face turned paler and paler.

He, however, still managed to finish his part politely.

Returning to his seat, Levski closed his eyes, as if he had already seen the final result. He had to admit that there was no solid model to support his belief. Finally, he opened his eyes and cast a sorry look at Lucien.

”The members have explained their point of view during Levski's presentation,” said Fernando, ”so now let's have Mr. Evans explain to us why he believes this paper is of great value.”

Lucien adjusted his collar a bit and walked to the platform in the front at a firm pace, with a pile of files in his hand.

”If I were you, Mr. Evans, I would not keep insisting,” said Neeshka suddenly, ”I understand how much you appreciate subversive theories, but we still have to respect what is true.”