At the end of the first month (January), the cold still gripped Alinge, but the dark green forest outside Douglas School of Witchcraft and Wizardry still hadn't withered in the slightest.

In front of the black iron door with a sharp cutout in the style of the ancient Magic Empire, Woods eagerly asked the Iron Golem guarding the door: "I am Woods from the Common Arcanist Monthly, friends with Headmaster Donald, and I want to find Mr. Lucien Evans." ”

"Both Mr. Evans were absent, and they went together to Rentat. Who are you looking for?" replied the Iron Golem in a metallic, dehumanized voice.

Woods was stunned for a moment: "There are two more? Well, I'm looking for Mr. X." Wait, didn't they all go to Rentat, when did they leave, what were they going to do, what time will they be back?"

In desperation, Woods almost followed the Iron Golem's "thinking" to talk, but fortunately woke up in time.

His barrage of questions caused the Iron Golem's eyes to flicker with red, as if they were ready to explode at any moment.

"Yes, they all went to Rentat, they left an hour ago, I don't know what they were going to do, and I don't know when they will be back. The Iron Golem finally sorted out the order.

An hour earlier, Evans had arrived in Rentat, and Woods pressed his black top hat with a little annoyance. Rentat is the capital of the Kingdom of Holm, and it is one of the top 10 on the continent in terms of area and number of people, and it is difficult for him to find someone quickly without knowing what Lushien is going to do - even if he asks the "prophet" to use legendary astrology for divination, he will not be able to pinpoint it without more information.

"Wait for Evans? Mr. X is back, please tell him that we in the "General Arcanist Monthly" would like to publish his paper in this issue at the end of the month, and ask him to reply as soon as possible. If he is free, it is best to come to our headquarters. In the bitterly cold wind, Woods let out a few white breaths before stepping back into the carriage.

............

Rentat. The second floor of the Oak Restaurant.

In the private room, Lucien looked out the window at the beautiful dark night with goose-feather snowflakes floating outside, watching the people coming and going in the heavy snow. Some of them hurried, some walked slowly side by side, some followed the snowflakes with childlike innocence, and some bent down to pick up the snowballs......

Across from the small dining table sat Igna, introduced by K. He was a fourth-level arcanist with grayish temples and a five-ring elemental mage, tall and thin, with particularly deep facial features. It's as if skin is wrapped around bones.

If K hadn't told him in advance, Lucien would have thought he was a gentleman in his fifties, but in fact, Igna was over a hundred years old.

At the age of seventy, he spent all his savings to survive and sobriety on some expensive magical ritual, and it looked as if he would live for many more years. However, his magic level has been stuck in front of the high-level door for a full sixty years.

Igna's light brown eyes glanced around at Lucien and K, and raised his glass: "Cheers to our delightful dinner." ”

After a toast, K took another sip of "Sky Blue". Then got up and went to the bathroom, which seemed to have a poor amount of alcohol and showed signs of vomiting.

Seeing K's back disappear as the bathroom door closed, Igna turned his head with a smile, "Evans, I probably skimmed through your paper before dinner. It has to be said that the advantages and disadvantages are equally obvious, and it has excellent discussion value. Unfortunately, this issue of our journal Elements has confirmed that it will include all the papers presented by arcanists and magicians at the annual conference. ”

Just before Lucien wanted to fight for a few more words, Igna shook his glass: "However, K is about to become a disciple of Mr. Larry, and I have a very good relationship with Mr. Larry. Since he brought you to me, I, as a pioneer in the realm of elemental magic, have to do something. Therefore, I intend to suggest to the editor-in-chief, Mr. Ravana, that the annual conference should not be used to postpone the submission of valuable papers by other magicians, and that it would be better to increase the length of this issue of The Elements. Of course, there are still many difficulties and work to be done on whether the recommendations can be adopted. ”

Lucian's eyes lit up, and Igna meant that he was going to include his paper in the additional space later in the journal Elements?

However, Lucien did not speak rashly, and waited quietly for Igna to finish speaking.

Igna turned his eyes to the window, looked at the young people leaning against each other under the alchemy arc light street lamp outside, and sighed softly: "This is the most beautiful stage of life, it's good to be young." Hey, I'm getting old, and I don't have any hope of becoming a high-level magician with my strength and knowledge, so I can only turn to several magical rituals that can work miracles in the ancient magic empire. Unfortunately, the materials for these magical rituals are difficult to find and very expensive. ”

With that, he closed his mouth and tasted the red wine of the vineyard near Rentat, his smile still on his lips.

Lucien first wondered why Igna lamented these irrelevant things, but soon realized the hidden meaning of his words: there are many difficulties to overcome, how can you not pay a price?

After thinking about it, Lucien pondered his tone: "Mr. Igna, sometimes it is not difficult to obtain arcane points with a little luck. For example, my last new magic was very profitable because of the citation of His Excellency the Grand Arcanist. ”

Igna glanced at Lucian appreciatively: "Young people are always full of momentum and courage, but an old man like me can't do it, and the Crown Stone is only three hundred arcane points away from being able to buy it." ”

"I don't know if you, Mr. Igna, would you like to accept my grant? I don't want to see a pioneer stop because of money. Lucien said that he was about to vomit, but if it could be published in the "Elemental" journal, it would be many times better than "Ordinary Arcanist Monthly", because he has been in contact with all kinds of magic ores for a long time, and most of the mages of the Elemental and Alchemy lines are hoping to discover new elements!

Igna raised his glass to Lucien and smiled kindly, "I wish us success." ”

When K returned, he was pleased to see Lucien and Igna chatting happily.

............

Maybe Igna was very efficient, or maybe the Elements journal itself had decided to increase the length, but he took advantage of the loophole, and when Lucian and K left the hotel the next day, the notice of inclusion in the Elements journal was delivered to Lucian.

"Thank you, K, if it weren't for your help, my paper wouldn't have been accepted in the journal Elements. This would be unimaginable for a low-level arcanist. In front of the platform, Lucien solemnly thanked K.

K scratched his head embarrassedly: "It's all Evans, your paper is valuable." ”

Adhering to its own philosophy. K did not peek into the specifics of Lucian's paper before the journal was published.

Is Arcane Points valuable...... Lucien sneered, but as long as the paper was verified by the magicians, it was worth the effort.

“K。 You're not going back to school?" Lucien prepares to rush back to Alinge to continue his experiments in discovering new elements.

K shook his head, and his honest face was slightly sentimental: "Actually, I have already left my job, because Mr. Larry saw that my last paper had a good response. And it's really not far from the Third Ring Road, so let me go and study with him in advance. It just so happened that there was something going on in my hometown of Granlingshire these days, so I took the opportunity to leave my job. Ready to go back and deal with it. I originally came to say goodbye to you at noon yesterday, but when I saw that your paper was rejected, I thought I would try to help you before leaving. ”

Grailling County is one of the more remote of the eight counties in the Kingdom of Hall.

"K, you don't have to be so sentimental, Mr. Larry has been in Alinge for a long time, and we can see each other often. By the way, do you need my help with the affairs of my hometown?" Lucien asked with concern.

K shook his head again: "A little thing. I can handle it easily. ”

"Alright then, K you can send a letter back to school if you need help. Lucien saw the magic steam train approaching and waved him goodbye, "That's right. Re-measure......... and other elements. ”

K listened to Lucian's last instructions in a daze, and decided to do these magic experiments when he had time.

............

Headquarters of the Common Arcanist Monthly.

"It's a shame that I didn't expect the journal Elements to also discover the value of your paper Evans. Woods's tone matched the content of his speech, with a strong taste of regret.

Lucien was grateful for Woods' attention, so he personally came over to thank and explain the situation: "I'm sorry, Mr. Woods, if I had known in advance that you would have decided to publish my paper, I would definitely not have gone to Rentat." ”

Those 300 arcane points are really heart-wrenching!

"No, Evans, even if it were me, I would choose the Elements journal. Your paper is only a little worse than being included in Arcane. Woods didn't mind, "Although the Ordinary Arcanist Monthly has been getting better and better in the past ten years, it is still too far behind the influence and status of the Elemental Journal in the field of elemental magic. ”

Lucien nodded silently, if he chose again, even if he needed to pay five hundred arcane points, he would choose the Elemental journal, because the matter was urgent, and he could only choose the one with great influence. In normal times, with Woods's "grace of acquaintance", even if the "Elemental" journal directly sent a letter of invitation, I am afraid that he would choose "Ordinary Arcanist Monthly".

"Mr. Woods, if I have the opportunity in the future, I will continue to contribute to you. Lucien said sincerely.

Woods thought Lucien was politely replying, and said with a smile, "I personally welcome it." By the way, Evans, I'd like to write a paper on my re-determination of several atomic weights, which will quote from your paper, and it will be published in this issue of the Common Arcanist Monthly.

"It's my pleasure. Lucien replied with a smile.

Saying goodbye to Woods and returning to the school of magic and wizardry, Lucien hurriedly told Roque and Jerome that the atomic weights might be wrong and needed to be corrected, and wrote to Lazar to explain it.

It's not just about letting them "cheat" on points, it's about building momentum for their periodic table paper.

Therefore, Lucien did not let them do it until his paper was confirmed to be accepted by the journal Elements, otherwise their paper would be published first, and his paper would not have achieved good results until a few months later.

............

On Friday night, Lucien, who had still not been able to discover a new element from the various magical ores, returned to the villa after several hours of experimentation.

As soon as he opened the door, Lucien saw a letter stuffed into the crack of the door, with the Iron Golem of the Gate Keeper signing, inspecting, and forwarding.

"Who's going to write to me?" Lucien checked again, curiously opening the envelope.

"Dear Mr. Lucien Evans, although you are only a low-level arcanist, your research in the field of elemental magic is commendable, so we solemnly invite you to the 'Annual Conference of Elemental and Alchemical Magic' which begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday (January 27). ”

Behind it is the Elemental Will and the logo of the Royal Magic Court of Holm, as well as the location of the meeting, Swan Lake Rose Manor, which was issued three days ago.

Lucien looked at the invitation letter inexplicably and stunned, could it be that the paper on the periodic table was taken seriously at the headquarters of the journal "Elements", thus attracting the attention of the high-level of the elemental will? )