Throne of Magical Arcana

Chapter 196: In the Garden Villa

Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion

In Douglas, Jerome’s garden villa.

"Your name’s also Lucien Evans?" a black-haired young man wearing a casual white shirt and a black vest grinned. "K has always said that his name is very common, and I did not believe him. Now I see... haha."

This young man was Rock, a second circle sorcerer. Rock was good at the school of Element and mathematics, and he was a cheerful young person who loved playing jokes a lot.

Before Lucien responded, Rock continued, "I’m gonna introduce you to K. No worries, Lucien, K’s very easygoing, although he’s quite introverted. Unlike some people from Electromagnetics, K’s diligent, talented, and always willing to help!"

When Lucien was about to open his mouth to say something, Rock cut him off again, "I know you must wonder why I say some people from Electromagnetics are arrogant. Trust me, Lucien, I’m not biased. In the last issue of Arcana, since Mr. Brook has proved that light is a special electromagnetic wave, those Electromagnetics people claim that spiritual power is also a certain kind of wave, and are laughing at us every single day, because we insist in the theory of particles! Come on... There are still quite a few magic experiments that cannot be explained by waves, and the president hasn’t responded to Mr. Brook’s theory yet!"

Lucien was amused, and he quickly cast a glance at Lazar. Lucien thought that Lazar was already very talkative, but now he realized that Lazar was not even close to Rock. From Rock’s words, Lucien got to know some new research trends in the congress, so he was listening quite patiently.

Lazar commented, "Rock’s always like this. Well, since the last issue of Arcana was released, sorcerers like Rock who live in Allyn all the time and who insist to use Particle Theory in discovering spiritual power are facing quite a bit stress from the new theories. I have mixed feelings toward the new and old theories, sorry and proud at the same time."

Jerome and his beautiful wife were just listening and smiling.

It seemed that elemental sorcerers were naturally supporters of Particle Theory. Without the great pressure from the Church, there might be an intense internal strife among the supporters of different theories.

When Lazar and Rock finished their discussion, Lucien and Jerome were sitting on the couch and having black tea made by Vera. Although the brown-haired, ordinary-looking man was not talkative, happiness could be found in Jerome’s eyes. His wife Vera was a red-haired pretty girl, probably around twenty-three or so.

"Mr. Evans, enjoy the tea. I’m going to prepare dinner," said Vera politely and left the living room.

Rock sighed with emotion, "How could you find such a nice lady, Jerome? The girls I know have no idea how to be a good wife..."

Jerome grinned shyly.

"Rock, how’s your project going?" asked Lazar.

"Rejected. The board thought I was joking," said Rock with a bit dismay.

"What project?" asked Lucien curiously.

"A great project!" explained Rock excitedly, "As a sorcerer from Tower, I think everything can be represented by numbers. What we can do is to figure out a standard number system to represent how powerful a spell is, or the level of a sorcerer’s defensive power. By measuring and recording, in the future, when two sorcerers want to fight, numbers can directly show the result, and no one will be hurt."

"Then what if both of the two sorcerers have their advantages and disadvantages?" asked Lucien confusedly.

"That’s right." Rock took a pile of paper and started writing, "For example, the total amount of my spiritual power is... 105, and Lazar’s is 96..."

"Hey... Why mine is lower than yours?" Lazar was not happy with the set value.

And then they started arguing.

"They’re just like this, like kids." Jerome smiled to Lucien.

"That’s why they’re good friends." Lucien nodded. Those "bad" words Lazar used to describe Rock were also quite suitable for himself.

Ignoring Lazar and Rock, Lucien and Jerome started discussing the school of Astrology and Element, and they enjoyed their conversation very much. The two people regretted that they had not known each other earlier.

"Dinner’s ready." Vera came back to the living room, followed by servants pushing dining carts.

Putting down the tea cup, Lucien turned around and saw that Lazar and Rock were still playing their card game.

"Magic Missile, Power 5." Rock put down a piece of card.

"Flame Shield, Defense, 7." Lazar pulled out a card seriously.

"What are you two doing here?" asked Jerome curiously.

"I have to admit that this isn’t a very good project." Rock frowned a bit and then grinned, "But it can be turned into a great card game! Wait... I need to find a sifter."

Lucien was speechless. He could not understand Rock’s way of thinking.

However, Rock had already switched to another topic, "Steak and grilled fish... The smell’s so beautiful... By the way, Vera, why did you choose to stay with Jerome?"

Without doubt, all the three single sorcerers present felt quite envious of their sweet marriage.

After dinner, Lucien and Rock said goodbye to Lazar and walked together back to their shared villa.

The magic school only provided married teachers with a whole villa, since there were quite a few teachers in the school. Before Lazar left, Rock talked to Lucien’s roommate and exchanged their places to live together with Lucien.

Lucien planned to make a potion called Stone tonight to help himself upgrade to second circle, however, he felt quite tired today, so he decided to make it tomorrow after work.

...

Thorn Tree class.

"Do you know today’s Ancient Languages class will be taught by Mr. Evans?" Heidi asked Layria and Annick mysteriously.

"Mr. K? He’s a level two arcanist and second circle sorcerer, so I thought he only taught senior apprentices..."

"No idea. I heard it from Grant." Heidi shook her head.

Hearing the students’ discussion, even Sprint, who usually did not like speaking to other apprentices, sat up a bit straighter, as the name triggered his memory.

The bell rang, indicating the beginning of the class. All the students stopped talking and looked more serious. To Layria, Heidi and Annick’s great surprise, it was actually their previous teacher who came into the classroom.

Lucien Evans was wearing a black double-breasted coat and a soft hat today.

"It’s really Mr. Evans!" the three apprentices blurted out together, regardless of the classroom disciplines.

Other apprentices in the class were very curious, looking at their new teacher.

Seeing Lucien, Sprint and Katrina had mixed feelings. They felt both excited and also a bit worried.

Lucien took off his hat and put it on the desk. He nodded to the three apprentices first, and then turned to the whole class, "I’m Lucien Evans, your Ancient Languages teacher, and you folks can call me Mr. X if you want. In my class, you can do whatever you want, including doing your own homework or sleeping, as long as your behaviour doesn’t disturb other students who want to pay attention to the class. However, you gotta be responsible for your own choice. If you’re so talented that you can pass the course without listening to me, go ahead, and it’s totally fine, but if you’re not, you’d better behave yourself and study hard, or I’m afraid that you’d be taking this course again in next term. For students who work hard and finish homework on time, extra score will be given."

It was the first time these apprentices saw a teacher like this, and they felt very excited.

Then Lucien took out a pile of paper, "So, the first class... We’ll be having an assessment today."

"Test again..." Annick, Layria and Heidi recalled their bad memories. In their eyes, Mr. Evan’s smile looked like the devil’s.

The other students did not know what to expect.