Paper Review

While Rainer and Claire enjoyed commoner fare at a restaurant on Old Street, and Rainer watched in astonishment as Claire ordered enough food for five people, his paper on combustion reactions passed through layer after layer of review before arriving at the Magic Association headquarters in the kingdom's capital—the Tower of Rainbow, home of the High Council.

The paper first underwent a simple reproducibility review. Then, based on its keywords, it was classified under Alchemy and new substances. After being copied for backup, a duplicate landed in Green's hands.

Green was a Fourth Ring mage with considerable expertise in Alchemy. Recently, he had been searching for new elements, while reviewing papers was a task assigned by the High Council to mages like him.

"The experimental approach is worth learning from, but due to an error in the initial premise, the conclusion has obvious flaws. It is recommended that the experiment be attempted again after ensuring the proper conditions. Paper review rejected."

"The experimental objective is unclear, the process is chaotic, and the conclusion is crude and seriously erroneous. Paper review rejected."

"The experimental setup is reasonable, and the conclusion is worth discussing. However, the paper lacks depth and has minor flaws. Paper review approved. Recommend a reward of three points."

In a short while, Green had already reviewed three papers.

Normally, a paper would be examined by at least three review committee members, whose opinions would be combined into a final result. If there were major disagreements, it would be passed up to higher-ranking reviewers for a decision, step by step.

With the recent wave of elemental discoveries, Green had been receiving an endless stream of papers on new substances and elements. Yet the overwhelming majority were shoddy, illogical works. A small portion mistook different forms of the same substance for entirely new materials.

According to the theory of Lord Pluto Auckland, basic elements formed different substances. Some substances could not be further decomposed without special means, and these were also called elements. Normally, this was what academia meant when discussing elements, while the four fundamental elements were given the title "fundamental."

Ever since Lady Maria discovered the Sulfur Element fifteen years ago and successfully advanced to the Sixth Ring, people had eagerly experimented on every substance in hopes of finding new elements. Yet so far, only a little over forty elements had been discovered, and no pattern among them had been found.

Green himself wanted to find a new element in order to advance. Going from the Fourth Ring to the Fifth Ring required extensive preparation, and he hoped to use the discovery of a new element to stir his Heart Lake, receive the world's feedback, and advance.

The bell rang. It was already noon. Green was considering whether to eat lunch first when another paper appeared on the teleportation array.

"I'll eat after I finish this one."

Thinking so, Green picked up the copy and saw its title.

<Discussion of the Special Gas Produced During the Heating Experiment of Limestone and Several Issues with Traditional Combustion Reaction Theory>, authored by Rainer Ian Gray, with assistance from Charlotte and Clune.

"Ian Gray?"

Green noticed the author's name at once. Ian Gray was a household name—the name of a commercial empire. But he had never heard of a research mage from that family.

"Probably just someone with the same name."

Shaking his head, Green opened the paper.

"The formatting is quite good."

Judging from the table of contents, the paper was excellently structured. Its hierarchy was clear, its progression orderly, and Green, who had read far too many messy and sloppily written papers, found himself rather impressed.

But the further Green read, the more frightened he became. By the time he turned the final page, his hands had begun to tremble faintly. For a Fourth Ring mage, that was almost impossible.

From its contents, this was an extremely basic experiment: heating Limestone to produce Quicklime. Yet the paper's author had ingeniously sealed the apparatus and discovered that a special gas was produced during the process. They had also weighed the products before and after the experiment, verifying that the gas had indeed been generated during it.

Yet according to traditional Fire Element combustion theory, this gas should not exist. Even if it did, it could not possibly possess properties that blocked combustion, because it should have been the mixture released by the Fire Element!

This was an enormous challenge to current combustion theory. If the experiment was real, then the combustion theory that had endured for three hundred years might be completely overturned!

That was the cornerstone of modern Alchemy!

If this had been a casually fabricated paper, Green would not have been so shocked. The problem was that its data was detailed, its experimental procedure orderly, and the purpose of every step clear. It even included diagrams of the apparatus, as though it had no fear whatsoever of others verifying it.

Green felt dizzy. As an Alchemy mage, the backlash from having the theories he had always believed in challenged affected him to some degree. But Green still held onto one last shred of hope.

The theories of Alchemy ought to be reproducible. As long as he could repeat this experiment and obtain a different result, it would prove that this was merely an accidental phenomenon and that combustion theory remained unshaken.

With that thought, Green no longer cared about lunch. He hurriedly grabbed the paper, left his office, and ran toward the laboratory.

A Fourth Ring mage could already possess an independent laboratory. Green opened the door and gave a light wave of his hand. The experimental instruments on the table returned to their cabinets, clearing an open space.

The equipment required for the experiment described in the paper was not difficult to find. Green quickly prepared everything. Only after taking a deep breath did he shakily ignite the flame.

As the heating continued, the moment the first bubble emerged from the tube, Green felt something explode in his head. It was as though a towering structure had collapsed before him, and everything he had understood over the past several decades had become unfamiliar.

This was the result of magical backlash. Green collapsed into a chair and stared coldly as bubble after bubble rose and entered the gas collection bottle.

Fortunately, Green had spent this period thinking about new elements and reading many obscure papers for inspiration, so his beliefs were not quite so unwavering. The main reason he suffered backlash was simply because combustion theory was far too fundamental.

More than half of magic's current dazzling achievements had been built upon Fire Element combustion theory. Like the foundation of a towering structure, if it were destroyed, the consequences would be unimaginable.

If even such a fundamental theory was wrong, then what were all his efforts? What were all the mages' efforts?

Green had no time to think about that question. He looked over the paper again, his gaze settling on the author's name.

"Rainer Ian Gray... just who are you?"