I'll expose your flaws!

The clerks present listened, each lost in thought.

The dispute between the two Grand Mages involved no personal grudges, but it did concern a recently emerging school of Arcana: fictional linguistics.

This fell within the scope of Fictionalism. In short, it meant stepping outside reality and using humanity's gift for fiction and imagination to extrapolate the development of history and culture, conducting various studies in the humanities through this approach. Naturally, that included linguistics.

The more basic methods involved pure imagination and deduction, while more advanced approaches drew on dreams, virtual reality technology, and large-scale social experiments such as Ideal Heaven.

It had even given rise to a new profession: the Fictional World Theorist.

They excelled at creating fictional works and developing imagined worlds, drawing on them for the wisdom of civilizations.

Grand Mage Watson belonged to the conservative camp, adhering to reality and tradition, so naturally he had little regard for such a school.

The conservatives stressed that all languages and writing systems had evolved from actual history. The only aspect they were willing to discuss with Fictional World Theorists and accept was social experiments such as Ideal Heaven.

Most Fictional World Theorists were dismissed as mere novelists, unqualified to bring their work into serious Arcana research. Nor should Arcana research be conducted in virtual reality games or fictional works, where the resulting data would be severely distorted and lose its value as a guide to reality.

The extreme conservatives even opposed computational simulations.

Unable to deny the usefulness of mathematics, they nitpicked the modeling process and data collection instead, seizing on errors in human execution and subjecting them to scathing criticism.

As for the fatal flaw Grand Mage Watson had pointed out—that Oracle had yet to be made magical—Lunifis had no way to refute it.

Only after a long while did she say helplessly, "Many magical languages also began along an ordinary path. After all, we humans aren't inherently magical races like elves or dragons...

"Besides, I think this Oracle script bears some resemblance to the stone inscriptions the archaeologist Yuris discovered on Catria Island over a thousand years ago, but its substance is much richer.

"Those stone inscriptions have the power to trigger magical resonance. This Oracle script should be capable of it too."

In short, it had a promising future.

Grand Mage Watson scoffed and said disdainfully, "Grand Mage Lunifis, such vague judgments have no place here. If we're speaking in terms of 'should,' couldn't I just as easily assert that it 'should' be incapable of doing so?"

He did not believe in any such promising future.

"Archmage Ovesto, won't you offer an opinion?"

In the midst of the argument, Lunifis suddenly turned to Ovesto and voiced her question.

She was struggling to hold her own against Grand Mage Watson and hoped to gain some support from Ovesto.

But Ovesto demurred. "To be frank with you all, I recognized the author of this paper."

"Oh? Is it someone from your mage tower?"

"Yes, so I've decided to withhold comment."

He said this not merely to avoid any appearance of bias, but also because Roland was still only an apprentice mage. His reputation and credibility in the Arcana community were not yet sufficient to withstand the pressure that various controversies would bring.

He was still hesitating over whether to support approving Roland's paper.

Grand Mage Watson said discontentedly, "We understand your concerns, but there's no need to remain silent on that account."

Lunifis agreed. "Yes, Lord Ovesto, please tell us what you think."

Unable to resist their insistence, Ovesto gradually made up his mind. "In that case, I support its passing the second review and proceeding to the final review."

"On what grounds?"

Grand Mage Watson froze for a moment at this. He had not expected Ovesto to recommend the paper even at the risk of appearing partial.

Ovesto said, "The completeness of this Oracle script's rules, the maturity of its system, and the thoroughness of its dictionary are all rare in the modern Arcana community.

"I suggest that Lord Watson take a closer look at its merits rather than dismissing it so hastily.

"Moreover, making it magical is something that can be done gradually. It need not affect its publication this time."

At these words, Grand Mage Watson immediately felt that Ovesto had played him.

His face flushed red at once. Waving both hands wildly, he fumed, "Then let it pass. But I'll still oppose it when it reaches the final review.

"As long as I'm here, a paper like this will never have a chance to be published!"

Ovesto gave a bitter smile. He had known this would happen.

Over the next few days, the attendants working at the Arcane Committee noticed something rather strange: Grand Mage Watson had shut himself in his room and had not emerged for days and nights.

In his office, the irritable little old man stared wide-eyed, huffing and puffing, with almost his entire face pressed against the printed paper.

He was trying to find its flaws so that he could thoroughly refute the arguments in its favor and win a resounding victory during the final review hearing!

In truth, he did not care about Lunifis's objections at all. A younger-generation Grand Mage like her, whom he had utterly overwhelmed in their debate, was hardly cause for concern.

Ovesto, who had pulled one over on him, was his true formidable opponent.

Yet once he began examining it seriously, he suddenly realized that he might indeed have been too hasty and misjudged the paper's value!

The discovery made even Grand Mage Watson break out in a cold sweat.

He sat stunned for a long while before abruptly snapping out of it, leaping up and frantically clawing at his hair.

"Damn it! How could this happen?"

An attendant outside the door poked their head in for a look, then quickly drew back, not daring to answer.

"Huff, huff, huff..."

The irritable little old man panted for a long time before finally calming down. Then he suddenly sprang up, pulled the magnifying glass he always carried from his pocket, and bent over the paper to scrutinize it word by word.

"It can't possibly be as good as he said. There must be flaws. There must!

"You little brat, I'll expose your flaws!"

Grand Mage Watson's mastery of Arcana was beyond question. Aside from his own conservative stance, he had already explained his reasons for dismissing Oracle during the second review.

Historical patterns, schools of Arcana, developmental trends, magical significance...

He had marshaled so many arguments that even Grand Mage Lunifis had struggled to counter them.

But this time, there was no dispute, no rebuttal.

Merely taking it seriously had shaken his own convictions.

The reason was that the paper Roland had submitted was already a highly mature, systematic body of research. Back on Blue Star in his previous life, many master-level scholars had poured considerable effort into it.

He could neither deny Roland's own ability nor dismiss the master-level scholars backing him, much less negate the Chinese Civilization represented by this Oracle script.

In short, the three of us were quite the powerhouse!

Doubts born of prejudice and hasty judgment would only batter themselves bloody against these three impregnable walls.