Chapter Forty-Four: Knowledge is Equivalent to Money

  Three Rivers tickets are in short supply and will soon be sold out.

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  Mercury had taken out the three black fungi he brought with him, which were placed in a simple jewelry box. One was deep black and two were light black, emitting a strong stench: "Professor, these are the black fungi you wanted. As long as you guide me on this element problem, you can take them all away."

  Black Fungus is a material required for many spells and potions in the Death Spirit system. According to the witch's records, she had attended several magic gatherings at her family's hideout, where Black Fungus was sold for about ten silver nails each, equivalent to the amount of money Lucien could save by not eating or drinking for a month. The deeper the color, the more valuable it was, and sometimes the price was just symbolic, because this thing was not easy to find unless you cultivated it yourself. If someone urgently needed this mushroom, selling it at a sky-high price was also possible.

  Lucien brought the jewelry box to the front, judging from the color, breath, shape and other aspects, it was indeed a real black truffle, so he nodded slightly: "Ask away."

  "Professor, why does the article 'A New Element Determined by a New Method' in the journal 'Arcana' describe the 'Tai' extracted from Taiyinshi as an 'element'? Aren't the basic elements earth, fire, water, and wind?" Shuǐyín asked nervously, seemingly aware that this question touched on an important distinction between ancient and modern magical systems, one that would overturn her previous understanding of elemental magic.

  Lucien's hands were clasped inside his black robe, and he fell into thought for a moment before speaking in a low, hoarse voice: "Actually, I also learned ancient magic. However, when learning, experimenting with, and casting spells, I always felt a sense of dissonance, and knew the conclusions but not why they were so. This made me often think about these problems, and I had some scattered and isolated ideas. Until just now, when I saw this issue of 'Arcane', and read these articles full of profound and vast principles, my thoughts gradually became clear. It was as if a vine had found a large tree to cling to. For example, the first article mentioned gravity. This isn't because I have a thorough understanding of this aspect, but rather that this article happened to explain the answers I was thinking about."

  "So, I just told you the application of the formula earlier, but not the relevant magical principles, because it takes several years or even decades for you to understand and master, and also because I myself barely understand it, and haven't thoroughly studied it yet."

  Lucien gradually calmed down from the excitement of being in contact with the magical circle after seeing the Arcane Journal, and came to his senses. He realized that he had overdone it as a formal magician "professor" and had created a not small problem. As a magician looking for the Continental Magic Council headquarters, he was able to understand and grasp the current magic system without any obstacles, knowing about gravity, and knowing that earth, fire, wind, and water are not elements, which is contradictory between the two.

  Although these magic apprentices may not be visible, the ancient traditional magicians behind them should also be invisible. For a long time, they will not be in danger, but if they are known by the mages and wizards from the mainland Magic Council headquarters, or if they are known by the church that may have infiltrated spies into the magic circle, they will definitely suspect their identity. Therefore, Lucien hurriedly made up for it before the matter spread out, shaping himself into a brilliant and thoughtful genius magician.

  "It seems that when I encounter things, I still can't calm down to an inhuman degree, and I will still be careless due to excitement, agitation and other emotions. The strong and calm state of killing people in the sewer and facing corpses should belong to having psychological preparation in advance, as well as the maturity brought about by various experiences during this period, developing one's potential from body to mind, and understanding that when facing danger, one must not be tense." Lucien introspected himself, and continued to say:

  "This article 'Determination of a New Element by a New Method' has few formulas and is a standard result-oriented magical experiment. As for the element theory mentioned inside, I can only roughly state my own views, you need to judge what's correct or not."

  Her voice, now sweet and melodious, no longer carried any anxiety or tremble, showing that she was not much inferior to Lucien in terms of focus and calmness: "Alright, Professor, since you say so, let the others hear it too. Yes, you all come and judge for yourselves."

  This magical material made of "mercury" that Lucien is explaining and guiding the problem, if she doesn't want to make it public, will be a private conversation, important parts will even use "telepathy", but it seems that mercury was made a bit nervous by Lucien's words, so it's simply made public, let's see how others understand.

  Lucien made up for his mistake earlier and stopped talking nonsense, starting to talk about the elements: "Actually, since ancient magicians didn't find their hypothetical material inner layer of the four elements, although most magicians think it's a problem with methods like space folding, there are already very few magicians who doubt the correctness of earth, fire, wind, and water as elements. I was influenced by this aspect, from learning magic, I felt that earth, fire, wind, and water are not elements, but rather higher-level, more abstract concepts."

  "What exactly it is, I haven't studied clearly yet, but from this article, at least for now the mainstream of magicians should have redefined elements and discovered new ones..."

  The experiment in this article uses a closed magic array in conjunction with the 9th ring magic "Flame Storm" to blast the sunstone, a magical material. After it produces a violent explosion, a pure and beautiful silver-gray crystal appears, with hardness and toughness surpassing secret silver, and relative lightness also exceeding secret silver. It is a brand new element, a precious material, and since it was discovered from sunstone, it has been named "Tai".

  Lucien spoke as he judged the progress of the magical world in terms of elements from this article: "It should have defined elements and started discovering new elements beyond regular ones, but judging from the descriptions of properties, there is still no sign of anything about elemental rules or predictability. However, some elements' properties are quite different from those of self-known elements on Earth, which makes certain magic incredibly bizarre."

  Lucien casually raised a few apprentice-level elemental magic and daily life items as evidence, after finishing the "earth fire water" element problem, Mercury and other magical apprentices were briefly silent.

  "Professor, I...I think you're right, I've been having a lot of trouble with elemental magic, and if it were explained this way, it would be so much easier to understand! Thank you so much!" After a moment, Mercury's voice was filled with obvious excitement as he thanked Lucien, almost blurting out something.

  The hanged man also said in a cold and strange voice: "Professor, can you tell us more about the elements? Is the soul also composed of some special element? Although there is no resentment dust among the magic materials and items I brought, you can choose one again."

  He seems to be mainly studying necromancy, but since there are no articles about necromancy in this issue of Arcane, he can only ask questions about elemental problems that may be related to necromancy.

  Smile, Sage, White Glove, and White Honey, among other apprentices, had no more doubts about Lucien's identity after he explained the elemental issues in detail. Instead, they were convinced that he was the most knowledgeable and magically proficient master they had ever seen. Although their research on elemental magic was not as thorough as Mercury's, just a few apprentice-level elemental magic analyses used by Lucien to illustrate his points made them feel like something was bursting out of their chests. At this moment, after hearing Hanged Man's words, they all looked at Lucien with sparkling eyes, full of expectation.

  Lucien shook his head: "As for the soul's problem, I'm really not good at it, can't explain it to you."

  As he spoke, Lucien put the three black fungi into a small pouch he had brought with him, and pulled over to his side the small wooden box containing a set of magical experimental equipment given by Xian: "Who else has black fungi and resentment dust? You can ask questions or let me buy them with money or exchange for magic materials."

  The water ghost's brain tissue can be used for seven or eight experiments, and one experiment consumes a corpse mushroom. Lucien would naturally collect as many as he could.

  "In the Church's control, Black Fungus can't be cultivated and only a few can be found in the Melze's Forest, so it's very rare. Except for mercury, no one else has it in hand." The leader of this magic circle, an elderly sage with a slightly aged voice, respectfully explained to Lucien.

  He also joined two other magical circles, but those formal magicians were extremely arrogant and not truly moved by objects or their magical apprentices, so it was impossible to get guidance from them. Therefore, when he met this mysterious "professor" who was more knowledgeable than those arrogant magicians and willing to guide him and other magical apprentices, the wise man was deeply grateful and admiring.

  Behind him, a white honeycomb-like magic circle nodded in agreement with the wise man: "Professor, if you need black fungus for a long time, I'll keep it for you as soon as I get it. However, the vengeful spirit powder is harder to find. The formation of vengeful spirits requires either a unique environment or a ghost with a tragic experience or an intense emotion that cannot be let go of. It's easy for them to be discovered and purified by the church. As for the method of summoning vengeful spirits with the blood of evil creatures, I'm afraid that the blood of evil creatures is even harder to obtain than vengeful spirit powder. After all, this is Alto."

  "The Black Corpse Mushroom was a long-term necessity for me before this successful magic experiment, and the Resentful Spirit Dust was too." Lucien was slightly disappointed, thinking that he could gather all the materials except for the Moonlight Rose, which was monopolized by the nobles and the Church. However, this feeling was quickly dispelled because it was just a matter of course in the circle of magic apprentices. "Alright, bring out the magical materials you've brought with you. If I need them, you'll have the opportunity to ask me one question. Of course, the value of the question depends on the value of the magical material."

  Regarding the magazine "Arcane", there's not much that these apprentice mages can understand. After Quicksilver replaced himself and asked the mage behind him about elemental questions, other apprentices could only ask Lucien some small difficulties they encountered in their usual analysis and construction of magic, mainly focusing on Lucien's expertise in elemental and stellar magic.

  As Lucien solved these problems one by one, the gaze towards him became increasingly respectful, especially from those who had been guided by a magic teacher or formally instructed by a magician two or three times. Because in the explanation and solution of these problems, Lucien seemed to speak more clearly and thoroughly, which could only be achieved with deeper and broader knowledge, and in their hearts, knowledge was basically equivalent to strength.

  Lucien was extremely satisfied, and some knowledge that didn't involve his unique skills allowed him to obtain a set of magical utensils, three black mushrooms, and most of the spellcasting materials and magic circle materials. It perfectly embodied the principle that "knowledge is equal to money"!