novelConsideration
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Chapter 183: Consideration
Translator: Kris_Liu Editor: Vermillion
Spacious, light yellow cars, soft dark red seats, clean magic glass, and the two beautiful young girls wearing light blue dresses—this was Lucien's first impression of this magic train, and this first impression was pretty good.
"Welcome aboard Kloss. We'll be traveling past seven stations on our way today, and arrive in Allyn three hours later." The two beautiful grils from the crew bowed to Lucien politely, "If you need anything, sir, please press the button on the table."
As a guest, Lucien only smiled and nodded, letting Lazar arrange the rest of the stuff.
After taking out his pocket watch and giving it a quick glance, Lazar said to Lucien, "It's one in the afternoon right now, and we have plenty of time to arrive in Allyn before the people in the congress finish working today. Wait... I bet all of you haven't had lunch yet. No worries. This train is equipped with the best chefs from all over the continent, and all of your first trip to Allyn is paid by the congress. Of course, you gotta pay for your future trips, and it's one Thale per ticket."
"That's pricy..." Even Lucien felt a bit surprised, not to mention the apprentices. After all, a common person with middle-level earning could only make seven to eight Thales a year. This train was way more expensive than the flights that Lucien had taken in his own world.
Seeing their facial expression, Lazar grinned, "Actually, the idea of magic train was already put forward by some arcanists many years ago. They were inspired by the equipment used in mining industry. At that time, the train was fuelled by magic circles and alchemy lives, hence why the train was very expensive to run. Besides, most sorcerers above middle rank can fly. So you can see... The train was quite impractical."
"What about this one?" asked Lucien.
"Mr. Kloss later improved the train by combining magic and machine together, and started using steam as the major power for the train, which greatly reduced the cost." Lazar continued, "The train is way faster than a middle-rank sorcerer flying on his own, even faster than magic brooms, not to mention that a train can carry way more people at the same time. Therefore, the congress puts much emphasis on the planning of the railways, and now we have four routes. The one we're taking now is the first settled route, from Patray to Allyn."
As Lazar was introducing the details, he made Lucien and the apprentices order their food.
"Then why this train's still this expensive, Mr. Lazar?" asked Sprint curiously. Among all the apprentices, he was the most active one.
"Let's sit down first." Lazar and Lucien sat down on the soft seats on both sides of the table."Because Kloss is a luxury train. That's why." After all of them sat down, Lazar continued, "For other trains, you are looking at around thirty Nars. I mean... it's still not cheap, but the cost of building new railways comes from income of the tickets and the funding of the congress. We don't trust those greedy bankers to do this."
After satisfying the apprentices' curiosity, Lazar grinned to Lucien, "I'm pretty sure that the price will drop someday, with the fast development of other transportation methods. Evans, you come to the congress in the best time, and you have to seize this moment, when all kinds of great ideas about magic are thriving. Work hard on arcana, and become a worthy sorcerer!"
Without doubt, Lazar was a very delightful and optimistic young man, or he would not be chosen to be the one greeting the newcomers.
"In fact, I already started learning basic arcana in Mr. Astar's place, and I have three apprentices studying after me." Lucien smiled and nodded, and then placed Amboula and Alert in the designated area beside his seat.
In the past more-than-one-month studying, both Annick and Layria had become real magic apprentices before they arrived in Holm, and Heidi was almost there as well.
"That's great." Lazar nodded.
Then with a loud steam whistle, the train started moving.
"Wow..." Sprint half stood up from his seat and stared at the outside of the window. Then so did Annick and Olmos.
The surprised and excited apprentices started discussing with each other.
Lucien reached forward for the water in front of him, without taking a glance at what was happening outside.
"You look pretty calm, Evans, " said Lazar in a favorable way.
Of course Lucien could not tell Lazar that he had seen this countless times in his original world, so he found an excuse, "I think I'm more interested in the mechanics of this machine. Lazar, may I visit the operation room?"
Lazar laughed, "Evans, I totally understand your curiosity, but what you're interested in is confidential. If you really want to find out how it works, the only way you can do it is to use your arcana points to exchange the materials with the congress."
Surprisingly, as the train ran faster and faster, the noises produced by the train gradually disappeared. Lucien was guessing that it was because of the magic circles cast on the train.
Outside of the window, the bleak fields in November and the small villages along the railway were passing backwards very fast.
When Lucien was about to ask, two young girls came into the carriage with a dining pushcart, followed by several violin players.
In the wonderful music, the two girls put steaks, grilled fish, caviar and foie gras on their plates.
Lucien unfolded his napkin on his lap and then cut a piece of steak. The steak was very juicy and well-cooked.
Lucien nodded out of satisfaction, "Very professional."
"I know, right? I've been looking forward to the nice cuisine in the Kingdom of Syracuse for a long time. Unfortunately, I'm still not a middle-rank mage, and I cannot fly over Storm Strait to try the food there, " said Lazar while cutting the fried foie gras in his plate."I also appreciate Aalto's music a lot as well. You know, the young musician who you share the same name with, Lucien Evans... He has been gaining much popularity in a very short period of time."
Then Lucien started introducing the many cuisines in different countries to Lazar. When Lazar got very excited, he also told Lucien many things about the congress.
"Lazar, how can I obtain arcana credit?" asked Lucien, "I really want to start my arcana path."
Because Lucien knew that, in other people's eyes, he was only a beginner in arcana, he was planning on studying in the congress first for a while and then seizing a chance to compose and publish his own paper. However, from what Lazar told him, Lucien realized that having a certain level in arcana could bring him many benefits.
In addition, in the past one month, by using Brook Meditation, Lucien was ready to move forward to a higher sorcerer level, second circle.
"You know, Evans, there's an old saying, 'The more impatient a person is, the harder it is for the person to get to the destination'." Lazar wiped his mouth with the white napkin, "But I do understand, Evans, after all, gaining arcana credit is more than important to every sorcerer in the congress."
Lucien sat straight to listen carefully.
"Arcana Review Board is the organization taking charge of arcana credit awarding, belonging to the highest council in the congress, and it consists of fifty-two authorities from all of the schools. These sorcerers are at least level six arcanists."
"There are only fifty something level six arcanists?" Lucien felt quite surprised.
"Authorities, I said authorities." Lazar shook his head, "It depends on different fields. Some arcanists do have very impressive accomplishment and they... well, they live long enough to have a high level, but in the fields they specialize in, if there are sorcerers who are even more competitive than them, they still cannot be members of the board. However, for some sorcerers, although their arcana level is not that high, because they are experts in their own less popular or new fields, they can be regarded as authorities."
"I see. I also heard from Mr. Astar that if one's arcana research outcome is cited by someone else, the person can also get arcana credits?" asked Lucien.
After asking the attendants to take away the plates, Lazar answered, "That's right. One credit for one citation. However, whether it can bring you more credits also depends on how important your research outcome is, and Arcana Review Board is still responsible for the judgement."
"Then what about me coming up with a new spell or improving an existing magic?" Lucien needed to understand this as much as possible.
"You can only be awarded once for that, unless your creation or improvement inspired someone else and thus that person develops a new article based on that, and in that case, you can get extra credits. Otherwise, if someone wants to learn your magic, the person only needs to pay you arcana points. For example, so far my Lazar's Burning Hand has been learned by thirty sorcerers, and that's thirty arcana points."
"That seems to be a lot of work for the sorcerers of the board." Lucien gently grabbed his chin.
"Oh... That's really true. In fact, in most cases, since they are very busy, these sorcerers usually don't deal with reviewing most of the arcana and magic spells submitted, but let their students or other qualified arcanists working for different journals to make the judgement. Sometimes, there are mistakes and some sorcerers don't get their points immediately, but the deficiencies can always get fixed sooner of later. For you, Evans, the best way to get some arcana points is to submit some unique spells from the ancient magic system. If no one before you ever have submitted it, you can get the corresponding points."
"I see." Lucien slightly nodded, "The congress is encouraging the exchanging of knowledge among sorcerers."
Without doubt, all the sorcerers valued their own magic spells greatly. If there was no reward, no one would like to submit and publish one's own creation.
Then what about Lucien?
Should he submit his spells to get the points?
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