Eleanor's support
Ling Yao's astonishing theory of "all laws originating from the same source" was like a bolt of lightning from the heavens, striking Professor Eleanor Silverskin's magical beliefs, which she had held firmly for over thirty years, squarely in the head, leaving her scorched and sizzling from head to toe.
To put it simply, this rigorous and rigid authority on potions... cracked.
It wasn't a physical crack, but rather the collapse of her worldview, philosophy of life, and values—a complete dismantling of everything, leaving not even a foundation. She locked herself in her lab, staring at the memory crystal that recorded Ling Yao's "enlightenment" of water and fire and the simulation of magical fluctuations. She alternated between crying and laughing, muttering insane things like "elemental affinity is just a facade," "the origin of energy is the foundation," and "the magic system has taken a detour for hundreds of years," which terrified her assistant so much that she almost called for a mental mage to intervene.
But great scientists are often only a hair's breadth away from being mad; the difference lies in whether they ultimately drive themselves or others insane.
Clearly, Professor Eleanor belongs to the latter category.
After a day and a night of non-stop philosophical contemplation and academic frenzy, she suddenly pushed open the laboratory door, her eyes bloodshot, yet burning with a flame called "truth," as if capable of scorching any foolish mortal who dared to stand in her way.
She didn't even have time to change out of her robe, which was stained with herbal juice and unidentified charred marks, before rushing to the old headmaster Morris's office, clutching tightly in her hand the thick document she had worked on all night—a report as thick as a brick: "Preliminary Verification Report on the Theory of the Common Origin of Energy and Reflections on Several Issues of the Existing Magic System (Appendix: Feasibility Study of Partial Theories of Eastern Pharmacology)."
The title is long enough to give any council member attempting to review it trypophobia on the spot.
"Dean! We must take immediate action!" Eleanor slammed the report onto Dean Morris's expensive mahogany desk, making the ink bottle on it bounce three times.
The old dean was so startled that his hand trembled, spilling most of the freshly brewed elven flower tea, worth one gold coin per gram, onto his trousers, scalding him and making him wince. "Eleanor... Eleanor? What... what's wrong with you?" He looked at his prized student, who seemed to have gone mad, and felt his migraine about to flare up again.
“We were wrong! Dean! We may have been wrong from the very beginning!” Eleanor waved her arms excitedly, her words flowing like a series of wind blades. “Magic is not the only key! Elemental resonance is just a symptom! True power comes from a deeper set of rules! A… a more fundamental 'order' that transcends the existing elemental system!”
She began to cite Ling Yao's theories of "Yin-Yang rising and falling" and "Five Elements generating and restraining each other" at length. Although her understanding was halting and even somewhat distorted, the core meaning was clear—Ling Yao's power was not heresy, but a higher level of science! It was a future direction worthy of the entire academy and even the entire continent's scholars kneeling down and kowtowing to study!
The old dean was completely bewildered and felt a headache coming on. "Wait, Eleanor, you mean... Ms. Ling Yao... she actually used a kind of... science that we haven't yet understood?"
“That’s one way to understand it! Although its manifestations are a bit too… uh… abstract and idealistic, its underlying logic must contain verifiable patterns!” Professor Eleanor’s eyes lit up. “We must immediately establish a special research group! Apply for the highest authority and funding! This is Rockefeller College’s only chance to stay ahead of the world for a thousand years!”
Dean Maurice stared at the report, thick enough to be used as a shield, then at Eleanor's fanatical expression that screamed "I'll self-destruct if you don't agree," and felt as if he were sitting on a volcano. On one side was the immense temptation of an academic breakthrough, and on the other, the immense pressure from the inquisition and the conservative nobles. This choice was giving him a real headache.
“Eleanor, I understand your enthusiasm, but…” the old dean tried to dampen the enthusiasm tactfully, “What about Inquisitor Silas… and the public opinion outside… shouldn’t we be more cautious?”
"Public opinion? That noise dominated by stupidity and fear?" Professor Eleanor scoffed, as if possessed by Wang Lu from His Majesty the King's novel, her sharp tongue suddenly flaring up. "Dean, are you going to give up exploring an undiscovered gold mine just because of a few barks from stray dogs on the roadside? The light of truth may be dazzling, but we must never close our eyes and pretend it's dark because of it!"
She took a deep breath and played her trump card: "If you reject this research due to pressure, I will resign from my professorship in my personal capacity and publish my preliminary findings! I believe that there will always be one or two visionary organizations on the mainland that will be interested in this epoch-making research!"
The old dean's face turned green upon hearing this. Eleanor Silverstalker was one of the academy's star performers in potions; if she were to leave with such an explosive theory, what would become of Rockefeller Academy's reputation? The academic world's ridicule would be enough to drown him!
"No, no, no! Calm down! Eleanor, calm down!" Dean Maurice quickly reassured her. "It's not that we don't support it! It's just... we need a strategy! Yes, a strategy!"
Just as the old dean was racking his brains for a "strategy," there was another knock on the office door. The secretary peeked in nervously: "Dean, Professor Yinrui, something bad has happened... There are so many people outside..."
The two walked to the window and looked out. Good heavens, a huge crowd had gathered in the square in front of the main building of the academy. There were well-dressed nobles and representatives of the chamber of commerce with gloomy faces, ordinary citizens holding simple signs and shouting slogans, and even some reporters from tabloids jumping around with photo crystals.
Leading the group at the very front was Inquisitor Silas, dressed in a black inquisitor's robe with an icy expression. Behind him stood two inquisitors holding enormous holy symbols, appearing as if they were there to carry out the final judgment.
"Look! This is the pressure of public opinion!" The old dean felt his blood pressure soaring.
Silas used some kind of amplification magic, his cold voice echoing across the square: "Dean Morris! The Board of Directors of Rockefeller Academy of Magic! On behalf of the concerned citizens and traditional believers of Academy City, we once again solemnly petition! We demand that the Academy immediately cease all dangerous and blasphemous research activities related to the heretic Ling Yao! And formally hand her over to the Inquisition for investigation!"
"Purge the heretics! Protect Academy City!"
"Stop the dangerous research!"
"Hand over the Eastern Witch!"
Incited by him, the crowd erupted in a cacophony of shouts.
The old dean's face turned extremely ugly. This was a blatant coup!
Professor Eleanor looked down at the chaotic scene below, especially at Silas's self-righteous arrogance, and felt a surge of anger rising to her head. The pain of having her worldview shattered by Ling Yao these past few days, the frustration of her research being thwarted, and the excitement of discovering a new continent all transformed into rage towards the group of idiots downstairs.
She shoved aside the still-hesitating dean, and without even using amplification, rushed to the window in the corridor. Facing the crowd below, she unleashed the most un-Yinrui-like roar of her life:
"Shut up! You bunch of ignorant idiots!"
This powerful roar, filled with anger and contempt, instantly drowned out the noise in the square, leaving everyone stunned.
Everyone looked up, dumbfounded, at the disheveled, rumpled-up female professor upstairs, who exuded an imposing aura.
Inquisitor Silas frowned deeply: "Professor Silverstallus? Watch your words! You have been labeled a heretic..."
"Heretical my foot!" Professor Eleanor interrupted him directly, perfectly inheriting Ling Yao's conciseness and Finn's shrewishness. "What can you do besides shout 'heretical'? You don't even understand what kind of power she uses! All you do is use your narrow and pathetic brains to define everything unknown!"
She pointed at Silas, her voice sharp and mocking: "Silas, Inquisitor! You keep saying that Ms. Ling Yao's power is evil and chaotic, indefinable! Then let me ask you, where is the evil in a power that can save someone from a cursed death? If the power that can easily dissolve 'Holy Light Judgment' is truly chaotic and disordered, why didn't it cause even greater energy out-of-control and destruction? Your holy light, on the other hand, is so orderly, it's really well-ordered when it hits your savior!"
This series of questions was like a series of slaps in the face, leaving Silas's face ashen, and causing a stir and whispers among the crowd in the square.
“That’s…that’s a disguise! It’s a deeper form of seduction!” Silas argued.
"Incitement? Incitement with facts?" Eleanor sneered. "I! Eleanor Silverstalker, Professor of Potions at Rockefeller College, swear on my lifelong academic reputation and soul! The knowledge system possessed by Ms. Ling Yao, though vastly different from modern magic, must contain profound and verifiable rules! It cannot be simply summarized by the word 'evil'! It is a completely new academic peak that we have never imagined!"
Her gaze swept over the bewildered, doubtful, and angry faces below, and her voice suddenly rose: "And you! Because of your fear of the unknown, because you are unwilling to leave the quagmire of your own comfortable cognition, you are going to strangle this peak that could change an entire era with your own hands! You are not protecting your home! You are burying the future with your own hands! You are the most foolish and shameful sinners in the history of academia!"
This powerful and even somewhat shocking statement plunged the entire square into an eerie silence.
Everyone was stunned by Professor Yinrui's sudden and vehement defense. Especially since she actually swore an oath with her academic reputation and soul? For a scholar who values her honor more than life itself, this was almost the highest level of commitment!
The old dean nearly had a heart attack listening to this in his office. It's all over, there's absolutely no way to turn things around now! Eleanor has put both herself and the academy in a very difficult position!
Silas's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He hadn't expected Eleanor to so resolutely and publicly take sides, disrupting his plan to gradually exert pressure. "Professor Silverstallus! You have been completely bewitched by heretical doctrines! Your oaths are worthless! Your soul has fallen!"
"Whether my soul has fallen is none of your business to judge!" Eleanor glared back fearlessly. "My research data, my experimental records, my logical deductions are right there! If you're so capable, refute me academically! Prove that I'm wrong! Instead of doing this, just bringing a bunch of incited, uninformed people here to engage in meaningless moral blackmail and threats of force!"
She took a deep breath and delivered her final concluding remarks, her voice echoing throughout the square: "I will now release my preliminary research report to the public! I welcome anyone with reason and knowledge to review, question, and verify it! Truth becomes clearer through debate! But if anyone tries to stifle the possibility of exploring the truth through violence without academic debate..."
Professor Eleanor paused, her gaze sharp as a knife, and said, word by word:
"Then step over my dead body first."
After saying that, she turned around abruptly, leaving behind a resolute back view, and strode back to the dean's office. She picked up her brick-thick report and headed straight for the college bulletin board.
The square was deathly silent.
Silas was trembling with rage, but for a moment he didn't know how to respond. He was used to overwhelming everything with authority and fear, but he had never encountered such an unconventional opponent who would fight you to the death with academic beliefs.
The old dean slumped into his chair, muttering to himself, "They've gone mad... they've all gone mad..."
Meanwhile, in the small building where she was under house arrest, Ling Yao "watched" the entire farce through her divine sense, and a barely perceptible smile appeared on her lips.
She picked up a basic magic crystal that Eleanor had given her earlier, and with a slight movement of her fingertips, a wisp of fairy power simulated the most basic fire element fluctuations, instantly purifying the magic crystal to the point of being completely free of impurities.
"Hmm," she murmured to herself, looking at the crystal-clear magic crystal, as if commenting on a lively event that had nothing to do with her.
"This laborer..."
"It's more interesting than I expected."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
