Chapter 1117: Chapter 1054: ry Court Barracks Clockwork Revolution (Part 1)
In early April, sunlight streamed through the crystal glass of the Mechanical Palace’s side chamber meeting room, casting dazzling patches of light on the walnut long table.
After the Holy Alliance established its own glass workshop industry, the first batch of flat glass orders came from the Mechanical Palace.
Even the classrooms and research institutes of the Holy Machinery Court University and the Dragon Language Alchemy University have been replaced with flat glass.
Even in the wealthiest Langsande County of the Holy Alliance, several ordinary middle schools have gradually replaced their glass with flat transparent glass.
Not to mention the various glass vessels in the research laboratories.
No wonder Calik was flustered with excitement; his laboratory only had brass instruments, a few thermometers, a balance, and a hand-cranked calculator.
Even under such conditions, he still wrote a groundbreaking ether theory paper, observing and summarizing numerous ether phenomena and laws.
Then why should Kerben and Leonardo get more than their fair share?
Does being old in qualifications make you special?
Glass beakers, the right to use the difference engine, clockwork pumps, star-cast gears... Why does Calik have to queue up while Kerben and the others use them at will?
"Leonardo actually came too, I thought he’d always hide behind His Eminence." Calik glared at the plainly dressed Leonardo in canvas overalls, gritting his teeth, "Still putting on a ↑show↓! Still putting on a ↑show↓!"
Following closely behind his mentor, Lawton stepped into the meeting room, still carrying his messenger bag, with an extra circle of darkness around his eyes.
In the meeting room, eight high-back chairs were arranged along the table, occupied by scholars of the paper review committee.
Calik blew his beard and glared at him, while Mela smiled warmly and friendly, as if she hadn’t written the "throw it out" review comment on his paper.
The rest either flipped through copies of the paper or tapped their fingers on the table, the air thick with tension.
Lawton stood at the end of the long table, his tall and thin figure appearing somewhat untenable in the light and shadow.
The sleeves of his coarse cloth jacket were frayed, and the paper manuscript he held in his hand was damp with sweat.
Leonardo sat behind and to the side of him, absentmindedly rubbing the chain of his pocket watch.
That was given to him by Horn three years ago, and at this moment, he was pressing the case until it clicked.
In fact, even for a re-evaluation of papers today, there would not be more than five scholars.
But due to Calik and others spreading the word in advance, many scholars applied to join to support the single theory of ether.
This resulted in an unexpected presence of eight paper review committee members, nine with Hilov.
And this didn’t even count Horn.
The room quietly awaited until Horn entered with a pouty Hilov, smiling.
Everyone immediately stood up, smiling as they paid their respects.
Horn naturally nodded in return, moving Hilov to the main seat, before taking out a small folding stool for himself to sit on.
Seeing everyone silent, he even waved his hand with a smile: "Pretend I’m not here, I’m just auditing today."
However, in the scholars’ ears, these words were meaningless. Could they not know whether or not he was auditing?
Could they really ignore his opinion?
The only issue was that His Eminence still had some decorum, with the backing of the Saintess.
As long as the fight remained within academic boundaries, there should be no issue.
Unless Horn’s skin was thicker than his academic prowess, only then could he take down this pseudo-scholar trying to rise politically.
"Lawton Wood." Hilov began, her voice icy, "Begin explaining your theory."
Lawton took a deep breath, his Adam’s apple moving as he started explaining according to the paper’s content.
As the paper turned page by page, aside from Lawton’s voice, there was no other sound in the room.
Until the end, there was no difficulty or questioning.
The scholars present were full of words, but with Horn sitting nearby, they naturally said nothing.
Until Hilov, with a stern face, broke the silence: "Mr. Lawton, I want to ask you, you studied logic, right?"
Lawton nodded.
Hilov continued: "Then are you aware that you violated the simplest law of the excluded middle?"
"I know, yet despite this, its conclusions are absolutely correct."
"Absurd!" Seeing that Horn truly remained silent, Calik was energized and slammed the table, "Then tell me how ether can be both material and spiritual?"
"Uh... please look here..."
"All theoretical derivations, right?" Mela adjusted her glasses, slowly adding, "Mr. Lawton, rationality requires empirical evidence.
You claim the ether field has both material and spiritual properties, but who can see it with the naked eye?"
Lawton’s face turned bright red: "Force is also invisible to the naked eye, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist."
"Hehehe..." another scholar at the scene sneered, "Then let me ask you..."
"If that’s the case, why in reality..."
"Singularity is an axiom, not a hypothesis..."
These scholars seemed to unseeingly reach a consensus, either attacking Lawton’s theory as flawed at its foundation or loudly proclaiming that such a model doesn’t exist in reality.
It’s not that they had arranged this in advance, only Lawton’s theory was thoroughly refined, with logic extremely tight.
Either one could only attack the theoretical basis, or only question the real-world model.
Though Lawton was often accused, at this moment, despite being his theory, he still fell into a small despair.
Fortunately, Leonardo finally spoke: "But with this theory, we can explain the ether clock transmission losses.
Because we always attempt to build an ether transmission channel, but what if it can’t form a stable channel and is instead an ether field?"
"If only I could fly, I could go directly to the sun to see!" Calik retorted unreservedly.
"Mr. Calik, you’re going too far." Leonardo wasn’t easily pressed.
Calik glared at Leonardo: "Director Leonardo, you bypassed the review committee to submit the paper, and now you’re testifying for him, how much do you want to elevate him."
"Are you accusing me of academic misconduct?" Leonardo raised his eyebrows.
"I can’t say for sure; everyone knows in their hearts."
"Do you have evidence?"
"Does your duality theory have evidence?"
"Well, I’ll interject here; this is technically my job." Horn, who had been listening the entire time, suddenly spoke, "If Mr. Calik has doubts, you can submit them to Cheka or the adjudication court for me to meet my quotas hahaha."
Calik’s momentum instantly weakened by half, yet he still stiffened his neck: "Your Eminence, academic discussion should be determined by scholars."
Horn tapped his fingers on his knee, his voice calm: "It would be best if nothing unrelated to the paper appears.
I’m just listening, please continue."
Lawton, as if encouraged, suddenly raised his voice: "If the foundation is wrong, what then? Back then, everyone thought ’Saint Rania’s Life’ was a true book, and now it’s fake."
"What?" Calik stood up suddenly, his black robe sweeping the chair, "How dare you compare ether theory to ’Saint Rania’s Life’?"
"I’m only saying that reason shouldn’t be afraid of questioning." Lawton’s voice trembled yet was extraordinarily firm, "But eliminating other possibilities, duality is the only possibility."
The meeting room fell into dead silence, only the wind outside the window rustling petals against the glass, making a soft sound.
Mela looked at the paper copy on Horn’s knee and suddenly spoke: "Perhaps we can conduct a public experiment? We’ll give you half a year more."
"No need for half a year." Leonardo coughed, "The experiment I’m about to conduct might just prove his theory."
Calik was about to refute but saw Horn nodding slightly.
His words stuck in his throat, eventually turning into a cold snort.
Leonardo stood up, his gaze sweeping across everyone: "The experiment site is under the Ethereal Tower of the Mechanical Palace, we can prepare now."
"It won’t take long for you all." Lawton straightened his back.
"Fine! Then I’ll see it with my own eyes." Calik stiffened his neck, "If the experiment fails, I demand the revocation of Lawton’s research student status."
Lawton straightened his spine: "If it’s successful, I only ask for the review committee to acknowledge the paper’s value."
Horn stood up, walking slowly to Hilov’s side: "Care to take a look?"
Hilov didn’t respond, only staring at Horn’s face: "You came prepared."
"Don’t you consistently pursue the truth? You won’t now fear in the face of the truth, will you?" Horn lowered his voice, speaking in Hilov’s ear.
The skin under Hilov’s auricle fluff turned slightly red: "I don’t need you to push; I can go myself."
