Chapter 21: Senior Reviewer
Chapter 21: Senior Reviewer
Ring, ring, ring...
A bell rang, making the senior reviewer Sullivan lift his head from the book he was reading and saw a blue flame flickering on the teleportation magic circle; a paper along with a note appeared in the circle.
"This is really rare."
Sullivan was a fifth-ring mage, the senior reviewer in charge of the alchemy study. Whenever the ordinary reviewers disagree with each other, the paper would be sent to him for review.
But alchemy was an experiment-based study. Most of the laws and theories were summarized through repeated experiments, so the method of verifying the paper was quite simple, that was, to do an experiment according to the paper. If the experimental phenomenon met the description, then the paper was self-evident; if it did not, it meant there was a problem.
Therefore, in most cases, it was difficult for the alchemy papers to be sent to the upper-level review committee because the experimental phenomenon basically would not appear to be too divergent.
"Let me see, it is a new substance discovery paper? And it is a discussion of combustion reaction?"
Sullivan frowned when he saw the title of the paper, then looked at the note.
On the note were the review comments of the previous three reviewers.
"Huh? What is this?"
Most of the time, the papers passed to the higher-level reviewers were mostly mixed opinions of approval and rejection, but the review opinions in Sullivan's hands were clearly three "approved."
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Obviously, it has been unanimously approved, so why was the paper still passed here? Was there a problem with the paper review channel?
While still in doubt, Sullivan kept reading the note, and soon he understood the cause of the matter.
The problem lied in the review points.
Amongst three review opinions, one with a high evaluation of two hundred points, one with a hundred points, and the last one was merely ten points.
The gaps between review points were too big, and the review system naturally couldn't take the average after removing the highest and lowest score, so the paper could only go to Sullivan.
"Since they all approved it, indicating that there is no problem with the paper itself. Is there a disagreement on its value?"
This situation was very rare, especially in the field of alchemy.
Putting aside the doubt, Sullivan decided to read the paper from beginning to end.
At the very beginning, he was still happy with the rigorous format and precise sentence description of the paper, but soon, when the main topic of the paper, the special gas appeared in the paragraph, the calm expression on Sullivan's face disappeared.
Instead, he was serious and focused. He reviewed the paper word by word, sometimes stopped thinking, and sometimes pondered. After reading the entire paper, Sullivan stood up and went to the laboratory immediately and went through the experiment described in the paper completely.
When Sullivan saw that the gas produced in the experiment extinguished the matches and made the clear white rock water solution turbid, he felt a loud buzz in his head.
In fact, the alchemy mages have always wanted to find a more accurate description of the combustion reaction. Although Master Hornheim's combustion theory was generally applicable to most reactions, there were always some special alchemical reactions that did not conform to this theory. This was no secret among the mid-level alchemists in the Rainbow Tower.
Of course, the vast majority of alchemists still hoped to be able to complete this theory rather than completely overthrow it. After all, this was the cornerstone of modern alchemy. If it was outright overthrown, Sullivan could even imagine that many mages' brains would explode like what happened in ancient times.
"Which Excellency's apprentice wrote this paper?"
Sullivan only thought of looking at the author at this time. Sometimes, some masters would distribute their research topics to promising students in order to help these students improve their status in the academic world. Sullivan subconsciously thought that this paper was this type of paper.
But when he saw the author of the paper, the name "Reiner Ian Gray" made him even more confused.
"Ian Gray? Isn't this the name of the person in charge of that business empire? "
After thinking about it, Sullivan summoned the elemental servant of the Rainbow Tower.
"Check the rank and past essays of this Reiner Ian Gray."
The element servant assigned to each reviewer by the Rainbow Tower was a creature called Crystal Worm. It came from a demiplane discovered by mages. The shape of this creature was a cloud of gray fluorescence. It had certain wisdom and an excellent memory.
The food of crystal worms was also very special, that was the feeling of sleepiness of all creatures.
Whenever a mage felt sleepy and wanted to goof off, the crystal worm would suck away their sleepiness and make them feel full of energy, so they could concentrate on study and work.
In the past, these elemental creatures were usually used by mages as refreshing props, but it was worth noting that although crystal worms could absorb sleepiness, they could not eliminate fatigue. Relying on this thing for a long time was like coffee addiction, which could easily lead to mental and physical exhaustion.
"Yes, master."
The crystal worm made a muffled sound, wandered in midair for a while, and then replied.
"According to the list of mages in the latest edition of the Rainbow Tower (Revised on the 15th of the Month of Primrose in Blue Moon Calendar 2318), there are Reiner Ian Gray, one of whom is a mage apprentice, one is a first-ring mage, and one is a second-ring mage."
What Crystal Worm said was the internal data of the Rainbow Tower, which would be updated once a week. It contained data on the ranks and skills of all registered mages, as well as a list of theses of the mages above the fourth-ring.
"Information on this second-ring mage."
Sullivan subconsciously eliminated the apprentice and the first-ring mage. The paper in his hand not only contained rich knowledge, but it also required a lot of experimental experience of the author. Unless the author was a genius in the alchemy; otherwise there was no way that a first-mage would write such a beautiful paper.
"Reiner Ian Gray, a second-ring mage, his professor is the fourth-ring mage Brown Ed Newt, and his skills are Necromancy and Transformation."
"Necromancy and Transformation?"
Sullivan was even more confused. The Necromancy and Transformation were derived from ancient magic, and there were not many theoretical explanations of them in modern magic so far. How could a mage who specialized in these two studies of magic write this alchemy thesis?
"What about the information on the first-ring mage?"
"Rainer Ian Gray, a first-ring mage, his professor is a fourth-ring mage Bolivar Sisi, and he specializes in Mechanology."
Crystal Worm reported in a deep voice, making Sullivan frown.
"Mechanology, then it's even more impossible. How can those guys who want to marry metal know anything about alchemy?"
Rarely became a bit irritable, Sullivan, who had never been in harmony with the mechanology mages, said to himself. But there was only one possibility left.
"A mage apprentice?"
Since a mage apprentice did not have an official mentor, so there was no data about an apprentice's specialty, but excluding the first two people, the third person undoubtedly was the most likely author of the paper. Sullivan also inquired about the second author Sharon Kluane. According to the data, it was discovered that this co-author was also a mage apprentice, which further confirmed his thought.
"This is really interesting."
Sullivan thought, turning his attention back to the review opinions of the paper