Greetings, Mister Principal

Chapter 168: Contact

Morale Support: Scherzo

Patreon: /ScherzoTranslations

—————–

“This is the headquarters of the Necromancy department. I have no interest in how to grow peas more efficiently.”

Lockfield said this, took the paper, and then instructed his assistant.

“You go and fetch me all the papers related to pea research, oh, except those related to cooking.”

The assistant was somewhat puzzled, but seeing that his teacher didn’t seem to be joking, he immediately excused himself and headed to the archives.

Lockfield found a clean experiment table and placed the paper on the desk.

“Experimental Crossbreeding of Peas and Some Explanations and Hypothesis Verification of Experimental Results.”

The title, which looked more like an agricultural thesis, was easy to overlook. Research related to cultivation and breeding, including peas, was classified under the Necromancy department. However, there was a lack of theory. Most of it relied on practical cultivation, and much of it was about measuring and defining new species found in the wild.

But since it reached Lockfield’s hands, this paper was definitely not just a simple breeding thesis.

Opening it, Lockfield first found the standard format for Reiner, which he found pleasing. Due to the nature of the research conducted by Necromancy mages, closer to ancient magic, the theoretical aspect was not well-established. The theses written were a mix of formats, with intertwined deduction processes and experimental procedures, along with many useless digressions, which displeased Lockfield greatly.

“Maybe I can promote this kind of paper format in the Immortal Throne and force those guys to be more serious!”

Lockfield read very quickly, and he naturally understood some of the characteristics of peas. He quickly grasped why Reiner chose this plant for experiments. He keenly noticed the concept of bloodline factors mentioned by Reiner, slightly slowing down his reading.

“Bloodline factors? That’s an interesting hypothesis. It seems that everything after this thesis is based on the existence of this hypothesis.”

If one were to stop here, Lockfield’s conclusion for this paper might be “an innovative paper.”

But soon, Lockfield remembered a paper published by a colleague in the academic journal “Scalpel” published by the Immortal Throne three months ago.

In that paper, the author attempted to study the internal structure of cells. They used a special dye that could stain a part of the cell while leaving other parts unaffected.

The thesis’s author referred to this substance as “chromosomes,” a tissue that could be stained.

Next, the author took samples from other species to study and found that this substance, the chromosome, was abundantly present in various species, from humans to magical beings, animals, and plants. Without exception, this substance was found in all of them.

The paper made certain speculations about these substances, considering them the basic constituents of cells, but their function remained unknown.

The reason Lockfield thought of this paper was that he suddenly felt that this substance with an unknown function seemed somewhat similar to what Reiner referred to as bloodline factors.

“Let’s take a look at the follow-up of the thesis first.”

Putting aside these thoughts, Lockfield continued reading the thesis.

With the assumption of the existence of bloodline factors, Reiner’s experiments became easy to understand. Whenever Lockfield had doubts, the next paragraph of the paper immediately answered those doubts, as if the author were having a direct conversation with him, providing a very comfortable reading experience for the high-level mage.

“The Law of Segregation and the Law of Independent Assortment… from the experimental phenomena in the paper, these two laws indeed have no flaws.”

Lockfield nodded slightly. The experiments themselves were quite basic, and he believed that many people might encounter similar situations in the process of growing peas. However, the ability to organize and design experiments, and finally summarize a theory, was impressive.

This required careful observation, thoughtful reflection, and, most importantly, an innovative spirit.

At the end of the paper, Reiner called on everyone to conduct similar experiments on various organisms to find the universality of these genetic laws, which was even more commendable.

“Interesting.”

Lockfield read the paper again, exhaling a sigh of relief.

“If the pure-blood families sees this paper, who knows what kind of situation might arise.”

If the existence of bloodline factors could be proven, the millennium long heritage of the pure-blood faction might actually be just the inheritance of a few bloodline factors. These bloodline factors could be transplanted through now not-so-secretive methods, meaning gaining the abilities of these blood mages would be easily achievable.

It should be noted that in the past, bloodline fusion was not so simple. It required continuous fusion of blood, refining the body with magic power, and spending a long time. It took generations to achieve the current state of pure-blood families.

What the pure-blood families were proud of was their long history and pure bloodline. Honestly, for those awakened with abilities, the advantage of rapid advancement was indeed something many people dreamed of.

But Lockfield, as a high-level mage in the Necromancy department, also knew that in the past three hundred years, due to the prohibition of human experimentation, pure-blood families had lost most of the means to improve their own bloodline. This could be clearly seen from the mage ranks of pure-blood families.

During the era of the Ancient Magic Empire, blood mages were not lacking in high-level experts, allowing them to contend with ancient mages. However, as time passed, the power of blood mages became weaker and weaker. This was a situation that even intermarriage within the same lineage could not reverse.

In the past three hundred years, the twenty-seven pure-blood families hadn’t produced a single high-level mage. If it weren’t for the help of Lord Braggs during the Magic Revolution, they would probably have been assimilated by other forces.

“Two theses shattered the theoretical foundation of the alchemy school. Is this Reiner Ian Gray going to target pure-blood mages again?”

Lockfield sighed. If the mystery of inheritance were unraveled, more than just the pure-blood families would be impacted.

For thousands of years, mages had been devoted to exploring two directions. One was the external world, with hundreds of half-planes. Today’s brilliant magical theories describing the world were the results of exploring the external world.

The other direction was the exploration of oneself.

Compared to the exploration of the external world, mages had too little exploration of themselves. Leaving aside the essence of the feedback between magic power and the world, even the mysteries of the internal workings of such a sophisticated body were inexplicable.

If the bloodline factors mentioned by Reiner in the paper were found and confirmed, the impact on the Necromancy department would be no less than that of the modern Magic Revolution.

“It seems I have to write a letter… no, I’d better go in person.”

Lockfield pondered for a long time before muttering to himself.