The living room had four same-sized red couches, all placed in a square pattern and facing a low, glass surface table. It was bright. Too bright in fact. The walls were painted in pearl white, just like the outer ones.

While one side of the room had windows covering the entire wall, the other side extended into a kitchen, which was well-equipped. A bunch of pans and pots rested on top of a mana-powered stove. Whatever was inside boiled, causing gentle pops to reach Alec's ears.

Alec sat on one of the couches, facing the windowed wall. His hands rested on his lap, his back perfectly straight. His face betrayed no expression, but his posture was that of wariness. After all...

'Why did these two call me here? And why aren't they saying anything?'

Across the table sat Professor Howard. The fire mage's hair had become disheveled. Caressing his beard, the man seemed deep in thought.

On the other side, to his right was Professor Andrew, Alec's boss. He was a man who took care of himself. He was usually clean-shaven, with short hair and the smell of sandalwood hanging around him.

Now, however, none of that was present. His chin was covered with stubble. Dark bags under his eyes. Whatever these two had been up to, it had tired him quite a lot. Professor Howard was too high leveled to get tired easily, however, the same couldn't be said for Andrew Walker.

"So... Is anyone going to explain why you have called me here?" Alec asked. Professor Andrew and Howard looked at each other briefly before turning back toward him.

"We were curious about how much you know."

"Yeah. You have to tell us what you know."

"Huh?"

The duo, seemingly under some kind of high pressure, demanded Alec to share what he knew. 'What the fuck are these two talking about?'

"Sorry..." Professor Howard took over, calming down. "You see, after that show you put on during the thesis defense, we have come together with Mr. Andrew here to do some research. But unfortunately, we have hit a roadblock."

"...And you want me to?"

"We would like to ask you to join us," Professor Andrew said. Alec's brows rose, his demeanor slightly relaxed. He leaned against the backrest of the couch before continuing.

"Why would I of all people be able to help ?"

"We have seen what you can do, Alec. No... Mr. Alec. We are aware that you know more than you show. That's why..." Professor Howard said. Although the man was a legendary figure, he was still talking to Alec politely, in search of knowledge. Alec admired that.

"If I can help, sure. I don't see a problem."

"Great!" Professor Andrew said with a slightly raised voice. He immediately got up and went out of the living room, leaving Alec and Hunter Howard by themselves.

"Hmm..."

"Hmm..."

The two hummed while waiting. Shortly after, Professor Andrew came back with a stack of papers in hand. He placed them in front of Alec and sat down.

"This is what we have."

"Let's see..." Alec muttered before picking up the stack. Nudging the mana brain, he started breezing through the pages one by one. With each page he flipped, the more a frown settled on his face.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Once done, he placed the research papers down and sat in silence.

"So?" Professor Andrew couldn't help but ask. "Is there a problem?"

In fact, the problem was that there was no problem. Their research was mostly pristine. 'How much should I tell them? A little? Nothing? Everything?'

After the conception of Alec's Atomic Model, most professors had lost themselves in what could be taken from it. With the amount of tools magic provided and the mental enhancements given by the system, they could do countless experiments, expanding on the foundation Alec had set.

Alec knew this himself. He had expected rapid advancements after he corrected what was essentially a malunion of theoretical knowledge. This much, however, was beyond that.

'Orbitals, energy levels, uncertainty? Holy shit, he almost created the Schrödinger's Equation there...'

"From what I can say, most of what you have researched leads to somewhere," Alec finally commented. "As for where exactly? I am not quite sure."

Then, however, he stopped. If he went any further; if he told them the thing in his mind, would he cause the world to be destroyed? Would his actions bring the end of this civilization? From what he understood, that type of magic was discovered in the past. Then didn't it destroy the entire magical society, kicking them back into what was essentially the stone age of magic? At least, that was what Alec assumed to happen. And if that really was the case, was it okay for these two to know of this?

'No. Withholding knowledge won't stop them. They will find it either way. Once science is kicked into motion, every civilization will have to pass this barrier or meet its doom, it seems...'

"I'm curious," Alec started. His voice didn't betray the dilemma in his heart. "I have noticed this before too, but only properly thought of it now. The mass and charge mismatch in our atomic model might need an explanation."

"Oh. I remember reading an explanation in an unpublished thesis yesterday," Professor Howard said. He was on the review committee and had access to such papers. "He proposed that it was because of extra protons and electrons bound inside the nucleus, thus neutralizing their charges while keeping the mass. It makes some sense, as otherwise, the nucleus would be much lighter than how it is."

"But I'm sure you have realized how that doesn't make sense," Alec said. While Professor Howard nodded, Andrew Walker's brows rose.

"How so?" he asked.

"From the results you have here, it is easy to see that the electron would need an immense amount of momenta to be bound inside the nucleus. And even if that was the case, it should have radiated an immense amount of energy, causing the electron to lose energy with time, giving it an unstable nature."

"Not to mention, the weight is still slightly wrong," Professor Howard added after calculating in one of his plethora of mana brains.

"Mm. That's why, I think there is something else inside the nucleus," Alec added. He sighed and turned toward Professor Howard. "Could you find some Berillium..?"

***

Alec was tired. He had been bombarded with countless questions, had to jot down more than ten complex equations, and also had to prove them step by step, just to make the two maniacs fully agree with him.

Though once he understood the existence of the neutron, Professor Howard wasn't exhilarated like before. Instead, he simply said "I see..." and went silent. Whatever magic spell he had devised in his head, he hadn't liked it. After nodding toward Alec noddingly, he had quickly gotten up and left.

'Still, it's better than him instantly bombing us into oblivion by testing a nuclear explosion spell.'

As Alec walked the path toward the dorms, he encountered Evan on the way there. The sun had already set, shrouding the academy in darkness. Although it took quite a while, Evan finally noticed Alec. Seeing him, the red-haired close combat mage ran to his side.

"Alec!"

"What's up? Why the hurry?"

"I was looking for you everywhere... I managed to get the dealer's contact information."

"What? Good job!" Alec whispered with a smile on his face. He had been worrying about Edward's expectations for some time and was relieved to learn that he would finally be freed.

"Yeah. I even managed to set up a meeting."

"Huh? How?"

"I secretly met up with two freshmen and ordered them to ask for a trade," Evan said. "We will go there, use voice and face changer spells, and catch the dealer."

"Wouldn't the dealer use a... delivery man?" Alec couldn't help but ask.

"Probably. But that is fine too. We can always catch and question the delivery man. Hell, with your proficiency in mind and memetic spells, we could probably dig it right out of his brain."

"You are right. Where is this meet-up again?"

"It seems that one of the places this dealer of ours uses is behind the library, approximately half a kilometer into the woods. We have to be there in twenty minutes."

"Twenty minutes? What the hell were you going to do if you couldn't find me? Go by yourself?"

"I mean... Yeah? Where even were you?" Evan asked with a raised brow. He had probably looked all around the academy.

"I was... You know what? Never mind. Let's go..."