Chapter 550: The World is a Wave?
Warren and Thales warmly hosted Bayen together. In the reception room of Warren’s Wizard Tower, the three sat down according to host and guest protocol.
A group of chirping animated wooden figures ran over with red wine and desserts on their heads. They jumped directly onto the table, set the food and wine down, and then bounced away.
“The current animation magic is indeed getting better and better. I heard Polina specifically opened an Animated Life and Golem Company, specializing in producing customized animated lifeforms and golems.”
Bayen took a sip of red wine and made small talk.
Warren also smiled slightly and replied: “Not only that, I recently have a plan to integrate the fuzzy intelligence of animated life with mechanical computers, creating brand new construct creatures with an animated intelligence core and a mechanical computer. Using biological animated thinking as components for a brand new mechanical computer, I think this will greatly expand the application scope of mechanical computers.”
Bayen thought for a moment. If a construct with a certain degree of intelligence was really used as a component, it might indeed achieve this effect. He said: “This is indeed possible, but I’m afraid the required work is also very massive. I suddenly feel that Your Excellency Warren should be the one in charge of alchemy.”
Warren modestly waved his hand and said: “In terms of alchemy, I indeed cannot compare to Her Excellency Betty. Recently, I’ve also exchanged many ideas about mechanical computers with her, especially after my disciple Thales’s series of discoveries and inventions in electromagnetism. I feel the scope for mechanical computers will expand significantly. We can use electrical components to replace all mechanical components, changing the power source to electricity.”
Bayen also cut to the chase. Stroking his long beard, he said:
“This is indeed an application area of electromagnetism. We were so busy talking we forgot today’s main character. Mr. Thales, your series of discoveries and inventions concerning electromagnetism can be said to have made highly original, pioneering, and subversive changes in the field of electromagnetism. Therefore, on behalf of the Astrology Society of the Magic Council, I award you the prize of the first Bayen Astrology Award.
“According to Resolution No. 1 of the Supreme Council, you will receive three thousand Level 2 Magic Stones and two Gold magic items of excellent quality. Today, I just want to ask what requirements you have for the magic items. Of course, they must be ones I can craft.”
Thales indeed had no ideas about these things. But since Bayen asked, he thought for a while and replied: “Lord Bayen, I heard you are proficient in prophecy spells. I want a danger-prediction magic item and a protective magic item.”
Bayen smiled and nodded, saying amiably: “No problem, I will definitely get you the best. Then I won’t disturb you two.”
He left with a smile. It was only when he walked far away from the Wizard Tower that the smile on his face disappeared, replaced by a pang of heartache. A danger-prediction magic item, and a Golden-level one at that—that thing could be said to be very precious.
Despite the heartache, Bayen also began to do his utmost to craft the magic items. This was the first time, and it was also about face.
Time passed quickly. Three months passed in the blink of an eye. Bayen had also crafted the two magic items. One was the Warning Copper Ring. Using an alloy smelted from secret gold, star sand, and perceptive copper as the material, a passive Fourth Ring Spell “Danger Evasion” was inscribed on it. When there was danger, the ring would automatically flash and provide limited guidance. It was also inscribed and filled with two Fourth Ring Prophecy Spells: “Great Astrological Foresight” and “Auspicious and Inauspicious Divination.” The former could foresee a certain fragment within a period of time, while the latter focused on divining the good or bad luck of a certain matter.
The most technically demanding part of this was “Danger Evasion.” The limited guidance provided by this spell actually had a certain suggestive effect, causing the holder’s mind to abruptly become alert.
The other magic item was the Robe of Stars. This was a powerful protective magic item. When unactivated, it would provide passive protection equivalent to the Fourth Ring Spell “Guardian of Stars.” When actively activated, one could obtain a starry barrier with a radius of up to a thousand meters; the specific size was determined by the user’s mind.
In the grand auditorium of Academic City, almost all wizards of the Astrology School had arrived. Many wizards from other schools also followed, all wanting to witness this historic scene.
Bayen stood on the high platform, looked around at the crowd, and shouted loudly: “This is the award ceremony of the first Bayen Astrology Award. I need to explain to everyone in advance: lending my name does not mean that I, Bayen, am exceptionally outstanding in this field; it is more of a responsibility. Any Legendary Wizard who lends their name will bear the responsibility of providing prizes and magic stones. To be honest, if I had a choice, I’d rather let you guys replace me. I also hope more Legendary Wizards of the Astrology School will be born among you, so more people can help me share the burden.”
A burst of friendly laughter echoed in the grand auditorium. Some wizards looked at Bayen, revealing a look of longing. Who didn’t want to become a powerful Legendary Wizard?
When the voices of the crowd almost stopped, Bayen continued: “Let us welcome the winner of this Astrology Award, Mr. Thales. He proved the action at a distance of electrostatic force, discovered the principle of electromagnetic rotation, further proposed the concepts of magnetic lines of force, induced electromotive force, and magnetic flux, and invented the first generator.
“His discoveries and inventions subsequently derived a series of magics in the electromagnetic field, providing us wizards with more possibilities.
“And he is not even forty years old yet. Let us cheer for him. This is a young wizard; the younger generation is formidable!”
Applause thundered. All the wizards were very excited. Thales’s series of discoveries had already proven the great prospects of electromagnetism. Whether in theory or application, many wizards were gearing up, wanting to achieve success in the new field.
Thales’s expression, however, was somewhat complex, far less excited than the first time he was placed on a high platform by Ace and the others.
Listening to Bayen’s words, one term kept lingering in his mind: “action at a distance.” Was electromagnetic force really within the ruling scope of Ace’s mechanics? As he researched more, Thales’s doubts also grew. He had no solid evidence, and at the same time, he didn’t dare to speak.
After a passionless thank you, the exhausted Thales returned home. Lying on the bed and closing his eyes, the picture of iron filings distributing under the action of magnetic force kept emerging in his mind. What exactly were magnetic lines of force?
Although it was said that magnetic lines of force were an abstract concept, specifically in nature, there must be concrete corresponding objects. How exactly did this magnetic force exist?
Harboring various doubts, Thales fell into a deep sleep.
Outside the world, Ace watched quietly. He waved his hand to disperse the peeping star sand and continued to upgrade the megastructure Eye of the World. He was going to load the function of Astral Projection onto the Eye of the World. It was time to let the wizards spread the glory of magic across thousands of worlds.
This was a complex and challenging task. As for the theoretical innovation of electromagnetism, he only needed to wait quietly for the results. Everything was a delicate flower gestated in the soil of the Wizard Civilization.
As a wizard of the Elemental School, Bruce had always felt that elements and astrology would blend at the microscopic level, but suffered from having no way to start. The various characteristics of electricity let him see the possibility.
“I believe electricity is definitely an existence at the extremely microscopic level. Our key lies in finding the connection between electricity and elements.”
Bruce discussed with Allen in the laboratory.
Allen said: “A basic logical way of thinking: if we want to find a connection, we can try analogy. For example, we all know a basic hypothesis of elements: the Law of Conservation of Mass.
“Because artificial or natural operations cannot create anything out of nothing, in every operation, the total mass of matter existing before and after the operation is equal, and the quality and quantity of its elements remain unchanged, only undergoing replacement and deformation.
“In the field of elements, we have always assumed that the elements of the object being tested and the elements of its decomposition products are exactly equal.”
Bruce slapped his thigh and said: “Exactly! Since we believe electricity is an extremely microscopic existence, and it affects elements, even determining elements, we must prove the conservation of electric charge!”
The two thought and discussed together for a week, and finally designed a simple and effective experiment.
They prepared a metal ice bucket that Bruce usually used to store ice, a small copper ball with an insulating handle, suspension wire wound around the insulating handle, a Thales’s electrical machine, and several wires.
Bruce placed the ice bucket made of tinplate on an insulator and connected the outside of the ice bucket to a gold-leaf electroscope with a wire.
Allen brought the small ball with the insulating handle into contact with the positive pole of the electrical machine, making it carry a positive charge. Then he put it into Bruce’s ice bucket. Allen’s movements were very careful, controlling the charged copper ball so it didn’t have any contact with the ice bucket.
At this time, Bruce found that the leaves of the electroscope opened, and he hurriedly recorded the data.
Allen then slowly took the charged small ball out of Bruce’s ice bucket, and the leaves of the electroscope closed again.
They repeated the experiment by touching the negative pole of the electrical machine, and the result was exactly the same.
The two showed slight joy on their faces, exchanged a glance, and continued the experiment.
The Magic Net was trembling slightly, lightning flashed and thunder rolled outside the window, the world seemed to be cheering, and Source Power was gathering. These anomalous scenes gave the two even more confidence. They started the second step of the experiment.
Allen placed the positively charged copper ball into Bruce’s ice bucket. This time, he carefully let the copper ball touch the inner wall. At this time, the leaves of the electroscope opened.
Then Allen took the small ball out of the ice bucket, and the angle of the electroscope’s leaves remained unchanged.
Bruce hurriedly recorded it.
Changing to a negative charge was the same; the result remained unchanged.
The Source Power became denser and denser. The people of the entire Academic City felt it. Everyone spontaneously gathered around the Bruce -Allen Joint Laboratory, discussing in low voices.
“Whose laboratory is this?”
“The joint laboratory of Bruce and Allen.”
“That’s the laboratory that almost discovered magnetism generating electricity with the copper ring experiment.”
“That’s right, that’s the one.”
“I felt sorry for them for a long time last time. I didn’t expect them to make a big commotion again.”
“After all, they are people with skills.”
At this time, the Legendary Wizards of the Supreme Council also arrived. They waited aside with smiles all over their faces, preparing to share yet another great moment with everyone.
As for Ace’s main body, He was busy soloing the Eye of the World outside the world and really had no time. He only dispatched a clone here.
Bruce and Allen didn’t notice everything outside. They simply connected the ice bucket directly to the electrostatic machine. Allen then used the suspension wire to hold the copper small ball with the insulating handle to touch the inner surface of the ice bucket, and then touched the top plate of the electroscope. The leaves of the electroscope did not open.
Allen touched the copper ball to the outer surface of the ice bucket, and then touched the top plate of the electroscope. The leaves of the electroscope opened.
The two smiled at each other, their eyes carrying gratification. Allen said: “Without a doubt, conservation of charge!”
Bruce also said: “I’ll organize the experimental records and the paper. This experiment shall be called the Bruce -Allen Ice Bucket Experiment.”
Boom!
The lightning and thunder grew more and more violent. A massive amount of Source Power surged into their bodies, cleansing their bodies and souls. Bruce was originally at the Golden peak on the Blood Origin Planet. At this moment, he directly broke through the final hurdle, advancing to the Legendary realm.
His body underwent preliminary sanctification, and his vitality was greatly extended. His lifespan in this world was nearly five to six hundred thousand years. Even returning to the Kaya World, he could survive for nearly thousands of years.
Allen’s mana accumulation was not as good as Bruce’s . He was only elevated to the Golden peak state, still lacking that final kick.
He didn’t mind either, smiled at Bruce, and said: “Then the organizing work is handed over to you, His Excellency Legendary Wizard Bruce.”
Allen didn’t bother with the aftermath either. He and Bruce were old partners; they trusted each other.
Bruce leaned over the desk, spread out a roll of magic paper, and recorded the experimental steps and pictures on it. Finally, he wrote in the conclusion:
“The net charge inside a closed conductor is always zero, even if a charged object is placed inside.
“If an electrical path to the container wall exists, the charge will flow to the outer surface of said container due to mutual repulsion.
“If it does not exist, the internal charge will induce an equal amount of opposite charge on the inner surface. Therefore, the net internal charge remains zero. Any net charge carried by the conductor is located on its surface.
“We can say that electric charge conforms to the Law of Conservation of Mass; that is, the conservation of electric charge.”
When he finished writing the entire paper and wrote the co-first authors Bruce and Allen, the anomaly finally ended. The two looked out the window; a crowd of wizards was waiting.
Bruce said: “Let us welcome this glorious moment. Next year’s Bayen Astrology Award and Logan Element Award will both have to properly consider us two.”
Allen smiled and said: “That really is a happy problem.”
He pushed the door open. The Legendary Wizards descended from mid-air. The rotating chairman Daina said loudly with a smile: “Let everyone give Their Excellencies Bruce and Allen a warm round of applause. Also, congratulations to His Excellency Blue on becoming a new Legendary Wizard.”
After thunderous applause, Ace’s clone also stepped forward and said: “This is us wizards, people with the power of thought. We are the measure of all things. We can constantly approach the truth and understand this world. Now, please let Bruce and Allen talk about their research results.”
Sensing the balance-like conservation spell model in his mental imagery world, Bruce held Allen’s hand and said loudly: “Our experiment is actually very simple. Briefly, we proved the conservation of electric charge; electric charge cannot be created out of nothing. And in the field of elements, we have also always followed the principle of conservation of mass in experiments. I believe there is highly likely a close connection between elements and electricity.
“The combination of elements requires energy, and the electric current itself is a kind of energy. There is highly likely a marvelous connection between the two…”
Listening to Bruce’s words, the elemental wizards suddenly realized that this revolution in the field of astrology had come to themselves. Calling it the field of astrology was no longer quite appropriate. Originally, the signature of the wizards’ astrology field was magical mechanics, but the rise of electromagnetism already had a tendency to rival it, or perhaps calling it electromagnetic mechanics was more suitable?
As onlookers, Leyden, Thales, and others were greatly shaken. They successively returned to their own laboratories and began experiments.
Previously, people had always felt that elements and astrology were entirely distinct. Now, discovering that in the microscopic field, the two were actually blurry, even intersecting, undoubtedly gave them a huge shock. Leyden recalled a phenomenon he had once overlooked.
“I remember there is an electric eel on the Blood Origin Planet that was once brought to the Celestial Realm as an alien delicacy. Every time the electric eel discharges electricity, bubbles are generated in the water. This is very much worth researching.”
Leyden’s eyes lit up. If he remembered correctly, the electric eel might have been brought by Bruce and the others. He immediately prepared a “Thales Generator” and wires, and prepared relatively clean water. Direct current discharged directly into the water, and bubbles bubbled up in the water.
In the subsequent period, he analyzed the phenomenon of bubbles generated by direct current discharge. Ultimately, he found that what was produced at the anode was the oxygen element, and what was produced at the cathode was the hydrogen element. The ratio perfectly matched the results of current research on elemental compounds.
Leyden called this the electrolytic reaction of water, and asserted in his paper that there would be a series of compounds similar to water, calling them “electrolytes.”
This experiment and paper triggered Great Source feedback. Leyden’s strength also rapidly climbed to the Golden peak. And wizards also developed a strong interest in the phenomenon of electrolysis. Bruce even personally paid a visit to congratulate Leyden on discovering the intersection of astrology and elements.
For a time, Electrolytic Elementology began to flourish.
Returning to Thales. He was still pondering over the abstract concept of magnetic lines of force. Magnetism, electricity, and light were very similar. How exactly did they exist?
After learning that Leyden discovered the electrolysis effect and electrolytes, Thales didn’t turn his gaze to Electrolytic Elementology. He felt this was a repetitive manual labor.
“There are definitely many elemental wizards willing to find those electrolytes and summarize the laws within them. There’s no need for me to step in again. Magnetic lines of force, electric lines of force, light rays. Since conceptually they are all lines, why not draw an analogy with light rays.”
Thales quickly turned his attention to optics research. In the current magic world, optics was also a great subject. Thales quickly noticed that the vast majority of optical researchers believed light was a wave. Wizards had already discovered the difference between natural light and polarized light.
They believed that natural light was composed of countless polarized lights.
This gave Thales great inspiration. He designed a new experiment, which was also not complex.
A pitch-black room was completely sealed. Prepare a ready-made pile, wires connected to a copper tube wound with a coil.
Place a polarizer at one end of the copper tube, and an analyzer at the other end.
Then Thales used the Level 0 Magic “Light Spell” to create a beam of light passing through the polarizer.
Thales’s eyes widened. The plane of vibration of the polarized light had deflected.
The excited Thales felt as if he had grasped the key to the door of truth, standing outside the treasure house, and said excitedly: “Without a doubt, light deflects after passing through a magnetic field. Magnetism, light, and electricity have an inseparable connection!”
Thales continued experimenting. After multiple tests, he finally wrote a paper, Magneto-Optic Effect. At the end of the paper, he earnestly concluded:
“When linearly polarized light propagates in a medium, if a strong magnetic field is applied parallel to the direction of light propagation, the direction of light vibration will deflect. The deflection angle is directly proportional to the product of the magnetic flux density and the length of light traversing the medium, i.e., [Formula]. The proportionality coefficient is related to the nature of the medium and the frequency of the light wave.
“The direction of deflection depends on the nature of the medium and the direction of the magnetic field.
“The above phenomenon is called the magneto-optical rotation effect, or magneto-optic effect for short.”
The power of the Great Source rumbled once again. Thales, having received Great Source feedback multiple times, no longer had his initial excitement. He stood up, skillfully relaxed his mind and body, felt the influx of Source Power, guided the Source Power to transform his body and soul, and slowly concentrated his attention on that new spell model in his mind.
Actually, with the research of the electromagnetic wizards, especially the research of the four main generals—Thales, Bruce, Allen, and Leyden—the electromagnetic magic system had gradually taken shape. Many wizards had already begun to apply this powerful and effective magic.
And the electromagnetic-optic spell model in Thales’s mind was a wave, like the ripples on water.
This suddenly made Thales feel the world spinning. There seemed to be countless “waves.” He bent down, unrolled a roll of magic paper, and wrote Thoughts on Waves.
“The concept of waves, at the earliest, should come from water waves, which is the literal meaning. Billows, waves—it’s just that matter on the surface of water. Besides water waves, there are many similar things that can be seen as waves. For example, if we hold a rope and constantly shake it up and down, it forms a wave.
“Regarding the rope as a wave, a certain point on the rope is constantly moving up and down, while the entire rope is moving forward. This kind of wave where the direction of particle motion is perpendicular to the direction of wave motion is called a transverse wave.
“Where there are transverse waves, there are longitudinal waves. What is a longitudinal wave? The most typical example is a spring. A stretched or compressed spring; every point on the spring is consistent with the direction of wave propagation.
“We can think of it this way: a wave where the direction of particle motion is perpendicular to the direction of wave motion is a transverse wave; one consistent with the direction of wave motion is a longitudinal wave.
“Using a basic logical thinking method, we abstract the wave. A wave is not a physical object, but a form of motion.
“Object motion has energy; a wave is a form of transmitting energy!”
Writing up to here, Thales let out a long sigh. He looked around and suddenly felt that there were countless mana waves, electromagnetic waves, and light waves constantly perturbing. Even his own construct was constantly decomposing, ultimately also being a wave. This world might be a continuous world; the world could be a world composed of countless extremely microscopic waves.
As for the so-called atomic theory, perhaps it was just waves crumpled into a ball, like a spring temporarily fixed there with no one pulling it.
He continued to bend down. Although his perception of the world had completely changed, and although that wave-like spell model in his mental imagery world grew increasingly bright, he still persisted in writing: “I hypothesize that our world, in its indivisible most microscopic state, is a wave!”
Boom!
The torrential rain poured outside the window. It seemed that countless gods and demons appeared, baring fangs and brandishing claws behind Thales’s back. It also seemed as if devils were tempting him, telling him not to continue hypothesizing.
(end of the chapter)
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