Chapter 574: Something Cannot Come From Nothing
While Ace’s true body in the Kaya World was pondering, more than a hundred years had passed in the Wizard World Cluster in the lower layers of the Astral Plane. This was a century where field theory ruled the world, and research on gravitational fields, magnetic fields, and electric fields was voluminous enough to make a pack ox sweat or fill a house to the rafters.
“Because of the divine nature of the Level 5 Immortal existence that we currently cannot comprehend—the True God of Dreams, the Legendary Immortal Wizard, respectfully addressed by the High Tower Wizards’ Supreme Council as the ‘Sovereign of the Stars’—His Holiness Ace, the Firelinker, is able to unify the worlds and the Astral Plane.”
On the experimental continent of the Blood Source Planet, a scholar with hair like a bird’s nest was spitting saliva as he spoke to the students below.
The students listened, mesmerized. They were all mortals, and many had no supernatural aptitude whatsoever. However, after over a century of development in this society where scholars reigned supreme, some methods had been born that allowed mortals to utilize mana.
Although it could only reach the level of civilian Zero Ring and military Second Ring, this was already the century-long achievement of the magic-less scholars. As for the occasionally born talents with magical aptitude, they were quickly sent to the highest magical academy on the Blood Source Planet to prepare for the entrance exam to the highest magical school in the Celestial Realm: Ace Academy.
A student below the podium raised his hand high. The scholar with messy hair stopped: “Anya, what is your question?”
This student stood up. He was chubby, with purple seaweed-like hair, and the freckles on his face danced with his expressions.
“Teacher, I believe there are no True Gods in this world! So-called deities are merely powerful intelligent existences far surpassing us. And what does ‘unifying the worlds and the Astral Plane’ mean?”
The bird’s nest-haired scholar made a large downward sweeping motion with his hand, signaling the chubby seaweed-haired student to sit down. His expression was serious, his gaze sharp: “First of all, the so-called ‘unifying the worlds and the Astral Plane’ means that His Holiness Ace has thousands of clones that can synchronize their thoughts transcending time and space. When necessary, He can project power from the upper layers of the Astral Plane. Furthermore, as long as one recites His Divine Name, He will perceive it. Therefore, I call Him the True God of Dreams and dare not speak His Divine Name.
“Secondly, His Holiness Ace once said that the truths we have discovered so far are all relative and have their applicable scopes. The concept of a True God is the same. For Level 4, Level 5, and even Level 6 existences, a so-called True God is merely an existence stronger, weaker, or roughly equal to themselves. But for us, a True God can be omniscient and even omnipotent within Their domain, immortal and imperishable, and deserves the respectful title of God.
“Humans should hold reverence for great existences that are vastly more powerful than themselves and which they cannot fully comprehend.
“Without His Holiness Ace’s Magic Net, could we have developed this so-called scholar civilization?
“This requires you to think more deeply.”
After speaking, the class dismissal bell rang. The bird’s nest-haired scholar simply packed his things, turned, and left.
As soon as the bird’s nest-haired scholar returned to his office, a tall, beautifully dressed young woman arrived. She bowed slightly to him: “Mr. Thomas, the Wizard Lord from the Celestial Realm has arrived in the reception room. Please go there quickly.”
Thomas nodded, tidied up his materials, and walked to the reception room together with the young woman.
The reception room of this school was not large. The principal had already been chatting with the wizard from the Celestial Realm for a long time. This wizard had a petite figure and delicate features; she was actually a witch.
The principal stood up and said with a smile: “This is Thomas, an outstanding talent of our Scholar Continent. He just has a bit of a strange temper, haha.”
He turned and continued: “This is Ms. Donna, a Golden Wizard from the Celestial Realm. She studied under the great Epic Wizard, former Rotating Celestial, Her Excellency Betty.”
Donna stood up, extended her slender hand to Thomas, and said with a smile: “I am a Fourth Ring Wizard, Donna. Very nice to meet you, Mr. Thomas.”
Thomas, with his bird’s nest hair, put down a box of materials, wiped his two hands on the hem of his clothes a few times, and then grasped half of Donna’s hand. He said somewhat nervously: “Very nice to meet you, Ms. Donna.”
The principal laughed heartily and said: “I don’t know much about academic matters, so I won’t disturb you two.”
Seeing the principal leave the reception room and gently close the door, Donna raised her hand. Complex rune structures flickered. Under the rhythm of mana, the walls, door, ceiling, and floor of the entire reception room all flashed with runes.
“Just a little spell for isolation. Mr. Thomas, this is your paper, correct?”
Donna took out a stack of somewhat crumpled manuscripts and continued: “You submitted the manuscript to the top journal of the Scholar Continent, The Scholar. After it was rejected, I discovered this paper, On the Forces of the Inorganic World, due to certain reasons. I believe your ideas have great potential and want to discuss them with you in depth, as well as help you publish it in Magic in the Celestial Realm!”
Thomas felt as if he had been knocked dizzy by a massive gift package, swaying unsteadily. It took a while before he stabilized his mind. With a pounding heart, he said: “Magic? This is simply unimaginable. So what is the price? No, no, no, I mean, what do I need to do? My academic level is limited. Is Ms. Donna willing to help me properly revise this paper?”
As long as he could seize the opportunity, as long as there was a possibility of publishing a paper in Magic, as long as he could still have his name on it, even if he wasn’t the first author, it didn’t matter. Thomas clenched his hands tightly, his fingertips turning somewhat white.
Donna broke into a smile, then said seriously: “You are overthinking things. I indeed have the intention of discussing this paper with you properly, but the first author of the paper will definitely still be you.
“I am issuing an invitation to you on behalf of the Wizard Tower of Her Excellency the Epic Wizard Betty in the Celestial Realm, hoping you will go to the Celestial Realm to do research. If you agree, we will head to the Celestial Realm together in a few days.”
Thomas took a deep breath, unclenched his whitened hands, his body trembling slightly: “I am just a scholar without magical aptitude. Is that okay too?”
Donna said gently: “Do you know of His Excellency Thales?”
Thomas immediately replied: “I know of His Excellency Thales. He is simply a living miracle. From a Mage to receiving magical aptitude personally bestowed by Lord Ace, and furthermore establishing unified electromagnetism with his confidante Blania. He is my idol!”
Donna smiled and said: “It’s like this: you have no magical aptitude, but as long as you can hold a shallow belief in His Holiness Ace, you can change your profession to a Mage. As for whether you can obtain magical aptitude in the future, who knows? Leave the matter of changing your profession to a Mage to me.”
Thomas’s face quickly flushed with color. He excitedly grasped Donna’s hand and said agitatedly: “Really? Lord Donna, this… this isn’t a joke.”
Donna smiled and nodded.
Four days later, Celestial Realm, Betty’s Wizard Tower.
Thomas’s bird’s nest-like hair was combed smoothly, and the stubble all over his face had vanished without a trace. Wearing a well-fitting suit, he looked very energetic.
He waited somewhat apprehensively. The reception room in the Wizard Tower was very luxurious, and the sofas looked extremely high-class. But Thomas only dared to sit on a small edge of his bottom because he was apprehensively awaiting an audience with the great Epic Wizard, Her Excellency Betty.
Donna gently comforted him. Just at this moment, Betty floated over, stepping on a silver metal disc.
“Are you Thomas? Welcome to Betty’s Wizard Tower. Could you tell me about On the Forces of the Inorganic World?”
Thomas hurriedly stood up. This lady in front of him looked very petite and adorable, feeling not much older than those students of his. But looking closely, a terrifying aura like facing an evil dragon flashed past, making his hair stand on end.
When he felt it again, Betty was smiling and looking amiable, as if that terrifying aura just now was an illusion.
Thomas bowed deeply, doffing his top hat. He cleared his throat, glanced at Donna’s encouraging look, and said with a slightly trembling voice: “G-Good afternoon, Respected Excellency Betty. Regarding this paper, it was actually inspired by…”
Thomas’s voice gradually stopped trembling. As he got into the flow, his mind returned to the beginning, gradually becoming clear.
“I am a scholar, and also a doctor. As everyone knows, arterial blood is bright red, and venous blood is dark red. But once, when I went to the southern tip of the Academic Continent for emergency aid, I found that the patient’s venous blood was actually also bright red. This aroused my curiosity.
“According to the knowledge of elemental magic, oxidation reactions release heat, which leads to bright red blood. Elemental energy is an objectively existing energy in oxidation reactions. So how did venous blood get this energy?
“I believe it comes from direct sunlight. The southern tip of the Academic Continent is at the point of direct sunlight on the Blood Source Planet. Illumination is exceptionally abundant, and the locals’ blood has more abundant energy than in other regions…
“Food contains elemental energy, which, like mechanical energy, can be converted into heat.
“In a high-temperature tropical environment, the organism only needs to absorb a small amount of heat from food, so the combustion process of food within the organism is weakened. Therefore, more oxygen is left in the venous blood.
“Light energy is converted into elemental energy, and elemental energy is converted into biological energy. This process is actually a balance between energy input and output.
“This process is a chain of cause and effect. Cause 1 produces an Effect 2 equal to it. Effect 2, as a kind of cause, can then produce a Cause 3 equal to it… In this series of relationships, it is impossible for any term to turn into nothingness.
“This indestructibility is the first property of force.
“In this process, 3 becomes 4, 4 becomes 5, meaning the cause can take various different forms. This is the second property of force.”
Sitting to the side, Donna interjected: “The cause is indestructible in quantity, and convertible in quality.”
Thomas nodded and said: “That is the meaning. For example, two pieces of metal rubbing against each other generate heat; using mechanical ‘force’ to compress a certain volume of air results in the gas temperature rising; a heavy object falling from a height to the ground will generate heat during the collision; steam in a steam engine losing a portion of heat results in mechanical motion.
“From these empirical facts, we can conclude that ‘heat’ also belongs to the category of ‘force’ or ’cause’.”
Betty also said: “Is this what you call the ‘mechanical equivalent of heat’?”
Thomas confidently took out a stack of calculation manuscripts and said loudly: “These are my latest calculation results. According to the calculations, we can know that a heavy object falling from a height of approximately 365 meters (the effect produced) corresponds to the heat added to water of the same mass to raise its temperature from 0°C to 1°C. Please offer your corrections.”
Two weeks later, the paper titled On the Energy of the Inorganic Natural World was published in Magic. The first author was Thomas, and the corresponding author was Betty.
Thomas had also just completed the Mage transformation ritual. He originally worshipped Ace and held a vague belief in Him, easily satisfying the conditions to become a Mage. He successfully became a Mage capable of casting spells with the help of a spellbook and the Magic Net.
His paper also sparked widespread discussion. Many wizards of the Elemental Faction highly praised this article. They believed it conformed to the basic assumption of the Elemental Faction, namely the “law of indestructibility of matter.”
But many wizards also questioned Thomas’s arguments, as this method of deduction was too generalized to be convincing.
In the Central High Tower, Ace’s Demi-god level projection also saw this article. A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of His mouth, and He said softly: “Thermodynamics? Now that we have the embryo of the First Law, who exactly will propose it?”
He set the paper aside and continued writing on an ancient parchment scroll. If someone approached, they might discover the words “Relativity…”
The lack of feedback from the Great Source, and a deduction method that was too generalized—all this made Thomas face much questioning. He was also in extreme pain, but he still firmly believed his viewpoint was correct. Perhaps people like this all have a bit of paranoia.
Donna looked with slight worry at Thomas, who was immersed in the laboratory, his hair once again turning into a bird’s nest. She said to Betty with slight concern: “Teacher, won’t Thomas have problems like this?”
Betty smiled and said: “I appreciate his viewpoint, and you also agree with his viewpoint. The rest is for him to work even harder to prove this viewpoint, and what we need to do is exactly the same. No feedback from the Great Source doesn’t mean it’s wrong; it could also be that our demonstration isn’t complete enough. Rather than worrying about him, it’s better to put our energy into experiments.”
Three months later, another of Thomas’s papers was published in the Magic journal with Betty’s support. The paper was titled Organic Motion and Its Connection with Metabolism.
He explicitly pointed out: “Something cannot come from nothing, and something cannot become nothing.”
“In the dead and living natural world, this energy is eternally in a process of cyclic transformation. Nowhere is there a process that is not a change in the form of energy!”
He advocated: “Heat is a kind of force; it can be transformed into mechanical effects.”
This time, there was much more confidence, because Thomas successfully triggered feedback from the Great Source. Although not intense, this Great Source feedback was enough to transform him from a Mage into a wizard with magical aptitude. Although his aptitude and qualifications were very poor, this was the best proof.
The paper also specifically discussed the connection between heat and work, deriving the relationship that the difference between the specific heat of a gas at constant pressure and the specific heat at constant volume, **, is equal to the work of expansion at constant pressure, *.
The appearance of this formula was very important. From it, the work required to heat a gas at constant pressure could be calculated. He also believed that the essence of Thales’s generator was converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. This series of viewpoints all pointed to one goal: energy can be mutually converted.
And this was Betty’s academic goal. Although as the experiments continued, Betty increasingly felt that energy could be mutually converted, and that various elemental reactions were actually processes of energy conversion.
And this was strongly opposed by wizards who revered the “Vital Force” theory. They could not accept that vital force was actually a kind of elemental reaction, caused by absorbing oxygen and food and converting it into heat.
The strongest argument opposing this was that this process could not explain mana.
(Chapter finished)
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