Chapter 591: The Beginning
As a pinnacle existence at Level 5 Immortality, Ace did not deliberately conceal His whereabouts. Almost anyone paying attention saw a streak of light descend from the Dream Star.
Thoth quickly appeared inside the floating city. The two Mythical Wizards, Betty and Bayen, and the two Demigod Knights, Ancestar and Arno, appeared one after another. All the Legendary and Epic Wizards within the floating city put down what they were doing and lined up to welcome Him.
Bruce flashed over somewhat hurriedly. He pulled a slip of paper from his cuff, stealthily peeked down at it, and greeted Ace along with everyone else.
“We respectfully welcome the great Sovereign of Dreams, Main God of the Salia Pantheon, Tenth Ring Legendary Wizard, Patron of all Wizards, Knights, Warriors, and Vampires, Mentor of Magic, Immortal Firelinker, Grand Speaker of the Magic Council, His Holiness Ace.”
More and more wizards gathered. Ace’s true body descending was extremely rare. For a time, it actually evolved into a grand welcoming ceremony.
Ace waved His hand, walked forward with a smile, and whispered as He approached Bayen: “There’s no need to be so tedious. When did I get so many titles?”
Bayen took a step forward and whispered in His ear: “The Supreme Council discussed with the Salia Gods and believed that given Your Holiness’s exalted status, Your honorable titles should be re-established. After many discussions, it was finally decided. This is the sentiment of the gods and all the wizards.”
“Alright, alright, it’s just a bit wordy. Let everyone disperse; I need to go to the Central High Tower.”
After speaking, His figure flashed and disappeared.
Seeing this, Thoth chased after Him and also disappeared.
Bayen looked around at the crowd and asked everyone to disperse. The remaining people burst into animated discussions.
“Lord Ace’s true body hasn’t descended in such a high-profile manner in a long time. There must be a reason.”
“Yeah, perhaps it’s because of the recently highly controversial Aether?”
“Who knows? Anyway, Lord Ace descending is absolutely a major event.”
At the Central High Tower, just as Ace was about to walk into His room, He suddenly noticed Thoth chasing after Him, and couldn’t help but turn and stare.
Thoth was wearing a magic robe. White light flashed in Ace’s eyes, and He discovered that Thoth was already a Mythical Wizard. Or rather, this Demigod clone of His had already transformed into a Mythical Wizard clone.
“What’s the matter, Your Holiness Thoth, or should I say, Your Excellency Thoth?”
Ace said with a smile.
Thoth smiled, as handsome as blooming sunlight.
“Your Excellency Grand Speaker, You noticed. I indeed have a matter. Didn’t You ask me to inquire about some things a while ago? I have a lead.”
His choice of words was very interesting, emphasizing Ace’s wizard title.
Before Ace had time to savor Thoth’s choice of words, He directly pushed open the room door, turned around, grabbed Thoth, and said: “Let’s go to My study and talk in detail.”
The two gods walked into Ace’s room. It felt like being placed in the galactic universe, seemingly real yet illusory. Before Thoth had time to marvel, He was pulled into a room by Ace.
One entire wall was a floor-to-ceiling window, with morning light spilling in. The entire study was extremely large, and there was also a reception area surrounded by a large circular sofa.
The two sat down, and Ace asked: “Which aspect is there news on?”
Thoth said: “Your Excellency Grand Speaker, there is news on both aspects. The whereabouts of the God of Knowledge have been confirmed. He hasn’t found His Fruit of Immortality yet, and is currently at this location in the Reflection World.”
Thoth directly conjured a holographic image and pointed to a certain direction.
“Here is the location of the Outer God who possesses a path similar to the God of Knowledge. I heard it is the Outer God of Books and Knowledge.”
Thoth merely reported this matter to Ace without showing any intention of inquiring why Ace wanted to know the whereabouts of the God of Knowledge. For Him, helping the Main God while simultaneously keeping His mouth firmly shut was the best way to handle things.
Ace nodded in satisfaction. The ahoge on top of His head twitched slightly, and the Law of Comprehension activated. He indeed sensed the vague location of the God of Knowledge.
“Thank you for your hard work. Otherwise, with the God of Knowledge hiding His whereabouts like this, it truly wouldn’t be easy for Me to find Him. What about the other matter?”
Hearing this, Thoth said: “My brother Byrne is still hesitating. He expressed willingness to send the three Dream Sons over first. As for whether He Himself will rely on You during this God’ Fall storm, He still wants You to speak with Him personally.”
While speaking, Thoth didn’t dare to meet Ace’s eyes.
Ace pondered for a moment, His index finger unconsciously tapping the table: “Then let the three Dream Sons come first. They can go directly to the Dream Star and experience the profundity of the Dream Domain there. As for Byrne, I’ll find time to meet Him.”
The Domain of Sleep undoubtedly had an extremely close connection with dreams. As His understanding of the Dream Domain deepened day by day, Ace increasingly felt that He must win over the Domain of Sleep.
“Thank you very much, Your Holiness Thoth. Your information is extremely important to Me.”
After the two gods conversed secretly for a few more sentences, Ace handed a dream crystal containing several Mythical spells to Thoth. Thoth accepted it with a smile, turned, and left.
Ace bathed in the sunlight alone, in quiet contemplation.
“The Domain of Sleep is very important to dreams. It can be said that I must take it down. It’s just a question of how to entice Byrne. Even a temporary alliance is very unappealing and lacks deterrence if we are not in the same region.
“This matter will be put on hold for now. The most pressing matter is to resolve the Domain of Knowledge.”
Ace stood up, looking at the bustling crowd below the window, and smiled: “I originally thought the timing was just right to publish the theory first. It seems I can only postpone it. Two Gods of Knowledge—truly an unexpected delight, right, Fuwa?”
The ahoge on top of His head twitched slightly, seemingly agreeing with Ace’s viewpoint.
In the Reflection World, the emerald moon hung high in the sky. Further away, a dream-like star flickered.
That Dream Star suddenly flashed. It seemed a shooting star streaked down from it, heading straight for a lush emerald secret realm.
Above that secret realm, two deities were in a standoff.
“Knowledge is power. I am very glad to meet You, and also very regretful to meet You.”
An Outer God resembling an elven scholar bound the Kaya God of Knowledge and said regretfully.
The expression of the God of Knowledge was somewhat pained. He seemed to want to say something but couldn’t get it out. Neither of Them noticed the shooting star streaking down from the sky, heading straight here.
The elven scholar-like Outer God grabbed a Fruit of Immortality and activated His Divine Power. The Fruit of Immortality generated a wondrous connection with the God of Knowledge. An extremely strong vibration occurred, and dirges faintly sounded.
Countless books appeared from nothingness, surrounding the two deities. The wind swirled. The Outer God chanted in a low voice, almost like murmuring.
That shooting star gradually approached, but suddenly turned into an illusion in the sky and dissipated.
Or rather, it seemed to dissipate on the surface; in reality, the Dream Realm had already enveloped the two Gods of Knowledge. Ace was silently observing.
“Without a doubt, it’s best for Me to appear after the Outer God of Knowledge has stripped the domain of the Kaya God of Knowledge. If possible, of course it’s better not to directly plunder the domain of a deity from My own faction.”
Ace turned into an invisible mist, waiting quietly.
Borrowing the connection of the Fruit of Immortality, the Outer God of Knowledge penetrated deep into the domain of the God of Knowledge and began to cruelly plunder and tear at His domain.
This plunder looked very refined. The domain of the God of Knowledge slightly unfolded, transforming into a library. The Outer God’s domain also unfolded, transforming into another library. The elven scholar-like Outer God snapped His fingers, and Kin appeared one by one, orderly queuing up to enter the God of Knowledge’s library and carrying away stacks of books from within.
The pain of the God of Knowledge turned into a dirge. Having lost His Fruit of Immortality, He could no longer effectively control His domain. As time passed, the entire library was emptied.
The dirge reached its end, and the library collapsed with a loud boom. Sharp blades pierced the body of the God of Knowledge, causing His divine body and divine soul to fall into demise together, which is commonly known as “slumber.”
The Outer God of Knowledge stared at the body of the God of Knowledge, watching Him fall into slumber. Holding the Fruit of Immortality in His hand, He said softly: “Return to the long river of time. I will seal this Fruit of Immortality; it’s better if You never return.
“From today onwards, I am the sole God of Knowledge!”
Swish!
The surrounding environment suddenly underwent a drastic change. It was as if the entire emerald secret realm had suddenly switched time and space, drifting in the starry sky.
“Who? Which Holiness is playing a joke?”
The Outer God of Knowledge looked around. This place was incredibly real, as if it were a truly existing starry universe. The stars suddenly palpitated, and He could faintly feel the distortion of space. He tried to break through but could not escape.
“What is this place? Brilliant stars, incredibly real… could it be…”
Rapidly reviewing His recorded knowledge, He instantly understood, shouting out in a flash of lightning: “Great Sovereign of Dreams, Controller of the Starry Sky, Your Holiness Ace! I am willing to submit.”
“Oh?”
A voice seemed to come from the distant horizon, yet also seemed to be right beside His ear. Cold sweat that shouldn’t be possible to drip dripped from the forehead of the Outer God of Knowledge. Brief information about Ace flashed rapidly through His mind.
“Ancestor of Wizards, newly ascended Main God, extremely powerful strength. Clearly the Sovereign of Dreams, yet suspected of possessing the power of the Sun, opposing the Outer Gods. I don’t know if He can accept me, but I can’t just sit and wait for death!”
Twang!
As if someone had plucked a bowstring, the God of Knowledge suddenly felt unable to move. His pupils contracted slightly as He struggled in the void.
“Divine Power is being absorbed by an invisible net? What is this thing?! Damn it, my Fruit of Immortality!”
While He was thinking this, a flash of light flickered, and Ace appeared. Extending His right hand towards Him, two Fruits of Immortality arrived in Ace’s hand.
“The Fruit of Immortality twists time. As long as this twisted and converged past is unfolded, immortality ceases to exist.”
Ace said softly. He took off His hat, and the ahoge on His head twitched. Fuwa appeared with a pop and said in a tender voice: “Knowledge! Lots and lots of knowledge! Knowledge of various flavors!”
Ace smiled, grabbed fuwa with His left hand, threw it forward, and said: “Go, eat.”
The two Fruits of Immortality vibrated violently. The Domain of Knowledge was forcibly unfolded by Ace. Fuwa transformed into a book and rampaged into the library.
To the side, the Outer God of Knowledge had gradually turned into a mummy, then shattered like ice into specks of starlight.
“Under the Magic Net, even a True God cannot withstand a single blow.”
A trace of a smile appeared at the corners of Ace’s mouth. What He employed was the most essential and powerful part of the Magic Net, effortlessly sending the elven God of Knowledge back to the long river of time.
It seemed easy, but in reality, it was the crushing weight of a high-level law. The Law of the Magic Net, as a Sovereign Law, not only could weave energy channels, but inherently possessed immense combat potential.
“But the Domain of Knowledge was never specialized for combat anyway. Since I’ve reaped the harvest, let’s go back.”
Ace turned into a streak of light, turned fuwa—who had fallen into slumber after eating the knowledge—back into an ahoge and stuck it on top of His head, and quickly arrived at the Dream Star projection hanging high in the sky.
Passing through the depths of the Magic Net within it, Ace returned to His sub-plane, appearing beside the Stele of Fate.
The stele seemed to have a mysterious rhythm, covered in potholes. Ace forcefully squeezed the two Fruits of Immortality and stuffed them into a pothole. Subsequently, He vanished with a flash.
His True God projection was still refining that green leaf of the World Tree. A drop of highly concentrated, verdant supernatural energy dripped down and was refined by the Immortal Heart Fire into pure Divine Power Essence, quickly integrating into the stars of the galaxy, lighting up several hundred stars.
Within the alternate dimension of the floating city, ever since Ace’s true body descended, the wizards had all been waiting in anticipation. None of them knew that Ace had actually made a trip to the Reflection World and plundered the Domain of Knowledge.
Only now did He begin to write that crucial theory. A theory in the heart might be applicable, but it cannot intersect with the world, much less interact with the Great Source.
It happened to be night. The night view of the alternate dimension perfectly mapped the night view of the world. Ace’s desk was by the large floor-to-ceiling window. He sat down at the desk, unrolled a magic parchment scroll, and wrote the title: On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies.
“There is no essential difference between rest and motion. Why must motion cause rulers to shorten and time to dilate?
“All laws of nature should be valid for all inertial reference frames. In other words, ruler shortening and time dilation should also be relative.
“Many wizards are questioning: since laws are relative, why isn’t the speed of light relative?
“This was proven by the experimental results of Bruce and others not long ago: the speed of light is constant.
“We all know that the speed of light has nothing to do with the light source. Can we believe that the speed of light is the same for any reference frame, that is, default that the speed of light remains constant in any inertial frame?
“Let us first assume the speed of light is constant, and then begin our discussion.”
The floating city at night was still brightly lit. The popularization of electricity had made cheap energy ubiquitous. Compared to mana, electricity was much easier to obtain. This city was a magic-electric hybrid city.
When Ace finished writing the first paragraph, there was no anomaly whatsoever; no one knew.
“In Magical Mechanics, I believed that space-time is an absolute quantity, the so-called absolute space-time. However, this is actually a kind of apriorism and does not conform to logic. What is time?
“How is time obtained?
“We need to think about these two questions, and then answer them.”
Boom!
A torrential downpour abruptly began outside the alternate dimension. However, the rainwater could not enter the floating city; it was like hitting glass. It clearly looked heavily overcast with lightning and thunder, yet not a single thread of cool rain came in.
Ace was still writing earnestly. His body was like a taut spring, seemingly containing endless energy.
“Time requires us to measure it. In other words, time is inextricably linked to signal speed. Therefore, the time measured under different inertial reference frames is different. This means it’s impossible for an absolute space-time view to exist, which consequently negates the existence of absolute rest.”
Swish!
The rain grew heavier.
(Chapter finished)
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