Chapter 600: The Ring of Academia
Daru’s body went slightly rigid. This tiger-person seemed to have restrained his imposing aura, but the closer he got, the more Daru perceived a sense of threat.
This was the blessing his Father God had given him: Danger Intuition.
“This tiger-headed person’s strength is no less than Teacher Luna’s.”
Daru thought to himself.
“You opened the mist and are holding Caruso’s Book of Secret Words. Are you the honored guests coming for the transaction this time? I am the attendant under His Excellency Caruso, Mythical Wizard and Father of Myriad Races: Lieya of the Spirit Tiger Clan.
“Welcome to the Caruso Tower of Myriad Races.”
The tiger-headed person calling himself Lieya grinned with a bloody maw, trying hard to smile “amiably.”
Luna’s expression remained unchanged. She was an Legendary Warrior who had experienced trials and tribulations over a century. She could feel the other party’s powerful strength, but she was completely unafraid.
“Yes. Please lead us to an audience with His Excellency the Mythical Wizard Caruso.”
Lieya nodded heavily, leading the two through the crack in the door and into the courtyard. They walked through a force field door with mysterious mana fluctuations and instantly appeared in a reception room.
“You two wait here for Lord Caruso. He is doing an experiment; it’s hard to say exactly when he’ll come out.”
After speaking, Lieya opened a door. Outside was actually a terrifying scene filled with the dense smell of sulfur and overflowing magma.
The tiger-headed person turned his head, grinned, and said to the two: “Don’t open doors randomly. This door has been cast with ‘Non-Directional Teleportation.’ If you’re not careful, you’ll be swept into spatial turbulence.”
After waiting for a long time, the wooden door slowly opened. A thin wizard with a terrifying scar on his face walked in. Seeing the Seventh Ring Hexagram Badge on the wizard’s chest, the two hurriedly stood up.
Caruso waved his hand and said: “No need for formalities. Did you bring what I want?”
Luna respectfully took out a small bottle from a spatial device and handed it to Caruso.
The small bottle was a glass-like transparent bottle. The inside was filled with dense, colorful mist, seemingly possessing dream-like colors. If continuously magnified, one could see tens of thousands of humans.
“A human-form dream. It is indeed genuine. An extremely rare experimental material produced by a True God. It should be said that, besides Lord Ace, this is probably the dream of the highest quality. Come with me, boy.”
Looking intoxicatedly at this small bottle, a trace of strange brilliance flashed in Caruso’s eyes.
Luna was just about to follow, but was blocked by an invisible resistance. Only Carusoand Daru entered through the door.
“You stay here, do not wander around.”
Luna had no choice but to stay in the reception room. A Mythical Wizard’s Wizard Tower was extremely complex, and she didn’t dare to move around randomly. Fortunately, there was some food and books here, so it wouldn’t be too boring.
Daru followed Caruso through several miraculous doors and entered a somewhat dimly lit room.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Following Caruso’s applause, the lights in the entire room turned on sequentially. The bright light made Daru somewhat unaccustomed for a moment.
Opening his eyes again, he saw rows of transparent glass covers. Looking closely, there were humans, animals, and various humanoid creatures, all soaking in a deep blue liquid.
Daru roughly estimated that the entire laboratory was nearly three thousand square meters.
This made Daru feel even more apprehensive. Caruso ignored him, walking straight to a mechanical facility covered in magical patterns, and whispered to Daru: “Come, take off your clothes and sit on this.”
Caruso’s voice seemed to possess a mysterious power. Daru dazedly stripped naked and sat on the machine. Needles were inserted into his body, and a glass cover came down from above. The deep blue liquid flowed with a glug glug sound. Soon, he became just like the creatures in the other glass covers.
Caruso took a few steps, pressed his hand on a magic mark, and a transparent glass jar popped out, filled with purple liquid.
There was a label on it: “Perfect Magical Enlightenment Potion.”
“This stuff is very precious. Even I only refined ten bottles. It’s a potion that can grant excellent magical aptitude to those without it.
“If it wasn’t that your Father God dotes on you and was willing to contribute a portion of His domain power for me to research… hehe…”
Shaking the potion, Caruso plugged this jar of potion into a protruding port. The potion decreased at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the transparent needle tubes inserted into Daru gradually turned purple.
Luna waited for a very long time. According to the clock hanging in the reception room, half a month had already passed. Just when she couldn’t endure it any longer, that wooden door finally opened.
The tiger-headed person, Lieya, carried Daru, who was wrapped in white cloth on his back, threw him onto the sofa with a clatter, threw Daru’s clothes onto the sofa as well, and then said: “When this kid wakes up, you can leave. Just open the door; the outside has already been positioned to Mowgli Street in the Elden District.”
Half an hour later, Daru woke up. Somewhat shyly, he asked Luna to turn her back, rustled as he put on his clothes, and attempted to meditate, discovering that he had already become a Senior Magic Apprentice and opened his Soul Sanctury space.
The two walked out the door and saw the bustling crowd outside. Luna said: “You have already obtained wizard aptitude. I will now send you to the Bayen Ordinary Wizard School in the floating City of Academia, and then we will part ways here.”
Amidst his excitement, Daru also felt somewhat reluctant to part. He had learned the Path of Blood Energy and Heart Fire from Luna for a period of time. Although he was never able to get started, Daru had always respectfully called Luna “Teacher.”
Time flew by in a flash. In the blink of an eye, a day passed. The two had already arrived at the floating City of Academia, the only artificial demi-plane, a three-star astronomical system, a vast and boundless miniature starry sky.
Riding an ancient solar sailboat, Daru very much enjoyed the moment of drifting in the boundless starry sky.
He did not choose instantaneous teleportation, nor did he choose a fast starship; instead, he chose a retro sightseeing ship—a solar sailboat.
“I heard His Excellency the Mythical Wizard Warren was the first to manufacture a solar sail star-ship. His student—who recovered from the desperate situation of his cognitive world shattering and solidifying, and advanced to Mythical—the founding wizard of Electromagnetism, His Excellency Thales, has ridden a solar sail star-ship many times.
“This is a space voyage akin to a pastoral idyll. What we pursue is not speed, but the passing scenery…”
Daru listened quietly, slowly closing his eyes.
About three months later, he and Luna finally arrived at the central stellar system: the Ring of Academia.
Looking at it from afar on the solar sailboat, the Ring of Academia was very awe-inspiring. It could be said that floating cities were the pinnacle manifestation of magical industry, and the mega-structure that was the Ring of Academia was the crown jewel among them.
Located about 300 million kilometers from the sun, the ring was a curved cylinder. From afar, it looked like a ring; up close, it was a ring-shaped cylindrical structure composed entirely of magical metal.
The radius of the cylinder was six thousand kilometers, almost equivalent to the size of an ordinary habitable planet. The internal space was extremely vast, and the external structure was complex and solid.
It possessed three-dimensional magical defense facilities. Thousands of warships equipped with planetary-class orbital electromagnetic guns patrolled here.
After undergoing strict inspections, Daru and Luna entered the interior of the Ring of Academia together: District Eleven.
Azure sky, fresh air, lush forests, murmuring streams—it was as if they had come to a primeval jungle.
“The environmental contrast here is simply too great. I thought it would be high-rise buildings bursting with a sense of magic, and various highly mechanical magical facilities.”
Daru couldn’t help but sigh.
The guiding wizard wore a casual shirt and cargo pants, with a Second Ring Hexagram Badge pinned to his chest. He smiled and said: “Are you super surprised? I was the same when I first came here. Other floating cities are all monotonously magical buildings. Only here—accurately speaking, only District Eleven of the Ring of Academia—has completely restored natural landscapes.
“Except for the simulated sunlight, everything else is a naturalized ecology. This place is like an isolated primeval continent. Magical beasts multiply freely within it, and only a scattered few dozen Wizard Towers—which are magic schools—are located here.
“Welcome to the Apprentice District. Compared to District Eleven, we prefer to call this place Ergedon!”
Daru murmured: “Ergedon… the natural world?”
Three months later, Luna had long since departed, and Daru also gradually began to adapt to academy life. As a Son of God, although all his bloodlines had been extracted, Daru had also received Caruso’s modification, possessing excellent magical aptitude akin to a natural overclocker, making learning magic very handy.
In just three months, he skipped from the first year to the third year, beginning to formally come into contact with Zero Ring magic and advanced mathematics.
The atmosphere in the magic school was relatively harmonious. Daru had already familiarized himself with the basic common sense of magical society within these three months. Although he hadn’t yet mingled completely with the other wizard apprentices, he was basically familiar with them.
No one could tell that this boy who wore a white shirt and black trousers to class was a Son of God. In the neighboring District Ten, he heard there was a specialized Warlock school, but Daru had no interest.
In his words, “I didn’t study magic to reproduce my Father’s domain. Reaching the pinnacle of the Warlock path is nothing more than re-walking the domain, and yet unable to defeat that existence at the end of the bloodline. There are innate flaws, and they cannot be make up. It’s only slightly more flexible than a Hero. A wise man would not choose it.
“Now, on the contrary, I have all possibilities. Perhaps it’s very slim, but at least I have hope.”
As a True God, and furthermore the offspring of Ace’s subordinate god, Daru indeed knew many secrets. He had even had the honor of entering the Dream Star and roaming that vast galactic universe.
Leaning on the railing in the corridor, looking at the beautiful scenery outside, Daru’s thoughts drifted to his memories.
One point two million stars and four spiral arms formed the Milky Way. Contained within were all of His Excellency Ace’s cognitions of the world. What are celestial bodies? What is the starry sky? What is gravity? What is electromagnetic force? From the most microscopic atomic structure to the macroscopic celestial universe, everything was perfectly orderly.
“I am the world! Man, who possesses the power of thought, is the measure of all things. My cognition can be a world!”
Daru murmured, the flame in his heart growing ever more vigorous. He walked quickly back to the classroom and earnestly worked on calculus exam questions.
Just at this moment, a melodious female voice sounded.
“Students, an emergency notice: This afternoon, our beloved Immortal Legendary Wizard and Rotating Chairman of the Supreme Council, His Excellency Bayen, will visit our school, and at 3:00 PM in the Great Auditorium, will recount the most cutting-edge theory of magic to all students: Relativity!
“Please, everyone, be sure to arrive an hour early, dress in formal attire…”
Like dropping a nitroglycerin bomb into a calm lake, the entire classroom instantly erupted in a buzzing sound of discussion. The young wizards present were all unbearably excited.
In the afternoon, in the brilliantly illuminated Golden Hall of the Great Auditorium, Daru was lucky enough to snag a seat in the front row.
He waited with excitement in his heart. The hall quickly became packed. The apprentices who arrived late had to squeeze into the aisles. Just at this moment, the entire Golden Hall suddenly experienced intense mana pulsations, subsequently expanding overall, out of thin air enlarging the space by nearly three times, and adding many more seats.
There was a spatial disturbance on the stage, and Bayen appeared out of thin air.
This display of exquisite spatial extension instantly detonated the apprentices’ enthusiasm. They cheered passionately. Bayen was forced to press his hands down in the air multiple times before making them quiet down.
“I have already felt your enthusiasm.
“I envy you very much. In the prime of your youth, you are the newly risen suns, full of vitality and vigor.
“Today, I will discuss two things with everyone. First, how to plan your own path of magic based on the theory of relativity. Second, to discuss some problems that Special Relativity has not yet answered.
“…
“If you are determined to walk the path of magic of relativity, it’s best to lay the foundation during the Senior Wizard Apprentice stage. I personally suggest you use the most orthodox Stellar Form Meditation Method to construct a Destiny Star phantom within your Soul Sanctuary.
“The theory of relativity is actually a theory about time and space, and this inevitably relates to celestial bodies…”
Everyone listened enraptured. Daru also gained a clearer understanding of his future: first construct a Destiny Star phantom; then, after advancing to a formal wizard, construct a Cognitive Destiny Star; and after advancing to Level 2, construct a simple astronomical system in the mental imagery world.
This system can be complex or simple: from the simplest system of a few asteroids, to a standard planetary-satellite system, to a gas giant-satellite system. The extremely outstanding ones can create a somewhat unreal stellar system.
Generally speaking, advancing to an Legendary Wizard means being able to construct a somewhat illusory stellar system in one’s mental imagery world. The more complex and real the structure within it, the better.
This way, one will step by step approach the forefront of magic, pointing to the highest domains of gravity and electromagnetic force.
Bayen gave the apprentices some time to absorb and digest. After about half an hour passed, he continued: “This points out a direction. But relativity is also not flawless. Lord Ace calls it Special Relativity because there are two confusing problems.
“First, can gravity exceed the speed of light? Second, what is an inertial coordinate system?
“Regarding the first question, mainstream academic views have already reached a consensus, which is negating the action-at-a-distance of gravity.
“A basic hypothesis of our relativity is that the speed of light is constant and cannot be exceeded.
“We believe action-at-a-distance should not exist, because if action-at-a-distance exists, gravity would exceed the speed of light.
“We believe gravity should be like electromagnetic force, possessing a force field, and perhaps even like electromagnetic waves, possessing gravitational waves. As for why we haven’t discovered gravitational waves yet, I think it might be because we haven’t yet determined the fundamental nature of gravity.”
(Chapter finished)
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