Chapter 602: Heading There
In the study of the Central High Tower, Ace slowly wrote down:
“…From this, it can be seen that gravity and acceleration are the same thing. A person in free fall cannot feel their own weight because a new gravitational field simultaneously appears in their accelerated frame, and this gravitational field and the accelerated frame cancel each other out.
“From this, we can deduce our first axiom: the Equivalence Principle.
“The dynamical effects of an inertial force field and a gravitational field are locally indistinguishable.
“Now, let’s discuss the previous problem again. If we try to define an inertial frame, we fall into an endless loop. The Equivalence Principle cannot solve this problem. So, we can expand this concept, discard the inertial frame, and change it to all frames of reference, regardless of whether they are inertial or non-inertial.
“This is the Principle of General Relativity. All coordinate systems (including non-inertial frames) are equal; that is, objective and real physical laws should be valid under any coordinate system. Therefore, physical laws should be covariant under any coordinate transformation, so the Principle of General Relativity is also called the Principle of General Covariance.
“General covariance can only acquire physical content through the Equivalence Principle.”
After this, Ace began to write a series of mathematical derivations and covariant equations, which will not be detailed here.
“Let us do another thought experiment. A closed elevator is accelerating upwards. A beam of light enters through a small hole on one side. When it reaches the opposite side, what is the distance between the light beam and the floor?
“According to the Equivalence Principle, we can deduce that the distance between the light spot on the other side and the floor must be slightly smaller than on the starting side.
“This is because the gravitational field bends the light. In other words, light bends when passing through a gravitational field.
“Therefore, we need to discuss why light bends.”
The power of the Great Source was surging madly. It seemed Ace had raised an inconceivable question. Even within the artificial demi-plane, Source Power surged into this realm along the Magic Net, swirling around Ace.
As the current sub-landlord of the inner side of the world, Ace held great authority. He dispelled the anomalies of the Source Power, retaining only the pure Source Power, and continued writing.
“The geometry we know tells us that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. If a person wants to go from place A to place B, a straight line saves the most effort.
“However, if someone wants to fly from Luminous City to Byrne City on the Old Continent, the shortest distance is not a straight line, but an arc formed around the surface of the earth core.
“This arc is also called a geodesic.
“Geodesics originate from geodetic surveying, representing the shortest path between two points.
“Thus, the bending of light is also determined by some structure similar to a geodesic in the gravitational field.
“In other words, the gravitational field alters space-time, causing flat space-time to become curved.
“We need to establish new space-time equations to find the laws of space-time curvature.”
Ace paused His pen. Space-time itself seemed to vibrate. The Great Source rejoiced; the boiling of the Great Source that had just been suppressed grew fervent again, like the prelude to a musical climax, one wave cresting higher than the last.
Within the galactic universe inside the Dream Star, the group of wizards had arrived at the Magic Sanctuary. Stepping on the cold, silver star-sand floor, Thales couldn’t help but shiver. Melodious yet desolate music began to play, and everyone present felt a stir in their souls.
“This singing Lord Ace set up… every time I come in, I feel a shudder all over,” an Legendary Wizard whispered to his companion.
“There is a lot of particularity to this. The music of the Magic Sanctuary sounds different in everyone’s ears. This is a melody from the Domain of Music that strikes directly at your soul. The performer is the God of Musical Dreams among the three thousand Dream Gods,” another Legendary Wizard, who seemed to know a lot, said with a smile.
“Silence! This is the Sanctuary of Magic, containing the subconscious of all wizards. We are about to head to the Sea of Consciousness within the sanctuary. You must keep your minds steady. Once you become intoxicated in the Sea of Consciousness, you will be assimilated, and no one will be able to save you.”
Bayen sternly interrupted everyone’s whispers and warned them solemnly.
The Legendary Wizards instantly didn’t dare to speak; those who were here for the first time felt even more uneasy.
Betty coughed lightly and said to the wizards somewhat gently, “His Excellency Bayen is right. The wizards’ subconscious sea is indeed dangerous. However, existences Level 3 and above have stable souls. As long as you don’t overthink, there won’t be any major problems.
“Do not attempt to comprehend the Sea of Consciousness. If you become Mythical Wizards, you can come here to comprehend and immerse yourselves at any time.”
“Lady Betty is so gentle. I really like her,” a newly advanced female Legendary Wizard said intoxicatingly, clasping her hands together.
“…”
Another male wizard wanted to speak but hesitated for a long time. Recalling the scene he once saw of Betty transforming into a steel giant and easily defeating three Devil Monarchs with an extremely powerful electromagnetic railgun and small tactical nuclear fission spells, he shivered and said nothing.
Bayen bowed slightly toward the statue of Ace, then chanted an incantation in the magical language with a solemn expression. The gurgling sound of flowing water echoed, and murmuring streams began to appear in the grand hall. The water grew more and more abundant, eventually turning into raging, crashing waves. The crowd was swept up by a wave crest, feeling the world spin. When they regained their senses, they found they had already left the hall and arrived in the middle of an ocean.
The seawater here was exceptionally clear and cheerful. The wizards followed Bayen, slowly swimming in the sea.
A ray of colored light drifted past, hitting an Legendary Wizard dead on. He instantly went rigid, as if sinking into a dream, or as if being reincarnated anew.
It seemed he became a commoner living in a cold city, bullied from time to time, until one day he obtained a grimore and changed his fate.
He used the lesser spells he learned to play tricks on those who bullied him and gradually became wealthy. But the good times didn’t last long; the city-state seemed to have discovered something, and people were arresting devil believers everywhere.
Just when he was frightened and uneasy, the Firelinker appeared, leading them away on the eve of the city’s destruction, climbing over snowy mountains and crossing ice plains.
They established a new city, a city of magic.
Lord Ace sounded the strongest voice of the era: “A thinking wizard is the measure of all things.”
He followed diligently, eager to witness the future of magic, the beautiful future depicted by Lord Ace.
However, he fell, dying on a night when a massive number of monsters laid siege to the city, never waking up again.
This Legendary Wizard suddenly woke up at this moment. Tears blurred his eyes as he murmured, “The future you wanted to see has arrived. Now is the era of magic, the era of wizards. The Magic Net rules the inner side of the world. We wizards can capture hostile deities, plunging Them into a long slumber, and have even developed a great floating city magical civilization. This is the era of magic’s brilliant prosperity.”
A surge of comforting and regretful emotions swelled. That colored light swirled around this Legendary Wizard and actually transformed into a mark, sinking into the back of his left hand.
(Chapter finished)
Advance chapters at Nightjar Reads · nightjarreads.com