Chapter 633: Black Body

This was the reason Alexander could not join his good friend Goldolo’s project. He had taken a crucial step in the microscopic realm. His great discovery of cathode rays had proven the existence of the electron—a particle even smaller than an atom—using mortal methods and from a mortal perspective.

Compared to this result, which had already been “seen” by Ace, another message—or rather, confidence—provided by Alexander had rekindled people’s enthusiasm.

At the headquarters of the Galactic Alliance, the First Academic Ring, discussions about Alexander and “Cathode Rays” had become the most fashionable topic.

The so-called Academic Ring was actually a megastructure: a “Ringworld.” It utilized almost all the matter of an entire stellar system, and even neighboring systems, to construct a magnificent, integrated metallic ring.

This ring was incredibly majestic, encircling the entire star. It was completely transforming nature with a wizard’s power, disciplining nature into the shape wizards desired.

It was called the First Academic Ring because there were seven other similar “Ringworlds,” each bearing specific, different functions.

In the Third Ring District of the First Academic Ring lay the primitive-style zone where universities gathered. The scenery here was beautiful. Higher magical academies were situated either in primeval jungles, hidden at the bottom of massive lakes, concealed above the white clouds, or standing upon the peaks of volcanoes.

Among them, one magical high school was the most famous: the Second Ace University.

This was a branch campus entirely aided and constructed by the First Ace University of the Academic City in the Celestial Realm, and it was also the headquarters of the Magic journal.

“Alexander’s discovery… rather than calling it a discovery, it’s more accurate to say he confirmed Lord Ace’s discovery from another angle and with another method. Considering its difficulty, I believe his discovery is incredibly important in a certain sense!”

A male Mythical Wizard spoke with assurance. He was a senior editor and joint reviewer for the highest academic journal, Magic.

“Indeed it is. What I love most is a piece of ‘nonsense’ in the paper that has nothing to do with theory.”

Another female Mythical Wizard walked over. With bright eyes and white teeth, she was elegant and composed—a true model of a noble Mythical Witch, every movement exuding an academic aura.

“To think my thoughts align with those of the uniquely insightful Your Excellency Donna. It is truly an honor. I also like that one sentence unrelated to theory,” the male Mythical Wizard replied with a smile.

“Your Excellency Lucilu praises me too highly. Why don’t we both say it?” Donna smiled faintly, her voice soft.

“Mortals can also explore the microscopic world. Even though I only a Gold Wizard, but merely an ordinary mortal, as long as I have sufficient cultivation in mechanics and mathematics, it is possible to discover the electron.”

“A thinking person is the measure of all things. We shall use fundamental mechanics and mathematics to measure all things!”

The words were not exactly the same, but the thought within them was identical: that ordinary people could also peer into the cutting-edge mysteries of fundamental theory.

The two were momentarily stunned, after which Lucilu burst into hearty laughter, while Donna elegantly smiled behind her hand.

Lucilu was a good friend of Legendary Immortal Wizards like Betty, Carruso, and Polina. He was among the earliest batch of Wizard Apprentices who followed Ace starting from the escape from the North.

Such seniority inspired a trace of respect, but his strength was ultimately limited. The entire Wizard World changed with each passing day and developed extremely rapidly. There were already nearly 50,000 Mythical Wizards and over 2,000 Immortal Legends.

Newcomers were all monsters; it was common to see the older generation crushed by the new waves.

Due to his lack of strength, Lucilu gradually faded out of the core circle of the Celestial Realm. After all, if one wasn’t a Legendary Immortal Wizard, who had the face to build a Wizard Tower in the Celestial Realm?

The self-exiled lucilu came here and served as an editor for several years. Donna was Betty’s student. Because she bore a striking resemblance to the good friend “Donna” who had sacrificed herself for Ancestar in the past, and shared the same name, she was favored by Betty and taken in as a student.

Donna’s greatest academic achievement was the “Donna Heat Engine” model established alongside Thomas. However, the two failed to see through it completely; ultimately, Ace took a step further and proposed the Second Law of Thermodynamics, namely the Theorem of Entropy Increase.

Donna’s background and academic achievements also made her one of the reviewing editors for Magic.

The initial review of Alexander’s paper had come precisely from their hands.

“I really want to meet this Alexander.”

“I want to meet him too. Compared to a self-exiled person like me, perhaps Alexander is a true wizard. He has never forgotten the earnest teachings of Lord Ace.”

The two looked at each other and smiled, everything understood without words.

Alexander received an invitation from the highest institution in the entire galaxy, the Second Ace Magical University. Naturally, he missed the chance to join his good friend Goldolo’s project. Moreover, he had just made a crucial breakthrough in the microscopic world and was unwilling to divert his energy.

Alexander readily accepted the invitation. For a wizard—a wizard dedicated to academic research—was there any place better than the Second Ace Magical University?

Looking at the hundreds of invitation letters in his hand, Alexander put away every single one except the one from the Second Ace Magical University, including Goldolo’s.

He wrote corresponding hundreds of thank-you letters, politely declining the various invitations.

After finishing this, he bid farewell to the leaders, colleagues, and students of the 4th Spiral Arm Magical University. With their blessings, he boarded the curvature civilian airliner, the Space-Time Truth, heading to the First Academic Ring.

In the metallic white corridor of the cabin, Alexander queued up with others to enter economy class. The ship’s broadcast began to play a sweet female voice.

“Welcome aboard the Space-Time Truth. The entire crew of the Space-Time Truth will serve you wholeheartedly. Our ship was personally built by His Excellency Bayen, the Immortal Legendary Wizard closest to the Tenth Ring. The ship is 1,300 meters long, with a maximum height of 120 meters and a maximum diameter of 70 meters. The overall shape is streamlined.

“We utilize curvature navigation, therefore, unlike other types of spaceships, there is no sub-space internally. As is well known, superimposing sub-space with curvature navigation easily leads to loss-of-control accidents.

“Similarly, because it is curvature navigation, the smaller the hull, the less hindrance during curvature navigation. Therefore, our hull is not large.

“After boarding, please take your seats first and have a hot drink. We will begin to accelerate to 45% of the speed of light, entering sub-light-speed navigation.

“We will head to the nearest Ace-Bayen Jump Point to perform a curvature jump.”

Listening to the broadcast, Alexander felt a trace of excitement in his heart. It wasn’t just because he was going to the Second Ace Magical University, but even more so because he was riding a curvature ship.

This was a curvature spaceship! It could be said to be the most cutting-edge magical achievement developed based on General Relativity. The fact that such an achievement had already been civilianized was in itself cause for rejoicing and encouragement.

Come to think of it, for Alexander—a dignified Level 3 Legendary Wizard, a Level 2 Higher Education Professor titleholder granted by the Galactic Alliance, and a Level 4 Scholar—to have never ridden a curvature spaceship before was indeed a bit unjustifiable.

But curvature spaceship tickets were truly too expensive. If Alexander didn’t own 0.5% of the shares in Goldolo Magic Investment Company (diluted after multiple rounds of financing), he probably wouldn’t have the money to afford it.

A university professor’s salary for 50 years might only be enough to buy a round-trip ticket from Planet Athena to the First Academic Ring.

After settling down, several merchants in the neighboring seats began to chat idly.

“Have you heard? Goldolo is making big moves again. He’s massively purchasing Spirit Computers. He’s been at it for half a year and has already acquired nearly 300 million Spirit Computers.”

“Many people are optimistic about this plan of his, including myself, haha. I showed up at his door carrying magic tokens, but they wouldn’t even accept them.”

“After all, we have nothing but magic tokens, and Goldolo isn’t exactly short on magic tokens. I’ve already heard he wants technology investments more.”

“Indeed. Many magic engineers are still very formidable. Technology means patents, and patents mean having a voice.”

Alexander closed his eyes and began to rest. The sub-light-speed navigation quickly commenced. Although the spaceship was small, it was very stable, with no unusual circumstances.

The people in the neighboring seats were still chatting. One person suddenly asked, “Speaking of which, can’t curvature navigation directly… you know, jump? Why do we still need to use sub-light-speed navigation?”

“Yeah. I saw a huge portion of Magical Dynamics resources poured into sub-light-speed navigation. We already have curvature navigation; what do we need sub-light-speed for?”

Alexander, who was resting with his eyes closed, couldn’t help but speak up. “Ladies and gentlemen, you might not understand what curvature navigation is. Generally speaking, our curvature navigation is divided into two types…”

“What two types?”

A well-dressed, fairly attractive lady asked curiously.

The other gentlemen also looked quite cultivated, wearing black suits and monocles. One of them smiled and said, “We laymen only know how to make money and haven’t studied academics deeply. You look like a learned person at a glance; please, tell us about it.”

Alexander didn’t care if the other party was being sarcastic or not. He said seriously, “Curvature navigation is our wizards’ greatest magical technology, an applied magic developed based on General Relativity. Simply put, our space-time is curved. That is to say, four-dimensional space-time is uneven and has curvature.

“Because there is curvature, there are natural faster-than-light curvature channels. We have completed the curvature mapping of the entire galaxy, which means we have mapped all the faster-than-light channels. We must perform sub-light-speed navigation to reach the starting point of the nearest faster-than-light channel, then perform a curvature jump to reach the destination.

“Our curvature navigation is actually a continuous cycle of sub-light-speed navigation and faster-than-light navigation.

“As for the type of curvature navigation this gentleman mentioned, it’s not that it doesn’t exist, but the required energy is too massive.

“The navigation you mentioned—for example, directly arriving at the First Academic Ring from Planet Athena—would mean we need to completely twist all the space-time curvature between here and there, creating an eternal curvature wake. At this stage, this is unnecessary and would cause irreversible consequences to the space-time curvature.”

The group suddenly realized and nodded in agreement. The lady who asked the question had a sparkle in her eyes. She said gently to Alexander, “You know so much. Are you an engineer in Magical Dynamics?”

Alexander shook his head and said, “I am a scholar. A scholar specializing in researching fundamental theories of the microscopic realm.”

The lady was instantly disappointed. She knew about so-called scholars. Most of them were poor and pedantic, their mouths full of mathematical formulas, equations, and world truths, but when asked how to monetize it or make money, they were completely clueless.

The others also lost interest in Alexander. They adjusted their monocles and began to close their eyes to rest.

Alexander wasn’t angry either; he closed his eyes and rested.

Two weeks later, Alexander arrived at the Third District of the First Academic Ring.

Riding a traditional airship, looking down at the lush primeval jungle and the sparkling lake surface, Alexander’s mood became incredibly joyous. The Second Ace Magical University was close at hand.

“Your Excellency Alexander, our university is above the clouds. Riding a magical airship is the best way to tour it. Look at the floating island ahead; that is our school.”

Alexander stopped leaning over to look down. He raised his head and found nothing directly ahead. A white light flashed in his eyes.

Fifth Ring Spell: Eye of Truth!

The scene before him changed drastically. a massive floating island appeared before his eyes.

Rather than calling it a school, it was more like an academy city in the sky. The style here was very retro, lacking the post-modern mechanical feel of a metropolis planet, but instead brimming with the style of the Kaya era. The pace was slow, and the classical architecture possessed a distinct charm.

There were no skyscrapers, only rows of villas, four- or five-story towers, cobblestone paths, and tall white marble archways.

The Mythical Wizards Donna and Lucilu were already waiting here. Seeing Alexander, Lucilu enthusiastically shook his hand and said, “Welcome, Professor Alexander.”

Donna also smiled and said, “Your ‘Cathode Rays’ was very solid and brilliant. I really like the sentence, ‘We shall use fundamental mechanics and mathematics to measure all things’.”

Alexander smiled sheepishly. “That was written in a moment of emotional surge; it got a bit carried away. In reality, whether we can measure all things is still uncertain, haha.”

“Let’s not stand around at the entrance. I’ll take you to handle the procedures. From today on, you are a new professor in our Thermodynamics Department. Don’t worry about the microscopic realm you research; it won’t be lacking. We’ll equip you with the best laboratory our department can provide.”

Lucilu smiled and pulled Alexander along. The group quickly finished the procedures and arrived at Donna’s office.

“I’ll get straight to the point. Have you read Professor Thomas’s article in the fourth issue of Thermodynamics last year?”

The three took their seats. Donna brewed three cups of tea. Sitting on the sofa, she crossed her slender, straight left leg over her right, resting it diagonally and parallel, looking elegant and alluring.

Alexander turned a blind eye to it, carefully recalling the Thermodynamics journal. He said somewhat uncertainly, “Are you referring to the Absolute Black Body hypothesis?”

Donna clapped her hands and nodded. “Yes, exactly the Black Body Radiation hypothesis. There’s no need to be so formal with us; just call me by my name. Alexander, you know the three methods of heat transfer, right?”

Alexander smiled and said, “Of course. Heat conduction, heat convection, and thermal radiation. The freshly brewed tea burning my mouth is heat conduction. Pouring cold water into the tea is heat convection. Drinking tea bathed in the sunlight from the floor-to-ceiling window is thermal radiation. This is knowledge from elementary magical schools; how could I not know it?”

Lucilu also smiled and said, “You definitely know it. Then tell us what the Black Body hypothesis is about.”

Alexander gazed at the two and said seriously, “An absolute black body does not exist, but approximate black bodies do. Any object with a temperature above absolute zero Betty will produce thermal radiation. In other words, every object is constantly radiating electromagnetic waves and also absorbing them.

“The so-called absolute black body is an idealized model that only absorbs electromagnetic waves and does not radiate them.

“You want to study waves?”

The two nodded, then shook their heads.

Donna explained seriously, “After Thomas proposed the absolute black body hypothesis, Lucilu and I began our respective research.

“You might not have paid much attention, but this matter has become a dark cloud over fundamental theoretical research. We need your help.”

Lucilu continued, “Simply put, starting from thermodynamic theory and combining it with experimental data, Donna provided an empirical black body radiation formula—the so-called Donna Formula. Meanwhile, starting from the perspective of statistical mechanics, I mathematically derived the Lucilu Formula.

“These two formulas form the Donna Curve and the Lucilu Curve, respectively. From the Lucilu Curve, we drew a conclusion: the smaller the wavelength of an object, the greater the energy it emits. In other words, if this curve applies to all wavelength bands, it could instantly obliterate the energy brought by any energy source. Nuclear fission and fusion wouldn’t even be worth mentioning!

“However, the Donna Curve does not match actual experimental data for long waves, and the Lucilu Curve does not match short waves. Yet, both formulas are based on existing classical theories. It is an unsolvable dark cloud!”

Donna’s expression turned solemn as she stood up, her posture straight and her curves beautiful.

“Alexander, I have looked into you. You are different from your peers. Many talented people turn to engineering research, invent practical things, apply for patents, open companies, attract investment, and make big money—like your classmate Goldolo. But you are different. You chose to bow out and focus entirely on academics. ‘Cathode Rays’ is the result of your talent and hard work.

“I believe it is possible for you to solve this dark cloud and find the true answer to the black body radiation hypothesis.”

Alexander thought quietly. His intuition told him this black body radiation was very interesting. He smiled and said, “I am willing to try. However, I still want to continue researching the microscopic world. I have only proven the electron; I haven’t proven the atomic nucleus Lord Ace spoke of, much less the internal composition of the atomic nucleus.”

Lucilu nodded and said relaxedly, “Don’t worry. Besides you, many wizards dedicated to fundamental theory are researching this issue, but it won’t be solved overnight. Let’s discuss another matter first. Donna and I have already recommended you as a candidate for the Betty Alchemy Gold Medal.”

“Alchemy?”

Alexander didn’t quite understand.

Lucilu and Donna burst into laughter. “It’s a tradition. The majority of all research regarding the microscopic is categorized under Alchemy. Think about it: isn’t the so-called alchemy just the transformation of matter? Of course, most alchemy refers to chemical reactions at the molecular level.

“Regardless, this is one of the highest awards, second only to the Ace Gold Medal. If you can win it, it will absolutely be a rare honor!”

(Chapter finished)

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