Chapter 634: The Quantum Beginning

Alexander’s feelings were complex. He had always thought he would win the Bayen Astrology Gold or Silver Medal; he hadn’t expected to be nominated for an alchemy medal.

But regardless, this was the highest award in the six traditional classifications. In reality, what was called Astrology was basically mechanics, and Alchemy was chemistry. They were just still called Alchemy and Astrology to maintain ancient wizard traditions.

There were still three months until the Betty Alchemy Award ceremony. Alexander took recent research literature on black body radiation from Donna and Lucilu , preparing to delve into it.

As a newly onboarded professor, the Thermodynamics Department hadn’t assigned any classes to Alexander yet, so he had plenty of time on his hands.

Lying on the large bed in his spacious dormitory, Alexander took a sip of the black tea Donna had given him. Flipping through the literature, he murmured, “It’s too strange. The Donna Curve and the Lucilu Curve were clearly derived from existing theories. How could the Ultraviolet Catastrophe occur?

“In reality, there couldn’t possibly be such a massive energy explosion; it’s completely unreasonable. They must have ignored some crucial factor!”

He sat up and scrawled a messy sentence on a piece of paper: “In classical statistical theory, the equipartition theorem predicts that the intensity of black body radiation will diverge to infinity in the ultraviolet region, which severely contradicts reality!”

“According to the information Lord Ace once obtained through the Great Source’s feedback, the atom is a particle, and the electron is an even smaller particle. Assuming the feedback Lord Ace received is correct, then the tiny oscillators within the atoms that make up matter inside a cavity formed by an enclosed region are bound states, which inevitably leads to quantization.

“I can first assume that the energy of the electromagnetic field is distributed according to the different vibrational modes of the charged oscillators in the matter…”

Alexander’s interest was piqued, and he began to calculate with rapt attention. Stacks of scratch paper piled up; when one is focused, time always flies.

“Mr. Alexander hasn’t come out for a month. Douding feels very scared.”

A little yellow wooden man carrying a large tray of breakfast scurried onto Donna’s desk, set the breakfast down, and spun in circles as he spoke to Donna.

Donna took a bite of white bread dipped in cheese, soft and sweet.

“What is Mr. Alexander doing in his room?”

Douding jumped vigorously, stretching his short arms out with an exaggerated expression. “He’s constantly writing things, seemingly calculating something. Douding doesn’t understand, but anyway, there’s so much scratch paper!

“And he often skips meals. He looks much more haggard.”

Donna nodded and smiled. “Just keep delivering his meals on time, and add more high-energy nutritional meals. If he hasn’t eaten, just replace it. Don’t worry too much; Mr. Alexander is an Legendary Wizard. Not eating for a year won’t kill him.”

Another two months passed, and the workaholic Alexander still hadn’t emerged. Lucilu and Donna walked to his door.

“We have to get Alexander to come out today. The Betty Alchemy Award ceremony is about to begin.”

Lucilu scratched his head, looking somewhat hesitant.

“I’ll go get him. Staying cooped up won’t lead to a breakthrough. The black body radiation issue was called a century-old conundrum by Lord Betty. Although we think highly of Alexander, it’s unlikely he’ll solve it now.”

She knocked lightly on the door a few times, but there was no response. Donna didn’t hesitate and pushed the door open, only to find Alexander asleep on the bed, fully clothed and hugging a stack of scratch paper.

“He truly is a diligent person. No wonder he was able to invent and prove the existence of the electron. There’s still time; sleep a little longer.”

Donna gently extracted the stack of scratch paper from Alexander’s arms. She organized it with the scratch paper on the desk, placed them in a pile, covered Alexander with a blanket, and quietly walked out. She said to Lucilu , “He’s asleep. It seems he really is tired. The award ceremony starts in the evening; let’s wake him up later. I’ll take this opportunity to look at his calculation drafts.”

Lucilu nodded, also lowering his voice. “Then remember to wake him. I’ll go set up the venue first.”

Donna nodded and gently closed the door. Carrying the thick stack of drafts, she walked to the sofa in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, sat down, and began to read slowly.

Her figure had perfect curves, and bathed in the sunlight, she was very pleasing to the eye. Unfortunately, the only male present, Alexander, was still sound asleep, leaving no one to appreciate the rare beauty.

Flipping gently through the drafts, Donna felt her eyes swim. As a wizard, and a Mythical Witch at that, Donna’s foundation in mathematics was naturally flawless. She endured the dizziness and read slowly.

Donna’s expression gradually turned serious. Her beautiful eyes and small mouth widened simultaneously in shock, joy, and disbelief.

“This man… derived the formula in just three months?”

With a bang, Donna vanished like a whirlwind, startling Alexander awake from his dreams. Alexander rubbed his sleepy eyes. Before he even fully woke up, he saw Donna suddenly appear with a bang and grab his arm.

“Don’t resist. I’m taking you to the lab.”

A pulse of mana rippled, and the two vanished together, reappearing in the Thermodynamics Department’s laboratory.

“Compare the data, compare the data, compare the data!”

Muttering to herself, Donna completely disregarded her ladylike image. Leaning over and rummaging through boxes and cabinets for experimental data, she inadvertently showed off her beautiful curves.

Alexander couldn’t help but swallow hard and closed his eyes.

Donna didn’t care at all. She had no time to worry about accidentally exposing herself. She finally found the experimental data and began cross-referencing it with Alexander’s formula one by one.

“No mistake… this one is also correct… completely identical…”

After a long time, Donna finally turned around, grabbed both of Alexander’s hands, and asked excitedly, “Why? Your formula perfectly matches the experimental data, whether for long waves or short waves. How exactly did you do it?”

Just as Alexander was about to speak, Donna suddenly said, “I’m sorry, I deeply respect your work, but I am just too eager to know how the Alexander Formula was derived.

“I can swear a Great Source Vow; please, you must tell me.”

Without giving Alexander a chance to speak, Donna swore a Great Source Vow. She was too desperate to know the principles behind the black body radiation formula.

Alexander felt his mouth go dry and said softly, “Your Excellency Donna, I think the award ceremony is about to start. How about we talk while we walk?”

Donna nodded, her hair somewhat disheveled and her face flushed. Suddenly, the laboratory doors opened.

“So you were here! The awards are about to… oh, sorry, sorry! Excuse the interruption.”

Lucilu had just walked in and saw the two of them with disheveled clothes, holding hands tightly. Donna’s hair was messy, and her face was flushed pink. With an odd expression, he backed out.

After thinking for a moment, he popped his head back in and said, “Don’t take too long. It really is about to start.”

Donna hurriedly released Alexander’s hands, her face turning even redder from embarrassment. She stammered, “Lucilu just likes to joke. Let’s not waste time; hurry and get ready for the ceremony.”

As she spoke, she snapped her fingers. Mana pulsed, and Donna instantly changed into a red evening gown. Her hairstyle became neat and elegant. Wearing ten-centimeter high heels, she looked as composed as ever, save for her slightly flushed face.

Alexander also cast a spell on himself, changing into a black suit. With a swipe of mana over his head, his hair slicked back, making him look very energetic.

Looking at the beautiful and elegant Donna, Alexander suddenly extended his hand and smiled brightly, “I wonder if I have the honor of walking the red carpet with you? I don’t have a female companion yet.”

Donna also smiled brightly, placing her slender fingers on Alexander’s hand. Her red lips parted slightly: “Then you first have to explain the derivation of the Alexander Formula to me.”

The two walked intimately, whispering to each other occasionally, leaving Lucilu utterly shocked.

“Are young people nowadays this fast? I must really be getting old. Men and women with common goals… truly enviable.”

Shaking his head, Lucilu jogged quickly to catch up.

When they reached the venue for the award ceremony, the entire world suddenly shook. A sense of indescribable joy filled their hearts, as if the Great Source was boiling.

In the Celestial Realm, three brand-new Tenth Ring Legendary Immortal Wizards had just been born! They were Bayen, Betty, and Thales. Relying on their robust foundations and Ace’s guidance, the three had successfully constructed extremely complex Tenth Ring spell models in four-dimensional space-time.

Bayen essentially followed the standard path of General Relativity, constructing a starry cosmos very similar to Ace’s, with nearly 100,000 stars in his sub-plane.

He was also very humble, often saying he was merely a follower on the path of the Firelinker. The Tenth Ring Legendary Immortal profession constructed by him and Ace was called the “Sovereign of the Stars.”

Betty absorbed the essence of relativity and expanded upon his own Heat Death model. After the less-than-successful Ring of Heat Death, Betty finally succeeded in constructing a powerful entropy-increasing spell model: the “True Ring of Heat Death.”

This Legendary Immortal profession was called the “Sovereign of Thermodynamics.” Anyone struck by the Ring of Heat Death would be imprisoned in an isolated, bubble-like system. Disorder and entropy would increase until everything was slowly destroyed.

Theoretically, this spell could even melt a Fruit of Immortality. Nothing can escape entropy increase in an isolated system!

Thales continued down the path of electromagnetism. After all, gravity and electromagnetism were the only two forces currently discovered. He successfully condensed a Tenth Ring spell model, becoming the “Controller of Electromagnetism.”

The birth of three Tenth Ring Legendary Immortal Wizards caused the Dream Great Source of the entire world to tremble with joy. Ace was also very gratified.

“Since three Tenth Ring wizards have been born, even without my intervention, the Wizard Multiverse is invincible on this level. It’s time to freely conquer other worlds and plunder more gods as slaves. Meanwhile, I can focus on researching the Mansus and preparing for the world’s dimensional ascension.”

Looking at the three receiving flowers and cheers, a smile appeared on the corner of Ace’s mouth, and his figure vanished.

Because of the advancement of the Tenth Ring Wizards, the award ceremony in the First Academic Ring was delayed. Three days later, the newly advanced Tenth Ring Wizard and executive member of the reorganized Supreme Council, His Excellency Betty, descended personally.

He was going to personally present the award to Alexander, who had proven the existence of the electron. This made the entire Academic Ring boil; almost everyone qualified attended. The ceremony was ultimately held in the Grand Plaza.

Betty personally awarded the Gold Medal and the Legendary magical item, the Cup of Disorder, to Alexander.

The Cup of Disorder was Betty’s latest creation. It could release an entropy-increasing ray, causing the struck object to experience massive entropy increase—or disorder—in a short time.

This spell was also known as Legendary Disjunction. It could turn intricate machinery and magical items entirely into scrap. It could also cause severe mutations in living creatures, even reducing them to a puddle of sludge—extremely terrifying.

“Alexander, thank you for your unique discoveries in the microscopic realm. I also hope you will continue your efforts.”

Alexander excitedly accepted the medal and the Cup of Disorder, saying loudly, “It is my honor and my expectation. I hope that one day, I can verify all the information Lord Ace received from the Great Source’s feedback.”

The ceremony lasted until nightfall. In Donna’s room, Tenth Ring Legendary Immortal Wizard Betty, Mythical Wizards Donna and Lucilu, and the new Betty Gold Medal winner Alexander were all gathered.

Betty had come personally as a Tenth Ring Wizard and a top powerhouse of the Wizard Multiverse precisely because of Donna’s information stream.

“Alexander has derived the correct black body radiation formula.”

This was why Betty had come. After verifying the formula and confirming it was flawless, he spoke amiably to Alexander: “This is absolutely a transcendent achievement. Could you share your line of thought with me?”

Alexander bowed respectfully, exchanged a glance with Donna, and said loudly:

“The electron is a smaller particle. Assuming the feedback Lord Ace received is correct, then the tiny oscillators within the atoms that make up matter inside a cavity formed by an enclosed region are bound states, which inevitably leads to quantization.

“I first assumed that the energy of the electromagnetic field is distributed according to the different vibrational modes of the charged oscillators in the matter. In other words, only by assuming that the emission and absorption of electromagnetic waves are not continuous, but occur in discrete ‘packets,’ can the calculated results match the experimental ones.

“From this, I derived a constant, which I call X. But what X exactly means is still unknown.

“However, we can be certain that if the constant is multiplied by the frequency of the electromagnetic wave, the result is energy.

“Theoretically, to obtain the correct radiation formula, one must assume that the energy radiated or absorbed by an object is not continuous, but discrete, and can only be an integer multiple of the constant multiplied by the frequency!

“I represented energy with E, the constant with X, and frequency with f. E can be called the ‘Energy Quantum’.”

A simple and direct description. Behind complex mathematical calculations often lie secrets that make one shudder. Just like when Betty and Donna first heard it, they shuddered all over in disbelief.

Outside the window, the sky had been clear, yet suddenly it began to pour rain. Thunder roared and lightning flashed; the Great Source seemed to be rejoicing.

Everyone’s expression changed as they looked at Alexander. They all knew clearly what the Great Source’s feedback meant. The fact that Alexander advanced from Legendary Wizard to Mythical Wizard—reaching the pinnacle of the third level—was even more meaningful.

“When did you advance to Mythical Wizard?” Lucilu asked loudly.

“The moment I finished deriving the formula, it felt as if a heavy burden was lifted from my heart. I advanced suddenly.”

Betty and the other two exchanged glances. Looking at the torrential rain outside the window, a trace of solemnity flashed in their eyes.

“It’s not an extremely strong feedback from the Great Source, but it is feedback. This means Alexander’s research is, to some extent, a correct understanding of the truth, at least in the microscopic realm,” the petite Betty said gravely.

“So energy comes in packets? Electromagnetic waves are actually discontinuous? This is hard to accept,” Lucilu also said in shock. He felt as if his head was going to explode and quickly stopped imagining it. Fortunately, he wasn’t an electromagnetism-based wizard, otherwise, the probability of him dying on the spot was extremely high.

“However, this formula is undoubtedly correct. We must assume that energy comes in packets; either you don’t eat, or if you do, you must eat a whole bowl,” Donna said firmly.

“This lacks aesthetic beauty completely. And this constant X is too bizarre. What exactly does the constant represent?” Lucilu still couldn’t quite accept it. The discovery that energy is quantized was certainly hard to swallow, but for now, it couldn’t shake the foundation of Lucilu’s spell models. After all, his main foundation was based on relativity.

Relativity mostly described the macroscopic; regarding the microscopic, it wasn’t prominent here.

Alexander looked at the three of them and said solemnly, “I don’t know what it is either. But I know that all magical constants have profound meanings. In our foundational magical theories, every constant has its significance in the Astral Plane.

“Discovering that energy is discontinuous is only the beginning. We need to clearly explain what this constant is. Furthermore, we should perhaps try to generalize this formula.”

“Generalize the formula?”

Hearing Alexander’s words, the three fell into deep thought. Finally, Betty suddenly made a decision and said, “This is an epoch-making discovery, and it has approached the truth to a certain extent. It shouldn’t be discussed by just the few of us; it should be discussed by all wizards!”

“Indeed. Teacher, please give me a written edict. I will go to the Magic editorial department today and put Alexander’s discovery on the front page,” Donna’s eyes lit up, and she spoke immediately.

Betty nodded and handed a small mechanical token to Donna. Looking slightly grave, he said, “I wonder if this is a coincidence, or the prelude to a violent storm.”

The fact that Alexander only advanced to Mythical Wizard under the Great Source’s feedback made Betty feel that energy quantization might be a beautiful misunderstanding. However, he didn’t know that Alexander’s magical aptitude had always been poor. 90% of the Great Source’s feedback this time was used to improve his magical aptitude.

Even Alexander himself didn’t know. Only Ace, feeling the prompt from the Dream Great Source, had just learned of it. But Ace merely smiled faintly and did not interfere.

Deep within the Great Source of the Wizard Multiverse, Ace was still working hard to refine and fuse the Mansus core, deconstructing the Law of Dreams within it.

“The affairs of the Wizard Civilization should be left to the wizards to solve. A great civilization is also destined to experience a storm-like theoretical schism and revolution. It’s truly something to look forward to. Where exactly will the quantum mechanics discovered by wizards lead?”

A faint smile touched the corner of Ace’s mouth. Looking at the projection of Alexander, he spoke with gratification.

He had long passed the stage of micromanaging everything. A Wizard Civilization unable to leave its parent was destined to never grow into an independent giant. Ace was trying to let go, allowing the Wizard Civilization he had painstakingly nurtured to bloom and bear fruit on its own.

“Perhaps this is a growing pain unique to the Wizard Civilization. I need to concentrate my energy on the Mansus and strengthen the foundation of the Wizard Multiverse as much as possible. After ascending to the Level 4 Astral Plane layer, a fierce battle is likely destined.”

Ace had not forgotten the terrifying changes in the Kaya World. The anomaly of the World Tree, the splintering of the Law of Hope, and the panic—or rather, mania—of the Titan Main Gods all foretold misfortune.

Although he couldn’t guess what it was, it was absolutely a major threat.

The entire Wizard Multiverse had already begun to invade various worlds on the same level, led by over a thousand Legendary Immortal Wizards. Any world that could be observed had to be conquered, its Level 5 existences destroyed, their Fruits of Immortality harvested, and resurrected as canned Super-dimensional Mana Generators and Immortal Spirit Computers.

This was a long-term process and a conquest of many worlds. If compared to a previous life, the Wizard Civilization was like Western civilization during the Age of Discovery—wantonly conquering everything they discovered, enslaving everything, and using the suffering of other civilizations to complete the primitive accumulation of their own.

Bloody, cruel, but effective.

Precisely because of this cruel plundering and extortion, the energy and computing power within the Wizard Multiverse became vastly abundant, and information streams expanded immensely. The entire world showed a trend of an explosion of talent.

Although a massive amount of talent flowed into lucrative professions—as people naturally seek profit—there were always one or two people like Alexander who flowed into the field of foundational theoretical research.

As soon as Alexander’s paper was published, it sparked discussions across the entire academic community. Even ordinary wizards ignorant of academia knew about the Alexander Formula, the Alexander Constant, and the Alexander Energy Quantum.

“Absurd! Simply absurd!”

In a Wizard Tower in the Celestial Realm, a fat man roared in exasperation.

“Bruce, this is just a hypothesis. Even Alexander himself said it cannot be certain; one can only assume energy comes in packets. And assuming the energy of the electromagnetic field is distributed according to the different vibrational modes of the charged oscillators in the matter can also be considered electromagnetic waves undulating within an extremely small range.”

The Mythical Wizard Allen, a good friend of the Legendary Immortal Wizard Bruce, said patiently.

They were both wizards in the field of electromagnetism, walking the standard wave path. This theory could be said to have severely shaken the foundation of electromagnetism. A few Legendary and Mythical Wizards even had their heads turn into watermelon juice on the spot, losing everything.

“We must find a way to prove that electromagnetic waves cannot be discontinuous! Right, light! Light is a specific kind of electromagnetic wave. We just need to prove the continuity of light!”

…

Their discussion caught the attention of a student who came to pour water. This student was Daru, the son of the youngest of the Kaya Dream Trio, who had discarded his divine bloodline to become a wizard.

Although Daru always believed gods were powerless, in reality, magic seemed to have been exhausted by General Relativity. He originally wanted to find someone to study the magical applications of General Relativity properly, but because of his divine background, many Legendary Immortal Wizards were unwilling to accept him.

Despite having the Ace Silver Medal, Daru still hovered on the fringes until he met His Excellency, Legendary Immortal Wizard Bruce.

(Chapter finished)

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