Chapter 639: The World Is Not Beautiful
Beside Alexander, a scroll of magical parchment floated quietly; it was none other than his experimental log.
As a qualified wizard scholar, Automatic Dictation magic was almost a necessity. This scroll of magical parchment was also enchanted with a Legendary Immortal Ninth Ring protection spell, which is why it survived completely intact.
Not long after the demi-plane was annihilated, the other bigwigs of the Gelto School flew over one after another.
Looking at the devastation, Donna carefully observed Alexander’s condition and let out a long sigh. “Fortunately, Alexander is not dead. A blessing in disguise.”
Lucilu also spoke up, “It’s a good thing the demi-plane was at the edge of the stellar system, otherwise an impact like this would probably have destroyed Planet Gelto directly. Just what kind of incredible experiment was Alexander doing?”
Bruce frowned tightly and said in a deep voice, “First, carefully examine Alexander’s condition and begin treatment. Then, recover his experimental log. This log must not be opened lightly. We must first check on his condition before making a decision.”
Daru pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting the sunlight with a white glare.
“We begin immediately.”
Three days later, Alexander lay in a pristine white hospital room, receiving treatment from the best medical wizards on Planet Gelto. He remained unconscious.
After visiting Alexander, the members of the Gelto School gathered together. They looked at the scroll of magical parchment resting on the table with eyes full of fear, as if looking at a disposable nuclear fusion magical bomb about to detonate.
“Alexander’s Mental Image World has been completely destroyed. Not a single spell model remains. The medical wizards say he might never wake up for the rest of his life.”
Donna’s voice was low, her mood depressed.
“This experimental log is absolutely subversive, containing extremely terrifying experimental results. Are you prepared?”
Bruce’s face was as still as water, his voice trembling.
Daru steeled his resolve and said loudly, “We cannot shrink back just because the truth is terrifying. We are wizards, people who use the power of thought to measure all things! I will read it.”
As he spoke, he reached out to grab it, but Bruce suddenly intercepted, knocking his hand away. Bruce picked up the magical parchment himself, smiled at the crowd, and said, “It is best if I personally review experimental data like this. You should have heard the story of Laval; he has already awakened from his long slumber. Even if my cognition conflicts and my Mental Image World collapses, it will merely be a long slumber for me. I am the most suitable candidate.”
His voice was firm, leaving no room for refusal.
Bruce was very cautious. He first traveled to the outside of the world and moved his sub-plane to a secluded location. Then, he adjusted the spell models in his Mental Image World. It actually took him a month to disintegrate all the spell models besides his foundational ones before he slowly opened the magical parchment.
“Electron double-slit interference experiment? It’s already been proven that the electron is a wave, and there isn’t much issue with wave-particle duality. What exactly is this?”
Bruce read slowly, his eyes gradually widening. “However, it is impossible to predict at what time, and at what position on the detection screen, a particle will arrive.”
A chill crept over Bru’s body, as if a terrifying wraith had latched onto his back. He exclaimed, “Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! A definite cause leads to an uncertain result? How could this be the truth of the world? Hahaha, this is impossible!”
Boom!
His Mental Image World shook violently. The Legendary Immortal Wizard’s mental image interfered with the reality of the world. In this secluded corner, anomalous phenomena of descending heavenly fire and collapsing space actually appeared.
Such a terrifying scene attracted the attention of many Legendary Immortal Wizards, who flew over one after another.
Bruce gradually calmed down. He murmured, “Impossible. The experiment hasn’t been repeated yet. Perhaps it’s a beautiful mistake… it’s a mistake!”
In an instant, he entered his sub-plane, attempting to repeat the experiment. About half an hour later, the sub-plane exploded with a boom. Like a brilliant spark, the chubby Bruce died, falling into a long slumber.
The observing Legendary Immortal and Mythical Wizards numbered in the hundreds of thousands. They fell silent. Looking at the two floating scrolls of magical parchment for a long time, no one dared to move.
“Teacher! Teacher Bruce!”
Daru was in tears. Bruce was just with him not long ago, but now he was slumbering in his own river of time.
“Daru, Daru. His Excellency Bruce is a Legendary Immortal Wizard; he has a Fruit of Immortality. He will walk out of the river of time again. It just takes time. We will definitely meet again.”
Lucilu grabbed Daru and spoke loudly.
Daru slowly calmed down, though his heart was still filled with sorrow. He whispered, “I will go recover the experimental logs left by Teacher and Alexander.”
He slowly floated over, picked up the two scrolls of magical parchment, and carefully tucked them into his chest. Looking at this pitch-black Sea of Illusion and Reality, no one knew what he was thinking, but his tears flowed uncontrollably.
With such a massive incident occurring, the entire Wizard World was shaken. One after another, Legendary Immortal Wizards curious about the truth and unafraid of death visited Daru to read the experimental logs.
But no matter who it was, anyone who read the logs and repeated the experiments undoubtedly suffered the collapse of their Mental Image World and fell into a long slumber.
Planet Athena, Goldolo Tower.
“Mr. Goldolo, these are the latest three issues of the Magic Daily.”
A beautiful witch placed a thick stack of the Magic Daily on Goldolo’s desk. She thoughtfully poured him a glass of water and bowed deeply, showing off her wonderful curves.
Unfortunately, Goldolo had no mood to appreciate it. He waved his hand lightly, signaling the witch to leave.
The witch looked full of reluctance but could only squeeze out a gentle smile and saunter away.
Goldolo wore a very well-fitted, commercial black suit and a monocle, looking extremely successful.
However, he appeared very sorrowful. On his desk sat several photos of himself and Alexander, both smiling brightly in them.
He opened the Magic Daily, printed in black and gray tones. A headline read: “Seventeenth Betty Gold Medal Winner Falls into Slumber: Experimental Log or Curse?”
“Nard, who won the 47th Betty Gold Medal for his astonishing discovery of molecular bonds, is a veteran Ninth Ring Legendary Immortal Wizard. He is also the 17th Betty Gold Medal winner to fall to Alexander’s experiment, and the 45th Legendary Immortal Wizard to fall into a long slumber…”
Irritated, Goldolo crumpled the Magic Daily into a ball and threw it into the trash can. He then opened the Athena Times.
The first sentence to catch his eye was: “Winner of the Witte Life Gold Medal, Top Medical Wizard Michael Believes: Alexander Cannot Possibly Wake Up.”
“His Mental Image World is already a sea of chaos, which means his cognition is almost shattered. His consciousness seems to have fallen into a state akin to an eternal illusory dream. Although his divine soul and physical body miraculously persist, they have suffered heavy trauma…”
Reading this, Goldolo’s blood rushed to his head. A ball of fire appeared in his hand, burning this issue of the Athena Times to ashes. He said indignantly, “Despicable! Since his divine soul and physical body exist, how could his consciousness not be awakened? Do you even deserve to be a Life Gold Medal winner? I think you’re just a quack!”
After a furious tirade of curses, Goldolo slumped weakly into his chair.
Alexander was like another possible version of himself. In Goldolo’s eyes, Alexander made the choices he had wanted to make but ultimately didn’t. Although he was now very successful—a newly minted billionaire in the Wizard Multiverse, a business titan who even managed to enter the inner sanctum and become a Mythical Wizard through his commercial achievements.
However, this was ultimately not the true path of a wizard. Being divorced from the academic path and far from understanding the truth, even immense wealth could not soothe the emptiness in Goldolo’s heart.
“I… I wanted to do academia too.”
Tears streaming down his face, Goldolo’s gaze gradually sharpened. He stood up and paced back and forth, his thoughts slowly clearing.
“If Alexander’s consciousness is truly lost in the illusory dream of his subconscious, I might be able to help.”
He went to the company’s technical department, took all the elite technicians and the latest laboratory dream immersion devices, and chartered a curvature spaceship. In less than two days, Goldolo arrived at Planet Gelto.
“Entering Alexander’s subconscious through dream immersion to awaken his consciousness?”
Donna pondered. She knew of Goldolo; he was a good friend of Alexander, so his intentions should be good.
“Yes. Since they believe Alexander’s consciousness is trapped in a so-called subconscious dream cage, let me enter the dream. Perhaps I can wake him up! Please let me try.”
Goldolo spoke earnestly.
Lucilu nodded and said to Donna, “We don’t have any other solutions anyway; we might as well try. The other medical wizards say Alexander can’t wake up, so let’s just try it!”
Donna thought about it and realized this was no way to go on. Steeling her resolve, she simply said, “Then we leave it to you. Alexander is the brightest star of our Gelto School; you must wake him up.”
Goldolo didn’t waste words and nodded heavily. Four technicians placed a metal dream-immersion helmet on Alexander’s head and adjusted the soul frequency.
Goldolo also put on a metal helmet and closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, he woke up in a strange room. It was completely fragmented. It was clearly a room, but there were only two intersecting walls and a floor.
“This environment is so familiar… it seems to be…?”
Goldolo realized what it was: the study room at the 4th Spiral Arm University!
“Mr. Goldolo, please find the Alexander of this dreamscape as soon as possible and gain his trust.”
Goldolo nodded. In the hospital room, the crowd gathered around a massive crystal sphere, watching Goldolo’s actions in the dream.
As Alexander’s good friend and classmate, the first layer of the dream wasn’t difficult for Goldolo. Or rather, the difficult part was piecing the fragmented dream together.
He spent a lot of time assembling the shattered university and finally found Alexander studying on the sports field.
“Alexander, you’re studying again? What book are you reading?”
Goldolo spoke to Alexander casually, just like back in university.
Alexander seemed to accept this Goldolo and said with a smile, “I’m reading the determinism section in Bayen’s Detailed Explanation of Relativity. This part is the most wonderful and possesses the most magical aesthetic. ‘Wizards can understand the world and inevitably will understand the world. We will gradually approach the truth, because objective laws and causal connections universally exist in nature and human society; because every cause has an effect.'”
Goldolo nodded subconsciously and said softly, “Of course every cause has an effect. Alexander, I want to find you to try out my latest dream immersion device.”
Alexander also smiled and said, “If I’m your guinea pig, is there compensation?”
…
Watching the two gradually enter the next layer of the dream, the technicians were still analyzing.
“Dreams are mappings of reality. Especially in a case of cognitive collapse like Alexander’s, the words spoken in the dream likely have a specific meaning. He mentioned causal determinism; there must be a reason for it.”
“But is there a problem with causal determinism? Just like your deduction just now, isn’t that a cognition derived from causal determinism?”
“It’s hard to say. Alexander was researching the absolute pinnacle of magical theory. What the truth looks like there, we don’t know either. I’m only making a judgment based on general psychology.”
“Let’s not get tangled up in this for now. Could the microscopic world really overthrow causal determinism? If so, the cornerstone of logic would collapse, and the entire human society and the cognition of wizards would have to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch!”
Listening to the technicians’ argument, cold sweat dripped from Donna’s forehead. She murmured, “Perhaps it really is a tear-down and rebuild. If it weren’t, why hasn’t a single Legendary Immortal Wizard who read the experimental log returned alive?”
Daru had just arrived. Hearing their words, his eyes flashed with resolve.
“If Alexander still cannot wake up, I will personally look at the experimental log. If it truly is the collapse of determinism, then let me know exactly why it collapsed!”
“These are just guesses. Let’s not be hasty and wait patiently,” Lucilu comforted.
In the dream, the difficulties Goldolo experienced gradually increased. However, he ultimately overcame them all, entering the root dreamscape that no longer looped. Here, he met the blurry, drifting consciousness of Alexander.
“Alexander, come back with me. Let’s leave this place together.”
Goldolo extended his hand and spoke firmly.
Alexander looked bewildered. This dream was very bizarre. Countless particle emitters, gratings, and screens floated around. From time to time, an electron would be emitted, undergo interference and diffraction through a grating, or add a small black dot to a screen.
“Goldolo, do you know what this is?”
Goldolo shook his head and said, “I don’t know, but I know you should go back. This is not your home.”
Alexander raised both hands high and shouted, “This is the reality of the world! This is my home! Did you know that a cause in this world does not necessarily mean an effect? In the microscopic world, when an electron is emitted, it is impossible to predict at what time and at what position on the detection screen a particle will arrive!
“In other words, a definite cause gives birth to an uncertain result.
“This is the reality of the world! We are deceived by the superficial appearances of life. What we thought was real is actually nothing but a false performance. Stay here with me; the reality of this world is not beautiful!”
(Chapter finished)
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