Chapter 641: Anxiety and Strife
Ace entered his quasi-plane and integrated his four-dimensional consciousness with four-dimensional matter. In terms of difficulty, Ace’s ascension to an Eleventh Ring Wizard was far lower than that of an ordinary Tenth Ring Wizard.
This was because Ace was already a bona fide Level 6 existence—a true integration of four-dimensional consciousness and matter.
In other words, the most crucial step of advancing to an Eleventh Ring Wizard—the dimensional ascension of one’s state of existence—had already been completed by Ace. All he lacked was the Eleventh Ring spell model itself: the foundational spell model constructed using Level 6 space-time curvature runes.
A spell model that encompasses and describes the macroscopic laws of the entire Astral Plane does not need to consider the microscopic realm. In fact, it has little to do with the microscopic realm. After Ace’s consciousness returned to its position, his four-dimensional self immediately began constructing his Eleventh Ring spell model.
One by one, four-dimensional Level 6 space-time runes floated around Ace. Like pieces of raw ore, they were processed by Ace into deft and sturdy mechanical parts. He then assembled the parts one by one, gradually forming an incredibly precise instrument.
Ace was like an Eighth-Grade artisan, possessing both technique and theory, using simple machine tools to process ultra-high-tech precision instruments and using them proficiently.
When the wizard’s first Eleventh Ring spell model was born, there were no special phenomena, nor even any special fluctuations. Everything was as usual; great skill appears clumsy.
But the space-time fluctuations of the entire Wizard World and the ten million light-year radius centered around it flowed within Ace’s heart. He spied upon many Level 4 worlds and felt he could control the space-time within this range.
“Eleventh Ring Spell: Control of Four-Dimensional Space-Time! Condensing the incomplete laws of the four-dimensional curvature ocean into Level 6 runes and processing them precisely has finally resulted in a powerful composite foundational spell model that far exceeds ordinary Level 6.
“Within the range I can perceive, all space-time curvature is influenced by me. If I had enough energy, I could annihilate even these Level 4 worlds within ten million light years into a terrifying black hole with a flip of my hand. An ordinary Level 6 existence could not possibly contend with me.
“The only problem is that I do not have that much energy yet. My current energy is only enough for me to annihilate a maximum of four quasi-planes.
“However, the good news is that the efficiency of my energy extraction has accelerated immensely.”
The body of Ace on the three-dimensional level opened its eyes. Tens of millions of four-dimensional rifts emerged. With the help of his four-dimensional integrated self, massive amounts of pure high-dimensional energy poured in. The galactic cosmos within his quasi-plane began to spawn a massive number of stellar systems, nearing ten billion, and increasing rapidly every single moment.
“At my current speed, it will only take about a hundred years for me to increase the number of stars in my galactic cosmos to over a trillion, allowing me to truly annihilate an ordinary Level 4 world with a single thought. Even a Level 4 world as powerful as the Kaya World, I am confident I could annihilate it.
“I just don’t know if the mutation in the Kaya World will wait until I am capable of crushing it.”
A heavy stone had always weighed on Ace’s heart: the final mutation of the Kaya World. The greenery emanating from the World Tree was truly terrifying, and he didn’t know if the Lich Witte had discovered anything.
Harboring such worries, Ace decided to set aside the massive changes brought about by quantum mechanics within the Wizard World for now. The entire quasi-plane jumped, moving to an observation point close to the Kaya World.
Just then, a four-dimensional information stream suddenly transmitted, carrying dream-like mist and a faint scent of blood.
Ace’s four-dimensional integrated self decrypted the encrypted information stream and saw an extremely blurry scene: a desolate void, shattered sub-planes, and bloodied Legendary Immortal Wizards.
The perspective was that of the Tenth Ring Immortal Legendary Lich, Witte. Opposite them was a completely blurry figure. It faintly resembled a human form, but it was far too massive—even larger than a Level 4 world. It was blurry, terrifying, ominous, and dreadful.
“This is Witte. This is no longer Kaya. Kaya is no longer here. Flee…”
The information abruptly cut off here. This was a three-dimensional observation; what it looked like on the four-dimensional level was unknown. But such a massive existence transcended worlds. If it truly was an intelligent creature, it was simply too horrifying.
Ace frowned deeply. The fragments revealed by the information stream were far too sparse; Ace simply couldn’t make a judgment.
If it truly was a giant larger than a Level 4 world, then such an unimaginable existence had likely surpassed the limits, possessing power far beyond Level 6. Even a so-called World Controller like Ace couldn’t mobilize the total energy of the entire Wizard Multiverse.
Moreover, the Wizard Multiverse was only a newly ascended Level 4 world with 400 billion stars. Although full of potential, it could only be considered ordinary within the entire Level 4 layer.
Even if Ace mobilized all the energy of the entire Wizard World, it would only be an extremely powerful strike among Level 6 existences; it wouldn’t exceed the limit.
“Based on my perception of the 412 Level 4 worlds within ten million light-years just now, to unleash Overlimit Power, I’m afraid it would require a world with a minimum of 5 trillion stars. The Kaya World itself does not possess such mass, but having fused with the Giant Tree World that fell from a higher level of the Astral Plane, Kaya definitely has that potential!
“After the two worlds fused, their energy is absolutely Overlimit. Coupled with that terrifying greenery and this blurry giant now… I’m afraid…”
Ace’s eyes were full of worry. This wasn’t baseless anxiety. Such a powerful, Overlimit existence was truly too terrifying. If the opponent ascended to an upper layer, it would be fine. But if the opponent lingered in this layer, I fear no world could resist it.
“It really is instant karma. The Wizard Multiverse ran rampant through the Level 3 Astral Plane layer, plundering the gods of various worlds as slaves, gathering the power of the entire layer to possess the level of a medium Level 4 world upon entry. But I didn’t expect the Level 4 layer to have similar super-predators. I cannot leave things to chance.”
Ace never considered himself the lucky one. In fact, he often planned for the worst. But judging from the information stream, this existence had eaten all the sub-planes, and conceptually eaten those Legendary Immortal Wizards as well.
Ace had already checked the Magic Sanctuary. The Fruits of Immortality of those Legendary Immortal Wizards had disintegrated. Considering an even worse scenario, that terrifying giant might have already discovered the Wizard World.
It was just that the Wizard World and other Level 4 worlds might all just be food in its eyes, and not necessarily the priority targets.
“I cannot wait. I must go observe personally. Facing such an unknown existence, if I have zero intelligence, I will simply be meat on the chopping block.”
The entire quasi-plane rippled and twisted, vanishing directly from the outer edge of the Wizard Multiverse, leaving only a single sentence: “I have advanced to the Eleventh Ring. Whether in my state of existence or form of power utilization, I have completely transcended the third dimension. This level can be called a Super-dimensional Wizard. A sudden mutation has occurred; I must leave immediately to investigate. Do not panic.”
The four-dimensional particle cluster of the quasi-plane embarked on a long-distance jump along the space-time curvature.
Ace left in such a hurry that he made almost no arrangements for the affairs of the Wizard World. The Tenth Ring Wizards were themselves members of the Supreme Council. After experiencing massive upheaval, local rebellions, and Ace’s forceful suppression, the Tenth Ring Wizards led by Betty finally woke up from their daze and began to exercise their duties, maintaining the smooth operation of the entire Wizard World.
Despite Ace’s departure, the discussions about the electron and the debates over quantum mechanics were far from over.
Wave-particle duality had not gained the approval of all wizards. At least the Tenth Ring Legendary Immortal Wizard Thales, who had nearly died, disagreed with this statement.
When he saw Thomson’s matter waves, he was exceptionally excited.
“This is exactly what I was looking for! Only from the perspective of Thomson’s matter waves can particle motion truly be explained.”
In various academic discussions, Thales explained matter waves very thoroughly. But some wizards raised doubts, and Daru of the Gelto School spoke bluntly.
“Is it really meaningful to discuss a wave without describing its wave function?”
Thales did not answer at the time. Upon returning home, he and his wife Blania spent a week establishing the Wave Equation.
Miraculously, Thales’s shattered and solidified Mental Image World recovered once more, and his sub-plane was reborn from destruction.
This was an event akin to a phoenix’s nirvana—and it had happened twice. From this moment on, Thales earned the nickname “The Phoenix.”
The couple spent four months continuously publishing eleven papers, emphasizing the significance of the wave equation.
They believed that the matter wave of a particle’s motion formed a wave packet, and the group velocity of the wave packet was identical to the particle’s motion. In the wave equation, there is a function used to describe the wave packet, called the wave function.
The establishment of the wave equation gave countless wave-believing wizards a massive shot of adrenaline. They excitedly proclaimed that this was a meteor streaking across the sky: the electron was like a meteorite, the wave packet was the ball of fire, and the wave function was used to describe the characteristics of this fireball.
“The Wave Has Returned!”
This was a full-page headline in the Magic Daily, detailing this inspiring wave equation. The vast majority of wizards could not accept the seemingly paradoxical concept of wave-particle duality. Even though it was proposed by the great Firelinker, Ace, it still failed to satisfy them.
The wave equation proposed by Thales and Blania had become everyone’s savior. Wizards who were unwilling to have their cognition shattered, and unable to comprehend the brain-burning wave-particle duality, threw themselves into the embrace of the wave equation.
Thales’s series of papers further bolstered their confidence.
Thales drew analogies with the rest of classical mechanics and ultimately concluded that there is a unity among them. That is to say, all classical theories can be explained using wave theory.
At the 571st Frontier Theoretical Academic Conference of the Magic Council, a Legendary Immortal Wizard directly questioned: “Many formulas in classical mechanics are non-wave-like. How can you say wave theory can explain all classical theories?”
Thales smiled and said loudly: “That is because classical mechanics has limitations in dealing with certain minute problems. For instance, classical mechanics also studies mechanical waves. But if a given displacement is far smaller than the wavelength of the mechanical wave, classical mechanics naturally cannot deduce the wave’s operational mode macroscopically.
“Similarly, we can use geometric optics for an analogy. Although light travels in a straight line, when light passes through a hole or obstacle smaller than its wavelength, the propagation of light does not present a simple geometric shape. The light spot experiment is a classic example. At that point, discussing the geometric properties of light loses its meaning.”
Thales looked around at the Legendary Immortal Wizards and said confidently: “We have reason to believe that when the orbit of an electron’s motion is roughly the same as the wavelength of the electron’s matter wave, discussing the path of the electron also loses its meaning. In this case, the electron is absolutely not a particle in the traditional sense as we think of it, but a cloud of waves expanding outward like mist. The electron has no specific location, nor is there a specific orbital path to speak of.
“The electron is a wave!”
“Then according to your statement, everyone sitting here, as well as the mortals in the endless starry sky, can all be waves?” Another wizard stood up and questioned loudly.
Thales remained confident, smiling as he said: “We can be waves. However, the wavelength of the matter waves associated with our motion is too short; the wave nature cannot be displayed. Discussing the matter waves of macroscopic objects has no meaning.
“Our discussions and research must focus on the microscopic, because when researching microscopic particles, we have to consider their wave nature!
“Electrons and photons are microscopic particles. They are clumps of waves, just like steam in a boiling pot of water. Only after hitting the lid do they form water droplets. These water droplets are what people have long mistakenly believed to be particles. It is time for us to establish wave mechanics to research and explain all this.”
Just then, Daru stood up. As one of the founders of matrix mechanics, Daru naturally had no fondness for wave theory. He said loudly: “May I ask what is inside the pot before the lid is lifted?”
Thales fell silent. He couldn’t jump into the pot to investigate the situation before the lid was opened either.
The debate raged on. Wave theory and quantum theory had a fundamental conflict. Supporters of both sides traded words, neither willing to yield.
Daru and others of the Gelto School believed the wave equation should not be considered the best explanation for frontier magical equations. Thales also said directly: “Some theories possess absolutely no aesthetic beauty. I find them depressing.”
Undoubtedly, Thales was talking about matrix mechanics.
The two sides reached no conclusion; the debate merely exacerbated the divide. In the end, they had no choice but to temporarily adjourn.
An anxious Betty gathered mathematical titans like Blania, Alexander, and Thomson. Pooling the strength of these mathematical geniuses, they mathematically deduced that these two methods were equivalent when handling problems, eventually unifying them under “Quantum Mechanics.”
This conference ultimately ended in a muddle. But this explanation was like smoothing things over; it treated the symptoms but not the root cause, because the standing points of the two theories were completely different.
The standing point of matrix mechanics was “particles,” while the standing point of the wave equation was “waves.” This was the root of the wave-particle dispute.
As for wave-particle duality, wizards believed this was also a “compromise.” Aside from a minority like Alexander, the vast majority of wizards did not acknowledge it.
(Chapter finished)
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