Simon lay on a sheepskin sofa, playing with a lexicon. Several young Icefield Wolves roamed beside him. They were already the third generation, pure creatures of the Pure Land, stronger and more docile than their ancestors. They were clingy and looked goofy. Simon would occasionally push away their large wolf heads because they always drooled, like a pack of useless wolves incapable of taking care of themselves.
The lexicon taken from Avanchnzel was red, while the one in the Tower of Mzark was blue. The two had quite different functions. The red lexicon was a large storage device, like a mechanical hard drive, while the blue lexicon stored less information but had a deciphering function, like a translation pen.
The red lexicon stored a vast amount of Dwemer knowledge, which was like the embodiment of ancient philosophy, lingering around Simon like invisible ghosts, whispering profound knowledge into his ear. Although most of it was fragmented, it was enough for Simon to organize into coherent information.
The first things he put together were methods for making mechanical creatures. Simon had already acquired this knowledge in Apocrypha, so he didn't care much about it. For him, Dwemer technology had many things worth learning from, but also many things not worth copying directly. Creating a mechanical creature actually required many complex resources, such as alchemical potions—dwarven oil, rare minerals—gems, and driving energy—soul stones. For him, with the Soul Attunement enchantment, he could simplify many structures, completely saving on gems and soul stones.
Days passed, and slowly, he also came into contact with the attunement magic he had always longed for. According to the red lexicon, the principle of attunement magic was to mimic natural laws—the earthbones. The earthbones were actually the dead bodies of countless primordial spirits, divinely "degraded," transforming their transcendent "infinity" into the foundation of the current world.
The caster senses the earthbones. If this process were translated into the Eastern immortal hero system, it would be comprehending the Dao of nature. The Dwemer believed that everything in the world was just musical notes, and the earthbones were the strings of the universe—truly romantic.
Simon used to enjoy watching popular science videos and, through the exquisite renditions of professionals, gained insight into some cutting-edge scientific theories. Among them was the well-known string theory, which was, of course, famous due to Stephen Hawking, the scientific community's internet celebrity.
Humanity's exploration of the microscopic world on Earth entered a period of calm after the discovery of elementary particles.
Scientists began continuous observation of elementary particles, striking them with high-energy radiation to change their states, and the phenomena thus produced were what we could observe.
However, such indirect methods could not precisely measure elementary particles. The more precisely we measured the velocity of a particle, the more Vague its position became, and vice versa. This phenomenon is known as Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which is also the cornerstone of quantum mechanics.
To describe the state of elementary particles, theoretical physicists proposed quantum field theory, which could explain most cosmic phenomena. But this theory was not perfect because it could not unify gravity, and thus could not unify the four fundamental forces, preventing a grand unification.
String theory was born in this context, describing elementary particles as different "notes" produced by different vibrations of strings. A single string could represent different particles, depending on how it vibrated. This theory also incorporated gravity, making it hopeful for deriving one of the ultimate answers to the universe.
Unfortunately, this theory was not perfect either. The mathematical tools it required were not applicable in the traditional scientific four-dimensional spacetime. String theory only held true in ten-dimensional spacetime—completely beyond the limits of human phenomena, almost like breaking through a barrier, appearing very illusory.
Researchers of string theory were trying to eliminate the extra six dimensions, which would then allow them to explain four-dimensional spacetime, but progress was scarce.
The reason scientists were still willing to believe this elusive theory was because it conformed to mathematical logic, was theoretically possible, and had considerable guiding significance. However, for the current level of scientific development, it was too advanced and could not be verified.
String theory was an evolution for quantum field theory, upgrading the latter's understanding of particles from points to strings. So, tracing back to the source, assuming elementary particles are the smallest units of the world, where did these elementary particles come from?
Quantum field theory posits that the universe is a silent sea, where every subtle ripple can cause immense change. Particles, or matter, are the products of "field" fluctuations.
By analogy, in the elder scrolls, the earthbones are equivalent to strings. These things vibrate in the field of light and shadow, producing myriad phenomena, creating or annihilating. Different vibration frequencies yield different results: some turn stone into gold, some unleash lightning, some invert mountains and rivers, and some manifest stars.
Simon highly approved of the Dwemer's attunement magic, which was, in fact, a science.
In this chaotic world, or Aurbis, spirit is more fundamental than matter, because the root of all material forms is actually created by spirit. The earthbones are the degradation of primal spirits, and Aetherius, Oblivion, and the like are actually the spiritual evolution of higher existences.
Dwemer science encompassed their philosophy, explaining the origin of the world, pursuing the sublimation of reason, and seeking the ultimate answer to the world. Simon inherited their knowledge and will; one could say he was a living Dwemer, a Deep Elf, those defiant mortals.
…
Recently, Simon realized he might be turning into a bard.
His phased breakthroughs in Dwemer attunement magic research gave him some basic knowledge of tonal magic. Now he could cast spells through special tuners, such as material transformation: turning iron into copper, copper into gold, stone into water, clouds into light—very magical. Of course, some destruction magic could also be cast with attunement magic; the form of expression was slightly different, but the effect was the same.
In the future, he could attack with music, which was quite cool.
Before that, he had to design his own exclusive tuner, or tuning fork.
Speaking of tuning forks, these were a type of powerful special staff. The two most famous tuning forks in history both had the ability to turn people into demigods.
These two artifacts—Keening and Sunder—were both created by the Dwemer's chief tonal architect, Lord Kagrenac. Kagrenac was the lead engineer researching the heart of lorkhan and the person responsible for creating the original Brass God, Anumidium.
When the primal spirit Trinimac extracted Lorkhan's heart, Auriel and the other gods initially wanted to destroy this heart to ensure Lorkhan's complete demise. However, this heart was already deeply connected to the world; destroying the heart would mean destroying the world itself.
In fact, this heart was Red Mountain, the cornerstone of space. To prevent the divinity within this heart from being misused, Auriel bound it to an arrow and shot it far into the eastern sea, intending for it never to see the light of day again. But a volcano suddenly rose from the seabed, which was Red Mountain.
The Dwemer discovered Lorkhan's heart in Red Mountain, and Lord Kagrenac even drew divine power from it, granting all Dwemer an extraordinarily long lifespan, immune to disease and injury, achieving a feat of near-immortality.
Those two tuning forks were used to control the heart of lorkhan, and they were accompanied by a pair of Wraithguard. These three items could all draw divine power, directly leading to the three Tribunal gods who dominated their era.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"