In a magic tower in Salivar, the capital of the Kingdom of Brianne.
When the solemn melody at the end of Allyn's Last Week's News was still echoing in the room, Lauren, a tall and slim archmage with a mustache, turned off the radio and sneered, "Lark's bias is obvious. She's a good student of Neeshka."
For sorcerers like them, it was not difficult to find out the real identity of Samantha, the Lark.
In a study with soft crystal lights and dark red curtains, Lauren was standing in front of the desk, looking at his students.
An old man with white hair also said angrily, "'News of the World' and 'Arcana Voice' were both created by Lucien. No matter how well Lark and her students covered it up, they were undoubtedly sitting on the chair of the particle theory. How could we allow Lark to deliberately lead them to weaken the confidence of the supporters of the wave theory? "
He looked much older than Lauren.
"Kristel, what's wrong with weakening the confidence? The world of arcana is the fairest place. No matter how many tricks they play, in the end, they still have to rely on the results of the experiments or the objective phenomena. " Although he mocked Lark just now, Lauren did not mind it too much. As an archmage with a dazzling halo of honor, he was quite magnanimous in that regard. He only needed to wait for the experiment to be completed, and then he would slap Lucien and the rest of them in the face with the results and images.
Next to Kristel was a young man with flaxen hair. Although he was young, his tawny eyes showed that he had been through a lot. He said hesitantly, "Sir, the experiment …"
"Manuel?" Lauren looked at him, frowning.
Manuel moved his lips and finally opened his mouth, "Sir, you have to be fully prepared for the result of the experiment. It may not be able to refute the light quantum hypothesis."
The middle-aged lady with light purple hair also seized the opportunity and said, "Sir, many things in the past few years have shown that the light quantum hypothesis seems to be able to perfectly explain the photoelectric effect."
"You!" Lauren stared at them angrily. Even his students' confidence was shaken?
"If that's the case, I'd rather the photoelectric effect not have an explanation!" Lauren shouted and walked out of the study angrily.
In the dark night outside the window, the spring rain continued, as if it symbolized the harvest of the season.
…
Inside the Atom Institution, Lucien was adjusting the magic circles and observing the flashing fluorescent spots with the help of the alchemy viewer, trying to distinguish what he was looking for from the changes in their positions, the recorded data, and the complicated trajectories. On the other hand, the improved magic circles emitted sizzling noises when strong electric currents passed, and the space around was vaguely twisted by the magnetic field.
Thanks to the Lord of Storm's experiment of bombarding metal foil with helium atoms, Lucien applied to the Magic Research Board to modify the magic circles and alchemy devices in the laboratory. That was why he was able to complete the experiment. The Atom Institution was known for its research on the microscopic world and the internal structure of atoms. Since the Lord of Storm proved the existence of atomic nuclei by colliding particles and proposed the structural model of the movement of celestial bodies, it was reasonable for the Atom Institution to make a similar request.
Suddenly, Lucien discovered the trajectory that he had been expecting!
A series of data, such as charge-to-mass ratio, charge quantity, mass, and so on, appeared in Lucien's mind. He stood up abruptly, changed the magic circle, and began to measure the particles that represented the trajectories.
Time passed quickly, and the test was coming to an end.
The charge-to-mass ratio was the same!
The amount of charge was the same!
The mass was the same!
The data overlapped one by one. After a boom, Lucien's cognitive world appeared. The elements that filled the space and the environment changed again. The core that was surrounded by electrons turned into a combination of two kinds of particles. The only difference between hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon was the number of particles.
That was the nucleus of hydrogen! That was the "proton"! That was the essence of the elements!
The change in Lucien's cognitive world was completed within a second. Lucien felt that he was more sensitive to elements. In the meantime, seizing the rare opportunity, Lucien entered meditation and turned his spiritual power into an intangible state. It seemed that his spiritual power had both the nature of waves and the features of particles. It was not just a simple combination of particles and waves. Even the single 'spiritual quanta' showed the side of waves!
…
In the Kingdom of Electromagnetism, Brook stepped into the laboratory that seemed to be his field of fantasy.
The cold silver metal, the weird patterns, the jumping and flickering electric arcs, the twisting dark magnetic field, the vast and deep vacuum …
He was standing in front of a complicated alchemy platform. On his right side was a safe zone where experiment notes and data records were placed.
Glancing at the experiment results that he recorded when he was modifying the magic circles, Brook's slightly old and thin face was filled with confusion. Then, he calmed himself down and focused on operating the magic circles.
…
When he walked to the door of the magic lab, Lauren had calmed down. He said to Manuel and Diana, who were following him in fear, "You two go do your own thing. I'm going to start the experiment."
Manuel seemed to want to say something, but Lauren had already entered the lab. The door with silver electric arcs flowing in it quickly closed, separating the inside from the outside.
"It should be fine, right?" Manuel asked subconsciously.
Kristel looked at him coldly, "It should be fine. There are also things that cannot be explained by the light quantum hypothesis, such as the diffraction image."
"Okay." The middle-aged lady, Diana, thought for a while. If she were the one doing the experiment, no matter what the result was, it should not be a big problem. At most, her cognitive world would be damaged, and it would take her a few years to recover. After all, after three years, she was mentally prepared for any kind of result. Her cognitive world was slowly changing, and it was even leaning toward the other side. Therefore, her teacher should not have a big problem either.
The light gray magic robe unfolded and covered Lauren from head to toe. After carefully checking the magic circles and the alchemy devices, Lauren started the experiment meticulously, just like every time before.
…
In his cognitive world that had just been substantialized, the spiritual power that filled every corner was vibrating strangely. The "spiritual quanta" unfolded into strange and incomprehensible clouds, but when Lucien sensed them carefully, they turned back into the shape of individual particles or waves.
When everything stabilized and his cognitive world disappeared, Lucien opened his eyes. He knew that he had finally completed the last step of his three-year-long exploration of his unique meditation method, which could now be called "Evans' Duality Meditation". However, this was only the first stage of the study, and there was still room for improvement.
"With this meditation method, the hidden trouble caused by my forced advancement can be solved." After a short meditation with "Duality Meditation", Lucien got the result. It was at least three times more efficient than the current senior-rank meditation method. In one or two years, he would be able to reach the seventh circle.
In the past three years, due to the hidden trouble in his soul, Lucien's spiritual power did not grow fast. Therefore, he focused on exploring his unique meditation method, learning sixth-circle spells, and creating new spells. So far, he had created twenty-one sixth-circle spells in his soul. Among them, except for the curse-type spell "Professor's Concern", there was also a new spell in the school of Electromagnetism and the school of Astrology.
Taking a deep breath, Lucien repeated the experiment just now. Then, he took out the parchment paper and the quill pen and started to write his paper on the desk.
"… According to the experiment, when the helium atom bombards the nitrogen gas, a positively charged hydrogen atom appears … We can conclude that it is also an internal structure of an atom. However, because there is only one particle in a hydrogen atom, we just treated it as a hydrogen atom …"
"… I call this fundamental particle 'proton'. The positive charge it carries is equal to the negative charge of an electron. From the comparison of mass and electrical neutrality, a hydrogen atom should be composed of a proton and an electron …"
"… Going further, we find that the order of the periodic table of elements is based on the number of protons, which is the number of nuclear charges. Based on the calculation of mass and the theory of electromagnetism, I can predict that in addition to protons, there is also a neutral particle with the same mass but no charge in the nucleus. The number of neutral particles is the difference between the same elements …"
Lucien did not stick to the result of the experiment. Instead, he carried out the inference as if he was trying to build a complete theoretical system. When there was no experimental proof, he made bold predictions based on the theory.
"… Starting from the movement structure of celestial bodies proposed by my teacher, I introduce quantum theory and quantize the structure of electrons around the nucleus … Electrons are no longer moving around the nucleus. Instead, they are in different energy levels. After absorbing and releasing energy, they directly transition without going through the intermediate levels …"
"… The discontinuity of the hydrogen spectral lines can prove this point …"
This time, Lucien did not wait for the other conclusions. Instead, he directly introduced the quantization into the atomic structure based on the knowledge from Earth, skipping many intermediate results and making bold predictions.
Boom, boom, boom, boom. The indistinct sound of thunder came from Lucien's cognitive world again. The electrons around the nucleus stopped moving and were in different energy levels. They sometimes absorbed the "spiritual quanta" to transition, and sometimes released the "spiritual quanta" after falling. Lucien's spiritual power was in a wonderful state of life and death.
Without being distracted by the changes in his cognitive world, Lucien continued writing quickly.
"… The number of electrons in the outer layer shows the alchemical properties of elements. All alchemical reactions can be deeply described by the concept of 'gain and loss electrons'. Ionization and the valence state of elements all belong to this category … As for why there is an arrangement of electrons in the outer layer, I assume that there is a stable number of electrons in each level of the orbit. This still needs further exploration …"
"… In this way, the school of alchemy is completely included in the field of elements!"
In Lucien's cognitive world, the outermost electrons of the nucleus started to exchange with the electrons of the elements around, forming all kinds of complicated substances. The world became colorful, and the magic model of Elemental Order was improved again. It was close to completion!
With the help of magic, the quill quickly wrote down Lucien's inner thoughts.
The night outside the window was getting darker and darker. The moist air brought the heavy rain.
… …
In the laboratory, as the data was recorded one by one and the images were gradually formed, Brook's eyebrows were tightly knitted, and he could not calm down.
After recording the last set of data, Brook did not write down the conclusion. Instead, he looked at the Kingdom of Electromagnetism through the metal wall and sighed slightly.
Rumble! Amidst the deafening roar of thunder, bolts of silver-white lightning that were as thick as mountains fiercely struck down, shattering the twisted magnetic field and causing the flowing electric currents and leaping arcs to fill the sky.
Below the surface of the demiplane, all the substances seemed to be collapsing and shrinking under the strong magnetic field, presenting a horrifying scene of twisted destruction.
The entire Kingdom of Electromagnetism seemed to have come to the end of its existence.
"Sir …" In the violent shaking of the magic tower, Barek looked at the upper floor in a daze.
… …
In the Kingdom of Brianne.
Looking at the sets of data and the experimental images, Roland could not help but show signs of panic on his face.
"This is impossible!" Lauren's hands were shaking. He wanted to stop, but the turbulent changes in his cognitive world affected his soul, making him continue mechanically as if he was bewitched by the devil.
The precise results of the experiment were presented in front of Lauren. His face was distorted, as if he was possessed by the devil, and there was fear in his heart.
"This, this can't be real!"
"… In terms of the instantaneous time, light shows obvious quantum characteristics, but in terms of the average time, it shows the characteristics of waves. Maybe we should be more open-minded about the wave-particle problem." The content of Lucien's paper suddenly flowed into Lauren's mind.
He shook his head in confusion. "How can there be such an existence?"
In his cognitive world, the invisible but clearly sensed electromagnetic waves broke apart and expanded abruptly.
Lauren's head seemed to be inflated like a balloon, making him scream in pain.
His head expanded to the limit, and silently, fireworks bloomed.
Red and white were sprinkling down like rain.
… …
"… From the radioactive materials, I found a trace of a new element, which perfectly matches the phenomenon of the decay of helium into a new element after the radiation of helium nuclei …"
"… Ever since human beings learned magic, the dream of refining other elements into gold has never stopped. This is not only our desire for wealth, but also our yearning for the truth of the world. We want to grasp the mysteries of the changes of matter in our hands!"
"However, for thousands of years, no alchemical reaction has been able to change the fundamental level of matter, a change that can continue to exist without constant magic circles … We human beings seem to have stopped in front of the door of the mysteries of matter, before the so-called forbidden zone of the gods …"
"Now, starting from the internal structure of atoms, starting from the nature of decay, we can find the path to truly change matter and create new elements! According to my theory, although the cost may not be proportional to the result, it means that we have truly stepped into the forbidden zone of the gods, touched the mysteries of matter, and are about to fulfill the dream of countless generations of sorcerers! "
"This is a major step forward in arcana, and the improvement of the nature of the civilization of mankind!"
"This path is difficult and dangerous. I hope that you can go deeper with me."
Sorting out the paper that was as thick as a book, Lucien wrote on the top of his head:
"New Alchemy"!
Outside the window, spring thunder was exploding, and everything was thriving.