Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 574 - 573: Interference

The end of summer is near.

The Flowing Fire Constellation has begun to shift to the western sky. The heat is retreating from the entire kingdoms, and the morning and evening breezes have become cool and pleasant. After several abundant rainfalls, the autumn air draws nearer day by day.

Mysterious and complex magic symbols float in mid-air like a sea of stars. The crystal device used to display the symbol structure is fixed on an alloy base, its surface shimmering with magic power. A deep hum resonates within the laboratory as Kamel quietly floats among those illusory symbols, the arcane glow where his eyes reside as bright as ever.

This is the largest analysis room in the Rune Research Center; today’s task is to decipher the technical materials brought by the elves.

Several senior Runemasters from the Rune Research Center are recording the symbol structures at various key nodes, while a tall, slender elf with radiant golden hair stands beside Kamel. Occasionally, the elf’s gaze falls on Kamel — clearly, the presence of a powerful arcane creature has drawn the attention of this elven Mage.

Kamel, however, pays no mind to the elf Mage’s look; nearly all his focus is on the symbols that have just been translated and deciphered. After closely examining their core structure, he can’t help but say: "Master Bannar — is the core mechanism of this Purification Array some kind of... tuning and resonance?"

"You are quite correct, Master Kamel," the elf Mage known as Bannar nods, "Through extensive research on chaotic magical energy, we discovered that it essentially remains a form of magic, contrary to the previous belief of being ’highly pollutant waste energy.’ Since it’s magic, it can potentially be systematized through re-tuning and resonance, hence the idea of ’purification.’

Kamel’s gaze falls among the illusory symbols, his tone growing slightly excited: "So you are treating magic as a ’wave’—and succeeded?!"

"’Wave’..." The elf Mage is momentarily taken aback, looking at Kamel with surprise, "You have introduced this concept as well?!"

"...We only introduced this concept recently, and currently, it’s yet to be verified and remains speculative," Kamel hums, "Through the resolution and reconstruction of communication spells, we applied the wave characteristics of magic, which has been confirmed mathematically and experimentally, but we still lack vital evidence—observable evidence."

"We introduced this concept forty years ago. Grand Astrologer Vilaniya proposed the hypothesis that magic is a wave form, and deduced the theoretical wavelength range of pure arcane energy through several arcane spell patterns. Her theory is the foundation of the Purification Array—but regrettably, we haven’t obtained observable evidence either..."

Kamel suddenly turns around, his gaze intensely focused on the elf Mage: "You encountered interference as well?"

"You encountered it too?!" The elf Mage named Bannar expresses surprise; his attention now completely diverted from Kamel’s arcane form—the elf from the Silver Empire never anticipated that, on the far continents and in the lands of another race, amidst the declining human society, human magicians were studying the fundamental aspects of magic and similarly encountered the bottlenecks faced by the elves!

"Interference is omnipresent; the entire world is shrouded in a powerful magic-pervasive environment, making observation impossible," Kamel is also astounded that the elves are conducting similar studies as humans. It’s akin to a lone traveler in the desert suddenly encountering a companion with the same goal, making his long-ceased and non-existent ’heart’ seemingly flutter anew, "What sort of experiment did you design?"

The elf Mage quickly regains composure after a brief moment of shock, not withholding the issue: "Master Vilaniya designed an interference experiment—We prepared a pure Arcane Energy Source, ensuring it contained minimal ’impurities,’ then converged the arcane energy into a beam directed at a grating made from Suppressing Magic Crystal Slabs, pre-leaving two narrow slits close together. Theoretically, pure arcane energy will manifest wave characteristics when passing through the Suppressing Magic Crystal Slabs: magic waves traversing through the two slits should interfere with each other, forming interference fringes on a projection board coated with developing dust..."

"But only displayed white noise, didn’t it?" Kamel promptly follows up, "Any pattern projected on the observation interface was overshadowed by the stronger natural magical field, akin to observing a faint glimmer under blazing light, in fact, that feeble pure arcane energy might not have even reached the projection board, being neutralized midway by the surrounding magic field..."

Bannar sighs regretfully: "Exactly as you said, the experiment failed. It seems you..."

"We conducted a similar experiment; the experimental idea was proposed by Duke Cecil," Kamel’s voice deepens, "We couldn’t observe the interference fringes either, but mathematically, it’s supposed to exist."

The elf Mage is somewhat surprised: "Duke Gawain Cecil possesses such expertise in the magic field?"

"The Duke is quite knowledgeable, having encountered transcendent knowledge and wisdom during his seven-hundred-year soul state," Kamel affirms sincerely, "However... he couldn’t resolve the issue of natural environment magic interference either. By the way, have you tried a magic suppression field?"

"Even the highest level of magic suppression fields only moderately inhibit magical surges while interfering with the caster’s mental strength to obstruct the casting process, but magic itself cannot be thoroughly suppressed," the elf Mage grins ruefully, shaking his head, "We also attempted to create a ’darkroom’ using expensive Suppressing Magic Crystal, to block natural magic, but technical limitations prevent ensuring complete isolation of the entire darkroom, and just a slight leakage... interference emerges like a devil."

Kamel can envision the tremendous efforts the elves put into forging such a ’darkroom.’

Due to the pervasive nature of natural magic, the observation of magic interference experiments requires the observer themselves to be within a darkroom environment, and a darkroom accommodating the observer, albeit cramped, is essentially a sizable ’box.’ The cost of Suppressing Magic Crystal is one aspect, but processing such a massive crystal and ensuring it has no ’leakage points’... evidently exceeds the elves’ craftsmanship.

If even elves cannot accomplish it, humans are unlikely to achieve it either.

"Our next goal is to seek assistance from the fairies of the Augari tribal country; fairies are small in stature and can fit into tiny darkrooms, which might be feasible to manufacture," Bannar sighed, "but it’s hard to say whether we can find fairies willing to help, after all... they resent being confined."

...

Gawain sat behind the desk, quietly listening to Kamel’s report.

"...Leader, in conclusion, the elves have encountered the same problem as us – interference from the magic-pervasive environment."

"Such devilish interference..."

Gawain murmured, his thoughts fluctuating inside.

What is the essence of Magic Power?

This question has been entangling him since he rose from his coffin, the omnipresent natural force, the seemingly endless vast energy, which alongside convenience also brought deep doubts to Gawain. He has always wanted to understand the essence and origin of Magic Power, yet until now, the results achieved by him and his research team remain meager.

Currently, they can only ascertain that the source of Magic Power is inseparably connected with the "sun" in the sky, and its essence... "perhaps" is some form of wave.

Yes, despite some instances of application, such as Magic Web Communication technology, and some computational conclusions, for this tangible "entity," unless an observable phenomenon is identified, its definition cannot be conclusively determined. At this stage, Gawain and Kamel can only say – Magic Power, "perhaps" is some form of wave.

This is a regrettable situation.

It’s right there, its nature, its possible essence, almost revealing itself, yet the most crucial observation has become the biggest obstacle hindering researchers. The magic-pervasive environment is everywhere – this has brought rapid development in magic skills but also caused enormous challenges in certain research projects.

The classic experiment Gawain could think of to verify the wave nature is the double-slit interference experiment. He knows how double-slit interference is achieved on planet Earth – but in this world, this classic experiment is hard to verify because the magic-pervasive environment covers all observable phenomena.

The strength of magic in the natural environment far exceeds the two streams of arcane energy passing through the slit during the experiment. It forms a white noise on the reflective board, completely obliterating the existence of the pure unidirectional arcane stream that should create interference, and for the same reason, the experiment on observing the magical version of "Poisson’s Bright Spot" has also failed.

The elves’ idea might be the best solution – building a darkroom and figuring out how to shield the magical interference from the natural environment.

However, this is not easy.

On planet Earth, to avoid the influence of strong natural light on observing interference patterns, it suffices to use shading materials for blockage. But in this world, materials capable of blocking magic are extremely rare and challenging to process. The costly Suppressing Magic Crystal is the most suitable material found. It can effectively block magic, and the barriers in the double-slit interference experiment are made from it. But processing Suppressing Magic Crystal into a darkroom... even during Gondor’s time, this was not easily accomplished.

"Actually, I have another scheme," Kamel said, "using a more powerful Arcane Energy Source, enabling the energy passing through the two slits to exceed the baseline of magic in the natural environment. This way, perhaps interference patterns can be observed outside the darkroom – or even if not, as long as we can observe two scorching marks, at least we can verify whether Magic Power is indeed a wave or not. According to my calculations, the existing Rainbow Cannon fully meets this condition."

"I have considered this scheme as well, but the premise for the scheme is finding a material more stable and durable than Suppressing Magic Crystal," Gawain furrowed his brows. "Although Suppressing Magic Crystal can block magic, it ultimately has its limits of endurance, and something like the Rainbow Cannon... would destroy any barrier."

Kamel fell silent.

Gawain, after brief contemplation, asked, "Is the elf astrologer who proposed the concept of Magic Power fluctuation named Vilanya?"

"Yes."

"Only forty years... As an elf, she should still be working for the Elven Royal Court today."

"Indeed, according to Bannar White Feather, astrologer Vilanya is still serving the Elven Royal Court and continues her research on the theory of Magic Power fluctuations. She is also one of the developers of the ’Purification Array.’"

"The elves are ahead of us... If only we could establish deeper collaboration with them," Gawain sighed lightly. "Kamel, do you think... using the residual magic connection of the great walls, our Magic Web Communication Terminal, and a set of translation devices, we could establish remote communication with the Silver Empire?"

"This is a very challenging idea, but I can give it a try."

Gawain nodded: "Then go ahead and try."