Throne of Magical Arcana

In the Month of Beginning (January), Holm, being close to the north, was still cold. Snowflakes were flying, and the freezing wind was blowing like knives.

The magic tower of the Allyn branch of the Moonsong League, however, was as warm as spring, making every sorcerer who walked in feel comfortable from the bottom of their heart. Although they were protected by the magic effects, it was still not the best experience to be blown by the wind.

“Hi, Julie, Happy New Year. Has today’s ‘Arcana’ arrived?” That was the only thing that could motivate the arcanists to come to the magic tower against the cold wind at the beginning of a new year.

Julie, a female apprentice who was working as the receptionist, had a flushing face. There was no telling whether it was because of the different temperature or for other reasons. She said, “Neither ‘Arcana’ nor ‘Magic’ is here yet.”

After that, she asked with her voice lowered and her eyes glittering, “Gentlemen, did you hear anything about the cosmic observatory?”

“What cosmic observatory?” the few arcanists asked at a loss. Had they been outdated after only spending a new year holiday?

Julie said in excitement, “Words came from the Atom Institution that Mr. Evans established a cosmic observatory in space so that the arcanists who are not magically capable enough can also study the cosmic rays and the unknown mysteries in the vast space.”

“What?” One of the middle-rank arcanists failed to control himself. His voice echoed in the hall as if it had been enhanced with sound spells.

“Is it really possible to go to space for studies?” Another arcanist sounded suspicious and unconvinced.

Julie nodded her head hard. “Ms. Heidi and some other people have already been there!”

The loud arcanist believed that Julie would not lie to him about that, so he raised his head and looked at the ceiling in a daze, as if he could see the boundless cosmos through it and the magic tower.

“The cosmos…” He was almost sighing because most arcanists barely had any opportunity to visit the cosmos in their entire life even though they all craved to do so. Little did he expect that they would have such a privilege now. The grand development of arcana had indeed presented miracles one after another!

Another arcanist asked anxiously and eagerly, “Can we apply to use the cosmic observatory? Or is it only reserved for the arcanists of the Atom Institution?”

Before Julie replied, a clear and steady male voice had come from the entrance of the magic tower. “Of course you can. Mr. Evans has made it clear to the Magic Research Board in his reply that there will be two openings for arcanists who are not associated with the Atom Institution every time the cosmic observatory is opened. However, the candidates must submit their experiment plans first and be strictly vetted. The resources of the Congress of Magic are not to be wasted by arcanists who are merely going up there to experience the cosmos.”

The arcanists in the hall turned around. Some asked in excitement, “Is it true, Mr. Jurisian?” The others bowed dutifully. “Happy New Year, Mr. Jurisian.”

It was exactly Jurisian, who had reached the seventh circle, who walked into the magic tower.

“If you don’t trust me, you can ask the Magic Research Board yourself.” Jurisian smiled.

At this moment, the arcanists were already back to themselves. Someone asked concernedly, “Our experiment plans will be closely related to our own arcana studies. Will other people be inspired by those?”

He spoke very subtly, but his actual meaning was very clear. He was worried that other people would see through their studies from the experiment plans they submitted and steal their achievements by completing their experiments earlier than they did.

“Rest assured. All the experiment plans have copies like papers. They will also be reviewed by the members of the Magic Research Board. There’s no need to worry that somebody else will steal your achievements,” Jurisian replied with a smile. He was one of the senior-rank sorcerers of the Moonsong League with the most friends. That was why he had been admitted by the Affair Committee.

Phew. The few arcanists were relaxed, their worries gone. Some of them began to consider what kind of experiment plan could win the approval of the reviewers, and some others continued asking, “Mr. Jurisian, does the League have any intention to build our own ‘cosmic observatory’?”

Jurisian smiled. “I’m not very sure. Such things can never be decided so quickly. However, it is absolutely certain that some legendary sorcerers and archmages believe that ‘cosmic observatories’ are useless because they can work on the space themselves. Some others believe that it is inappropriate to build too many of them all at once, which would be a huge burden on the Congress of Magic’s stock of resources. Unless Mr. Evans’ ‘cosmic observatory’ reveals its value, it should not be blindly promoted.

“Therefore, although Mr. President, the Lord of Storm, and the Lord of Elements support the cosmic observatory, probably only another one will be built by the Tower for the time being.”

“The other Excellencies’ concerns are valid. After all, nobody knows if the cosmic observatory is useful. Recklessness is not the Congress’ style.” One of the arcanists nodded in approval.

Right when they were about to bid Jurisian farewell, something beeped on the reception desk before Julie.

“Hello?” Julie picked up the phone. “Huh, have ‘Arcana’ and ‘Magic’ been delivered?”

The arcanists who were about to leave stopped and waited for another ten minutes patiently, before they bought the journals from Julie.

“This issue of ‘Arcana’ is really thick.” one of the arcanists said to his friend in confusion.

Instead of going to his office to claim his copy, Jurisian began to read the unsold journals on the reception desk.

“Quantum field theory? A series of papers from Mr. Brook, the Lord of Storm, and Mr. Evans?” An arcanist read the table of contents and found the key phrase, “quantum field theory”.

Hearing that, the other arcanists were even more puzzled. They knew quantum, and they knew the field theory, but what did it mean when they were combined? Was it what they thought it meant?

The papers on the quantum field theory were intricate and brimming with dizzying equations. Those arcanists sensed the confusion when they encountered the general theory of relativity and matrix mechanics again. Some of them even skipped the deduction and looked for the conclusions.

“The essence of the electromagnetic force?” one of the arcanists blurted out in shock; his voice was full of intense shock. As one of the two most studied fundamental forces, the electromagnetic force had always been the foundation of the world and something closest to the “truth” for the sorcerers of the Moonsong League. How did anybody come up with an explanation about the essence of the electromagnetic force? Wasn’t it like someone who was unable to walk suddenly learned how to run?

Of the four fundamental forces, the strong interaction force had been specified but lacked further research. Even its basic features hadn’t been grasped yet, much less systematic theories about it. The weak interaction force, on the other hand, was merely Fernando’s speculation and had not been verified by any experiment. There was still no telling when it would be specified. Therefore, after the nature of gravity was partly explained by the general theory of relativity, the essence of the electromagnetic force became very symbolic.

For a long time, the arcanists who were adept at electromagnetism had proposed many hypotheses on the nature of the electromagnetic force, but they never had a complete theory. The series of papers on this issue of “Arcana”, on the other hand, seemed to be suggesting a brain-blowing possibility!

Jurisian was reading the paper slowly. The introduction at the beginning was what he was good at, so he had no trouble understanding it. But after he heard the exclamation, he turned to the end and read the part about the nature of the electromagnetic force.

“The electromagnetic force is the interaction realized by the reactions among charged objects through the exchange of photons? Virtual photons…” The hall fell quiet until Jurisian murmured to himself a long time later. The conclusion had a thorough theoretical support and mathematical descriptions of the complicated processes. Whether or not it was correct, it would be one of the greatest breakthroughs after the electromagnetic force was discovered, second only to the Brook equation.

The other arcanists could only manage to understand the conclusion, but even so, their eyes were full of shock and delight. “Is this the electromagnetic force?”

If the electromagnetic force could be understood perfectly, the sorcerers who were adept at electromagnetism like them would receive unimaginable returns!

“Well, the three Excellencies have proposed the questions about quantum field theory. How should the infinity problem brought by divergence be addressed?” An arcanist reached the end. It seemed that the quantum field theory was not perfect and had many unresolved problems.

For some reason, he was more or less relieved after seeing that. Understanding the nature of the electromagnetic force exalted him and made him feel that he was in a dream. It was more acceptable to him right now.

All the arcanists on the spot were feeling the same. One theory that surpassed the age, like the general theory of relativity, was enough. It would be too unreal if there were many of them.

They heaved a sigh in relief and smiled. “If the problem of infinity can be resolved by anyone, he will certainly win the Evans Prize in Arcana and the Silver Moon Medal.”

They did not have much hope in that, but it was not too unusual for the middle-rank and senior-rank arcanists to solve the problems that the grand arcanists couldn’t. Similar cases had happened in the past hundreds of years. After all, the grand arcanists had too much knowledge and experience, which might turn out to be shackles. The lesser arcanists were less likely to be affected.

“Huh? ‘A Hypothesis on Protons and Neutrons According to the Diffusion Experiment’, by Yaroran Hathaway Hoffenberg…” An arcanist turned to another paper.

The diffusion experiment on the title was quite familiar to them. Ever since neutrons were discovered, the diffusion experiments of protons and protons and those of neutrons and protons had been going on all the time, and a lot of data had been accumulated. A few months ago, Mr. Raventi and Morris discovered that in such experiments, the nuclear force, or the strong interaction force right now, wouldn’t change at all whether charged protons or uncharged neutrons were used. The result had nothing to do with the electric charge, which was against the common understanding. Many arcanists had proposed their hypotheses to explain the phenomenon.

“Perhaps we can consider protons and neutrons as the same particle, which I’d like to call a nucleon. Just like some electrons spin leftwards and some spin rightwards, some nucleons are charged and some are not. They cannot be regarded as different particles because of the apparent disparity…” The same arcanist read a sentence of the paper and felt deeply shocked.

In her paper, Hathaway introduced a new quantum number to indicate the state.

“What? Protons and neutrons are the same particle?” Including Jurisian, all the arcanists and magic apprentices on the spot were shocked.

It was not because they found it incomprehensible. It was because they were overwhelmed with disbelief and awed by the nature of the world. Was it true that the deeper they went, the simpler things would be?

“So to speak, there are only three kinds of basic particles: nucleon, electron, and photon. Also, the interaction between the charged particles and the photons behaves as the electromagnetic force?”

“This makes sense. The fundamental things cannot have so many complicated categories!”

“Is this the truth of the world?”

Sometimes, complications did not necessarily result in astonishment, and it could be the extreme simplicity that brought an astounding sense of beauty. Therefore, although the arcanists hadn’t finished reading the paper, they were already inclined to Hathaway’s speculation.