“Nya nya, Brother Qi, can nya ask you one last question, nya?”
Mao Zimin twirled around Wang Qi in a flurry before pulling on his clothes.
“Loved to not.” Wang Qi was focused on his book, not even bothering to look at her.
The girl put her finger in her mouth, asking curiously, “But nya, I haven’t even asked you, nya. How can you know what I ask, nya?”
“I can tell. That’s why I really loathe children. Now stop bugging me with questions and stop drooling on my clothes!”
His revolted attitude went right over the child’s head. Mao Zimiao had been worried about her father and had paid the Immortal Alliance headquarters a frequent visit to inquire about the western border’s war situation. It was not a place she could bring a child with. So Wang Qi was stuck babysitting every few days.
After a few times, Mao Zhiya was too young to understand things, while Mao Zimin got overfamiliar with this bro with his nose stuck in books.
Especially since the bro would love to play with her when he wasn’t holding a book.
Taking time processing this big bro’s words, Mao Zimin came to the perfect conclusion. “Nya nya’s earlier question is ‘Are Brother Qi and sis nya close, nya?’ and Brother Qi said, ‘Love to not.’ That means…”
“Nya? When Brother Qi is with sis nyaing, sis looks so happy, nya…”
“Little Min, what are you blabbering about, nya!” Mao Zimiao rushed over in outrage and pulled her baby sister away. Wang Qi sighed. “Kids these days are so… complicated.” ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢·𝗇𝗲𝘵
“Ha-ha, when you were ten, you were cracking worse jokes than me.” Zhen Chanzi didn’t hesitate to put him down.
“Ha-ha, since you got them, it means you’re just as nasty.”
Mao Zimiao came over after giving her baby sister a good earful. The girl looked tense. “Little Qi, I’m happy that you came to see me off, but I’ll be even happier if you wouldn’t read as you do, nya.”
Wang Qi and the three Mao siblings were at the Argent Mountain’s airport, waiting for a spirit boat to take them to the north part of the central area.
With the New Year over, Argent Mountain’s cultivators were coming back. The airport had increased traffic from all the people and even big cargo vessels.
The Western Sea Dragon King’s snowstorm had no effect on the Immortal Alliance’s central area’s bustle.
Wang Qi waved her off. “Go on. It’s the 5th and will be back on the 16th at the latest. It’s not like some final goodbye. So fussy. And seeing a girl like you having a hard time dealing with two brats, I thought of giving you a hand. This ain’t no farewell.”
Mao Zimiao’s hometown’s customs saw staying over at someone’s before the 5th of January to be bad luck. That’s why the three Mao siblings stayed at Immortal Institute for so long.
The cat-eared girl expected his answer. She rolled her eyes and took her siblings aboard the spirit boat.
Only when it took off did Wang Qi look up.
He closed the book and used a movement art to run back to the Immortal Institute.
Zhen Chanzi gave a snide mockery. “You clearly care, so stop always putting on airs of being above mundane things.”
“Hey, I’m on a time limit, alright?” Wang Qi quipped. “I’m getting more and more tense, having yet to find the slightest inspiration in my foundation.”
Zhen Chanzi sighed. “Yeah, that’s a problem.”
The recent days were spent coming up with either conservative or whimsical plans, though none were satisfactory.
Back in his room, Wang Qi placed the book on the desk, the very first book he exchanged from the library, the Gottingen Collection.
“Gottingen is in tune with Copenhagen alright, with deep knowledge of space.” Wang Qi picked up another book. “I can put aside hyperbolic geometry problems for now and focus on group theory.”
Physics theories were either about dynamics or symmetry. The foundation for the former was mathematical physics, while group theory was for the latter.
In math and abstract algebra, group theory was an algebraic structure. Concrete space matrix permutations and similar geometric problems needed group theory to solve. Earth’s mathematician Klein pointed out in Felix Klein’s Erlangen Program, the guidelines of geometry, that geometry could be categorized by means of infinite continuous transformation groups. Earth’s physicist Franklin Yang’s greatest two achievements in his life that opened a new Chapter in Earth’s physics, gauge theory and parity violation, were tied to group theory.
For a deeper grasp of geometry, these algebraic theories were a must. To tackle the Grand Unified Theory, group theory was even more crucial.
The book in Wang Qi’s hand, written by another Unfettered from the Myriad Arts Sect’s Gottingen group, Camille Jordan, was called Permutation Theory.
The book was seen as a must in Divine Province’s academic circles when studying group theory. It was also the 11th book suggested to Wang Qi by Arbiter of Arithmetic.
Engrossed in the book, Wang Qi also wrote down several problems.
Only a couple at first, but with time, Wang Qi became faster at writing down, solving one classic problem after another and helping with the more complex ones.
Wang Qi was processing all calculations at incredible speeds. If Su Junyu were here, he would question Wang Qi’s humanity. The classic problems Wang Qi finished were all beyond the Immortal Institute’s curriculum. His speed was the same as that of a seasoned Myriad Arts Sect disciple too.
Wang Qi, though, was merely reviewing his past life’s math.
Re-familiarizing himself with the math he dropped for ten years would give him the confidence to topple any of his peers.
Reviewing always came easier than learning. Wang Qi planned to finish the first part before the 15th, while also writing three summarized or discussed theoretical works.
By the 15th, most Foundation Establishment teaching assistants had returned. As classes restarted, he would then get to ask the teaching assistants or the few Primordial Spirit teachers about Foundation Establishment.
[Only six months till graduation. I might not get to meet so many geniuses and Eminence cultivators of different fields in the Myriad Arts Sect. I need to use this time to deduce the best foundation for me.]