Chapter 114: Chapter 113
“Though the hypothetical deduction explains the mechanism of spell creation, it cannot explain the most fundamental source of energy, that is, the issue of energy conservation.
Energy neither arises from nothing nor vanishes into nothingness, it can only transfer from one object to another, and energy can be converted between different forms.
If the effects, power, and energy of spells originate from mana and free energy elements, where does the energy within these free energy elements come from?
As high-sequence superheavy elements, they might have significantly prolonged decay times due to the ‘Stable Island,’ but it is impossible for them to exist stably for hundreds or thousands of years like iron or carbon. If they were present in nature from the beginning, they should have completely decayed and disappeared by now.
However, during the process of out-of-body meditation, I could see that there are many free energy elements, and they seem to ‘generate from nothing.’
But ‘generating from nothing’ isn’t without reason.
The appearance of a new element can be through two paths: either through the fusion of low-sequence elements or the decay of high-sequence elements.
For free energy elements, the latter can be mostly ruled out, because high-sequence elements have shorter existences. To continuously produce free energy elements, a constant supply of even higher-sequence elements to decay is required. So, how are these higher-sequence elements produced? They still need the fusion of low-sequence elements.
Therefore, free energy elements are produced by the fusion of low-sequence elements. The specifics of the fusion is unknown at this time, but it should be different from the uncontrollable nuclear fusion of Earth’s hydrogen bombs in modern times; it must be a milder, more natural form.
Nevertheless, one fact remains unchanged: the process of producing high-sequence superheavy elements from low-sequence ones requires the absorption of energy, or rather, the utilization of external energy to meet the conditions necessary for fusion.
Just like on modern Earth, to detonate a hydrogen bomb through uncontrollable nuclear fusion, it is necessary to place nearly an atomic bomb within it. Only an atomic bomb explosion can create an environment for nuclear fusion to ignite the hydrogen bomb. This is also why the technology for hydrogen bombs must be developed after the technology for atomic bombs.
So, the question arises: where does the energy absorbed for the generation of free energy elements from low-sequence elements through an unknown fusion process come from?
One guess is radiation.
Just as high-sequence elements decay into low-sequence elements with a high radiative response, releasing energy, fusion, as a sort of reverse decay from low-sequence to high-sequence elements, also requires energy absorption through radiation.
Where does this radiation come from?
Radiation comes from everywhere.
In fact, radiation, as a form of energy, contrary to common belief, is not rare at all. Radiation can be found in every corner of a world—its land, mountains, rivers, caves, etc.—associated with radioactive nuclides such as uranium series elements, actinides, thorium series elements. Even within human bodies, there are radioactive nuclides—like 40K.
Of course, the most important source of radiation comes from the cosmos, from stars.
Just as the energy on modern Earth comes from the Sun, the energy in this world also originates from the Sun. However, unlike Earth, according to meditative out-of-body observations, not only is the Sun acting alone, but numerous constant stars surrounding the planet seem capable of projecting radiation here.
Could this be the true meaning of ‘Star Body Projection’?
Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But there is a high probability that it is the projection of these stellar energies that provides low-sequence elements with the conditions to form free energy elements, thus continuously producing free energy elements.
After being assimilated, the free energy elements react swiftly during the release of a spell. While displaying special states (spell effects), they rapidly decay back into ordinary low-sequence elements and release energy, which is the energy of ‘Star Body Projection.’
The transformed ordinary elements will one day accumulate enough star projected energy to turn back into free energy elements, then be consumed again and revert to ordinary elements. This is a cycle of the elements and also a cycle of energy and matter.
In short, spell energy fundamentally comes from Star Body Projection, from the energy projected by numerous special stars in the cosmos of this world.
In other words, wizards are merely using energy from distant stars to cast spells.
This stellar energy obviously isn’t inexhaustible, just as the Sun has a lifespan of only about ten billion years. These stars capable of Star Body Projection may exist for a considerable length of time, but they will inevitably end their lives and stop the process of Star Body Projection.
When that time comes, free energy elements will no longer be produced and will disappear completely from the world. The era of wizardry will end, and the Age of No Magic will descend, becoming like modern Earth.”
The quill paused, and Richard stood up. His eyes twinkled as he stepped out of the study, walked into the courtyard outside, and looked up at the night sky.
In the naked eye state, he could only see the ordinary expanse of stars that appeared no different from modern Earth. In reality, it was very possible that this starry sky would eventually become identical to that of modern Earth.
In some sense, the current world was really quite similar to Earth.
Richard was thinking.
Back in the forest, when he had pointed out the Polar Star to Pandora using the stars to judge, he had determined that the current world should actually be around the year 2100 on modern Earth, in the future.
But he should also have considered that the position of the Polar Star is cyclical, repeating every Platonic Year in astrology, every 25,800 years.
Perhaps the current world was the year 2100 on modern Earth, but it could also be a point in time 25,800 years ago. More likely, not just one Platonic Year, but two, three, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand Platonic Years ago.
In fact, even ten thousand Platonic Years, at just over two hundred million years, is nothing compared to the age of the entire planet and the universe.
According to research on modern Earth, the entire universe has a lifespan of 13.7 billion years, the Milky Way formed roughly 12 billion years ago, the Solar System 5 billion years ago, and the Earth 4.6 billion years ago.
Comparing to the Earth’s 4.6 billion years, the length of 25,800 years is truly minuscule, barely worth mentioning even for the duration of a species or civilization.
Consider this, if Earth’s 4.6 billion years were a single 24-hour day, then for the first 4 hours, there would be no life on Earth; only afterwards did the simplest single-celled organisms appear.
At 6 a.m., the most primitive algae appeared in the primordial oceans, and throughout the day, into the evening, they performed their lonely act.
By 8 p.m., mollusks began to appear in the water.
Then, over the next three hours, arthropods, fish, vertebrates, amphibians, and reptiles emerged.
Then, at 11:30 p.m., the dinosaurs made their belated appearance, only to be exterminated 10 minutes later by a massive asteroid from outer space or some other cause.
After the dinosaurs, mammals and birds diverged, and in the last ten minutes of the day, the ancestors of primates appeared. Within the last 2 minutes, the brains of some primates tripled in size, becoming humans.
At the very end, in the last 20 seconds of the day, the true recorded history of humanity began (one million years), and the so-called genuine recorded civilization of humanity occupied merely 0.1 seconds of this 24-hour day (5,000 years).
The cosmic, planetary, and stellar lifespans are too long; the existence of a species or a civilization is almost negligible. After all, even if they existed for two Platonic Years, ten times the duration of recorded human civilization—fifty thousand years—on the 24-hour clock of the planet, it would only be the second hand ticking once.
So, could it be that a true wizarding civilization once existed on modern Earth, one that lasted longer than human civilization, but they lived in some gap in time, like a point between the age of dinosaurs and human civilization, where they existed, developed, were destroyed, and left no trace?
But now he had suddenly found himself in the midst of it all.
Richard continued to think.
When something resembling “transmigration” occurred, when the impossible became reality, when the system of science was challenged, when the logical world had its gaps, one must ask why.
He really wanted to find the answer.
So he could only research and analyze bit by bit, trying to understand the principles of the current world, and then go on to explore this most fundamental secret.
Maybe he was living inside a box, maybe he was living inside a book, who knew?
After a while, Richard withdrew his gaze, turned around, and walked back into the house.