Chapter 574: Chapter 501 Light Wave Theory and Double-Slit Interference Experiment_2
Has today’s meditation been completed? Have you learned all the existing theories of magic? How much grasp do you have over calculus and electromagnetic equations?
Under Lynn’s three consecutive questions, the councilors gathered around him had no choice but to disperse dejectedly, realizing it was unlikely to gain any advantage from this star of magic through shortcuts.
Lynn also took the opportunity to leak some information, saying he was persuading the high-level members of the Secret Magic Society to see if they could connect the magic network with the microcosm to achieve mutual aid, thus giving everyone a heads up.
The news of Lynn’s mass production of wizard plan and the academic seminar that would be held in three months had spread throughout the entire empire like the wind, thanks to the promotion by the Magic Daily.
The wizards, who had become somewhat lax due to the smooth progress of the war, immediately sprang into action, animated as if they had been injected with chicken blood.
Especially those third-ring wizards approaching the limits of their lifespan saw a new hope—once promoted to a great wizard, not only could they extend their lives, but they could also readily join the council and become members who held power and could participate in major decisions.
Even great wizards like Alade, who didn’t need to comprehend realms, weren’t idle. In the future when they would be promoted to legendary status, they might need to harness the magic network as an aid.
The amount of magic power and energy consumed by the legendary promotion ceremony was astronomical, and the council would not provide it for free. It had to be exchanged for solid achievements.
Now that the war against the empire was nearing its end, there were not many opportunities to earn military exploits, so the upcoming academic seminar became particularly important—if one could obtain a few academic honor medals, they would certainly be able to acquire priority access to the magic network.
Thanks to recent advances in optics, electromagnetism, mechanics, gravity, and higher mathematics, there were countless fields to conquer. Progress in any one branch was enough to earn a Morning Star Medal, and if there were breakthrough developments, the Silver Moon Medal would be secured!
Some wizards set their hopes on finding the dozens of new elements missing from the “Periodic Table of Elements,” causing the kingdom’s victorious musketeers to be overlooked in recent times.
It was nothing more than conquering a few cities today and dealing with rebellions tomorrow.
Absolute technological suppression, coupled with the collapse of the church’s system of Divine Arts, meant that even the rare united front of the empire’s nobility could not stop the successive defeats of the army.
Within just one month of the Magic Kingdom switching from defense to offense, there had already been seven cases of soldiers mutinying on the battlefield—facing armored torrents that could not be cut by swords or penetrated by arrows, and the overwhelming fleet of airships, the army of the empire, devoid of Divine Arts, could only be described as utterly collapsing upon contact.
To change the unfavorable situation, the imperial royalty and nobles came up with quite a few tactics.
For example, they planned to send a trusted aide to feign surrender, then blow them up from the inside, causing chaos, engaging in combined attack and overcoming the stronger with the weaker!
As a result, those guards who were sent to fake their surrender ended up genuinely defecting after spending some time in the cities under the kingdom, and sold out their empire completely.
Helpless, who could blame them when the kingdom offered such good treatment? Even as captives, they were treated much better than they would be as imperial soldiers. It was said that the captives sent to mine and build roads not only got enough to eat but also two days off each month.
If they were willing to be reformed, they even had the chance to be released and start over.
Under such circumstances, no soldier would want to fight a war where victory seemed impossible.
Meanwhile, by the nearly dry banks of Eers Lake in Fire Oil City, the Thunder Mages, who had exhausted their magic power to extract kilograms of tritium and deuterium, focused the remainder of their energy on academic research.
Compared to their colleagues involved in the war against the empire, although they avoided the risk of falling in battle by staying at the rear, they lacked the channels to acquire military merits.
Of course, their hard work existed—the fusion reactor could not run smoothly without their tireless efforts, and the nearly ionized Eers Lake was the best proof of that!
But with so many people sharing the credits, the portion that could reach each individual diminished, and standing out to secure a spot for promotion to a great wizard or a legendary wizard was no easy task.
Luckily, being in a safe zone wasn’t entirely without its benefits. It also meant having ample time and resources for academic pursuits.
Those proficient in Thunder Mage spells had a natural advantage in the research of electric and magnetic fields. However, Jeffrey, who was also an expert in thunder magic, did not choose to devote his energy to electromagnetism since there were too many people specializing in it, and he had to find an alternative path.
Moreover, he was growing even more interested in optical research!
According to the past understanding of wizards, light might be a kind of extremely tiny element, invisible to the naked eye.
It is said that this hypothesis originated from a great wizard who studied optics. One day, while bathing, light shone through the window from outside, penetrated the thick mist, and he “saw” particle-like light!
But Jeffrey did not think so, it was nothing more than a natural phenomenon formed by light shining on scattered dust, which Lynn’s Cloud Chamber could explain very well.
Another point solidified his guess even further, that the diffraction phenomenon inherent to light completely contradicted the so-called elemental theory!
This had to be wrong!
Jeffrey felt he was touching the gateway to the truth, and his ambition swelled rapidly.
One must know that optics is a very crucial field, and Lynn, the star of magic, had even promised that whoever understood the nature of light would be nominated for the Corona Medal!
With this achievement, he could become the first person to be promoted to legend beneath the several councilors!
“Teacher, the setup of experiment number thirty-five has been completed!”
As Jeffrey was indulging in his fantasies, several Wizard Apprentices spoke cautiously, having already arranged seven experimental setups in front of them.
Each experimental setup had a laser emitter installed, capable of emitting seven different colors of light: red, green, blue, orange, purple, and so on.
Behind the emitters were several baffles with holes drilled through them of various sizes.
Jeffrey walked up to the experimental table and observed very carefully the scattering of light after it passed through these baffle holes. Within a few minutes, his brow furrowed deeply, utterly baffled.
When a beam of light passed through a relatively wide diameter hole, the path of the light formed a very standard conical shape, which aligned with the common knowledge that light propagates in parallel paths.
However, when passing through a very narrow slit, the situation was different; the scattering range of the light noticeably increased. Not only was there a cone behind the baffle with a diameter larger than the original beam’s range, but faint rings of light also appeared around the shadowed areas.
Jeffrey pondered for a long time, holding a white paper filled with rules concluded from previous experiments, with three being emphatically circled as definite.
First, monochromatic light cannot be further divided. Second, the same medium refracts different colors of light to different extents. Third, all colors of light exhibit diffraction and it does not disappear with the weakening of its intensity.
Now was the time to explore the fourth key point, which was the most crucial: a deeper study of the light diffraction phenomenon.
Jeffrey’s hand was clutching an ink-dipped quill, yet he had not moved for quite some time.
“Teacher, should we try adding a few more holes to the baffle?” a male wizard suggested suddenly.
All their previous experiments had been with single-hole baffles. What if they used double holes, or even triple?
“We could also try different shapes for the holes, like triangles, rectangles, and the like; maybe we’ll find something new…” another apprentice suggested.
Jeffrey felt a flash of insight; he had not tried these two points before.
“Then let’s give it a try.”