Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Viken’s laughter was undisguised. The two red robes that stayed out of the library looked at each other in bewilderment, wondering why His Holiness was laughing so crazily when the Congress of Magic was streaming. Had Douglas’ head been broken after he became a demigod, and he publicly announced that he would surrender to the Church in the stream?
Other than that, they really could not think of a second reason why the Congress of Magic’s stream made His Holiness delighted instead of angry.
Of course, they knew very well that it would never happen.
After a good laugh, Viken resumed calmness and held back his feelings. It was Douglas’ experiment after all and could not be entirely trusted. What if the guy was intentionally deceiving him? He had to repeat the experiment a few times himself to confirm the result before he made any further plans.
The experiment this time was not too complicated, and the difficult parts were the delicate control and craft of devices. For Pope Viken who had profound alchemical knowledge and who had been focusing on and studying arcana, it wasn’t too intricate. The greatest difference between him and the grand arcanists was not the practical abilities but the way of thinking under the arcana system. Therefore, it was impossible for him to design such an experiment, and he could only follow the research progress of Douglas and Lucien.
…
In the square, as Douglas repeated the experiment, “This is impossible!” burst out nonstop. The ordinary people who had been listening and watching the Congress’ programs were more or less taught with common sense and logic. How could they not be appalled by the fact that the result decided the process? Also, it was completely in violation of their daily experience and their natural instincts as intelligent creatures!
However, as the result of the experiment was confirmed again and again, their fear was gradually diminished. After all, magic was itself something beyond their imagination. The reason why the fallout of the law of causality did not disrupt their minds was that it had already been destroyed by magic a long time ago.
“Magic is so marvelous!” A senior gentleman announced excitedly, “It can extend your life and change the past!”
A sorcerer, who had happened to pass by and therefore watched the stream in the square by the way, looked at him “poignantly”. Could the two things even be compared?
This sorcerer’s head and eyes were swollen with blood. He felt that his understanding of the world and his life had been turned upside down. Everything had turned illusionary and did not mean anything anymore. After all, the decisions at present would change the past!
Before, all the sorcerers believed that the past was as unchangeable as the future was unpredictable. However, the past turned out to be changeable right now?
His ears were humming as if there were a rumble of thunder. He turned his head at a loss, wondering if he were in a dream.
Another old man who was wearing a soft hat also exclaimed in excitement, “Yes. Magic is so marvelous. I’m told that the senior-rank sorcerers could extend their lives by hundreds of years and remain as vigorous as when they were young!”
They focused more attention on that than they did on the dreamy experiment result where the present changed the past.
Many bards and playwrights around, after recovering from the shock, were thrilled. Such a fantastic experiment had inspired them. They couldn’t wait to create spectacular and astounding stories. For example, when a “strong observer” killed someone, all his traces in the past would be erased and replaced by other people and things. Therefore, nobody would remember him anymore, and nobody would even know that such a person once lived in this world…
The more they thought, the more excited they became. Some of them even squatted and recorded their inspirations with their pens and paper.
It was foreseeable that the mysteriousness of the microscopic domain would feed a bunch of playwrights and bards.
Not as simple and happy as them, the students in the generic schools and the noble schools were in excruciating pain. The experiments that Mr. President and Mr. Evans conducted in person overthrew their most basic common sense and violated the most fundamental logic. They held their heads that were almost splitting apart. On one side, it was a regular world with regular knowledge, and on the other side, it was the unbelievable world revealed by the experiments just now. They fought intensely inside their brains like angels and devils.
At this moment, they experienced what pain and disruption were. For the first time in their lives, they regretted picking up so much arcana knowledge!
Why… Why did I come to watch an experiment where Mr. Evans was involved?
Why did I want to kill myself?
Ali thought in a daze. Am I real right now? Is my every thought right now changing my previous self?
“No, no, there has to be another explanation. No mathematics can describe this…” Longman tried to calm himself down, but he could not stop himself from murmuring.
While they were in pain and feeling lost, the magic apprentices and the arcanists were dead silent, as if they were not even breathing. The other people couldn’t help but worry that their heads would explode at the same time.
In the studio, Douglas repeated the experiment and got the same result, but he did not stop and simply continued mechanically without any expression on his face.
It was not until Lucien coughed that he heaved a long sigh and stopped the experiment. He spoke to all the audience solemnly, “I believe that the most fundamental stance for the arcanists is to respect experiments, phenomena, and mathematics.”
His words sounded like an announcement. Samantha, Louise, and the other arcanists who were involved in the stream could barely keep standing on their feet. They collapsed on the floor, just like how their previous knowledge, common sense, and natural instincts could no longer support their worldviews.
In Allyn, Rentato, and every place that the stream was available, the arcanists had similar reactions. The sorcerers who were good at astrology, in particular, were sobbing silently, as if they were mourning for the dying determinism and the law of causality that might have been sabotaged.
Over the past few years, determinism had reached the verge of destruction, but they were always reluctant to admit it and did not face the reality until they suffered such a powerful and disruptive blast. They were more vulnerable than ever.
Indescribable sorrow, loss, confusion, and desperation enshrouded the City in the Sky and the major branches of the Congress of Magic.
Douglas looked around at the studio. He saw that except for Brook, Fernando, and the other few legendary sorcerers who were considering questions solemnly, the other arcanists all seemed weak and overwhelmed. Thinking for a moment, he said, “The most important thing for us right now is to figure out why such a result appears. It must be noted that microscopic particles are a matter that can disperse everywhere. Maybe we can find an explanation in other ways, instead of forcing us to believe that the present can change the past.”
His words rejuvenated the shocked arcanists and gradually recovered them.
After the stream was over, Douglas sighed softly as he watched Samantha and the other arcanists leaving in sadness. “In any case, it’s high time that they pay enough attention to the problems of determinism. In the age of the grand development of arcana, there are as much glory, splendor, delight, excitement, and ecstasy, and there are sorrow, pain, and desperation. This is an epoch of smiles and tears.”
“But after today, without theoretical breakthroughs, most arcanists in the Congress will stagnate for ten years because of the instability of their cognitive world caused by the disruption of their fundamental principles.” Brook, who had the experience of being broken and solidified, walked over with mixed feelings.
Fernando stared at the experimental device but was as mean as before. “It’s better to stagnate right now than to stagnate in the future, at which time their lives would stagnate for good. Right now, we have one demigod and four top legends. It’s enough to protect them while they reshape their worldviews.”
Footsteps echoed outside. Annick, Sprint, Heidi, and Lucien’s other students reached the studio. After they watched the experiment, they could not control themselves anymore and wanted to ask their teacher as soon as possible.
Looking at that, Douglas smiled bitterly. “It was you who proposed both of the two thought experiments, Evans. So, I believe that most arcanists, magic apprentices, and ordinary people with basic arcana common sense will be terrified the moment your name is mentioned after this stream.”
“How notorious I am…” Lucien scratched his chin and smiled helplessly.
“Master, is this really contradictory to the law of causality? I don’t really think so…” Though introvert and shy, Annick had been unusually persistent about arcana questions. So, after greeting the Excellencies, he asked his teacher without any delay and expressed his opinion.
Hearing his question, Douglas, Hathaway, Oliver, and other people moved their eyes on Lucien’s face too. They were also interested in Lucien’s opinion on the experiment.
Lucien seemed to have foreseen Annick’s question. Without thinking, he answered, “It’s possible that Mr. President’s opinion is true. The electrons disperse in space and come from all routes, and only after we choose a result we want to see will they collapse on one or two routes. It’s not because the present changes the past, but because the electrons haven’t collapsed before the choice is made, and the routes were never decided until then.”
Before the choice is made… Annick’s eyes widened. “The observer effect?”
Such an explanation resolved the contradictions about the law of causality, but it also highlighted the observer effect!
Lucien’s lips pursed. He smiled at Annick but did not say anything else.
Fernando and the rest of them shook their heads, still reluctant to accept the observer effect. Therefore, they all left and returned to their own homes, contemplating and trying to figure out an explanation that neither stressed the observer effect nor violated the law of causality.
