"Thunder Hell"—Fernando's magic tower.
As long as he was in Allens and had nothing else disrupting him, Lucian maintained his habit of holding weekly arcane and magical exchanges with his teacher. But today, when he stepped into his teacher's study, he was surprised to find the old-fashioned gentleman Brooke sitting there in his white wig.
Hadn't they always preferred correspondence over face-to-face discussions with the teacher? Lucian wondered to himself.
Before Lucian could even greet him, Brooke adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and smiled. "In recent days, your paper on the origins of Arcane Magic has caused quite a stir in Allens. I've gained considerable inspiration from it as well. Congratulations on the first formal model regarding the essence of Arcane Magic."
Fernando muttered from the side: "'The Observer Effect' isn't exactly a good thing—it would make the world unreal…"
Lucian smiled. His teacher's firm insistence on the reality of the world made it hard for him to have any favorable impression of the "Observer Effect," especially since this explanation still lacked any solid evidence or rigorous derivation—it was nothing more than a terrifying "prophecy" that a Great Archanist had come up with on a whim.
"Thank you. Honestly, I've only just begun exploring this area myself, and there's still much in this paper that warrants discussion. The same goes for the 'Negative Energy State Vacuum Sea,'" Lucian said earnestly. He was sure his teacher and Mr. Brooke could see that as well. Then he deliberately changed the subject. "Teacher, Mr. Brooke, what were you discussing?"
If he could avoid facing his teacher's roar, that was always preferable.
"Your earlier approach to quantizing the electromagnetic field while studying spontaneous radiation was quite inspiring to me. Combined with the fact that Anek and Splint's similar treatment of electron problems has demonstrated remarkable value, I'd like to build on your concept of 'secondary quantization' and thoroughly integrate quantum theory into classical electromagnetic field theory—constructing a quantum field theory to delve deeper into electrons and photons and investigate the nature of electromagnetic force."
When speaking of the nature of electromagnetic force, Brooke's somewhat gaunt, middle-aged face seemed to take on a radiant glow—he was unconsciously interfering with the real world.
And when discussing research in the microscopic domain, he carefully used the term "photon" rather than "electromagnetic wave," clearly having come to substantially accept the wave-particle duality of light. Far from rejecting the very theory that had once shattered his worldview, he instead harbored a vigorous passion for researching it.
Fernando, whose hair always seemed somewhat disheveled, said irritably: "Then he roped me into researching it together, solving the problems in it, completely ignoring that I'm trying to study the causes of fission reactor loss of control and the preliminary theory of the weak interaction…"
The "weak interaction force" was named by Fernando, referencing the nuclear force—the "strong interaction force"—that Lucian and Hathaway had proposed.
He wore a reluctant expression, yet his scarlet eyes were bright and keen, which made Lucian secretly amused. If you truly didn't want to do this, no one could or would dare force you to research quantum field theory. But it was obvious you were thoroughly enjoying yourself, brimming with passion and motivation for building such a framework.
Of course, Lucian understood very well that starting from "secondary quantization," the construction of quantum field theory would inevitably go through a long and tortuous process. Currently, there was an unavoidable major computational problem—infinitely large values arising from divergence. This would require slowly exploring new mathematical methods to resolve, and that was only one of the more prominent difficulties.
"After this period of research, we've preliminarily established a quantum field theory in the general sense, but it has far too many defects for us to consider publishing early. We'd like more people to discuss it," Brooke replied with both joy and contemplation—exactly as Lucian had anticipated. "It just so happens that you're here, and there are some matters worth discussing together."
He extended the invitation without any hesitation.
Fernando, who never bothered to conceal his feelings, let his expression droop slightly and cursed under his breath: "Damn infinities!"
Lucian didn't decline. He always enjoyed participating in such arcane discussions—they helped him genuinely and thoroughly transform the knowledge stored in his Soul Library into true, personal mastery.
Taking their draft, Lucian quickly skimmed through it and murmured thoughtfully: "This isn't a relativistic quantum field theory?"
"That's the plan for the future. For now, we're first tackling the general problems. If you're interested, we could discuss these matters regularly." Brooke made no secret of it, and his mention of "discussion" clearly implied one with co-authorship credit.
So the teacher hadn't invited the Chairman to join this discussion—perhaps out of concern for Mr. Brooke's relationship with him? Lucian inferred, though Mr. Brooke had a point: research should proceed step by step.
"Fernando's busy preparing his ultra-long-range spatial jump, and he has plenty of his own research. He doesn't have time to spread himself across more fields. Otherwise, he'd be delighted to do similar work. As for now—discovering planets is probably more important to him than life…" Fernando spoke in a booming voice, as if voicing exactly what Lucian was thinking, making no effort to avoid Brooke's presence.
Regarding the content of the draft, Lucian had already been researching it himself, so he quickly joined the exchange between Fernando and Brooke, offering several insights that made their eyes light up.