Chapter 94: The Echo of Truth and the Dawn of a New Era

The archives of the Theoretical Council at the Magic Association Headquarters.

The first light of dawn pierced the high windows, tracing a golden path through the swirling motes of dust.

The young archivist yawned, beginning the arduous task of sorting through the mountain of urgent documents that had accumulated overnight.

His gaze fell upon a parchment manuscript, its ink still damp, and the title immediately piqued his interest.

“On the Quantitative Laws of Steady Current Magnetic Fields.”

‘Another one concerning electricity and magnetism?’ A knot tightened in his chest as his mind immediately conjured images of the bloody catastrophe that had swept through the royal capital’s high-ranking mage circles these past two days.

He dared not delay, hastily scanning the contents. The more he read, the paler his face became, and beads of cold sweat trickled down his forehead. ‘This paper is even more… concrete than Miss Lia Farrien’s.’

“Quick! Report this immediately!”

This paper, submitted by an unnamed apprentice of Michael Faraday, was so incendiary it threatened to scorch the very soul of anyone who handled it.

It was passed up through the ranks with the utmost speed, eventually landing on the round table of the Magic Association’s Supreme Council.

A silent panic began to spread within the council chambers.

If Lia Farrien’s paper had been a battering ram, shattering the gates of the old world, then Michael Faraday’s treatise was a meticulously drafted blueprint, charting the precise geography of a new one.

With its cold figures and rigorous formulas, it irrevocably cemented the theory of “electricity generating magnetism” onto the monument of truth, leaving no room for further debate.

“It cannot be released! Absolutely not again!” A council elder’s voice was hoarse, his white beard trembling uncontrollably.

“Thirty percent of the lightning and magnetic schools have already perished! If we release this, at least half of the remaining seventy percent will die as well!”

“But this is truth!” Another master slammed his fist onto the table, his eyes gleaming with both an insatiable hunger for knowledge and profound reverence.

“Have you seen his method for measuring the Earth’s magnetic field? A stroke of genius! This brilliant concept! How can we consign such a truth to oblivion merely because of a coward’s wails?”

Arguments, debates, and careful deliberations ensued. Ultimately, a compromise resolution was painfully reached.

The paper would be temporarily sealed, awaiting the calming of the storm, for the survivors to emerge from the ruins of their shattered beliefs, before being released at an opportune moment.

However, regarding the author of this paper, Michael Faraday, a different decision was made: no longer would they repeat the mistakes of the past.

A reward was to be issued immediately. The value of a person capable of calmly quantifying truth through experimentation and mathematics, undisturbed by the surrounding chaos, was immeasurable.

The Magic Association absolutely could not afford to discourage such a future luminary.

Yet, this honor and reward would, for now, remain in the shadows, its announcement withheld from the public.

***

Within the mage tower, Lia Farrien had the rare luxury of sleeping until broad daylight.

Her lengthy conversation with Eleonora the previous night had finally allowed the taut strings of her heart, strained for so long, to unfurl in a rare moment of ease.

They had spoken of everything from the profound laws governing the periodic table of elements to the architectural principles of spell models, and even her reasons for choosing to come to Klein’s mage tower.

Eleonora was an exceptional listener. Her gentle tone and focused gaze had unwittingly loosened the tightly wound chords of Lia Farrien’s heart.

She discovered that articulating her advanced ideas in a way comprehensible to others in this world, and receiving positive feedback in return, was an unexpectedly delightful experience.

She stretched, her joints emitting a series of faint, crisp cracks. Sunlight streamed through the window, casting warm, dappled patterns across the floor.

Just then, a set of light footsteps echoed from downstairs, accompanied by a familiar voice.

“Is little Lia awake? I’ve brought her something good!”

It was Master Laplace.

Lia Farrien dressed and stepped out of her room, just in time to see Laplace press a rolled parchment into Adèle’s hands as she opened the door.

His expression was peculiar, a mix of exhilaration and a hint of lingering fear, and he winked at Lia.

“This is for Lia. Let her see it for herself. This thing… it’s too much. This old man needs to go calm down.”

With that, he made a swift exit, leaving a bewildered Adèle in his wake.

Lia Farrien took the parchment, still warm from handling, returned to her room, and closed the door. She unrolled the scroll, her gaze falling upon the title.

“On the Quantitative Laws of Steady Current Magnetic Fields.”

Author: Michael Faraday.

Lia Farrien’s brow subtly arched. ‘Faraday?’ ‘That name…’

Suppressing the surge of emotion within her, she began to read intently from the beginning.

As she read how the author, in an effort to quantify the magnetic field, conceived the idea of using the Earth’s entire geomagnetic field as a reference and replicated the torsion balance experiment for measurement, Lia Farrien’s pupils suddenly constricted.

She continued reading, her eyes finding the formula that had been ultimately derived. A formula describing the strength of a magnetic field around an infinitely long straight wire.

In her previous life, this was merely a simplified version of the Biot-Savart Law under specific conditions.

It possessed significant and obvious flaws: it failed to account for the shape of the conductor, did not introduce vectors to describe direction, and certainly did not delve into the principle of magnetic field superposition.

Yet, even so…

Lia Farrien gazed at the clear derivation, the rigorous data, and the constant K, which was almost identical to the one in her memories from her previous life. All of it made her heart surge with excitement!

In the very instant she finished reading the entire paper, her emotions tumultuous,

BOOM!!!

The entire world, in her perception, vanished. Sound, light, touch… all her senses were instantly stripped away. An indescribable grandeur erupted from the deepest rules of the world itself, thoroughly enveloping her soul!

The Echo of Truth!

Lia Farrien’s paper represented a qualitative breakthrough. It heralded the birth of ‘from zero to one.’ Michael Faraday’s paper, however, was a quantitative leap.

It defined what ‘one’ truly was, its magnitude, and how it should be measured.

Together, these two papers elucidated the complete nature of the fundamental law: “electricity generating magnetism.”

At this moment, the very rules of the world responded with their most ardent embrace!

Lia Farrien felt herself stripped of her physical form, floating in an endless void. Countless torrents of runes, brilliant as star rivers, surged from all directions, pouring into the very core of her spiritual essence.

The spell models that once required her to expend mental energy to meditate upon and construct were now being automatically analyzed, optimized, and then reconfigured.

They transformed into instinct. Like breathing, like a heartbeat.

As the vast tide of energy slowly receded, Lia Farrien once again perceived her body, and she opened her eyes. Her world seemed to have changed.

With a slight shift in her thoughts, a quill on the table was lifted by an invisible force, gracefully tracing an elegant arc through the air before settling gently into her fingertips.

A basic Tier 2 spell, “Magnetic Attraction.” Throughout the entire process, she had constructed no models, nor had she even consciously stirred a single iota of mental energy.

The moment the thought arose, the spell was already complete.

She tried again. A tiny, golden arc of electricity erupted in the air above her fingertips, crackling audibly. An invisible, distorting force field instantly enveloped her body.

Instantaneous casting! All electromagnetic spells of Tier 5 and below had, for her, become instincts as simple as breathing!

Lia Farrien felt this newfound power, yet her heart remained remarkably calm. This was merely an incidental gift from the Echo of Truth.

What truly thrilled her was Michael Faraday’s paper itself. A new era had dawned, regardless of whether the traditionalists wished it or not; it was already here.

It would not halt its relentless march for anyone’s wails or resistance.

Just then, a soft knock came at her door.

“Miss Lia, we’re leaving.” It was Eleonora’s gentle voice.

Lia Farrien composed herself, carefully rolled up the profoundly significant parchment, and rose to open the door. Horace and Eleonora stood outside the door.

“Little Lia, how was your chat with Eleonora?” Horace winked conspiratorially, his face practically beaming with the smug satisfaction of ‘praise my wife.’

“Master Eleonora is a true scholar; I benefited immensely from our discussion,” Lia Farrien replied sincerely.

Eleonora smiled faintly, gently squeezing her husband’s arm.

“We must return now,” Eleonora said softly. “His Majesty the King has many matters requiring Horace’s attention. It’s time for this chaos in the capital to conclude.”

Her gaze settled on Lia Farrien, filled with both affection and expectation. “Whenever you have time, you are always welcome to visit Eisenberg Manor. My conservatory holds rare varieties you’ve yet to see.”

“I will.” Lia Farrien nodded.

Horace cleared his throat beside them. He stepped closer to Lia Farrien, lowering his voice, a mysterious smile playing on his lips. “Little Lia, get some good rest today.”

He paused, then grinned. “Tomorrow, the Association will have a grand surprise for you!”