Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1300: Chapter 1299: Winter Night at the Palamere Observatory

The night sky lowered over the tranquil Palamere Highlands, with a clear starry sky blanketing the area. The deep winter wind whistled from afar, creating a mournful sound between the concrete high walls and the metal beams, while the solemn Observatory stood tall on this highland that once nearly became the flashpoint for war between two major human Empires, standing there amidst the chilly winter night.

A highly precise lens group slowly returned to position with the adjustment of the mechanical device, and the night sky directly above the Observatory revealed several faintly visible glittering magic symbols. The sky delineated by these symbols appeared far clearer than other regions, with a filter-like color covering the myriad stars. Accompanied by the low sound brought by the cold wind, another group of lenses and a Crystal Array ascended slowly from the building’s roof dome, pointing near the Frost Throne Constellation that had already reached the highest point in the night sky.

Inside the Observatory, Morgan Hugo, with his full head of white hair and thin figure, handed over subsequent observation and recording tasks to his assistant and walked with slightly weary steps towards the rest area. He saw his closest friend, Benjamin, the secondary director of the Observatory, sitting by the round table, holding a publication and frowning as tightly as a crumpled piece of cloth.

Probably hearing the approaching footsteps, Benjamin, who was frowning and staring at the publication, raised his head. Upon seeing Morgan’s figure clearly, this former palace Mage from St. Soniel slightly eased his brows and forced out a smile: "Ah, looks like you’ve finally finished your work."

"Whenever the Frost Throne Constellation reaches its highest point, the lens group here needs recalibrating, and I can’t trust this task to those clumsy young people— if the main lens gets damaged even slightly, it would tear my heart apart," Morgan casually said, then his face revealed a curious expression, "What are you looking at? Your expression seems like you’re about to head out and duel someone."

Upon hearing this, Benjamin’s face turned even worse. The slightly dark-skinned former palace Mage couldn’t help but wave the publication in his hand and loudly complain to his old friend: "A paper, the latest unsettling paper published in the ’Magic Conduction Frontier’ magazine! Damn it, you’re right, I kind of want to duel someone right now; a refreshing shower of fireballs and lightning arrows would be more soul-soothing than seeing this thing!"

"Haha, a paper actually driving our scholar crazy to such an extent— the last time I saw you like this was after you stayed up three nights reading ’Detailed Study of Rune Logic’," Morgan couldn’t help but laugh at his friend’s dramatic display, his wrinkled old face piling up with wrinkles. He reached forward with his hand, "Let me take a look, let me see what kind of magic is in these words to have a great archMage so worked up..."

He took over the ’Magic Conduction Frontier’ magazine from the other’s hand, which was officially published by the Empire’s Magical Energy Technology Department, endorsing by Princess Rebecca and Master Kamel, the most authoritative and professional technical publication in the field of Magic Guide Technology. Though its circulation was limited, every modern scholar with a degree of Mage proficiency and keeping up with the times prided themselves on owning and thoroughly reading every issue of ’Magic Conduction Frontier’, Morgan included— yet he hadn’t had a chance to look through the latest issue due to the busy last few days.

"Don’t say I didn’t warn you, better cast a calming Divine Arts onto your own brain first," Benjamin candidly yet teasingly reminded Morgan while looking into his eyes, "Open the article titled ’Hypothetical Extension on Basics of Everything Behind Magical Wave Attribute’, yes, the one that takes up half the book— skim through it first, it’ll be good for your peace of mind."

"Is it that long? And what’s with this bizarre title..." Morgan murmured somewhat surprised, quickly finding the article taking up the largest space in the entire journal. Before long, he furrowed his brows as he started reading, "This... clumsy, unfamiliar syntax, spelling barely passing, unsystematic phrasing... Is this truly a paper that can be published in ’Magic Conduction Frontier’? My granddaughter’s diary flows smoother than this!!"

"It’s not that bad, old friend. Though the article’s ’grammar’ is indeed a bit unfamiliar, at least it narrates clearly and is readable," Benjamin sighed and spoke leisurely, "The author used phrasing like a rookie writing their first paper, yet all theories and knowledge within are highly precise and professional, leading me to realize its core value— you should seriously continue reading, its content holds your interest the most."

"Content?" Morgan furrowed his eyebrows, turning the pages downward while murmuring, "Indeed, the discussion and parameters about the magical wave experiments are sound, and here... hmm... hmm?"

The old Mage flipped through pages one by one, rapidly reading and analyzing the paper’s content with magic’s aid. His expression became increasingly multisided, his eyebrows tightening more and more. Eventually, he directly sat beside Benjamin, gritting his teeth and reading attentively while subconsciously rocking back and forth — a habit he developed over years, engaging in full concentration would lead to this, while Benjamin had already prepared tea, pushing it beside Morgan’s hand: high-intensity thinking and overly invested reading undoubtedly resulted in dry mouth.

"This... Is this a thought that humans can conceive!?" Morgan spoke before finishing the paper, sipping tea in one go while glancing at his old friend beside him, "The micro basis of everything are waves or ’oscillating elements’ with wave attributes, all existence in the world at the ’most underlying layer’ shares a unified nature, the difference between matter and energy is merely in ’wavelength’ and ’frequency,’ while magic power possibly stands as a most peculiar ’wave,’ permeating the universe and influencing all, enabling the various interactions between magic and matter... What the hell is all this?!"

"See, I advised you," Benjamin at this point lacked the initial agitation, instead calmly comforting Morgan, with a smile bearing certain "though the Taoist died, seeing his friend also perish in the same pit feels oddly joyful" meanings (though he likely didn’t have this clever allegory in mind). He poured another cup of clear tea, pushing it over with a serene attitude, "You should calm down, your age far surpasses mine."

"Yet you’ve calmed down now!" Morgan glared, unconsciously waving the journal in his hand, "Have you read it all? Have you accepted this conclusion? That at the essence, our entire material world originates from a ’origin point’s’ specific oscillation, the entirety of our recognized reality potentially stands as an extraordinarily transient ordered ripple amidst an infinitely scaled vibration, magic is a wave, matter is a wave, we beings of flesh, if infinitely dismantled, the most basic ’unit’ is oscillating, potentially even interacting ’interfering’ under specific wavelengths and frequencies with other matter!! I’ve never heard such absurdity in my life!"

"But you can’t falsify it, can you?" Benjamin spread his hands, "The entire logic within the paper is coherent..."

"Nonsense! Of course it’s coherent! It extrapolates a hypothesis from limited phenomena and an unverifiable ’observational experience’! A hypothesis, understand? Even it doesn’t claim absolute veracity, how are you going to falsify it?! Goddess of Magic... King above! It’s fine to hypothesize, but not such ridiculous ones..."

Morgan grumbled with a crumpled face, seemingly incensed seeing such an unorthodox ’folk magic research paper’ appearing in such a professional journal, overlooking the peculiar smile that briefly appeared on his old friend’s face, finally unable to resist flipping through the magazine, flipping toward the end while muttering, "I must see if there’s more... Ah! My heavens, look at this? ’No references required for this paper,’ Benjamin! A paper daring to write like this! Does the author fancy themselves as the Source of All Magic or the King himself?!

"I must see who wrote this, and who allowed a paper like this to pass through, even published it brazenly in the ’Magic Conduction Frontier,’ I must write and question the rigor of this paper..."

The inherently strict old Mage couldn’t resist loudly complaining, a natural rebellion emerging after seeing an outside force meddling within his beloved field. While speaking, he flipped to the end of the pages, as his old friend’s increasingly peculiar smile indicated, his complaint came to a sudden halt.

He knew nearly all renowned figures within the domestic Mage and magic symbol sphere were named.

Moreover, before those names, there were two names he could hardly dare to think of.

"Come, have a cup of tea," Benjamin pushed the slightly cooled tea forward, speaking amiably, "Later, go out and find someone to duel."

"I want to duel with you, right now—have you been waiting to see me make a fool of myself since just now?" Morgan finally reacted, glaring at his old friend beside him. Then he suddenly looked nervously at his surroundings, speaking in a lowered voice, "I didn’t swear too harshly just now, did I?"

"Be thankful for your upbringing since childhood. Your lack of vocabulary in the realm of cursing meant that your performance wasn’t too outrageous," Benjamin shrugged, "And really, I think that the paper deliberately put the authors’ names at the end—but neither you nor I need to scare ourselves too much; we don’t live under a high-pressure and harsh monarch..."

"No, what worries me the most is not the King’s name... though that does make me nervous, but it’s the other one I care about more," Morgan still instinctively lowered his voice as if afraid that some unspeakable power would be triggered by a single inadvertent word, "Did you notice? That name is ’Goddess of Magic’..."

"Perhaps it’s just a namesake?" Benjamin’s expression showed a momentary hesitation, but he still shook his head and said, "Don’t overthink it."

"It’s not easy for this name to be a namesake... my old friend," Morgan whispered, "A rural villager who hasn’t read much might possibly give their child such a frivolous name, but someone capable of publishing this paper in ’Magic Conduction Frontier’, and still able to append those names at the end—do you believe she or her parents wouldn’t know which existence ’Goddess of Magic’ refers to?"

"...Don’t think too much, Morgan," Benjamin gently shook his head, "The existence you’re talking about has already fallen."

"Yes, it has fallen... Yet you and I have been involved with projects of the theocracy Authority Council, you also know the role of the Observatory... we know some ’truths’.

Listening to Morgan’s cryptic words, Benjamin certainly knew what his old friend was referring to. He lightly exhaled, his gaze falling on the open journal, the name so familiar to all Mages teased his vision. After a long silence, he quietly said, "When you first heard of Her fall, were you saddened?"

"...actually not much, I didn’t feel like I was a devout follower, or rather, there probably aren’t truly devout followers of magic in this world," Morgan sighed, shaking his head, "But I still stared blankly all night. I hadn’t heard of such a thing before; it was my first experience, and I didn’t know what to do at the time..."

"I’m about the same as you," Benjamin poured himself a cup of tea too, "But later... the theocracy Authority Council was established, like you, I had another role under it alongside my normal public office, and began to receive some information..."

Morgan lowered his head in silence, raising his hand to lightly brush the pages of the printed journal. His fingertips paused for a moment on a name before he suddenly spoke, "If this is really her, do you think..."

"...isn’t it good?"

His old friend’s voice carried a hint of laughter, this light-hearted mood made Morgan unexpectedly lift his head.

"We’re pretty ’close’ to her this time," Benjamin smiled, as if he had thought things through, "Before, we could only pray to her without receiving any response, worshipping an elusive symbol that explained nothing. But now—we hold her ’thoughts’ in our hands. What she’s pondering, researching, wanting to discuss with us, is all clearly written here, we can even see at a glance that the lady’s grammar is terrible, obviously, it’s her first time writing something, and this paper may very well have been polished by someone helping her..."

"Hey, saying that is a bit disrespectful..."

"Didn’t you just say it too!"

"...that’s true," Morgan mumbled with an odd expression, appearing somewhat puzzled, "Indeed, after seeing this article, my feelings towards ’the lady’ seem quite strange... she’s actually learning and researching these things just like us? And she even collaborated with our King and Master Kamel?"

Benjamin squinted, "Are you still considering ’publishing a challenge’?"

Morgan was immediately taken aback.

But after a moment of daze, the old Mage from St. Soniel’s Royal Astrologer appeared to be stirred by some fighting spirit, raising his eyes and straightening his neck, "Write, why not write! Didn’t you see the bolded message at the end of the article? ’This article only provides a superficial guess at the underlying truths of our world and should not be considered as any kind of judgment or conclusion. We welcome all scholars interested in this field to challenge and discuss all the content proposed in this paper; on the academic path, no rigorous and reasonable question should bow down to any authority’—ordinary papers don’t have this statement; this is evidently meant for us by the King and ’the lady’ intentionally!"