Chapter 380 The Great Sage Who Makes Peace

In the second week after the release of the Corinta paper, a closed-door meeting of the Sage Council was held in a solemn atmosphere at the top floor of the Great Sage Tower.

Thirteen high-back chairs made of white oak, symbolizing Xuebang's undisputed authority and purity in the field of knowledge, are placed around a round table carved with a star pattern.

The sages who could sit here to discuss matters were all scholars who had reached the pinnacle of attainment in their respective fields. Whether in terms of academics or reputation, they were the undisputed strongest, and their strength was at least at the purple crystal level. The Great Sage, who was the leader of all the sages, was even a demigod!

and--

This demigod did not break through from the Grandmaster level through the grace of Saint Sith, but rather through his exploration of the virtual realm!

The original virtual world was opened by him personally fifty years ago!

At this moment, these undisputed strong men are sitting around a wide round table, looking down at the topics on the table like gods.

"Everyone."

The great sage Adomiluk, who was sitting in the main seat, spoke first, and his calm voice echoed in the hall like a dull ancient bell.

"I believe everyone has read the report submitted by Corinta. Please share your opinions on the research on the 440th virtual realm and the 'guidance' mode mentioned therein."

The first to speak was the sage of the Protection School. An old man with a gaunt face and a perpetually tense expression stood up.

His pupils sparkled with wisdom, but the voice that came out of his throat was hoarse and dull, like armor and shield ready for battle.

"I think Prince Colin's actions are extremely reckless and set a dangerous precedent!"

He glanced at the sages behind the round table and continued slowly, "Every time we interfere with the virtual world, we are announcing our existence to an unknown world. Everyone, please do not forget the ancient warning - when we gaze at the virtual world, the virtual world is also staring at us."

"I agree with the Sage of Protection!"

At the same time as the sage of the School of Protection sat down, a tall and thin middle-aged man stood up and tapped the table with his skinny fingers.

Unlike the protection scholar who spoke in a lukewarm tone, the words of this sage from the School of Summoning were more intense and specific.

"What I'm worried about is not the physical counterattack, but the deeper 'spiritual pollution' from another world! Such a drastic change in the course of a civilization will inevitably attract the attention of a certain 'restraining force' in the void, and may even cause us to suffer its backlash! Professor Keynes's loss of his way is a lesson for us! We can't bring unknown disasters to the entire school because of a seemingly successful 'miracle'!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the sage of the elemental school stood up and immediately refuted.

"You are worrying too much! The existence of the 'restraint' in the void is just our conjecture, not a conclusion! Xuebang's research over the past half century has proven countless times that there is an upper limit to the exchange of matter and energy that can be carried out in the void channel! The worst case scenario is that the people on the other side will just throw a bomb at us that can't explode at all."

He was an old man with a fiery personality. His hot temper might be related to his expertise in fire magic and his experience of serving in a frontline mage corps.

Although the School of Elementals is not meant to be radical and they can be conservative at times, they have a natural liking for the Empire.

As for his last point, there is certainly a basis for it.

The virtual channel also has limits on the transmission of matter, and all material exchanges are based on common cognition.

In other words, they can guide the natives to make magic wands and learn the magic of the continent of Oss, but they cannot throw the magic wands to the other side or steal things they do not understand from the other side.

Once, a creature from the virtual world threw a "big lump of iron" at them. It was later confirmed by the Artillery Engineering College of the Imperial Royal Naval Academy that the thing should have been a bomb based on its design, but no one knew why the warhead had been replaced, and the launching principle was also confusing.

After refuting the Summoning Sage's point of view, the Elemental Sage paused and continued in an exciting tone.

"Everyone, I think Prince Colin has created an unparalleled research model! Instead of playing the role of a timid thief as in the past, just to steal a little bit of pitiful information from the pockets of stupid aliens, it is better to keep them in captivity and guide their development according to our wishes! I think I understand, isn't this the process of establishing common cognition?"

"Besides, we have already proven that a civilization established by spiritualists brings far more benefits than a civilization established by materialists! Both in academic and practical terms!"

This statement has aroused the approval of many wise men.

The "flying boat" that they had painstakingly figured out from behind the virtual world was ultimately confirmed to have come from materialists.

However, the reality is that this seemingly amazing magic device is actually not very useful.

They need to consume a large amount of magic crystals to make it fly, but in fact it only acts as a large mule.

The Empire's sailing ships are faster and cheaper than it, and they can only be used in the swampy northern wasteland.

On the contrary, they learned more from the civilization of the spiritualists.

There are hundreds of schools in the academy today, and many theories were perfected through exchanges with the virtual world, among which the Source Law School is the most prominent.

As the two groups of sages debated, the council was divided into two camps: radical and conservative.

At this moment, the sage of the Enchanting School raised a new issue.

"Compared to the debate about the virtual world itself, I am actually more interested in the 'Magic Science Laboratory' signed in the paper. And the 'science' mentioned by His Highness Colin, I think this is a very novel point of view, and this point of view has inspired many magicians under my command... although they are not engaged in virtual world research."

After a pause, he looked at everyone, his eyes sparkling with wisdom, and continued to explain his findings after in-depth understanding.

"I have read some of the lecture notes from His Highness Colin's class. Although what he taught had nothing to do with magic, the spirit of empiricism and the so-called wisdom of mortals that he imparted to his students can be used to assist and even optimize our magic research."

"For example, using his mathematical tools, that is, calculus, to calculate the optimal structure of enchanted runes can easily reduce unnecessary loss of magic power in the circulation process. Another example is his theory on force field, which has greatly inspired me to study the nature of mental power. Perhaps our mental power can actually be explained as a special kind of 'force field'."

"Force field? I think it's better to call it a playground."

A voice full of contempt sounded from a sage from the School of Law.

His hair was combed neatly, like a judge, and his arrogant expression further aggravated the stereotype that his appearance gave to others.

"This guy invented some new words just to be mysterious and to attract attention. Otherwise, why would he give lectures to those preparatory students instead of to those who really understand magic? What do a bunch of apprentices know!"

"Excuse me for being blunt, but he just brought those tricks of the Holy City Royal Academy of Arts that please mortals to our northern wilderness. A magician's precious and limited life should be used to pursue the mysteries of the soul and the source of power. It is not worth wasting time on these trivial tricks!"

He had also studied the calculus that Colin had come up with, but at the moment, the only effect that thing had on him was giving him a headache.

The heated debate lasted the entire morning.

It is rare for a tutor to cause such controversy that the top management of Xuebang held a meeting for an entire morning.

Finally, everyone's eyes were focused on the great sage Adomilk, waiting for his final decision.

The great sage was silent for a long time, and finally spoke slowly. Every word he said was like the majestic tower of the great sage, solemn and unquestionable.

"…Prince Colin's research in the 440th Virtual Realm is groundbreaking, there is no doubt about that. The Council should recognize the academic status of the 'Magic Science Laboratory' and the results achieved by Colin Tower, and affirm its achievements."

A group of radical sages immediately showed joy on their faces, while the conservative sages mostly looked unhappy.

However, the joy on their faces did not last long, and soon froze because of the next words of the great sage.

"...However, it is a recognized fact that no mage tower has yet replicated Corinta's achievements. Moreover, Corinta itself has not proven that their active intervention strategy can bring greater benefits. The prosperity behind the virtual world does not mean that we can get more from the virtual world... What do you think? Elemental Sage."

Seeing Adomiluk looking at him, the Elemental Sage felt his scalp tingling slightly. His face tensed and he nodded slightly.

"This is the truth... The Mage Tower under the School of Elemental Studies has not yet successfully replicated the experiment, but it shouldn't be long before we can make new progress."

"Let's talk about it after we make progress." Adoruluk said lightly, blocking the second half of the sentence in the Elemental Sage's throat.

Facts speak louder than words.

The Great Sage's meaning is very clear. He needs to see more results before deciding whether Xuebang has a positive or negative attitude towards the "radical intervention strategy."

The conservative sages present breathed a sigh of relief. At least this showed that the great sage was not blinded by Corinta's temporary success and relaxed his vigilance against the virtual realm.

On the surface, it may seem that others' adoption of radical research strategies does not hinder their own research, but in fact it is impossible.

This is not only an academic issue, but also a political issue.

If Xuebang supports Corinta's achievements, a large number of mentors and professors engaged in virtual world research will adopt more radical strategies to encourage the development of the civilization behind the virtual world, or even force the issue, and thus ignore the output of the virtual world itself.

Because as long as results are achieved, more virtual resources can be obtained, and sacrificing one or two worthless resources for this seems acceptable.

If this continues, the resources in the virtual world will become increasingly scarce, and the limited resources will be concentrated in the hands of radical scholars.

So sometimes, they have to curb this trend. This is not only for the sake of the whole school, but also for themselves.

Of course, this is just the conservative view. Radicals, including the Elemental Sage, certainly have their own opinions.

Corinta's research strategy will indeed weaken the output of the virtual realm in the short term, but it will allow them to gain more in the long run.

For example, the School of Elements, although they are one of the three major factions, their influence in the school is far less than that in the empire. Therefore, the virtual resources they control are not particularly high-quality resources, and most of them are leftovers from other magicians.

Similar situations include the School of Enchanting, the School of Stars, and so on.

In that case, why not take a gamble with the garbage you have?

Like the conservative sages, they also stand on the position of conforming to the collective interests of the academic community and put forward views that are beneficial to their own faction.

Even if their views are completely opposite.

In addition to the radicals and conservatives, there are also sages who hold a neutral stance. For example, the sages of the School of Holy Energy did not react much.

They are not very close to the Empire, but they are close relatives of the Empire's Holy See, and are not very interested in the virtual world.

In contrast, they were more interested in the soul, which His Royal Highness Colin's research did not seem to involve.

The meeting is coming to an end.

At this moment, footsteps were suddenly heard outside the meeting room.

A scholar in a wizard's robe hurried to the side of the great sage Adoruk and whispered to him.

Adomilk listened to the scholar's report patiently and frowned slightly.

The wise men sitting at the round table did not talk, but waited patiently.

After about two minutes, Adomiluk waved his hand, signaling the scholars next to him to leave, and then looked at the sages sitting at the table.

Looking at the serious expression of the Great Sage, the Elemental Sage suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.

"…Just now, a serious accident occurred in Virtual Realm No. 178. In the process of reproducing the Corinta experiment, the mentor Merck in charge of the virtual realm turned the world behind the virtual realm into a barren wasteland."

The Elemental Sage was slightly stunned and spoke almost subconsciously.

"But that doesn't mean—"

"This doesn't mean that the experimental strategy of active intervention is useless. I know what you mean."

The great sage looked at him calmly, waiting for the excitement to subside before he slowly continued speaking.

"But it's still enough to show that active intervention research strategies are risky and we should control the risks."

That's an impeccable reason.

The conservative sages looked delighted, but this time it was the radical sages who became nervous.

After a pause, the respected great sage Adomilk looked around the table and announced the final decision of the council in an unquestionable tone.

"Until sufficient results are achieved at Corinthia, we should issue a risk warning and freeze this research strategy within a limited scope ... such as Corinthia."

"Until Corin Tower achieves more research results, the Council will restrict the various schools of mage towers from adopting radical research strategies on the virtual realm."

"This is to protect our limited virtual world resources."

…

While the sages were listening to the wisdom of the Great Sage, the "Magical Science" laboratory was as lively as ever.

Nearly a hundred young apprentices are busy with their respective projects.

Some people were arguing over the theoretical model of the "thermobaric incendiary bomb", while others, under Jamie's leadership, were carefully assembling the increasingly complex "reflection observation instrument", or tinkering with other strange things.

Different from the solemn atmosphere of the Sage Council.

The entire laboratory is filled with a positive academic atmosphere, which is completely different from other laboratories in the same wizard tower.

At this moment, in a corner of the laboratory, Ilana, sitting at an oak table, was explaining her latest discoveries to her mentor Colin.

Her inspiration came from the basic mechanics that her tutor Colin had taught in science class not long ago.

"...In the mechanics framework you taught us, the core of our concern is 'force'. The reason why an object moves is because there is a force acting on it. This statement is very intuitive and can be expressed by a very concise formula 'F=ma'."

“But when I want to use it to analyze complex systems…like a double pendulum, or a bead sliding on a curved track, the analysis of the forces becomes extremely complicated.”

Ilana raised her head, looked at Luo Yan with an inquiring and expectant gaze, and carefully expressed her guess.

"In that case, can we change the angle? Instead of starting from 'force', we can start from 'energy' to describe the entire system?"

Hearing this question, a hint of surprise flashed across Luo Yan's eyes, which then turned into a smile of genuine satisfaction, and he said approvingly.

"Of course, that's a great idea. When I talked about the concept of energy conservation in class, I was wondering who among you would be the first to connect the two core concepts of 'force' and 'energy'... So far, you are the first one to see this shortcut."

For someone who has received nine years of compulsory education, it is not difficult to realize this.

However, for a person living in the era before the Industrial Revolution, it was not easy to understand this with limited knowledge and vision.

Encouraged by her tutor's affirmation, Ilana's cheeks flushed slightly, and she lowered her head to continue looking at the manuscript of Mr. James Wally spread out on the table.

She took a deep breath, calmed herself down and continued.

"You mentioned earlier that we can use the 'path optimization equation' to verify the conjecture proposed by Mr. James. That is, when an object moves from one point to another, it will choose a path that minimizes a certain 'action'."

“At first, I couldn’t understand what this ‘action’ was and how to describe it in mathematical terms. But in your class, I was inspired by the law of conservation of energy you talked about.”

She picked up the feather pen and quickly wrote a line of scribbled formula on the manuscript paper, with confidence shining in her bright eyes.

"In order to quantify and calculate the idea of 'least effort', we need a mathematical tool to define the 'total cost' of a path. I define it as S, which is equal to the kinetic energy T of the system at any instant, minus its potential energy V."

"So, the 'total cost' S of a system from time t1 to t2 is the accumulation of its 'cost' at every moment during this period of time - that is, the integral!"

"In this way, the 'principle of least action' becomes an extremely concise description - the actual movement path of the system is the one that minimizes the S value!"

"And the method to solve this 'function of function' is the method of variations that you taught me!"

【S=∫t1t2(TV)dt】

Luo Yan looked at the formula on the manuscript paper, then looked at the girl beside him with a gleam in her eyes, and was shocked.

Awesome.

Don’t underestimate this formula because one step further it becomes the Euler-Lagrange equation!

Although he had discovered that this girl was a genius before, he didn't expect that she was so talented.

"...This is an extremely brilliant idea, Ilana." Luo Yan praised sincerely, "I encourage you to continue exploring along this path. My intuition tells me...you are not far from the end."

"It's mainly because of your inspiration..." Ilana smiled shyly and said with her head down, "I definitely can't think of so many things just relying on my own strength."

To be honest, she had always suspected that her respected mentor already knew the answer, but he deliberately didn't tell her and gave her the opportunity to discover the truth herself.

As for why he did this, she didn't know.

Luo Yan smiled faintly and said nothing.

Ophelia, holding a book of "Advanced Mathematics" in her arms, waited silently by the side, wanting to interrupt but not knowing where to start.

She originally came to ask His Royal Highness Colin about calculus, but after waiting for a long time she didn't get a chance to speak.

The pure atmosphere of academic exchange made her feel like an outsider.

A faint feeling of jealousy surged in her heart, and she finally couldn't help but speak, muttering something under her breath.

"Saint Sith, this is clearly a wizard's tower... What does what you're talking about have to do with 'magic'?"

"Of course it does."

Luo Yan turned his head, looked at the Duke's confused eyes, smiled and explained patiently.

"Magic can also be understood as a kind of 'force', or a kind of 'action'... it's just that we don't understand its nature well enough yet."

Ilana's eyes widened slightly, and a trace of excitement surged in her heart. What His Highness Colin said was exactly what she was thinking about just now!

really--

She is now more and more certain of her guess!

His Highness Colin knows!

Hearing this unfounded explanation, Ophelia pouted a little unconvinced.

However, because the person who said these words was His Highness Colin, whom she admired, she couldn't help but believe it a little more.

Just then, a burst of hurried footsteps came from afar, and Assistant Corgi ran into the laboratory like a gust of wind.

Ignoring the other apprentices around him, he quickly rushed to Luo Yan and spoke breathlessly.

"Teacher! Professor Hector has something urgent to discuss with you. Please go to his office immediately!"

Luo Yan raised his eyebrows in surprise. Seeing that Corgi's anxious look didn't seem like he was joking, he asked, "Is he anxious?"

Corgi nodded repeatedly, his face full of seriousness.

"Yes! The professor sounded very anxious! I asked him what it was, but he refused to tell me!"

Luo Yan nodded and was about to leave behind the Corgi.

However, at this moment, he suddenly noticed the "Advanced Mathematics" in Ophelia's hand and the pitiful expression on her face as she looked at him.

His heart moved slightly, and he looked at Ilana beside him with a smile and gave instructions.

"Ilana, I have something to take care of. While I'm gone, the task of guiding Miss Ophelia will be left to you."

"You are her senior, I believe this little thing is not difficult for you."

After saying that, he looked at Ophelia again.

"You'll study hard, won't you?"

This sudden order was like a bolt of lightning, causing both Ilana and Ophelia to freeze in place at the same time, with different expressions on their faces.

Ilana's eyes were filled with flattered panic, and she was a little at a loss for a moment.

She felt extremely honored to have such trust from her mentor, but also felt unprecedented pressure to be a "teacher" to a duke's daughter.

this……

Would it be an overstepping of authority?

Ophelia was equally at a loss.

However, she was not thinking about whether it was an overstepping of authority or not. She just didn't expect that the prince would let his competitor guide him.

It is true that Ilana's strength is evident to all the apprentices in the laboratory, but is there no one else here who knows calculus?

He clearly knows what he feels!

Not only that—

He must also understand Ilana's feelings!

Ophelia blushed, glanced at Ilana beside her, and finally nodded with resigned expression.

"Yes... Your Highness, if it is your order."

Before leaving the Holy City, she silently made a vow in her heart that no matter what hardship and effort it took, she would make His Highness Colin face up to his own charm.

If this is Saint Sith's test of himself, then let the storm come even harder!

By the way, this sentence is excerpted from Chapter 2 of "The Adventures of Baron Cosiah" - The Baron Who Survived.

Looking at Miss Ophelia, who was blushing again and again for some reason, Ilana nodded stiffly and spoke in a low voice.

"I will try my best...Teacher, and Miss Duke."

"Just call me Ophelia!"

"Yes... Miss Ophelia."

Looking at the two people who had a "harmonious relationship", Luo Yan nodded with satisfaction, a smile of approval on his face.

very good.

Although the plan of "making Miss Castellón give up" was a step further, the plan of "trapping Miss Castellón in the Tower of the Great Sage" was a big step towards success.

"Corgi, let's go. Don't let Professor Hector wait anxiously." Having solved a problem, Luo Yan turned around and said to Corgi with a smile.

"Ah... yes, mentor." The stunned Corgi came to his senses and hurried to the front to lead the way.

(End of this chapter)