After reaching Meyer City, the devil was too afraid to wander around like before. He felt like a frightened bird, viewing everyone as if they were some powerful mages' avatar. After thinking it over, he decided that the safest place would be the Mage Rex's Club. The club would welcome him for Adam's sake, and he could even get some discounts.
"Indeed, places we know well are the safest."
With this thought, the devil made the club his home, living the life he had always wanted, until Mage Victor called for him.
The conflict over the different planes at the Mordo Transdimensional Mage Tower had just finished, and the tower had gained a lot from the conflict.
The plane they were interested in was one that used the power of belief, which was common among the worlds they had explored. The real value was in the main beings of that plane, the Skelefolks.
Created from death, the Skelefolks left behind their physical forms, and lit their souls to create soul fires. This change was fascinating to mages who studied unusual knowledge.
Furthermore, the Third Tower was also interested in this plane, showing they wanted to take control of it completely.
Adam and his friends found the plane when they were apprentices, so they deserved some rewards. Ophelia and the others had already received a lot of resources.
Mage Victor thought Adam might not be very interested in these rewards, but he was a righteous man, and he believed that anything that should be given must be given, no matter whether Adam needed it or not.
The problem was that Mage Victor had a problem contacting Adam.
"He's crazy," the devil said when asked. "He has shut himself in his lab for a long time and hasn't come out. Not just you, I'm not allowed in either."
Interested, Victor asked, "What is Adam studying?"
The devil told Victor about the study of electromagnetic waves, and Victor was interested. He was very positive about Adam's research and said, "Has Adam found a new representative? If not, the Mordo Tower is ready to help and can change how profits are shared for the whole range of products."
...
In the lab, Adam faced a level-four radiation creature, the last one standing as the others had run out of energy from constant hard work. He had moved them to other rooms.
Most of the place was under an energy vacuum spell. Adam and his avatars wore mage armors to fight off the void's touch. Many magical sensors were spread out in front of them, and multiple protective barriers were layered on top of each other, making the space seem unstable.
The level-four creature was no longer whole. It was dissected, revealing its internal energy circuits. Numerous tiny alchemical golems were densely packed inside, cutting off the parts that emitted impurities. Even its consciousness was blurred, turning it into a puppet that could only follow orders.
The avatar spoke in a cold tone, "Experiment No. 631 on electron beam separation and capture, begins."
Soon, the alchemical golems started to work, continuously releasing false neural signals to stimulate the creature's body. The energy gathering and converging through the modified circuits to the mouth could be clearly seen, followed by the emission of an invisible ray.
The ray passed through layers of magic circles and force fields. It left a clear trail and abundant comparative data on the observation and recording devices with every advancement.
"The quality of the ray is equivalent to 31.5% of the original. All force fields fail to absorb impurities. Ray separation succeeded."
Adam let out a sigh of relief. With this step completed, the most challenging part of the experiment was over. The next step was to alter the energy circuits of the level-four creature, making it release only this type of ray for easier research and comparison.
Adam left the room and lifted the lockdown on the lab. At the same time, a message from the devil arrived, "Master, Mage Victor wants to see you."
Adam met with Victor's avatar again. This time, Adam stood confidently before the avatar, unphased by its imposing presence.
Victor was still straightforward. After congratulating Adam on the exploration and his rapid advancement, he said, "Here are the rewards you deserve for breaking through the Skelefolk world: five thousand units of complete ether crystals."
Adam thanked him and accepted the rewards without any formalities.
Then, Victor continued, "I've heard there's been a new breakthrough in your research. Would you mind sharing more about it?"
Adam thought for a moment, guessing what the mage was referring to, and then said, "There is a new discovery, but it hasn't reached the application stage yet. I've found a kind of wave, which I've named 'radio wave.' This wave can carry information and achieve long-distance communication. It's of limited use to mages, because we're connected to the Mage Network through our souls... but it's very useful for apprentices and ordinary people."
Victor showed interest and asked, "How is it achieved? Through magic or alchemical items?"
"In theory, both could work, and neither is particularly hard to develop. However, alchemical items would require a certain amount of infrastructure, while magic is relatively more convenient. If you're interested, I could have my avatar work with the Tower on this. We can discuss sharing the benefits after it's done."
The mage laughed and interrupted him, "Of course, the arrangement won't be the same as when you were an apprentice. We can discuss the specific distribution after we've ensured success."
Adam agreed gladly. After all, he was still a level-two mage. Although he had the capability for research and development, he lacked the backing of financial consortia for distribution. His previous collaboration with the Mordo Tower had been pleasant, and Adam didn't mind sharing some of the benefits, as it would also save him a lot of effort.
After saying goodbye to Victor, Adam returned to the Tower, went to the trading area, and, without caring about the cost, purchased a batch of experimental materials to begin the final part of his experiment back in the lab.
The cathode ray experiment.
...
This experiment wasn't complicated. Adam had the complete experimental process in his mind; it just needed some adjustments and to be conducted again in the ether environment to see if it would still hold up.
First, Adam created a Crookes tube filled with a green phosphorescent material. Then, he conducted the simplest experiment: after connecting high-voltage electrodes to both ends of the tube, a green ray appeared in front of Adam. This ray would bend as it approached the magnetic poles, indicating that the ray was made of particles capable of moving small, light objects. This experiment proved that cathode rays also existed in the void around the Mage World.
However, the environment inside the Crookes tube simulated by Adam was a complete vacuum, even clearing out the ether, so it wasn't sufficient as proof.
Next, Adam modified a room in the lab. This narrow room's walls were made entirely of metal and coated with the same green phosphorescent material. The floor was engraved with a large magic array capable of creating a vacuum, which also contained a magic array for converting magnetic and electric fields. Each end of the room had a small discharge magic array.
Two avatars stood at either end of the room, managing the activation and deactivation of the magic arrays, while Adam himself stood by the apparatus to observe any minor data changes during the experiment.
"The first cathode ray experiment, begin."
At Adam's command, the two avatars sequentially activated all the magic circles. First, the vacuum was created, instantly turning the room into a vacuum environment, devoid of any material except for ether. Then, the discharge magic circles at both ends were activated, and a beautiful, dazzling green ray shot through from one end of the room to the other.
The magnetic field started operating, and under its influence, the ray deflected in different directions, proving it carried a charge. From the characteristic of charged particles accelerating from the negative to the positive end in an electric field, it was deduced that the particles were negatively charged.
This same experiment was repeated hundreds of times. Adam introduced various materials into the path of the ray to verify its absorption, penetration, and other properties. He then repeatedly calculated its speed to confirm it wasn't an electromagnetic wave. By comparing the properties of energy rays from other elements in the same environment, he verified it wasn't a component of any known element's energy.
Next, Adam brought a radiation creature, whose energy circuit had been modified, into the room. By comparing the rays, he concluded that the cathode rays were identical to the particle streams separated from the energy rays of the radiation creatures.
The following step involved continuous observation and data collection to calculate the electron's radius, which took Adam ten days to determine: 10^-13 centimeters.
Adam retracted all threads distributed to his avatar's body and personally managed the magnetic field magic array. Observing the ray's deflection in the magnetic field day and night, he continually used derived formulas to calculate its charge-to-mass ratio. Finally, after three days, he obtained the precise answer: the electron charge was 1.60×10^(-19) Coulombs, the mass was 9.1×10^(-31) kilograms, and the charge-to-mass ratio was 1.758×10^11 Coulombs per kilogram.
After obtaining the answer, Adam's body and soul experienced unprecedented severe fluctuations. He even had to use all his telekinesis and magic power to stabilize his existence. In this state, Adam persisted in measuring the charge-to-mass ratio of hydrogen ions after electrolysis. He confirmed that the mass of an electron was about one two-thousandth that of a hydrogen ion.
Following this discovery, Adam could no longer maintain the stability of his existence. His body disintegrated in an instant, turning into microscopic particles invisible to the naked eye, while his soul slowly rose amidst the swirling particles.
Adam was still conscious and could clearly feel the vibrations of the Mage Network. Then, a vast energy far exceeding Adam's total output every second was continuously transmitted to him through the Mage Network. The lab's defenses and the Tower's were as if nonexistent. A brilliant beam of light, transcending ordinary spatial concepts, shone upon Adam's soul.
His body reconstituted and then disintegrated again, repeating this process nine times before it finally stopped. The beam of light disappeared, and Adam's body, seemingly unchanged, steadily fell back to the ground.
His eyes remained shut; the transformation of his body was complete, and the transformation of his soul continued.
The electromagnetic knowledge he had acquired before deepened at this moment. The element of electricity naturally gathered around him, within his soul, the once turbulent element now calm and gentle. The mage armor emerged from beneath his skin, and the presence of an electromagnetic barrier felt more real than ever.
Runes rapidly disintegrated and reformed even faster, the new runes appearing more refined and complex.
With a gentle breath, Adam unleashed a wild electromagnetic field, turning everything within the room into the finest dust, as if vanishing into thin air.
With too much and too strong energy within, Adam needed to release it.
He opened his eyes, and two high-energy electron beams shot out. They effortlessly pierced through the lab's protective magic circles and walls, and then vaporized a level-four radiation creature that was unfortunately in their path.
But it still wasn't enough. The energy inside him was still raging. Adam went directly to the Tower's teleportation hall, pushing past mages waiting in line to teleport. Quickly, he made his way into the outer void.
The mages exchanged glances. They weren't angry, just curious about Adam's condition. They could tell at a glance that Adam was on the verge of being overwhelmed by energy.
Mages have absolute control over their energy, and such a situation was quite unusual.
"A level-two mage, he must have made some breakthrough beyond his control. See? It has even elicited a response from the origin of the world. It must be some astonishing knowledge he had found."
After a brief exchange, they continued with their own affairs, indifferent. If truly groundbreaking knowledge had been discovered, they would soon know. Thanks to the Mage Network, knowledge can be acquired as long as one is willing to pay its value.
...
Adam spent half a day rampaging in the outer void before returning to his lab, looking refreshed.
The beam of light was the Etheric Gift, recognizing the discovery of the electron as knowledge profound enough to transform the soul. Had Adam been a level-four mage ready for advancement, he might have even reached the transcendent level with the Etheric Gift.
For now, however, aside from enhancing the quality of his magic and making his soul more refined and vigorous, the Etheric Gift didn't serve much purpose.
However, it still brought Adam to the pinnacle of being a level-two mage, the true peak, allowing him to cross the threshold to become a level-three mage whenever he wished.
Adam wasn't in a hurry. He planned to advance to level-three after forming his Electro True Self.
After verifying the existence of the electron, the Elemental True Self cultivation method he had previously obtained seemed somewhat inappropriate. He needed to create new algorithms that integrated the properties of electrons, a task that would be time-consuming and his most important focus until the next mission.
Once he formed his Electro True Self, it would bring a significant leap in strength.
