Chapter 573 — Interference
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
"Interference is everywhere — the whole world is steeped in a powerful mana environment, to the point where observation is simply impossible," Camille said, himself astonished that the elves should be pursuing the same research as humans. It was as though a traveler walking alone through a desert had suddenly met a companion bound for the same destination; his "heart," which had long since ceased to beat — which had long since ceased to exist — seemed to stir again. "What sort of experiment did you design?"
After a brief moment of astonishment the elven mage-tutor quickly composed himself, and he did not hold back on this point: "Master Vilania designed an interference experiment. We prepared a source of pure arcane energy, ensuring it contained only the barest traces of 'impurity,' then gathered the arcane energy into a beam and fired it at a crystal lattice. The lattice was made from thin wafers of mana-suppressing crystal, with two narrow slits cut very close together in advance. In theory, after passing through the mana-suppressing wafers the pure arcane energy should display wave behavior: the mana waves passing through the two slits ought to interfere with one another, and form interference fringes upon a projection plate coated with developing dust..."
"But all you got was a field of white noise, yes?" Camille followed at once. "Whatever pattern was projected onto the viewing interface was overwhelmed by the far stronger natural mana field — like trying to observe a faint glimmer in blinding light. In fact, that weak pure arcane energy very likely never even reached the projection plate; it was neutralized midway by the ambient mana field..."
Banna sighed with regret: "Just as you say, the experiment failed. It seems you too..."
"We designed a similar experiment as well — the approach was Duke Cecil's idea," Camille said, his voice low. "We also failed to observe interference fringes, but the mathematics tells me they ought to exist."
The elven mage-tutor was somewhat taken aback: "Duke Gawain Cecil has such attainments in the arcane arts as well?"
"The Duke is profoundly learned, and in seven hundred years of discarnate existence he came into contact with extraordinary knowledge and wisdom," Camille said with wholehearted admiration. "It is only... that he too cannot solve the problem of ambient mana interference. Speaking of which — have you ever tried a mana-suppression field?"
"Even the highest-grade suppression field only restrains mana reactions to a degree, and at the same time it interferes with the caster's spiritual power, disrupting the casting process — mana itself cannot be shut out," the elven mage-tutor said with a bitter smile and a shake of his head. "We also tried using costly mana-suppressing crystal to build a 'dark chamber' that would block the mana of the natural world, but limited by our craft, we could not guarantee the chamber was fully sealed — and with the slightest leak... the interference appeared like a devil."
Camille could well imagine how much effort the elves had poured into constructing such a "dark chamber."
Because natural mana permeates everything, a mana interference observation experiment must ensure that the observer too is inside the dark chamber — and a dark chamber large enough to hold an observer, however cramped, is still a "box" of enormous volume. The expense of the mana-suppressing crystal was the lesser concern; to fashion crystal of such size and guarantee it had not a single "leak point"... that clearly exceeded elven craft.
If even the elves could not manage it, humans likely could not either.
"Our next goal is to seek help from the fairy clans of the Augustra tribal kingdom — the fairies are small in stature and can slip into a very tiny dark chamber, and a smaller chamber might be possible to fashion," Banna said with a sigh. "But it is hard to say whether we can find fairies willing to help. After all... they dearly dislike being shut in."
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