Chapter 1598: Embarrassment and Speculation

If Xia Duo had not taken the initiative to mention it, I am afraid that even if she observed it several more times, she might not necessarily have discovered it; after all, the microscopic Magic Net Strings have an almost endless number of oscillation states.

Only those with distinct characteristics have any value for recording and research, while the vast majority are ignored and left uncounted.

But now, with the discovery of a new oscillation state, and one that is related to this mysterious Spell, does that mean many useful ones were ignored before?

Niya did not go into deep thought about this question for the time being, as she had already given up on research into Magic Web Background Fluctuation.

However, she still kept this thought in her mind; if there were an opportunity in the future, perhaps she could discover more interesting things through it.

As for the present—

Niya selected a Magic Net String and attempted to pluck it; the next moment, the Spell Source Point indeed changed.

At the same time, the specific solution of the fireball that Xia Duo had just converted using the Equation Spell suddenly expanded outward, completely swallowing him and Niya.

Two intense flashes of Magic Aura emerged from the sea of fire, and the next moment the sea of fire vanished, revealing Xia Duo and Niya, who had triggered their Mage Robe Protection.

It was just that Xia Duo possessed innate Magic Resistance, while Niya was merely an ordinary person; the energy level of the sea of fire in that instant completely exceeded the protective limits of the protective spells they normally kept active.

If Xia Duo had not controlled the Equation Spell in time, I am afraid that their Teleportation Spells would have triggered the very next moment.

It was also fortunate that it was only an Energy Equation Spell; if it had been a Plane Domain spell, it is very likely that even teleportation would have been impossible. To not die at the hands of an enemy, but instead be killed by one's own spell—that would be too frustrating.

Even now, apart from the slightly scattered Magic Aura around his body, Xia Duo looked no different than before, but Niya was somewhat disheveled.

Not only was the Magic Aura around her body scattered, her eyebrows were completely gone, and a patch of her hair had been scorched; as soon as she opened her mouth, she exhaled a puff of water vapor, coughing for a long time before she recovered.

"What just happened?"

Things had happened too suddenly; Niya only felt her vision brighten and then darken, and then she felt unable to breathe. After coughing and gasping with difficulty for a while, she recalled that she had just been operating that mysterious Spell, and then—

"It was that Spell!"

Niya looked at the still-undisappeared Spell Source Point with lingering fear, then subconsciously touched her hair and shrieked, "Ah! My hair!"

Following that, Niya summoned a water mirror. Looking at her scorched hair in the mirror, as well as her completely vanished eyebrows, Niya's expression changed several times.

But in the end, she still chanted about this mysterious Spell, using only a mist of water to shroud her entire body, her resentful gaze locked firmly onto Xia Duo: "Did you do that on purpose?"

"No, no, absolutely not."

How could Xia Duo possibly admit to this? Did he not want to live a peaceful life anymore? Moreover, he truly had not done it on purpose. He shook his head repeatedly and explained:

"I also didn't expect you to operate it like that; it was already too late to stop it. However, I am also at fault for not describing the details clearly."

But at the thought of how Niya looked without eyebrows just now, he still laughed somewhat uncharitably, and this laugh made Niya even more upset.

Xia Duo also realized the atmosphere was wrong and hurriedly changed the subject, "Shall I introduce this Equation Spell to you?"

Mentioning the culprit, Niya was indeed distracted and asked, "This is called an Equation Spell? What is an equation?"

Regarding the word "equation," Xia Duo had originally wanted to use a Chinese transliteration, but he remembered that the Netherese language also had a word for "equal" and the concept of an equality.

Therefore, he simply added an Elvish suffix pointing to the meanings of "constant" and "equal" after the Netherese word for "equal," and then, through the method of syllable omission, coined a new word: "Equation."

After all, as the discoverer of this new type of spell, he had the right to name it whatever he wanted.

After the origin of the word "equation" was explained clearly, Niya seemed moved, as if she had thought of something, but she said nothing.

So Xia Duo continued to explain: "An Equation Spell is a summary of the laws of a certain domain, or rather, their manifestation. For example, the one you just operated, I have named it an 'Energy Equation Spell.' By controlling the values of different variables, it can manifest different energy spells in real-time; theoretically, it can exhaust all the energy spells you can think of."

What Xia Duo said later was somewhat similar to the concept of a function, but in reality, all functions can be written in the form of an equation, while an equation is not necessarily a function.

Furthermore, an Equation Spell is not equivalent to a mathematical "equation"; it does not perform calculations through numbers, but evolves in real-time within Reality. It is more like some kind of Psionic Creation, a manifestation of laws rather than Knowledge in the conceptual sense.

Of course, this is mainly because the boundary between theory and Application in the magical world is very blurry. If it were on Earth, even if one derived such an equation, one could not directly change Reality from the equation itself.

Instead, one would have to rely on various man-made objects; for example, solar panels are a real-world Application of the photoelectric effect. One cannot simply write an equation and directly convert light into electricity.

Next, Xia Duo briefly introduced how he derived this energy equation. Niya did not speak for a long time after hearing it, and only after a while did she say:

"Then does that mean other spells also exist within the specific solutions of a certain equation?"

"Without verification, I cannot give a definitive answer, but judging from the energy equation, I am afraid that is the case."

"Then if one masters all equations, wouldn't one master all spells?"

As she was speaking, Niya thought of something else. No, she stared blankly at Xia Duo and asked, "Do you think there might exist an equation above equations that encompasses Magic itself?"

"An equation above equations?"

Xia Duo could understand what Niya wanted to express, but he had never considered such a question before; after all, in his view, the concept of Magic was very broad.

Even if it were just spells, it was unlikely.

It is just like asking on Earth: does there exist an equation that can encompass all laws of physics?

Even the legendary Theory of Everything cannot do this, let alone the fact that up until Xia Duo traveled here, whether a Theory of Everything existed was still an unknown.

Let alone finding it.

Although the magical world is different from the Universe of Earth, Xia Duo believed that a world that truly exists cannot possibly be so shallow that it can be summarized by a single theorem or a single type of equation.

Of course, Xia Duo also believed that there are rules above rules, but those were simply too far away from him.

Just regarding the world he could currently come into contact with, he had not even fully understood it all, let alone the distant unknown.

However, Xia Duo did not completely deny Niya's speculation, but instead encouraged her: "These are things you will need to discover for yourself."

For an Arcanist, the unknown is not a source of fear, but the best teacher and the strongest motivation for research.