A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 438 Searching for Answers Amidst the Chaotic Tide

The weak points of the transmutation dust streams were observed indirectly; in fact, they did not penetrate the entire stratum.

First, the astrological observatory on the Tower of Starlight observed a celestial body deviating from its previously mapped trajectory, and for the first time, discovered even dimmer celestial bodies in its vicinity.

Regarding this phenomenon, some scholars believe that the celestial body underwent a change, such as splitting apart, which could explain the two phenomena mentioned above. However, others have raised doubts, arguing that the celestial body splitting apart hypothesis cannot explain why the original celestial body was even brighter.

There are even "archaeological" scholars who point out that ancient books and star charts record the existence of those celestial bodies.

Only Cano speculated that it might not be a change in the starry sky, but rather a change in the transmutational flow that he and his research team had been dealing with. This was further compounded by the fact that the sixteen extraction machines currently operating in Valuana exhibited fluctuations in extraction rates that occurred almost simultaneously with the anomalies in the starry sky.

In the laboratory, Paulina was assembling a specially made glass experimental device, the main body of which was a large transparent water tank with six holes at the bottom.

Master Poincaré was also in the laboratory. At Cano's instruction, Paulina put water into one side of the water tank. The outlet was also specially made so that the water flowed from left to right in a parallel laminar flow. When it passed through the hole in the middle, some water flowed out from it and turbulence occurred.

Carnot manipulated the experimental setup, causing the holes at the bottom of the cylinder to move. Under certain combinations, the disturbances generated by the holes interacted with each other, and the smaller turbulences merged, forming a larger vortex centered on the largest hole.

"So what you're trying to show in this experiment is," Poincaré pondered for a moment, "that the transmutation dust extractor array, by chance, generates a large vortex in response to the original laminar flow disturbances and their mutual influence? Therefore, a relatively thin region appears near the center of the vortex, causing changes to the celestial bodies observed by the astrological observatory."

"That's right, that explains it. And the thickness at the thinnest point should be significantly reduced compared to normal, otherwise the changes in the stars wouldn't be so significant. There are even celestial bodies with lower brightness whose light can penetrate our 'shell' for the first time."

"This isn't the first time," Poincaré corrected. "News came from the Tower of Time in Istani that, after comparison, the so-called four newly appeared companion stars are part of the constellation Perseus that disappeared after the 'Mass Extinction.'"

"Doesn't that further confirm my point?" Cano slammed one hand into the palm of the other: "After the Great Extinction of the Symbolic Realm, the transmutation flow disturbed the less bright stars, and now the flow has created weak areas, allowing some stars to re-emerge."

The obscuring effect of the metamorphic dust streams dealt a severe blow to astrology and celestial magic, and may also be related to the demise of the physical entities corresponding to the constellations. In any case, the news from the Tower of Time confirmed Kano's conjecture.

"So the reason you called me here is..." Poincaré had already guessed something, but to be on the safe side, he wanted to confirm with the fat man first.

Cano was trembling with excitement: "Help me, Jules Poincaré! We now have sixteen machines, and the coordinates and extraction rates of the transmutation dust are controllable. I need you to calculate an optimal solution to use these machines in a row to create the largest possible eddy current, creating the largest and thinnest region in the transmutation dust laminar flow!"

"Calculation? You're an amateur!" Unexpectedly, Poincaré responded to the archmage's request with an almost roaring voice, pointing to the water tank model and saying:

"What do you want me to calculate? Fluids! A chaotic system composed of endless dust. Finding a specific solution means an endless amount of computation! And how much do we know about transmutated dust? What is the equivalent viscosity of the unprocessed dust scattered throughout the star plane? The vortex separation frequency? And it's in a three-dimensional system, huh? If you could get all the world's minds involved in this work, perhaps there would be a day when the calculations would be exhausted."

Carnot, startled by Poincaré's "roar," slowly said, "Over the past few years, we have measured the velocity gradients in the lower and middle layers."

"Ha!" Poincaré was almost laughing in exasperation.

Even so, all the remaining mages and apprentices in the Tower of Stars participated.

The Tower of Stars, whose actual location is hidden, becomes the "eye of the storm" in Valuwana. The mage apprentices who did not join the army or go to the countryside to hide behind closed doors do research and concentrate their efforts on serving the chief archmage's research project.

First, more data needs to be obtained. Three intermediate-level mage instructors led the team, taking a floating pod made by the Alchemy Department to the highest safe teleportation altitude, and released three sounding spheres under the transmutation dust layer.

Both the airship and the sounding sphere were equipped with the blue barrier publicly revealed by Rorschach. It was precisely because of the existence of the barrier that could resist transmutation dust that it was possible to penetrate the transmutation laminar flow.

However, the barrier previously only worked in the extractor, and the amount of transmutation dust transported and gushed out differed greatly from the amount of transmutation dust in the laminar flow above the sky. This time, it was also a test of how long the barrier could maintain operation.

"Teacher, ball number 3 has lost contact, but the trajectory information for the other two balls has been collected."

"Alright, let's return to base." The barrier of the levitation capsule gradually failed, and the chill from high altitude penetrated the makeshift hull. After collecting the data and determining the relationship between the barrier thickness and the time it remained in the metamorphic dust layer, the levitation capsule stopped operating with [Levitation] and fell naturally. When it accelerated to a certain speed, the magic circuits around it lit up, and it disappeared into the sky.

Using this method, eleven sets of motion data from radiosondes in transmutation laminar flow were collected, and the basic parameters of the lower layer of transmutation dust were initially described.

Based on this data, Poincaré's computational team reported for the first time a simplified model of transmutation dust flow. Their research also attracted the attention of the Tower of Time, who began to try it as well.

Poincaré found approximate periodic patterns in the changes at the transmutation dust level and proposed an idea: to change a sufficiently small parameter of a chaotic system in order to fine-tune the target variable without affecting other variables of the system, and finally achieve the steady state required by Carnot.

In addition, there was much effort; all the computing machines and students were running, the labs were covered with calculation processes, and there were water models, oil models, and quicksand models made to simulate the macroscopic flow of metamorphic dust, which flowed in a loop under the control of a sophisticated alchemical device.

Ultimately, they obtained a very crude model in Poincaré's eyes, a "special solution" improved from a form obtained by chance. Based on the calculation results, they adjusted the parameters of the transmutation dust extractor of the Tower of Stars, successfully making that small patch of abnormal starry sky a little brighter.

That tiny bit of difference shows that the work is effective; the weak areas of the transmutation dust layer can be thinned!

The above is the research that the Tower of Stars has been conducting with all its might since the beginning of spring, and it has now entered its fourth month. However, Rorschach was unaware of this. Apart from the results of the Poincaré group and the sounding mapping group, the content involving Carnot's own work has not been publicly published, and Rorschach had not paid attention to it.

When Rorschach's telegram arrived, it fueled Cano's ambitions to go even further:

"Right, we forgot about the machines Rorschach can control! If we include the transmutation dust extractors on Rorschach's side, forming a larger array, would we achieve the best results and allow me to travel through time?"

"Are you crazy to take such a risk yourself?" Master Poincaré grasped the key point in Cano's words.

(End of this chapter)