Lord: Starting with Summoning the Regular Army of Earth

Chapter 106 Rigorous Selection

"Very good." Su Wanxia nodded, seemingly unsurprised by the result. "Then, open your textbooks to Chapter One: 'Mana: A Hypothesis and Preliminary Model of an Active High-Dimensional Energy Field.' We don't have much time, let's begin."

For the next sixty hours, Lin Xiaoyang felt as if he were on a long, absurd, yet captivating roller coaster.

The textbook content is a crazy mix of cutting-edge physics, cognitive science, mysticism, and — a kind of scribbling that looks like medieval manuscripts.

Chapter One attempts to explain "Mana"—a hypothetical, active high-dimensional energy field particle with a "weak observer effect"—using gauge field theory and quantum information theory.

As Lin Xiaoyang read, he frantically calculated on the draft paper, trying to map those descriptions onto the physical models he knew.

Some parts can barely correspond to the surface states of topological insulators or certain special quantum entangled states, but in many other places it simply challenges his belief in causality and locality.

"If this thing exists, Schrödinger's equations would have to be rewritten," he muttered.

"Rewrite? I'd rather throw the entire Standard Model in the trash." Chen Yu, without looking up, traced a series of dazzling differential forms on the paper with his pen. "Look here, the description of mana aggregation guided by mental power—if we understand it as a non-local quantum measurement process, then the spell model" is equivalent to a pre-set measurement basis—but then, why can the collapsed state produce macroscopically observable effects? Where does the energy come from?"

"From a vacuum?" Wang Hao leaned closer, his eyes shining. "The Casimir effect? ​​But that magnitude is too small—unless the zero-point energy density of this 'mana' is tens of orders of magnitude higher than our vacuum—"

"Or," Lin Xiaoyang pointed to an illustration in the textbook with the tip of his pen. It was a complex pattern made up of curves and nodes, labeled "Zero Ring Spell - Micro-Light Spell Model".

"This so-called spell model doesn't guide energy at all; rather—it temporarily modifies the physical constants of a local area?"

The three people fell silent at the same time, and then simultaneously gasped.

"Modifying physical constants—" Chen Yu's voice trembled slightly, "What does that mean?"

"This means that the physical laws of that world, at least on some level, are programmable." Lin Xiaoyang felt a chill run down his spine, but this was quickly followed by an even stronger excitement. "And programming languages ​​are exactly that—"

He turned to the later chapters, where there were countless strange symbols, which the textbook called "basic runes".

"These are the seventeen variations of the runic light." A paleographer, who had somehow joined the group, pointed to one of the symbols, his eyes gleaming. "Look at the strokes; they're similar to the character for 'sun' in oracle bone script, but more abstract, more like—a two-dimensional projection of some kind of energy flow path?"

"Like a circuit diagram," Liu Jun suddenly said.

He had somehow appeared behind them, arms crossed, brows furrowed. "Look at this node. If you think of it as a logic gate, this structure is very similar to a NAND gate, but with an added feedback loop."

"You mean—these runes are a kind of hardware description language?" Lin Xiaoyang's eyes widened.

"Or it could be a function library." Chen Yu quickly sketched on the paper. "Each rune represents a basic operation—gathering, heating, accelerating, constraining—and then through specific permutations and combinations, these functions are called to perform operations on mana, thereby producing macroscopic effects—"

"It's like programming," Wang Hao summarized, his voice filled with disbelief. "You write code with your mind, the compilation environment is reality, and the running result is magic."

This analogy left everyone stunned.

As I continued my studies, this idea became clearer and clearer.

The seemingly mysterious concepts in the textbook, such as "meditation and mana perception," "building mental models," and "infusion of magical guidance,"—if translated into computer science terminology:

Meditation and Mana perception = Scanning and connecting to the environmental energy network to build a mental model = Writing program code with specific functions and injecting magic guidance = Providing initial energy and executing program spell effects = Program running output. Even the "spell backlash", "mana depletion", and "model collapse" mentioned in the textbook can be matched with "program bug", "insufficient power", and "runtime error".

"So magicians are actually—biological compilers? Or mobile terminals with built-in batteries?" Lin Xiaoyang muttered during a break while munching on bread.

"And it's a terminal capable of outputting hardware in the real world," Chen Yu added. She had already begun trying to classify known runes using group theory. "If this conjecture holds true, then the limitation of 'spell ring slots' might be equivalent to—memory capacity? Or CPU clock speed?"

"High-level spells are like large software programs, requiring more computing power and more memory to run," Wang Hao exclaimed excitedly, gesturing wildly. "And the magic pool is like battery capacity, while meditation is like expanding and upgrading that capacity!"

Liu Jun was more pragmatic: "If that's the case, then we first need to find the programming manual. There are too few basic runes, and the textbook only has models of zero-ring and first-ring spells. Where are the more advanced functions and libraries?"

This question silenced everyone.

The teaching materials are incomplete and vague in many places, resembling a simplified version of some kind of introductory guide.

"Maybe—" Lin Xiaoyang looked towards the front of the room, where Su Wanxia was discussing something in hushed tones with several staff members, "This is part of the mission? To go to that world—to find the complete development documentation?"

Sixty hours of non-stop studying, discussing, arguing, and calculating finally came to an end.

For the last class, Su Wanxia did not bring any new materials.

She simply stood in front of the screen, which displayed the photos of the twelve files that had passed the initial review, with each person's name and expertise labeled next to them.

"The final assessment begins in four hours," she said. "It will be a live-action simulation. You will enter a highly realistic virtual environment where you will experience the presence of Mana and attempt to use the knowledge you've gained over the past sixty hours to complete a series of tasks."

"A virtual environment?" Lin Xiaoyang frowned. "But we don't have one—"

“We don’t have mana, that’s true,” Su Wanxia interrupted him, “but we can simulate it. Based on existing theoretical models and limited data transmitted back from the other side, we’ve built a simulation system that’s as close as possible to a real mana environment. It will trick your brains into feeling like you’re using magic. Of course, just a feeling.”

She paused, her gaze sweeping over each tired face, yet shimmering with excitement and confusion.

"This simulation system serves two purposes. First, to test your ability to apply new knowledge to solve problems under pressure. Second, and more importantly, to screen out those whose brains are most adaptable to unconventional cognitive patterns."

They are also the people most likely to quickly develop magical perception in a real mana environment.

"What if we fail?" someone asked in a low voice.

"Failure means you are not suitable for the Deep Blue mission." Su Wanxia's tone was calm, but the meaning was clear: "You will be transferred to other support positions to continue working for the project, but you will not move on to the next phase."

The room fell silent again. After all, for these people, "If I hear the truth in the morning, I can die content in the evening." They would be very unwilling to die here.

"Now, go and rest. See you at the training ground in four hours."

Lin Xiaoyang returned to his temporary dormitory, a small room with only a bed, a table, and a bathroom. However, lying on the bed, he was wide awake, staring at the ceiling, his mind seemingly running with countless threads simultaneously.

Magic, another world, rune programming. Modifying reality.

This is all crazy.

But everything I've learned in the past sixty hours—the rigorous mathematical models, the self-consistent descriptions of energy flow, the exquisitely sophisticated topological structures of the "spell models"—all point to one fact: this is not the delusion of a madman, but a complete, logically consistent, and at least effective knowledge system within its own framework.

A system of knowledge about how to program reality with thoughts.

If this is true—the edifice of physics won't collapse, but it will gain an entire undiscovered basement.

No, it's not the basement; it's another parallel building that operates under completely different rules.

He might be among the first to step into that new building.

Four hours later, twelve people stood in the center of a huge spherical training field.

The site was surrounded by a circular observation deck, where Su Wanxia and a group of researchers in white coats sat, facing a dense array of control consoles.

"Put on your helmet and lie down in the simulator." The command came through the speaker.

Lin Xiaoyang did as instructed.

The simulator's interior was smooth and fit snugly to the body, and the helmet was put back on.

This time, the lining appears to have more and denser bumps.

dark.

Then, the light came.

It is not the light seen by the eyes.

It's a feeling that emerges from within.

Warmth, fluidity, like lukewarm water flowing over his skin, or like countless tiny tentacles gently scratching the edge of his consciousness.

He "saw" countless pale blue, tiny specks of light floating and twinkling in the darkness, like fireflies on a summer night, or like quantum bubbles under a microscope.

"Mana perception simulation has been initiated. Environmental parameters: standard concentration. Begin the first test: basic perception and guidance."

That neutral electronic voice rang directly in my mind again.

Lin Xiaoyang tried to "concentrate" using the methods in the textbook.

This is not simply staring, but a feeling of wholeheartedly projecting one's consciousness onto the outside world.

He imagined himself as a magnet, and the blue specks of light as iron filings.

At first, nothing happened; the light spots continued to float haphazardly.

Then, he recalled Chen Yu's approach to analyzing runes using group theory—not by forcibly "attracting" them, but by searching for a certain "resonance frequency".

He began to construct the structure of the simplest rune, "light," in his mind, not to memorize its shape, but to feel its "meaning," the state it wanted to achieve: gathering, stabilizing, and releasing gentle illumination.

Whether it was his imagination or not, the points of light seemed to move closer to him.

He continued, drawing the rune with greater focus, infusing it with his consciousness the intention to gather light.

More points of light began to converge, as if drawn by an invisible vortex, forming a small, trembling ball of light around the point where his consciousness was focused.

"Valid mana polymerization detected. Intensity: weak. Stability: low. Rating: F. But—. Valid."

The electronic voice seemed to pause for a moment, "Time taken: 7 minutes and 34 seconds. Breaking the record for first contact."

Before Lin Xiaoyang could even feel happy, the electronic voice continued: "Second test: Basic spell model construction. Please construct a zero-ring model of the Twilight Spell in the simulation environment and attempt to activate it."

A complex three-dimensional structure composed of lines and nodes appeared "before his eyes".

It is the same model of micro-light technology from the textbook.

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