My physics masters couldn't possibly be grand mages.

The airship hovered above a small circular plaza, with its anchor rope hanging down from its hull.

"First-year students, first-year students!"

A black-robed magician was ringing a bell in the square.

"Gather here!"

Einstein and Char were the last to descend the gangway.

Their leather shoes clicked crisply on the white marble.

The new students lined up neatly on one side of the square, receiving instructions from the magician in charge of guiding them.

Other people of varying ages carrying suitcases silently walked down the square from the right side; it was unclear whether they were members of the Tower of Truth or nobles from other countries.

Several people stood in the center of the square, wearing long robes and silver badges pinned to their chests.

Standing at the front was a tall, thin old man in a black robe, with completely white hair and wrinkles on his face that looked like they had been carved by a knife.

Howard stood next to Einstein and spoke to him in a low voice.

"His name is Byrne, a student of Meredith, a professor at the school, and a fifth-rank official."

Meredith.....

If they hadn't read those newspapers, they might still be unfamiliar with the name.

But now, they all clearly realize one thing.

The visitor is not good.

Byrne's gaze fell on Einstein, and he looked him up and down.

"This must be... His Excellency Einstein?"

The voice wasn't loud, but it was clearly heard in the square. Several people in long robes around exchanged glances.

Einstein nodded. "It's me."

Byrne neither bowed nor introduced himself. He stood there with his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on Einstein's face for three seconds.

"Where are you from, sir?"

"A very far place," Einstein said.

"How far?"

Einstein did not answer.

Bourne raised his head slightly and continued.

"Magic needs to be built on a vast system of knowledge, and it requires communication and sharing. It's truly rare to find a magician like you who is relatively unknown yet has managed to reach the sixth rank on your own."

In the magical world, someone like you is either all show and no substance or a truly ruthless individual.

He paused, then said, "Could...I see your magic?"

The square fell silent for a moment. Suddenly, the sound of the fountain grew louder.

Char stood behind Einstein, his fingers curling slightly.

Howard gave Bourne an awkward but polite smile, trying to smooth things over, "Professor Bourne..."

"I'm asking him, not you..." Byrne interrupted.

His tone was flat, without any obvious emotion, but the subtle, indescribable meaning in his words left Howard speechless.

His expression changed; he had considered the possibility that Einstein might clash with Meredith's faction.

But to his surprise, it started the moment he arrived at the Tower of Truth, showing him no respect whatsoever.

But he dared not get angry, because he couldn't afford to offend the people behind Bourne.

A fifth-tier mage is not qualified to take the sixth-tier exam; their statuses are not equal.

Even if someone performs it, he can't determine whether it's a sixth-tier spell.

Moreover, to make a sixth-tier archmage perform in public like a street performer is not just a matter of respect, it's a provocation.

If he were Einstein, he wouldn't even bother with him.

But the problem now is that this professor seems determined to make a scene...

However, things were actually worse than Howard imagined.

At that moment, Einstein was like a huge bubble, beautiful to look at, but bursting at the slightest touch.

Char's back was now soaked with sweat.

The atmosphere was tense.

"Bourne, right?" Einstein took the pipe out of his mouth, speaking as if he were chatting with a neighbor about the weather.

Bourne raised his head slightly.

"Did your teacher send you?" Einstein glanced at him. "He should have come by himself."

Byrne's expression remained unchanged. "You're overthinking it. I'm just doing this for the sake of the Tower of Truth. After all... nobody wants to let in people who are all show and no substance, wasting the tower's resources and slots."

"The Tower of Truth..." Einstein repeated the word, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. "A good name."

He paused, a barely perceptible smile playing in his grey-blue eyes.

"Since it's called 'Truth,' let me ask you a question. If you can answer it, I'll cooperate with your 'test.'"

"That depends on what kind of question you ask."

Einstein's eyelids twitched slightly, and he casually raised his hand, tossing the pipe aside.

Char quickly put it into his storage space.

Einstein made this gesture quite casually, as if it were just a random action, but because the movement was significant, many people noticed it.

The moment the pipe disappeared, everyone's expression changed, especially Bourne's.

At such close range, he couldn't sense even a trace of magic...

A look of seriousness appeared in his eyes.

Einstein then looked around at everyone present.

Have you ever wondered why the sky is blue?

Bourne was taken aback. "...What?"

"The sky," Einstein said, "is blue during the day. Why isn't it white? Not black? Not green?"

The square fell silent for a moment.

The other professors looked up. Although it was already four or five o'clock, the sun hadn't set yet. The sky was indeed blue, very blue, very deep. They had never wondered why.

"Because...the air is blue?" Byrne asked tentatively.

"Air is transparent," Einstein said. "If you look at someone ten meters away, you won't think they've turned blue."

Bourne frowned. "What exactly are you trying to say? What's the point of asking such a question?"

"Of course it's meaningful, because it can explain what kind of existence light actually is."

Einstein took a pocket watch out of his pocket, covered it with the sky, and adjusted the angle.

"Look."

There's a spot of light on the watch crystal. It's not blue, it's multicolored—stripes ranging from purple to red, like a rainbow.

"Light passing through a slit will break down into different colors. You see rainbows every day, but you never think about why the colors of a rainbow are fixed—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet, always in this order, never out of order."

He put the pocket watch away.

"Because light is a wave."

Different colors correspond to different wavelengths. Blue light has a short wavelength, while red light has a long wavelength. Why is the sky blue? Because when sunlight passes through the atmosphere, blue light is scattered.

It was bounced off by tiny particles in the air, scattering everywhere. That's why you can see blue light no matter which direction you look up.

Red light has a long wavelength and is not easily scattered, so it passes through directly. That's why the sun appears red at sunrise and sunset. This is because the blue light is scattered away, leaving only red light to pass through.

He paused.

"You're using magic lamps, which emit white light. White light contains all sorts of colors. Have you ever tried letting the white light pass through fog and seeing what color it actually is?"

No one speaks.

Einstein glanced at Berne.

"I guess you don't. Because you think it's 'common sense'—white light is white light, the sky is blue, no explanation needed."

He paused for a moment.

"But have you ever considered that if the size of the particles in the air changes, the color of the sky will also change? If your magic alters the particles in the air, the sky won't be blue anymore."

He paused.

"Can you change the color of the sky?"

The square fell completely silent.

Bourne stared at him, his expression shifting between light and shadow. "How can you prove it?"

Einstein smiled but did not reply.

"Let's go," he said to Howard. "I'm hungry."

He walked toward the colonnade. His leather shoes clicked crisply on the white marble.

Bourne was about to speak.

Then--

The air around us was getting heavy.

It was as if the air, which was originally flowing, had been frozen in place.

Char's breath hitched. He saw the fountain's water droplets hover in mid-air for a fleeting moment—the droplets seemed frozen in time, motionless.

Then the water fell down and hit the surface of the water with a "splash".

No one spoke in the square.

Everyone knew what had happened. No one turned to look.

But Char still turned around.

An elderly man in a white robe had been standing there for some time now.

He didn't come out of the corridor, nor did he walk through the crowd—he was simply there, as if he had always been there.

The white robe was plain, without any patterns or decorations.

Among a group of professors wearing sashes and badges, he was so plain-looking that he didn't seem like a magician at all.

But his eyes didn't look like an old man's eyes.

Something was slowly spinning in those light gray pupils—like galaxies, like vortexes.

"Teacher," Bourne said in a low voice.

The other professors instinctively took two steps back. Not to make way—it was an instinctive retreat. Like moths drawn to a flame suddenly realizing what they were approaching.

They realized what was happening and bowed respectfully.

"Lord Meredith."

But Meredith didn't look at them.

He just looked at Einstein.

"Tell me," he said, his voice low but clear to everyone, "that if you change the particles in the air, will the color of the sky change?"

"Yes," Einstein said.

"How will it change?"

Einstein glanced at him.

"If you could control the particles in the air, you'd know once you tried."

Meredith did not move.

He simply raised the bent cane and lightly tapped the ground.

"Thump—"

The wand lightly touched the ground, and a slight vibration spread outwards from the white marble beneath the feet...

There was no light, no roar. Only something in the air had changed—like someone had flipped a switch on the world.

Then--

The sky began to change.

The blue hue began to fade from the very center of the dome.

First indigo. Then ultramarine.

Like a drop of ink falling into clear water, it slowly spreads and diffuses.

A few dozen seconds later, the entire sky was covered by this fantastic color change—in reality, there wasn't the entire sky, but that's how it appeared from their perspective.

The sky finally settled on a strange pale purple hue.

Byrne tilted his head back, his lips slightly parted. The other professors remained motionless, as if frozen in place.

After a brief silence, someone gasped.

The freshmen not far away looked up, exclaiming in amazement and whispering among themselves.

They had never seen a purple sky.