CHAPTER 768: TEACHER, DID YOU HANDCRAFT AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE?!

A buzzing sound resonated in Garrett’s ears, making his entire body tingle slightly. Thank heavens it didn’t hurt...

The lack of pain indicated that the protective suit was intact, not pierced. However, the tingling was still somewhat alarming, suggesting that even with the suit, passing through a strong electric field wasn’t entirely without sensation.

Garrett spread out his mental force field, exploring, dodging, charging forward, running, jumping, diving, and leaping. Initially, it was a hall that gradually turned into a narrowing corridor, with lightning intermittently striking along the way.

Spherical lightning rolled around, electric crows, electric snakes, and electric dogs sped by, biting at him from all directions. Tiny electric beads, like burning tert-butyllithium solution in a chemical plant, either fused or separated unpredictably.

Garrett was drenched in sweat from running.

Dodge left!

Dodge right!

Stop abruptly!

Dive and slide past! Quickly get up and run again!

Weave a mental shield to force through a section!

This spherical lightning couldn’t be avoided… Condense a mental whip and lash it away… Hey, it worked!

“Am I playing Temple Run or Subway Surfers…”

Garrett silently complained but didn’t dare to make a sound, nor stop, panting heavily as he sprinted. It felt like he was exhausting a year’s worth of exercise in this moment…

I’m a mage, not a warrior!

He had no idea how long he had been running until his entire body felt numb, and his legs could barely move when the scene before him suddenly darkened. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t darkening, but as if the endless lightning maze was finally left behind…

In the clearing, the Lord of Thunder sat leisurely at a table, playing with a gem the size of a pigeon egg. On the desk before him, a small silver spoon leaned against a coffee cup, with freshly baked scones drizzled with honey, their fragrance filling the air.

“T-teacher…”

Garrett mustered all his willpower to keep from bending over, panting heavily. The Lord of Thunder glanced up, and without any visible action, a chair naturally “grew” from the ground.

Interwoven with silver and white, tinged with pale blue at the edges, the intense electric light formed the back, seat, armrests, and legs of the chair, flowing gently without any visible sparks.

“Sit.”

In an instant, Garrett felt every strand of his medium-length hair stand on end, nearly lifting his heavy hood.

...Forget it. The teacher wouldn’t harm me. Trust in the control of a legendary mage; if he can form a chair from electricity, it wouldn’t be dangerous for me to sit.

Reassuring himself, Garrett cautiously lowered his body into a squat, legs in a horse stance. Lowering centimeter by centimeter, his fingertips quickly brushed the chair’s surface. No shock! He touched the armrest again, and it was fine!

Hey, I’m sitting on the chair! No tingling sensation, no stray electric currents running through my body, and I didn’t fall!

Shuffling back a bit, he gradually sat more comfortably… Finally, completely seated…

Others might sit in an electric chair that conducts electricity when the switch is flipped; I’m sitting in a literal electric chair formed by currents in mid-air!

Fortunately, this electric chair wouldn’t harm me. But how does a chair made purely from electric currents, rather than wires, support my weight…

“Did you understand?”

The teacher’s voice suddenly rang out. Garrett nearly jumped but quickly composed himself, facing the Lord of Thunder and shaking his head rapidly:

“I don’t understand. How is the electric current constrained? It doesn’t resemble an air wall or a force field, not like any insulation method I know…”

Seeing the teacher’s slightly displeased expression, he hurriedly added:

“It doesn’t seem like space is being severed either. If it were, I’d be in pieces, not sitting here intact. –Wait, is it a magnetic field? Could it be a magnetic field? Magnetic fields can constrain electric currents, but how could it compress to such a close fit…”

The teacher’s expression finally softened. Garrett sighed in relief, listening as the Lord of Thunder slowly spoke:

“Thinking of magnetic fields shows you have some brains. So, after practicing for the past month, what are your thoughts?”

“My thoughts are… Mental power can indeed see many things that other methods cannot.” Garrett answered honestly:

“The way elements exist and flow in nature and within the body can sometimes only be sensed with mental power, not through existing observation methods. Using mental power reveals a different world.”

“Yes.” The Lord of Thunder sighed:

“Your advancement path is different from ordinary mages, and now your level is still low, so you haven’t felt much difference. The higher you go, the more important mental power becomes. For example, mages above level fifteen must integrate their meditation world with the real environment—”

He fell silent for a moment, seemingly sorting his thoughts or reminiscing about the long and arduous journey of reaching this step. Garrett held his breath, listening intently until the teacher continued:

“To absorb elements from the environment and materialize your meditation environment, one must, on one hand, make the understanding of the world as close to reality as possible to allow automatic absorption by the meditation world; on the other hand, have strong enough perception to actively modify and correct it.”

…I think I might rely more on the first path, Garrett thought silently.

“And at the level of a nine-ring mage, preparing to step into legend, one must have the most detailed understanding of one’s body and mind. The flow and transformation of magic power within the body, and the modifications to the body, can only be observed with mental power. So far, there’s no other way.”

Garrett raised his eyes sharply but then lowered them quietly. No other way now didn’t mean there wouldn’t be in the future!

Once, humans couldn’t observe infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma rays, couldn’t observe protons, neutrons, electrons…

But for mages, many things can be observed with mental power, so they don’t develop other methods. In a sense, it’s a form of path dependency, limiting their development.

However, developing new methods would require significant investment, entailing extensive natural science research, rapid iteration.

Given the current situation, with the Radiant Church not yet overthrown and much of the council’s budget going to military expenses, do they have the time, energy, and money for fundamental research?

Garrett’s silent disagreement and reluctance to speak were clear to the Lord of Thunder. However, from the legendary mage’s perspective, Garrett’s use of mental power was still insufficient, not excessive. Thus, the teacher continued his lecture:

“If you don’t enhance your mental power, you won’t be able to conduct many studies at higher levels. For example, electron flow—”

With a light wave of his finger, a dazzling lightning bolt tore through the darkness. The Lord of Thunder spoke slowly:

“If your mental power isn’t strong or precise enough, you can’t sense electron flow. Without sensing electron flow, you can’t detect the contours left by electrons striking objects. Some very tiny things can only be seen this way—”

Garrett’s mouth slowly dropped open.

Electricity, an electron microscope? Teacher, I just let senior brothers and sisters feel the electron flow, and you crafted an electron microscope?!

Transmission electron microscope?

Scanning electron microscope?

Cryo-electron microscope?

Scanning tunneling microscope?

Teacher, I want this! I want to see viruses! I want to see various cancer cells! I want to see DNA molecules!

With an electron microscope, I could see if ordinary DNA and extraordinary DNA have differences!

“Teacher, what did you see? Cells? The structures inside cells?” His voice trembled with excitement:

“Or something smaller than cells? What do they look like? Can you let me see? Can you—”

“Train yourself and see it for yourself!”

Garrett deflated instantly:

That’s the teacher, a legendary mage, a living person. Not an electron microscope in a lab that allows us to look and touch.

—Besides, the difficulty for an ordinary graduate student to get access to the world’s first electron microscope is probably a million times higher than persuading a legendary mage.

I seem to remember hearing from a mentor that a university promised to buy a cryo-electron microscope for a near-Nobel-level professor to return to the country…

That’s not something I can play with… I’d better focus on advancing and enhancing my mental power… Seeing how the seniors are doing, maybe when I reach level 16, I can craft an electron microscope by myself?

Or figure out the principles and ask the Alchemy Guild to make one faster…

Such rapid-flying thoughts were quickly pulled back. Across the desk, the Lord of Thunder slightly raised his hand, and the gem he had been playing with traced an arc and landed in Garrett’s arms:

“You did well this time.” As Garrett scrambled to catch the gem, the teacher’s praise drifted from above:

“I saw the council’s report. –Apart from the ammonia production and the share of new drug sales, which the council will settle with you directly, the rest of the rewards have been converted into this.”

He nodded towards the green gem in Garrett’s palm:

“This magic crystal comes from the cub of the totem beast we killed. It’s about half-step legendary in level but quite pure in essence, without much bloodshed and sin, suitable for your healing spells. –Anything else you want?”

The pigeon-egg-sized gem was transparent and smooth, cool to the touch. Slightly turning it, a ring of cat-eye-like light flowed within, like an eye opening and closing.

Garrett could feel the immense power inside with just a bit of mental probing. If

the beast’s soul hadn’t dissipated, it would likely reside in this gem, gazing at the world through this eye?

Its value was evident.

By rights, this gem alone was enough to more than compensate for his previous contributions. Garrett estimated that even the volcano prophecy and the globe with monsoon and ocean current systems might be included.

By rights, he shouldn’t make any more demands—

But Garrett blurted out:

“Teacher, can you use that electron flow—to help me see something?”

“Get out!”

The semi-real, semi-illusory world abruptly scattered. Garrett’s feet sank back into the study, and he fled, clutching his head.

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