Mysteries: Arcana Wars

A well-dressed young man was walking drunkenly in the park and staggered to sit on a long bench.

He completely ignored his image and collapsed on the chair. If it weren't for the clothes he was wearing, he might be no different from those homeless people in the eyes of passers-by. The alcohol made his face red, and the iron chair under him was as cold as ice, but the young man still lay there powerlessly, smiling with his face facing the sky, letting the snowflakes fall on his face and then fall to the ground with his snot and tears.

The young man had been laughing silently, his chest trembling with laughter, but an indescribable despair was rolling over his body like dark swamp gas.

The auditorium in the distance swayed before his eyes, then split into three and started a circle dance. That was the place where the young people had just escaped, and there were faint cheers of joy coming from afar, and the thriving sounds formed a sharp contrast with the lifeless young people.

It was a winter in the third century of the Sixth Epoch. The streets of Backlund were still as cold and busy as they would be more than a thousand years later. More than two hundred years had passed since the "Doomsday Disaster" that nearly destroyed human civilization. After the post-apocalyptic reconstruction and the leap forward of the second steam revolution, Backlund had once again regained its former prosperity. The widespread use of the Rammer steam engine made steam power a real part of social life.

Some passing steam locomotives would occasionally stop, and the kind owners would roll down their windows to look around, then continue to step on the accelerator to catch up, joining the tragic traffic jam in Backlund. There were also patrol officers wearing steam armor who came forward and slapped them hard several times when passing by. The young man cursed at these sudden slaps in dissatisfaction, turned around and continued to lie down. The patrol officer looked at the young man's clothes, then looked at the bustling Backlund University of Technology in the distance, and confirmed that the other party was still alive, so he stopped interfering and turned away.

Felix Tesla lay in the winter snow in Backlund in despair. It was one month before he published his first electromagnetism paper that shocked the academic world, six months before he officially established Tesla Electric Co., Ltd., twenty years before he invented the Tesla-style AC generator, thirty years before he received the honor of "Genius Inventor", and forty years before the Tesla family set off a wave of electrical revolution in the Kingdom of Loen.

A bright future was waiting for him, but he ran away at the graduation ceremony and lay here speaking a language that no one could understand, as if the end of the world was going to come tomorrow.

"Young man, what are you doing here?"

An old and kind voice sounded above his head, and Felix jumped up from the bench in shock.

A kind and gentle old lady stood in front of him. She wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and had snow-white hair, but her black eyes were still deep and her pupils could not be seen clearly, like the endless black hole in the legend.

But when the old woman spoke, it was not Loenese or Intis, but the same strange language as Felix.

"Looking at your outfit, I think today should be your graduation ceremony."

"You...you can understand Tesla's code?!" The alcohol and the sudden shock made Felix incoherent. "You actually...where did you learn this language?"

The old woman did not answer the question, but smiled kindly at Felix.

"I've been walking in this park for too long. Can I sit here for a while?"

Felix moved aside in a daze, making room for the old woman. The old man and the young man faced the snow and looked at the brightly lit auditorium in the distance.

"Young man, today is the day when you really start to write your life story. Why are you in such terrible despair?"

"Why are you so desperate as if the apocalypse is going to happen tomorrow?"

Felix looked at the brightly lit auditorium without saying a word. Perhaps the old woman's Tesla secret language was too intimate, or perhaps he had consumed too much alcohol today, but he finally opened his heart to the old woman.

"Ha, the doomsday disaster, that happened more than two hundred years ago." Felix's short laugh was filled with the smell of alcohol.

"Really? Now that I think about it, it seems like it was just yesterday." The old woman sighed, "But people can even survive such a disaster, so why are you worried?"

"Doomsday... I saw another doomsday..."

Felix muttered incoherently.

"The end of electromagnetism, the end of physics, the end of engineering... the end of all human technology, the end of all struggles to climb upwards!"

The suppressed laughter sounded again intermittently, which was several times more unpleasant than crying. But this time the old woman did not interrupt Felix's breakdown, but waited quietly for the young man to vent his emotions and calm down, and then asked gently.

"'Electromagnetism'? This term is very new. I seem to have heard it somewhere before, but I can't quite remember it..." The old woman frowned slightly, "I'm sorry, I'm old, and my memory is always a little confused... Is this a newly born subject?"

"Yes, 'electromagnetism'. I am preparing a paper that will announce this concept to the world for the first time. 'Electromagnetism' is not just the direct current that everyone uses now. That is too narrow. It also includes a variety of concepts. For example, I want to tell you that magnetic fields can actually generate electric currents..."

Felix burped as he spoke.

"Ah, sorry, occupational disease... you may not understand what I'm saying."

"It's okay. I understand. I was also a scholar here when I was young, and I also studied mechanics." The old woman smiled. "It sounds like this subject is very novel. It will bring a new perspective to mankind."

"But, before it was born, I have already seen its death..."

As he said this, Felix rubbed his face and howled.

"Why, why are you telling me this? Why are you telling me this at this time!"

He howled heartbreakingly, and the passers-by looked at him and walked faster. Soon, they were the only two left by the bench. Felix suddenly felt as if he had been abandoned by the world. The winter night in Backlund suddenly became as cold as an ice cave, and the falling snowflakes were as sharp as a knife, almost cutting a wound in his soul.

Felix swallowed and spoke tremblingly.

"Ma'am, do you believe that there is real magic in this world?"

Before the old woman could reply, the young man continued talking on his own.

"Real magic... is like what is said in the novel, turning stone into gold, pointing people to sheep, steel can be twisted into various utensils, plants can really have life and dance like animals...

"I never believed in this kind of bullshit. My family never even worshipped any gods. Even if those gods really exist, they are gods and humans are humans. They must be two different worlds. In other words, I always thought that there would be a boundary between them, and the two would run parallel and never meet.

"But just this morning, my mentor, the recently appointed president of Backlund University of Technology, suddenly met with me and said that he hoped I could take a magic potion that would allow me to never forget things, so that my future scientific research would be smoother.

“So… So those so-called magic and extraordinary things are actually real?!

"That's ridiculous, ma'am! Students have made countless efforts to consolidate their memories, scholars have made countless sacrifices to study the laws of nature, engineers have expended countless sweat to manufacture and build... Now you tell me that all of the above will be trampled underfoot with just that small bottle of fragrant potion, and the so-called achievement will be easy.

"So what were all that sweat, blood and tears for? We gave everything, but it turns out to be just a joke to the world?"

The dry howl of collapse sounded again, followed by laughter, and finally the hoarse sound turned into a silent cry.

"It turns out that the power that can bring down all the towers of science really exists..."

He sobbed.

"Then what's the point of our efforts..."