630 The Essence of Aether (2/2)
”Monocular?” Newton walked a few rounds around this item before turning back to look at him, ”The room is so small, what are you using it to observe?”
”Of course it is being used to observe somewhere smaller,” Ye Qingxuan replied. ”As a musician with the School of Revelation as my background, do you think I will need it to help me search for enemies?”
Newton was speechless.
”Actually, the technical requirement of the entire machine is not too high. It is pretty cheap but more than 90 percent of its price was spent on this.” Ye Qingxuan took out a metal box from a drawer below and opened it slowly. Lying in layers of sponges and silk were… pieces of glass.
Newton thought about it for a while before realization dawned on him. The idea of microscopes has always been around but it has always been restricted by materials and demanding craftsmanship. It was difficult to achieve a whole new level of precision and there was no need to. The current level of precision has already surpassed the technical requirements so an even higher level of precision would serve no purpose. Therefore, only someone like Ye Qingxuan, who had nothing better to spend his money and time on, would be an exception.
”How is it?” Newton's interest has been piqued. He would always be curious about research in any fields.
”Unexpectedly good.” Ye Qingxuan put all the mirrors in place and carefully adjusted them, ”It has broken through the level of precision that current microscopes have. It can go all the way down to a unit that is even smaller than one micron…”
”Purely mechanical engineering and optics study?” Newton frowned, ”With the same price, wouldn't it be more worthwhile to use alchemy arrays as complements?” Sometimes, he had no choice but to admit that the abilities of musicians were much more useful than those of mechanical engineering and material science.
”Alchemy arrays are not an option. You will know the reason later.” After Ye Qingxuan has finished adjusting, he carefully inserted a glass into the slot and slowly backed away, ”Come and take a look.”
Newton gave him a glance of suspicion before walking towards the microscope and putting his eye at the lens.
There was silence. In that instant, everything became silvery white. It was as if a huge blizzard had covered everything with snow, but the snowflakes were tainted with the color of metal. Even if this microscope had reached a whole new level of precision of one micron, it should still be unable to capture the real identity of that silvery white color. It should only be able to capture their vague outlines. It was as if countless upright metal grains have been placed flat together in an area, and all of them have been intricately connected together. They looked shockingly smooth together.
Newton had first thought that this was a new material but he dismissed it immediately. No known resource in this world could achieve such an effect. Even the black gold that has been refined to its maximum by alchemists would not achieve such tightness and pattern.
It was a material that has never been seen before!
Newton was stunned by what he had just seen. He raised his head and looked at Ye Qingxuan, ”What metal is this?”
Ye Qingxuan smiled and shook his head, ”Take a look again.”
Newton lowered his head but what he saw this time was drastically different. The original squarish structure has vanished and in its place was a hexagonal beehive structure… which was closely followed by a formation of countless scales. He took a deep breath and took another look but it was an entirely different thing all over again.
Newton could feel his face burning. He was delirious with joy. Such joy was equivalent to one's face being pierced by countless needles. Blood was rushing to his head and his heart was beating tremendously fast.
An entirely new material, whose characteristics were still unknown. A… crystal of miracle!
After remaining stunned for a long time, he finally raised his head stiffly and looked at Ye Qingxuan, the young man who kept giving him shocks and surprises. ”What exactly is this?”
Ye Qingxuan, who was leaning against the corner, laughed and removed the cigarette in his mouth before flicking some of the ashes on the ground. ”The essence of Aether,” he replied quietly.
”That's impossible!!!” In an instant, it was as if Newton had been struck by lightning. He was speechless. How could it be Aether! Aethers existed but could not be observed.
This was something acknowledged by all musicians and even an outsider like Newton was aware of it! For all this while, countless musicians have hoped to decipher the essence of Aether. They have tried all sorts of ways to observe it but they never could uncover its true identity.
What humans could observe were the effects of an abundance of Aether that have been gathered together. But no one has ever managed to see what Aether really looked like, and what physical qualities they possessed. It was too miniscule, so much so that it was difficult for humans to observe it. Besides, it was always moving at every single moment. It was like a streak of lightning across the night sky. Who would be capable of capturing these lightning particles?