Dong Qianyi was truly worthy of the title of one of the Twelve Great Prodigies. To think that he was constantly calculating and crunching numbers while he was awake.
“Don’t you need to write them down? How could you remember everything?” Xiang Ning asked.
“Of course I do, but it’s too much of a hassle. I usually write them down once every three days or so,” Dong Qianyi chuckled.
Xiang Ning was speechless.
“Alright, enough gossiping. Let me brief you on our research direction. We will be researching and constructing dimensional pylons in order to establish a wormhole. The dimensional pylons are like the foundation of the bridge, while the wormhole is the bridge itself. As long as we can finish that, a spaceship should be able to arrive at its destination even without a hyperdrive. But it’s extremely difficult, even for me. Humanity will require another fifty years before it would be possible to travel between galaxies. For now, the Federation is only capable of short-distance space travel.”
“Hmm, alright. Let’s do that.” Xiang Ning was fairly confident in his understanding of hyperspace travel. Even the special reward he had previously received was related to instantaneous travel through space. The rewards given by the system were naturally amazing, but there were still some drawbacks—one of them being that it required a massive amount of energy and resources to recreate in real life.
Xiang Ning thought about how to construct dimensional pylons. “Based on Rory’s dimensional law, we’ll need a massive amount of energy to construct the dimensional pylons. The only source of energy that’ll be sufficient is solar energy.”
Old Jin nodded and tapped the interface. “We also came to that conclusion and have already done some research on how to extract the sun’s energy.”
The solar energy he meant wasn’t harnessing the energy from the sun’s rays, but directly harnessing the heat from the sun. Even a small fraction of the sun’s energy would be enough to vaporize millions of tons of water. A single solar flare had more destructive capabilities than a hundred million hydrogen bombs and was capable of destroying the earth itself.
The sun was constantly spewing forth such solar flares. If they could harness even a fraction of it, they would have a solid footing to construct the dimensional pylons.
“Unfortunately, our technology isn’t capable of such feats. Even capturing the energy will be extremely difficult, not to mention the many other technical difficulties.” Xiang Ning knew that extracting it would be one thing, but transporting and storing the energy would be another difficult challenge.
“That is why we’re researching the Celestial Calculator. Once it’s complete, it’ll drastically reduce the calculation we need to do manually on the method of harnessing and storing the sun’s energy. The Celestial Calculator will be an invention that would usher in the next civilization,” Old Jin said excitedly.
If Xiang Ning’s dimensional ring was an invention that surpassed decades, the Celestial Calculator was an invention that surpassed civilizations.
“But don’t we need a lot of time for it?”
“The Celestial Calculator can do many things, and calculating the amount of energy to harness and store is one of its many functions. But for now, it’s an invention that’s still far ahead of our time.”
Xiang Ning nodded. Energy can be quantified. As long as it has a unit of measurement, the Celestial Calculator would theoretically be able to calculate all of the other factors to extract, store, and use the energy. It was just like a human body.
“Alright, let’s not think about it too much. The road ahead is still long and we’ll slowly teach you about it. As for now, you should just diligently study,” Old Jin chuckled happily.
When Dong Qianyi heard the word ‘study’, his face twitched a little and he glanced at Xiang Ning. His eyes squinted with a dangerous glint, his intentions loud and clear. Xiang Ning nodded and understood what it meant. Yeah, I’m not going to do something that dangerous again. But still… I’ve already become stronger, haven't I? Maybe it should be fine now.
After an hour, Dong Qianyi had finally finished explaining the entire direction and plan of the research. Soon after, Xiang Ning left the lab.
Looking at his back, Old Jin scratched his head. “Aren’t we being too harsh on him? He still has to cultivate his martial arts.”
“I don’t know, but my instincts tell me that he’s different from the other two.” Dong Qianyi shook his head. Even he hadn’t completely grasped the nature of Xiang Ning.
As for Xiang Ning, he had his own considerations. Dong Qianyi had agreed that his schedule would be up to him. Everyone else would have to be in the lab every day, but not him. With his comprehension skill, he was at least a hundred times more efficient than the researchers in the lab. That was why Dong Qianyi had agreed to his condition. If the other researchers had overheard that, they would have chopped Xiang Ning to bits.
......
Life was peaceful for Xiang Ning, and three days had passed. He went back to school for one last lesson before the first semester was over.
He woke up early as usual and woke his sister. “Wake up and put on some thicker clothes. It’s getting colder.”
“Urghhhhhh,” she weakly answered, her voice like soft mochi. Xiang Ning could only chuckle. While it didn’t really snow in Marsh City, the winter was still cold.
After having their breakfast, the siblings stepped outside the door, leaving white wisps as they exhaled in the cold air.
Xiang Xiaoyu was as chirpy as usual and Xiang Ning patted her head. While the winter was cold, it was the happiest season for her, as she could cuddle in the house with her brother reading books. The weather was too cold for him to work. It was something that she looked forward to every year.
Unlike the others, who rarely talked in the winter, Xiang Xiaoyu was excitedly telling him everything she knew about Annot. Because of her popularity, there was much news and advertisements about her concert. Xiang Xiaoyu was curious at first, but within half a day she had become an avid fan of Annot.
“Do you like her?”
“Yeah! Her songs are amazing! I wanted to attend her concert, but the tickets were all sold out. Boohoo.”
“Aw, that’s a shame.” Xiang Ning smiled. A ticket, hm….
When they arrived at school, everyone looked at Xiang Ning with respect. He had been recognized as the strongest student in Marsh City and the ten great academies. Even the teachers used recordings of his battles as teaching material. Many students, including those that came from other nearby cities, wanted to enter Qiling Academy. Qi Jiuming was naturally very happy.
“Xiang Ning, you came! Quick, come here! I need to talk to you!”
Dong Qianyi was truly worthy of the title of one of the Twelve Great Prodigies. To think that he was constantly calculating and crunching numbers while he was awake.
“Don’t you need to write them down? How could you remember everything?” Xiang Ning asked.
“Of course I do, but it’s too much of a hassle. I usually write them down once every three days or so,” Dong Qianyi chuckled.
Xiang Ning was speechless.
“Alright, enough gossiping. Let me brief you on our research direction. We will be researching and constructing dimensional pylons in order to establish a wormhole. The dimensional pylons are like the foundation of the bridge, while the wormhole is the bridge itself. As long as we can finish that, a spaceship should be able to arrive at its destination even without a hyperdrive. But it’s extremely difficult, even for me. Humanity will require another fifty years before it would be possible to travel between galaxies. For now, the Federation is only capable of short-distance space travel.”
“Hmm, alright. Let’s do that.” Xiang Ning was fairly confident in his understanding of hyperspace travel. Even the special reward he had previously received was related to instantaneous travel through space. The rewards given by the system were naturally amazing, but there were still some drawbacks—one of them being that it required a massive amount of energy and resources to recreate in real life.
Xiang Ning thought about how to construct dimensional pylons. “Based on Rory’s dimensional law, we’ll need a massive amount of energy to construct the dimensional pylons. The only source of energy that’ll be sufficient is solar energy.”
Old Jin nodded and tapped the interface. “We also came to that conclusion and have already done some research on how to extract the sun’s energy.”
The solar energy he meant wasn’t harnessing the energy from the sun’s rays, but directly harnessing the heat from the sun. Even a small fraction of the sun’s energy would be enough to vaporize millions of tons of water. A single solar flare had more destructive capabilities than a hundred million hydrogen bombs and was capable of destroying the earth itself.
The sun was constantly spewing forth such solar flares. If they could harness even a fraction of it, they would have a solid footing to construct the dimensional pylons.
“Unfortunately, our technology isn’t capable of such feats. Even capturing the energy will be extremely difficult, not to mention the many other technical difficulties.” Xiang Ning knew that extracting it would be one thing, but transporting and storing the energy would be another difficult challenge.
“That is why we’re researching the Celestial Calculator. Once it’s complete, it’ll drastically reduce the calculation we need to do manually on the method of harnessing and storing the sun’s energy. The Celestial Calculator will be an invention that would usher in the next civilization,” Old Jin said excitedly.
If Xiang Ning’s dimensional ring was an invention that surpassed decades, the Celestial Calculator was an invention that surpassed civilizations.
“But don’t we need a lot of time for it?”
“The Celestial Calculator can do many things, and calculating the amount of energy to harness and store is one of its many functions. But for now, it’s an invention that’s still far ahead of our time.”
Xiang Ning nodded. Energy can be quantified. As long as it has a unit of measurement, the Celestial Calculator would theoretically be able to calculate all of the other factors to extract, store, and use the energy. It was just like a human body.
“Alright, let’s not think about it too much. The road ahead is still long and we’ll slowly teach you about it. As for now, you should just diligently study,” Old Jin chuckled happily.
When Dong Qianyi heard the word ‘study’, his face twitched a little and he glanced at Xiang Ning. His eyes squinted with a dangerous glint, his intentions loud and clear. Xiang Ning nodded and understood what it meant. Yeah, I’m not going to do something that dangerous again. But still… I’ve already become stronger, haven't I? Maybe it should be fine now.
After an hour, Dong Qianyi had finally finished explaining the entire direction and plan of the research. Soon after, Xiang Ning left the lab.
Looking at his back, Old Jin scratched his head. “Aren’t we being too harsh on him? He still has to cultivate his martial arts.”
“I don’t know, but my instincts tell me that he’s different from the other two.” Dong Qianyi shook his head. Even he hadn’t completely grasped the nature of Xiang Ning.
As for Xiang Ning, he had his own considerations. Dong Qianyi had agreed that his schedule would be up to him. Everyone else would have to be in the lab every day, but not him. With his comprehension skill, he was at least a hundred times more efficient than the researchers in the lab. That was why Dong Qianyi had agreed to his condition. If the other researchers had overheard that, they would have chopped Xiang Ning to bits.
......
Life was peaceful for Xiang Ning, and three days had passed. He went back to school for one last lesson before the first semester was over.
He woke up early as usual and woke his sister. “Wake up and put on some thicker clothes. It’s getting colder.”
“Urghhhhhh,” she weakly answered, her voice like soft mochi. Xiang Ning could only chuckle. While it didn’t really snow in Marsh City, the winter was still cold.
After having their breakfast, the siblings stepped outside the door, leaving white wisps as they exhaled in the cold air.
Xiang Xiaoyu was as chirpy as usual and Xiang Ning patted her head. While the winter was cold, it was the happiest season for her, as she could cuddle in the house with her brother reading books. The weather was too cold for him to work. It was something that she looked forward to every year.
Unlike the others, who rarely talked in the winter, Xiang Xiaoyu was excitedly telling him everything she knew about Annot. Because of her popularity, there was much news and advertisements about her concert. Xiang Xiaoyu was curious at first, but within half a day she had become an avid fan of Annot.
“Do you like her?”
“Yeah! Her songs are amazing! I wanted to attend her concert, but the tickets were all sold out. Boohoo.”
“Aw, that’s a shame.” Xiang Ning smiled. A ticket, hm….
When they arrived at school, everyone looked at Xiang Ning with respect. He had been recognized as the strongest student in Marsh City and the ten great academies. Even the teachers used recordings of his battles as teaching material. Many students, including those that came from other nearby cities, wanted to enter Qiling Academy. Qi Jiuming was naturally very happy.
“Xiang Ning, you came! Quick, come here! I need to talk to you!”
