Silent Crown

Mass production of surgical sound suppressor plug. A product that has been obsolete for the past 50 years. Back then, he had something like this in his own spine, which sealed his path towards becoming a musician. It had been the failed product of an experiment but he did not expect Newton to utilize it as a stabilizing plug. Its function was similar to that of the safety valve of a machine. Once the music theory goes haywire, it would be activated automatically to cut off the circulation of aether.

“I must hand it to you.” Ye Qingxuan exclaimed in awe. He retrieved his vision and took back the vambrace from Newton, “And what about this?”

“Not enough time.” Newton shook his head. “Some of the musical notes keep producing calculation errors. It’s fine if we run only a single interval but problems start to crop up when we try to run two at the same time. At the moment, we are still limited to the basics of major and minor chords. We have not been able to progress further than that.”

Ye Qingxuan frowned, “If we are limited to a single line, then we will forever remain at the level of apprentices. If we continue to be unable to achieve duets, we will probably be unable to utilize most movements.”

Newton rubbed his forehead, “Our lack of computing powers is a huge problem.”

“Not just computing powers, Newton, you have misunderstood.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head and was just about to say something when he suddenly recalled his first ever lesson at the Royal Academy of Music. On that afternoon, Abraham had told him that aether were like messengers that would lead rebels back to the Originator… so musicians, when viewed from certain perspectives, could also be considered as messengers of the Originator.

“Newton, movements are like ‘languages’. Forget the way you have always been perceiving them. You need to find a new angle.” Ye Qingxuan said, “Although language is an art on its own, it also possessed its own rules and principles. We have to find the most suitable way.”

“You have a solution in mind?” Newton asked. This was beyond his area of expertise, so Ye Qingxuan’s ideas deserved to be heard.

“What solution can I have?” Ye Qingxuan laughed. He thought back to how he was like back then, “I could only try the music notes one by one. I have already given you all the information of the music notes in the classical times that I have. Let’s start from ‘Das Wohltemperierte Klavier’.”

To any apprentice, ‘Das Wohltemperierte Klavier’ was something that was irreplaceable for beginners. It utilized the technique of ‘Fugue’, which would carry out an in-depth analysis of music theory into layman’s terms. To the Net of Aether, it would be extremely valuable as a point of reference.

“Let me do it? Are you sure?” After hearing so much from Ye Qingxuan, Newton was still as clueless as ever. This was like searching for a needle in a haystack, and Ye Qingxuan has just given him the entire responsibility. He could not help but retort, “But I’m not a musician.”

“It is precisely because you are not a musician that you can do it.” Ye Qingxuan said calmly, “Not even I can do it. None of the musicians can.”

Newton was undeniably the chief engineer of the entire system in the Net of Aether. From a certain perspective, he was the real ‘musician’ of this system.

The first musician of the Net of Aether.

This was an entirely new field of study that needed him as a pioneer. Any old thoughts or ideas would only serve as obstructions. It was just like when musicians were about to level up, they tended to overthink things, which would only lead to more mistakes. Only someone who best understood the structure of the Net of Aether yet had no clue about the old system would be able to grasp the key of this entire concept. Newton was like a blank sheet of paper in this aspect, yet his outstanding talent and ability would also allow him to establish his own ideas. Newton finally began to understand what Ye Qingxuan meant but the expression on his face still remained solemn.

When Ye Qingxuan saw a look of struggle on Newton’s face, he could not help but shake his head and laugh, before waving his head and said, “Follow me.”

With that, he led Newton to the lift. After they reached the sixth floor, Ye Qingxuan led Newton to the research department at the upper level, then into a corridor that Newton has never seen before. Along the way, Newton noticed that this building was one-fifth the size of the research institute but he did not recognize a single researcher.

After three layers of security, Newton could not help but exclaim, “Is this really my research insititute?”

Ye Qingxuan gave him a glance before speaking very seriously, “It used to be.”

The room was quiet and clean and only contained a heavy-looking structure made of iron. It was as tall as half a man’s height and was placed in the center of the room. There was nothing else other than that. It was as if this entire room was built just to store this item.

“What is this place?” Newton asked.

“This is the optics department that has been set up because of the purchase order from the navy. Its purpose is to come up with new-generation surveillance system. At the moment, the combat vessels of every country are extending their range. The way we used to conduct surveillances would no longer be able to detect our enemies any earlier. If we continue to remain at where we are, we may reach a point in the future, where we may not even be aware that we are already within the enemy’s range.”

At this point in time, Ye Qingxuan could not help but shrug his shoulders, “But I have utilized some of the resources for my own personal gains, which is this monocular that is right in front of you.”

“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?