Chapter 104: An Initial Exploration Of “aether” And Alchemy
That night, Harry returned to the Gryffindor Tower with a flushed face.
He told Ron, who had been waiting for him, about Fred and George’s plan to film next week’s Quidditch match, saying, “They want me to be the main character. Do you know what a main character is, Ron? It’s the person who gets the most screen time…”
When Ron was very young, Mr. Vaughn had taken him to see movies—though it was thanks to Ginny—so of course he knew what a “movie main character” meant.
He looked at Harry, whose face was flushed red, and said with a sour, dry tone, as if he had been doused with a bucket of lemon juice, “Congratulations, Harry.”
Harry said “humbly,” “It’s not really that special, and it’s quite troublesome. Fred and George want to install cameras on my broom, and I’m still hesitating, worried it might affect my flying.”
*Poof!*
Ron felt as if his chest had been stabbed. Suddenly, Harry’s glasses seemed to reflect light, so dazzling he couldn’t look directly at them.
He couldn’t help but ask with malice, “So, how are you going to explain this to Wood? You promised him you’d try to persuade Fred and George to focus on Quidditch, and now you’ve jumped in yourself.”
Harry wasn’t worried about this.
“Don’t worry, we’re preparing to persuade Wood to cooperate. In a movie, there has to be a main character, right?”
Hearing this, Ron’s mouth started to feel sour, and he suddenly lost the desire to chat. He mumbled, “Then I wish you luck, Harry. It’s getting late, I’m so sleepy, I’m going to bed.”
Immersed in his excitement, Harry didn’t notice his friend’s unusual behavior. Ron acted a bit strange a few days every month, and Harry was already used to it.
Lying in bed, Harry thought about the filming equipment he had seen that day and the bright prospects described by the twins.
Insomnia again.
And on the bed next to him, Ron, who claimed to be very sleepy, was also suffering from insomnia.
Envy and jealousy were like annoying mosquitoes, making him toss and turn restlessly. For many years, including today, one question had troubled him.
Why were there always people around him who particularly highlighted how incompetent he was?
Damn it!
The next day, Ron discovered that his jealousy from last night was actually premature. He walked out of Gryffindor Tower and into the Quidditch Pitch, with dark circles under his eyes that were almost identical to Harry’s.
With a schadenfreude attitude, he watched Harry and the twins try to persuade Wood, expecting Wood to resist and scold them.
To Ron’s surprise, they had actually convinced Wood…
This was not surprising at all. Harry was the most important person on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the core of Wood’s team, a genius Seeker he had waited four years for.
As long as Harry persisted, Wood was willing to do anything to keep the team’s precious heart happy!
Otherwise, why would the always shrewd Fred and George have thought of roping Harry into this, and promised him the lead role?
Their goal was not just to use Harry’s “The Boy Who Lived” fame for hype, but also because Harry himself was very useful at Hogwarts.
Not only could he be used to convince Wood, but he could also be used to convince professors!
That day, Ron witnessed firsthand the magical feats of his two brothers. They first “captured” Wood with Harry, and then “captured” Madam Hooch, the Flying professor and Quidditch referee, and Professor McGonagall.
In the evening, under the supervision of Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall, the twins had begun to try installing cameras on the flying brooms.
“This is an innovation, team members…” Professor McGonagall addressed the Gryffindor team members on the pitch. She glanced at Ron on the sidelines and added, “…and also fellow students observing. The two Mr. Weasleys will record the entire match using instruments installed on their brooms. According to their plan, this will leave valuable visual records of next week’s match.”
“If we win, it will be our honor. If we lose, it will also allow us to clearly understand what mistakes we made on the field and what areas need improvement. Therefore, I hope everyone can quickly adapt to the presence of these small instruments.”
This is a scam!
Ron, on the sidelines, cried out in his heart!
Yesterday, Harry had clearly said Fred and George were preparing to make a movie and sell it!
But Professor McGonagall clearly couldn’t hear the voice in his heart. After speaking, Professor McGonagall gave the twins a look of relief—she had always worried about these two children going astray and becoming the next Zonko.
So, when they brought out the modified Muggle cameras that afternoon, she was a little angry.
But after they explained their plan, and Harry added some supplementary explanations, Professor McGonagall immediately gave her approval.
What good children, not only returning to the right path but also using their intelligence to contribute to Gryffindor’s Quidditch cause!
Of course, not everyone agreed with the twins’ idea.
For example, Alicia Spinnet protested, “Professor, this is unfair! These things could very well affect our flying, and adding them to the brooms will also put us at a disadvantage in tackles during the match!”
“Don’t worry, Miss Spinnet,” Professor McGonagall soothed. “I will speak with Professor Snape shortly to discuss adding these instruments to the Slytherin team as well. If Professor Snape disagrees, then I will not force Gryffindor to add them!”
Spinnet then grudgingly agreed.
In her opinion, Snape, that unreasonable old bat, would absolutely not agree to such a thing.
But the reality was, she was still too young!
Snape was indeed indifferent to the cameras, but he knew these instruments were supported and developed by Mr. Vaughn. More importantly, he had great confidence in Slytherin, led by Mr. Vaughn, defeating Gryffindor.
Therefore, that night, when Professor McGonagall made her request, he readily agreed, even suggesting:
“The match footage must be open to the public. I suggest the school rent a shop in Diagon Alley to broadcast the match content 24 hours a day, so all wizards can see our famous Harry Potter!”
This suggestion was too outrageous and was rejected by Professor McGonagall.
But she agreed to Snape’s request to personally purchase projectors to show the match footage at Hogwarts.
Mr. Vaughn only received news of this the next day.
In the past few days, he had paid little attention to the twins’ venture, letting them do as they pleased. Even Quidditch training was routine.
With over two months back at school, he had caught up on his coursework and review progress. Other matters didn’t require his attention for the time being—for example, the Werewolf Affairs Committee was currently engaged in international negotiations, primarily handled by Crouch and Remus.
The only hope for saving Isabella was an academic invitation from Ilvermorny, but Dumbledore had temporarily suppressed this matter.
Therefore, recently, his attention had shifted back to his own interests and hobbies.
The exploration and pursuit of power and knowledge!
“System!”
In the dimly lit and spacious training room of the Room of Requirement, as Vaughn silently recited, a semi-transparent system panel appeared before him.
【Host: Vaughn Weasley】
【Magic Power Scale: 484 (Normal Adult Wizard is 500)】
【Talents: Charms Mastery 7, Dark Arts 6, Transfiguration 8, Potions Mastery 10, Herbology Mastery 6, Alchemy 6, Divination Mastery 2 (Max is 10)】
【Spells: Legilimency LV5(MAX), Full Body-Bind Curse LV5(MAX), Disarming Charm LV5(MAX), Evanesco LV5（MAX）, Levitation Charm LV5（MAX）… Occlumency LV3(15/32), Disillusionment Charm LV3（7/16）, Sectumsempra LV3（3/24）, Patronus Charm LV2（3/16）, Apparition LV2（2/12）…】
【Alchemy LV0（0/20）】
【Potions: “Vaughn’s Beauty” series, “Vaughn’s Hair” series, Wolfsbane Potion, etc…】
【Reputation Points: 0 points】
【Main Quest ②: By the end of this school year, help Slytherin win the House Cup（In Progress）】
【Reward: 1 Talent Point, 50 Magic Power Scale points】
【Side Quest ③: Research the magic of all Fire Dragons and understand their basic principles（Activated）】
【Reward: 100 Magic Power Scale points, Spell Development Module】
Compared to two months ago, when he first returned to Hogwarts and received the Philosopher’s Stone to acquire Alchemy Talent, Vaughn’s spell section had shown significant progress.
Five spells were at maximum level, Occlumency and Sectumsempra had reached LV3, with Occlumency’s progress towards LV4 being close to half. This level of Occlumency could likely rank among the top in the Wizarding World.
The reason for this progress was that he had invested all the Reputation Points settled in the past two months into spells, rather than the newly acquired Alchemy.
The reason was similar to when he first activated Alchemy: this unfamiliar, more idealistic subject, he wanted to experience and explore step by step from the foundation.
Because the more he studied the theory of Alchemy over these two months, the more Vaughn realized… modern Alchemy might point towards his ultimate pursuit—the nature of the world and the origin of magic!
At least in theory.
For example, the first page of Alchemy introductory books described the world’s original state, referring to it as “One” and the “Great Reality.”
Alchemists believed that all things were born from its division, and it was from its dispersion like sunlight that the universe, space-time, matter, energy, and spirit gradually became what they are today.
These descriptions were not plagiarized from any creation myths. As fundamental theories of a discipline, they served a similar purpose to the popular explanation of the universe’s origin in Muggle physics’ standard model.
However, in the Muggle Big Bang model, the universe’s initial state was a singularity, a pot of boiling particle soup.
In the alchemical “model,” they attributed a more anthropomorphic definition to it.
This definition was not made arbitrarily.
It was because of “Aether”!
Aether, also known as the spirit of the universe, the soul of the world… Vaughn didn’t like these names; they were too esoteric and difficult to understand, giving the illusion that “Aether” possessed free will.
In fact, after reading a large number of Alchemy theory books over two months, Vaughn saw “Aether” more as an objective fact than some ineffable super-life!
In Vaughn’s opinion, magic was also science, an ordered knowledge formed by testable explanations of the forms, organizations, etc., of objective things.
It was not entirely a formless chaos.
Interestingly, when Vaughn used a scientific mindset, discarding the anthropomorphic descriptions of “Aether” in Alchemy books and cross-referencing them with Muggle physics, he suddenly found some “coincidences.”
In Alchemy theory, “Aether” filled the entire universe and was the connection between all things.
Such a concept had also appeared in Muggle science. In the 17th century, a Muggle mathematician named Descartes first introduced the concept of “Aether” into physics!
Yes, from the 17th to the early 20th century, for several hundred years, “Aether” was a top concept in Muggle physics.
Because many scientists, like Descartes, who opposed action at a distance, believed that the universe must be “filled” with some substance that could propagate gravity and light like air propagates sound.
They believed that substance was Aether!
For example, Maxwell’s famous equations, which theoretically unified electricity and magnetism, introduced Aether and attempted to define it.
Of course, these Aether theories in Muggle society were disproven in the early 20th century by a Muggle named Albert Einstein.
For the next few decades, Muggles believed Aether did not exist and that vacuum was empty.
However, here comes the more interesting part.
Vaughn couldn’t remember the exact year, but it should be in the late 1990s, when Muggles first discovered evidence of the universe’s accelerated expansion. While observing the “remnants” of supernova explosions, they calculated that those supernovae were farther away than expected.
Before that, the current scientific community believed the universe was expanding at a constant or ever-slowing rate, and that one day in the future, when the “force” generated by the Big Bang faded, the universe would collapse again.
A few years later, Muggles would abandon their current line of thought, re-embrace the concept of Aether (now called dark energy), and once again believe that vacuum is not empty!
“Muggles struggled so much because they couldn’t observe Aether directly, only infer it through indirect measurements and calculations, confirming the existence of an invisible and intangible repulsive force that pushes the universe to accelerate its expansion!”
“But from a wizard’s perspective, the accelerated expansion of the universe has always been a determined fact.”
Vaughn thought, his finger brushing over a worn, old notebook lying on his lap. The faint glow of magical flames illuminated the calligraphy on it, recording the musings of a wizard who had traveled through Aether over 200 years ago:
“…Here, the concepts of time and space are lost, but I can still sense that Aether is constantly growing. Oh, Father of All, who has merged with my soul into ‘One,’ where is your end?”
Vaughn’s fingertip traced the characters, and he turned the thick notebook to the last page:
“…Compared to 60 years ago, Aether has become even more vast. It is like an inflated soap bubble, expanding in the void, which is terrifying. Great Father, if it continues to expand endlessly, what will the world become? Will the temporal scale of light become longer, and the world dimmer? Or will everything be torn apart?”
Very interesting!
Vaughn looked at the seemingly worrying about the sky falling ramblings on the paper with great interest.
Over 200 years ago, a wizard, by traveling through Aether, had “predicted” the possible end of the universe, and these predictions were astonishingly similar to the results of future Muggle predictions!
Therefore, in Vaughn’s opinion, Aether is not some illusory “spirit” of the world, but a tangible substance!
A substance that can combine with a wizard’s spirit, granting the wizard a more macroscopic and microscopic perspective!
Aether can give people a more macroscopic and microscopic perspective, which seems contradictory.
Not at all.
Here, let’s discuss the definition of “spirit.”
In the view of many alchemists, every existing object in the world has two states:
One is the physical body, which is the reality perceived by intelligent life, and the physical phenomena of material existence in reality.
The other is the spiritual body, which alchemists observe through Aether. Aether connects all things, so it can be a manifestation of a life’s memory, emotion, or will, or it can be the physical concepts like length, width, and height of a stone.
Does this distinction look familiar?
“Classical mechanics and quantum mechanics, the macroscopic world and the microscopic world!”
When Vaughn first saw an alchemist from over 100 years ago divide object states in such a way in a notebook, this thought immediately popped into his mind.
Over 100 years ago, alchemists already had a fundamental understanding of quantum mechanics.
Unfortunately, they did not develop it further.
Vaughn opened another notebook. This notebook was given to him by Dumbledore, and its owner was active over 90 years ago.
Spreading the notebook on his lap, he familiarized himself with a few pages. Dense words met Vaughn’s eyes:
“…The things seen within Aether are completely different from reality. The experience of traveling through it is like a dream, and dreams are usually illogical. Mountains, water, stones, trees… these objects that we are usually familiar with become completely strange in the state of Aether.”
“The feeling is hard to describe, like… they have become some kind of illusory existence. Looking at them, it’s like watching a clumsy Muggle show a movie, the film reel turning too slowly, so that those things jump and flicker in my eyes. What do Muggles say? Yes, frame drops…”
Still quite a fashionable wizard. Movies had only recently been invented over 90 years ago!
The description in this passage aligns well with the characteristics of the microscopic world. In the macroscopic world, the things we observe undergo a continuous process of change.
For example, an airplane flying past us, whether from left to right or right to left, its flight is a continuous motion.
But in the microscopic world, this airplane would “jump” instantaneously, as described in the text.
However, research on “spiritual bodies” has only reached this point for decades. Alchemists merely subjectively summarized “spiritual bodies” based on their state within Aether and then paid no further attention to it.
They did not investigate why what they saw “jumped” instantaneously, but subjectively and idealistically believed—
Vaughn’s gaze swept over the end of this passage:
“Perhaps these bizarre phenomena are the dreams of the Great One?”
Vaughn didn’t know who the first wizard was to describe Aether as the soul of the world. Undoubtedly, that person had thoroughly misled subsequent wizards.
Of course, it might also be related to the difficulty wizards had in understanding microscopic motion. Compared to observing why a tree dropped frames by looking through Aether, observing grander things was likely more appealing to wizards.
As mentioned earlier, wizards already recognized that “spiritual bodies” contained the physical concepts of all things.
And from Vaughn’s understanding, leaning more towards Muggle science, the so-called “spiritual body” is more like the “quantum information” of all things observed in the state of Aether.
As is well known, the transmission of quantum information can be faster than light and act at a distance.
Vaughn continued to flip through the notebook, and soon, another passage appeared:
“Distant worlds, perhaps a few stars have annihilated. The waves they released are so dazzling and horrifying. It is a disaster of world-ending magnitude. Even though I know they are very, very far from the solar system, and their death light may take hundreds of millions of years to reach Earth, it doesn’t stop me from fearing their wails!”
“But even such a terrifying disaster cannot stir a ripple in Aether. Oh, Great Father, you are so magnificent and vast! We are as tiny as bacteria, as Muggles say. After a lifetime, can I truly find your secret?”
“About the origin of magic, about the secret of symbols, about all truth…”
His fingertips rubbed over the last sentence, and Vaughn closed the notebook, lost in thought. This passage was something he had read countless times.
It revealed a lot of information, such as why past alchemists did not continue to specialize in “spiritual bodies”—because they were researching more grand propositions.
This made Vaughn feel they had chosen the wrong path, and while he regretted it, he was also startled by the fear and despair in the lines.
Because the things those alchemists wanted to research were precisely his ultimate ideal!
It was obvious that all those people in the past had failed!
Also, the secret of symbols mentioned in the last sentence…
This was the main reason why Vaughn, despite focusing on Alchemy theory for over two months, had not dared to attempt meditation or travel through Aether.
Alchemists wanted to understand the secret of symbols by knowing their principles.
Vaughn, on the other hand, immediately considered the origin of symbols.
If, as he suspected, the “spiritual bodies” that alchemists saw through Aether were indeed the quantum information of all things, then symbols were tools, or rather… authority, that helped alchemists perform miracles—modifying quantum information!
What Vaughn dreaded was—
Who created this authority? And who “granted” it?
Alchemists commonly attribute it to “Aether,” but from Vaughn’s perspective, he hoped it wasn’t, as that would mean even worse consequences!
Vaughn sighed. He had always preferred to plan before acting. If possible, he also wanted to resolve his doubts and fears before deciding whether or not to engage with Aether.
Unfortunately, after searching through all the texts for two months, he found no answers!
“Are you still thinking about the alchemical symbols?”
Dumbledore’s voice came.
As Vaughn looked, the Headmaster, clad in a vibrant dressing gown and with the phoenix Fawkes perched on his arm, had just emerged from Apparition in the corner.
He smiled at Vaughn, his tone a little teasing, as if to mock him.
Vaughn retorted grumpily, “Have you never been afraid?”
“Never!”
“Don’t brag. If you haven’t, why won’t you let me see your notes?”
“It’s inconvenient; it holds many of my little secrets.”
“Like the secrets of you tossing and turning, unable to eat or sleep, and being scared to tears by the mastermind behind it all?”
In arguments with Vaughn, Old Dumbledore rarely came out on top. Of course, he always attributed it to his own lack of malice and thick skin, being too honest and not wanting to stoop to a child’s level.
Dumbledore walked over to Vaughn, picked up the notebook, flipped through it, and then sighed:
“If I had known these notes would lead you to be so hesitant, I would never have given them to you before.”
“Even without them, I would still doubt the origin of the alchemical symbols.”
“Are you still sticking to your quantum information theory? Why can’t you, like other wizards, accept the personification of Aether?”
Hearing this, Vaughn retorted, “And you think it’s better to consider Aether as a mere objective phenomenon without concepts like free will, or to treat it as a person with emotions like joy and sorrow?”
“Uh…”
Dumbledore was speechless. He thought for a moment, then chuckled.
“Humans are too terrible; it’s better to consider it an objective phenomenon.”
Vaughn snorted, “I knew it. You must have struggled with this when you were younger.”
Wizards who didn’t struggle would have long ago become followers of Aether.
This time, Dumbledore did not argue back.
He sat down next to Vaughn, crossing his legs like him, and looking out at the empty training ground, he said slowly, “But dread and struggle are meaningless, my dear. If you don’t come into contact with Aether, you will never understand its true nature…”
Vaughn interrupted him, “I’m not as timid as you think, Albus. I was actually preparing to start my first meditation today.”
“Ah… I saw you hesitating…”
“That was for weighing the pros and cons and building psychological fortitude. It’s different from someone from Gryffindor who impulsively charges ahead and regrets it later. Slytherins prefer to plan and prepare, considering all possibilities before acting.”
The Headmaster, who came from Gryffindor, had done many foolish things in his youth, even eloping, now silently stroked his beard and grumbled, “That’s why I don’t like Slytherins; they’re so cold.”
“Also, Ravenclaw has a similar thought process. That’s why you see Ravenclaws producing so many villains, like Quirrell and Rita Skeeter…”
“…”
Dumbledore coughed dryly, not wanting to continue this topic, and then asked, “So, when do you want to begin?”
Vaughn took out the prepared incense. “If you hadn’t appeared just now, I might already be soaring in Aether!”
“Then should I apologize?”
“Instead of apologizing, how about something more practical?” Vaughn, with his innate capitalist talent, invited, “I once saw in some notes that when past alchemy apprentices began meditation, their mentors would usually accompany them throughout, acting as guides into Aether… What a coincidence that you arrived just as I was about to meditate. Destiny wants you to fulfill the role of a mentor!”
Old Dumbledore was dumbfounded. The sheer shamelessness of the boy in front of him was almost on par with his own.
However, after a brief moment of surprise, he readily agreed. This was the first time he had seen Vaughn actively ask for help, and his tone became cheerful because of it, “I’d be delighted, my dear.”
It had to be said that despite his usual flippancy, Dumbledore was still the strongest living white wizard. Just his white hair and beard that reached his chest could provide a strong sense of security.
He looked very wise.
After agreeing, Dumbledore immediately stepped into the role of mentor. As he watched Vaughn light the incense, filling the air with a calming fragrance, he instructed:
“You are very well-prepared. The essence of alchemical meditation is to empty your mind and focus your attention. It’s very necessary to use external aids when first engaging with it. Was the incense Fred and George’s idea?”
“Yes, they said it works very well.”
“Oh, you can try more. Next time, I suggest you drink a large mug of honey; at least, that’s how I feel when I use it… By the way, have you conceived of your meditation object?”
Alchemy was undoubtedly a form of magic, and like all magic, it required the power of emotions, which was vividly reflected in its meditation methods.
Alchemical meditation was not simply about emptying the mind; it involved emptying the mind while simultaneously having a strong will to construct something in the mind that could not exist in reality.
The more surreal, the better.
After lighting the incense and sitting in the most comfortable position beside it, Vaughn nodded, “I’ve conceived of it. It’s a Klein bottle!”
A Klein bottle is a concept in topology, a non-orientable topological space. As its name suggests, it looks like a strange bottle. What’s strange is that its neck curves back, passes through the body of the bottle, and connects to a large hole at the bottom.
Looking at the simple diagram Vaughn had casually drawn, Dumbledore asked curiously, “This thing cannot exist in reality?”
“Impossible. Because in a true Klein bottle, the neck doesn’t pass through the body, but connects to the bottom from a four-dimensional perspective, so it actually passes through space… This requires warping space from a four-dimensional perspective to achieve.”
“Oh, you’re just like a Muggle scientist, Vaughn!”
“Thank you for the compliment. Can we begin?”
“Of course.” Dumbledore adjusted his posture as well. Fulfilling his duty as a mentor, he reminded Vaughn, “But before you begin, I must warn you, Vaughn, your way of thinking is too rational. I don’t know what this quantum information you speak of is, but I must warn you that what you see after entering Aether is not the cold formulas of mathematics or physics, but a violently changing, treacherous world… It’s difficult to describe, much like everything in the notes you’ve read; the experience of soaring in Aether is like a dream…”
He said gravely, “And often, a nightmare!”
Regarding his concerns, Vaughn stated he was prepared. “Albus, the quantum world is not cold; it is inherently treacherous, beyond our comprehension. Also, Muggles have an unproven theory that consciousness itself is a quantum phenomenon.”
“I’ve previously hypothesized that the dreams and thought processes of intelligent beings might manifest in Aether, so I’m not surprised that soaring in Aether is like a dream.”
Quantum theory was not kind to an old man whose faculties were beginning to wane. Old Dumbledore’s head ached a bit from listening, so he could only dryly comment, “Uh, quantum sounds like a good thing… Anyway, let’s begin. I’ll be with you.”
Hearing this, Vaughn slowly closed his eyes.
With the help of the incense, his body and mind began to relax, his thoughts gradually becoming hollow and blank. He hadn’t been completely unprepared over the past two months; he had performed these pre-meditation exercises many times, only missing the final step—
To construct the meditation object with strong will.
And this step didn’t actually require practice; as a wizard, how to mobilize emotions had almost become his instinct.
As Vaughn instinctively mobilized his strong will and successfully imagined the Klein bottle in his mind, a strange sensation began to spread from within.
He felt as if he had turned into smoke, lightly lifting off the ground.
“Success!”
Entering Aether from the material world, so easily!
Vaughn gently opened his eyes, and a strange world slowly unfolded before him—he was still in the training ground of the Room of Requirement.
But everything he saw had changed. The floor, the walls, the dummies, they were as if covered by countless layers of glass with vastly different transparencies, becoming hazy. Upon closer inspection, he realized they were countless phantoms flickering and intersecting on their surfaces.
The colors had also changed. All objects had lost their original colors and were emitting a rainbow-like shimmer, layered and overlapping!
This was Aether. It was not another world, another space.
It completely overlapped with reality, more like another state of the real world.
Vaughn tried to take a step forward, and then, he floated.
Immediately, a passage from a note he had once read surfaced in his mind:
“In Aether, many things we are familiar with lose their meaning, time, space, gravity… We can fly with ease, although in reality, flying itself is also meaningless…”
He couldn’t fully understand the last sentence yet, but he had already experienced the description of the previous sentence.
He “looked” at his own body. Without any movement, he could see it directly!
It was interesting. His body, like the floor and dummies around him, had countless “flickering” transparent phantoms appearing on its surface, making him seem enveloped in a layer of hazy mist. Beneath the mist were colors that were layered and overlapped.
“Any object is formed by the aggregation of fundamental particles. What we see in reality is their macroscopic manifestation, but in Aether, their essence begins to be revealed?”
Vaughn raised his hands to his eyes, looking at his own hands, which were also hazy but contained iridescent colors, and pondered:
“These phantoms might be the trajectories of the fundamental particles that make up my body? Do those overlapping colors represent the light waves absorbed and reflected by my body? After all, the color of real objects actually originates from the wavelength of reflected light.”
“So, am I just a cloud of fundamental particles now?”
As he observed and thought, a gray human figure appeared out of nowhere behind him.
Just like “seeing” his own body, Vaughn could “see” the figure appear without turning around.
He enjoyed this unique perspective with great interest, recalling the notes. As mentioned before, many things in reality lose their meaning in Aether, and clearly, direction was also meaningless.
“Albus?”
Vaughn uttered the “question.” Only after it left his lips did he notice that he hadn’t actually made a sound; what was transmitted was his thought.
The process of speaking in reality seemed to be omitted here. Thoughts no longer needed to be transmitted to the language center, nor translated by the language center and then transmitted to the vocal cords, nor did the vocal cords need to vibrate to produce sound.
Understanding the reason, Vaughn realized that his Legilimency was still active. Without it, the surroundings would undoubtedly be filled with his “noisy” thoughts.
“Magic can be used in Aether…”
Vaughn noted this down. It was not mentioned in the notes, as they were mostly personal jottings of renowned alchemists, and it was normal to omit some basic understandings.
On the other side, the gray figure representing Dumbledore nodded and responded, “It’s me, Vaughn. How do you feel?”
“A bit unaccustomed.” Vaughn moved his limbs. With just a thought, he drifted a distance. “…Many real-world behavioral processes are omitted here. The body’s mechanism of movement has become superfluous. Actions, walking, moving, can be achieved just by thinking about it… It’s a very strange feeling!”
Additionally, Vaughn noticed that he was “teleporting” in a “jumpy” manner, and Dumbledore beside him was the same.
Even more so, not just when moving, but even when standing, the bodies of both individuals and the phantoms on their surfaces were constantly “flickering,” as if “jumping” every second.
In terms of “vision,” this situation was undoubtedly very strange. As the note previously mentioned, it was like watching a dropped-frame movie, where the actions of the characters were different every second.
“Quantum is really interesting…”
Dumbledore, who had heard Vaughn talk about quantum theory earlier, now re-examined his hands and body, re-evaluating this phenomenon he had long been accustomed to.
“This phenomenon troubled many alchemists hundreds of years ago. They couldn’t understand why spiritual bodies became so peculiar after entering Aether.”
“So how did they finally explain it?” Vaughn asked curiously. Even if alchemists didn’t understand the microscopic world and gave up further research, as researchers, they would surely provide a seemingly logical explanation.
Dumbledore’s head tilted comically from side to side, shaking his head. “The ‘Creator’ theory had already become the mainstream thought in alchemy at that time. Almost all alchemists believed that the Creator ‘One’ split into all things, and we were just an insignificant part of His body, incomplete. Therefore, our spiritual bodies ‘flickered’ because of the missing parts that would make us ‘continuous’ and ‘perfect’.”
Hearing this, Vaughn had a moment of realization. “So later the ‘Golden Soul’ hypothesis was developed?”
“Precisely.”
The Golden Soul is a prediction of a higher life form in modern alchemy. Modern alchemy posits that there can be no substance in the universe possessing all material properties simultaneously （ only the Creator can. However, the appearance of the Creator inevitably signifies the universe’s return to chaos ）, thus a perfect body does not exist.
The ultimate direction of life will be to shed the flawed material form （ physical body ）, to exist independently as spirit （ soul ）, to evolve, and to complete oneself, infinitely approaching perfection.
That was the ultimate life they envisioned, and the ultimate that wizards could achieve!
Whether the “Golden Soul” can truly be achieved, or if it is a deception… As a novice just beginning to study alchemy, Vaughn would not arrogantly make pronouncements.
He was currently in the learning phase. His previous attempt to combine Aether with quantum theory was for easier understanding and to analyze Aether from the perspective of another knowledge system.
This did not mean he believed he had grasped the truth.
The collision and fusion of different knowledge systems is not a simple and crude replacement of one with another. Trying to completely categorize magic into existing scientific systems, or to express scientific systems entirely through magic, are both foolish endeavors.
Having received the answer from Dumbledore, Vaughn asked no further questions. His head “flickered” as he turned it, “Does Aether always overlap with reality?”
“Of course!”
“So in Aether, what we see is the other side of reality?” he asked curiously. “Then if I walk out now, what will the people I see look like? Will they also be like us, hazy spiritual bodies, or in some other state?”
Hearing this, Dumbledore laughed heartily. “That’s why I say, Vaughn, no matter how many theories and notes you read, if you don’t experience it yourself, you won’t understand what Aether is truly like… Of course not. Remember? Time and space lose their meaning here. When you walk out of here, in a sense, you are no longer at Hogwarts!”
Vaughn was a little taken aback. He looked around. “Then why are we still in this room when we entered Aether?”
Dumbledore smiled. “My dear, is this truly still that room?”
