Lynn's words instantly ignited the entire audience, and even Raphael and the others responsible for maintaining order at the seminar were visibly shaken.
If Lynn's previous remarks were like laying the foundations of the magical world, then now it felt like an attempt to kick down the entire magical tower.
"Lynn, this is no time for jokes." Raphael's expression turned serious as he looked at Lynn. He spoke earnestly, "Didn't your earlier propositions about free fall and stellar orbital theory prove the effects of gravity?"
Raphael couldn't comprehend why someone would suddenly make such radical claims. It seemed like Lynn was shooting himself in the foot. And he was not alone in his thoughts; many others questioned Lynn's sanity or believed he was deliberately spouting nonsense to grab their attention.
In the midst of the skepticism, Lynn spoke again. "In my view, so-called gravity is fundamentally a manifestation of spacetime curvature."
The mainstream wizardry theories in this land suggested that gravity influenced and distorted space, but Lynn was flipping causality on its head. He argued that it was the changes in space that caused the phenomenon of gravity.
Immediately, someone stepped forward to question, "If it's not the effect of gravity, what force is causing the deformation of space?"
"Of course, it's mass." Lynn stated confidently. "The reason we feel the effects of gravity is because of the massive mass of this planet beneath our feet, which distorts spacetime, compelling us to fall toward the center of the Earth..."
Harof and a few experts in the field of force-field magic wore thoughtful expressions. As for the official wizards, they felt their cognitive abilities stretched to the limit. Lynn's every word continuously challenged their imagination and thinking.
Gravity didn't actually exist; it was just a phenomenon. Space was merely pulling them in a certain direction, an intangible change that many wizards found challenging to grasp. They couldn't fathom how space twisted in such a way.
Lynn didn't provide an extensive explanation; instead, he moved aside and revealed a circular fabric on a raised platform behind him. It was made of the skin of a feathered serpent and possessed exceptional elasticity.
It was laid on a sturdy iron frame.
The curious audience gazed at it. Lynn picked up a 10-kilogram ball and placed it in the center of the fabric.
The next moment, the flat fabric instantly concaved around the ball, creating a curved surface with the ball at the center. The further you went from the center, the weaker the curvature became.
"Gravity is like this." Lynn exclaimed.
From his pocket, he took out a 1-kilogram ball, casually placed it at one edge of the curved fabric, and then let it go.
Everyone in the seminar stared wide-eyed. The wizards at the back even used distant-viewing magic to get a clearer look.
Without Lynn applying any extra force, the small ball automatically rolled towards the center following the curvature of the fabric.
"I see, so this is gravity..." an excited senior wizard shouted. He imagined a three-dimensional fabric, collapsing from all directions towards the center to attract objects.
Before the audience could fully process what they were witnessing, Lynn picked up another small ball, changed the angle, gave it a slight push, and the ball didn't roll directly downward. Instead, it started to move in a circular pattern along the curved fabric, revolving around the larger central sphere.
"Stellar orbit, this is a stellar orbit." another person exclaimed loudly.
All the wizards' eyes were fixed on the small white circular fabric with a diameter of just one meter. They felt like they weren't gazing at a few balls but at the grand image of the cosmos.
Lynn used a highly elastic piece of leather to demonstrate the distortion and collapse of three-dimensional space in the form of a two-dimensional fabric, making it incredibly intuitive.
However, the distortion of time couldn't be presented in such a straightforward manner. Nevertheless, it was enough. This little experiment aimed to help these wizards better understand the phenomenon of space curvature creating gravity.
Lynn looked at the excited, awestruck, enthusiastic, and zealous group of wizards in the hall and summarized once again. "So, I believe that gravity is a geometric effect caused by how matter informs space, and space informs matter how to move."
Matter informs space and space informs motion... among the wizards with some knowledge of force-field magic in the hall, this concept was being thoroughly digested.
It was brilliant, truly brilliant. This was the mystery of spacetime magic.
"Lynn, based on your speech today, you are more than qualified for a nomination for the Sun Crown Medal." A senior wizard responsible for maintaining order at the event gazed at Lynn's slightly youthful face and sighed.
At the previous seminar, the legendary wizard Harof had vowed to award Lynn the Sun Crown Medal. Raphael had initially felt reluctant, thinking that Lynn had merely presented an alternative view on stellar phenomena that contradicted the mainstream theories. But now, it was clear that Lynn's understanding of gravity and space was far beyond his own.
Everything Lynn said that day could serve as the foundation for the study of spatial magic. Some enthusiastic individuals even meticulously recorded Lynn's descriptions of matter and spacetime, even if they didn't fully understand it. They could boast about it in the future.
"I have one more question... Why doesn't our planet, beneath our feet, rush towards the sun due to gravity, like that small ball?" Raphael asked, still puzzled.
As Lynn released the second small ball, it was clear that, while it continuously revolved around the central sphere, the extent of the curvature was gradually diminishing until it would eventually be drawn into the center.
"That's because there's no air resistance in a vacuum. The planet's speed doesn't decrease, and it reaches equilibrium with gravity, which prevents it from falling into the sun," Lynn explained.
Raphael pondered this, realizing that the earlier small ball's speed gradually slowed down, causing it to move closer to the center, with a shorter orbit until it fell into the center of the curved fabric.
So that's how it works. Raphael had a sudden epiphany, and many of his previous doubts about stellar orbits were instantly resolved.
TL/n -
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