I Pioneered Scientific Magic

Chapter 177: Zeno, the Eternal Chaser of Unreachable Turtles

Tiek, with a stern expression, slid the "Ring of Mystic Arts" onto his index finger and, without looking back, walked straight to the front hall, finding a seat.

It was a peculiar sensation; his perspective seemed split in two. In front of him lay a spacious exhibition hall, lined with shelves like a complex maze, all constructed purely from magical energy.

Tiek quickly realized this was a domain composed entirely of magic. What surprised him, though, was the vividness of everything here.

The oxygen he breathed, the gentle breeze, and the pristine white marble bricks beneath his feetit all felt so real that, if he didn't know he was currently a blend of magic and spiritual power, he might doubt if he were still in the real world.

Tiek, in amazement, approached a bookshelf, running his fingers over the neatly stacked books. Even the texture of the pages could be perfectly simulated.

He casually picked up a book "Fundamentals and Studies of Arcana." Opening the title page, he read, "Arcana is a discipline that studies concepts such as quantity, structure, change, space, and information. It is a universal method for rigorously describing and deducing abstract structures and patterns of things, applicable to solving any real-world or magical problems..."

"So, this is Arcana?" Tiek muttered to himself. Although he had been exposed to Arcana for two or three months, it was the first time he had seen such a precise and systematic explanation.

The pages he held suddenly trembled, then, under Tiek's astonished gaze, floated up and drifted towards a specific direction.

Tiek paused, realizing this must be guiding him to the gathering place.

Navigating through walls constructed of bookshelves, Tiek soon reached the center of the entire library. Several colleagues skilled in arithmetic and alchemy, whom he recognized, were gathered here.

Eleven people were engaged in lively discussions. One male wizard, upon seeing Tiek approaching, smirked and spoke.

"Never thought the last one would be you, Tiek. Gotta say, you're a bit late. We've been waiting for you for quite some time."

"Sorry, Alva. I thought you guys would be a bit slower, so I took the opportunity to get a good night's sleep and tidy up a bit, only to find out I missed the hour," Tiek raised an eyebrow, responding effortlessly.

"You seem quite leisurely, just in time to arrive at the end..." Alva didn't believe a word of Tiek's explanation, mockingly retorted, and didn't bother to expose the lie, continuing to speak.

"We were just discussing the second Arcana question. I wonder, Tiek, how long did it take you, and what method did you use to get the answer?"

Tiek pondered before responding. "This question is relatively easy. Just change your perspective, and the answer becomes clear. If, since the beginning, we give the monkeys four extra peaches, each monkey can divide them equally. So, the total number of peaches is five to the power of five, minus the initial four, resulting in 3121!"

Seven out of the eleven nodded, acknowledging Tiek's method, while the remaining few compared it with their own approaches.

"As for solving this question, it took me about five... no, four hours," Tiek said, somewhat sheepishly.

"I only used three hours and twenty-seven minutes!" Alva proudly declared. Last year, during an internal discussion at the Alchemy Association, Tiek had pointed out numerous flaws in a new spell formation proposed by Alva. This time, Alva finally gained a victory.

Tiek looked somewhat disgruntled at the others, discovering that most of them solved the problem in three to five hours, meaning they were generally faster than him.

"Two hours!" Ellison, who had been silent, suddenly interrupted.

The wizards present turned to Ellison with expressions of awe. This question wasn't very difficult, but for Alva and the others who hadn't systematically studied Arcana before, it wasn't easy to shift their thinking.

"How is that possible?" Tiek couldn't help but ask a few more questions, only to realize that Ellison, to achieve such a quick result, had mobilized dozens of apprentices to work together, essentially using a brute force method of enumeration.

Others had also exchanged ideas with their colleagues.

Learning this, Tiek felt disoriented. These people were so unscrupulous, no wonder each of them was so fast! He was the only one honestly working on the problem.

Just as Tiek silently cursed, the entire magical space shook heavily. Then, countless thick books floated out from the shelves, pages fluttering, and intricate mathematical symbols, as if alive, detached from the books and hovered in the void, outlining three-dimensional patterns.

"Welcome to the Sea of Arcana..."

Accompanied by a deep, resonant voice, the restless knowledge gradually settled down.

Turning around, Tiek saw a wizard with curly hair, dressed in a brown robe, walking towards them.

Under the influence of some force, the floating books returned to their original positions, leaving only the strange symbols still swirling in the void, as if reluctant to return to the confines of the books.

"You can call me Leibniz!" The wizard introduced himself politely.

"Master Leibniz," Tiek and the others immediately bowed respectfully. For a great wizard and a pioneer in Arcana, they maintained a sufficient level of respect.

"I heard from Lynn that you specifically gathered us to solve a problem troubling the world of Arcana?" Alva, less formal, was the first to ask the question that had everyone's curiosity piqued.

"That's right!" Leibniz nodded, then explained, "It all started with a bet I made with another wizard named Zeno. He's currently preparing to race a turtle, allowing it a head start of a hundred meters. He'll then start chasing, running ten meters every second, while the turtle moves only ten centimeters per second..."

"Zeno believes he can never catch up with the turtle, and I need to prove that he can!"

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