Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 104 "Ether" and an Initial Exploration of Alchemy

That night, Harry returned to the Gryffindor Tower, his face glowing.

He told Ron, who had been waiting for him, about Fred and George's plan to film next week's Quidditch game, and said, "They want me to be the lead. You know what a lead is, Ron? It's the guy with the most screen time..."

Ron had been taken to the movies by Vaughn when he was very young—though it was thanks to Ginny—so he certainly knew what "the movie's protagonist" meant.

Looking at Harry's flushed face, he felt as if he'd been doused with a bucket of lemon juice, and said in a sour, dry voice, "Congratulations, Harry."

Harry said modestly, "It's nothing special, and it's a lot of trouble. Fred and George want to put a camera on my broom, but I'm still hesitant because I'm worried it will affect my flight."

puff!
Ron felt as if he had been stabbed in the chest, and suddenly noticed that Harry's glasses were reflecting light so brightly that he couldn't look directly at them.

He couldn't help but ask maliciously, "So, how are you going to explain this to Wood? You promised him you'd persuade Fred and George to focus on Quidditch, but you've gotten yourself involved."

Harry wasn't in a hurry.

"Don't worry, we're working on persuading Wood to cooperate. In a movie, there are always supporting characters as well as main characters, right?"

Hearing this, Ron felt his mouth start to ache and suddenly lost the desire to chat. He muttered, "Well, I wish you all the best. Harry, it's getting late, I'm so sleepy, I'm going to sleep now."

Immersed in his excitement, Harry didn't notice his friend's strange behavior. There were always a few days each month when Ron would act a little unusual, and he was used to it.

Lying in bed, Harry thought about the filming equipment he had seen that day, and the bright prospects the twins had described.

Another sleepless night.

Meanwhile, Ron, who was in the bed next to him and claimed to be very sleepy, was actually suffering from insomnia.

Envy and jealousy were like bothersome mosquitoes, keeping him restless and unable to find peace. Including today, a question has been troubling him for many years.

Why are there always people around him who highlight how incompetent he is?

hateful!

The next day, Ron realized that his jealousy from the previous night had been troubling him for far too long, as he walked out of the Gryffindor Tower and into the Quidditch pitch with dark circles under his eyes that were almost identical to Harry's.

While he watched with schadenfreude as Harry and the twins tried to persuade Wood, anticipating how Wood would resist and reprimand them.

Ron was surprised to find that they had actually convinced Wood...

There's really nothing strange about that. Harry is the most important person on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, the core of the team in Wood's eyes, and the talented Seeker he waited four years for.

As long as Harry insists, he's willing to do anything to keep the team's darling Wood in check!
Otherwise, why would the usually shrewd Fred and George think of recruiting Harry and even promising him a leading role?
Their purpose wasn't just to create hype by using Harry's "savior" title, but also because Harry himself was very useful at Hogwarts.

It can be used not only to persuade Wood, but also to persuade the professor!

On this day, Ron witnessed firsthand the amazing feats of his two older brothers, who led Harry to first capture Wood, and then Madam Hooch (the flying professor and Quidditch referee) and Professor McGonagall.

In the evening, under the supervision of Mrs. Hodge and Professor McGonagall, the twins began to try to install cameras on the flying broom.

"This is an innovation, team members..." Professor McGonagall announced to the Gryffindor team members on the field. She glanced at Ron on the sidelines and added, "...and the students watching, the two Weasleys will record the entire match using instruments mounted on their brooms. According to their plan, this will leave valuable video footage of next week's match."

"If we win, it's an honor for us; if we lose, it allows us to clearly see what mistakes we made on the field and what we can improve. So, I hope everyone can get used to the existence of these little instruments as soon as possible."

This is a scam!

Ron, standing on the sidelines, was screaming inside!
Yesterday Harry clearly said that Fred and George were planning to make a movie and then sell it!

But the professor clearly couldn't hear his inner voice. After Professor McGonagall finished speaking, she gave the twins a relieved smile—she had always worried that the two children would go astray and become the next Joko Widodo.

So in the afternoon, when they brought out the modified Muggle camera, she was a little angry.

But after they finished explaining their ideas, and with Harry adding further explanations, Professor McGonagall immediately gave her the nod and agreed.

What wonderful children! Not only have they returned to the right path, but they have also used their wisdom to contribute to the Quidditch cause in Gryffindor!

Of course, not everyone agrees with the twins' idea.

For example, Aria Spinnett protested, "Professor, this is unfair. These things could affect our flight, and putting them on our brooms will put us at a disadvantage in the competition!"

“Don’t worry, Miss Spinnet,” Professor McGonagall reassured her. “I’ll go see Professor Snape in a bit and discuss with him about installing these devices on the Slytherin team as well. If Professor Snape doesn’t agree, then I won’t force Gryffindor to install them!”

Spinnett reluctantly agreed.

In her opinion, Snape, that cold-hearted old bat, would never agree to such a thing.

But the truth is, she is still too young!

Snape wasn't really interested in cameras, but he knew that Vaughn had supported the development of these devices, and more importantly, he was very confident that Slytherin, led by Vaughn, would defeat Gryffindor.

So that evening, when faced with Professor McGonagall's request, he readily agreed, and even suggested:
"The match footage must be made available to the public. I suggest the school rent a shop in Diagon Alley and broadcast the match 24 hours a day, so that all wizards can see our famous Harry Potter!"

The proposal was too outrageous and was rejected by Professor McGonagall.

However, she agreed to Snape's request to privately purchase a projector to show game recordings at Hogwarts.

Vaughn didn't receive the news until the next day.

In recent days, he has paid almost no attention to the twins' career, letting them do whatever they want, and even Quidditch training has become a routine matter.

Having returned to school for more than two months, he has intensively caught up on missed courses and review progress, and other matters do not require his attention for the time being—for example, the Werewolf Affairs Committee is currently conducting international negotiations, mainly handled by Crouch and Remus.

The only hope for saving Isabella is Ilfamoni's academic invitation, but Dumbledore has temporarily put this matter aside.

So recently, his attention has shifted back to his own interests and hobbies.

The exploration and pursuit of power and knowledge!

"system!"

In the dimly lit and empty training room of the Room of Requirement, as Vaughn silently chanted, a semi-transparent system panel appeared before his eyes.

[Host: Vaughn Weasley]

[Magic Scale: 484 (500 for an ordinary adult wizard)]

【天赋：魔咒学7、黑魔法6、变形术8、魔药学10、草药学6、炼金术6、占卜学2 (满值为10)】

【魔咒：大脑封闭术LV5(MAX)、铁甲咒LV5(MAX)、缴械咒LV5(MAX)、飞走咒LV5（MAX）、漂浮咒LV5（MAX）……摄神取念LV3(15/32)、幻身咒LV3（7/16）、神锋无影LV3（3/24）、呼神护卫LV2（3/16）、幻影移（显）形LV2（2/12）……】

[Alchemy Level 0 (0/20)]

[Potions: "Vaughn Beauty" series, "Vaughn Hair" series, Wolfsbane Potion, etc....]

【Reputation Points: 0】

[Main Quest 2: Help Slytherin win the House Cup at the end of this school year (in progress)]

[Reward: 1 Talent Point, 50 Scale Magic]

[Side Quest ③: Study all fire dragon magic and figure out their basic principles (activated)]

[Reward: 100 Scale Magic Power, Spell Development Module]

Compared to two months ago, when he had just returned to Hogwarts, received the Philosopher's Stone, and acquired the talent for alchemy, Vaughn's spells have improved significantly.

With five max-level spells, Levitate and Divine Shield have reached LV3, and Levitate is nearly halfway to LV4. This level of Levitate is probably already among the top in the magical world.

The reason for this progress is that he invested all the reputation points he earned over the past two months into spells, instead of giving them to the newly acquired alchemy.

The reason was the same as when he first activated alchemy. This was an unfamiliar and more idealistic discipline, and he hoped to experience and explore it step by step from the basics.

Over the past two months, the more Vaughn studied the theories of alchemy, the more he realized that modern alchemy might very well be pointing to his ultimate pursuit—the nature of the world and the origin of magic!

That's true, at least in theory.

For example, the first page of an introductory book to alchemy describes the world in its original state, calling it "One" and "Great Reality".

Alchemists believed that all things were born from His division; it was after He dispersed like sunlight that the universe, spacetime, matter, energy, and spirit gradually became what they are today.

These descriptions are not plagiarized from any mythological creation myth. As a fundamental theory of the discipline, it shares a similar position with the popular explanation of how the universe came into being under the Muggle Standard Model of physics.

However, in the Muggle Big Bang model, the universe was originally a point mass, a pot of boiling, thick soup of particles.

In the "model" of alchemy, they gave Him a more humanized definition.

Even this definition wasn't made arbitrarily.

It's because of "ether"!
Ether, also known as the spirit of the universe or the soul of the world... Vaughn doesn't like this name. It's too mysterious and difficult to understand, and it gives people the illusion that "ether" has free will.

In fact, after reading a large number of alchemical theory books over the past two months, Vaughn found that the "ether" he saw was more like an objective fact than some kind of indescribable super life form!
In Vaughn's view, magic is also a science, an ordered knowledge formed by a verifiable explanation of the form, organization, and so on of objective things.

Rather than a completely idealistic mess of chaos.

Interestingly, when Vaughn used scientific thinking, discarding the various embellished and anthropomorphic descriptions of "ether" in alchemical books, and mixed it with Muggle physics to verify it, he suddenly discovered some "coincidences".

In alchemical theory, "ether" fills the entire universe and is the connection between all things.

This concept also appeared in Muggle science. In the 17th century, a Muggle mathematician named Descartes first introduced the concept of "ether" into physics!
Yes, for centuries, from the 17th century to the early 20th century, “ether” was a top concept in Muggle physics.

Because many scientists, like Descartes, who opposed the motion of matter at a distance, believed that the universe must be "filled" with some kind of matter that could transmit gravity and light like air transmits sound.

They believed that the substance was ether!
For example, the famous Maxwell's equations (which theoretically unify electricity and magnetism) introduced the concept of ether in an attempt to define its properties.

Of course, these Muggle etheric theories were refuted by a Muggle named Albert Einstein in the early 20th century.

For decades afterward, Muggles believed that the ether did not exist and that the vacuum was empty.

However, here comes the more interesting part.

Vaughn can't remember the exact year, but it should be in the late 90s when Muggles will discover evidence of the accelerating expansion of the universe for the first time. When they observe the "remnants" of supernova explosions, they will find through calculations that those supernovae are farther away than expected.

Before that, the scientific community believed that the universe was expanding at a constant or increasingly slower rate, and that one day in the future, when the "force" generated by the Big Bang dissipated, the universe would collapse again.

A few years from now, Muggles will abandon their current thinking, revive the concept of ether (now called dark energy), and believe that the vacuum is not empty!

"The reason Muggles go through so much trouble is that they cannot observe the aether. They can only indirectly measure and calculate to prove the existence of an invisible and intangible repulsive force in the universe, which drives the universe to expand at an accelerated rate!"

"But in the eyes of wizards, the accelerated expansion of the universe has always been a certainty."

Vaughn pondered, his fingers tracing the worn pages of a notebook lying on his lap. The flickering light of the magical flames illuminated the ornate handwriting, recording the notes of a wizard who had traversed the ether over 200 years ago:

"...Here, the concepts of time and space have been lost, but I can still sense that the ether is still growing. Father of all things, Great One who has become one with my soul, where is your end?"

Vaughn ran his fingertips over the words, turning the thick notebook to the last page:
"...Compared to 60 years ago, the ether has become much more vast. It's like an inflated soap bubble, swelling in the void, which is terrifying. Great Father, if He continues to expand like this without end, what will become of the world? Will the spacetime scale of light become longer and the world become darker? Or will everything become thinner and energy and temperature become lower and lower? Or... will everything be torn apart?"

Very interesting!
Vaughn looked with great interest at the seemingly unfounded musings on the paper.

More than 200 years ago, wizards "predicted" the possible end of the universe by traveling through the ether, and these predictions are strikingly similar to those made by Muggles in the future!
Therefore, in Vaughn's view, ether is not some illusory "spirit" belonging to the world, but a real and existing substance!
A substance that can combine with the wizard's spirit, allowing the wizard to gain a more macroscopic and microscopic perspective!

Ether allows people to have a more macroscopic perspective as well as a more microscopic one, which seems somewhat contradictory.

actually not.

Here I need to explain the definition of "spirit".

Many alchemists believed that any real object in the world possessed two states:
One is a real entity, which is the manifestation of intelligent life living in reality, and also the physical phenomenon of matter existing in reality.

The other is the spiritual body, which alchemists observe through the ether. The ether connects all things, so it can be the embodiment of a life's memories, emotions, and will, or it can be a physical concept such as the 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 classifying the states of matter in a notebook, this thought immediately popped into his mind.

More than 100 years ago, alchemists already had a basic understanding of quantum mechanics.

Unfortunately, they failed to develop and expand it.

Vaughn opened another notebook, a gift from Dumbledore, whose owner had lived more than 90 years earlier.

He spread the notes on his lap, familiarly flipped through a few pages, and densely packed words came into Vaughn's view:

"...The things seen in the ether are completely different from reality. The experience of traveling through it is like a dream, and dreams are usually illogical. Mountains, water, rocks, trees...these familiar objects become completely unfamiliar in the state of the ether."

"It's hard to describe the feeling, it's like... they became some kind of illusory existence. Looking at them, it was like watching a clumsy Muggle showing a movie. The film reel was spinning too slowly, so the things kept jumping and breaking in my eyes. What do Muggles say? Right, dropped frames..."

He was quite a fashionable wizard, over 90 years ago, when movies had only just been invented!
This description perfectly captures the characteristics of the microscopic world—in the macroscopic world, everything we observe undergoes a continuous process of change.

For example, when an airplane flies past, whether it flies from left to right or from right to left, its flight is a continuous motion.

In the microscopic world, the aircraft would move instantly, "leaping" right before your eyes, just as described in the text.

However, for decades, research on the "spiritual body" has been limited to this. Alchemists have only subjectively summarized the "spiritual body" based on their own state within the ether and then stopped paying attention to it.

Instead of investigating why what they saw could teleport so instantly, they subjectively and idealistically concluded that—

Vaughn's gaze swept over the last part of the text:
"Are these bizarre and fantastical things just the dreams of the great?"

Vaughn didn't know who the first wizard to describe ether as the soul of the world was, but there was no doubt that the guy completely misled later wizards.

Of course, it may also be related to the fact that wizards have difficulty understanding microscopic movements. Compared to observing why a tree loses frames by looking at it through the ether, observing something more macroscopic is obviously more attractive to wizards.

As mentioned earlier, wizards have come to realize that the "spiritual body" encompasses the physical concept of all things.

According to Vaughn's more Muggle-scientific understanding, the so-called "spiritual body" is more like the "quantum information" of all things observed in the etheric state.

As is well known, quantum information can be transmitted faster than the speed of light and over long distances.

Vaughn continued flipping through the notebook, and soon another passage appeared:
"In a distant world, perhaps a few stars have been annihilated. The waves they released were so dazzling and terrifying. It was a cataclysmic disaster. Even though I know they are very, very far away from the solar system, and it may take hundreds of millions of years for their death light to reach Earth, it doesn't stop me from being terrified by their cries!"

"But even such a terrifying catastrophe cannot cause the slightest ripple within the ether. Great Father, so majestic and vast, we are as insignificant as bacteria, as Muggles say. Could I, in my entire life, truly find your secret?" "The secret of the origin of magic, the secret of symbols, the truth of everything..."

Vaughn traced the last sentence over and over with his fingertips, then closed the book and pondered. He had lost count of how many times he had read this passage.

It reveals a lot of information, such as why past alchemists did not continue to specialize in "spiritual bodies"—because they were studying some grander propositions.

This made Vaughn feel that they had chosen the wrong path, and while he felt regret, he was also horrified by the fear and despair between the lines.

Because what those alchemists wanted to study was also his ultimate ideal!
It's obvious that those people in the past all failed!
And then there's that last sentence about the secret of symbols...

This is the main reason why Vaughn has been focusing on studying alchemical theories for more than two months, but has not dared to try meditation or traversing the ether.

Alchemists sought to understand the secrets of the symbols, but more so, they wanted to know the underlying principles.

Unlike Vaughn, his first consideration was the origin of the symbol.

If, as he suspected, the "spiritual entities" that alchemists saw through the aether were indeed the quantum information of all things, then the so-called symbols were tools, or rather... authorities, to help alchemists perform miracles—modifying quantum information!
What Vaughn feared was—

Who created this authority? And who "gifted" it?

Alchemists generally agree that it was a gift of "ether," but from Vaughn's perspective, he hopes it wasn't; otherwise, the outcome would be even worse!

Vaughn sighed. He always preferred to plan carefully before acting, and if possible, he would like to resolve his doubts and concerns before deciding whether to contact Ether.

Unfortunately, after searching through countless books for two months, I still haven't found the answer!

"Are you still thinking about alchemical symbols?"

Dumbledore's voice came through.

When Vaughn looked over, he saw the principal, dressed in a brightly colored bathrobe, holding Phoenix Fox in his arms, just emerging from the corner after his apparition appeared.

He looked at Vaughn with a smile, his tone somewhat teasing, as if he were making fun of him.

Vaughn retorted irritably, "Haven't you ever felt any fear?"

"no!"

"Stop bragging. If you don't have it, why don't you dare show me your notes?"

"It's inconvenient because it keeps a lot of my little secrets."

"For example, your little secret that keeps you tossing and turning, unable to eat or sleep, and scared to tears by the mastermind behind it all?"

When arguing with Vaughn, Old Deng rarely came out on top. Of course, he always thought it was because he wasn't wicked enough, thick-skinned enough, too honest, and didn't want to stoop to the level of a kid.

Dumbledore walked over to Vaughn, picked up the notebook, flipped through it, and then sighed:

“If I had known these notes would cause you to hesitate, I would never have given them to you in the first place.”

“Even without them, I would still question the origin of the alchemical symbols.”

"You still cling to your quantum information theory? Why can't you, like other wizards, acknowledge the personification of ether?"

Upon hearing this, Vaughn countered, "So do you think it's better to consider ether as merely an objective phenomenon, without the concept of free will, or to view it as a concept of a person with joys and sorrows?"

"Uh……"

Dumbledore was speechless for a moment, then chuckled.

"Humans are too terrible; it's better to treat it as an objective phenomenon."

Vaughn snorted: "I knew it, you must have struggled with this when you were young too."

The wizard who doesn't dwell on things has long since become a believer in ether.

This time, Dumbledore did not refute it again.

He sat down beside Vaughn, bent his knees like him, and looked out at the empty training ground. He said slowly, "But fear and hesitation are pointless, my dear. You'll never understand the true nature of the ether without actually experiencing it..."

Vaughn interrupted him, saying, “I’m not as cowardly as you think, Albus. I was actually planning to start my first meditation today.”

"Ah...I noticed you've been hesitating..."

“That’s about weighing the pros and cons and building up mental strength. Unlike some Gryffindor students who act impulsively and then regret it later, Slytherins prefer to be planned and prepared, considering all possibilities before taking action.”

A certain headmaster, who was from Gryffindor and had done many foolish things in his youth, including eloping, stroked his beard speechlessly and muttered, "That's why I don't like Slytherin, they're cold."

"Furthermore, Ravenclaw has the same mindset, which is why you see, Ravenclaw always produces some bad guys, Quirrell, Rita Skeeter..."

"..."

Dumbledore coughed lightly, not wanting to continue the topic, and instead asked, "So, when would you like to begin?"

Vaughn pulled out the incense he had prepared: "If you hadn't shown up, I might already be traveling through the ether by now!"

"Should I apologize to you?"

"Instead of apologizing, let's get down to something more practical." Vaughn, who had a knack for capitalism, invited, "I once read in some notes that when alchemical apprentices began their meditations, the mentor would usually accompany them throughout, guiding them into the realm of ether... What a coincidence that you arrived just as I was about to meditate. It must be fate that has made you fulfill your responsibility as a mentor!"

Old Deng was dumbfounded; the shamelessness of the boy in front of him was almost on par with his own...

After a brief moment of surprise, he readily agreed—this was the first time he had seen Vaughn offer his help, and his tone became cheerful as a result: “I’d love to, darling.”

It must be said that, despite his unreliable nature, Dumbledore is still the strongest living white wizard. His full head of white hair and beard that reaches his chest alone can give people a strong sense of security.

He looks very intelligent.

Having agreed, Dumbledore immediately assumed the role of mentor, watching as Vaughn lit incense, a calming fragrance slowly wafting out, while he gave instructions:
"You're very well prepared. The essence of alchemical meditation is to empty your mind and make it easier to concentrate. When you first start, it's necessary to use some external means. Was the incense your idea, Fred and George?"

"Yes, they said it works very well."

"Oh, you can try more. Next time I suggest you drink a big cup of honey; at least it feels good to me... By the way, have you come up with a meditation item yet?"

Alchemy is undoubtedly a form of magic, and like other forms of magic, it requires the power of emotions, which is fully reflected in its meditation methods.

Alchemical meditation is not simply about emptying the mind, but about having a strong desire to construct something in the mind that cannot exist in reality while emptying the mind.

The more surreal, the better.

He lit the incense, sat down in the most comfortable position next to it, and nodded: "I've got the idea, it's a Klein bottle!"

The Klein bottle is a topological concept, a non-orientable topological space. As its name suggests, it looks like a strange bottle. Oddly enough, its neck curves back, passing through the body of the bottle and connecting to a large hole at the bottom.

Looking at the simple diagram Vaughn had casually drawn, Dumbledore asked curiously, "This thing can't possibly exist in reality?"

"Impossible, because the neck of a real Klein bottle doesn't pass through the body of the bottle, but connects to the bottom of the bottle from a four-dimensional perspective, so it actually passes through space... This can only be done by distorting space from a four-dimensional perspective."

"Oh, you're just like a Muggle scientist, Vaughn!"

"Thank you for the compliment. May we begin?"

“Of course.” Dumbledore adjusted his posture as well, fulfilling his duty as a mentor, and reminded him, “But before we begin, I must warn you, Vaughn, your thinking is too rational. I don’t know what you mean by quantum information. What I must remind you is that what you will see after entering the Aether is not cold mathematical or physical formulas, but a drastically changing, bizarre world… It’s hard to describe in words, just as all the notes you’ve seen say, the experience of traveling through the Aether is like a dream…”

He said gravely, "And often, they're nightmares!"

Regarding his concerns, Vaughn said he was prepared: "Albus, the quantum world is not cold and impersonal; it is bizarre and beyond our comprehension. By the way, there is an unproven theory among Muggles that consciousness is a quantum phenomenon."

“I had previously imagined that the dreams and thought processes of intelligent life might manifest within the ether, so I am not surprised that I see traveling through the ether as a dream.”

Quantum theory is not very friendly to an old man whose functions are beginning to decline. Old Deng's head was a little sore from listening to it, and he could only give a dry evaluation: "Uh, quantum sounds like a good thing... Anyway, let's get started, I'll go with you."

Upon hearing this, Vaughn slowly closed his eyes.

With the help of incense, his body and mind began to relax, and his thoughts gradually became empty and blank. He hadn't been completely unprepared over the past two months; he had practiced this kind of meditation preparatory exercise many times, but he hadn't yet taken the final step—

Construct meditative objects with strong intention.

This step doesn't actually require practice; as a wizard, manipulating emotions has almost become second nature to him.

As Vaughn instinctively mustered a strong will and successfully visualized the Klein bottle in his mind, a strange feeling suddenly spread from the inside out.

He felt as if he had turned into a wisp of smoke, lightly detaching himself from the ground.

"Success!"

Stepping from the material world into the ether is so easy!
Vaughn gently opened his eyes, and a strange world slowly unfolded before him—he was still in the training grounds of the Room of Requirement.

But everything that came into view changed. The floor, the walls, the mannequins—they all looked as if they had been covered with countless layers of glass with drastically different translucency, turning gray. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that countless phantom images were intertwined and "flickering" on their surfaces.

The colors also changed; all objects lost their original colors and instead emitted a rainbow-like glow, with distinct layers that overlapped in one place!
This is ether; it is not another world, another space.

It completely overlaps with reality, more like another state of the real world.

Vaughn tried to take a step forward, and then he floated up.

Immediately, a note I had once read came to mind:

"In the ether, many things we know lose their meaning: time, space, gravity... We can fly with ease, although in reality, flight itself has no meaning..."

Vaughn couldn't quite understand the last sentence yet, but he had already grasped the meaning of the preceding sentence.

He "looks" at his own body; he doesn't need to move at all—he can see it directly!
Interestingly, his body, like the surrounding floor and mannequins, had countless "flickering" transparent phantoms appearing on its surface, making him seem as if he were shrouded in a layer of hazy mist, beneath which were distinct yet overlapping colors.

"Every object is composed of elementary particles. What we see in reality is their macroscopic appearance, but in the ether, their true nature begins to reveal itself?"

Vaughn raised his hands to his eyes, looking at his palms, which were also gray yet subtly shimmering with iridescent colors, and pondered:

"These phantom images, perhaps they are the trajectories of the basic particles that make up my body? Those overlapping colors represent the light waves that my body absorbs and reflects? After all, the color of real objects actually comes from the wavelength of reflected light."

"So, I am now a cluster of elementary particles?"

Just as he was observing and thinking, a gray figure appeared out of thin air behind him.

Just like "seeing" his own body, Vaughn could "see" the figure without turning around.

He savored this unique perspective, recalling his notes. As mentioned earlier, many things in reality lose their meaning in the ether, and clearly, direction is also meaningless.

"Albus?"

When Vaughn asked the question, he realized that he hadn't actually made a sound; what he was conveying was his thought process.

The process of speaking in reality seems to be omitted here. Thoughts no longer need to be transmitted to the language center, nor do they need to be translated by the language center and then transmitted to the vocal cords, nor do they need to vibrate the vocal cords to produce sound.

After figuring out the reason, Vaughn realized that his Occlumency technique was still working—without it, the surroundings would definitely be filled with his "noisy" thoughts.

"Magic can be used in the ether..."

Vaughn noted this point down, something that wasn't mentioned in the other notes. After all, they were mostly the notes of established alchemists, so it was normal for some basic knowledge to be omitted.

On the other side, the grey figure representing Dumbledore nodded in response: "It's me, Vaughn. How are you feeling?"

"I'm not quite used to it yet." Vaughn stretched his arms and legs, and with just a thought, he floated a distance away. "...Many real-world processes are omitted here, and the body's movement mechanisms become dispensable. Movement, walking, and shifting can all be accomplished by simply thinking about it...It's a very strange feeling!"

In addition, Vaughn noticed that he was teleporting "by leap" and that Dumbledore was doing the same.

Even when they were standing, not only when they were moving, but also when they were just standing, their bodies and the phantoms on their bodies kept "flickering", as if they were "leaping" every second.

When applied to "visual perception," this situation is undoubtedly very strange. As mentioned in the previous note, it's like watching a movie with dropped frames, where the characters' movements are different every second.

"Quantum is really interesting..."

Having previously heard Vaughn talk about quantum theory, Dumbledore now re-examined his hands and body, and reconsidered this phenomenon that he had long been accustomed to.

"This phenomenon puzzled many alchemists hundreds of years ago. They could not understand why the spirit body would become so strange after entering the aether."

"So how did they finally explain it?" Vaughn wondered. Even if the alchemists didn't understand the microscopic world and gave up on further research, as researchers, they would certainly give a seemingly reasonable explanation.

Dumbledore's head blinked comically from side to side, as if shaking his head: "At that time, the theory of the 'Creator' had become the mainstream thought in alchemy. Almost all alchemists believed that the Creator 'One' split into all things, and we are just an insignificant part of His body, incomplete. Therefore, the 'flickering' of our spiritual bodies is because we are missing the part that makes us 'continuous' and 'perfect'."

Upon hearing this, Vaughn seemed to realize something: "So the 'Golden Soul' hypothesis was later developed?"

"Yes."

The Golden Soul is a higher life form predicted by modern alchemy. Modern alchemy believes that it is impossible for a substance to possess all the properties of matter at the same time in the universe (only a creator can do this, but the appearance of a creator would inevitably mean that the universe would return to chaos), so a perfect physical body does not exist.

The ultimate direction of life will be to break free from the imperfect material form (physical body) and exist, evolve, and complete independently as the spirit (soul), infinitely approaching a state of perfection.

That was the ultimate life they imagined, and the ultimate life they hoped a wizard could reach!
Whether the "Golden Soul" can truly be realized, or whether it is a hoax... Vaughn, a novice just beginning to learn alchemy, would not arrogantly express his opinions.

He is still in the learning stage. He previously combined ether with quantum theory to facilitate understanding and to analyze ether from the perspective of another knowledge system.

However, this does not mean that he believes he has grasped the truth.

The collision and integration between different knowledge systems is not about simply and crudely replacing one with the other. Attempting to completely incorporate magic into the existing scientific system, or to completely express the scientific system through magic, is a foolish thing.

Having received the answer from Dumbledore, Vaughn didn't ask any more questions. His mind "sparkled" as he pondered, "Does ether always coincide with reality?"

"Of course!"

"So what we see in the ether is the other side of reality?" he asked curiously. "If I go out now, what will the people I see look like? Will they be like the two of us, gray, spiritual beings, or some other state?"

Upon hearing this, Dumbledore laughed heartily: "That's why I said, Vaughn, no matter how much theory and notes you read, you can't understand what aether is like without experiencing it firsthand... Of course not, remember? Time and space lose their meaning here. When you leave here, in a sense, you're no longer at Hogwarts!"

Vaughn was somewhat taken aback. He looked around and asked, "Then why are we still in this room after entering the Aether?"

Dumbledore smiled: "My dear, is this really still the same room?"

(End of this chapter)