Chapter 580: Chapter 504: The First Magic Crisis, Collapse of the Photoelectric Theory_2

He couldn’t directly create light, and could only indirectly manipulate light beams through the phenomenon of electric illumination.

Of course, according to the Particle School of thought, light and electricity might very well be the same thing, with light being an even more microscopic existence than electricity.

Luo’er, who was very interested, stood still and waited for a while, but what was unexpected to him was that Glenn did not take any action and his face was filled with a look of panic.

“What’s wrong, Glenn?” Luo’er immediately sensed that something was not right, vaguely worrying about his own safety. Could it be that there was some error with this magic spell?

“The charge… where’s the charge? The charge is gone!” Glenn suddenly opened his eyes wide, exclaiming in shock.

“What?” Luo’er was completely stunned, momentarily not understanding what that meant.

He certainly knew what charge was, which refers to material with positive or negative electrical charge. Generally speaking, lightning-based magic relies on artificially creating such voltage differences to cast spells.

“The charge is gone, I suddenly can’t sense it anymore!” Glenn’s eyes were bloodshot, his voice trembling faintly. He now couldn’t generate even the simplest of electric currents, rendering all lightning-based magic unusable!

“Glenn, this is not time for jokes.” Luo’er frowned, but seeing Glenn run frantically to a nearby electric machine and stretch his hand into it to feel the current with his body, he realized the gravity of the situation.

Luo’er hurriedly ran over but did not dare interrupt Glenn’s actions. He could only watch helplessly as Glenn’s body shook uncontrollably under the assault of the electric current, taking several minutes before collapsing weakly.

“How is it?” Luo’er asked with concern.

“Electricity exists… electricity is there! I just can’t control it anymore!” Glenn muttered to himself, his face full of confusion and bewilderment.

“Are you too tired? Do you want to take a break first?” Luo’er suggested comfortingly, thinking that Glenn might be mentally exhausted from his non-stop research day and night.

“No, I’m fine, very fine!” Glenn said forcefully, his expression manic as he extended his hand and a burst of flaming fireball appeared in his palm.

This was the second-circle spell, the Flame Burst Skill…

Clearly, his spiritual power had not weakened to the point where he could not cast magic.

Without waiting for Luo’er to respond, Glenn urgently called over his assistant, asking him to cast a lightning spell, any kind would do.

After hearing Glenn’s odd request, the assistant was also baffled. However, after trying, the same horrified look appeared on his face and he shouted in despair, “Where’s the charge? Where has the charge gone?”

Luo’er and Glenn exchanged glances and a chill suddenly surged from their feet to their hearts. They immediately set aside all other matters, hastily wrote an urgent letter, and sent it to the Holy City to report this strange situation to the councilors.

In fact, the desks of the Magic Council had already been piled high with similar letters. Wizards like Glenn, who suddenly found themselves unable to control electricity, were not few and the issue was spreading like a plague…

After some investigation, the council quickly concluded that as soon as any wizard began to question the nature of light and electricity, they would immediately lose the ability to sense charge.

What puzzled them most was that wizards who simply believed in the particle or wave theories retained their normal ability to cast spells, whereas those who were just following the crowd were almost all wiped out.

Those with milder symptoms experienced only intermittent Casting Barriers, but the most severe cases, like Glenn’s, completely lost the ability to sense charge.

Panic spread throughout the kingdom; such a ‘disease’ known as a Casting Barrier had never been seen before. Most wizards, affected or not, were filled with worry and this feeling of worry and panic quickly turned into anger towards the wave theory.

Initially, everyone was casting spells just fine, but then Jeffrey’s Wave Theory came along, messing everything up. Now, even casting lightning spells had become a problem!

Dozens of particle faction Wizards jointly published an article the next day, furiously denouncing wave theory in the “Magic Daily” as a perverse doctrine that fundamentally undermines the magic foundation!

Combined with the criticism from the many neutral factions, the wave theory, which was already at a disadvantage, became so controversial that it was under attack from all sides.

Until a piece of explosive news tore through everyone’s perceptions!

Without any warning, Anthony suddenly converted to the wave theory and announced that he had found new evidence, even discovering a brand-new model that could explain the structure of atoms based on this theory!

Sanchez, Alade, and the rest of the particle faction Wizards were completely dumbfounded; they were about to strangle the wave theory in its cradle and restore the orthodoxy of magic studies, but Anthony, the leading contributor to the discovery of the photoelectric effect, had defected!

“Has Anthony gone mad?” Sanchez was hopping mad.

The particle faction’s achievements over the past few months were ruined just like that, and an enraged Sanchez wished he could just finish off Anthony.

“Could light really be a wave?” Alade was utterly puzzled, unable to think of any other reason for Anthony’s sudden shift to the wave faction.

“Have you forgotten our research, Alade?” Sanchez’s face immediately darkened. They had successfully used particle theory to ‘explain’ every phenomenon of light, and now they were just a few decisive pieces of evidence short!

What’s more, Anthony had brazenly claimed that he had found a new model that could explain the internal structure of elements.

That was simply madness, given that Lynn, the Chairman’s, Star Orbital Model of elements had received unanimous approval from every Wizard and was nothing short of perfection.

Any Wizard who saw the orbital model wouldn’t hesitate to affirm that this was the ultimate form of the elements!

And as light and electricity are one and the same, could it be that the internal electrons in elements are also wave-like?

Sanchez absolutely did not believe in such perverse doctrine, but the impact caused by Anthony’s ‘betrayal’, the proposer of the photoelectric effect, was nonetheless terrifying. A large number of Wizards who followed the particle faction were shaken to their core, suddenly losing their ability to perceive electric charge.

This increasingly widespread dispute had long exceeded the limits of debate and had naturally caught the attention of people like Harrov.

Even Lynn, who was deeply immersed in researching quantum theory, received a report.

“Casting barriers?” After hearing the description from Philip and others, Lynn was quite surprised; he hadn’t expected the dispute between particles and waves to lead to such severe consequences.

“Dean, you are unaffected, right?” Philip couldn’t help asking, as nearly half of the people had lost their ability to sense electric charge.

“Of course, I’m fine…” Lynn raised an eyebrow; around him was a circle of electric light, the signature of the thunder-based spell–Electromagnetic Barrier!

Seeing that the star of magic was unharmed, Philip and the others breathed a sigh of relief as nearly half of the Wizards had lost the ability to cast corresponding spells.

Many Wizards who supported the photon particle theory even mockingly coined a new term for this casting barrier, calling it the ‘Wave Plague,’ implying that the wave theory was the source of this magic crisis and that it would spread like a plague.

After some reflection, Lynn faintly guessed the cause of this magic crisis.

Anthony’s ‘Electric Therapy Sensing’ spell had indeed enabled Wizards to perceive and control electric charge, but put simply, it was just a clever trick, and their understanding of electricity was very limited.

It was like a child who had barely learned to walk and run by muscle memory, and now suddenly two people emerged, arguing with each other, insisting on telling the child whether it was more scientific to step with the left foot or the right foot first when walking, which leg nerve should be controlled, and the exact degree to step for it to be most appropriate, confusing the child who could run, to the point where now they couldn’t even walk…