"Spacetime emerges as a superposition of historical paths of transitions between nodes and links within a dynamic spin network. You've studied Feynman diagrams, Hilbert space, and differentiable manifolds, so we can understand spin networks. This topological structure provides the language for describing quantum geometry of space, while spin foams play the same role for spacetime geometry. A spin network is a one-dimensional graph labeled at its vertices and edges. Spacetime can be viewed as a superposition of spin foams, which are an extension of Feynman diagrams. The boundary of a spin foam is a spin network, just as in manifold theory, the boundary of an n-manifold is an (n−1)-manifold."
To the average listener, Professor Erik Selvig's lecture might as well have been the whispers of a demon. Even undergraduates at Royal Holloway, University of London, struggled to comprehend everything he was saying—because he constantly overextended his topics, which made many students who came to his class out of admiration bitterly regret their decision. This time, for instance, he began with how to understand spacetime, which quickly spiraled into quantum geometry, and then veered off into general covariance and background independence. The blackboard filled up fast, so Professor Selvig pulled in a whiteboard and began scrawling ADM formalism across it. Solomon gently patted the hand of the undergrad next to him, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown. She leaned against his shoulder.
"Move it, bitch!" said Darcy, pushing the girl aside and taking her place, pressing herself against Solomon's arm. Ever since Jane Foster had won the Nobel Prize, Darcy had grown a little bolder. That boldness mainly showed when they went out to eat in Egham, where she'd help herself to food from Solomon's plate—everyone treated her antics as one of Darcy's childish quirks.
"Is Professor Selvig always like this?"
"Well, how else do you explain why so few people take his class? You think I understand this stuff?" Darcy pursed her lips. Ever since Selvig had been connected to both the Battle of New York and the incident in London, no matter how scatterbrained his lectures got, the university administration no longer dared interfere with his teaching. To Solomon, what Selvig taught wasn't difficult—he had already mastered it all long ago—and he didn't consider it a waste of time either. He suspected Selvig's mind had been influenced by the Space Stone; otherwise, it would be hard to explain how, after becoming the modern Druidic grand sage at Stonehenge, he could still conduct such valuable research. No one knew when Selvig might suddenly blurt out something earth-shattering—and correct.
"But you're a graduate student, Darcy!"
"I'm a grad student in social sciences, not astrophysics!"
"I'm not here for the lecture. Jane does like to dump us here when she's busy, but today I have something else to do." Solomon winked mysteriously and leaned down to whisper in Darcy's ear, "You know what I mean. My… main profession."
Darcy took a second, then her face twisted in horror.
"Vampires? Werewolves?" she hissed, suddenly scanning the lecture hall. "Are they in here? Is it that undergrad? Oh my god—I just shoved her! Is she staring at me now?"
"Uh…" Solomon gave the girl an awkward smile. "I think she just wants to settle the score after class. Not vampires. Not werewolves. It's…"
"That painting!" Darcy let go of Solomon's neck and gasped in fear.
The painting in question was an 1864 oil painting by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer. It hung in the exam center and depicted two polar bears tearing into the flesh of stranded sailors, inspired by the lost 1845 British Arctic expedition. But it wasn't the grisly imagery that made the painting terrifying—its fearsome reputation came from a rumor dating back to the 1920s. Allegedly, a student stabbed their own eyes out with a pencil during an exam, writing "The polar bears made me do it" on their test paper. More verifiably, a tale from the 1960s claimed that anyone who sat near the painting during exams would fail. Ever since, the university had covered it with a massive Union Jack during testing.
"The final two survivors of the Franklin Expedition died from cannibalism," Darcy continued, getting more frightened by the minute. Solomon rolled his eyes—what a ridiculous superstition! While some magic did indeed overlap with folklore, a less-than-200-year-old painting hated by everyone wouldn't cause much trouble. Especially considering Oxford had far more ghost stories than Holloway College—like the ghost of Archbishop William Laud, said to haunt the library of St. John's College after being beheaded. Oxford even had real vampires who'd lost their minds and wanted to date humans—Solomon had wiped them all out on his first day of lectures there. What were a few ghosts and curses compared to that?
"I've been dying to burn that painting! Wait—so is it Mary Queen of Scots' grave, then?"
"Neither. Do I look like a priest? Sure, I'm a professional exorcist, but that doesn't mean I'm going to share all the details with you." Darcy's blank stare made it clear she was lost. "Do you know anything about Professor Selvig's work in folklore? It's a field he's recently expanded into. While folklore seems like sandcastles compared to serious physics, it hasn't stopped him from exploring myth and religious anthropology—especially now that he's on good terms with Thor. In this field, he's practically unmatched."
"I… how did I not know that?" Darcy's confidence surged again. As the bell rang, she slapped Solomon's arm. He shrugged, looking innocent.
"Come on, let's get out of here before that bitch comes after me!" Darcy dragged the two-meter-tall sorcerer into the crowd. Of course, she didn't realize that hiding in a crowd only made them more conspicuous. After finally breaking free of the swarm of students and heading toward the professor's office, she asked the question that had been burning in her mind for—roughly five minutes.
"So what do you need Professor Selvig for?"
"Jerusalem Grove. It's a small town twenty miles north of Portland, east of the city of Cumberland." Solomon said, "I need to retrieve a lost book of black magic from there. The book contains rituals capable of creating vampires. I plan to bring my apprentice along. But before that, I need to track down some old newspapers published by the Cumberland City Library—because that's where the book was taken from before it made its way to America. I believe Professor Selvig can help."
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Fairy Tail: Igneel's Eldest Son (Chapter 256)
I Am Thalos, Odin's Older Brother (Chapter 336)
Reborn in America's Anti-Terror Unit (Chapter 542)
Solomon in Marvel (Chapter 924)
Becoming the Wealthiest Tycoon on the Planet (Chapter 1284)
Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe (Chapter 1289)
American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1316)
American TV Writer (Chapter 1402)
I Am Hades, The Supreme GOD of the Underworld! (Chapter 570)
Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 660)
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