If you wanted to become a scientist, curiosity was indispensable.
And clearly, Tony Stark did not lack curiosity.
The moment he heard that magic could be studied, he could no longer sit still.
"Ahem."
"There's no rush on the collaboration. First, I need to see this thing with my own eyes."
"Can you show me?"
Tony Stark spoke.
"Very well. I'll let you have a look."
Karl nodded.
He raised a hand.
With a single point forward—
magic power erupted, and a golden shield appeared in front of him.
Tony Stark's eyes widened abruptly.
Even though he had seen it more than once already, he still found it hard to believe.
How exactly was this thing formed?
What kind of state did it exist in?
"A miracle, really."
"Everything the human eye can observe is, in essence, reflected visible light."
"But how can energy produce a visible light effect?"
"If it's just pure energy, then magic ought to be invisible, shouldn't it?"
"Could it be some kind of electromagnetic wave? Or some kind of photon?"
Tony Stark muttered to himself.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., scan this magic."
"See if you can determine its detailed structure."
Karl said nothing.
He merely waved his hand.
The shield slowly left his hand and floated outward.
Tony Stark looked even more astonished.
J.A.R.V.I.S. did not stop.
A pale blue beam shone down directly from above and began examining the golden shield.
"Sir, this appears to be some kind of rigid shield created by directly constraining energy through a binding mechanism."
"I lack sufficient supporting data to analyze the principles behind it."
J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice rang out.
Tony Stark rubbed his hair with a headache coming on.
"Constrained energy forming a rigid shield? What kind of principle is that?"
"Energy can actually display physical properties and be touched directly."
"That really is unbelievable."
"And for a human body to generate such powerful energy is honestly a little unscientific."
Tony Stark looked at Karl as though he were looking at a monster.
J.A.R.V.I.S. truly could not analyze the thing's underlying principles.
But it could detect just how astonishing the amount of power contained within it was.
If the energy inside that small shield were released all at once,
it would be equivalent to the energy released by the explosion of five hundred kilograms of TNT.
This—
was really something a human could create?
At that moment, Tony Stark was starting to suspect that Karl was not human at all.
How could human cells possibly withstand such terrifying energy?
"Magic."
"It really isn't scientific."
Tony Stark could not help muttering a complaint.
"No."
"Mr. Stark, I believe the magic of Kamar-Taj is an extremely scientific system."
"As for magic, we have our own theoretical framework to explain it."
"And we can use knowledge itself as a medium to channel magic."
"Isn't that enough to prove that the magic of Kamar-Taj has logic behind it?"
"I think it is very scientific."
"Mr. Stark, you should understand."
"Science is only a mode of thinking, a method of cognition."
"As long as it forms a self-consistent theoretical system and is validated by reality, then it is science."
"As for the things you mentioned, my mental force cannot detect even a trace of them."
Karl spoke fluently and with complete confidence.
Tony Stark was stunned.
He was one of Earth's top scientists, and now he was the one being lectured?
Tony Stark's expression turned strange.
This sorcerer from Kamar-Taj had really gone far beyond his expectations.
He was completely different from what Tony had imagined.
"Karl, there's nothing wrong with what you said."
"Science really is just a way of thinking."
"But how exactly does your magic work?"
Tony Stark asked as he stroked his chin.
"You're right."
"The energy of a magical shield is simply a kind of natural energy that exists in the universe."
"And what you call the field that binds that energy, we call mental force."
Karl moved his fingers.
The shield danced with the motion of his hand.
Hearing that, Tony Stark's features nearly twisted together.
"Hold on. Don't start explaining your mental force stuff yet."
"Let me examine this magic properly first."
Tony Stark waved a hand.
A piece of armor flew over at once and fitted itself directly over his arm.
At his fingertip, a tiny detection device appeared, like a point of starlight.
Then he began examining the magic inch by inch.
Karl shook his head.
At this level, technology was already not much different from magic...
Back in his previous life, this would have absolutely counted as a miracle.
Such a small armor component
had an integrated energy system, weapons system, propulsion system, buffering system, detection system, and even a laser weapon.
The end of science was definitely not theology, because science had no end.
But once technology developed to a certain degree, it was not all that different from divinity.
Karl could not help sighing inwardly.
With a wave of his hand,
the other arm of the Iron Man armor appeared in his hand.
[Ding!]
[Detected that the host is observing an advanced technological creation. God-Tier Talent has triggered a ten-billionfold critical strike.]
[You have now mastered condensed matter physics, string theory...]
The system notification sounded.
Karl suddenly felt as though his head had been smashed by a sledgehammer.
His whole mind buzzed.
A vast flood of knowledge poured into his brain.
Even with Karl's powerful mental force, he felt slightly dizzy.
After reaching the Skyfather level,
both his body and his soul had undergone enormous changes.
The processing speed of his brain was already comparable to the legendary quantum computers of his old world, and the amount of knowledge it could absorb was immense.
Even so,
his mind still went blank for a moment.
That alone showed just how much he had comprehended this time.
In the blink of an eye, Karl quickly returned to normal.
However,
the look in his eyes when he looked at the Iron Man armor in front of him became complicated.
Now,
why did this thing suddenly seem so rough around the edges?
Meanwhile, Tony Stark still had no idea what had just happened.
Looking at the data he had gathered, surprise gradually appeared on his face.
This thing was practically challenging his entire framework of knowledge.
"Karl, I have to say, your magic is astounding. This is practically a miracle."
"Using the spectrometer, I actually found undiscovered short wavelengths inside it."
"If one of those hacks ever saw this, they'd be handing out at least one Nobel Prize."
Tony Stark spoke in amazement.
"If you draw up a photon spectrum chart, you'll discover even more."
"And the spectrometer on your armor doesn't have enough output. It can't detect a lot of things."
"Later on, you could also try bombarding it with high-energy particles. You'd find many different results."
Karl said with a smile.
Tony Stark: ????
There was definitely something off about this sorcerer.
(End of Chapter)
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