The Weight of Theory

Who exactly are you?

Mo Chen was still squatting on the ground, tracing the lines with his fingers. He suddenly looked up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Lu Yuan's face.

A cool breeze seeped in through the cracks in the stone forest.

Lu Yuan bent down to pick up the dead branch and smoothed out the rudimentary parallel structure diagram on the ground with his toe. "Who I am is unimportant," he said steadily. "What's important is that the foundation of what you drew is flawed."

"What did you say?" Mo Chen's voice suddenly rose, "I've been researching this for twenty-three years! You're just a brat—"

"You've made a fundamental mistake." Lu Yuan interrupted him, taking a step forward to bring them an arm's length apart. He picked up a twig and tapped it on the newly smoothed ground. "You've treated Soul Power like a 'thing,' a 'material' that you can manipulate at will."

Mo Chen remained silent, but his gaze sharpened even more.

"Soul Power is energy, with its own fluctuation frequency, attribute characteristics, and... temperament." Lu Yuan drew a wavy line. "Fire attribute is explosive and fast; wind attribute is light; earth attribute is stable. Trying to cram them into the same conversion node is like putting ice water and hot coals in a furnace—it's bound to explode."

Mo Chen's lips moved slightly.

He wanted to retort, but the words stuck in his throat. The sounds of explosions from failed experiments over the years, the excruciating pain of Soul Power backlash—scenes flashed through his mind.

Lu Yuan changed to a clean surface and drew a three-layer model. The bottom layer consisted of several simple geometric shapes, the middle layer was the transformation nodes, and the top layer was the Soul Skill effect symbols.

"Your design skips the middle layer," the branch pointed to the middle section. "You're trying to jump directly from the bottom to the top, using a single structure to handle all attributes. That's impossible."

He looked up.

"You need to figure out what kind of 'buffer' and 'adaptation' are needed when converting different attribute Soul Power. It's like water flowing through a river channel—if it's too narrow, it will overflow; if it's too wide, it will silt up. You need to repair the river channel according to the nature of the water."

Mo Chen stared at the three-story model on the ground, his breathing becoming heavier and heavier.

"Then... how do I know how wide to build it?" His voice was dry. "Soul Power is invisible and intangible, you can only rely on feeling! I've tried thousands of times, exploded hundreds of times, and even ruined three fingers on my left hand!"

He suddenly stretched out his left hand. On those curled fingers, old and new burns overlapped, the skin charred and hardened.

Lu Yuan glanced at it. "Relying on intuition will obviously cause it to explode. You need to build a model first."

"Model?"

"Right. We need to measure the fluctuation frequency, energy density, and attribute conversion loss of Soul Power first, and then establish a mathematical model," Lu Yuan said matter-of-factly. "Then, based on the model, we can calculate the optimal buffer structure parameters. For example, when fire attribute Soul Power passes through the conversion node, what should the cross-sectional area of the internal Soul Power circuit be, what should the turning angle be... all of these can be calculated."

Mo Chen's mouth remained open for a long time.

His mind was buzzing. Mathematical model? Parameter calculation? He had only seen these terms in the margins of ancient scrolls, vague and ambiguous, more like some kind of lost metaphysics.

But now, coming from this boy's mouth, it sounds so natural.

"Wait a minute." Mo Chen suddenly got up and staggered back to the shack. Inside, there were sounds of rummaging through boxes and cabinets, and then he rushed out carrying a thick roll of animal hides, which he then spread out on the ground with a clatter.

Those were sketches of all his failed designs over the years, densely packed, with some parts burned through by scorch marks.

"Look here!" He pointed to a complex multi-attribute fusion node. "I tried seventeen materials and adjusted the structural dimensions forty-three times, but it still exploded! According to you, how should it be calculated?"

Lu Yuan leaned closer to look, his finger slowly moving over the hastily written markings.

After about half an incense stick's time, he raised his head.

"You chose the wrong material. You used ' Crimson Flame Copper ' as the main material for the fire attribute conversion stage, right?"

Mo Chen nodded.

"Crimson Flame Copper has good thermal conductivity, but when Soul Power passes through it, it will stimulate the residual fire attribute energy inside, causing localized overheating." Lu Yuan drew a simple diagram on the blank space of the animal hide with a twig. "You should use ' Cold Iron ' as a base, and then plate the surface with a layer of ' Flowing Silver '. Cold Iron has slow thermal conductivity, which can buffer the accumulation of heat; Flowing Silver has good Soul Power conductivity and is neutral in attribute, so it will not interfere with the conversion."

Mo Chen's eyes widened.

"But... but the Soul Power compatibility between Cold Iron and Flowing Silver is very poor! The ancient books clearly state--"

"The ancient texts describe static compatibility," Lu Yuan interrupted him, "But during high-frequency Soul Power conversion, the Soul Power on the material's surface changes. The compatibility of Cold Iron and Flowing Silver under dynamic fields is at least 30% higher than under static fields. Have you measured this data?"

Mo Chen Mute Pass.

He hadn't tested it. No, he hadn't even considered testing it. He relied on experience and ancient texts to match all the materials—and most of those ancient texts were also written based on experience.

Lu Yuan then pointed to another design element.

"Here, your idea of using wind-attribute Soul Power to accelerate earth-attribute Soul Skill is good. However, you directly connected the wind-attribute conversion segment with an earth-attribute enhancement structure—there's a lack of transition." He drew a simple structure on the animal hide. "Add an 'attribute softening layer' here to gradually transform the 'speed' of the wind attribute into the 'stability' that can propel the earth attribute. This will increase the success rate by more than 50%."

Mo Chen stared at the simple transition structure, his hands beginning to tremble.

I'm not angry.

It's another, more intense emotion.

All his failures, all his pain, all those "near misses" he had struggled with in despair over the years seemed to be suddenly pierced by a beam of light. Those problems that had become intractable knots suddenly revealed clear paths under the young man's analysis in just a few words.

It turns out it wasn't that he didn't work hard enough, or that his approach was wrong.

The foundation is crooked.

Mo Chen suddenly plopped down on the ground.

He kept his head down, his messy gray hair hanging down, obscuring his face. His shoulders shrugged slightly.

"So... so that's how it is." His voice was terribly hoarse. "What have I been doing all these years...?"

Lu Yuan remained silent, waiting quietly.

After a long while, Mo Chen raised his head. The irritability, despondency, and despair in his eyes had completely vanished, replaced by an almost insatiable thirst for knowledge.

"What you just mentioned... models, parameters, dynamic fields..." He swallowed hard. "Could you teach me?"

Lu Yuan stood up and dusted off his trousers.

"Sure. But I have conditions."

"You say it!" Mo Chen almost without hesitation.

"First, I need to know everything you know about the ruins. Second, I need to build a temporary research base here, which may require your tools and materials. Third..." Lu Yuan paused, looking at Mo Chen's curled left hand, "This injury on your hand, is it from the backlash of your Soul Power? I can try to help you heal it, but there are risks."

Mo Chen stared blankly at his left hand.

This injury had been with him for eight years. Every time it flared up, the pain was excruciating, and his Soul Power would get stuck at that point. He had tried countless methods—but none of them worked.

Now this young man says he can try.

Mo Chen nodded emphatically.

"Fine! Anything's fine!" He got up, his eyes shining again. "I've studied everything in the ruins for years, I'll tell you everything! Use any tools and materials you like! This hand... you can heal this hand however you want!"

Theoretical possibilities and the potential for breakthroughs are more important than anything else. For the past eight years, he's been like a blind man trapped at the bottom of a well. Now, a rope has suddenly been thrown down to the well's edge—how could he not grab it?

Lu Yuan nodded.

Mo Chen couldn't wait any longer. He grabbed the roll of animal hide from the ground and pointed it in the direction of the ruins.

"Come on, I'll take you to see it right now!" he said urgently. "That place has incredibly turbulent Soul Power, and I don't dare go deep inside. But these remaining patterns at the entrance, I've studied them. They're a very ancient defensive formation that uses the chaotic Soul Power of the environment to reinforce itself. It's very interesting!"

He walked towards the ruins as he spoke, his steps so fast it was as if he feared Lu Yuan might change his mind.

Lu Yuan followed. The two passed through the narrow gaps between the stone forest and soon arrived at the half-collapsed entrance.

Mo Chen pointed to the dim patterns on the stone walls on both sides of the entrance.

"Look here." He leaned closer to the stone wall, pointing vaguely with his finger. "These patterns absorb the chaotic Soul Power within the stone forest and transform it into a stable protective field. I've tried Simulation, but it's always just a little off—the conversion efficiency is too low, and the protective field dissipates in less than three breaths."

Lu Yuan stared intently. The patterns were indeed very ancient and severely worn, but the residual Soul Power fluctuations could still be sensed. They were very faint, yet they had a peculiar rhythmic quality.

Just as he was about to ask for details, Mo Chen suddenly lowered his voice.

"However..." He paused, glancing back into the depths of the stone forest, "Recently, besides you and me, it seems there are other people active in this stone forest."

Lu Yuan felt a chill run down his spine.

"What's the meaning?"

Mo Chen leaned closer, almost whispering, "A few days ago, I found some fresh footprints in the pile of rocks west of the ruins. They weren't from Soul Beast —the footprints were very clear. And..." He licked his dry lips, "It seems the other party was intentionally concealing their tracks. The footprints disappeared halfway through, as if they had swept the ground with Soul Power."

Lu Yuan didn't speak, his gaze sweeping in the direction Mo Chen had indicated.

The stone forest was silent, with only the whistling of the wind weaving through the cracks. But at this moment, this silence suddenly took on a different meaning.

The Thousand Needle Stone Forest appears to be far from peaceful.

Seeing his expression, Mo Chen added, "I only saw it once, and haven't seen it since. Maybe he was just passing by."

That's what he said, but he himself didn't seem very confident.

Lu Yuan nodded and didn't ask any further questions. He turned his attention back to the remaining patterns at the entrance of the ruins.

"Did you make rubbings of these patterns?"

"I've made a rubbing! It's in my shack!" Mo Chen said immediately, "And I'll show you all the analytical diagrams I've drawn over the years!"

He was about to turn back when he stopped after taking two steps, looked back at Lu Yuan with a complicated expression.

"That... about treating my hand..."

"Let's look at the ruins and your research materials first today." Lu Yuan glanced at the sky. "Preparation for treating your injuries is needed; it won't be ready until tomorrow at the earliest."

Mo Chen visibly relaxed, yet also felt a little disappointed. But he didn't urge him any further, only nodding emphatically.

"Okay! Let's do it tomorrow!"

He turned and continued walking towards the shack, his steps lighter than before. His back looked like that of an old soldier who had finally seen hope; though he still limped, his back was straight.

Lu Yuan followed behind, his gaze sweeping once again over the depths of the stone forest.

Fresh footprints. Traces intentionally concealed.

He silently memorized this information, then quickened his pace to catch up with Mo Chen.