Chapter 146: Chapter 145 Grasping the Entire World
“Number 2, 105 Gold Coins!” Seeing Richard raise his bidding card, the auctioneer shouted out as if he’d seen a savior.
The crowd was slightly stunned, casting curious glances toward the box where Richard had raised his card from. If it weren’t for the fact that Richard was in Prince Gelo’s box, one would really think that he was a “plant” hired by the auction house. Nevertheless, they still thought Richard was a fool, hence they remained disinterested in the Silver-White Ring.
Consequently, with the auctioneer calling three times, Richard easily obtained the ring.
After paying, he received the ring from the assistant at the auction house and examined it carefully. Just as the auctioneer had mentioned, there were no decorations on the ring, both the outer and inner bands were smooth. The material was indeed neither iron nor silver.
Originally, Richard had speculated it might be something like an Os-Ir Alloy.
Metallic osmium and metallic iridium are the two elements with the highest densities in modern Earth’s natural world, at 22.59 g/cm3 and 22.56 g/cm3 respectively. This means they are the heaviest metals. Both elements are extremely durable and hard, resistant to corrosion from all acids and bases, even including aqua regia (a highly corrosive mixture of concentrated hydrochloric acid and concentrated nitric acid in a volumetric ratio of 3:1).
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Generally speaking, an osmium-iridium alloy is considered a very strong and durable material, often used for making surgical blades, pen nibs, luxury fountain pen tips, watch bearings, and other critical instrument bearings. This would somewhat match the auctioneer’s description.
But now, upon inspection, it did not seem to be the hypothesized osmium-iridium alloy. The color was slightly different. Metallic osmium is a blue-gray, and metallic iridium is white with a slight yellow tinge – easily overlooked, but the ring in front was a pure silver-white without any other colors. Additionally, it was considerably lighter as well.
After some analysis, Richard felt that it didn’t resemble any known metal or alloy but rather seemed like a special material produced in the current world.
As for something like mithril, Richard was skeptical, but he wondered if the ring’s metal might indeed be related to the descriptions of mithril. Perhaps it was because of a unique element only found in this world that it exhibited these special effects.
According to the legends of this world, mithril is a silver-white metal, sturdier than steel but much lighter, as malleable as bronze, and can be polished as smooth as glass. Adding just a bit of it to any metal would turn that metal into magic metal.
By Richard’s assessment, mithril should be akin to a superconductive material.
Yes, a metal similar to a superconducting material.
Superconducting materials are characterized by their ability to exhibit zero electrical resistance and repel magnetic field lines under certain conditions. These materials are highly useful – for superconducting power lines, generators, magnetic levitation trains, etc.
On modern Earth, dozens of elements and thousands of compounds have been identified as capable of becoming superconductors. However, these superconducting materials typically need extremely low temperatures to function, such as around minus 260 to minus 270 degrees Celsius, close to absolute zero. Materials that superconduct above liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K, -196.15°C) are already referred to as high-temperature superconductive materials.
So, do materials that can superconduct at room temperature exist?
Maybe they do exist, and their implications could be unimaginable, but they have yet to be discovered on modern Earth.
Mithril from this world, as well as the material of the ring in hand, might be akin to room temperature superconductive metals. The reason for saying “akin” is that their superconductivity might not be in electricity and magnetism, but in mana, or energy elements.
That would explain the term magic metal.
If this hypothesis held true, then it could help solve a great problem.
A flicker crossed Richard’s eyes.
Until now, he had been using White Jade Plates to make magic-enhanced items that were one-time use. Once the Magic Runes were engraved on the White Jade Plate and once mana or energy elements were injected to successfully unleash a spell, the White Jade Plate would inevitably shatter.
Analyzing the cause, he felt it was very likely that White Jade as a material fell short, having some form of “resistance” within, unable to bear excessive energy, thus relegated to a single-use consumable, incapable of permanently embedding a Spell Effect.
If the right materials were found, it was possible to make a magic rune permanently effective and successfully solidify the spell effect. For example, the material for the Space Iron Ring was just like that. The material for the Space Iron Ring seemed to be made of black iron, but it actually wasn’t because it was mixed with some unknown substance that allowed the activation of the magic rune without damage, which could be called superconductive magic.
Therefore, the silver-white ring that had just been won at the auction might possess superconductive magic properties.
Wait!
Suddenly, Richard thought of something. He put the silver-white ring on the index finger of his left hand and compared it with the Space Iron Ring worn on the index finger of his right hand.
Richard raised an eyebrow.
He saw that the shapes, sizes, outer diameters, and inner diameters of the two rings were exactly the same.
“So… could this silver-white ring and the Space Ring possibly come from the same source?” Richard mused to himself, “But the silver-white ring clearly has no magic runes engraved, so it can only be considered a semi-finished product. The Space Ring, engraved with magic runes, has the function of storing objects and is a finished product.
So… could it really be possible to modify this silver-white ring, engrave it with magic runes according to a need, to achieve some sort of function?
Completely replicating the Space Ring to make a new Space Ring would probably be difficult. Because the issues with the space creation are still unclear, it’s hard to ensure success. In addition, the precision required for the magic runes is too high, and their complexity is prone to failure.
But if it’s simpler, engraving a magic rune for a certain attack or support magic to be released instantaneously and permanently, that should be doable. However, what spell to engrave needs to be thought about. Transferring the magic rune from the White Jade Plate to the ring, where space is limited, would necessitate a complete re-planning of the rune.
In the present, all of this is still just speculation, and some testing is needed…”
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Richard thought seriously about the problem, while outside the private box, the auctioneer had already announced the formal end of the auction. Everyone began to leave, except for Richard, Prince Gro, and Pandora.
Richard was continuing to ponder some small details, Prince Gro was waiting for his guard to bring the money to redeem him, and Pandora… continued to sleep.
…
One minute, two minutes, three minutes…
In the blink of an eye, some time had passed. Richard looked up, having cleared up some of his thoughts, while Prince Gro shuffled restlessly in his seat, uncomfortable with the wait.
Just then, the door to the box was creaked open. The guard Prince Gro had sent out to get money had returned.
Prince Gro turned his head to look at the guard and quickly asked, “How did it go? Did you bring the money?”
“Uh, Your Highness, it’s been brought, just now handed over to the auction house staff.”
“So…”
“Creak,” the door to the box opened again, and the steward from the auction house who had stepped forward came in, holding a small wooden box, and with respect, handed it to Prince Gro, saying, “Prince Gelo, this Examination Exemption Certificate is now yours.”
“Whew…” Prince Gro let out a breath, his breathing suddenly became hurried. He took the small wooden box and opened it at once, to see it packed with silk satin. Wrapped in the silk satin was the Examination Exemption Certificate.
Crystal material, circular, with complex designs engraved on the surface, shimmering with a purple light…
Seeing Prince Gro’s reaction, the auction house steward wisely exited. Prince Gro then grabbed the Examination Exemption Certificate from the box, clutching it tightly in his hand, as if he had grasped the whole world.