Chapter 1431: Ophelia’s Experimental Plan
The low, steady hum of the ventilation and cooling systems echoed through the engine room. Ancient lighting fixtures pushed back the subterranean darkness, revealing row upon row of storage lattices standing like orderly bookshelves in the center of the chamber. A faint glow shimmered between metal and crystal, occasionally punctuated by a pleasant vibration. Ophelia’s gaze swept over these storage lattices, some centuries old, as if she were staring into history itself, frozen within the crystalline matrix.
This was the shallow underground zone beneath the Deep Blue Well. Directly above lay the old imperial capital’s subway network; below, the first layer of the subterranean fortress’s composite armor.
Many years ago, this place had been part of the Deep Blue Well’s control hub. These storage lattices recorded the vast, complex data generated daily by the Gondor energy core—an immense and intricate system that channeled magical power from a single energy source to countless cities and villages across the empire. The Deep Blue Well was both the backbone and the shackle of Gondor; people could neither sever their dependence on the “Well” nor alter this natural planetary power source. So, after reaching a certain stage of development, they could only refine the existing system, endlessly subdividing and adjusting the limited magical currents. The result was this enormous underground control center, a ceaselessly operating hub of recording and computation.
In fact, the subterranean fortress Ophelia now occupied had once been just a part of this control system.
Seven centuries ago, a massive explosion obliterated the Gondor Empire. The runaway magical energy surging from the Deep Blue Well incinerated every town and village in its path, leaving behind a “resonance field” of abnormal magic that lingered for centuries. The control center deep underground, shielded by the Well’s own magic, was spared direct destruction. Yet, pollution steadily settled, and aberrations creeping through the subway tunnels infiltrated the shallow zone. The original Ophelia Norton was forced to abandon most of the shallow facilities and retreat deeper underground. This storage center was one of the forsaken sites.
Now, with the contamination receding, the Ophelia Matrix—heir to Ophelia Norton’s legacy—was leading her iron legion to reclaim these ancient, abandoned areas. During this process, she had uncovered some… surprises.
A dozen or so iron soldiers sat neatly on the floor nearby, appearing to be in a dormant state. From their spines extended metallic “chains” resembling neural thorns, connecting to maintenance ports embedded in the floor. A faint glow flickered around these interfaces, indicating the iron soldiers were using their cognitive cores to perform high-speed data operations.
“This storage center has been offline from the main system. I can’t connect to it directly from underground, so I brought a squad in person to handle it,” Ophelia said, withdrawing her gaze from the “sleeping” soldiers to look at another iron warrior standing nearby. One of its eyes was activated—a softly glowing crystal embedded in its skull cavity quietly recording the room’s conditions and Ophelia’s voice. “I can’t yet confirm if this is truly a ‘trace’ left by the magical tide, but the likelihood is high.”
She lightly brushed a finger over one of the storage lattices. The magic-conducting metal casing emitted a pleasant chime. The sensation transmitted through the iron body was subtle—different from flesh, yet strangely tangible. Though it had been less than half a month, she was already growing accustomed to this unique “vessel.”
Unlike those “possessed” vessels, this was truly herself—completely and utterly.
Gawain’s voice came through the iron soldier acting as a communicator. “…According to the unified wave model and our hypothesis about the universe’s ‘origin oscillation,’ the magical tide should be a kind of wave that periodically reverberates throughout the cosmos. You mean to say this ‘wave’ can be recorded?”
“If the Deep Blue Well’s great explosion really did resist a magical tide, then the tide must be something that interacts with magic and leaves traces in the material world,” Ophelia nodded. “I’ve studied the unified wave model carefully and even consulted Lady Mimirna extensively. She told me that the boundary between matter and energy is blurred, and the line between the physical and the ethereal can shift at any moment. Only ‘wave’ itself is the unchanging foundation of this world. If all things are waves, then waves can be everything.”
She paused, her voice lowering. “Of course it can be recorded… It once had such intense ‘interaction’ with the most powerful force on our planet—how could it not leave a trace?”
The Deep Blue Well’s explosion seven centuries ago was not the magical tide itself—though this has long been misunderstood. Recent intelligence suggests that explosion was a defensive measure deliberately triggered by some entity to fend off the true magical tide. The tide’s essence is more like a planet-wide, macroscopic “observer effect gone awry.”
In this world, the fundamental nature of all things is “wave.” All matter and energy are manifestations of waves at different frequencies and wavelengths. What appears solid is merely a balance point where waves can take form. Magic acts as a bridge across this boundary; mages can reshape matter or pull things into the “magical realm.” Through this bridge, the observer’s power is magnified to an unimaginable degree. Even the birth of gods from collective thought can be seen as a kind of ordered, large-scale observer effect.
On this basis, a widespread loss of control over the observer effect becomes a disaster that strikes only intelligent beings. Those capable of observation are affected by the magical tide, their perception of the world distorted and warped, ultimately destroyed and consumed by their own runaway observer effect. To a third-party observer, the beings caught in the tide appear to be devoured by invisible “monstrosities,” locked in frenzied battles to the death, or suddenly undergoing horrific collapse and dissolution. This is the true magical tide.
Without technology to resist this “observer effect loss of control,” no matter how powerful or well-protected an individual is, they face inevitable destruction before the tide.
Having learned the terrifying truth about the magical tide, Gawain naturally wanted to know what caused this phenomenon. According to Lady Mimirna’s latest research, the disaster might be nothing more than a “monsoon” wave sweeping across the universe—a wave that began vibrating at the dawn of creation.
It’s akin to the cosmic background radiation but far deadlier. This primal oscillation shaped the universe’s current form, set the order of all things, and defined the scales of time and space. Yet the creator never rests; this wave still echoes through the stars. For fragile minds, it is the ultimate apocalypse.
The hum of the equipment filled the room as Ophelia stared at the ancient devices, her mind drifting back to that afternoon seven centuries ago—the true memories left by Ophelia Norton. On that day, the Deep Blue Well’s cataclysm destroyed Gondor civilization. Though the shallow zone’s staff perished instantly, the countless automated systems in the underground control center continued their tasks faithfully without human oversight.
In that chaotic moment, thousands of sensors transmitted data to the core until they were destroyed. Backup lines worked until total failure. Even after Ophelia Norton confirmed she was the sole survivor and ordered the iron soldiers to retreat deeper, some equipment ran for months, unattended, leaving behind a trove of bizarre data.
Some of it was confirmed as energy interference from the Well itself; some were automatic distress signals triggered by the disaster; the rest were mysterious, unexplained magical wave readings.
The Ophelia Matrix believed these were the “shadows” the magical tide left behind—the only annotations in the world that could describe the tide. In a sense, they were the tide itself, stored.
“The magical tide should also be a kind of magical oscillation—it is indeed the universe’s ‘origin,’ but the origin may not be as mysterious or inaccessible as we imagine,” Ophelia said slowly. “It simply has a special frequency and wavelength, placing it in a ‘realm’ beyond mortal perception. But like the effects of magic, as long as the tide’s effects act upon us, it becomes something we can study.”
“Magic’s effects…” Gawain’s voice echoed in the room. “I’ve used that term before.”
“Yes. From another perspective, the magical tide is like a spell cast upon each of us by the world itself. Our task is to find a way to counter that spell before the world casts it again,” Ophelia nodded gently. “Recording and storing data is the first step in deciphering magic. Fortunately, we’ve finally found a foothold.”
“And the second step?” Gawain asked. “Our ultimate goal isn’t just to understand it—we want to fight back.”
“I plan to recreate a small-scale ‘magical tide’ in the lab,” Ophelia said slowly. “If Lady Mimirna’s wave theory is correct, we should be able to simulate the tide using magical oscillations under the right conditions. According to my calculations, it would manifest as a ‘field’ confined within a specific range, where the observation and cognition of intelligent beings inside would be distorted.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. Ophelia’s startling proposal clearly gave Gawain pause. After nearly half a minute, his voice returned.
“This might be the most astonishing—and dangerous—experiment in history. I want to know what happens if it goes out of control.”
“In fact, it’s not as dangerous as you might think—not because I have some brilliant safety measures, but because our current technology is probably nowhere near capable of triggering the disaster you imagine,” Ophelia explained. “I’ll attempt to generate the simulated magical tide’s oscillation using the Deep Blue Well’s magic. Given our current efficiency in harnessing magic and the lab’s capacity, the largest ‘oscillation’ we can produce won’t even cover a single room, and it won’t last more than a few seconds.”
“To generate a truly destructive ‘demon tide,’ the amount of energy required would be astronomical—far beyond what a ‘low-level civilization’ like ours, confined to a single planet, could ever hope to achieve. To put it bluntly, our technology isn’t even remotely advanced enough to use a demon tide as a means of self-destruction…
“Of course, I understand your concerns about the experiment itself. That’s why I plan to conduct it deep underground—at the very bottom. Only my computational matrix and the iron soldiers will be there. If anything goes wrong, all intelligent beings in that space, including myself, can be instantly ‘shut down.’ Once the ‘observer’ disappears, the so-called ‘observer effect’ won’t spiral out of control. This setup will minimize the risk of any unexpected chain reactions triggered by outside interference.”
Clearly, before proposing this bold idea, the Ophelia Matrix had mulled over the matter countless times.
Still, Gawain remained cautious—and he had another question.
“I have one more concern. Even if you manage to ‘simulate’ the fluctuations of a demon tide using the power of the Deep Blue Well, how are we supposed to study or test it? The demon tide itself is a lethal threat to any intelligent life. There’s no way we can safely ‘observe’ what’s happening inside that force field. In fact, the very act of observation could cause the operator’s instant death. Have you considered this?”
“…I have to admit, I don’t have a good solution yet,” Ophelia’s tone grew somber. “This plan is still in its infancy. We don’t even know if it’s possible to isolate the demon tide’s parameters from the storage array. And whether the Deep Blue Well’s power can truly reach the energy level needed to trigger an ‘origin oscillation’ is another challenge entirely. As for how to test or analyze the oscillation once it’s generated… I’m sorry, I’ll need more time.”
Silence fell over the communication channel again. But this time, Ophelia didn’t have to wait long.
Gawain’s steady, dependable voice came through: “Then let’s take it one step at a time—Ophelia, start with the first step. Separate those ‘parameters.’”
(Recommended read: I’m the Real Mastermind Behind the Urban Legends. It’s a story rooted in urban supernatural themes. Though it’s a debut work with some rough edges early on, it shows great promise if it can maintain its course.)
(End of chapter)