Once confronted with complex problems, mathematics became like a hideous demon, with intricate partial differential equations resembling bizarre nooses and cumbersome matrices like traps bristling with blades, forcing one to don a mask of agony.
Yet this formidable person attempted to calculate such intricate problems by hand, twisting partial differential equations until they almost spiraled like pretzels, the heap of symbols clustered together dizzying like flies in a dry outhouse during summer.
Rod could only barely make out a small part.
He seemed to be writing a mathematical equation that could describe the entire motion trajectory of the Seven Luminaries.
The Seven Luminaries were the most commonly seen and observed stars.
Their trajectories were relatively fixed, always starting from the same point and returning to the same endpoint.
The time taken for this process was one week.
Seven fixed days, never changing.
However, although the start and end points were consistent and the time constant, the trajectories in between were different.
This was a very peculiar thing, and he seemed to want to penetrate this mystery.
After observing for a while, Rod said, "Master Simon, the solution to your equation seems to be diverging, without an answer."
The old man on the ground suddenly lifted his head.
His face was covered in a thick beard, his hair so disheveled that it nearly hid his visage, but it couldn’t hide his bright, shining eyes.
"You understand it?" he asked in great surprise.
Rod cautiously said, "I understand a little bit."
"Such as?" the man asked with skepticism in his tone.
Rod briefly explained.
"For instance, this equation should describe the motion trajectory of the Seven Luminaries from last week, but it doesn’t fully match. The trajectory is off by 1 degree, which causes a significant deviation in the ellipse’s shape, and this equation..."
"No need to say more!"
The old man sprang to his feet, grabbing Rod’s hand. His bloodshot eyes resembled a super succubus beholding a nude beauty.
"You’re new here, right? What’s your name? Xiao Ke, go and tell Meredith, I’m taking this man."
The apprentice panicked: "Master Simon, he..."
"No need to say more, I don’t want my share of the Light Crystals for this year, I just want him."
The apprentice wanted to say more, but the Spiritual Energy that surged from Simon pressed them down, rendering them speechless.
Rod couldn’t even breathe.
He was already a wielder of the Eighth Level Spiritual Energy.
To achieve this effect, one had to be at least three ranks higher than him.
At the Eleventh Level Spiritual Energy, one was without a doubt among the powerful, a high-rank Combatant.
He didn’t go out to fight but was instead studying the stars within the White Tower.
Amused yet astonished, Rod quickly summoned his Spiritual Energy and said, "Master Simon, you misunderstand. I am the Captain of the King’s Hand, an Elder designate, a Third Level Commander, the Defender of Star Town, Rod, invited to visit the White Tower."
A flash of Spiritual Energy lightning struck Rod, and Simon let go of his hands.
"You’re not of the Star Characteristic, you have Fire Spark, you’re from the Starfire Series."
His tone was one of extreme disappointment, and he slumped down.
Rod too felt a pang of sympathy and tried to console him.
"Master, knowledge has no correlation with the Series. If you truly wish to decipher the mystery of the stars through knowledge, you can recruit and train more students, spread your knowledge more widely..."
"It’s no use, don’t comfort me. The Royal City only worships visible strength, no one is interested in playing with a bunch of numbers, and perhaps my path is indeed a dead-end, even you can see, it’s unsolvable."
Rod chuckled, "That’s not necessarily true. Mathematics is a tool. You haven’t found the answer you seek because you are using it in the wrong place, like using a sword for plowing or a knife for mining."
"Perhaps the trajectories between the seven stars are not connected; each star moves in its own way. Trying to forcefully link them together is impossible."
No sooner had the words left his mouth did the old man freeze as if struck by lightning.
"Unrelated? Each star independent?" he repeated to himself in a murmur.
He suddenly let out a strange, long sigh as if he had just opened the door to a new world.
He turned swiftly, gripping Rod’s hands. His eyes were ablaze as if on fire.
"Rod, right? I will come to find you!"
Before Rod could even respond, he turned and bolted away, vanishing at the far end of the room in the blink of an eye.
As the formidable Spiritual Energy pressure receded, the apprentices could speak again.
"What bad luck," one apprentice complained. "We’ve run into this crazy old man again."
Rod asked curiously, "Why do you call him a crazy old man?"
"Madman Simon, who doesn’t know he’s crazy, insisting on creating some super equation that predicts the movement of all stars, claiming that once his great work is complete, we’ll no longer have to worry about sudden disasters."
"I think he’s dreaming."
"Right, it’s plainly an impossible task."
The apprentices grumbled back and forth for a while, and Rod followed them as they continued upwards.
Along the way, the White Tower was filled with all sorts of eccentric characters.
Some stood motionless holding a basin of water, some rolled around nude on the ground, and others were frantically gazing into mirrors, their rooms filled with shining mirrors that reflected so much light that Rod couldn’t keep his eyes open.
According to the apprentices, they were people in search of the secrets of the stars, attempting to sense the future trajectories of the stars through various means, thus to know more about the distant cosmic timing.