The Evolution of Genius: Every Night, I Get Smarter!-Chapter 41: On The Brink

Something about The Lord’s words didn’t sit right, and it wasn’t just a hunch.

The fact that someone has stated before, not to listen to his words, intensified my feelings.

"Why can’t you share the reason?", I pressed for answers, "With what you’re spouting, there’s no way I’m going to blindly follow you!"

In response to my unwavering demand for answers, The Lord’s voice echoed, "I shall reveal this much to thee: a rift in diplomacy has torn asunder, and Three have set forth a plan. With haste, we must move to thwart the scheme’s unfolding."

With a hint of skepticism, I inquired, "Why should I believe you?"

In response, The Lord spoke with a certain solemnity, "I cannot compel thy belief. Yet, consider this: there may come a time when belief or disbelief shall weigh heavily, and it may be that delay becomes an unaffordable luxury."

Curiosity piqued, I posed my final question, "Who are the Ulthars?"

A heavy pause lingered in the air, and just as The Lord began to respond with a cryptic "When did..."—the connection severed, and I was abruptly thrust awake.

Chillin’ on my bed, my mind was racing with thoughts about those Ulthars.

The way The Lord reacted had me curious as heck.

So, here’s what I am going to do: I am going to call the Eldrich imposter who said he was one of them. He might know what is really going on.

There is no reason to believe anyone, before hearing everyones viewpoint, that’s what I thought.

...

From Monday to Friday together with Lydia we did some experiments with spin ice.

First, we used liquid helium to hit the samples with very low temperatures.

"I’m on it, Max. Samples are cooling down. What’s next?"

"Nice job! Now, we’re gonna be using neutron scattering to look into the spin configurations in high detail."

We layed down magnetic field pulses with pinpoint accuracy, making the spin ice do its thing.

But, we didn’t just stop there. We compared our results with what the big-time scientists from back in the day had found. And our spin ice went from 82% unipolar magnetism properties to a crazy 91%.

That was amazing on its own, groundbreaking even!

However, this was not what I was aiming for. Lydia might have been satisfied with this, it would have been enough for any Ph.D. researcher.

However, our goal was to hit that 100% unipolar magnetism – or get so close that you can’t even tell the difference.

A ’Fake Monopole’ so to say.

As we continued our experiments in search of 100% unipolar magnetism, we performed even more chemical procedures to manipulate the spin ice lattice.

We harnessed the power of rare-earth elements and carefully introduced specific dopants into the crystal lattice.

These dopants were strategically chosen to tweak the magnetic interactions within the lattice.

Through controlled doping, we aimed to enhance the spin ice material’s properties, driving it closer to monopole like behaviour.

"So... Max, how are the results in the magnetic stirrer looking?", Lydia asked while she was preparing the next sample for doping.

"Honestly, Lydia, it did... well, fuck all... but don’t you worry, I’ve got another idea"

So we changed the steategy to thermal and magnetic annealing techniques, allowing us to fine-tune the arrangement of magnetic moments within the lattice.

We carefully adjusted temperature and applied external magnetic fields to reshape the lattice structure to our desired specifications.

With those techniques and my meticulous research in theory, on Friday we ended up with a compound which showed 99% monopole magnetic properties.

Still... far from the goal.

That same Friday, back on campus, I sat down in front of my notes.

There was no time to waste.

Each night I slept for only four hours, but I still felt fully rested, leaving me with more time than ever before.

Equipped with over 400 pages of notes, I intently reviewed my research. I had delved into p-adic analysis and its connection with analysis on fields.

One of the key assumptions I explored was the interplay between p-adic valuations and their potential influence on the Goldbachian Kernel.

This led me to investigate the following expression: ∣p^n|_p = 1/p^n

Where |p^n|_p represents the p-adic valuation of p^n, and the expression captures the essence of how p-adic norms function.

I took a leap into the world of non-Archimedean analysis, diving headfirst into the theory of p-adic numbers.

I was out there, sorting through congruences and residue classes, all in the name of cracking the code of the Goldbach Conjecture.

During my grind, one of my significant findings was based on the p-adic expansion of integers, where I sought to prove the Goldbachian Kernel for various prime bases.

Within this context, I used an expression, derived straight from Goldbach Conjecture: 2n = p_1 + p_2

Where p_1 and p_2 were prime numbers in the chosen p-adic base.

This led me to succesfuly prove the Goldbachian Kernel for specific prime bases.

I sent the proof to Professor Milik, who was probably the only person left on MIT, that could provide some insight as to what the next step should be.

...

Saturday morning, I decided to come up to Professor Milik’s office to discuss my recent breakthrough.

As I arrived, the office was buzzing with activity. A few students were seated, engrossed in discussions with Professor Milik.

Most likely, consultation hours..? On Saturday?!

I was about to head the hell out and wait outside.

But!

Upon seeing me, Professor Milik paused and promptly excused himself from his current consultations. "One moment, please," he said to the students.

With that, he stepped aside to speak with me privately. "Max, I’ve examined your proof, and I must say it’s groundbreaking. The potential here is immense. If you could extend this to cover all prime bases, this might just be it."

I responded with eagerness, "Professor, do you have the time to sit down on this right now, we could think about it together"

I really liked Professor Milik, he certainly wasn’t like the other Professors.

The easy way to become a prof. is to grind away for years, and then let your work be taken away by higher-ups in the academic scene.

After many years, they would commend you for that and grant you the title.

Milik wasn’t like that. His papers were so important that he was recognized for them around the entire world.

In the end, MIT was pressured to grant him the position.

Professor Milik smiled, appreciating my enthusiasm, and said, "Great, Max. I’m on board. Just give me 30 minutes to finish these consultations, and then we can sit down for the next couple of hours to work on this."

After a short break for coffee I came back to his office and we continued our discussion.

We brainstormed the next steps, and potential methods of expanding this prove to all p-adic bases.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t as hard as the initial proof.

Just 4 hours into the discussiom we were going through existing proofs and came up with a couple qfeasible ideas.

It was a real partnership. Professor Milik was able to keep up with me, and vice-versa.

In the end, we concluded, that there would be no problem with that proof. Any competent mathematician should be able to do it.

However, we acknowledged that p-adic bases weren’t the end of the story, and there was one last crucial step to be made...

I proved that the density of such even numbers 2k = pa + pb, where p are prime numbers increases as 2k grows larger for all systems with prime base.

Now, the ultimate goal was to prove that it also holds for base 10. The very base used by people in their everyday life.

...

We were so engrosed on the topic, that I only left Professor Milik’a office in the evening.

He must not have had a family...

Tomorrow, crack of dawn, me and Oliv had a flight to catch to South Korea. While I was giving her a buzz on the phone, Rick shot me some real funny glances.

After I hang up, Rick stood up and said, "Why didn’t you let me in on this, bro? I wanted to go too, but I didn’t have anyone to go with...", he looked kinda in the dumbs.

"There was still space on the plane, the last time I checked"

And so while I was packing up, Rick booked a flight with us.

The more the merrier! Sometimes... Rarely.

Finally, I made myself comfortable in my bed and drifted off to sleep, intent on making contact with the Ulthar.

However as I appeared in the dreamland, I was taken aback.

The once-vibrant yellow nets that had beckoned me before were now shifting into a deep shade of red.

I didn’t let the change in colors faze me. I continued on into the tunnels.

Sadly, the room from before was nowhere to be found and I couldn’t magicaly conjure it to existence, either.