Rui considered the matter deeply. Frankly, this was the only hypothetical way he had come up with at the moment. The task before him was so difficult that he couldn't even begin to come up with a way that could allow him to sense the curvature of space. Even if he could, it didn't necessarily mean that he could comprehend it.
He had taken the General Theory of Relativity as an elective in his bachelor's degree and had been fascinated by the subject. He had never had to the entirety of all topics that could fall under the umbrella of the General Theory of Relativity, but he had learned the core theory itself, and based on what he understood of it, it could hypothetically serve as a way of perceiving the world.
The concept of the theory was simple in a qualitative sense. Einstein had one day come to the realization that if one were in an elevator with no windows or any way to perceive the outside world, then one would not be able to distinguish between uniform motion with a constant velocity, and being stationary. The only way we distinguished whether we were in motion or not was by looking at the outside world.
He found that this could be extended to all kinds of motions in general. Who could say whether one was moving while the world was stationary, or whether one was stationary while the world was moving?
Einstein was quite satisfied with the notion until he realized that it was not universally true. There was one phenomenon that disagreed; gravity, it did not adhere to this principle. One could not say that falling objects were stationary while the world was moving due to the fact that gravitational forces caused a squeezing effect due to what is known as tidal forces. Thus one could distinguish between being pulled by gravity towards a planet and the planet moving towards one due to the squeezing effect present in the former. Einstein wiggled his way around by stating that gravity warped space and time in a manner that squeezed nearby bodies, which explained the phenomenon well while still being consistent with the principle of relativity.
It was precisely this curvature of space and time that Rui was hoping to use to try and estimate the mass, volume, position, and distribution of mass.
Still, he had no way at this point in time.
('I don't have a way to sense space curvature, that is the biggest issue, if I could just somehow come to sense it, with my knowledge of the field equations of general relativity, I can come to be able to understand and decipher it…')
eαglesnᴏνel Unfortunately, to this day, he still had no idea, even theoretically, how would one develop any ability to sense curvature in space? It wasn't even as though there were any substances on the periodic table that were especially reactive to gravity.
The periodic table contained every known element to mankind, and their susceptibility to gravity was not high enough for Rui to be able to accomplish that. No known element on Earth would suffice.
"Wait a minute…"
Rui's eyes widened as he realized he had discounted another possibility.
('Even if no element on the periodic table can work… what about substances that chemistry from Earth cannot account for?')
There were such substances on the Panama Continent.
('Esoteric materials and substances fall outside the norm in all ways and manners!') A grin formed on his face. ('This whole problem was caused by esoteric substances in the first place! I can fight fire with fire, maybe I can solve this problem with other esoteric substances!')
Specifically, what he was hoping for was some sort of esoteric substance that was highly reactive to gravity or space curvature. He wasn't sure whether such an esoteric substance existed, but he wouldn't be surprised. These strange substances had already done things that defied physics before, or the field of physics that he was aware of at the stage it was on back when he was alive on Earth.
Thus the possibility that there perhaps existed one kind of esoteric substance that would exhibit some kind of reaction to different kinds of gravity was not low.
('I need to consult someone on this,') Rui immediately thought of Julian.
Although Julian had focused on the field of research on Martial Artists, he had also spent a good amount of time on research in the fields of esoteric science, there was a good chance that he would be able to point Rui in the right direction.
This was one of the best advantages of having someone like Julian around. Unfortunately, Rui was not familiar with esoteric science, he had no background in the field after all.
He had never had an interest in pursuing it either, although he was fascinated by what these strange substances were capable of, as well as how and why, ultimately he was far too invested and dedicated to his Martial Path.
Any time spent on learning esoteric science was time that was not spent on Martial Art, and to Rui, that was an unacceptable compromise.
Martial Art always had to come first. There was no point in general in learning about esoteric material science either since he had no intention of becoming a scientist. Though, he knew that if he mastered esoteric science in conjugation with his existing general theoretical and non-esoteric science, in time he would be capable of wonders that could only be seen in science fiction movies. He could probably revolutionize the world into a level of technology that made even the cutting-edge engineers of the twentieth-first century of Earth look like primitive cavemen.
But, he had no intention of going down that route. Perhaps he would have had Martial Art not existed in this world, but alas, it did. And thus the fate of the world changed when Rui on the career choice that Rui made nineteen years ago when he arrived in this world.
