"Jimmy's probably already told you what happened after that..." Monica briefly recounted what had taken place.
"There are still some details I'm not clear on. The monster's head is almost grown back, so let's cut it once through the middle of the torso first."
Edward listened to Monica while checking the time on his Pocket Watch, then continued.
"The part we cut off decayed really quickly. It turned to ashes in just five minutes. The new parts grow more slowly, but they seem to appear out of nowhere. That doesn't make sense."
"Why not? Magic can make all kinds of things appear! I suspect this is the result of some kind of magic," Monica said.
"Modern Alchemy calls things with form and substance matter. Even air, though invisible, has mass of its own.
"Living things grow by exchanging matter with their surroundings. For example, a child needs a lot of food to grow into an adult. Some of that matter stays in the body, which is why a person's weight increases.
"Plants are the same. They need sunlight, air, and soil.
"Magic is just a form of energy. It can change the composition and form of matter, but it can't create matter out of nothing or make it disappear!"
Edward explained it this way because he couldn't very well lecture Monica on the Law of Conservation of Mass. Besides, he wasn't even sure whether mass was conserved in this world.
He'd already seen two things that defied science lately. Mr. Insect's "Heavenly Silkworm Transformation" had made an even deeper impression on him the last time.
"But that doesn't make sense. Why can the Water Creation Technique make water out of nothing?" Monica still had the energy to argue with Edward.
"The Water Creation Technique just extracts moisture from the surrounding