First Lesson: Matter and Energy

At noon, Hui, looking like he hadn't slept well but vibrating with manic energy, dragged Amber toward the dining table.

"Meow~ let me sleep a little longer," Amber said, her ears drooping.

"Amber, thank you for your help yesterday. Today, Father specifically prepared a meal according to your request," Hui said, rubbing Amber's cheeks.

"Meow! Where, where?" Amber was instantly energized, bolting straight toward her Secret Grilled Fish.

"Haha. Amber, didn't you say you still wanted to sleep?" Hui laughed heartily.

After the meal, Hui and Chuanhe sat facing each other. "Are you ready? I'm going to start the lesson," Chuanhe said with a faint smile.

Fully armed, Hui raised his right hand and said, "I am ready!"

"Then follow my perspective as we discuss why chakra is matter."

"At first, I was just like you. I heard the phrase 'spiritual energy and physical energy mix in a one-to-one ratio to form chakra' and didn't have any doubts. Until one day, I thought about kinetic energy. I wrote these three 'energies' on the same piece of paper, and no matter how I looked at it, it felt wrong."

"This problem troubled me for a long time, until one day I reorganized the concept of energy conversion using the methods of physics."

Chuanhe tore a page from Hui's notebook, crumpled it into a ball, dropped it from the air, and let it land on the table. He then looked at Hui and asked, "Based on what I taught you before, Hui, tell me how the energy of this paper ball is converted during this process."

Hui was silent for a moment before saying, "It converts from gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy, and upon hitting the table, the kinetic energy converts into the internal energy of the table and the paper ball."

"Perfect! Now, think about this: in this process, what is energy?" Chuanhe countered.

This time, Hui couldn't answer, because he fundamentally couldn't understand what his father was actually asking.

"Father, why are you being so difficult? Can't you just tell me the definitions of matter and energy?" Hui asked, voicing his confusion.

"Haha, it's precisely because it can't be understood that way that it's so troublesome," Chuanhe laughed.

"Why? If you don't tell me, how do you know I won't understand from the definition?" Hui's confusion deepened.

"I can only give you one definition; I've already forgotten the definition of matter."

"Energy is the measure of the degree to which the spacetime distribution of mass can change. That is a relatively concise description. Well, do you understand what energy is now?" Chuanhe looked at Hui with a playful expression.

Hui's brows were tightly locked; he couldn't grasp the essence for a long time. He understood every word individually, but why, when put together, could he not understand what energy was?

"Not understanding it? Do you need me to say it again?" Chuanhe asked. Hui remained silent.

"Do you know why you can't understand what this definition is talking about?" Chuanhe asked again.

Hui's little head was filled with confusion. What on earth was his father talking about? After much effort, Hui's intelligence finally came back online.

At this moment, he desperately wanted to go back to yesterday and tell his father that he actually just liked the feeling of throwing skills to crush his opponents.

"I don't know." After holding it in for a long time, Hui could only answer with those few words.

"Calm your mind and think coolly. Why can't you understand this sentence?" Chuanhe ignored Hui's embarrassment and spoke.

Time ticked by, minute by minute. Hui went from avoidance to facing the problem head-on. After several minutes, Hui spoke.

"It's because I don't understand what mass, time, and space are," Hui said with absolute certainty.

Chuanhe smiled and nodded. "Correct. It's a pity I only remember the definition of energy. It's best to slowly understand the subsequent problems."

"Although I don't remember the definition of each of them, I remember the definitions—or perhaps 'descriptions' is more reasonable—of matter, energy, time, and space. The description of each of these four contains at least one of the others. This leads to a situation where trying to understand these abstract concepts through definitions is like the chicken-and-egg problem, falling into an endless loop."

"This is why you cannot understand energy through definitions." After saying this, Chuanhe sipped his tea.

"But if you can't understand it through definitions, what other method is there?"

"I've already told you the method." Chuanhe pointed at the paper ball on the table.

Time ticked by again. Chuanhe drank his tea, watching as Hui repeatedly picked up and dropped the paper ball. He didn't disturb him, just watched silently, hoping Hui could provide the answer he wanted.

Hui fell into deep thought, repeatedly dropping the paper ball. Then, he stopped the experiment and began to think quietly.

"Energy doesn't seem to exist? No, that's not it. It isn't matter? No..." Hui began to say things that seemed to lack logic. But Chuanhe understood; Hui had likely grasped it, needing only that final push.

Hui finished his answer and looked at his father nervously. He wondered if he was too stupid and had disappointed his father.

"Hui, you have already understood it; you just need time to sort through your chaotic thoughts."

"Take the games you used to like playing as an example. If you compare matter to equipment, energy is the equipment's stats. It doesn't exist as a 'physical object' in reality; it exists by attaching itself to matter."

After Chuanhe finished this sentence, it was as if Hui had a breakthrough; he suddenly had a brand-new understanding of energy. While Hui was still ruminating on his thoughts, Chuanhe continued.

"Do you remember the characters I taught you when you played ninja games? Actually, even understanding it to this point, I still felt something was missing—there was one last thin layer of mist preventing me from understanding energy."

Chuanhe wrote the characters for "Energy" in Hui's notebook.

"In the very end, I understood energy through the language itself. The world is truly wondrous."

"Energy: to quantify 'ability' is energy."

"The 'ability' here is both possibility and capability. Can you see what energy is now?"

"I don't know who translated this term, or if it existed originally, but that doesn't matter. It is very fitting," Chuanhe remarked with emotion.

Hui looked at the words written on the paper: "Energy is the measure of the degree to which the spacetime distribution of mass can change." At this moment, he finally understood it. He also understood why chakra was not energy.

A sense of achievement, rising from within, enveloped Hui's entire body.

After savoring the feeling for a moment, he thanked Chuanhe with excitement: "Father, I understand!"

He then asked another question that had been puzzling him: "I understand energy now. Father, what exactly are matter and space-time?"

Chuanhe replied with a helpless sigh: "Just as I said before, my understanding of matter is not as deep as it is for energy. I can only give you an answer that is technically flawed, but it should suffice for you at your current level. As for space-time, that is a topic for later; I won't lecture you on it today. Learning too much at once is just asking for indigestion."

"Everything you see, hear, smell, touch, or perceive through any sensory means is matter."

"This answer is merely a subset, and the description itself is problematic, but we can discuss it further when you encounter actual situations later on."

"Alright, that's enough for today's lesson. You still have school assignments to finish, and Father has other matters to attend to, so I won't be keeping you company."

Taking his notebook and returning to his room, Hui still felt somewhat dazed. He felt as though his brain had reached its limit for the day. After finishing his homework and eating dinner, he went to bed early.

In his dreams that night, Hui saw all sorts of bizarre and surreal things.

Just after Hui fell asleep, a white snake slithered out from the corner.

"Has what I wanted arrived?" Chuanhe asked without looking up, his hands still busy carving a Flame Explosion Talisman.

"Naturally, Chuanhe-kun." The white snake spoke in a human voice, spitting a scroll out from its mouth.

Chuanhe didn't mind the slime on it and opened the storage scroll. After checking the contents, he nodded with satisfaction. "Everything is in order. You may leave."

The white snake did not leave, instead saying, "Chuanhe-kun, not paying the reward does not align with my principles." It flicked its scarlet tongue after speaking.

"Reward? You have already received it; the lesson just now was not given for free." Chuanhe ignored the white snake, washed his hands with a Water Style technique, and continued carving the Flame Explosion Talisman.

"Hehe, Chuanhe-kun is truly not as simple as he appears on the surface. Could Chuanhe-kun explain to me what the last two lines of the cipher mean?" The white snake flicked its tongue again.

"I cannot explain that to you. If it could be spoken, it wouldn't be called a cipher. My γ materials are exhausted; bring them to me next time. The reward has already been paid today," Chuanhe said calmly.

The white snake's tone turned cold, but it did not argue: "As expected of Chuanhe-kun, as consistent as ever. When do you intend to make your move?"

"It is not a matter of when I intend to move, but when they intend to move. It should be soon, probably in about a year and a half." Chuanhe paused before speaking.

"Hehe, then I shall await the good news. Until we meet again; the materials you requested will be delivered in a month." Having said this, the white snake transformed into smoke and vanished.

Chuanhe acted as if he hadn't seen a thing, continuing to bury himself in the work of carving his Flame Explosion Talismans.