Rubbing

If I recall correctly, direct current and alternating current can be converted into one another, right?

After thinking for a while, Huang Si crossed out the idea of using a gas-powered steam generator; it would increase the carbon dioxide levels in the room, and he hadn't yet figured out what to do if the carbon dioxide concentration became too high.

Ultimately, Huang Si decided on the entries he needed to look up:

Batteries, solar cells, methods for converting between direct and alternating current, and charger circuit design.

Huang Si began searching his home for batteries.

After a thorough sweep, he managed to dig out a few half-used AAA batteries from various remote controls.

Then, he found a few dead batteries in a drawer.

Huang Si rubbed his forehead. Why hadn't he thought to keep a stock of batteries at home? He always waited until a remote or a wall clock died before heading to the supermarket to buy more. Consequently, there wasn't a single unused battery in the house.

Still, it was at least a reference.

Huang Si attempted to use his microscopic observation on the batteries, only to find that his microscopic vision was ineffective against such densely structured objects. He could see the molecules of the paint on the battery's surface, but any attempt to look deeper was blocked.

The outer surface of the battery had a layer of tin, followed by plastic packaging, and then the paint on top of the plastic.

Huang Si simply peeled off the obstructive plastic, leaving only the shiny tin casing.

However, the organizational structure of the tin was even denser. In the microscopic world, Huang Si saw vast fields of deep-gray tin atoms; although there were a few defects, the overall arrangement was regular and the bonds were stable.

He tested it with his power, finding he could envelop individual tin atoms, copy them with ease, and even register this arrangement in the Creation Book to manufacture identical tin casings.

Yet, his consciousness could not penetrate the tin to reach the interior of the battery.

It seemed this power only possessed the ability to create, with no other functions whatsoever. Huang Si had no choice but to go to the kitchen, grab a knife, and slice the battery open lengthwise.

Inside the battery were piles of black powder and a black rod. What was this?

Huang Si recalled his middle school physics; this stuff should be graphite, but was there a difference between the powder and the rod? Furthermore, he had no idea how the battery actually supplied power.

Huang Si recorded all of this in his notes. After finishing his experimental notes, he took apart an alkaline battery to see what it looked like, but he remained just as clueless.

Well, it was time to use the laptop!

Huang Si quickly turned it on, opened the database without a moment's hesitation, searched for battery-related entries at top speed, and immediately jotted down key information with pen and paper.

Only then did he realize he had been completely wrong before: the deep-gray atoms on the battery's exterior were likely zinc, the positive terminal was copper, the black rod inside was graphite, and the black powder was a mixture of manganese dioxide, carbon dust, and ammonium chloride.

He took the opportunity to look up key information on alkaline batteries and solar cells as well, noting down the important parts.

Before shutting down, Huang Si glanced at the bottom right corner: 89% battery. Not bad.

After sleeping and recovering some of his strength, Huang Si continued his research the next morning after eating some fried dough slices. Unfortunately, the phone's battery was not designed to be disassembled, and he only had one; otherwise, he would have liked to take it apart to have a look.

After tinkering for a day, by evening, Huang Si had finally created a genuine carbon-zinc battery.

While making this battery, he referenced the differences between the dead and half-dead batteries, and after multiple failures and retries, a fully charged battery was born.

The Creation Book also recorded the composition of these substances: zinc, carbon powder, graphite, copper, manganese dioxide, and ammonium chloride, as well as the carbon-zinc battery itself.

The carbon-zinc battery entry was even categorized into three versions: empty, half-charged, and fully charged.

Huang Si had chosen to record these himself; theoretically, he could record infinite versions if he wanted, but there was no need.

Next, Huang Si took apart a phone charger—he had several, after all. This was to study the circuit structure of the charger.

For the next few days, Huang Si's routine consisted of cooking, tinkering with batteries, reading to wait for his strength to recover, and getting some exercise.

In fact, by the third day, Huang Si had followed the instructions to successfully create both alkaline and carbon-zinc batteries; since he already had these types of batteries at home, copying them wasn't difficult.

However, looking at the pile of botched, discarded batteries, Huang Si wondered: since his power of creation couldn't decompose and recycle them, what was he supposed to do with all this trash?

After a moment's thought, he simply opened the window and threw all the waste batteries out.

In a place of such void, there was no need to talk about civic virtue; after all, there was no "public" here, only "private."

Next came the construction of the inverter circuit; he needed to convert direct current into alternating current to try charging his phone.

By this time, the phone was long dead. Huang Si first analyzed the composition of various wires and recorded them one by one, then analyzed the construction of the charger, and finally requisitioned precious battery life from his laptop to study the relevant designs for inverter circuits.

Fortunately, Huang Si had majored in computer science, so he was quite familiar with circuits. He spent one day designing and building a circuit that used batteries to charge, and another day creating a set of extremely crude power-conversion equipment.

But that wasn't enough; he still needed a voltmeter to stabilize the voltage at the standard 220V.

A voltmeter was difficult to make, primarily because he lacked a corresponding device to use as a reference.

He dismantled the entire circuit from the distribution box at his front door and examined it meticulously.

Then, for the sake of a few specific metal atoms, he searched his home for a long time.

During this process, something Huang Si had never anticipated occurred.

That day, he had just exhausted his power and finished eating. Not wanting to exercise or read, he curled up on the sofa, clutching the Creation Book.

Huang Si could truly and deeply feel his heartfelt affection for this book, a feeling that had existed even before he found it.

Thinking back, the book hadn't called out to him on his way home from work that day; in fact, it hadn't even called his name. His consciousness had simply felt the book's summons.

Huang Si held the book in his arms. It was quite large—thicker and bigger than an encyclopedia—but he felt no strain while holding it.

After many days of honing, the Creation Book and the power of creation it bestowed upon Huang Si had become like a part of himself.

He now used his power and the book with such natural ease that he didn't even need to focus; a single thought was all it took.

As Huang Si looked at his book, a sudden idea popped into his mind.

He had never actually looked at the structure of the book itself, had he?

Why not take a look?

Acting on impulse had always been one of Huang Si's strengths. He cradled the book in his arms, focused his consciousness upon it, and attempted to enter a microscopic perspective.

The world receded rapidly around him. Huang Si felt a blur before his eyes, and his perspective shifted.

Huang Si saw two arms blocking his vision, followed by the scene inside the room—only there was no book in this view, and it seemed to be the exact opposite of the perspective he had just been using.

What was going on?

Huang Si was struck with horror. He realized that he was no longer himself; he had become the book. The book was his body, and he was being held in his own arms, looking out through the perspective of the one holding him.

Could he go back?

As the thought arose, his perspective shifted instantly. Huang Si looked around, still shaken, and realized he had returned to his own body.

That was terrifying.

An out-of-body experience?

No, it must have been a body swap.

Huang Si thought to himself that it was fortunate the book had no consciousness; otherwise, if it were a true soul swap and he couldn't switch back, it wouldn't be as funny as in a comedy movie. This was a matter of great importance, as he still couldn't afford to stop being a human!

Although the book seemed supernatural, Huang Si didn't want to be a book; he still wanted to be a person.

Suddenly, Huang Si felt something new within the book and quickly flipped open the pages.

In truth, the book didn't just feel intimate to Huang Si; it felt like a part of him. Whether it was recording something or sensing a change, it was as natural as feeling his own hands and feet.

The Creation Book was opened to the second page, but there was no change; it still held the same things recorded previously.

He flipped to the third page, and then, he was completely stunned.

The third page was densely packed with countless patterns and symbols. Even more miraculously, despite these things looking more incomprehensible than a heavenly script, Huang Si understood them the moment he looked at them.

He quickly flipped to the next page.

He flipped through the 2nd, 3rd, 4th... all the way to the 104th page before he reached the end of these patterns.

He didn't close the book for a long time, instead re-examining every page imprinted with the patterns and symbols.

Huang Si understood that this imprint was himself—the structural pattern of his own being.

The complexity far exceeded any object he could manufacture.

It seemed that when his consciousness had accidentally transferred to the book just moments ago, he had "rubbed" his own composition onto the Creation Book.

Logically speaking, recording such a complex pattern would, by convention, consume a terrifying amount of power.

However, Huang Si checked his body and found that his power had not been depleted at all.

This was certainly not a standard recording.

Huang Si tried placing other objects on the Creation Book, from potatoes to ham to batteries, but none of them automatically imprinted themselves.

It seemed that only the imprint of himself was special.

Could this be a privilege for the owner of the book?

Huang Si didn't understand, but a possibility suddenly occurred to him: if he could be recorded in the Creation Book, did that mean he could create another version of himself?

Thinking of this, Huang Si shook his head and dismissed the idea.

Not to mention how unsettling it would feel to create a second self, the power consumption alone would be so terrifyingly high that he wouldn't be able to afford it, right?

Huang Si had long since discovered that the size of a material's structural pattern generated in the Creation Book was often related to its complexity and was directly proportional to the power consumed during its creation.

For example, the power to create a whole bucket of water was 1, a bucket of flour was 3, and a bucket of batteries was 25.

The ratio of the battery pattern to the water molecule pattern in the book was also roughly 1:20.

Considering the extremely complex structure of a battery, a little extra was normal. Huang Si felt that he might be wasting power when creating overly complex things, and if he mastered his power more precisely in the future, this might improve.

However, in all these days, he had recorded over twenty types of substances, and they hadn't even filled a single page of the book.

Yet, he alone occupied over a hundred pages...

Just thinking about it made Huang Si feel it was incredible.

Therefore, creating a second self was impossible; it would never happen in this lifetime.