Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Water (Contract Signed)

Since there was already a ready-made name, there was no need to rack his brains for a new one.

Blade Tusk, taking the easy way out, named this "element" he had discovered within his body the "hydrogen atom."

He named its core the "proton," and its outer layer the "electron."

Through indirect probing during meditation, he discovered that "hydrogen atoms" did not exist independently within his body—or at least, the one he had currently identified did not.

Its outer electron seemed to act as a bridge, linking it with other "elements."

After thinking it over, he understood what was going on.

This other world had water too. Now that the existence of "hydrogen atoms" had basically been confirmed, with combustion serving as corroborating evidence—

Then surely there ought to be "oxygen atoms" as well, right?

He had once memorized the periodic table. Though he had forgotten most of it long before crossing over, and now could no longer recall it in full, when he tried to remember, he found that only the opening sequence—"hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron"—had left a deep impression.

Anything after that would require some serious thought.

"Um... hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron. Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon. Sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus... What came after that again?"

Unable to remember no matter how hard he tried, Blade Tusk put aside any concern for the chemistry teacher who might be weeping across another world and began considering what he could do with the little knowledge he had.

"First, the body's functions can't do without basic chemical reactions, and chemical reactions seem to be directly related to atomic electron structures. So absorbing electrons to increase mass may not be realistic."

"Still, electrons seem to make up a very small proportion of an atom's mass. Even if I absorbed them, it might not do much."

"If that's the case, then the key to increasing my own mass seems to be raising the number of protons in an atomic nucleus? Right—there should also be something called a neutron, another massive particle."

"But how exactly do I do that? Since I have no clue, I'll start by studying 'hydrogen atoms.'"

"It carries one electron. Since the word 'electron' contains 'electricity,' it should be charged, right? Um... I feel like I've just made a rather inappropriate definition."

"But it doesn't matter. Electric charge comes in positive and negative. Since a hydrogen atom can exist as one proton plus one electron, those two should respectively be positively and negatively charged. Then neutrons might be electrically neutral."

Based on that deduction, he arrived at another simple particle structure: an atomic model composed of a proton and neutron joined into a nucleus, together with an electron outside the nucleus.

"I vaguely remember that atomic number equals proton number. This model, like a hydrogen atom, has only one proton—wouldn't that mean it overlaps with hydrogen on the periodic table? Does something like this really exist? Or am I remembering wrong, and hydrogen originally included a neutron too?"

Blade Tusk vaguely remembered that such an atom should exist, but the relevant memories were too hazy for him to be sure.

Fortunately, the body itself was a great melting pot of elements. He could search for it.

So, he prepared to use the same meditative internal positioning method he had used to identify hydrogen atoms earlier.

The result was somewhat unexpected: this structure really did exist.

"Wait. Isotope. That seems to be what it's called, right? Then this should be an isotope of hydrogen?"

"The one without a neutron is called hydrogen-1, and the one with one neutron is called hydrogen-2. I'll name them that for now."

Even as he named them so casually, Blade Tusk formed another association: since hydrogen-2 had one more neutron than hydrogen-1, its mass had to be roughly twice as great. Could he increase his own mass by turning all hydrogen-1 into hydrogen-2?

But on second thought, the source of those added neutrons was still a problem. In the end, he could not escape the old idea of absorbing external particles.

Um... besides that, he faintly sensed a thread of danger. His subconscious seemed to be stopping him from attempting this.

"An illusion? Or is it real? Have I overlooked some crucial point?"

Though he did not understand what was happening, his subconscious could, to some extent, represent things he had forgotten. To be safe, Blade Tusk decided to change his line of thought first.

According to his earlier idea, he would indirectly drive up the energy contained within himself by increasing his own mass.

But now that he had discovered the "elements" in his body existed in more complex bonded states, how was he supposed to absorb external elements? And once external elements entered his body, in what form would they exist?

It was as if his thoughts were shrouded in a layer of fog. For a while, he could not think of a good direction.

"Empty speculation is useless. I still need to act first."

With that thought, Blade Tusk entered a meditative state again.

He did not know how atoms formed cells. He only remembered that several layers of structures should lie between them.

But there was one thing he could be certain of: his body definitely contained water. That gave him room to work.

First, he assumed the existence of "oxygen atoms" and used what little he still remembered of the "periodic table" to infer their atomic structure.

Oxygen's atomic number was known to be 8, so it should possess 8 protons and 8 electrons, and perhaps 8 neutrons as well.

With that, he first simulated a structural model of an oxygen atom for later use.

In addition, two hydrogen atoms could combine with one oxygen atom to form a water molecule, H2O.

"Atoms form molecules through sharing electrons, I think? Electrons also seem to be divided into energy levels and orbitals. The inner layers can hold fewer electrons than the outer layers, and there also seems to be some rule about how many electrons makes something most stable... Unfortunately, I can't remember it. I'll have to blur the details when the time comes."

Using those known conditions, Blade Tusk simulated several possible combinations.

In one of the models, the two hydrogen atoms clung to the large, round oxygen atom like "ears," their points of connection linked by "bridges" formed from shared electrons.

This model was the most pleasing to the eye, so Blade Tusk decided to use it for now.

During the meditation that followed, he actively blurred out most of his body's structure, focusing his attention only on a localized area. He wanted to use this method to magnify his mind's "power of observation" within that area.

Of course, it was not that he truly wanted to observe anything. His main goal was to replicate as many of the previously modeled water molecules as possible in the selected area.

He chose the epidermis of his palm for that area and expanded its definition through meditation. But the definition was not precise; it was only an attempt.

First, the epidermis should contain water. But because neither its amount nor the form in which it existed was clear, he could only settle for having the water molecules spread evenly in a "cloud-like" distribution.

These water-molecule structures would serve as something like a "handle + display screen," reducing molecular-level reactions—normally unobservable and impossible to actively control—to something manageable.

Next, it was time to let particles from the outside enter.

He applied vibrations to the water molecules, making them expand and contract as though breathing.

During that time, particles were continually wrapped up inside the molecular cloud.

Blade Tusk could not see what had been enveloped, but the "display screen" effect brought by meditation helped him sense that something had indeed entered.

Unfortunately, let alone any encouraging reaction, not even anything bad happened.

That meant two things.

First, the number of water molecules he had simulated was negligible compared to the skin on his hand.

Second, particles entering the body did not mean they became yours.

The first point went without saying. His brain's computational capacity was limited, and he had no way to increase the number of water molecules any further.

The second point meant that merely drawing external elements into the body was not enough. The key issue was how to assimilate them.

Perhaps combining existing atoms with foreign atoms to form new molecules was one possible direction?

But he did not even understand the cellular composition of his own body, let alone its atomic level, molecular level, and the structural mechanism that surely existed between molecules and cells.

Without understanding those things, he did not dare make any rash attempts.

Honestly, I never expected this book to get signed.

I was pretty happy at first, but when I was signing the electronic contract, facial recognition messed with me for two hours and drained all my enthusiasm.

Anyway, getting signed should be a good thing, right? I'll keep working hard.