Vortex Hand

"Was this a coincidence?"

"Probably?"

"Surely Old Lu couldn't read our minds and know exactly what we were thinking?"

At the back of the classroom, Ajak and his two companions exchanged looks.

Though none of them spoke, they communicated their thoughts through glances born of mutual understanding.

The second law of life alchemy was indeed a major reason they had come to class today.

But they hadn't known Old Lu would actually cover it in this lesson. After all, his previous lessons had been rather "whimsical."

The three of them simply felt an instinctive hunger for more knowledge about life alchemy.

They wanted answers to their questions—or rather, something to dispel the fear in their hearts.

Last night, Vikem had stubbornly insisted on sprinkling more of his blood onto the Ore Radio.

Although Zhou Qi and Ajak couldn't bear to watch, they had also grown curious and excited about whether it could pick up a hidden station.

Perhaps their luck had taken a turn for the worse, or perhaps the Ore Radio was of inferior quality. Apart from picking up more underground radio stations, they had gained nothing "special."

That was, until Vikem guilt-tripped Zhou Qi and Ajak in the name of friendship into dripping their own blood into the Ore Radio as well.

"[The second law of life alchemy: life originates from the motion of matter, or, in other words, is a product of the motion of matter.]"

With a series of scraping sounds, Lu Guanhong forcefully carved a line of enormous chalk letters onto the blackboard.

He pressed so hard that it seemed he bore some deep-seated grudge against it.

At least, that was how it looked to Lu Zhan.

What the hell? Was there something wrong with Old Lu?

Back in the library, I answered that life was born from lightning.

Even if that answer wasn't perfectly textbook, it at least had something to do with the motion of matter. How did that make me a heretic?

Looking at it now, I really did have a talent for life alchemy!

In another corner of the classroom, Lu Zhan stared at the [second law], seething with indignation.

His answer had clearly been correct, yet Lu Guanhong had "deliberately" belittled him.

He was definitely jealous of Lu Zhan's talent for life alchemy.

What else could it be? Did Lu Guanhong disagree with the [second law]?

"Life originates from the motion of matter and is a product of the motion of matter."

Ajak and his two companions were also staring at the [second law].

But unlike Lu Zhan, who agreed wholeheartedly and was even feeling rather smug, they were filled with doubt and uncertainty.

Was that really all there was to the second law of life alchemy?

Before last night, Ajak and his companions would also have believed in the [second law] without question.

After all, they had learned the [second law] long ago. It was an officially recognized "truth."

Now, however, after witnessing that eerie scene last night, their faith was no longer quite so absolute.

"The second law of life alchemy was formulated by the great Matter Alchemist, [Vortex Hand]."

"By manipulating and recombining microscopic particles, he successfully recreated life, producing the first [artificial life]."

"[Vortex Hand]'s achievement was acknowledged by every alchemist, and thus the [second law] was formally established."

In class, Lu Guanhong dutifully explained the origins of the [second law].

He strove to keep his tone calm, and everything he said came straight from the textbook. His performance was exactly what one would expect of a teacher.

Naturally, this kind of instruction failed to interest the vast majority of the students.

To them, the [second law] was far too lofty and far too removed from their own lives.

Unlike his "unremarkable" classmates, Lu Zhan displayed unprecedented enthusiasm for studying the [second law].

He hungrily absorbed every scrap of knowledge related to it.

With his broader perspective, Lu Zhan understood exactly how valuable the [second law] was.

It revealed the "foundations" of a world.

Compared with such precious knowledge, the oddities in Lu Guanhong's teaching today weren't even worth Lu Zhan's time to puzzle over.

Lu Guanhong thought he had concealed them well, but they hadn't escaped Lu Zhan's keen eyes.

Thanks to the blood-colored antenna, Lu Zhan had long since maxed out his ability to read people's expressions.

Holy shit, this world had actually managed to recreate life?

If someone at the steam locomotive factory had talked to me about the [second law] a month ago, I would've thought he'd lost his mind.

Could a world still using steam really accomplish something as monumental as recreating life?

With the experience of his previous life, Lu Zhan was far more shocked by [Vortex Hand]'s achievement than any other student present.

No one understood better than he did how "inconceivable" recreating life was.

Even the technology of his previous world hadn't been capable of that.

[Vortex Hand] was fucking incredible!

Lu Zhan was now intensely curious about what exactly that first [artificial life] had been.

Or, rather, what state it had existed in.

Unfortunately, Lu Guanhong didn't elaborate. He didn't even mention [Vortex Hand]'s real name.

That was probably because of life alchemists' "jealousy," right?

Tsk, tsk. The second law of life alchemy had actually been formulated by a Matter Alchemist.

There had to be quite a story behind that. It didn't take much thought to see it.

Different. This really was different!

The last time Old Lu explained the [second law], his tone had been downright snide.

And that wasn't all. He'd slipped in plenty of his own opinions, too.

Things like how people needed to think independently, and how seeing wasn't necessarily believing.

How experimental results that couldn't be reproduced had to be open to challenge.

Unlike Lu Zhan, who only vaguely sensed a change in Lu Guanhong's teaching today, the others knew better.

Having attended this lesson before, Ajak and his two companions were absolutely certain Old Lu had changed.

In the past, Lu Guanhong would never have stuck so closely to the textbook when explaining the [second law]. The amount of personal commentary he added had been anything but small.

Unfortunately, back then, Ajak and his companions had found Lu Guanhong's "rambling" extremely tiresome.

They hadn't even bothered to listen.

Now, of course, they wanted to hear it, but couldn't.

The three of them had come to class precisely to hear Lu Guanhong's "personal commentary."

After all, lessons could be repeated, but those personal additions mostly depended on his mood. Who knew what pleasant surprises they might hold?

At the lectern, Lu Guanhong was still dutifully teaching.

But the minds of Ajak and his two companions had already wandered beyond the classroom.

To the three of them, teaching that merely followed the textbook was utterly meaningless.

What they needed was Old Lu's spirit of "questioning"!

Why should the [second law] of life alchemy have to be formulated by a Matter Alchemist?

Why should the birth of life have to originate from the motion of matter?

Couldn't there be other possibilities?

For instance, [life was born from fear].