Chapter 34

  Royal Rumble

  Interlude, Part 2

  In addition to arteries and veins, the circulatory system includes tiny vessels known as capillaries. They can be so small, a strand of hair would look huge compared to one and blood cells can only pass through one by one, single-file. And that concludes our talk on the circulatory system, for more information, please read the materials in more advanced books.

  “And this is just the introduction?!”-Alura

  “Yeah. Looks like there's still more to discuss here!”-Iluna

  Now we're going to quickly cover the muscle system, tendons and the most basic functions of several internal organs.

  All movement in the human(oid) body is done by the active contraction and the passive expansion of muscle tissue. Contraction is triggered by a very weak electrical signal delivered along the nervous system from the brain. When the signal is stopped, the muscle relaxes and expands back to its original state. This includes your arms, legs, heart, abdominal muscles, and diaphragm that moves the lungs to allow for breathing, as just the major muscle groups. There are countless minor muscle groups that allow for all sorts of other things.

  (To Alura and Iluna): Due to your increase in knowledge of anatomy, you have learned the skill [Hobble], allowing you to cripple an enemy person or creature by severing tendons and muscle tissue. Examine the skill for more details.

  This brings us to discuss one of the most important and delicate major systems of the body. The nervous system is composed of very, very specialized cells that transmit signals via complex chemicals and electricity at extremely small voltages and current. This is why being hit by lightning hurls you a great distance. It's not the lightning itself hurling you around, but rather your own muscles being stimulated by the electric current running through your nerves. The cells, known as neurons, are directly responsible for transmission of signals between the brain and the rest of the body. The brain issues commands and in return receives information in the form of the five senses, sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch. If the nervous system is damaged, it can not repair itself and can result in the loss of movement, lost of senses, or even death, as the brain unconsciously tells the lungs to breathe and the heart to pump.

  It also works in reverse. The nerves connecting to the skin send signals to the brain which it interprets into “Touch.” Signals from the eyes are interpreted as “Sight.” Those from the ears are interpreted as “Sound.” The nose and mouth are a bit special. The nose sends “Smell” while the mouth sends “Taste,” however, taste is not complete without smell and the part of the brain that interpreted smells is also closely linked to where memories are stored.

  To be honest, we don't really know all that much about the nervous system. What we do know we learned through sheer dumb luck and by accident. While all the other organs can be safely studied in cadavers and Travelers like this author have had some replaced when they were too damaged by disease or injury with few ill effects, the brain cannot be handled the same way. Even a few seconds of shut down will have lingering and permanent damage. It was only because of specialized machinery that could be used to scan brain activity in real time was used in cases of injury and/or illness that we know anything about how it works at all.

  Then we have the skin, a flexible covering that keeps the blood and other fluids inside while keeping dangerous substances out. New cells are being constantly created in an area known as the epidermis while cells that have long since died are shed from the surface.

  Now we get to the workings of the immune system and how the body protects itself from disease.

  The first form of disease is infection. This results from foreign objects or lifeforms entering the body, such as bacteria, fungi, algae, viruses, toxins, and parasites. The body's immune system responds in various ways. See below.

  The second form of disease is nutritional. The body is a wonderfully and fearfully made machine, but as all highly complex machines, requires careful maintenance. Failure to get proper maintenance can and will cause things to go very wrong eventually.

  The third form of disease is when the body turns on itself. Again, like any complicated machine, things can and will go wrong over time.

  While technically not a disease, there's a phenomenon known as 'allergies' which is when the body reacts to something mundane, harmless, or even beneficial, as if it's a threat and responds with overkill. The symptoms could range from annoying, such as watery eyes, sneezing, and rashes, to outright deadly such as anaphylactic shock, where the body is so desperate to avoid exposure to the antigen that it cuts off a person's ability to breathe.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  (The book goes on to explain in detail how the immune system responds to infection.)

  “Oh my. This is quite detailed. Are we sure this is the Introduction to biology?”-Alura

  And last but not least, is the reproductive system. Parents or guardians are recommended to review this material before exposure to children.

  “Oh. OH MY GOODNESS! This is so explicitly detailed!” says Iluna as she blushes furiously. “I can't believe humans incubate eggs in their bellies!”

  “Eh. This is pretty tame. Jade's book doesn't even go into erogenous zones or foreplay!”-Alura

  “You would say that! HMPH! Might as well see what your 'Introduction to Chemistry' is about then!”-Iluna

  (To both Iluna and Alura) Due to your increased knowledge, you have unlocked the [Profession] [Midwife]. You can now give effective prenatal care and aid in childbirth. Unfortunately, your profession slots are fully occupied and you cannot learn new skills related to the class.

  “What the...? There's a [Profession] known as [Midwife]?!!” Alura and Iluna speak in unison.

  “It's been centuries since a new [Profession] was unlocked. This is revolutionary!”-Iluna

  “Yeah! Now I'm really looking forward to what Jade's other 'Introduction' books have to offer." Says Alura, practically drooling at the prospect.

  Introduction to Chemistry

  (Just inside the cover is an image of the periodic table.)

  “What the heck is that?!”-Iluna

  “Let's find out!”-Alura

  Greetings, dear Reader.

  As you've been raised in alchemy, you probably believe the universe is composed of four elements; water, fire, earth, and air. Or if your alchemy system is more advanced, the combination elements of Metal, Wood, Lightning, and Poison, along with Light and Dark as special elements.

  (To both Iluna and Alura) Your knowledge of Alchemy has increased.

  This view is fundamentally flawed and out of date. As of the writing of this book, there are 118 elements known to man, a chart illustrating them, colloquially known as a “Periodic Table” is listed at the front of this book, just inside the cover. As you may have noticed, none of the “elements' mentioned earlier are on the list.

  “118 elements?! That's an absolutely insane amount!”-Alura

  (To Alura): Due to your increase in knowledge, your proficiency with [Creation Magic] has increased to level 2. You can now draw elements from Jade's subspace storage for the purpose of using existing blueprints, as opposed to being limited to using already preexisting materials; however, you still cannot skip steps. For example, if you have a blueprint that requires wood, you must first prepare the wood before you can make the object.

  “...Well. It's a start.”-Alura

  “A start?! Getting a skill that draws things out of subspace is already a huge boon!”-Iluna.

  “True, but it's nowhere near what Jade can do. And for my class, having to stop and summon a lot of stone before I can make a building, while Jade can just wave his hands and blamo, there's the building!”-Alura

  “Well. Yeah. That's why Jade's the dungeon and we're the Boss Monsters.”-Iluna

  “HMPH! Fine.”

  To clarify why the so-called “elements of creation” are apparently missing, we need to go over some basic concepts.

  Matter has four states of existence, solid, liquid, gaseous, and plasma.

  (The book goes on to detail the attributes of solid, liquid, and gaseous states.)

  Plasma is an unusual state of matter where the matter is subjected to so much heat or energy that it's completely ionized. A prime example of plasma is lightning.

  (To Alura) Your knowledge of [Lightning] and [Disintegrate] magic has increased. As a result, you may now select multiple targets at once, and you may choose to not be in the area of effect when [Disintegrate] is activated.

  “Now that is welcome news. I can now tear things apart without hurting myself in the process.”-Alura

  Now we direct your attention once again to the periodic table. Do you notice how each element has a number? Each element is composed of a number of positively charged protons orbited by an equal number of negatively charged electrons. For all elements except hydrogen, the protons are held together by neutrally charged neutrons. How that works will be covered in more depth in the book “Introduction to Nuclear Physics, Radiation, Subatomic Particle Physics, And the Dangers of Radiation.

  Encountering pure elements in Nature is actually rather rare. Most of the universe is actually composed of two or more elements chemically bound together. This is done by the atoms of several elements sharing electrons to reach their most stable energy state.

  For example, water is actually composed of the elements hydrogen and oxygen with the chemical formula H2O (two atoms of hydrogen for every atom of oxygen). In this case, each hydrogen atom loans one electron to an oxygen atom.

  In ammonia, NH3, each hydrogen atom borrows one electron from Nitrogen.

  (To Alura) Due to your increased knowledge, your alchemy and creation magic skills have improved. You have gained the skill [Compounding] that allows you to combine different chemicals together, instinctively recognizing how they'd react. Or with a bit of MP, can cause unusual reactions to get the desired chemical formula.

  (The book then spends several pages describing, in detail, how elements are likely to react chemically, as well as the basics of electricity.)